ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fistula]

I actually was surprised by how melodic and calming this is for a piece titled Fistula. I have no real critique beyond it is difficult to make out the kick and snare for the volume of the guitars. I wonder how this would sound if it were not for that.

BALDORF responds:

Yeah, the name was mostly just because I uploaded on Valentines Day and felt like giving it a nasty name lol

I'm not great with drum stuff or mixing/mastering, so that makes sense.

Thanks for the review!

[I'm So Happy I Could Die]

Definitely feeling the overstimulation!

I feel myself wanting more presence out of your kick and snare, and perhaps just a bit less reverb low end. I feel like the 250 hz and below of the wet signals are washing out the bass, as well as sub can probably come down a bit and bring up the top end of the bass.

The vocals could use more compression and volume to sit intelligibly.

Beyond that, I adore Miku, and I can MOSTLY understand her. What you've written sounds catchy.

Nice work!

3xBlast responds:

That's fantastic feedback!!! Rare to get such actionable insight on a track, very much appreciated!

[Spiderman vs greengoblin]

Smooth olskool with great sample placement. It manages to sound both familiar and unfamiliar with the varied sources. Really appreciate how you sampled that piano as well.

Some mild complaints of one or two samples here or there is pretty loud relative to the rest of the beat, but otherwise everything is cleanly in its place. I find myself wanting a bit of master compression to not get lost in the loudness wars on a playlist. Real easy listening otherwise.

[Bones]

Enjoying the warbly bends of this piece. Reminds me of old computer music.

Mix wise I would like more kick volume, a tad more on snare, and a bit less on hihat. If you could center one or the other bass that would be nice but that could be a channel music preference. More sustain on toms would be good as well.

Some master compression in post processing would bring this to the next level.

Great writing and structure. Thanks for coming out!

[Happy Birthdie]

Люблю как страшно заставил "с днем рождения" звучить))
Просто класс!

[98]

I wish I could better understand this piece, as 9/8 is a very bold time signature and shows you are not afraid to be different. There are however some issues holding this piece back. For one, there are a lot of ideas going on at the same time and they do not really feel congruent to me, and there are some mixing problems, such as the hi hats are very prominent in my ears.

I certainly sense some direction in that the song is not the same all the way through and the melodies likewise swap to different instruments and themes. I feel like what this piece could use is a bit more space, some effects for your synths so they don't sound so dry, and more variation in percussion through sections -- as well as contrast in volume level. Most of all I feel like the last two are contributing to feelings of sameness.

I have no doubt however that in time you will master your ideal style of music though, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to keep going. There are tons of tutorials for the stuff I'm talking about here available on the internet for free, but there is no replacement for originality, which you have! Keep going, and thanks for coming out to NGADM!

toad-shroom responds:

I'm still getting the hang of the program I'm using (lmms) so I'm still figuring out how to do changes in dynamic. Thanks for the constructive criticism!

[Dreaming ft Hania [DnB Mix]]

Vocal performance is great. I think a bit of de essing and more compression would be nice but otherwise, great.

Production is interesting, a bit sibilant -- perhaps take down those hats a dB or 2. The kick also sounds somewhat muffled and could come up prior to 1:40. By then I really find I want a lot more vocal in the mix, as they are starting to get drowned in the piano, which could use less verb.

Note, on the drop, percussion is fine!

Otherwise, the writing is lovely. Very atmospheric and uplifting. Wonderful work! The only element that I find I can complain about at all is mix, which says a lot!

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

Trackers responds:

Thanks! The drums before 1:40 are actually filtered on purpose. They only hit full frequency at 1:40. That was on purpose to help build the progression. I wonder if it's a distraction now.

I can revisit mixing the reverb on the piano when the vocals are present and drop down the hats easy enough. Thanks for the tips 😀

[Nebulous Mind - Reimagined, Complete, Mastered]

I'm going to save my drooling over your writing and suffice to say, NUT, and also say my score on this track may differ somewhat from NGADM scoresheet because I love you and want to fiven your everything.

Your structure and flow in this track are precisely on point. There is not one transition I don't appreciate, or even that little clicky noise. Everything sounds intentional, not incidental.

The taps at 3:11 are pretty as fuck.

My only gripes remain with software limitation of player based instruments and yearning for some variance in intonation on repeated notes. This may be able to be achieved through modulation of attack, release, hand positions of related instruments, or as in instruments such as RealEight, variables which will even vary velocity and all of the above.

Great chords and runs throughout, wherever I hear them.

I think I actually would like to hear harder driven distortion and more of the 7k to 8k range on your guitars. Maybe quad track? The 300 hz range on your lower riffs also could be driven a bit harder. Occasionally I will pull a trick with my guitars and use my cymatics diablo percussion processor to bump transients and compress the "body" of the sound, use the "exciter" parameter, to achieve what I'm talking about.

5:00 is a standout section I would have liked to hear repeated.

But I could sit here for 2 to 3 times replaying this track and not get bored. All in all, I think you have done a fantastic job. Thanks for coming out!

Oh, and I forgot, so EDIT here, your cymbals are nice, and your kick is sitting in a great place in the mix, maybe take it down .1 dB at the most. The snare however, I would like a bit more of a wet sound, perhaps a tad more bottom head, tune it down by .3 semitones to .7, and find a way for it to sustain a bit longer, be it a subtle verb or no. It felt a bit dry in comparison to the rest of the kit. I also would like to hear more low end on your toms and more presence in the mix from them (sidechain if needed).

Beyond that, heart eyes.

trunotfals responds:

I KNOW. I made a lot of progress in my mix after this one (I mean, you KNOW what we're working on :P) and i couldnt really work on this one like i wanted I was running into issues. but thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu Adr3-n :)

[neon drifto]

At the intro and I must say I don't know what to expect. The bass part is subtle and simple. I think I would actually like that bass down a dB or so. 57 is sounding nice, clipped a bit at parts.

I do like how you've written that rather obvious synth guitar. Making the most of its capabilities for a subtle solo and doing what synth guitars were supposed to do. I think there is Junk Guitar for sforzando if you were looking for a more real option for key triggered guitar sounds.

Overall, the track is thematically consistent, if simple. Your melodic writing is what shines as opposed to the instruments used. I think a more aggressive kick would have helped a lot for drive, as well as the snare.

You could also obtain an amp sim, cab sim, etc off the internet, and add FX to that guitar such as chorus, ping pong delay, etc for atmosphere. Otherwise, good work.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Xeveir and Xeron vs. XH (ft. JinoBeats) - Eternal SubconsciencƎ]

I think you've got a great composition with that intro, but the vocal delivery is killing it. Compression on those vocals doesn't match the speedcore/terrorcore vibe going on throughout, or the insanity of this piece in general. Compression and maybe even clipping would be a good fit for the track overall.

1:00 is pleasantly nuts. Yes please, more. The vocal processing here is a bit more fitting.

1:40 is niceeeeee. Could use actually a bit less sub so everything isn't getting muddied out at the master. Could probably cut low end reverb wets around 250 hz to make more room. Also, vocals can be pushed up in the mix and given the boost of sidechain multiband compression against other instruments in the same tonal range, so, from 200 hz to 2500 hz?

At 3:00 again the vocals can be pushed up more to stand out.

In general it sounds as if the track was mixed quite loud before the master to begin with. Rather than doing things that way I generally prefer to clip things BEFORE the master, to have more control over that.

At 4:20, the guitars are a GREAT touch. The blend of genres is appreciated muchly.

Very much enjoying things by the final drop now that everything has melded together. Nice and absolutely nuts.

Great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!