ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Alone At Night (Minecraft Days)]

You made this only in minecraft?! Holy cow. This bops. I'm super impressed. I'd like to see a video next time you do something like this. It's really cool

Quippic8 responds:

I can promise you a video on my next minecraft song

[Tranquil]

I just want you to know, my brain saw your username and immediately thought first track of 20... 11

Interesting, mellow piece. I can't tell if we have sub rumbling in my left ear or if that's tinnitus. I might cut it unless you center it more and make it swell in both ears -- to give more of a feeling of progression by 1:00

You've got a good theme going on, but I'm not really able to pick up an obvious melody outside of the plucks denoting suspended chords. By 1:46 this is somewhat resolved.

I want to say you have some really nice dulcimer sounds going on here. Holy cow. I wish this part had been just a bit earlier.

Interesting stereo play at 2:42. I think that staccato pluck throughout could use some more development and dynamics throughout, potentially to be pushed a bit to the back. It seems to have carried most of the whole piece, not leaving a lot of room for transition.

I'm not quite sold on the violin when it comes in. That one's not going to sound natural without a looooooot of modulation, sounds like. You could potentially treat it like a lead guitar in the mix, double track two instances of it and slightly detune one, change round robins, pan appropriately. It's very thin and flat there. I think even just a chorus or being thrown to the back with reverb a bit may help.

The next section with synth strings -- obvious ones at that, is much more balanced and lays in together. I honestly think you could get away with more obviously synthy instruments, which would completely jump over and sidestep the uncanny valley that's happening with the violin.

Here from audio advertisements :)

cyan11 responds:

Thanks for listening/commenting

[DJVI - Dream Dash (Creepycat18 Remix)]

I've only ever heard the original maybe once in my life, so this is gonna be a fresh listen for me.

I'll say I like your structuring so far. I think the lead may be standing out a little overtop the track. Since it repeats a lot, it's more noticeable. I probably would have softened it with a chorus or something to that effect.

You could bring up your kick and snare probably about a dB, about half a dB for your bass too.

I would also have liked to hear that bass develop into offbeat 8th notes for the chorus. Then maybe you wouldn't need to do so much volume leveling.

The song itself develops really nicely and I appreciate the sidechain work you put in there. Made a huge contrast between sections.

Your chords on the builds I would bring up a bit. It doesn't sound like the track itself has any mastering compression but I wouldn't worry about that too much now. There are pretty big jumps in loudness where I actually stopped to check I hadn't jacked my volume. The drums that come in for the very last chorus around 3:12 were what prompted me to write that actually. I think they're a bit over the top.

Overall it's great, especially if you're not super experienced at producing. I can tell you have a solid grasp of your software and I know what you're trying to say. At points it feels like there aren't a lot of layers beyond lead, chords, bass drums, maybe that's just the monotone lead -- I'd have loved to hear a little harmony for that final chorus, or even just on the choruses in general. You've got the idea of layering and adding elements to change things up. All that's left to do is add icing to the cake with sweet harmonies, maybe some transition noises or counter melodies. You feel me?

Anyway let me wrap this up before I start waxing lyrical. I really enjoyed the piece!

[Sustainability]

Starting in up to 15 seconds, sounding good. Only thing I'm noticing is some lack of clarity in your low mids. I'd cut some reverb down just a bit there, and up your low cut to about 250.

When the guitars come in they stand out really nicely but seem to kind of lay on top of the track. You can double track two guitar lines so that it doesn't sound centered, and apply chorus with a lower dry signal there. I really enjoy your composition though!

Around 1:40, your heavy guitars and or N64 esque bass are covered up by the reverb so that I can only make them out because I know what they are. I think that may be from personal experience with it myself just going ear dead to the composition after so many hours trying to get those juicy spacious sounds.

Compositionally, this is absolutely wonderful to listen to and you have a lot of varied textures. Excited to see more from you!

zybor responds:

Thank you for your kind words and detailed review! :3

Wow you have good ears for noticing the instruments used in the track.

[Gettin' Freaky (MAIN MENU)]

This song cured my erectile dysfunction. Cheers

[Blammed - Friday Night Funkin' OST]

This ain't just videogame. This is hardcore trap <3

[Inktober #31 - Credits Roll]

It's so rare to find someone who actually records doubles clean. Olskool asf.

You know, I had an epiphany, you could try some distortion on your vocals and a light chorus. Bring out just a little bit of 5Khz and they would shine nicely.

Also big thank for the shoutout <3

Cyberdevil responds:

Hehe, I know no other way to prove I can truly do these dues, shoot the hoops, tis the school I'm schooled into, where way back feuds would brew, doo ba di dopp shoop-de-do!

You know I actually just tried some basic distortion on my most recent two. :) No choruses of equal caliber there though, that sounds even better, all the more contrast...

And thanks for that amazing instrumental earlier on too! :) Definitely turned into the best year so far; this here's the bar! Hope we can try something next year too!

[Maze]

Funky and relaxed. Feels like it's lacking just a bit in the center, but I do like the stereoplay going on here. Great work :)

[Bob]

Slick videogame noises. It do bang

Could use just a little bit less reverb so it sounds cleaner but otherwise zero complaints

[/ Galaxies \]

This reminds me of a lot of the intros I've heard to older synthwave soundtracks. I think it could benefit from having more variation in the bass line -- starting with those 8th notes that come in, keep them the same at first, then practice moving the bass note to give the chord a different color. It'll come to you. There are tons of tutorials on youtube to check out for writing synthwave and techno. Good luck!