ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Into the Sunset - NGADM]

Really tricky getting those flubby trumpet articulations in the intro right -- I think taking some reverb off of it and a bit more low end down will assist, as well as manually modulating volume and pan. There are some articulations which sound a bit mechanical on the intro, sections where this instrument is used, etc. The muted bit at 1:45 is better in this regard but also has some rougher hard attacks that could also be tamed with a bit of manual ducking.

I find the western vibe of this to be quite interesting but think throughout the kick and tambourine are quite dry and upfront for the rest of the track to sound so wet and verbed.. I even think the tambourine could come down a lot and have a more obvious slapback delay in the right channel -- or a swung "_--_/" rhythm, where _ is the kick, and -- is tambourine notes similar to "dah-dit", followed by kick, and / represents a longer "dah." Text is woefully difficult to convey this through, but I hope that makes some sense. The tamb backbeat is so out there, it's obvious if it remains samey. It was easier to make out the articulation on it than it was to hear the guitar in the right channel.

Toms also are not offensive in the least, but I think they would benefit from 80's shoegaze to fit in with the rest of the track.

Compositionally however, quite enjoyed this song. Great work!

Irish-Soul responds:

Wow, thank you for the excellent mixing feedback! I'm going to try to apply your advice in my future tracks, especially your advice about the lack of reverb on the percussion, using slapback delay on perc, and cleaning up the flubby trumpet articulations.

Thanks so much! <3

[Dreamwalker]

Such a nice blend of genres. I'm swept up in your composition from the start.

My complaints are reserved almost entirely for mix.

Snare could either use swapping out, or some more bottom head snap. The shoegaze across the track is kinda drowning it out.

hihats and crashes are about 20% louder than they should be, given the lack of other instruments in that sound space.

Your leads and fantasia sounding instruments sound like they've been boosted up way high in the 8k and up range, given really long reverb tails or delays, etc. I would like to hear a bit more subtle treatment of your pads and any instrument that isn't currently performing a solo. They are somewhat covering up your leads.

1:06, reverb and delay is muddying that solo. Paring it down and taking that solo up would help clarity. Perhaps a chorus to subtly spread it out.

1:14, the sub bass drop or tom hit utterly distorts upon compression so that I cannot tell what it is. This happens again at 1:46, and everywhere you have that as a transition. This appears to be due to low end mud.

I was not a fan of the tongue click noise thrown in there. I think a wine cork pop would have worked better with similar FX. Maybe I just hate clicking noises.

I would like to hear .2 dB more of your guitars, OR .3 less of that pulsating synth line at 2:20, and .2 less of your super verbed synths, and .5 less of the vinyl staticy noise in the outro. Less low mids and sub on your reverb wets all around, and this would perfectly fit my bill.

Other than that, loved it. Please don't read this review and think I'm shitting all over your track aha. It's great!

BeyondOurEyes responds:

Thank you for the love and greatly appreciate the constructive critique! I'll keep this all in mind for future :)

[[MAFFAKA OBO$RALSYA!]]

Я пришла дать 5 звёздочек.
Текст песни невероятно смешной. Мне очень понравился трек, хотя не знаю кто такой наш Маффака (motherfucker lol)

G2961 responds:

Если ты знаешь про игру Geometry Dash, то знай, что это плохой русский модератор в этой игре. Он много ошибок и зашкваров вытворял в русском коммьюнити этой игры.

[Vanguard]

Other than the guitars and drums, I feel mix is done quite well. I'm having a hard time picking out bass. It sounds like guitars were not double tracked but a chorus applied. Rhythm guitar has a pretty heavy cab noise/room sound to it which I feel it would sound so much better without. It's a bit muddy. The low mids are rumbly in the wrong way imo.

However, writing is GREAT

Snare is suffering from the same over-reverb sound as the snare. I want to hear more high mid on it

Great work otherwise!

TheUnnamedPlayer responds:

listen to the new song i made (the system is flawed)
i fixed a lot of those mixing issues, was compressing everything too much so i just dialed back the compression and everything became a lot clearer
my guess is that because of the level of compression everything was getting squashed together too much, especially the drums with the high-frequency cymbals and low-frequency bass kick trying to be evened out
similarly with the bass, there was two compressors on it, one before and then after the distortion, just turned off the one before it recently and it gets a lot cleaner and more authentic/human sound (very open, roomy, mid/high-mid heavy)
i will take into account these criticisms even through, however, but the reason i chose this song was simply that this song was done before the newer one (otherwise i would have chosen the newer one because its millions times better)

tldr: listen to newer song, i was compressing everything too much and squashing the sounds together making it all sound same-y and indifferent to each other

[Alright, Alright]

I really enjoy the lyrics, but I feel the vocals can come up quite a bit. Don't hide them under the instrumental! Delivery is getting better in time, and the composition stands on its own

It's odd to hear what sounds like a love song to God and hear slap me down, aha, but the world needs more good christian music. Keep it up!

SoulSecure responds:

Really? The vocals are too quiet? I've worked to get them where they are, I hate obnoxiously loud vox, but I'm really out of my mixing game and I don't have the ear for it I did a few years ago. I know there's couple spots in the first verse I can hear what you're sayin' and in the chorus when the backing vocals aren't present. I'll have to tweak it. Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!

[PHONK+++]

Love the arrangement and this genre in general but the cowbell in the intro is quite dry, and when the 808 comes in the entire beat distorts. I love distortion, but I also like to be able to hear the 808 note!

Otherwise, keep doing what you do. I think your ideas are solid, and you have a lot of room to grow into your style!

Skymine123official responds:

Can u comment on my new one

[Elskan mín ;) (My love)]

Ah that good good viking language -- took me back to Age of Empires, age of kings xD

It sounds like everything rhymes, so, not knowing the language, I can't comment on that

I will say I can hear the room noise on your mix can it sounds relatively centered. Could use some improvement on vocal mix which can be learned with online tutorials. Language sounds like sweet silk to me though.

The sax part is a plus

Sub is way up in this mix, as is the hi-hat -- take that hihat down please if you get the chance later! Clap could come up. I also struggle to hear walking bass part over the piano parts. Reverb also sounds overdone on your keys. It sounds cool as an effect on your vocals though.

Not bad! Keep it up!

Quippic8 responds:

Finally, after over a month I come around to finishing it.

[PRGX - Memories]

at 17 seconds the mix is hipassed it almost sounds like to a pretty big degree. It is very sibilant. I recommend turning down 15 khz plus for such sections

The mix is also pretty high-mid heavy

However this problem lessens to a degree as time goes on, especially on drops

Crazy drop composition. very nice! Still sounding very overdriven at 1:27

I actually think the problem could be overly compressing there the master. I cannot clearly hear your sub and low-mids. Wanting more bass!

Otherwise, great work in sound design and your panning is sounding pretty good on second drop.

I recommend somewhat less reverb throughout for more clarity and less tendency to push up highs uneccessarily

Lead at 2:26 is VERY loud, could come down some, as well as your pads, but it is not extremely bothering me

Enjoyed it a lot!

PRGX responds:

Oh thank you very much for the feedback, I'll try to avoid these problems next time

[Love-God Kobold]

So sad that people drop low scores because of a silly thing like disabled API. Rating usability in a game is not part of NG review process. I will drop a 5 because I hate to see it! My NGUAC score will differ.

For what it's worth, this is a great composition, with tons of great melodies

mix issues
- hihat is WAY up in the mix and I have a problem hearing kick and snare. thank you for not making crashes overly loud. hihat needs to come down a lot where it is holding notes -- the ghosts are fine

- reverb is all over the place which is interfering with my ability to hear your low strings and pads -- since your pads and strings have slow attacks, move the note beginnings before the downbeats, so that they come in cleaner and you can hear the chord before the beat ends!

instruments such as saxes have this issue too. You can modulate velocity and expression on these so they don't sound so cheapo synth. I actually recommend not using them at all most of the time -- but you can try the now free synful orchestra as a replacer and see how that sounds if you ever revisit this piece

Otherwise, good work. Enjoyed it!

Pheanir responds:

Thank you really much for your feedback! =)

I instantly got the synful orchestra plugin to try and see how it sounds but, unfortunately, the software I (have to) use is too old to recognize VST3, so I cannot use it for my music for the time being. :(
Nevertheless, thanks for the tipps and the advice! ♪

[System Eta - Mind Rush]

Loving the vibe as we come in through 23 seconds but your hihats and your fantasia like lead are SO loud in the 15khz and up that it is almost painful. I think if you want to keep that timbre for them, you can turn them down by quite a lot and not lose anything valuable in the piece

This problem persists throughout so I am not going to mention more on it

Your bass has a good sound

Samples at 2:14 are not quite cutting through well due to excess reverb or lack of sidechain. They could be panned harder to the left and right for texture. It may even be delays covering them up

I want to hear more volume on the kick and snare to cut through more, especially kick

Otherwise, great!

MorphingThruTime responds:

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I agree with many points.
As for Kick and Snare, I can only say that I did not specifically single them out, so that the drums sounded all mixed up, so that the music would not look like drum and bass.