ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[User 817sd - APAC:3]

This sounds like Mass Effect had a baby with CyberPunk, and then lived out its days in the 80s.

I think it would benefit hugely from a reduction in reverb wet signal and tail in all areas, as well as low frequency cutting on the reverb wet signals.

At 59 seconds, sounds fantastic with that lead.

The beat is simple but it chugs along nicely with different elements and transitions spiced in the mix. That's where you shine here, the transitions.

I'd like a stronger kick and snare, more presence, maybe even sidechain, as by 2:08 they are barely audible under the reverb and other louder synths. Try mixing at a quieter volume and discern if you can clearly hear all elements. If not, mix at that volume until you can, then turn the volume back up and fix any exaggerations you made. It will make a big difference!

Nice piece. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Memory of a Muse]

This is like one of those send to your crush songs, except for it was composed by the same guy who wrote Marino and Spider's theme for Megaman X Command Mission.

I think as a whole the composition as a whole shoots its shot early on and continues on into 1:05 in the same vein. I was not expecting the paring down of the composition into 1:20. I think it's just a bit too short to have an outro at that point and another drop could have been squeezed in between at some point.

Beyond that the use of the same instrumentation throughout sort of stifles any feeling that we're really moving anywhere with the arpeggios. I would caution you against that but then again I am a notorious offender, myself.

Nice work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Frozen Industry]

Oh UwU listen to them percussions in the beginning. Reminding me of Turok. I'd like to know what you used for them.

I think at 26 seconds the sudden increase of volume is just a little bit dramatic, and some of the bangs also could come down very slightly. Maybe try a bit more aggressive panning for some SFX and particularly motion in the panning from one side to the other.

Despite having not a whole lot of melodic content, my brain is beginning to interpret chords in the drums at 1:40. One of the resonant bass notes is a low B. Another is a G#4, and your bass comes in at C and F when we get to 3:00. At 4:24 we have a Bb5. Very interesting timbres. Were you aware of those note relations in making the piece and did this on purpose, or did it just sound right?

The piece is super long, but I don't mind. I'm just enjoying the ride. Perhaps the TIKtik-titik could come down just a bit throughout but it's not too bothersome.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

VictorLincolnPine responds:

Yeah, mostly this was done by ear like most of my other tracks. I have it really long cause it's a game track and I wanted enough variation to the music for the listener not to get used to it too quickly as it loops.

As for the drums, I used a combination of dragging my keys on a table and two drum packs: "Bins and Barrels Kit" and "Foley and Real Drum Kit", with a metal pole hit sound in the former kit that I added a slow phaser effect to in addition to delay effects and Valhalla Supermassive reverb effects via aux buses to get both the full wet and full dry signals at once.

Thank you for your input, by the way. I'll take that into consideration for my future tracks.

[ikitai (feat. 初音ミク)]

This track is very quiet. I think it could benefit from a free online master or amplifying in Audacity.

I really enjoy your pingpong delay.

I think the hihats are a bit loud.

I appreciate the use of Miku and the Japanese. I myself am an occasional vocaloid and Alter Ego user myself.

I don't have much critique as the composition is fairly simple and nothing sticks out to me as dissonant or poorly mixed. It's so quiet that mixing decisions really only matter in so far as I wouldn't be able to hear anything -- but as bare as this piece is, everything is audible.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

wheremakingthishapen responds:

hi, thank you so much for your critique!!! i do have a problem with making my tracks a bit too quiet, as i tend to get worried about them clipping and such, but i'll definitely keep your critique in mind for any future tracks i make and try and work on making them a little louder. i'll also try and work on adding more stuff to my future tracks so they aren't as bare :) again, tysm for your critique, even if you didn't have much to say it was still very helpful!!!

[Ys - Mountain Pass (Windman Remix)]

That ambient intro is wild. Kinda feels like dementia. We lead from that straight into a 4 to the floor kick and a minor chord progression hanging out around the tonic of I.

Your transition was flowing well up until 2:58 or so. I was expecting another chorus, not a quieter section INTO a chorus.

Your melody writing and chords are quite catchy. It's like disco met olskool diva synth rock. The electric guitar synth could probably be subbed out for another instrument that sounds less obviously like it is trying to do a real instrument's job and draw less scrutiny.

The piece keeps plodding on into 6:39, which it should be mentioned is VERY long for a track that is not some kind of symphony. I really think you could have gone without the ambient outro. Just a hint of it would be enough.

Some comments. Your percussion, particularly crashes, feels a little cheap. Kick, snare, and crash are three elements you want to be clean, pristine, and crispy in a mix. I want to hear more of them in both terms of volume and crunch. You may find some free percussion processing plugins to help you in this endeavor such as KSHMR Essentials Kick and Diablo Lite by cymatics

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[rotting.]

Super dirty beets. Me like. I think the cymbals could come down in the mix to improve intelligibility of the harmony.

Personally I would not have gone past 1:36 on the first drop to give time to breathe -- may have chopped elements from the end of the first drop into the first half.

I can't really properly express how much I love this pile of dirt decaying in my ear holes. It feels like what my daily life with a TBI feels like. Forgetting shit constantly, not really knowing where I'm going half the time, and kinda feeling dead inside.

I also have no fucking clue why you're getting zero bombed.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Crazy Cats]

God damn alien seinfeld :'(

[ElevatorMusic]

I would use this as a ringtone

[SuperCynical]

Hey, it could always be worse. You could have no submission at all!

I'm hearing some clipping throughout, especially 54 seconds. I know this is made with LMMS and I have no idea how to ensure clipping does not occur in that DAW, however, I would recommend that you mix at a lower volume (and export at a lower volume), and amplify the track in a separate application or free online mastering platform. At this rate, it is much better than the quality achieved doing anything different.

The piece itself is pretty simplistic. Everything is clearly audible because of that. I think transitions would be the best point to focus on past this point -- after mixing of course. Transition sweeps, cymbals, and a bass line would make a lot of difference in that area.

Beyond that, good effort. LMMS is a hard DAW to work with and I give you props for trying at all!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Ye Olde Potion Seller]

Medieval hip-hop? Me too bro. Me too.

I think your 808, percussion, and string lead are too loud relative to the dulcimerish lead.

Your flute writing slaps though.

By any chance do you use Mixcraft? These percussions sound familiar.

I think there are too many kicks in your main drum loop. It sounds pretty cluttered. Your hihats also don't seem to be all that much varied. It feels as if the piece itself actually is quite busy throughout with no real time to breathe. I would recommend some study of song structure, weak and strong beats, etc., and reparsing out this idea later.

Typically when I write a beat, I start with just 4 measures, copy paste, then change the last 2 measures of the second half. Bingo, one drop. Copy and paste that, repeat the process changing the last 2 bars. Repetition legitimizes. That is then my final drop, or my last 2 drops.

I will then take elements of this and write an intro, one verse, and one bridge if I feel like it, using a lot of the same elements but not all -- otherwise it will again just sound like a big mess of drops/choruses. I typically will have a 4-8 bar intro, half a drop, a verse of 8 or 16 bars, a full drop, a verse, drop repeats, bridge, drop and outro.

I have a list of freebies and samples you might enjoy hiding in my newsposts, for hiphop and electronic music. Be sure to check that out.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!