ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AndrewCR × Upcoda - Glee]

With more time to refine the mix prior to the final drop, I think this song would be an instant classic. I'm hearing composition elements that remind me of the best YouTuber let's plays I've ever seen, and Calvin-Harris-esque rhythm sections -- think This Is What You Came For.

I don't mean that in the sense of plagiarism. Rather, I think it's a sign of great technical ability on both of your parts. The compositional elements work in a technical sense, and all the instruments sound good in context. It really inspires me to learn these styles.

Where this song suffers is in dynamics and a few somewhat heavy-handed hard-ish panning decisions. Those take time to get used to and might be items to revisit, should you ever touch this piece again.

Regarding compression and dynamics, look at the waveform. Only in the final chorus are we feeling full throttle, in genres which are known for being unapologetically loud and high energy for each individual drop, utilizing heavy sidechain to compensate for squashed dynamics -- OTT, soundgoodizing.

The compression between parts is not entirely uniform, nor would I say the input level being fed into the master compressor is adequate at all times. For instance, on the intro, I can see some very dynamic peaks.

Another concern is the overall level of kick and snare specifically throughout. At times they are hard to discern -- both transient and note body.

This is in part due to their frequency profile and in part due to relying on sidechain and silence to make them cut through across sections. Yes, by all means use these things, but be mindful that your snare does need a little bit of bite to sound connected in the context of the song -- it should always cut through, excepting for transitions, where hi-lo pass asssist in motion.

I'd have liked to hear the high end of the snare emphasized a bit more and a slight .2 to .5 dB pump on it in particular; by 1:00, it's lost in the mix. Side chain around there also might use an adjustment to the ms used. The gap is slightly more noticeable than I would usually expect for the context.

At 1:39, there is a fizzy layer, probably a ride or hat playing on top of the snare and the percussion there rather than being muffled takes a turn for tinny. As a transition, this is definitely something I noticed as development but was unsure how to feel about it

Moving to 1:50, I think comparing to a gain-matched reference, perhaps the one I name dropped, This Is What You Came For, would have helped bring this portion in balance.

Let me explain what I hear. The ride cymbals due to their frequency feel like the lead instrument in this section and are clearly audible through the drop. Backing them off and going with a 808 or 909 fizzy cymbal underneath may have helped give them some more context (so as not to stand out), while allowing you to turn them down or pan them out. They just feel disconnected somehow.

I appreciate the sample at 2:01 and want to know what it is -- reminds me of the "Infinite One" Goldeneye OST sample I'm so very fond of.

The sub to me almost completely drops out, and quite early for the build into the final drop. I feel it should have been very present from 1:50, growing at 2:11, and only begin to fade around 2:20.

There's not much feeling of crescendo in this portion due to input into the compressor being quite low already, then being squeezed again via hi-pass/band-pass. I have some gripes about the overall instrument balance. The rides are rides up too high, colorized textures sit a bit over top of other elements, glitches and hats lie over top, and of course the rhythm section (i.e. bass and rhyhtm synths) is not delineated enough to form a driving foundation.

As I said, the levels of the drop are pretty great, as is the composition. I still think the bass is not standing out much as in should, in a way that will be noticable in other spaces, on other devices.

Having a handy reference for all these mix issues, as well as ample time to work on a piece, will fix all of the issues I mentioned.

Otherwise, the composition is super banging. At the intro I was a little unsure, partly influenced by your description of things being dragged out, but realistically, you could have cut the drop portion past 36 seconds off and gotten by fine; I didn't really feel that was necessary, but just a response to your notion that it was too long. I think it's fine.

Was a real pleasure to listen to, as evidenced by the amount of time it took going back and forth with this review. Great work!

AndrewCr responds:

Thanks for the feedback and criticism!

One thing to take note of that we each use a different DAW, so we had to send each other .waw files and such. Meaning, we each mixed and mastered the song on our own, hence the difference in compression levels.

Regarding drowned drums - I'm not too familiar with glitch hop. I just went for whatever sounded good to me, not any industry standards. One of those things was the focus on melodic elements instead of percussion, so the quieter snare is actually intentional

Again, thanks so much for the review :)

[Glitch - Music from Alan Becker's 'Influencer Arc Ep. 1]

It's only been half and hour, and 9 listens is not enough! Thank you for sending this to me! I have yet to open up the animation, but after hearing this, I certainly will. You should add it to the description as an embed so folks can find it easily.

Also, I would kill to have some of these patches in my library to study. I'm just coming around to doing wavetable stuff, and this, this is what I'm aiming for uwu

I only have one point of critique, after listening on both headphones and speakers, the low mid could translate a bit better to the latter, and at 1:56, the bass jumps out just a bit on the high octave. It's just slightly sibilant. Perhaps back off the compression very slightly overall.

2:52 is my favorite section. Reminds me of Borderlands 2 OST in a good way.

3:36 was unexpected and a very pleasant modulation.

That's really all I got though, a couple minor gripes, but the piece is 100% serviceable for its intended use, as a commission for an animation!

AvenzaMusic responds:

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen, for your support, and for your thoughts, I really appreciate it! Great idea to add a link to the description on yt, just added it in now :)
Ohh this is excellent feedback, thank you! Will defo look over the compression twice in the future and think a bit more about highs in the basses, actually didn't think about that myself but you have a good point.

Thanks again!!

[Flesh and Bone]

The transitions in this song are ALL great (I've come to expect this from you :)). Vocal performance is unusual for the genres, but combined with the lyrics, they set the mood well. With refinement of mix and master, I could listen to this on repeat for days on end.

The mix is pretty subby, which is not too bad of a thing, but it sounds like the sub might be spread a bit? Reverb is also quite shoe-gazy and I think it could be tamed via hi-pass.

There are a few instances I can hear your mouth opening and closing it sounds like in your dubs. I might recommend recording closer to the mic if you'll be singing at a quiet volume, somewhat off axis and of course with a suitable pop filter. Try finding some references of what sounds like a nice, professional vocal recording for your range and articulations, and compare your recordings to that. Do the same for your FX and compare back and forth.

The same goes with your mix and master. It sounds like the highs have been rolled off quite a bit via EQ and the bass boosted. This can happen pre or post master and is hard to fight against.

But anyway, great work!

IrisStar responds:

Wow! Getting five stars from you feels like such an achievement, and your criticism is so focused and specific! Thank you for this review it helps a lot especially in terms of improving the vocal! <333

[Face Your Fears]

Each piece I hear from you is better than the last in terms of mix, master, arrangement, and libraries used. This is not only indistinguishable from a lot of the highest quality film score work I've heard. It's ... better! The only thing I could suggest is to make that brass feel like it's on as big of a sound stage as the choir and percs. It feels just a bit thin in the lower bone register on larger sections.

CloakedSoup responds:

Thanks for the kind words. I felt the mixing was okay/passable in this; if I had more time before I left for vacation, I would have done a proper mix and fixed up things section by section. There are definitely parts here and there where one moment, instrument, or section doesn't have as much clarity or the correct balance. Regardless, I still think it sounded decent and thank you again for the review!

[No Man's Land (Demo)]

I think with taming the reverb a bit, adjusting compression throughout (where you want more dynamic range and where you want less), and some minor bumps on the EQ would make this track flawless.

Great sound design!

Could do with some more panning and instrument layers on your strings, cello -- they sound a bit resonant as well, perhaps overly reverbed. I do wish there were more bass in the low and sub range to drive the track. But overall you took the mood, tackled and pummeled it to a bloody pulp. Nailed it.

8.4/10

Snikio responds:

thank you so much!!!
woah, our review is so specific, detailed and encouraging. thank you for making me HEAR things that was actually problem but I didn't realized when making it. I'll fix it😄 And if possible, can I ask your opinion again when I finish this track?? I would love to hear it!

I heard your condition isn't good now. Wish you the best ADR3-N!

[A Dark Moon]

It's like nothing I've ever heard from you, and yet it very much is your gig! Solid instrumentation, great structure, and driving rhythm section.

Vocal FX are great and I don't have a problem with the volume for the most part. Occasionally they're running rough shod over everything, but that's primarily on the prechorus. I would recommend more compression on the master or simply to mix in 32 bit floating point (with dithering) and turn things up until you feel that A, the levels are all still balanced, and B, there's just a little peaking on the limiter. Just a little. Export and see how you like it. The 32 floating will keep it from truly clipping, and you'll get a pretty dynamic mix (seems to be your goal here!) that is competitively loud.

The result is otherwise very balanced. I find it hard to pay attention to the lyrics because my attention span is that of a goldfish, but thanks to you providing them, I can tell you that they're great in terms of theme and flow. And as I listened, your performance is great. Every line rolls off the tongue.

Ps, props to your dad! I wish I could do music with my parents!

8.6/10

Mischa-head responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[Space Truckin]

Really interesting sound palette you have going on here! When the synth bass comes in at 0:20 it's a bit distracting though -- sounds like it might be due to chorus or stereo spread. I would recommend rolling off the high end on it, since there isn't a lot in that range.

This would sound a lot better as a smooth ride, with a more pronounced bass guitar sound opposed to the synthy fuzz. I can't even tell whether it's a saw wave or a bass on part of the fuzz/crunch. It also sounds balanced left.

Maybe it's that I have ADHD but it's distracting me from the otherwise lovely arrangement and writing. Seriously, save this idea for a later date, because it slaps. (I don't mean take this down at all -- I'm very much a fan of redoing your own pieces)

I'm usually not a big fan of EZ-Drummer, but you've used it well here. I would only suggest to turn down the hi-hat volume a little. There's so little in that frequency range that it sticks out a tad.

The master is also quiet. See all those little peaks on the waveform? You can in all likelihood push this piece harder with compression. Do some light reading and experimentation -- see what you like!

7.7/10

Percentblue responds:

Lot of stuff I didn’t even know I didn’t know, thank you for the feedback, a lot to consider!!!!

[Performer - NGADM & NGUAC submission]

I think this is a bit stereo spread beyond its limits, BUT the combination of samples used, arrangement, and overall sound stage beyond that is great. At some points, particularly transitions, I would mind the sibilance -- bitcrushed elements as well. Bitcrushing can create shrieking freqs up there.

The mix falls apart a bit when the metal drums enter, around 3 mins. This is in part due to clip, crush, and compression being just a bit too severe and those drums being hot against a shoegaze reverb wash.

Still, the lyrics of this song are entirely relatable, vocal performance is appropriate, and the overall mesh is a consistent product. Great work!

8.4/10

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback!

[La Mort D'Internet]

A well deserved frontpage -- and brilliant idea to have yourself get to doing a diary. I'm envious of your ability to speak off the cuff!

If this wasn't already frontpaged, I'd have done it myself!

As you go along, I notice your mix improving -- this one seems to have a bit much of high end rolled off for my taste, but the arrangement's variety and crisp progression makes up for a LOT in terms of mix. The vocal mix is crisper than the rest of the mix, making for contrast, but I actually think you could afford to de-ess manually and/or with a plugin to lessen such contrast -- as it actually heightens the sense of high-end rolloff for me. I would afterwards pump the vocals a bit more.

Spacing and texture in the mix is great, also makes up for the EQ profile quite a bit.

The addition of a sludgy oldschool guitar breakdown also took this to the next level for me. I'm not sure what genre I'd put it in -- experimental is a mixed bag. This might even be considered poppy, by today's terms. But I do feel the cohesive blend of breakbeat, hip-hop, and classic rock/metal in full force. Blending the three is a feat of magical proportions.

The master is also of suitable volume. Could potentially be pushed just a hair more.

Lyrical content is 100% on point. Lots of pop culture references, general brilliancy.

5/5 for friendship. 8.8/10 for competition

SkankyMojo responds:

Thanks ADR3-N, that's amazing feedback, the detail is very much appreciated. <3

[Autumn Girl]

I hate to say this, but the bass is really, really out of tune. Like wrong notes out of tune. Other wise I would have rated much, much higher! I would also look into some tutorials for mixing anime opening rock, because you have the composition nailed down to a T, but the mix feels a bit centered and tin-canny.

Besides that, great lead playing, great writing overall, and master looks perfectly compressed for the genre. Fix the bass, and you have solid gold!

itskosama responds:

yea, I got carried away with other parts I drowned out bass and it slipped me by.

But in the spirit of turning something in, I worried I might not have the opportunity to fix it and re-turn it in time when I noticed it in my car (it has better bass to standout). It's like they say, don't only mix with headphones.

Either way, I'm extremely grateful to participate because it pushed me to make something, anything. The time constraint, community event, and seeing all the cool creations is what I needed to fuel me to make more music!

Thank you! :)