ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[I Fly So High | NGADM | Wave | Royalty Free + MIDI |]

This is a nice composition with many unexpected melodic directions on your vocal -- at times I think it could be a bit more on pitch, spot corrected perhaps, or overdubbed for the occasional flub. As this is such a naked piece, your vocals being ON are even more important than ordinarily would be. It's worth investing in a pitch correction/vocoder or something along those lines if you don't have time to do lots of dubs, and perhaps a singing course. I personally recommend Ken Tamplin (and I am no great singer by any means, I feel you!)

The vocal mix is present at the right levels to be heard, but I am really distracted by the heavy low mids on it, and it sounds nasal. That could be from a common cold, OR from recording up close to the mic where your nose is above or past the diaphragm and as such nasal resonance can't be heard.

Besides that, great piece. I appreciated the lyrical themes, and captain plugins definitely came in clutch. Good work!

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

BottleTopBillFanclub responds:

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your thoughtful insights into music, you are really knowledgeable and I respect you as a skilled musician.

[3manon - Brainstorm (Mindscapes EP)]

Nice atmospheric beginning. I would say tone down your reverbs early on, at least the low mids, as they are somewhat distorting at 44 seconds and clipping. I don't think that's what you want in a dnb mix, as you want nice crisp breaks.

At 1:05 your writing is smooth and so are your choices in transition. Lovely chords and smooth leads. Very olskool and pleasant, but throughout your bass is overly present in the 200 hz range, owing to what sounds like reverb.

Section at 2:10 has nice melody and harmony. Great.

2:27 switchup and throat singing is a great choice. Keeps things varied. Mix is also sounding a bit cleaner here, but still really present with the reverb.

I would recommend switching out the strings at 3:08, up high, to something like LABS's free library.

3:30 is sounding good coming in on that hi-pass, notice a lot of the low reverb wash is passed out. Nice key change here as well. Overall I really appreciate the themes presented here in your track. Great work.

I think that guitar could use to be switched out with something that has more varied articulations, same as whatever bass that is. You can certainly find the same sort of tonality and keep that variety.

Beyond that, I don't think I have much left to say. Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

3manonMusic responds:

Thank you for your kind words and feedback! Did you know I recorded my own throatsinging btw?

[PartySlaughter (May 2022)]

Sounds a lot like olskool dnb I used to listen to. Nice!

I would pump up the sub on the bass through 40 sec and find a way to stereo widen or chorus the frequencies on it above 500 hz. It's a very organic sound and I really enjoy it but I feel it needs more intensity, more saturation, clipping, something. Otherwise. I enjoy the acid vibes at 1:40 very much.

This track is both relaxing, vibrant, and dynamic. Very much enjoy that.

For the section at 2:18 I would bring down the reverb on your saws and the saws themselves somewhat. Or alternatively you can really pump the kick and snare. But it seems hi-hat and all may be getting buried there by reverb wash.

It does not sound like this has any mastering compression, which it would benefit from. There are several online mastering services, even some for free, which would help in this regard, but I would recommend revisiting to mix prior to attempting that.

Overall, really enjoyed the track. Familiar and comforting in the sense I love the genre, and fresh in the sense it's not 20 years old xD

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

TheNormalMusic responds:

Woah, that's a long one...
Yeah, it's based a lot on those early 00's tracks, I really like their vibe too. Mastering and stuff like that is not made well, I couldn't make it better back in the days, when I was making this song. Anyway, thank you for that review and that you like this song!

[Pooo1-Summer wave]

Interesting blend of sounds and offbeat feel (also I like your icon)

I'm not really able to offer much critique beyond I think your drop could use an offbeat bass to hold down the bottom of the track, an octave lower than your top bass, and perhaps a side chain to the kick and snare for any instruments holding long tones there would help as well. There is not a lot of contrast to help delineate where I am supposed to rave my ass off if that makes sense.

Otherwise, cool track! Thanks for coming out!

pooo1 responds:

thanks for the critic

[Fistula]

I actually was surprised by how melodic and calming this is for a piece titled Fistula. I have no real critique beyond it is difficult to make out the kick and snare for the volume of the guitars. I wonder how this would sound if it were not for that.

BALDORF responds:

Yeah, the name was mostly just because I uploaded on Valentines Day and felt like giving it a nasty name lol

I'm not great with drum stuff or mixing/mastering, so that makes sense.

Thanks for the review!

[I'm So Happy I Could Die]

Definitely feeling the overstimulation!

I feel myself wanting more presence out of your kick and snare, and perhaps just a bit less reverb low end. I feel like the 250 hz and below of the wet signals are washing out the bass, as well as sub can probably come down a bit and bring up the top end of the bass.

The vocals could use more compression and volume to sit intelligibly.

Beyond that, I adore Miku, and I can MOSTLY understand her. What you've written sounds catchy.

Nice work!

3xBlast responds:

That's fantastic feedback!!! Rare to get such actionable insight on a track, very much appreciated!

[98]

I wish I could better understand this piece, as 9/8 is a very bold time signature and shows you are not afraid to be different. There are however some issues holding this piece back. For one, there are a lot of ideas going on at the same time and they do not really feel congruent to me, and there are some mixing problems, such as the hi hats are very prominent in my ears.

I certainly sense some direction in that the song is not the same all the way through and the melodies likewise swap to different instruments and themes. I feel like what this piece could use is a bit more space, some effects for your synths so they don't sound so dry, and more variation in percussion through sections -- as well as contrast in volume level. Most of all I feel like the last two are contributing to feelings of sameness.

I have no doubt however that in time you will master your ideal style of music though, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to keep going. There are tons of tutorials for the stuff I'm talking about here available on the internet for free, but there is no replacement for originality, which you have! Keep going, and thanks for coming out to NGADM!

toad-shroom responds:

I'm still getting the hang of the program I'm using (lmms) so I'm still figuring out how to do changes in dynamic. Thanks for the constructive criticism!

[Dreaming ft Hania [DnB Mix]]

Vocal performance is great. I think a bit of de essing and more compression would be nice but otherwise, great.

Production is interesting, a bit sibilant -- perhaps take down those hats a dB or 2. The kick also sounds somewhat muffled and could come up prior to 1:40. By then I really find I want a lot more vocal in the mix, as they are starting to get drowned in the piano, which could use less verb.

Note, on the drop, percussion is fine!

Otherwise, the writing is lovely. Very atmospheric and uplifting. Wonderful work! The only element that I find I can complain about at all is mix, which says a lot!

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

Trackers responds:

Thanks! The drums before 1:40 are actually filtered on purpose. They only hit full frequency at 1:40. That was on purpose to help build the progression. I wonder if it's a distraction now.

I can revisit mixing the reverb on the piano when the vocals are present and drop down the hats easy enough. Thanks for the tips 😀

[Nebulous Mind - Reimagined, Complete, Mastered]

I'm going to save my drooling over your writing and suffice to say, NUT, and also say my score on this track may differ somewhat from NGADM scoresheet because I love you and want to fiven your everything.

Your structure and flow in this track are precisely on point. There is not one transition I don't appreciate, or even that little clicky noise. Everything sounds intentional, not incidental.

The taps at 3:11 are pretty as fuck.

My only gripes remain with software limitation of player based instruments and yearning for some variance in intonation on repeated notes. This may be able to be achieved through modulation of attack, release, hand positions of related instruments, or as in instruments such as RealEight, variables which will even vary velocity and all of the above.

Great chords and runs throughout, wherever I hear them.

I think I actually would like to hear harder driven distortion and more of the 7k to 8k range on your guitars. Maybe quad track? The 300 hz range on your lower riffs also could be driven a bit harder. Occasionally I will pull a trick with my guitars and use my cymatics diablo percussion processor to bump transients and compress the "body" of the sound, use the "exciter" parameter, to achieve what I'm talking about.

5:00 is a standout section I would have liked to hear repeated.

But I could sit here for 2 to 3 times replaying this track and not get bored. All in all, I think you have done a fantastic job. Thanks for coming out!

Oh, and I forgot, so EDIT here, your cymbals are nice, and your kick is sitting in a great place in the mix, maybe take it down .1 dB at the most. The snare however, I would like a bit more of a wet sound, perhaps a tad more bottom head, tune it down by .3 semitones to .7, and find a way for it to sustain a bit longer, be it a subtle verb or no. It felt a bit dry in comparison to the rest of the kit. I also would like to hear more low end on your toms and more presence in the mix from them (sidechain if needed).

Beyond that, heart eyes.

trunotfals responds:

I KNOW. I made a lot of progress in my mix after this one (I mean, you KNOW what we're working on :P) and i couldnt really work on this one like i wanted I was running into issues. but thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu Adr3-n :)

[Collar]

Glissandos on a piano, now that's interesting! The variety of this piece is at times great, and others, confusing me, as I would like some sections to go on longer than others. I do like your ideas, but think transitions could use work. Or perhaps what I mean is song structure, as I am not always immediately able to understand where we are going with the song.

That synth at 1:48 reminds me of James Bond on the N64 in a very pleasant way.

Overall, with some reworking of structure, I think you have a good composition. I think a shorter piece, so that fretless bass sound does not become stale after the 4 min mark or so, some louder drums (except the hi-hat, that is probably fine volume wise), and keeping up where you are already going with feeling your panning, and this would be such an atmospheric piece.

I would probably put this in videogame music. Drum and Bass is more of an aggressive electronic genre, not literally drum and bass, aha. Don't worry I've done that too and I usually have no idea where to put my stuff.

Keep doing what you're doing, and thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TVP06 responds:

Thank you for your response and I'll make sure to keep it in mind in my next pieces. Have a good NGUAC!