ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cs - 'Baptism of Fire']

Right off the bat, I like your writing, but the mix is very, very dirty. Turn down that reverb, turn down that delay -- low cut those FX and every instrument that's not a bass to 250 hz or so. Right now all those frequencies are in the way of your kick and that octaved bass so that I can't hear it on phrases where we have that low saw. I feel like we're relying on sidechain to make sound mixing decisions for us in keeping that low end tight, and that's just not its strongsuit.

I would also say our leads are somewhat too loud. Or rather, everything else is so much louder than the percussion. I would turn all that down until you can clearly hear kick and hihats. It sounds like you're trying to get more overall loudness out of the track than it wants to give by compressing, as the outro is about as loud as the track was 30 seconds before it, despite subtracting elements. Try not to mix with any compression on the master. In fact I would even recommend turning your PC volume down as low as you can tolerate while mixing, in order to stimulate mixing things with clarity. Be sure to leave -6 dB or so of headroom before applying compression or mastering effects it will make life much easier.

Anyway, enjoyed the piece. That's a really catchy line you have in the low saws. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Csucskos responds:

Thank you! Without any modesty, I think this song turned out pretty cool melodywise and I'm also happy with the variety I managed to pull off, but it was just really lacking the punch. (It was boring.) I did not know what to do, and I wanted an experts review on it, thus I entered NGUAC... I guess I'm a real bum.

I applied your advice and it seems to be working. Now I just have to readjust the volumes, but it sounds more interesting as before (turns out, it wasn't as good as I imagined it to be). So thank you!

I'm not really sure about everything though. I wanted this song to be punchy and loud, as usually my songs turn out to be too quiet even on max volume on my phone :/ and this tune should bang! I don't know what the delays do (in terms of muddiness), I did not use them too much in the song, but just to be safe I turned them down a little. I like to use reverb on almost everything, as without it they just sound too sterile. So I usually slap it on every percussion and main melody element.

The hihats though should be in the background, as they are not at all interesting, I don't intend to change them. (Ohh, and why should I mix quiet? Don't I need to hear everything? I guess I can give it a try.)

Just to sum up: Massive thank you for the useful advice, it already helped a lot. I don't aggree with everything, but compared to before, when I just know something was wrong, but did not know what, now at least I have some leads to follow. Cheers!

[Persona Masquerade]

Great, classically inspired writing. Reminds me of the good old days in the techno genre.

Mix wise, we're super reverb heavy. I would reduce the wet signal, low cut up to 250 hz, and make some room in the mix for your snare. These days you could probably do sidechain, but I would recommend turning down other instruments, namely your leads, in increments of .5 dB or so, until you feel the snare sitting comfortably in the mix. There are points, like your outro, that the lead completely buries even the bass. An easy way to hear this burying, just turn down your PC volume to 20% or so. What happens with loudness is our brain tends to automatically perceive loud as good. So turning your volume down and taking off the mastering FX helps make decisions that counter what would otherwise be just hum-ho decision making on the mixing end.

The ending for me felt a little tacked on. I wasn't quite ready for such an abrupt stop. Otherwise, really enjoyed the composition. Great work.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Spicy Flower]

Spicy flowers? I hear spicy chords :3

I absolutely am incapably of reproducing this genre, not because it's ridiculously hard or anything -- but because I'm not this damn patient. My critique will lie on mix. Bass is absolutely way too loud in the sub range here, to the point of pushing the whole mix out of balance at points. I would take it down at least .5 db

Also, those snaps, I would either take down, or take advantage of some sort of delay or reverb/glitching to have them present but not really sticking out that much.

I would also take your tin can drum FX and take those up some more. EQ them to be more sibilant. Be proud of those unusual sound choices.

3:02 is massive -- I think I hear some distortion in the 18-22 khz range. Watch out. But other than that, this piece has me sold. Great work!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Crazy-Unicorn responds:

Thank you for the feedback! :3

[Breath- Conceptual Themed Avant-Pop]

The breathing sound is driving me insane in the intro -- but I understand this is avantgarde pop. Other than that, pretty fantastic production, and said breathing sound eventually does start to work nicely in the production. You've got a lot to say, and it shows in even how you've used it. Great work.

Most of my critique will sit on mix. I want more of those hihats to come out. The breathing swell is louder than they are. Also, breathing swell is a little sibilant -- so are the vocals. I would probably compress the vocals more and do some de-essing.

Overall, sounds nice and professional. Bring out the kick and snare some more and you'll have a good, concise 00's sound. I would also chop off some sub 250 hz frequencies on any reverbs or non-basses you have just to make those basslines fit in a little nicer, maybe get 0.1 or 0.2 more dB to squeeze out of them.

Overall great piece. It'll be stuck in my head for a while.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

ConnorHeather responds:

Great feedback much appreciated will take everything on board for my next projects!
Thanks again!

[All Lights on Me]

Jesus Christ -- dnb videogame music. Scared me for a second there.

Your lead writing is good, great for VGM. I might actually just take an intro and put on before we get those abrupt dnb breaks with VGM percussion. It worked very well at 1:40 for you :)

I would probably take your lead and harmony down a little bit. They're loud enough that without the dnb breaks it's already hard to hear the bass. I might even take the bass and make a more involved part there. With just the two notes, it almost sounds like we have two songs against one another, one that's gotta go fast, and one that's just chilling in like, pokemon for GBA land.

The transition after say 2:50 or so into the B section of the song was a particular example of this, and the song itself is a very drawn out acquired taste. If I didn't have exposure to old videogame music, dnb, and blastbeat metal, I probably wouldn't be having a great time listening to it.

The naked section at 5 minutes is nice. I'm not sure why the breakbeats come back in if we're going back into an outro again there. It feels like we were going to do something and then forgot, as well as the chord tacked on the end, kinda feels the same.

But A for effort for this one. I know programming this had to be ... fun, haha.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

colorsCrimsonTears responds:

Thanks for taking the time to drop a review,
it's definitely appreciated.

Thanks for the advice.
I like loud music so it's hard for me to tell when it's TOO loud. Oops.
But I am trying to learn to mix everything better.

I too come from a background of listening to old game music. Probably one
of my favorite genres.

I have a consistent style when making tracks, and part of it is
a repeat of the start but without the backing instruments. It's just kind of a thing I do.

Anywho, thanks again for your time.

[Alone Together (A Covid 19 Love Song)]

You had me at sharing TP.

Actually what keeps this from being a hit with me is the range of the vocals. They might even work well with the autotune and other FX if just sung higher, say like a blink-182, not even aggressively, even as flatly mixed as they are.

Beyond the vocals, which I won't touch more than that, I can't really hear the bass much, and the guitar seems to be mostly just 8th notes. Might want to spice that up some with some simple palm muted chords. Nothing fancy. :)

Drums sound your standard e-kit. So, garage band. I would try to get a better kit if you can. The cymbals don't sound too bad, ride is passable, but the hi-hat is frankly ass. I recommend something like Cymbalistic if you can't afford to buy a synth... As for snare there is Saudade snare, Black Noh, Cherry, and several other good free snares. And I'm trying to remember if Dark V2 is the kick I use. Plenty of options

So yeah, the biggest gripe I have, I just can't get behind talk singing in a low register that can't quite decide what pitch it wants to be on a punk song! But the lyrics are great. I really encourage you to revisit this up an octave. Show us your real voice!

And never stop writing. The more you do, the better you get. We live and we learn. Never stop pursuing your passion, especially if it's as funny as this :P

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

codemonkey77 responds:

Thanks for taking the time for the review man, going to keep rocking and go for it again next year!

[Even tho idk]

Interesting intro. This mix is super low and low mid heavy. Treble is really subdued, bassline is super loud compared to the vocals -- at 1:06 this is particularly pronounced, as that lead in the low mid range is louder than even the percussion.

So, in order of loudness, I would set my track up drums, lead vocals slightly louder than bass, just enough to be heard nice and clear, and then auxiliary instruments.

So, you've got a great hook here, but I'm having problems hearing it clearly with those acidy vibes. Bring those drums up, bring those hihats out. Clean up your low end -- take 250 hz and below out of everything that isn't a bass, especially reverbs, and including the vocals -- but I would use a multiband compressor for that.

Lacking clarity on your vocal mixing. I'd like to hear more of your 5k to 10k. You can use a de-esser to eliminate any complications that might bring to the piece. Vocal mixing is definitely something to work on, particularly on that YEAH in the intro. It distorts pretty rough. That could be a recording issue.

But very cool and catchy idea. I like it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

CHiLEDAWG responds:

i appreciate it man, thanks so much for the clear and honest feedback <3

[Priest River]

This mix is really sibilant, a little more than I'd like. Alternating between that and having a lot of boxy mid. I think the culprit is a ton of reverb. I'd cut down the 250 hz and below of every reverb instance, and every synth that isn't your bass.

Writing wise, piece is great, but a lot of it is being covered up by muddy mixing, and volume levels covering up a lot of finer elements. I'd take the computer volume down to about 20%, see how everything is sounding to you, and mix until I could both clearly hear the bass as well as whatever elements of melody and harmony I wanted. That lead you have in the mid range on your drops to me is about 1 to 2 dB too loud, and that's a pretty big difference! Your tabla samples by comparison are much, much, lower, and I know you wanted those to stick out on a transition.

I would have also cut the low passed synth at 0:38 out, or dropped the volume down much lower for that transition. That's part of that boxy sound.

Basically the way things are mixed, it sounds like you might have already had your mastering FX on before trying to mix in your various elements, so the finer points like tablas you want to show us aren't sticking out. Like the beautiful harmony under 2:31 that I can't hear under the lead!

Anyway, enjoyed the listen. Keep taking your inspiration from the wider world around you, and keep writing. You've done a great job. Keep writing, keep mixing, keep sampling, and your work will keep getting better and better.

Until next time, see you around. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Harmful Love - Nathan Dzul]

Hey, I have some songs made in times like this -- I'll just say I really hope things work out between you, and not just for the good of the relationship -- for you! That's what matters. It feels almost as you're typing, that you're afraid of her seeing anything you might say, and if not her, the rest of the world, and that you are a person who is very sensitive and caring when it comes to how that might make people think.

I can hear the tension in this piece, even without the rain, which I actually would fade out or down somewhat. The way it is in the soundstage, it's distractingly open, compared to where the piece is sitting. You can change this somewhat with panning the instruments farther apart, cutting the low 250 hz of reverbs and delays -- I find that's what actually sticks out the most to me that everything is happening in a different space than the rain.

Writing wise I really like what you've done with different sections, especially when we get the wind chimes. That was very, very nice, even if I didn't necessarily like the lead writing at that point!

At 2:48, I feel like the march elements and synth aren't really going great together for me -- like a forced happiness, but it was introduced very well with that swell.

I feel the greatest point of benefit for you will be lead writing practice and maybe some structure. Sometimes I didn't know where you were going with a melody, or why, or what the structure was doing. You might find some channels like Signals Music Studios, Holistic songwriting, and Ben Levin to be of interest.

In any case, I enjoyed the listen, and I'm glad you have an outlet like music for your feelings. Keep on feeling, and keep on going. The more you write, the better you will get, and even though that won't guarantee your happiness, it will make you fulfilled. Never stop the music, and never stop following your dreams, no matter what. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[CDJeremy - Bassy]

Interesting writing here, and switching between two basses. I find the second really points out where the first is lacking. If you like that sound, I'd mix them to the point they had a similar response.

0:58 I'm having PTSD from sound font piano sounds. I would swap to a synth, say from a free instrument like SQ8L.

Actually, I really feel here that available synths to the arranger is where you're suffering the most. You've got good idea, structure is good, mixing is passable.

The biggest issue with mixing I hear is drums not cutting through the mix. They should be the loudest part of your track, point blank. They've got to cut through everything else, because we're not attentively listening to them... until something sounds off. I will say your transition crashes are at a good level though, and this does not mean to turn drums up. It means the opposite, to turn everything else down until you hear them properly. Then you apply your master FX, everything sounds clean, and presto. Feel me?

I also would clean up any reverbs you had and leads/other synths by chopping off 250 hz or so and below to make room not only for your bass but your kick. You're not listening to a lead to hear those frequencies, although when playing off by itself they don't sound bad. When they're in an ensemble, they're constantly getting in the way of the bass frequencies you do care about.

Anyway, enjoyed the track. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

CDJeremy responds:

Wow, that was the longest review I had in life, you analyzed everything, and I love that...

I probably had all those errors due to lack of practice or pluggins, I will try to improve on it

It was a pleasure to participate here since it is my first time doing it xD