ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Auryle - Ragnarok (NGADM/NGUAC Entry)]

I love the idea and arrangement for this piece, but I think that mix needs to go back to the drawing board in a few places, at the instrument level. The master is of suitable compression it sounds like.

1:16 that djent guitar has a great rhythm and tonality, however I can't tell if it's double tracked or simply chorused. For more drive, space, and grit, it's best practice to double track or even quad track, which is to play two separate instances of the same riff panned left and right. The difference in ms between attacks and releases of the two instances make all the difference.

This would also be important at 0:20, where I also can't tell if I'm hearing a chorused or spread mono signal or two guitars panned separately. I would hi-pass the guitars at that point. They could also be eqed to emphasize the high mids a bit more and supported with a cleaner bass and sub. Cleaning out space in the low mids and bass range to make room for those chugs will help to push them harder.

1:10, your double bass pedal is not cutting through the mix. Needs sidechain applied either manually or via automation.

Outro is solid with multiple great modulations that make sense. Though I would back off the volume of the vinyl noise -- nothing else is in that space.

Cutting reverb amount and low reverb freqs would do a lot to clean up this mix and help push it harder.

In general, though, I love the experimentation and combination of elements from dubstep, metal, and choral/orchestral. In several instances, particularly your dubstep growls and bass elements, I think reducing the stereo field and volume slightly would help significantly. Same with any colorization. Then it's a matter of making sure that any other percussions cut through.

I've listened to this 3x through and still am very much enjoying your arranging. Great work!

8.1/10

[La Mort D'Internet]

A well deserved frontpage -- and brilliant idea to have yourself get to doing a diary. I'm envious of your ability to speak off the cuff!

If this wasn't already frontpaged, I'd have done it myself!

As you go along, I notice your mix improving -- this one seems to have a bit much of high end rolled off for my taste, but the arrangement's variety and crisp progression makes up for a LOT in terms of mix. The vocal mix is crisper than the rest of the mix, making for contrast, but I actually think you could afford to de-ess manually and/or with a plugin to lessen such contrast -- as it actually heightens the sense of high-end rolloff for me. I would afterwards pump the vocals a bit more.

Spacing and texture in the mix is great, also makes up for the EQ profile quite a bit.

The addition of a sludgy oldschool guitar breakdown also took this to the next level for me. I'm not sure what genre I'd put it in -- experimental is a mixed bag. This might even be considered poppy, by today's terms. But I do feel the cohesive blend of breakbeat, hip-hop, and classic rock/metal in full force. Blending the three is a feat of magical proportions.

The master is also of suitable volume. Could potentially be pushed just a hair more.

Lyrical content is 100% on point. Lots of pop culture references, general brilliancy.

5/5 for friendship. 8.8/10 for competition

SkankyMojo responds:

Thanks ADR3-N, that's amazing feedback, the detail is very much appreciated. <3

[Autumn Girl]

I hate to say this, but the bass is really, really out of tune. Like wrong notes out of tune. Other wise I would have rated much, much higher! I would also look into some tutorials for mixing anime opening rock, because you have the composition nailed down to a T, but the mix feels a bit centered and tin-canny.

Besides that, great lead playing, great writing overall, and master looks perfectly compressed for the genre. Fix the bass, and you have solid gold!

itskosama responds:

yea, I got carried away with other parts I drowned out bass and it slipped me by.

But in the spirit of turning something in, I worried I might not have the opportunity to fix it and re-turn it in time when I noticed it in my car (it has better bass to standout). It's like they say, don't only mix with headphones.

Either way, I'm extremely grateful to participate because it pushed me to make something, anything. The time constraint, community event, and seeing all the cool creations is what I needed to fuel me to make more music!

Thank you! :)

[Lightspeed (NGUAC Knockout Round + NGADM Round 1 Entry)]

@JFetius is asking for the ID for Geometry Dash -- as a lot of GD players who are new to the site tend to do. It's the numbers at the end of the URL for the NG track ofc.

Wish I had more time to leave a proper in depth review. This track is great. There are some incidences of crackle throughout (did you put vinyl noise anywhere??) The only thing I would suggest to change is to reduce level of reverb somewhat and not squash QUITE that much on the compressor on the master. The clarity is suffering as a result somewhat

[Fox in the forest]

@krasci, given that you have a fox icon, I assume you would know -- but this sounds awfully intense! I wonder what kind of sports they're playing, or if you mean by the extraordinarily hyperactive nature of foxes, this is just their fun-in-the-sun music... or rather, fun in the leaves and dirt.

But enough funny business, compositionally this has good flow, is crazy energetic. The hihats are cutting through fine, but the kick and snare could use extra help with sidechaining against the bass. The overall volume of the entire track can stand to come up. This is pretty quiet for a master!

[Keep Them Coming! (NGUAC Knockout Round)]

Having played a LOT of pokemon games on the Game Boy SP in my time, words can not express how much I enjoy the whiny strings and brass hahahah. Think that was emulating a french horn.

Your composition is striking, and your phrasing is fantastic. What could be improved upon is the mix on the bass, the transients of the gameboy drums to cut through, and bringing out the bass of the bassline in the mix, as well as overall mastering volume. A little googling along these lines goes such a long way, especially when it's the only thing getting in your way. Keep at it!

Voting 5 on NG for personal preference.

Interloping responds:

I definitely agree about the bass, Ive considered raising it a few times now because it really doesnt get a lot of chances to shine the way I want it to, especially since its constantly going hard as hell. Thank you for the tips, I need all the help I can get!

[(NGAUC '24 KO Round) Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen]

The only problem I have with this song is the bass feels squashed up and overly tight. The finger picking sounds FANTASTIC. You should do it more often.

But yeah, give the bass some more body in the low range so the kick doesn't stick out like a sore thumb as the only thing in that range, and this would get a near perfect ten from me. I might also swap drums to something with more snare body as well.

Excellent lead writing and phrasing.

[Deep Down]

This is great! Only real improvement I can see to be made is the volume of the master to be more competitive with other songs of the same genre.

Farmobus responds:

ik but d't think it's a big problem 🤔. of course, i've tried to normalise it, but it d't leads to a good result hmm.

anyway, thx for your remark!

[melting into goo]

I second @SicraMusic, Audacity is miles harder than any other DAW I've ever worked with (easier now, but having to compose entirely in another DAW is the hard part)

If you think Ableton is wild, Mixcraft might be up your alley. It's uber simple in terms of UI by comparison. I'm giving a 5 for mixing in Audacity on NG just for sheer effort this must have taken. Also, for using soundfonts and making them sound good.

[~cC~ Hands Up, Alien Overlords!]

I really think that sax lead could be swapped out for another more obvious synth instrument and seriously improve this piece. Your key solos in particular were great. Any sort of synth would do, even a stock sine or saw lead, because it isn't your writing that holds this piece back -- it's the dadgum articulations on that sax! I just can't get past it. I 100% think that a different choice of synth would take this to the next level!

CelestialChaos responds:

I really appreciate the review! I agree that the sax was a little rough, unfortunately I kinda forced myself to include that instrument and use the best sound font for it I could find. I was happy with the way the solos came out so thank you for the kind words!