ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lost Army (Original)]

I think I've found my new genre. Absolutely filthy. I think I've been going in this direction with my own music, actually, with a bit more videogamey sound.

[Max Pills]

Song is really nicely written and progressed, but it sounds very, very overcompressed, especially regarding that arp in the beginning.

The hard, percussion driven feeling you're going for could probably be best achieved with sidechain and slightly less compression.

For the dnb elements, chippy feel, and verses, I would probably suggest putting this in nerdcore :)

[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.