ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[deltatunes - Battle in the Dark]

Really smooth tune, lots of variation and modulation I hear going on in your synths.

Only thing, your drums are hiding. Bring them out by lowering the volume of other instruments and mixing at a quiet output volume level. Then apply mastering compression until you get a suitable volume. Try out some mixing tutorials and see what happens. As far as I'm concerned, that's really the only thing this track lacks.

Great work. Keep it coming!

ItsStephJM responds:

I was worried about the drums being too loud so I may have overcompensated in lowering the volume on them.

In general I like messing with all the soundfonts and VSTs I've accumulated over 5 years, it's why there's a massive variance in the synths!

Thank you for the critique!

[Solar Flare]

That arp is really smooth. You have a lot of cool ideas going on here. I think what would benefit you most is studying song structure and possibly grabbing some free vsts off the internet to experiment with, maybe some music theory. Take some time and watch tutorials on YT, and see if you can get inspired to create something in an organized manner. I believe in you!

[Charlie Chaplin's last speech but w/ bg music]

This sounds like the intro to an awesome album. Only gripes, those strings could be replaced with a more obvious synth instrument so they don't stick out so much. Also your snare could come down and have some reverb or delay.

Look up gated reverb which may help you.

The hihat is turned up far too loud so that it makes it hard for me to hear Charlie and pay attention to him

[Final Words]

Not a bad beat. Just writing this to let you know I've moved it to hip-hop modern genre. Really appreciate your drop. Although I wish you would have stuck with the hip-hop style throughout as opposed to going to a really basic sounding EDM. The chords on the sides during that drop are quite loud, hiding the drums and even sounding louder than your sub.

So it comes out as a hiphop track with a rather long contemporary pop edm bridge. But other than those sections I really like it.

[Color Drunk]

Not a bad little tune, and spicy chords. I think the only thing I could ask for is more variation. That will come from studying song structure -- I know the first thing I thought about that was that I didn't want my work to sound like everyone else's, but having that general idea of direction will allow you to write your fullest sections and build toward them for a more satisfying result :)

[Pixel Plaza]

Right off the bat, this sounds pretty damn cool. I like the chords and arpeggios, lead is smooth, and mixing is inoffensive. I would do something to remove the clicking when the bass comes in.

[Just jammin around]

You could probably cut out that hum by eqing out the particular frequency or applying multiband compression

End result is muddy, bar rock-ish. I do like your lead playing. You've got potential if you start seriously songwriting, find yourself a DAW that can support vsts, a bass and drum set in particular. I have recommendations if you're interested :)

Overall, sounds nice, even given the limitations of software and hardware.

[Chill sad acoustic.]

Coincidentally all my favorite chords. I'd like to see you revisit this with a bit more consistency after having played a while. Last section of single picking fingerstyle grabbed my attention. :)

JimmyBiscuit responds:

I love those chords I play them all the time. Most of this is just improvised and I choked in the middle of it a little if my memory serves me well. I've been playing for almost 2 years and yeah, I need to get a little more consistent with my stuff lol.

[I Wrote]

Wow that was not where I was expecting you to go with that intro chord progression. Interesting choice.

Your mixing on your vocals is flawless.

My only gripe, I think would be the piano tone itself. I might have chosen a different instrument there, like a high bassline with a sub bass or something similar on the lower octave.

Lyrics themselves are pensive and sensitive without being overly so. Pretty great, especially for the genre, which normally isn't my cup of tea. You've got the voice of someone I imagine to be photogenic, in a guy next door kind of way. Not sure how else to put that, but it's a compliment haha.

Would love to see a process on how you manage your vocals

floorboardofficial responds:

Thanks so much for the thoughtful review! I agree I could've done something better with the bass end. I think a piano could work, but maybe a bit harder of a piano tone with better EQ, but my ears still aren't that great at perceiving these things, especially with mixing the low-end. But glad you liked it! And it's nice hearing some affirmation about the lyrics because I'm not all too confident with them.

Thanks again for the thoughtful review! I'll definitly consider putting something together to show how I appraoch my vocals if people would find that valuable.

[Prototype X9]

One of if not the best dnb tracks I've heard in recent memory. I'm practically without any point of critique. Although I do think it may benefit from just a bit more distortion and possibly compression on the eight string, maybe a bit of sub under it to help it cut through as aggressively as its synth bass complement. Could just bump it up .3 dB and see what happens. Otherwise, flawless victory. Really surprised me. Frontpage in my humble opinion well deserved!