ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[Z3rky - 4019]

Very cool sound design in your intro.

I think your 808 and kick are slightly too loud by 20 secs. Sounds like soft clipping at the mixer. I want that riff you have going on to be much louder relative to the 808. I would also take down the very sibilant FX by about a dB or two.

Overall, it's a very nice, simple piece. I dig it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Fusion]

Slow, pensive piece. I completely was not expecting sweet, chill dubstep beats to occur.

The transition at 0:40 or so was also completely unexpected. Well written and just different enough to be fresh.

The lead at 1:07 is too loud by about .3 dB at least.

I am waiting for dubstep elements beyond percussion but not disappointed.

Transitions again are well done at 1:40, and nice little birdie noises greet me. Pleasant. Except that beep can calm down -- slightly more quietly. Perhaps crescendo into that volume. It feels like a metronome.

The melody throughout this piece is very slow and calm. I think the snare might be just slightly too loud at 2:42.

Another nice transition at 2:52 -- tame that super high squeal though on the end. It sounds like my tinnitus except it kinda hurts :P

A nice chorus and outro.

I don't really have a lot of critique because it's so simple and unobtrusive to the ear. Impressive that FL Studio Mobile is capable of decent compositions now.

Nice work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Castle Dregs]

I was waiting for some toccata and fugue vibes.

Interesting fusion of elements. I like that reversing shizzle. However I think your 808 is WAY too loud relative to the rest of the track. I can hardly hear your snare over it in any section where it is present.

Could also use some transition FX, crashes, reverse crashes, and etc. just to make transitions clearer. I want to hear some ride cymbals too.

At 1:55 the piece feels muddy, a lot of melodies and stuff going on that could probably be parsed out into other drops.

The song is also SUPER long for hip-hop at 5:40. That tells me some things could probably be cut out, like that section I was just talking out where the choir instrument and strings are being written in a way that doesn't necessarily serve the quality of synth you're using. For instance I might cut the 3:24 section to 4:30, sub in one more drop and leave the rest to 4:54 or so as an outro. A fade out is not needed.

Super, super long!

Beyond that, the ideas you have here are not bad at all. Some places I disagree with execution, like those super hard, super distorted 808s (which don't get me wrong I myself LOVE to spam) with a LOT of other elements on top and complex percussion. Give your ideas a little bit of space to breathe.

Also I have a sample pack you may enjoy -- Adreanaline, made myself, with tons of grimy 808s and percs for you. And a ton of other freebies packed away in my news posts for hip hop and industrial. I would recommend you some plugins right off the bat: kshmr essentials kick (percussion processor), Diablo Lite by cymatics (same), Pocket Blackus cello (a kontakt instrument free), Spitfire LABS (a ton of orchestral and other sample based intruments that are free), cinematic cymbals. If you go through my own audio discography I list a lot of the things I use most of the time. If interested, hmu and I will see what we can find for you.

That's really all I have to say I think on the piece. As we speak it has ended, and it is indeed stuck in my head despite mix issues. Very catchy. Excited to see what else you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

SednovaNova responds:

I appreciate the feedback. I will take it into consideration most definitely.

[elytra]

Я думаю, что с гораздо меньшим реверберированием, эта песня звучала бы намного лучше. Звуки переходов фраз песни довольно громкие относительно остальной части трека.

Я не могу отчетливо слышать арпеджио из-за реверберации и слишком громкой ведущей мелодии.

Несмотря на это, песня мне нравится очень. У нее хорошая структура, и она по моему отлично написана. Поздравляю.

Спасибо, что пришли на NGUAC!

[Follow Me]

The track is pretty quiet. I think you could run it through a free internet master or Audacity's amplify FX and fix that practically instantly.

1:05 is a nice, cheery bop. The song itself is quite simple and I don't know what critique to apply beyond I think it could use more than hipass play and a typical club beat in terms of percussion and FX to keep things interesting. Past 2:02 I'm not sure what else new could be brought to the table in such a minimal composition. 2:59 makes me much happier.

Nothing sticks out as ugly, perhaps due to the pentatonic feel of the track itself, as if all is supposed to indeed go through this very happy parallel motion. I am almost robbed of words of what to say I feel it lacks beyond wooshy wooshy noises, overt crash cymbals and reverse crashes, and perhaps a catchy bassline.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

DeweyDewster09 responds:

I appreciate the honest feedback it helps a lot!

[Dekiru - I'm Falling]

Oh, this intro is capital c cute!

Nice little can't-tell-if-it's-a-shamisen-or-koto melody. I think I would like a bit less tinny feel on that instrument.

I feel like we have a super long intro there into a build and another build, all the way up to 1:22 -- aaaand we're still building. 1:34 is quite a bit of a long intro! I would decide what could be chopped and moved into a different verse or bridge.

Mix wise I think 1:30 or so is almost unintelligible for your snare. The heavy sidechain makes it audible but if not it would just not be there. Up that snare and give him some space! Your bass also suffers in intelligibility from too much sub.

Other than that, at this point, 1:56 I am still enjoying your writing despite these issues. I think the grainy rain/vinyl samples could come down a full dB and still add to the sound.

The attack on your shami-koto w/e feels the absolute same on each note, especially noticeable on the sweep up

3:03 that lead is WAY too loud for this section. I can tell by how the compression reacts at 3:20 that this was mixed very loud. Also at 3:30 the compression is struggling to handle ALL that low sub as well as all your leads. It sounds as if you may have turned them up to cope with the rest of the song being super loud. Be sure to modulate your volume on individual clips as well as the whole instrument track!

At 4:18 I still think the lead is too loud. It also seems to lie flat in the space it sits in, no ping pong delay, etc.

Outro piano is super pretty.

All in all, after the LONG intro, I really enjoyed the listen. After that, the track knew where it was going and how to get there. I would cut the chaff on this one, as it is a long 5:13. Otherwise, I have no real critique. Your writing is noice. <3

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

dekiruGD responds:

Thanks for the review! I still have a lot to learn about mixing.