ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Catela–HEART!(xb32 remix)]

I actually like this better than the original. It's not compressed to almost unintelligibility, and it's both sonically diverse and rhythmically pleasant to listen to.

One thing I would suggest is to control the low end of your reverb a bit more. Low cutting those wets to 250 usually is the trick for me. Sometimes you can get away with a bit less cutting, but with instruments trailing below C3, it can get really ringy.

Are you using a lot of stereo spreading as well? If you're using something more like Infected Mushroom's Wide, I would recommend switching to WideFire. The former can cause phasing issues and a tin-can effect -- where the output sounds farther away from you. I'm hearing a bit of that here on your basses and synths.

I would also take a look at your stereo spectrums on your drops. 1:08 feels more full than the rest of the track and sticks out as such. 1:33 likewise is quite full relative to 1:52. I feel like it should be the other way around.

I hope this is the feedback you're looking for. Tearout and riddim are not my typical expertise. The overall principles of mixing seem to fall along the lines of trap and metal, however, which I do know quite a bit about.

Overall, I would focus on bringing your basses' mid and low mids up a bit. I can clearly hear your sub, but they feel farther away than I'd like. The mid and high mid will help bring them in your face.

xb32Philya responds:

Thanks for your feedback!

[-Roadside Drug-]

I don't think that was ordinary meth...

IT WAS SUPER METH

This sounds less like Nebraska, and more like Ohio. But I'm digging it. It has the vibe of happy, moderately psychotic, and desperately manic at the same time.

It's not entirely phonk. Something newer and brighter has emerged. As such I'm not entirely sure how to critique.

One thing I have noticed, is that it is frantically busy, like many of your other pieces. You may try a technique of building an 8 bar hook (just copy the 4 bar and change the 2nd and last bars somewhat), then copypasting and cutting away layers for other sections.

Creeperforce24 responds:

Thanks for the tip! Now! LETS ENJOY THIS NEW PHONKMETH GENRE

[Andromeda]

Офигеть. That opening chord sounds so nice. Takes me back about 10 years. I can feel a lot of synthwave and trance influence here, which is nice.

I would say there is about .2-.3 dB too much 16khz-24khz. But other than that, you are working wonders with those $3 headphones. Hats off.

Also, lovely instrumentation, rhythms, and of course drops. Your breaks sound great and are used appropriately as fills. Very satisfying. If this was not already FP'ed, I'd FP it myself!

Also, I just thought of something -- you have already checked all your audio settings, yes? I was shocked to find some years ago, there is a sample rate setting in most Windows computers. If you find settings, sound, all sound devices, properties, you will see a setting called "output settings" and "format". Set it to the highest possible, which for me was 24-bit, 48khz. This made a huge difference in sound quality for me and allowed me to hear those crazy high frequencies for the first time.

Anyway, if you already found that setting, awesome. And great work, btw.

G2961 responds:

Thank you so much, ADR3-N! If I had cool headphones, then maybe my songs would be perfect then, but I'll have to somehow keep surviving with my $3 A4Techs, lol.
Really appreciate your feedback!!!

[🎷Daft-Type Jam]

Like DaftPunk indeed. I'm enjoying the bitcrush and filter rate play throughout. Breakdown at 48 seconds is quite interesting as well.

At 1:44 the mix gets a little bit cluttered in the low mids, and I would recommend a bit more hi-hat crash play. Something to give us that fizz. I feel the mix is lacking just a bit off the top. Perhaps you could even adjust it in post.

Now, your sample rate (bitcrusher) modulation rips are pretty sibilant. What I usually do for those is pop an extra lo-fi plugin on top to pretty much immediately tame those highs, while maintaining the resonance/squeal you have at the lower frequencies.

In general, you want to keep that bass in mono, making sure it has a decent presence in sub, and your high mids are saturated. The rest of your mid, you want to stereo spread with something like WideFire, which adds harmonics and leaves your original signal intact -- less phasing issues that way and it's pretty non-destructive.

Your snare, you want that to stick out. It's got to have a bump in the 150-220 range for the transient and the body, and you want a little bit of fizz and mids to have it stick out in a danceable mix like this one. Either a dead 70's snare or a low-tuned dubstep/dnb snare would do for this piece.

You'd probably also want to either layer kicks, bump up your kick volume, or swap out whatever kick you have going on in this song. At 1:38, 1:44, and so on, I'm having a hard time delineating the kick. Basically, the low end and drive are muddied up a bit. Bring those out a bit more and the track will shine.

Same with hats. They don't have to be loud, but you don't want to take too much fizz out of them, excepting for transitions. The less fizzy the hat, the louder it should probably be in the mix.

Overall, steady grooving, and I really enjoyed it. Nice work!

CrimsonKero responds:

That's what happens when you use the drums built-into the sample.

[The Neon Ascent]

Hearing that you're 17 and make EDM bangers much cooler than mine is impressing, demotivating, and awesome at the same time.

I love the modulations you have on your synths, those filter sweeps. It's such a subtle effect, but it carries well throughout the song. I would back off compression VERY slightly on your master, just enough to let the sidechain breathe a bit. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense, but the reverb and sustains will cause the kick and bass to lose the feeling of sub at dB if you don't.

Check against quieter sections and listen for sub. On the drops, you can hear a subtle difference.

Past 2 min, there is a bit of what appears to be clipping. Check that out.

Still, very well deserved frontpage. If it had not been already, I would have done so myself.

Your output gets better and better with time. Always a pleasure!

PS: bridge and outro was very well executed. Pleasant surprise!

G2961 responds:

Thank you so much for the very good review, ADR3-N! Your comment means a lot to me!

Maybe you're right, there are flaws in this song, but it was difficult for me to fix them on a lagging iPad Mini 2, on which FLM managed to crash more than 10 times, lol. I could make this song on my phone since it doesn't lag, but it was really interesting for me to make it on my iPad when I just downloaded FLM on it.
Mastering and proper mixing in FLM, and even in regular FL Studio, is my weak side, which I can't fix yet, because I have A4Tech headphones that cost me 300 rubles ($3), lol, so I have to survive somehow.

[-Serpentine Emotion-]

I really like the direction you've been taking with your music as of late, particularly the sounds you selected -- aside from the strings -- I maybe would change those out for something more obviously synthy. You know, like 80s synth brass in the vein of Jump, and then just reverb or delay the crap out of it, so that it sounds washy and far away.

I think you're reaching that mid-point in your composition, where yes, maybe some things are a bit awkward, but you can safely start taking things away from those 8-bar loops, rather than building on them endlessly. You know what I mean, with more complexity often comes lack of direction and ideas of where to go!

I especially like the bass at 2:14. Just such a delicious acidy feel.

Very pleasant surprise to see you front paged!

Happy producing!

PS, the section at 3:50 is lit

Creeperforce24 responds:

Thank you! I actually use 4 bar loops :)

And about the orchestra, I suppose it’s kinda unfitting, another track I’m working on actually has that 80s sort of synth orchestral. This is the most realistic form of orch instruments I have, so I use them often.

[I, the Fallen - Instrumental]

I love that thrown-in-the-lake vibe of your snare.

Great guitar tone as well. Very nostalgic. Playing is also very languid and atmospheric.

I would take down rhythm guitar very slightly, .2-3 dB. Just enough to more clearly hear other elements on the track. I think it may be the brick wall compression blowing things out a bit.

But otherwise a very pleasant listen!

FarFromSundown responds:

I always appreciate your feedback! I feel like I get better every time because of it😁

[The Beast Within]

Absolutely smashing theme, with great driving rhythms. Has that Doom metal feel that I appreciate so much. Also, nice chordage at 1:00. Plenty of people smash the octaves without any mind to 3rds or 5ths.

I think the guitars may be just a tad high in the mix relative to the kick and snare -- same with china cymbals.

That's it. Nice work!

Which shreddage is this?

RedMike7 responds:

Thanks, I'm still kinda trying to find the ideal mix for all the instruments.
I used the new Argent as the main and the second is Hydra wil lower volume and more stereo spread. Bass is Abyss. Pretty much the only three i use. Except for clean/chill guitars, that role goes to Rogue.

[For Jobel]

I might put this in videogame -- it's definitely metal, but it shares more in common with that genre in terms of the samples used, SFX, and overall theme! Sounds like a slapstick evil villain theme!

ThatStupidIdiot responds:

This song is horrendous on purpose but thank you for somehow finding some good in this hell of a piece