ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Mystical Forest]

This piece is compositionally indistinguishable from anything I'd expect to hear in the masterful works of say, Studio Ghibli back in the day, and such as, I don't have any point of critique to offer in that area. Fantastic work with your modalizations and keychanges.

My only areas of complaint would be a bit much whine on your high violas it sounds like at points. I can hear the synth, so to speak at points. The attacks are quite slow in places where that doesn't suit your piece, which bothers me as a classical musician (where all I heard was not to "twwaah" the attacks unless directed to do so). I suffer from this myself and sympathize. I may actually recommend swapping to a different library or patch in these cases. Albion Tundra and Spitfire Labs, as well as a lot of other kontakt libraries in that vein could be added into places where you need a sharp attack and sustain to match your piano, or you could back up the attacks of the individual notes some to pull them closer into those piano quarter notes.

For reference, I am talking about sections like 1:33. I think the violins may be a bit too high in the mix here relative to the piano, but that is because they are so high more likely than not.

I can't stress enough, wonderful composition. Evocative of exactly the feeling you describe in your title. Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

anthonyragus responds:

Super thanks for your review. My mixing and MIDI sequencing is definitely rushed on this one, and I think I overcompensated my typical string EQ curves, and I most likely forgot to compensate slow notes in violas (EDIT: I did not forget, but a 16th note in advance wasn't enough, haha). EWQLSO viola is the oddest set of patches, the slow expressive patch somehow the best in quality, but perhaps that's what one gets with a library recorded twenty years ago.

For months now, I've had my ears set on a set of libraries; strings are not yet released, but I have no doubt they will be a worthy investment. Thank you for listening.

[Four Roots Above Still Water]

While I'm here I might recommend some drum kits for you. Si sounds good, but something about the snare to me. There is Saudade snare, I think based on the same snare as used by David Silveria of Korn. MT Power Drum kit may also have some use for you. Then there is Cherry Snare, Black Noh Snare, and DarkKick VST. Cymballistic is a great hihat and cymbal library. Also, salamander drum kit. These are all free and relatively easy to work with. I recommend more velocity modulation on your drums. The hihats are machine gunning a bit on the attack.

The section at 2:40 sounds fantastic. Love those chords and that wahwah bass. As well as your warm outro.

I think my only problems with this song lie in its mix. The composition is nicely complex without sounding pretentious, somewhat unpredictable (pleasantly) due to time signatures. What I would like to hear more of is reverb (maybe gated) on your snare, reverb on your crashes or delay, etc. Occasionally I like to pingpong delay my hihats on a hardish left or right.

Your bass could use distortion of some kind. I hear a lot of the frequencies around 250-400 hz but not much sub. This may be because it is so high. You could double an instrument an octave below it for beef. In this case I think actually a low piano would be fitting, given that you have used that already throughout.

Your lead instruments all sound somehow centered but also spread too thin across the channels to me. What you can do to combat this with your guitar lead specifically is have two different patches with different amps and cabs anywhere between 5 percent left and right to 27, add a pingpong reverb to the other channel or a reverb send. This technique will make it sound fuller and is used with live instruments in the studio.

Beyond that, great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Aardvark04 responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to check out those drum plugins!

[Pulled into the]

I always appreciate the layers in your composition. I think this one could use a bit more control on the dynamics of different instruments, such as the flute in your intro which is quite loud.

It was a pretty smooth transition into the electronic portion of your song.

There are a lot of daring elements in this song -- is that CS One Bass with those wubs?

It sounds like there is a bit crusher or some sort of fizz on your kick drum. If you wanted the same crispiness, I might try a multi band compressor to de-emphasize the static sound I hear clearly throughout.

2:22 is experimental indeed. Almost avantgarde.

Really enjoy the overall idea of this piece as well as your execution. I think more compression from 0:55 to your close would make the synth portion sound better, as well as a deeper and more gripping bassline -- the one you have is quite high up and does not sound centered in the mix.

All the same, great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

314leafcutterant responds:

I added the flute because the piano which plays the same melody got a little bit drowned by the harp. It probably didn't have to be as loud as it is, but I think the heavy vibrato of the sample is almost more annoying. I originally tried to record my ocarina, which I bought a few months ago and never used in a song yet, but I cannot play it nearly well enough to actually record something. I am always completely out of tune.

That wub is selfmade, it uses some fm synthesis and a filter automated by an lfo. There is a bit crusher on the whole drumset. I didn't actually hear the static sound in the mix, only when listening to the drums as solo so I left it there because of that little bit of... something. Didn't think the static would actually be noticeable.

Making the bassline deeper would actually have been a smart thing to do, thanks. To me the synth sounded better when it was an octave deeper but i put it an octave higher anyway so it wouldn't cover up the bass. Making both of them deeper would have solved that issue.

The bass and subbass aren't completely in the center, that is true. One is panned a few percent to the left and the other to the right.

[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.