ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-AnxiousBreaks-]

Great groove to this track overall and handling of FX initially. I really think the only thing holding it back is mix -- and 1:25 the choir is distractingly lo-fi

1:44 I think it would have paid to keep things chaotic and offbeat, using samples rather than synths. You appear to mix samples much better than synths -- the non-bass synths occasionally get quite loud, are not necessarily great quality, and they also clash somewhat with your bass.

At 3:09 the initial charm which drug me into this track is somewhat lost. You're bringing some of it back for the outro, but by then I know the track is over, and this makes me sad. I do really like the wild stuff you do at the end with samples though. Bring on the confusion lol.

In short, I think you had a really strong statement in your opening, with a little lapse in the middle. It's okay. Experimenting is part of what makes music a blast. No pun intended. Good work, and thanks for coming out to NGADM!

6.5

Creeperforce24 responds:

Thanks for the criticism! Yeah, I’m probably not making it past the first round lol!

[cORRuPTEd]

Mix is pretty quiet overall with what sounds like some clipping/clicks from zero crossings in the intro.

It also is pretty unbalanced in terms of both panning and levels of lead, percussion, and bass. The lead contrary to popular belief shouldn't be the loudest in your mix -- it actually falls behind the bass, kick, and snare. The bass should be just slightly louder than the kick, side-chained so that it ducks whenever the kick hits. Optional to sidechain to the snare as well.

Compositionally, however, this is fantastic. Your production and FX are creative and keep me engaged despite the flaws of mix.

I would give your bass more mono-presence. There are plugins that will allow you to mono-ize bass below a certain frequency. I usually choose 180 hz and below, or sometimes 150. This is because when you add chorus to a bass, you increase the chances of phase cancellation -- of weakening it. We definitely don't want that in 99% of cases.

In short, I think your ideas are fantastic. It's just the mix and master that need a tune-up. Keep doing what you do!

6.7

rYANCOOPERmx5 responds:

I really appreciate the feed back, Thank you a bunch :D

[Illusion]

Yo, Audio Technica headphones are beast. I prefer the m40x for the sound profile

The transition into bassline was unexpected and probably could be either A, more smooth, or B, more jarring for maximum impact. Bass is throbbing in my ears pleasantly, but other elements could be darkened and obfuscated sufficiently to better fit with the bass. The lead through your initial drop is pretty clean and contrasts against the bass rather than providing lifting accompaniment.

As we go on, your wetter synths are sounding more enmeshed with the bass and thus better.

I think your kick could be a bit louder. Your snare is about appropriate in volume and sounds pleasant. Sample at 2:49 is a bit indistinct and a little sibilant due to bit-crushing.

For the genre, song is about the right length, since psytrance is generally quite progressive in nature.

Singing bowl/temple ding cymbals are slightly too loud at 3:27

3:42 was a pleasant drop of retro strings that made me smile. Your portamento laser synth could stand to come down and be wetter and further back

Your handling of perc next was an eargasm. Like literally spinning in the middle of a perc groove. It does go on for a while so I recommend modulating other FX such as tremolo, delay, hi and lo pass or flange to get more mileage out of them. Even just a subtle change in volume can make all the difference in holding out a groove.

I love your bass mix overall despite thinking there could be just a bit more hi-mid range to it.

Overall the track is much more than the sum of its parts and kept me engaged throughout. Great work!

7.8

burningmagma responds:

Thanks, glad you like it! :D

[Oso Viajero]

Sounds very 80s -- partially owing to the reverb -- a bit too much reverb and delay fx for my taste. I would recommend low-cutting reverb and delay wet signals up to 200 hz.

I would also keep the low end of your bass mono. It sounds like you've applied a chorus, which is fine, but the bass sounds very spread out and hollow as a result

Writing wise, you have very nice harmonies and good structure. The fusion of genres is pleasant! I heartily advise you to keep studying music production, particularly mixing, and keep pursuing your craft. This piece is one to save the midi and revisit with better technique <3

6.6/10

Force64 responds:

Thanks for your review! I will do my best to improve my work :D

[Plastic Bits]

Great groove and sound design all around. I think you could pump that bass just a bit more and reduce vinyl noise/wet fx's all around by 10-20% and come out with a cleaner mix. It seems like the mix is heavy in the low-mids and somewhat lacking in the air department, but props for tasteful hi-hat volume.

Great sounding ghost notes also

What I would appreciate is more mono-presence of the bass. As is, it's a bit spaced out and loses some thrust as a consequence. There is such a thing as mono-ing the sub and letting the rest of the bass spread out a bit, so see what you can do in that area!

You could also use two similar instances of your key synths and add more depth to sections such as 2:46 by panning them in opposite directions.

A bit of cleaning out the low mids of your synths and auxiliary rhythm synths would help this sound a bit more crisp

8.4/10

Jatmoz responds:

Thank you so much for the indepth review! Will definitely keep this stuff more in mind.

[The Big Bad Beastlands]

If the mix on this were fixed, it would 100% bang. As is, the hihats and cymbals are quite loud, the kick is hard to hear, and the snare is just barely peeking out. Beyond that, the elements in the mid-mid and low-mid could stand to be pulled out to the sides a bit to differentiate between near-notes. The horns uniformly sound like they're all balanced to the right, particularly.

I'm having a hard time hearing the bass and rhythm chugs.

Besides the mix and the twirly sounding attacks/releases on your horns occasionally trailing over each other unpleasantly, I think the writing of this piece is great.

I would turn up the master and see what could be done to clean it up besides. Good work!

6.6/10

Kman465 responds:

Yeah... I am a very rookie mixer. I’ve been trying to put in some more effort into it but growing pains and all that jazz. I got a long way to go I suppose. Haha

Thanks for the listen! I appreciate the feedback!

[Chunky's Song]

This somehow manages to have a lot of vibe despite the mix being close to destroyed. I would go back and clean it up, because it would make a smacking album intro or interlude. Extra half-star for personal preference. Sorry I don't have much else to say, just needs a revisit on the mix!

BlazeLOGC responds:

oh for sure, this was thrown together really in one sitting and I was more focused on the composition. 100% agree on the mix and thanks for the kind words!

[Nekomaton]

Mix is dirty as all get out, but your writing and transitions make up for this. You combine several electronic styles flawlessly in this piece. My advice would be to pull down the intensity of all your wet FX on average by 25% (except chorus -- you handled chorus quite well throughout)

What's going on in this mix is that reverb wet signal has too much low freqs in it, is too high up, delays are ringing out a bit too long with similar issues, colorized wet signals are giving their typical tin-can feeling and clouding the mid and lo-mids. You could also pan and spread these freqs more carefully for more spatial movement.

But in terms of composition, you're killing it!

EQ wise, more can be done to make room for your bass and rhythm synths. Sidechain too.

Besides, amazing work. 8/10

CloudNinja responds:

This is actually the best advice I have ever gotten since now I know what the actual problem is when it comes to mixing in some of my songs lol
You might have just solved a big problem.

[Aperture]

This song is a pretty crazy journey. In terms of structure, it's got it going on! Taking its sweet time without ever getting old, and that's an accomplishment!

My complaints are few and very specific. I would reduce volume of reverb on hi-hats and make it more subtle. Same with other percs. Kick could come up in volume slightly. Bass could stand to take more presence in the mix, and metallic percs less.

Master could also be louder

At points this sounds like very laid back mid-tempo cyberpunk style music, which I love.

At 10:22 there is one pop that I'm unsure if you wanted there. Sounds like an un-faded zero crossing from a sample clip entrance. That transition there could also use some smoothing.

The following lead I would turn down slightly and ping-pong delay harder into the left channel. It's also panned a bit far right. Not sure about the accidental shift at 11:33 into a new mode and out of the current key. It just doesn't sound right. And by accidental I don't mean unintentional. I mean what appears to be a raised 3rd on top of a 1st inversion chord, if I can remember how to talk about that correctly after 10 years out of school LOL

Sounds like parallel 5ths at 13 minutes, not sure how to react to that either. I feel a bit seasick ahahaha.

But for a 14 minute piece with otherwise clean transitions and writing, all is forgiven. Keeping up a groove that long is a straight up challenge!

8.3/10

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey dude, thanks for all the tips, and for your lengthy review. Also thanks for the 8.3, holy shit, first NGADM submission I’ve ever done and I get a score like that.

I’m a little surprised that I apparently managed to make a 14 minute track interesting without it ever getting stale.

I don’t really understand the term parallel 5th’s, if you could give me some clarification on that, that would be helpful.

Further on, thanks for the awesome comment.

[Five Nights at Freddy's]

It sounds like a lot of unrelated melodic ideas mashed into a single song, and I also hear characteristic Suno AI vocals, with intonations on the wrong parts of sentences and emotion sorta off-key.

I'm not sure how you managed to extract them semi cleanly, but Suno vocals just sound really gross to my ears, no offense. As someone who uses AI vox of my own creation via Replay AI and singing them myself, I understand the draw to pre-made AI vocals that sound basically already mixed and essentially write the melodies themselves. It just doesn't sound natural on serious material. Maybe for a funny meme it might work, but for a scary intense FNAF song, they aren't doing it!

The bass throughout this song seems to hold the same note no matter what is going on around it. I recommend learning some song structuring and chord progressions in order to make things more interesting.

I wish I had more nice things to say about this track. The mix is not too bad, for instance. It's just that to me, none of the other elements really seem to be coming together to give it vibe and groove. Definitely recommend going back to the drawing board and studying your genre of choice, which looks like dubstep, and seeing what makes it work!

CompXsco responds:

the only real reason i used SunoAI for vocals is I cannot sing for the life of me. if i could of chosen a different song, i would've used a song without vocals. thanks for the feedback tho, maybe if i'm invited to another one of these things, i will take this into account.