ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Night [NGUAC Enter](Original Mix)]

The idea for this piece is interesting, but there are a lot of dissonant chords. It usually has to do with your bass completely clashing with another bassline on the bottom of the chord. The section from 0:42, the bassline doesn't go with both the secondary bassline, or ANY of the leads, the clarinet synth loop, the piano, or the chords on the side.

The 2:32 section is also dissonant as well. I'm not sure what chords you want us to hear, other than the clarinet. I think it may be a case of hearing the dissonance enough times that it becomes normal. By 5:32 it certainly isn't pleasant to me, but I've become accustomed to it.

I'm not really able to offer much critique beyond that. You have what sounds like two different songs or an A and B section put together. So the best recommendations I'd have are some music theory and lead writing. Good channels for that are Holistic Songwriting, Signals Music Studios, and Ben Levin.

When it comes to songs, remember to keep things simple. Two basslines is one too many. Keep it simple. The more you can pare down a section or simplify parts and still get across an idea, the better, at least in most cases.

As for mix, I did hear a lot of reverb, and at points the percussion were drowned out, but I'll be honest, I wasn't really able to listen for that very well. As a rule of thumb, turn down reverb sends to about 75% of what you first wanted to do with them, turn the low cut up to 250hz, and make sure the percussion is the loudest part of your track -- meaning turn everything else down until you can hear them clearly without focusing on them. Use a reference track if necessary to get the volume levels where you want them, listening to a song you want to sound like and your own track, back and forth, until it sounds right to you.

Don't worry if your music doesn't come out like you want it to at first, or even most of the time. The more work you put in, the more songs you're putting out, the better you will become. Never give up. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[dubstep thingy lol (old-ish, 2020)]

I'm not gonna have a ton of critique to offer that I know would be useful for FL Studio Mobile, but a lot of things I notice are just overall mix clutter. The idea itself and the fact you were able to write this on a phone or tablet is great though. Shows how far music has gone.

So, on your builds, when the kick is rolling, pull back the sidechain attack and release so we don't just hear the kick. Hearing just the kick and snare is not what the audience came for

Bass wise, there's a sub under there that's kind of interfering with your growl. On the drop I would at least taper the sub with sidechain to the growl so it doesn't sound like an instrument is dropping out when they're not on the same note.

The rest of anything I could say would be reserved for how the mix is sitting. It's very bass and mid heavy, sounds like from 8khz and up we have a gradual rolloff of highs. I'd like to hear more hihat, a little more compression on your growl, less fuzz, more rounded out bass.

I'd love to see what you could do with a full version of FL Studio on PC. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Kierham responds:

Didn't really think about responding until now, but I'm new to mixing and mastering. I never really added sub basses up until SP4C3 R0B0TS because I'm on mobile whenever I make my songs (with the exeption of Jupiter and Breeze, made on FL Studio Trial Mode) and whenever I have new headphones, I always seem to break it after 1 day of usage.

[[DJKB] Into The Depths of The Lair]

Doesn't sound bad. Develops slowly at times and uses some more synthy real instruments. I would shy away from that actually. If you have Kontakt, Spitfire Labs has some nice alternatives to these, but I would honestly use a patch from something like SQ8L or dexed. Particularly on your choir and strings.

Mixing wise, watch out for burying your drums. It's hard to pick them out in places. I would turn everything else down until they are the loudest in the mix, then go from there. Naturally, that is what they should be, since the human brain isn't attuned to listen directly to percussion, as opposed to move with it.

Six minutes is pretty long for a track, but considering this is DnB, and you're usually writing to pitch up to a DJ, longer length makes sense.

Other than that, I would spend some time looking for some free VST libraries and samples. Spitfire LABS has a lot of stuff out for Kontakt, Native Instruments has a whole starter pack out of free and it seems mostly fully functional instruments, Ample Sounds has some good guitars and a cloud drum out for free, there's plenty of good stuff out there. Also Cymatics has some great percussion packs for free.

Try some of those and see what you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

AlmightyDJKB responds:

Thanks for the advice, and yeah I still have problems with mixing and equalizing all aspects of the audio so that it comes out perfectly nice.

Otherwise, I just use FL Studio mobile to make these songs, but thank you for the pointers in these new samples, because I could really use them. Especially since making my own can be really hard. So I am very grateful for that.

I hope to advance further in NGUAC

[raw!]

Wooooow that lead is loud! I had to turn down really quick. How hard is your compression? I would recommend turning it way down. There's all kinds of distortion by 1:02.

I really like your drops. Mixing is just hard to appreciate the great phrasing and sample usage you had with Gordon Ramsay. I actually can barely hear him.

I would recommend going back through this song, taking off the compression on your master, turning your PC volume to 20, and adjusting the level of every instrument. There's so much distortion, even on quieter sections like before 3:00 that that is distorting. It's so much I really can't comment on anything else.

A good rule of thumb before applying mastering FX is to have -6 dB of headroom on your master channel to work with. So start by turning every instrument down until you're there, mix until you like the way it sounds there -- then apply mastering FX.

And don't worry, you're not alone. The human brain tends to think louder is gooder. And consequently sausage fatten the shit out of everything. Raw. For this track it's absolutely not a hard fix. Just turn it down, THEN fatten, lol.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC, Котик!

K0TiC responds:

yeahh i kinda went overkill in ozone lol, ill take it into account in my future songs, thanks

[2019 New Years]

Cool little piece that sounds like it was a ton of fun to make.

Some comments on mix. Bass is barely audible in the mix. Rhythm sounds a little thin probably as a result. There are points in the beginning where the kick is way too loud. It could probably stand to come down a dB or two. The vocals might sound better panned 24-40% right and left respectively, rather than 100% left and right, and then compress them, cut off 250 hz and below or so. There are points where I can barely hear them as well due to the lack of compression.

There are also parts where the song distorts. Sounds like it was mixed very loud. To combat this you can leave -6 dB of headroom or so, then apply mastering compression. It's not a fix for a bad mix, but it will sound better than clipping, by far. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

johnnyq1233 responds:

I thank you for your review of the entrance piece. While I do strive to get my levels correct and below saturation levels... I fail to hear this in the submission as the guitars are supposed to be saturated...
There was a timing issue that was in the master... but, it didn't seem like a big issue.
The vocals at the beginning are the way they are supposed to be!!!!!
This track was submitted because it was something newer and had some decent traction.
It very well could have been fleshed out to a more clinique version, but some of the spontaneity might have been lost in the process.
I have heard recordings that were great and then destroyed by sterilizing the crap out of them.
I like to leave the liveness in my songs, good or bad, it just means that someone actually played that piece!

[Low Places]

Has a very modern hiphop vibe to it.

Some comments. Your tremelo chords are a nice choice. I would cut the low end off of them some to make room for that pulsing little bass.

I would also cut your reverb tail down. There's a technique called gated reverb that can get you that same sound without the muddy tail -- even when it's almost completely cut out, I can still hear that tail decaying through other instruments.

I feel the hihats are just a little too loud. Though the phenomenon of LEAD hihat seems to be going through hiphop these days.

It overall feels as if this song isn't really finished. We have sort of the same thing over and over until we end like we began.

Still, enjoyed the listen.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[AIM - Downpour]

Composition is nicely written, atmosphere well established. I would pull that whistling wind synth down some, also the high string swells, until the piano gets more established like at 1:30. I still feel it's quite loud there. As subtle as this piece is, it's very noticeable if anything is even slightly out of balance.

I may also clean up that reverb some. The low mids 250 hz and below are ringing out and resonating when you have low strings or other synths and not contributing to the space so much as making a little extra noticeable fuzz.

Otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Great work.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

JesseTikka responds:

Thanks so much!

[Lost]

Chord progression on this is nice. Sounds inspired by a mix of Marshmello and 21 Pilots.

Some more attention to mixing, cutting reverb sends and low cutting them to 250hz, and this would sound much cleaner and more concise. There are points where I feel the mix is overly sibilant.

I'm also not quite sure about the overall structure, where our drops are slated to begin, etc. Nothing sounds too out of place, but there seems to be a lack of dramatic builds or transitions that tell us, hey, we're heading toward a really satisfying drop -- until 3:27. That's what I feel we were lacking until this section.

I'm actually not able to hear most of that bass. Just the high end. Might see if something is going on with the mix there. How hard are we compressed, is there a sub under it, did you mean for those grating highs to sit on top, etc.

But otherwise, track slaps.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[My brother in a 2003 Ford Focus]

Nice heavy riffage here, but it's really hard to hear what's going on. I don't know if you're going for a lo-fi blackmetal aesthetic.

You've got a lot of frequencies sticking out on your guitars like sore thumbs, mostly just the distortion fuzz. I would recommend going through with something like ReaEQ and pinpointing them to bring down.

I can't hear if you have any reverb on anything, but if you do, bringing down the wet send and 250hz and below is a good move. I would actually cut your rhythm guitars off at 250 hz. The bass will take up this room nicely and it will sound better.

The drums here are struggling to cut through. Try turning everything else down until you can hear them clearly. That will help your aesthetic by miles, even excepting any guitar mixing issues.

But other than that, really enjoyed it. Super br00tal <3

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

jebuscrust9 responds:

I appreciate your feedback. I was absolutely going for a black/death metal type sound, so that may have influenced my decision making which in turn may have made things muddy.

I'll definitely try out some of the tips you gave, hopefully I'll have figured some of this stuff out by my next song. Glad you enjoyed it :)

[Psychedelic Dream - Lo-Fi Beat]

Love the reversed piano here. Think the sub could be a little less pronounced at 0:10 or so through 0:20.

I actually think the kick and snare may be about .2 to .5 dB too loud, and 808 about the same.

Otherwise, good structure, good use of samples. I think the sax is a little out of tune, and not in like, the pleasant way. But beyond that, song sounds great.

Yeah was totally unexpected also

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

IXentimenTI responds:

Hey. Thank you for you input.

Your criticisms of mixing are accurate, and reason for mentioned flaws is fact that this was actually mixed around vocals which were turned off. Recording quality of those vocals was not great so I had to compensate with beat itself when mixing.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean about saxophone being out of tune, but again, my pitch is far from great so I guess that covers that.

I'm glad you enjoyed the song though, and I'm also glad NGUAC is still going strong.