ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Finale]

When I first heard the intro I thought I might be heading into a hiphop beat, but I held my breath. I think this might fit somewhere in lo-fi hip-hop for the intro.

Something is going on with the high end. Though those scratches sound great in isolation, they're a few dB high in the mix. As the only thing in that sonic space, it's especially noticable.

The vocal sample also caught me off guard as quite clean, however, it served to break us up for the final section. I think for the final chorus, the snare drum is a bit loud and dry, and the kick would be better served to have some more bottom.

In short, pretty much the only thing wrong with this track is balance. But I give props for making something entirely different to what I've heard from you so far, as well as a hook that stuck with me long after it was over. Great work!

[Glitch - Music from Alan Becker's 'Influencer Arc Ep. 1]

It's only been half and hour, and 9 listens is not enough! Thank you for sending this to me! I have yet to open up the animation, but after hearing this, I certainly will. You should add it to the description as an embed so folks can find it easily.

Also, I would kill to have some of these patches in my library to study. I'm just coming around to doing wavetable stuff, and this, this is what I'm aiming for uwu

I only have one point of critique, after listening on both headphones and speakers, the low mid could translate a bit better to the latter, and at 1:56, the bass jumps out just a bit on the high octave. It's just slightly sibilant. Perhaps back off the compression very slightly overall.

2:52 is my favorite section. Reminds me of Borderlands 2 OST in a good way.

3:36 was unexpected and a very pleasant modulation.

That's really all I got though, a couple minor gripes, but the piece is 100% serviceable for its intended use, as a commission for an animation!

AvenzaMusic responds:

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen, for your support, and for your thoughts, I really appreciate it! Great idea to add a link to the description on yt, just added it in now :)
Ohh this is excellent feedback, thank you! Will defo look over the compression twice in the future and think a bit more about highs in the basses, actually didn't think about that myself but you have a good point.

Thanks again!!

[Flesh and Bone]

The transitions in this song are ALL great (I've come to expect this from you :)). Vocal performance is unusual for the genres, but combined with the lyrics, they set the mood well. With refinement of mix and master, I could listen to this on repeat for days on end.

The mix is pretty subby, which is not too bad of a thing, but it sounds like the sub might be spread a bit? Reverb is also quite shoe-gazy and I think it could be tamed via hi-pass.

There are a few instances I can hear your mouth opening and closing it sounds like in your dubs. I might recommend recording closer to the mic if you'll be singing at a quiet volume, somewhat off axis and of course with a suitable pop filter. Try finding some references of what sounds like a nice, professional vocal recording for your range and articulations, and compare your recordings to that. Do the same for your FX and compare back and forth.

The same goes with your mix and master. It sounds like the highs have been rolled off quite a bit via EQ and the bass boosted. This can happen pre or post master and is hard to fight against.

But anyway, great work!

IrisStar responds:

Wow! Getting five stars from you feels like such an achievement, and your criticism is so focused and specific! Thank you for this review it helps a lot especially in terms of improving the vocal! <333

[Face Your Fears]

Each piece I hear from you is better than the last in terms of mix, master, arrangement, and libraries used. This is not only indistinguishable from a lot of the highest quality film score work I've heard. It's ... better! The only thing I could suggest is to make that brass feel like it's on as big of a sound stage as the choir and percs. It feels just a bit thin in the lower bone register on larger sections.

CloakedSoup responds:

Thanks for the kind words. I felt the mixing was okay/passable in this; if I had more time before I left for vacation, I would have done a proper mix and fixed up things section by section. There are definitely parts here and there where one moment, instrument, or section doesn't have as much clarity or the correct balance. Regardless, I still think it sounded decent and thank you again for the review!

[Travelling Where My Eyes Deceive Me]

The overall volume balance on this is good, but the mix is somewhat flat and sibilant, like the bass below 80 hz has been sucked out from the floor and spread out via chorus. I recommend monoing bass below such freqs. The snare is a bit hard to hear but it's a frantic break so this can be forgiven. Some stereo spread on the snare is permissable and desired.

The mix overall is quite sibilant.

But great arranging and writing!

[No Man's Land (Demo)]

I think with taming the reverb a bit, adjusting compression throughout (where you want more dynamic range and where you want less), and some minor bumps on the EQ would make this track flawless.

Great sound design!

Could do with some more panning and instrument layers on your strings, cello -- they sound a bit resonant as well, perhaps overly reverbed. I do wish there were more bass in the low and sub range to drive the track. But overall you took the mood, tackled and pummeled it to a bloody pulp. Nailed it.

8.4/10

Snikio responds:

thank you so much!!!
woah, our review is so specific, detailed and encouraging. thank you for making me HEAR things that was actually problem but I didn't realized when making it. I'll fix it😄 And if possible, can I ask your opinion again when I finish this track?? I would love to hear it!

I heard your condition isn't good now. Wish you the best ADR3-N!

[Sinner]

Looking at that waveform, I'm scared to see what happens at a minute in!

This is freaking WILD.

I think there's a bit of over compression and sibiliance around the mix. The transients on the drums and the note bodies are getting a bit lost, and the sub is not taking up the space it should be. Crispness is good, but in general you don't want your bass to be crispy, your vocals to be ess-y, and your hihats to be too loud. I recommend finding a reference and side-by-side comparison as you go along. Make sure the volume is comparable to your mix so you can compare.

Otherwise, great switchups and an interesting theme! I appreciate the vocoder!

7.6/10

[A Dark Moon]

It's like nothing I've ever heard from you, and yet it very much is your gig! Solid instrumentation, great structure, and driving rhythm section.

Vocal FX are great and I don't have a problem with the volume for the most part. Occasionally they're running rough shod over everything, but that's primarily on the prechorus. I would recommend more compression on the master or simply to mix in 32 bit floating point (with dithering) and turn things up until you feel that A, the levels are all still balanced, and B, there's just a little peaking on the limiter. Just a little. Export and see how you like it. The 32 floating will keep it from truly clipping, and you'll get a pretty dynamic mix (seems to be your goal here!) that is competitively loud.

The result is otherwise very balanced. I find it hard to pay attention to the lyrics because my attention span is that of a goldfish, but thanks to you providing them, I can tell you that they're great in terms of theme and flow. And as I listened, your performance is great. Every line rolls off the tongue.

Ps, props to your dad! I wish I could do music with my parents!

8.6/10

Mischa-head responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[Space Truckin]

Really interesting sound palette you have going on here! When the synth bass comes in at 0:20 it's a bit distracting though -- sounds like it might be due to chorus or stereo spread. I would recommend rolling off the high end on it, since there isn't a lot in that range.

This would sound a lot better as a smooth ride, with a more pronounced bass guitar sound opposed to the synthy fuzz. I can't even tell whether it's a saw wave or a bass on part of the fuzz/crunch. It also sounds balanced left.

Maybe it's that I have ADHD but it's distracting me from the otherwise lovely arrangement and writing. Seriously, save this idea for a later date, because it slaps. (I don't mean take this down at all -- I'm very much a fan of redoing your own pieces)

I'm usually not a big fan of EZ-Drummer, but you've used it well here. I would only suggest to turn down the hi-hat volume a little. There's so little in that frequency range that it sticks out a tad.

The master is also quiet. See all those little peaks on the waveform? You can in all likelihood push this piece harder with compression. Do some light reading and experimentation -- see what you like!

7.7/10

Percentblue responds:

Lot of stuff I didn’t even know I didn’t know, thank you for the feedback, a lot to consider!!!!

[Performer - NGADM & NGUAC submission]

I think this is a bit stereo spread beyond its limits, BUT the combination of samples used, arrangement, and overall sound stage beyond that is great. At some points, particularly transitions, I would mind the sibilance -- bitcrushed elements as well. Bitcrushing can create shrieking freqs up there.

The mix falls apart a bit when the metal drums enter, around 3 mins. This is in part due to clip, crush, and compression being just a bit too severe and those drums being hot against a shoegaze reverb wash.

Still, the lyrics of this song are entirely relatable, vocal performance is appropriate, and the overall mesh is a consistent product. Great work!

8.4/10

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback!