ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[When I Dream of You / あなたの夢を見るとき]

I feel like the writing of this far outshines any technical limitations. My only complaint is I would like less hi-hat presence, less of the fx in the 18 to 24khz as it sounds like my tinnitus (sorry!), and more present kick and snare/clap, with some FX on that clap!

Some things I would like to note, the song is quite long, and the instruments fairly dry. I think that is detracting from the vibe fore me personally, but if that's what you were going for, that's okay!

I think your structure is good, and your writing is imaginative.

Keep doing what you do! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

V1ZION responds:

Thank you so muchhhh!! ^w^

[Doll Bals]

I want a bit less reverb on your piano in the intro, but it's sounding pretty right with those pizzicatos.

Writing wise, this is pretty standard, in a good way! There is nothing that particularly sticks out to me beyond I think you could adjust the midi timing and velocity of that flute line so it isn't so... fweh fweh with a slight delay on each attack relative to the tight pizz's.

Balance wise I think also that the upper pizzicato needs to come down about a half dB for the flute, and the bass approx .2 to .3 dB. The choir could also be stereo widened or doubled and panned a bit more spaciously. Those are really my only gripes.

Is that NST CHOIR also?!?!

Nevermind -- don't let me get distracted. Keep at it you two! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Vanware responds:

ta bien, aunque decir decibeles con decimales igual es un poco penca de sabiduría

Pd: no es ese choir

[HTUOY]

Wild little chords there in your intro. Quite interesting. Definitely smooth olskool vibes here.

I think I would like slightly less volume on the sax and jingle shakers. Maybe .5 dB

The chop and screw before 1 min is niiiice.

Whatever atmospheric sample that is there as well I would love to be stereo widened or ping-pong delayed to give this some extra space. A lot of things sound quite centered.

Now, you have done a great job arranging all of this. The piece flows naturally and beautifully. The only issues are a few mix hiccups here and there, a pretty flat stereo field, and it doesn't seem to have been given mastering compression or loudness normalization. That can really affect listening experience if I were to say playlist this and listen in the car.

Otherwise, a real treat! Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

Viraxor responds:

Thank you for the lengthy review! The stereo field was flat because I had mono speakers at the time. I am going to experiment with that in the future, now that I have stereo ones. There's no compression, normalization is applied. I want to keep the mp3 file as close as possible to the original module source.

[Ritualistic Alchemy]

Nice droning intro -- few things I notice up to 30 sec, the reverb could be taken down a notch. Rain could probably be stereo widened to take up the same amount of space. By 52 we have epic percussion, but I can't make out your samples.

At 1 min, your production comfort zone is shining. Very nice liquidy and industrial vibes here. I love what you've done with clipping. Sidechain at 1:33 is pretty clean. I think the FL slayer type synth there could be swapped out for a grittier, more vibratoed similar sound of your chosing.

Transitions here are jarring AND smooth at the same time with the variation of genres. 2:31 should be a genre of its own. Very artful blend of those female leads with the drop.

At 3 min or so I again would like a bit more clarity and less wet UNTIL 3:20, for more contrast. Panning of the orchestral elements could be expanded upon for even more variety.

Overall, I very much love this piece. NUT.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

ESHRR responds:

Thank you very much for the in-depth review! I’ll take the criticisms into account for my future work. What you said about my transitions is funny, because other people have said similar things. The “jarring yet smooth” thing has sorta become a thing with my songs. It’s not intentional, but it’s fun when it works out!

[WAR OF ART]

Ooooooh breaks. My favorite. We're sounding just a bit tinny on those above your bass. I find myself wanting a bit less of the crash and hihat range and more kick/snare. Those are pretty mid range heavy.

The bass is pretty well written but I think side chaining those chords throughout would help give some vibrancy to the piece. Your use of samples is atmospheric and spunky.

The chords throughout could also change in volume and timbre -- oh, you read my mind at 1:54. Keeping them the same volume and dry is taking away from your excellent break chopping.

I would like if the bass had that same deep sub range but also were as gritty and biting as the breaks. It also seems to be very wide in the stereo field. What you can do is have a centered sub bass and a doubled bass on top for texture and easier translation to lower quality speakers (I am using my professional monitor headphones but it would not work well for cellphone speakers for instance)

One thing that sticks with me throughout is that the chord progression is mostly whole notes. This could work if you had more FX to add color to those synths, but as they are so present in the mix, right down the middle it feels like, it makes it hard not to focus on them -- thematically speaking the least interesting part of the song, and I don't think that's what you wanted to present.

Still I think you did a great job keeping breaks very interesting, and that moving bassline kept things interesting. Can't wait to see what you come up with next :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Winkwing responds:

I just picked whatever from my library at the time, since I've got a lot of stuff that's unfinished or just never uploaded due to laziness, lmao.

Glad you enjoyed it.
Also, I signed up to NGUAC with Early Bird?