ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[House in Chicago (w/ Constantine) (not final mix)]

God forsaken fusion of genres -- RELATABLE.

Songwriting, vocal recording, and arrangement are fantastic. This feels like the good old emo shuffle music of yesteryear. Very nice.

Master could stand to be much louder. Compression looks to be good however. It almost appears if you tried to match Spotify loudness standards, which are moot since Spotify ensures that for you. A simple fix for this is Amplify in Audacity, at the max it will allow you do without clipping. Your overall compression values from the peaks look appropriate for the genre, though there are a few errant baby peaks after 2:42.

Minor mix gripes -- the vocals feel as if they are sitting atop the track, slightly too loud for the midwest emo EDM portions. Piano at 3:30 is also a bit loud and hard panned right.

Great structure, theme, and lyricism. That's radio ready material right there.

I would strive for a bit more vocal presence in the center during your choruses -- maybe not pan quite as hard. If you're using and widening FX on your vocals, swapping from typical wideners to WideFire is a power move. Often such FX introduce phasing issues and weaken the mono presence of your vocals, which is not what you want. Not saying stereo spread is evil, but it's very easy to overdo, especially if you have no control over what freqs are spread.

Your cymbals at 2:52 are sticking out a bit. It almost feels like they have been de-essed, and the entire top range of the track has been cut off (the fizzy highs), and yet they are still a bit loud. Maybe this is a stylistic choice, or a product of 256 kbps compressed audio. The file size you have there is pretty small for a track of 4 minutes, just saying. And compression below 320 kbps mp3 can have dastardly effects on your beloved high frequencies!

Anyway, stellar track, with only very minor mixing issues. Very nice work!

IreadysuckS responds:

Thanks!!
Why do you say the master could be louder? It's not really an edm track so I wasn't going for edm clip-to-zero hypercompressed loudness. It sits around -9lufs in the louder parts which is enough for me, esp in a song like this which is very dynamic across the song. As I said in the desc, the vocal mix for this was pretty rushed and I didn't really work on it since then so it could def use a lot of work in some parts--but tbh I like the panned vocals in the choruses. Not using any stereo spreader plugins iirc, just using panning and doubles. Just listened back in mono and it sounds fine to me...
With the cymbals, since I'm just using a stock Logic drum kit playing crash cymbals, they were very much panned (as is common with cymbals in drum kit vsts) so I used ozone imager to make them more centered (by just making them more mono/less wide). I think that might be what you're hearing(?).
The piano being loud is very much a stylistic choice. Since from the middle of the track and on is just building up energy until the slow outro, I tried making the last part of the chorus even more intense (four on the floor drums also play into this) and I wanted to make the piano really feel like it was jumping out of the song, so I didn't sidechain it, unlike everything else. (See "Something Comforting" by Porter Robinson, where he does a similar thing at 3:28 or so by using a piano that isn't side chained to the drums to make it feel like it's almost floating above everything else.)
My "mixing philosophy" with this track wasn't about going for the perfect, sterile, clean, technically correct mixdown. It was more about getting the point of the song across and giving it emotion.
Thanks again for the compliments and the feedback!

Side note: I see a lot of people talk online about how haas stereo spreaders ruin your mono stuff, but who actually listens to music in mono? Besides for bass/low frequencies which are sometimes played in mono in clubs, who cares??

[(AIM) R34P3R]

Very dark intro with a classic EDM progression. The compression and stereo widening may be safely dialed back just a bit -- particularly the latter. I'm feeling a personal separation from the sound source, almost as if I were in a cylinder or tube, or listening to the room tone.

Too much stereo widening often saps the power out of a bassline. However there are new stereo widening plugins that don't cause this issue, such as WideFire. Mushroom Widener is notorious for this extra roomy feel and phasing issues.

Basically, what I'm saying is, dial back the widening, chorus, and wet fx slightly, and ensure there is good mono presence for your bass. The sub and high mids will give you the aggressive feel you're looking for.

Besides that, the deathstep elements were very well composed and pleasant to hear.

I was very thrown off by 1:56. Midi piano is obvious midi piano, and the section felt a bit abrupt and unrelated to the final drop. Like two songs mixed together, rather than one. A different instrument, or a more sparsely arranged chord progression there may have sounded better. Often midi piano sounds just, bad when you write such dense chords below C4. Experiment with raising things up and octave, and see what I mean.

Overall though, your arrangement and particularly deathstep sections impressed me. I'd love to hear more of that. Impressed that you were able to put this together in under 3 hours, also!

NEON-SKIES responds:

Wow! Thank you so much for the awesome review! Only thing is, I'm still working my way around FL Studio (It hasn't even been a year yet) so I might not know how to do all of that cool stuff

[LEAST RESISTANCE]

I'd like to hear just a bit more of that sample in your intro. Also, feeling the.. what was it Interstellar vibes? I forget which one of the "the prophecy is true" space movies the chord progression is referencing in passing.

Sound design at 1:25, so aesthetic.

Also, thanks for using my sample pack. Glad to know these kicks hit outside of trap!

The theme at 2:07 is about as classic trance as you can get. Mixed to perfection. Master could be just a hair louder, but only by a few hairs as you can see from the waveform. This is a minor critique.

The explosion of dynamics here begs the question -- to compress harder earlier on and keep things danceable, or lean into the cinematic IDM side of things and keep the dynamics. Very hard decision to make for trance.

Your transition at 3:44 is well done. Actually reminds me of some of your much older catalog in the way progressions are structured. The vocal sample riff at 4:01 could potentially use a bit more modulation, thinning out in the mid range to make the transition more impactful. More play in the stereo field for all vocal samples would be ideal. There's a few plugins I prefer for this -- WideFire, PanCake, and Action Tremolo. Formerly, I used Brauer Motion.

I found myself missing hats and crashes, but given that transition FX, mixing, and other elements were handled so well, it's far from a dealbreaker.

Overall, excellent work.

KI1 responds:

Gonna respond to this in our usual itemised style of communication B)

Interstellar is a top 5 movie for me, it probably influences a lot of what I do - subconscious or not... it's a vibe.

I'm glad you think so, I've been using Vital a lot more. I thought I'd let the patch I made do the work on its own for this part.

At this point I'm considering changing my name to Last Mistake.wav, considering the amount of work that sample of yours has done for me.

That 'A' is my favourite part of the arp :) It could for sure be louder, you're right. Checking my file now, it looks like I set this master to -11, where it should have been -14 for NG? I dunno, skill issue.

I ask myself this a lot. A lot of my older stuff was 'louder' due to knowing nothing about mixing and just having everything up too high with the FL default limiter stuck on top. In this case I'm not sure, I could have gone for a mix of both? Dynamics in the beginning and compression in the 'chorus'?

Thanks! I was worried about how it sounded, from loud to suddenly quiet. I definitely could have done a lot more work on the vocal samples, I wanted to keep them sounding a little far away and a bit obscured - getting rid of some more mids might have helped that too. Good suggestions, thank you. I'll add those to my wishlist, either that or learn to use the stock FL stereo enhancer better.

Very fair! I did consider a few more percussion elements - a single hi-hat makes a brief appearance. Some of my inspirations were the soundtracks to the highway racing games you see at the arcade. They usually lack a lot of varied percussion - just 4/4 kicks and not a lot else.

Thank you for the amazing and detailed analysis as always!

[Highs before High]

It's nice to hear odd time signature VGM in this style. Gives a very topsy-turvy feel, an injected uncertainty into the beat. The bass gives the feel of older VGM, particularly that of Grant Kirkhope (Goldeneye, Banjo Tooie and so on), while the electronic elements inject some modernity.

I think a bit of processing for the kicks, snares, and so on would have given this piece more life. At lower volumes, they aren't cutting through quite as well. There are two percussion processors and transient designers I prefer for this task -- Cymatics Diablo (paid) and Pancz (free). The latter offers the ability to not only increase and reduce transients but also control the length and power of the note body. Both I think would be very useful here, as I feel a bit of lean into 90s industrial feel.

Percussion not withstanding, your arrangements are good, and your structure is indicative of a clear direction throughout.

I would be a bit bolder with dynamics, modulations, and FX. At present, the bass is quiet relative to the synths, which themselves are leveled about where I would place a lead vocal. Background stabs are present, but they are loud enough that I would have preferred some movement in the stereo field to keep them interesting.

Throughout, sound design is interesting, particularly from 1:50 to 2:33. I would have preferred more emphasis on your basses, and perhaps a sub bass to support the track structure.

Mastering compression could potentially be pushed harder, judging by the peaks I see on the waveform.

Overall, an interesting piece and very suspenseful. I liked it a lot!

Jotrocken responds:

Yes thanks for your feedback - If you only talk about the mix i am already really happy. I Interpret this as I made good music and just need to get the mix and master "right"

[-One Stupid Anniversary- (Project C.A.S.S.Y)]

YES. ABUSE THE HIHATS. They're a little loud, but I'm here for it.

Also, I really like the groove at the end. It reminds me of goldeneye for some reason. Or maybe I just have Goldeneye 007 on the brain. Thanks for using my samples btw. I should probably program them into a proper instrument some time, so they're easier to use.

Anyway, it's nice to see you expanding and experimenting with your compositions. There's a definite sense of progression here that I sense growing as you move along :)

A little study of typical song structures, and you'll see growth like you would not believe. Keep going!

Creeperforce24 responds:

Actually I find using them as drum samples for me is easier lol, I guess the only way I say you could improve your drum pack is by making stock drum sets.
Certain hi hats and snares and kicks for one drumset, certain ones for another drumset, a drumset of percs maybe?

And about typical strong structure… FUCK THAT SHI! I am one who does not follow orders (usually) when it comes to being “typical” or “general”… I am here to create a unique atmosphere. I thank you for your advice, and I might’ve understood it wrong, if I did, then let me know lol.

[EPIC NEW DNB TRACK >:DDDDD]

Very interesting to be able to literally read your project as you go on. My own projects tend to get super thicc and not show up on the screen. This is proof I should try minimalism once in a while!

ZedzyMusic responds:

you don't have to read this whole response lol
thank you! this is mainly because my music in general is simple and I only add stuff that I think would go good with the track or stuff that I like. my tracks do lack detail but I think that makes them really simple and easy to listen to (in my opinion). I'm glad you liked my music, and thanks for the review and follow! it really helps :DD
im gonna listen to your music now bc im curious

[Catela–HEART!(xb32 remix)]

I actually like this better than the original. It's not compressed to almost unintelligibility, and it's both sonically diverse and rhythmically pleasant to listen to.

One thing I would suggest is to control the low end of your reverb a bit more. Low cutting those wets to 250 usually is the trick for me. Sometimes you can get away with a bit less cutting, but with instruments trailing below C3, it can get really ringy.

Are you using a lot of stereo spreading as well? If you're using something more like Infected Mushroom's Wide, I would recommend switching to WideFire. The former can cause phasing issues and a tin-can effect -- where the output sounds farther away from you. I'm hearing a bit of that here on your basses and synths.

I would also take a look at your stereo spectrums on your drops. 1:08 feels more full than the rest of the track and sticks out as such. 1:33 likewise is quite full relative to 1:52. I feel like it should be the other way around.

I hope this is the feedback you're looking for. Tearout and riddim are not my typical expertise. The overall principles of mixing seem to fall along the lines of trap and metal, however, which I do know quite a bit about.

Overall, I would focus on bringing your basses' mid and low mids up a bit. I can clearly hear your sub, but they feel farther away than I'd like. The mid and high mid will help bring them in your face.

xb32Philya responds:

Thanks for your feedback!

[-Roadside Drug-]

I don't think that was ordinary meth...

IT WAS SUPER METH

This sounds less like Nebraska, and more like Ohio. But I'm digging it. It has the vibe of happy, moderately psychotic, and desperately manic at the same time.

It's not entirely phonk. Something newer and brighter has emerged. As such I'm not entirely sure how to critique.

One thing I have noticed, is that it is frantically busy, like many of your other pieces. You may try a technique of building an 8 bar hook (just copy the 4 bar and change the 2nd and last bars somewhat), then copypasting and cutting away layers for other sections.

Creeperforce24 responds:

Thanks for the tip! Now! LETS ENJOY THIS NEW PHONKMETH GENRE

[Andromeda]

Офигеть. That opening chord sounds so nice. Takes me back about 10 years. I can feel a lot of synthwave and trance influence here, which is nice.

I would say there is about .2-.3 dB too much 16khz-24khz. But other than that, you are working wonders with those $3 headphones. Hats off.

Also, lovely instrumentation, rhythms, and of course drops. Your breaks sound great and are used appropriately as fills. Very satisfying. If this was not already FP'ed, I'd FP it myself!

Also, I just thought of something -- you have already checked all your audio settings, yes? I was shocked to find some years ago, there is a sample rate setting in most Windows computers. If you find settings, sound, all sound devices, properties, you will see a setting called "output settings" and "format". Set it to the highest possible, which for me was 24-bit, 48khz. This made a huge difference in sound quality for me and allowed me to hear those crazy high frequencies for the first time.

Anyway, if you already found that setting, awesome. And great work, btw.

G2961 responds:

Thank you so much, ADR3-N! If I had cool headphones, then maybe my songs would be perfect then, but I'll have to somehow keep surviving with my $3 A4Techs, lol.
Really appreciate your feedback!!!