ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Together]

Was not expecting the development into DnB upon hearing that intro. Interesting choice of melody over top. Piece has a subtle sound to it, maybe overly bass boosted.

I'm having trouble clearly making out your kick and snare from the loudness of the pads and melody. Also, seems the sub bass is loud relative to the percussion. You may benefit from running this through a free online master to squeeze the most juice out of your drops.

The section at 2:23 doesn't sound like a drop due to levels sitting at around the same as the rest of the track. Without a lot of master compression to do the job, I would ensure the drops are louder in general than the rest of the track at least by a dB or two.

Otherwise, good structure, nice desperate love type mood going on. Really enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Z3rky - Neodub]

Sounds like trap married dubstep and had an autistic child. I mean that in a good way.

Structure wise, fantastic. Interesting percussion samples. My only real critique would be to reduce reverb where possible for clarity's sake and see what is going on with that super low sub bass. It sounds like being trapped in a warehouse with the AC on, and I'd love to hear some tonal sine underneath that drop.

Otherwise, slick piece. Really enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[pipeline punch is the best monster flavour you cannot tell me otherwise.]

Nice and surreal. Extra points for NG beat tag hehe.

The switchup at 1:22 is a nice change for variety's sake. I love the insanity at 1:50. Could have possibly used some more variety in where the snare fell, again for variety's sake, but all things considered, you kept those drums nice and wild to make up for it.

Great work. Really enjoyed it. Wish I had more critique.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Jungle Secret]

I actually don't think this is half bad for 3 days left, distracted by life and school. Your choice to make your own bird noises actually turned out pretty cool!

The shift at 2:44 is a nice stylistic choice that ties the rest of the piece together.

I confess I loathe synth brass and think the velocities could have been better managed there, but your treatment of the other instruments was great. I just would have taken down those repeated stabs and I think it would have been fine.

Great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[caterpillar]

I didn't think the cowbell was too loud. I actually think the kick is a bit loud relative to the track, and would have liked to hear more of your snare and hihat.

Overall, I think this piece is full of fantastic ideas but is really short and quite busy throughout with the melody. Maybe some pared down sections in between your drops and builds would do you favors there.

All in all, a short and engaging listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Spectral Dual]

Ooh, slappy. Really enjoy your writing.

It's hard to tell if you double tracked or just chorused your rhythm guitar. If the latter is the case, I recommend the former approach. The rhythm guitar is sitting in the mix almost inaudible at points. As the driving force of your piece, you definitely don't want that.

I want to hear more of your snare and perhaps some saturation and transient shaping. I use Diablo for this typically and a separate track.

Nice leads throughout and great chord progression.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Pressure Point]

Your drums stick out pretty well here, stick out being the operative word. I would take some volume off of those hihats. They are louder than any other part of the mix and are the only thing really in that mix space.

I enjoy your writing and choice of chords

I would put much less verb on your toms and bring out your snare more.

I think the track would benefit from running through an online mastering service of your choosing -- there are free ones out there.

Bass and pads, along with the melody are hard to hear through the percussion elements of the track. You want to strike a balance in which the percussion is clearly audible but not covering up anything else.

Overall, great melodies and piece holds together nicely. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TechnoDrama responds:

Online mastering service? Never thought to even look.

Well, I didn't make it to the next round and I'm okay with that. Just grateful to have people listening.

I wonder how much of my music's real impact is lost due to bad mixing and mastering? I'm always so eager to just get it out there that I never really thought about the impact the mix has on the end result.

You have given me much to think about. And not making it to the next round has given me reason to focus on what I did wrong, which is not in the creative process, but in the final steps.

Thank you again, and feel free to thank the other judges. I appreciated the opportunity.

[Your Brain on 4D Cubes [NGUAC 2022]]

Sounding solid at your intro. Nice and weird harmonic minor. It sounds like everything has been phased or chorused which leaves the center of the track feeling somewhat weak.

I appreciate the kick chaos. Would like to hear more hihat or snare there.

Growls sound wild af. Dig that. Want to hear more of your cymbals and hihats here. It sounds like the track was mixed at a quite loud volume prior to mastering fx being applied. I generally recommend to mix at a quieter volume prior to the master, leaving between 3 and 6 dB of headroom for the compressor to take care of.

The switchups throughout make this a strong composition. I want a more centered bass from 250 hz and below. There are plugins for that. May also appreciate some sub below that to make it nice and beefy.

Really enjoyed the listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Supernova]

I'd like a bit less hihat volume in your intro. Perhaps throughout. And a bit more bass as well, maybe up to .5 dB more.

Overall, solid structure, great rhythms. Reverb is tasteful. Everything sounds clean and in its place. Good transitions.

I want a bit more saturation and dirt on your snare.

Definitely wanting a bit less highs on your final drop, more bass, a bit less hihat, and more snare, but still a bop.

Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

rajbeatsofficial responds:

Thank you for the detailed feedback! Will listen back in depth with these notes in front of me to get your perspective in real-time 💪

[Bloom Kyoto]

I feel like I dropped back into Age of Mythology.

I think the shamisen could come down in the mix a bit, be a bit more centered, and have a bit of room to it. The attacks could also have some more fooling around with the velocity.

Flute sounds nice. I'm not sure if it's a single sample. If so, the initial attack is a bit distracting on subsequent notes.

Overall, nice piece, and some of my favorite instruments. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

OliRO responds:

Thank you for the review! I didn't had time to master it properly but I'm about to post another version where everything should be a bit more balanced. Obviously it's gonna be out of the scope of this challenge, but I will apply your observations nonetheless. For the flute it is a single sample from Massive X that I tweaked a bit to sound like a shakuhachi. The initial attack might be a bit too early indeed. Thanks for pointing that out, I will fix it.

Thanks again for taking the time to analyze and share your insight on my track. This is the main reason why I take part in this challenge; to get better by getting quality reviews.