ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lordant - Rain Elegy]

Lovely cinematic piece with very tasteful composition. I think my only gripes are that one, it's fairly short, some of the dynamic contrast is just slightly too loud here, or not loud enough there. At 1:20 I was sincerely hoping for a further development of the themes at 37 seconds, or a big blasting chorus. It really felt as if that was where we were going.

at 1:01, I felt there could have been a more dramatic swell into this moment, as well as dynamic contrast after, to follow into the build at 1:28

Overall, lovely composition, just wanted more punch! I always have the greatest expectations from you. Keep on doing what you do!

Lordant responds:

Thank you! The compositional aspects were a bit rushed, and I'm personally not totally satisfied with them, but I'm glad you liked the piece overall :)

[A New Discovery]

I'm loving this. Only a very few complaints. I would love to hear actually just a tad less sub throughout and more bright mids on guitar and bass. There is also a really, really high pitched squeal that I think is intentional, but could be reduced in volume.

As far as chord progression, the harmonic minor section works fantastically. Here I think that rhythm guitar needs to come out some more. Throughout, crashes and china could come down by as much as .4 dB, or be treated with an EQ to reduce just a bit of the mids and supra treble frequencies.

2:25 there is that sparkly chime with the high resonant squeal I was talking about.

Some of my mixing critique may be related to the level of compression used over or under emphasizing certain frequencies.

The gated chucka SFX in the outro/breakdown I think could use doubling, a bit more lo-mid, or perhaps even some stereo play. Overall though I think you've done a beautiful contemporary metal track. It djents!

BeyondOurEyes responds:

Greatly appreciate the love and feedback as always man! I've still got some tweaking I wanted to do on this one so I'll keep all this in mind when I revisit! \m/

[New World Order]

This reminds me of the good old days on NG. I think there could be more melodies sprinkled throughout, pads, and so forth. However, this is definitely a track to revisit at some point. Those drum fills you peppered in really keep the track going.

Also, the bass could use centering from 320 hz and below. It sounds quite wide in the stereo field and a bit pushed back by FX.

Other than that, nice work! You're quite a variety pack of styles. Kudos

WolfSystemStudio responds:

Yeah, it was a bit of a labour of love this one. Not really my bag usually but I like to try and branch out.

I kind of went for a Payday 2 sorta soundtrack since thats my only point of reference.

[Jazzy Intro]

I think the trumpets might be a bit too cluttered, but this does sound pretty cool! The writing is not bad at all -- just recommend some other instruments besides trumpets to hide those synthy articulations (or different types of trumpets represented, with different FX)

and by that I don't mean swap all of them out, just some!

WolfSystemStudio responds:

Yeah, the trumpets are difficult to get sounding right. Yet to find a half decent sounding brass sound.

I keep going back and giving it a tweak but it never sounds right haha

[X3ll3n - Bring Out the Flame (NGUAC Finals 2023)]

I think remastering this song later is well worth it, as at present the mix is screaming hot to the touch. Look at the waveform

As for your writing, as always it is stellar

You seem to point out other items of critique I would have in your description, so I will leave that here and say I agree with what you have already pointed out. Again, it doesn't all sound bad, the build prior to your final drop was actually clean because it was minimal, so perhaps dialing back compression for other sections and upping select levels may get you the sound you want. EQ wise I think it's just fine.

X3LL3N responds:

I'm glad you like this !

This song is both a huge win and a big disappointment on my book. I think it's more creative and interesting than what I usually make, but the mix is one of the worst I've ever had to deal with and the song really underperformed due to when I posted it.

I'm not sure how I'd be able to mix it better, so
I'll probably ask peeps from the audio pub for help :)

[Dragonslayer]

I'm not the biggest fan of the effects on the vocals prior to 49. They manage to sound unclear and centered. However, if those extra distortions and frequencies were spread out somewhat in each channel, I think it would work.

The drop is heavily over distorting at the mixer level. This is a bit muddy and not typical of what I am used to hearing from this relatively new genre. I however do really appreciate what sound design elements I hear, and the song overall structure is great.

We are clipping again before the second drop, which I think shouldn't be happening. I think mixing at a quieter volume would help.

Other than these gripes however, the song is well done. The basses and sidechain elements are probably best done.

veryfakeguest responds:

Thank you for the feedback! Unfortunate to hear these issues arising as I don't think they have been a problem for me before. Nevertheless, I'll take note of your comments and watch out in future projects, thanks!

[xX FIND MY CURE Xx]

The mix on this one is not quite clean -- drops are so sub heavy at points when they are most resonant, various frequencies are soft clipping. The vocal performance could use manual de-essing, but the lyrics are pretty poignant. I think at other times there is a shrill s' sound when there are no s' present, on the bridge.

Beyond that, great arrangement, and the writing of the drops is great. If the mix were fixed, I would give damn close to a 10

IrisStar responds:

Thanks so much for the review! It really helps to have some technical criticisms! <3

[FACUNDO GARDIOL - Summer Fan ( Glitch Hop )]

I don't have a lot of critique to give for this track. Overall, the drops stay fresh throughout, the switchups are entertaining, and beyond a bit of overcompression and extra volume on the sub, it just works!

SPIRALi responds:

Thanks!! :D

[Obsidian Knight]

You were right, this is a sub bumper! I think you have the idea down for bass music, just need to get that bottom end sub under control, and get some mixing study under your belt. I think that is holding me back from fully enjoying this piece.

The melody is not bad by any means, and neither is the accompaniment, but it seems most of the attention was given to the bassline in terms of mixing and FX. The melodies are a bit dry and stay where they are in the left and right channels respectively. At 2:30 they open up a bit more, but the bass fades out of the picture. A bit more balance between these two moments I think would help a lot.

But no matter what happens, don't give up. Great work getting this far!

SednovaNova responds:

Appreciate it. I will take this into account.