ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Great Beyond]

Just a touch more punch and crunch on those drums, maybe a bit less hihat, and this would be a five for me. I think I'd like a little bit less volume on the scratches, or some panning. Maybe some reverb or delay play? The track feels like it wants to be spaced out. Great work!

Casper responds:

Yeah, i was thinking about some reverb and delay on those scratches

[YMER]

You know, I don't even mess with my EQ. I have a pair of Audio Technical m40xs and just make sure to turn the treble down as much as I can remember to. They give such a flat sound I often find myself overrepresenting to compensate for that... and probably hearing damage.

This track is really cool. Enjoying the bass itself. Might do well with a sub or a subtle reese under it -- perhaps even some liquidy chorus.

As for phase and punch, I'm not hearing any phase issues -- but I'm on headphones again.

That gurgling bass accent is really mid heavy, low mids, 250hz or so? I would roll off a little of the speaking range frequencies and maybe even low pass it some. Perhaps you could bring it from right to left in the mix space. Actually I'd like it if you did that with some of your ethnic percussions before that final drop

The bass could use a heavier, grungier amp to match your percussion's grit. Think Korn's Fieldy and his nasty, stringy sound.

Overall, a really smooth listen. I may bring treble down some, but that's personal preference more likely than not. Great work!

Also, what is that bell at 4:33. I've got to have that sound! I'm looking at remixing some more tracks from Age of Mythology, and that's exactly the sound I'm trying to approximate.

EDIT: Congrats on the front page!

PlinkoPlonko responds:

Thanks for the great response!

[Lotad - Don’t Try]

There's some nice ideas embedded in here, but a lot of it is covered up by noise. The cymbals should come down some. There is also really low sub noise that seems to clash in the first half, and is really overly present throughout.

I'd sample some of those chords toward the end though. They're really interesting!

[{Rooldook} Hyperblink]

Hey! Adrean here. Caught your post in audio advertisements. :)

The sound in the intro is interesting. Actually, everything is. It sounds very spaced out, like a chorus has been put on the entire track. I like that as an effect, but for the whole track is almost sounds like I'm listening from another room. I'm not sure if that's what you're going for.

I wouldn't classify this as any genre I know outside of a mix of dnb and maybe house of some kind. Don't take my word for it though. I never know what genre to put my music in.

I think if you were to make the bass mono up to about 210 hz, this would gel together a little more. And probably use a harder, grittier snare. I have tons of sample packs listed on my latest newspost (am also coming up with a sample pack, PM if you'd like to be on the waiting list)

The end of the track gets really distorted and full, in contrast to the beginning. I thought about turning it down some, and it doesn't feel like it develops much with the very light, dry sounding drums. Maybe look up how to accomplish a gated reverb or add a ping-pong delay for some hits, with some standard transition noises. Your writing is good. The production just needs that extra punch. And to be sure, nothing was overtly offensive sounding at all. Just needs some polish on the mix/master.

Don't worry. If this is your first couple years of serious pieces, and you haven't fallen down the tutorial rabbit hole, you're making good progress. Keep at it, and keep laying down ideas. You may find you want to revisit them later.

Enjoyed the listen!

Rooldook responds:

Thank you for your feedback, I really like and appreciate it. <3

[Cube V2]

The mix in the beginning is a bit low mid heavy. I suspect it's the low pass combined with lots of reverb. You can actually cut a lot of that away to 150-250 hz without losing a lot of the breathy character. If you have a lot of low mid going on in your melodies as you do here in the intro, I actually really recommend it

I enjoyed the tempo increase you did into 1:20. I would probably bring the entire chorus/drop to bear right there with your bass line, if applicable. It feels like a lot of builds up to this point and I'm ready for a drop!

Also, that cymbal is trash, no offense. It's dry. Try getting a sample pack online or something. There's lots of freebies to be had -- check my page if you're really stumped where to look. I have a news post of lots of free instruments I think you would enjoy.

The cymbal is really loud at points. You might think cymbals are loud, but listen to your favorite compositions. They're actually quite far down in the mix. I might also put a ping pong delay on it if you plan to use it as is. In this genre all your hihats, cymbals, snares, etc, should have a spacy feel to not stick out. Reverse cymbals leading up to the crash and sweeping transitions are great for making smooth transitions

I'm noticing there really isn't a bassline. Not that I can hear

The detuned piano actually sounds quite nice. Didn't expect that!

Anyway, nice track. I actually really enjoyed the listen and think you did a great job writing your leads. I myself have trouble with that. Great work. Keep doing what you're doing, and you'll go far :)

[Einveru.]

Wow this was not what I was expecting hearing your work with @Ultramartyr. You have a really nice voice. I'd like to hear this in a heavier style, honestly, but it sounds quite good. Might add a small delay to your vocals, take the drums down .3 dB or so, and bring the vocals up by .2

Great work

[Once Buried]

Miss you, man. I've always loved the rough, gritty quality of your tunes. This is a little quiet -- could probably be fixed with just a free online master at this output volume if you don't want to spend a lot of time doing that yourself. It sounds like the high 18-22k is overrepresented in the cymbals, and the drums themselves could use some compression. I would also take the bass up by anywhere between .5 to 1.5 dB. It's sort of hiding with a low end fuzz. I can only hear a bit of sub.

But not complaining. The writing of this piece was pretty splendid

[Inktober #4 - Actualize]

Wow this is wild. I never imagined somebody spitting on this track! It was intended as a score :o

Now that I think about it, the structure makes sense. I think this is a vibe!

Onto the mixing, it's getting better and better with time, whether you know it or not. I might cop something like KSHMR Essentials (Kick, the free version) and see if I can use the width function on those adlibs.

Regardless, if you can get just a little more clarity in that upper mid, your flow believe it or not will almost totally outshine most mixing issues. I still would probably drop or chop a little tighter some of the adlibs. Occasionally they run over each other and get a little muddy.

But overall, this slaps. Glad my junk inspired you to make such impressive flows. Great work!

Cyberdevil responds:

Glad you liked it! I do love spitting particularly on tracks not intended for spitting on. XD

Hmm definitely was an elaborate attempt with this one but I feel like it might've actually been a step back since the first, turned out a bit messy somehow, vocal tone a little blander, which is why I tried messing around with a bit too many layers I think. But maybe that's not really the mixing, just the recording this time. Anyway that'd be awesome if you want to! I'm thinking when Inktober's over and all has calmed down I could give this another run too, but anytime you want to mess around with and potentially greatly improve a mix I'm happy to send over files. :)

Yeaah more clarity seems key. I do agree. Gotta work on that.

Thanks for the feedback again ADR3-N! And your tracks really are dope you know! Addictive just like coke and blow! Though more so empowering and soulful so.

[Inktober #1 - Run]

You know, as much as you say you aren't happy with the vocal quality, despite some muddyness on adlibs, the overall quality is improving by leaps and bounds with each year that goes by. Your flows are becoming more and more refined. I think if you were just a bit more selective with your chopping vocals, pare down the track number just a bit, or perhaps have one lead center vocal that's nice and clean, and apply a chorus, eventually you'll get results. Keep experimenting.

The mid is just a bit heavy on the vocal, making it sound just a little nasal, but it's not overly sibilant from what I can hear on laptop speakers. Try some EQ play and compression -- by the way, check my latest post, some vocal processing freebies are on there.

Glad to see you still at it as always. Keep it up!

Cyberdevil responds:

Hey thank you ADR3-N, good to get an outside perspective on things; hear that I am actually getting somewhere. Yeah I gotta master the chopping, though it felt like the muddiness worked pretty well with the beat in this particular case sometimes, especially towards the end. More so feel I didn't manage the right tone and all, voice strains too quick, but that should get better.

Hmm I totally forgot the EQ advice I picked up last year!!! Thanks for that reminder! I'll check out that post too.

Always. :) Thank ya very much for stopping by for the premiere; dropping all this very useful feedback no less!