ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[HTUOY]

Wild little chords there in your intro. Quite interesting. Definitely smooth olskool vibes here.

I think I would like slightly less volume on the sax and jingle shakers. Maybe .5 dB

The chop and screw before 1 min is niiiice.

Whatever atmospheric sample that is there as well I would love to be stereo widened or ping-pong delayed to give this some extra space. A lot of things sound quite centered.

Now, you have done a great job arranging all of this. The piece flows naturally and beautifully. The only issues are a few mix hiccups here and there, a pretty flat stereo field, and it doesn't seem to have been given mastering compression or loudness normalization. That can really affect listening experience if I were to say playlist this and listen in the car.

Otherwise, a real treat! Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

Viraxor responds:

Thank you for the lengthy review! The stereo field was flat because I had mono speakers at the time. I am going to experiment with that in the future, now that I have stereo ones. There's no compression, normalization is applied. I want to keep the mp3 file as close as possible to the original module source.

[[unfinished] behind us]

Delicious synth bass at 11 sec.

I think a bit less high end on your snare and a bit heavier side chain would help with clarity.

The leads at 40 seconds are nicely written and atmospheric, could probably come down up to 1 dB for clarity. The bass is falling a bit out of focus there.

The slide into shoegaze at 1 min or so is nicely done and helps keep attention.

The harp at around 1:20 is very present. I think a pingpong delay would be a nice addition there.

There is a bit of clipping on your vocal sample somehow. Not sure what happened there.

Beyond that, smooth outro. I wish this were longer!

Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Ritualistic Alchemy]

Nice droning intro -- few things I notice up to 30 sec, the reverb could be taken down a notch. Rain could probably be stereo widened to take up the same amount of space. By 52 we have epic percussion, but I can't make out your samples.

At 1 min, your production comfort zone is shining. Very nice liquidy and industrial vibes here. I love what you've done with clipping. Sidechain at 1:33 is pretty clean. I think the FL slayer type synth there could be swapped out for a grittier, more vibratoed similar sound of your chosing.

Transitions here are jarring AND smooth at the same time with the variation of genres. 2:31 should be a genre of its own. Very artful blend of those female leads with the drop.

At 3 min or so I again would like a bit more clarity and less wet UNTIL 3:20, for more contrast. Panning of the orchestral elements could be expanded upon for even more variety.

Overall, I very much love this piece. NUT.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

ESHRR responds:

Thank you very much for the in-depth review! I’ll take the criticisms into account for my future work. What you said about my transitions is funny, because other people have said similar things. The “jarring yet smooth” thing has sorta become a thing with my songs. It’s not intentional, but it’s fun when it works out!

[WAR OF ART]

Ooooooh breaks. My favorite. We're sounding just a bit tinny on those above your bass. I find myself wanting a bit less of the crash and hihat range and more kick/snare. Those are pretty mid range heavy.

The bass is pretty well written but I think side chaining those chords throughout would help give some vibrancy to the piece. Your use of samples is atmospheric and spunky.

The chords throughout could also change in volume and timbre -- oh, you read my mind at 1:54. Keeping them the same volume and dry is taking away from your excellent break chopping.

I would like if the bass had that same deep sub range but also were as gritty and biting as the breaks. It also seems to be very wide in the stereo field. What you can do is have a centered sub bass and a doubled bass on top for texture and easier translation to lower quality speakers (I am using my professional monitor headphones but it would not work well for cellphone speakers for instance)

One thing that sticks with me throughout is that the chord progression is mostly whole notes. This could work if you had more FX to add color to those synths, but as they are so present in the mix, right down the middle it feels like, it makes it hard not to focus on them -- thematically speaking the least interesting part of the song, and I don't think that's what you wanted to present.

Still I think you did a great job keeping breaks very interesting, and that moving bassline kept things interesting. Can't wait to see what you come up with next :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Winkwing responds:

I just picked whatever from my library at the time, since I've got a lot of stuff that's unfinished or just never uploaded due to laziness, lmao.

Glad you enjoyed it.
Also, I signed up to NGUAC with Early Bird?

[Drogarati]

Right off, I appreciate your chord progression. I do think the bass could come down slightly, or have less pronounced upper range tonality. By 00:40 we are sounding nice and balanced. Mix is pretty clean and standard for the genre. I actually really like it. I think some of your SFX could come down slightly, but overall, noice.

2:17 is a nice change of pace. That vocal almost bird call could come down somewhat, as could the mid range glitching, just to not overcrowd the bass. Wherever you have builds, the mix comes back into balance.

Overall, fantastic work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[чувства (feelings)]

Прикольно, абсолютно прикольно. Микс звучит профессионально, буквально так, как много из моих любимых, ахах. Но мне интересно, откуда слышала эту мелодию в прошлом. Наверно забыла.

Спасибо за то, что пришел в NGADM

[Shine Bright]

Great selection of chords and perfect emulation of disco feel. I think I would like a bit less presence on the backing chords and a bit more to your lead. Muted guitar is also just a tad loud.

Other than that, great arrangement and smooth transitions all around. I think I'd like a poppier snare with a bit less reverb.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

edit: yes, on my part lol. Sorry I'm retarded. I'm judging for both and get acronyms mixed up lol. I think there is still time for NGUAC cough

xanxoepico responds:

Oh yeah I rushed the mixing a bit, the pad in particular I struggled to compress well enough lol.

Thanks for the review, though I remember submitting this on the NGADM post, not the NGUAC, are they interlinked or was there a confusion?

[XCRIZ - Magic Walk]

I think this piece would benefit most from more control on the reverb wet signal. It's really up there. However at 36 seconds it's sounding decently clean.

At 48, your harmony synths are really blowing your lead arpeggios out of the water. I would turn them down by a dB or three to leave room for bass, countermelody, etc.

I do really appreciate your use of samples. They are tasteful and well arranged.

As a whole, your writing is excellent, as well as your arrangement. I would not duck down the volume at transitions as aggressively, or for as long. You can try alternate methods such as "chasing the fade" (google will help in this regard, as I am nonsense at explaining this concept)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Also there is a long silent tail at the end you could probably chop with audacity.

[disparate]

Nice album cover!

I think your kick could use to be a bit less distorted, as well as your bass. Bringing down the harmony could also help them to be more present. I found the intro chords to be quite loud throughout relative to other elements of the piece.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[sinky]

I think I would like more presence on the drums in your intro. Otherwise, I have no real words of critique. I appreciate the jungle elements going on and the attention to detail with samples. Although, I am really getting a hankering for dialup tones after listening to this.

I think a fadeout for an outro would be more appropriate for this track than an abrupt stop.

I'm unsure if I would like more bass or not throughout. Probably the wildest track I've heard all week.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Thank you! <3