ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGAC Final Round Submission]

Simple and happy piece. It sounds a bit dry in the beginning with the crowd and claps, although mixing of samples into electronic music is harder to achieve in my opinion.

What stands out to me are the synth guitars and their extraordinary dry, clean sound. Even with your great sounding drums and good composition, I don't think they fit here. I would swap out synths for something like Junk Guitar (free for Kontakt), something by AmpleSounds if you want a self contained plugin, and ditch the current lead and rhythm guitar. The bass sounds okay as is.

You could sub them for cellos if you have a good cello with sensitive velocity and multiple samples per note.

Otherwise, nothing wrong with this piece at all, though I would find a different genre to put it in.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

RocketStart responds:

(◕ω◕✿)

[We Come In Peace]

Love the clean intro. Reverb seems to be used tastefully through 28 seconds. And continuing onward. This does indeed remind me of deadmaus. That's an achievement.

Great mix. I think the kick may be just a hair too loud. With such a clean mix otherwise it's not a huge issue. Sounds like lead kick, haha.

I really enjoy this piece. Beautiful and deceptive simplicity.

Second half of the song is a nice change. I have virtually no complaint whatever. It sounds indistinguishable from what I would hear from a signed producer. Great work, and wonderful transitions on your part.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

rajbeatsofficial responds:

woo! thanks a lot for the feedback. kick was quite a nuanced pain. its actually 2 kicks layered together, do you feel the high part of the kick is bit too loud or the lows? just curious. thanks again

[ODYSSEA - Grief and Ashes]

Wonderfully dramatic piece, I think only hampered by the amount of reverb everywhere, especially on your low strings. Note changes are quite chaotic in the low mids and it's hard to hear the actual tone of your bass instruments.

However, that choir sounds great. At 2:02 I want to be able to hear those chugging cellos. I know they're there!

2:45 sounds wonderful, and I think your outro closes nicely.

Overall, great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Omson responds:

Thanks so much, will definetely update the track after evaluation is done!

[Realm Between Heaven and Earth]

Great intro. Feels like everything was handled with a sensitive hand. I would have liked just a bit less volume on the bells. Chords chosen are unusual for the genre -- appreciated.

1:00 is a pleasant fluttering. Love it.

I think everything sits in its place with the exception of before 2:29 where the synths get a bit too loud relative to percussion, which I can barely hear. The piano before 2:50 is too loud going into that transition.

However, the insanity at 3:15 is wonderful. Would appreciate more sub on that bass and a bit more intelligibility of the tonal aspect.

Before 3:37 the sub becomes almost inaudible, perhaps on part of the compression. Watch levels there.

Your outro is very complex and a welcome addition. Great job there.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

RiSUKU responds:

Thank you so much for the constructive feedback! Some of the balance did went overlooked and probably would've been better had I taken a little longer on the track, however due to the frequent crashing I'd just decided to go with it.

I'm still trying to get the sub bass to sit right! I can't really tell what's causing the sub bass to be drowned out (probably the amount of higher frequencies pushing it down)

Actually, if you don't mind, could you explain a bit more regarding the tonal aspect? I'm still kinda confused on that one, would like to understand it even more (we could use private messaging).

But anyways, thank you again for the feedback! Truly means a lot :D

[Lordant - Tilion]

Nice touch with the overblown flute

I think you could use a different cello patch. Maybe steal something out of LABs or try pocket blakus spic. The swells don't sound bad at all minus perhaps needing a bit faster attack in place. Same with the strings overall, though you handle this fairly well.

At 1:10 or so the glock sounds a bit loud. At 1:37 the flute is loud relative to the ensemble and there are a few places where the brass stabs sound overblown.

2:10 the bassoon is somewhat loud relative to the clarinet coming in.

Overall, through 2:46, good quiet mix. Again we are greeted by the loud glock.

3:26 sounds GREAT. Good treatment. The horn comes in a bit too close to the listener. Maybe gloss over it with some reverb or a mic change if possible.

4:19 again sounds great although I expected a more climactic bass thrumming outro here, as seen in 4:44. I was not expecting such a fast percussion with almost no buildup there. There seems to be a bit much low mid on your toms/bass drums, and they are spread out through the channels, and such feel separate from the ensemble.

The last trombone note also was a bit of a synth fart -- may find another free instrument alternative like Carpenter Trombone or some other LABS instruments for that stab in particular. Compositionally, however, that stinger note was a good choice to get the point across that we are finished.

Great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Lordant responds:

The balancing is a bit complicated for me, espesially when it comes to woodwinds. Although I made the piccolo at 1:23 louder intentionally, because the violins spics overlapped it a bit. The brass was mixed in the same space, so I'm not sure if the issue is with reverb, I guess it comes to balancing/dynamics again.

The percussion was added at the very end, actually. I thought the tom rolls and risers will do a good job as a buildup, but I agree that it could be better.

Anyways, thanks for the detailed review!

[NGUAC Final Round - Hopping Over Puddles]

Really enjoy your composition. I think most of my issues with the overall sound would melt away with more sensitive touches to velocity on repeated notes to sound natural, across ALL instruments.

Overall, the piece is very crisp. I think some of that is the hihat and rim snare. Taking some of that high edge off there and with the rides/chimes would pay off I think. Some of your instruments have a vinyl feel to them and I think blending would help.

Now I do love your transitions. They are almost liquid. Great work there.

I think my only complaint could be please lower the treble just a bit haha. At some points the percussion gets a bit over the top with that. Otherwise, really enjoyed it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

LordAndiso responds:

I learned a lot from this. Thank you so much. :)

[Final [NGUAC]]

At 48 I would like to hear more of the low mid on your snare, a bit less rattle. Think a 70s snare sound there.

Compositionally, I'm not sure where we are going, but it all sounds pretty slick. The low guitar before 1:50 could use a lot more velocity modulation or a keyswitch effect for any repeated notes. I caught the same sample it sounds like twice in a row.

I think this song probably sounds milder than you were going for. Maybe the one thing that is missing is more high end instruments, transition fx, crashes, orchestral flourishes, and the like. I still like it a lot. The outro is not cheesy. The theme is not bombastic but brooding and mysterious. Perhaps you could have left some of those vocals in to tantalize us at points, scatted a tenor solo or such, but it is what it is.

My only real complaints with mix would be to turn down the reverbs somewhat, maybe by a fourth to a third of their current value, but it is not overpowering.

Great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Jotrocken responds:

Your right i expected it to have more power i really tried to boost the kick and layer but it didn't really help, since it is out of my comfort i didn't really know what else to do.
More transition fx? Well i thought this was enough but ill try more. Crashes threw me off most of the time.
I mean you didn't really know how my vocals were but good placed and produced vocals would help to push the track and i know that (thats why i added them) but i invested lots of time in them and they weren't that good (level of quality).
Thanks for your detailed Feedback @adr3-n

[lost tapes before death]

Wild intro. I'd recommend less reverb on that sample synth in the beginning.

I appreciate the strange choices made here. They work together quite well. Less reverb on everything and that would help sincerely with the intelligibility, maybe 30% less in cases where you have held notes.

I appreciate the djent elements. I hear some double tracking here -- the left channel seems to be quieter than the right. Maybe a different amp or more distortion is in order. The drums sound quite loud here but I think that is relative to the somewhat quiet bass.

I quite like this and want to give it more stars for simply being a genre that I like and being very different in general, so I will state now that the score reflected here will be 1 star higher than my actual score for NGUAC. The mix is really the only detractor for me. I think the glitching guitars were a fantastic choice and would have worked very well if not for the synth in the background sounding louder than they themselves, as well as the lack of a supporting centered bass to give them girth.

I think you could still use to differentiate even machine gunned notes with velocity on your kick and snare. Just destroy them with FX however you like. A varied chaos.

In short, I'd like to hear the most dramatic elements of this piece hit above your background pad. Accomplish that however you care to, sidechain, lowering volume strategically, paring down reverb, etc. Transition FX would also be nice.

But otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

FlowerBoyDeMii responds:

thank you so much wanted to try something different thank you for you feedback <3

[Koi Brook]

Nice chunky lo-fi feel in your intro. I think I would have appreciated in the very intro a separate track with your lead similarly crushed.

Wonderful vibes. I think I would like to hear a bit less chorus on your bass and some distortion. Bring it up in the mix and have an FX to center all the bass frequencies below 210 hz or so.

The very fast strumming section is fantastic, as is writing throughout. I would modulate velocity on your high plucking instrument much more so that the attacks sound more varied and use compression to compensate for difference in volume. You could ping-pong delay it instead of using as much reverb.

It's a bit hard to hear your snare and auxiliary percussion through the reverb gaze. You have two choices, up the volume or try transient shaping, subtle side chain, cut down on overall reverb, or a combination of all the above to get a little more clarity. I think with a bit more clarity at points the song would be A1. :)

In any case, love your composition. Great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Cresince responds:

I am going to have to study up on side chains and transients, production stuff can tend to go over my head a lot of the time haha.

I honestly didn't even notice the quiet snare until you pointed it out, I think I was more treating the kit in that section as auxiliary percussion so toned it down quite a bit for more of a loose groove (maybe should of used actual auxiliary instruments lol).

As always, you give great pointers, and I think back on your reviews often when mixing, so thank you for your insight! <3

[The Mystical Forest]

This piece is compositionally indistinguishable from anything I'd expect to hear in the masterful works of say, Studio Ghibli back in the day, and such as, I don't have any point of critique to offer in that area. Fantastic work with your modalizations and keychanges.

My only areas of complaint would be a bit much whine on your high violas it sounds like at points. I can hear the synth, so to speak at points. The attacks are quite slow in places where that doesn't suit your piece, which bothers me as a classical musician (where all I heard was not to "twwaah" the attacks unless directed to do so). I suffer from this myself and sympathize. I may actually recommend swapping to a different library or patch in these cases. Albion Tundra and Spitfire Labs, as well as a lot of other kontakt libraries in that vein could be added into places where you need a sharp attack and sustain to match your piano, or you could back up the attacks of the individual notes some to pull them closer into those piano quarter notes.

For reference, I am talking about sections like 1:33. I think the violins may be a bit too high in the mix here relative to the piano, but that is because they are so high more likely than not.

I can't stress enough, wonderful composition. Evocative of exactly the feeling you describe in your title. Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

anthonyragus responds:

Super thanks for your review. My mixing and MIDI sequencing is definitely rushed on this one, and I think I overcompensated my typical string EQ curves, and I most likely forgot to compensate slow notes in violas (EDIT: I did not forget, but a 16th note in advance wasn't enough, haha). EWQLSO viola is the oddest set of patches, the slow expressive patch somehow the best in quality, but perhaps that's what one gets with a library recorded twenty years ago.

For months now, I've had my ears set on a set of libraries; strings are not yet released, but I have no doubt they will be a worthy investment. Thank you for listening.