ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Vista Sounds - Air]

This mix is a bit sibilant for my taste and has a lot of reverb wash on it, but is nicely written. I'm not sure that it belongs in hiphop, maybe dance, but I won't swap the genre. Occasionally on those rolled bell like key leads, the volume spikes noticeably. Watch out for that. Maybe compression will help there :)

The percussion is a strong point, but it could use much less reverb. Also, the bass seems to be cluttered by other low mid frequencies from what sounds like mostly reverbs or sustains elsewhere in the mix. You could probably afford to saturate it a little and bring it up in the mix, as well as high pass those reverb signals and other instruments up to 250 hz or so.

Composition is very nice. Keep doing what you're doing!

[Tong Kat Ali]

I confess, I absolutely hate the bass instrument used, maybe could use swapping or an elaborate fuzzy fx chain applied to it as it just sounds dry to my ears, but otherwise really like the presentation. It's very aphrodisiac like :P

There has to be something to make those fantasia/pads a little more lively. Maybe a slow LFO with a high/low pass?

[SH - Battery Acid]

Hehehe this beat is absolutely mischievous! Just a few changes on the mix and a few different choices of note -- some areas the instrumental itself either follows a predictable fall in the 808 or clashes slightly with the mariachi sample.

I would take down your arp just slightly in the mix, up the vocal chops or compress them more evenly. I might also apply some sort of LFO so that the arp itself feels more lively, whether it's a wah wah effect, some distortion, just something to give it more breath. You could also cut the release some more, and take down the reverb a bit. It feels very soft and ... unpressurized on top of the beat. I would want more of a screeching tone, take it down some, etc.

Anyway, grats on the front page. Sounding good :)

[CHEESE WORLD HEYOPC INSTRUMENTALS]

Did you seriously sample Gucci Mane chops? hehehe. Nice to see you popping out full albums.

heyopc responds:

yessir i did

[ntfrl 2021]

Nice drill elements here and creative instrumentation. It's not perfect, mostly on the mixing side, as the melodies themselves are entertaining in their own right, but it works.

For the mix, it's a little sub heavy, and it sounds like you have different sub frequencies and low reverb frequencies cluttering the bass up. You can clean up your leads and other synths with EQ to keep room for the bass. There are tutorials for this on youtube which are great for the purpose. Beyond that I would hi pass filter any reverb or delays no lower than 250 hz just to eliminate a lot of that noise, then use side chain to keep them tame and all your percussion snappy. Some people use gates as well to quiet all that wash when the instrument isn't playing.

I would like to see a little less factory Nexus keys, or at least some FX to breathe life into them. But overall I really like it.

[Infectious]

It's like, drill hip hop mixed with videogame. I think your 808 could come out some more in the mix with some saturation or distortion to bring out the high mids.

Structurally, I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Some of your synths are very bouncy and continue throughout. The arps come in a little unexpectedly and also at predictable intervals. Everything doesn't seem to be in the same key except with regard to the minor I chord.

But don't sell yourself short. Just because you can't quite figure out what you want to do with a song -- and I'm definitely someone in this category most of the time, so I just shove stuff in and say the hell with it -- that doesn't mean you're getting worse at music. It just means you need to figure out where the cutting room floor is, and that's not a bad thing. It means you have places to go :)

[UNDERDOG]

Idea is spectacular. Some mixing issues, it sounds really heavy on the sub and boxy low mids. I hear that long reverb tail a little bit before 2 minutes. If you want to keep it, I would do some aggressive side chaining on it to your percussion, and also cut everything up to the low mids. It sounds like Nexus piano, which is really bad about leaving all those dirty frequencies unfiltered in its delay and reverb settings.

For your 808, I would apply some distortion and give it a little more high mids, see what that does.

Your hihats could stand to come down in the mix a little, to taste. There's nothing in that space. Believe me, everyone will hear them.

Other than that, great work :)

TekNoTaku responds:

Thanks again my friend. You know what you are talking about because your mentions of VSTs are on spot. I'm really glad to get your advice, since I look at you as a professional and a higher level music creator. I will try to apply your observations, and 4 real...thanks a lot. People like you are really needed to help others like me grow and get better.

[Into the deep]

Sounds like a nice contemporary idea, and the rhymes ain't bad. The adlibs in the back and cutting itself is okay. It sounds with the production like you're performing at mic night and that's your recording though.

There are lots of tutorials on mixing vocals, but some quick recommendations from me, I would cut everything below 250 hz on the vocal so it doesn't sound boxy. You might actually be able to take a free all in one plugin like KSHMR Essentials, even the free Kick version and up the pressure and tape saturation to achieve a tighter, less PA pumping. To remove those harsh P, B, and F sounds while recording, you can take a t-shirt and coat hanger if a storebought pop filter is out of your range.

As far as the beat, the percussion, with the exception of the hats, isn't cutting through like it should. I'm not sure what DAW you use, but I would side chain the instrumental with the snares, claps, and kicks, the 808 to the kick, etc. I would reduce the hihat by about 2 dB at least, while taking up the snare/hat, and kick up in the mix.

Make sure the volume of your acapella is consistent throughout. I'm not sure if it's compression on the master, or if it's ducking in and out. At some points it's quite loud.

After listening through twice, it doesn't sound bad. There are some spots where in your delivery, particularly adlib "eeeeeeh" where it sounds like you're not projecting confidently. Can you imagine any of your favorite artists sounding like that trying to get you hype? The verses themselves are great disses, but remember every part of the track got to have the same vibe.

Beyond that I would recommend doing some of your own processing on your samples to make them your own. KSHMR Essentials Kick is a free plugin I've been using for transients, fizz, width, and compression all in one box, and it isn't just limited to kicks :) I also recommend GComp2 for gating. If you want plugin or samples other than what I mentioned, hit me up.

Good luck, and keep doing what you're doing. It's a long road to great sound, but it's only onward and upward from here :)