ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Four Roots Above Still Water]

While I'm here I might recommend some drum kits for you. Si sounds good, but something about the snare to me. There is Saudade snare, I think based on the same snare as used by David Silveria of Korn. MT Power Drum kit may also have some use for you. Then there is Cherry Snare, Black Noh Snare, and DarkKick VST. Cymballistic is a great hihat and cymbal library. Also, salamander drum kit. These are all free and relatively easy to work with. I recommend more velocity modulation on your drums. The hihats are machine gunning a bit on the attack.

The section at 2:40 sounds fantastic. Love those chords and that wahwah bass. As well as your warm outro.

I think my only problems with this song lie in its mix. The composition is nicely complex without sounding pretentious, somewhat unpredictable (pleasantly) due to time signatures. What I would like to hear more of is reverb (maybe gated) on your snare, reverb on your crashes or delay, etc. Occasionally I like to pingpong delay my hihats on a hardish left or right.

Your bass could use distortion of some kind. I hear a lot of the frequencies around 250-400 hz but not much sub. This may be because it is so high. You could double an instrument an octave below it for beef. In this case I think actually a low piano would be fitting, given that you have used that already throughout.

Your lead instruments all sound somehow centered but also spread too thin across the channels to me. What you can do to combat this with your guitar lead specifically is have two different patches with different amps and cabs anywhere between 5 percent left and right to 27, add a pingpong reverb to the other channel or a reverb send. This technique will make it sound fuller and is used with live instruments in the studio.

Beyond that, great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Aardvark04 responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to check out those drum plugins!

[Pulled into the]

I always appreciate the layers in your composition. I think this one could use a bit more control on the dynamics of different instruments, such as the flute in your intro which is quite loud.

It was a pretty smooth transition into the electronic portion of your song.

There are a lot of daring elements in this song -- is that CS One Bass with those wubs?

It sounds like there is a bit crusher or some sort of fizz on your kick drum. If you wanted the same crispiness, I might try a multi band compressor to de-emphasize the static sound I hear clearly throughout.

2:22 is experimental indeed. Almost avantgarde.

Really enjoy the overall idea of this piece as well as your execution. I think more compression from 0:55 to your close would make the synth portion sound better, as well as a deeper and more gripping bassline -- the one you have is quite high up and does not sound centered in the mix.

All the same, great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

314leafcutterant responds:

I added the flute because the piano which plays the same melody got a little bit drowned by the harp. It probably didn't have to be as loud as it is, but I think the heavy vibrato of the sample is almost more annoying. I originally tried to record my ocarina, which I bought a few months ago and never used in a song yet, but I cannot play it nearly well enough to actually record something. I am always completely out of tune.

That wub is selfmade, it uses some fm synthesis and a filter automated by an lfo. There is a bit crusher on the whole drumset. I didn't actually hear the static sound in the mix, only when listening to the drums as solo so I left it there because of that little bit of... something. Didn't think the static would actually be noticeable.

Making the bassline deeper would actually have been a smart thing to do, thanks. To me the synth sounded better when it was an octave deeper but i put it an octave higher anyway so it wouldn't cover up the bass. Making both of them deeper would have solved that issue.

The bass and subbass aren't completely in the center, that is true. One is panned a few percent to the left and the other to the right.

[Pressure Point]

Your drums stick out pretty well here, stick out being the operative word. I would take some volume off of those hihats. They are louder than any other part of the mix and are the only thing really in that mix space.

I enjoy your writing and choice of chords

I would put much less verb on your toms and bring out your snare more.

I think the track would benefit from running through an online mastering service of your choosing -- there are free ones out there.

Bass and pads, along with the melody are hard to hear through the percussion elements of the track. You want to strike a balance in which the percussion is clearly audible but not covering up anything else.

Overall, great melodies and piece holds together nicely. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TechnoDrama responds:

Online mastering service? Never thought to even look.

Well, I didn't make it to the next round and I'm okay with that. Just grateful to have people listening.

I wonder how much of my music's real impact is lost due to bad mixing and mastering? I'm always so eager to just get it out there that I never really thought about the impact the mix has on the end result.

You have given me much to think about. And not making it to the next round has given me reason to focus on what I did wrong, which is not in the creative process, but in the final steps.

Thank you again, and feel free to thank the other judges. I appreciated the opportunity.

[Supernova]

I'd like a bit less hihat volume in your intro. Perhaps throughout. And a bit more bass as well, maybe up to .5 dB more.

Overall, solid structure, great rhythms. Reverb is tasteful. Everything sounds clean and in its place. Good transitions.

I want a bit more saturation and dirt on your snare.

Definitely wanting a bit less highs on your final drop, more bass, a bit less hihat, and more snare, but still a bop.

Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

rajbeatsofficial responds:

Thank you for the detailed feedback! Will listen back in depth with these notes in front of me to get your perspective in real-time 💪

[Bloom Kyoto]

I feel like I dropped back into Age of Mythology.

I think the shamisen could come down in the mix a bit, be a bit more centered, and have a bit of room to it. The attacks could also have some more fooling around with the velocity.

Flute sounds nice. I'm not sure if it's a single sample. If so, the initial attack is a bit distracting on subsequent notes.

Overall, nice piece, and some of my favorite instruments. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

OliRO responds:

Thank you for the review! I didn't had time to master it properly but I'm about to post another version where everything should be a bit more balanced. Obviously it's gonna be out of the scope of this challenge, but I will apply your observations nonetheless. For the flute it is a single sample from Massive X that I tweaked a bit to sound like a shakuhachi. The initial attack might be a bit too early indeed. Thanks for pointing that out, I will fix it.

Thanks again for taking the time to analyze and share your insight on my track. This is the main reason why I take part in this challenge; to get better by getting quality reviews.

[The Fairytale Continues]

I'm not sure about the chord progression chosen for your intro. I noticed a lot of parallel 5th motion -- at least that's what I think I'm hearing. That perception could probably be reduced by using more chord inversions and not doubling the strings as piano stabs on the other side.

I feel lit a bit more when you introduce hiphop and glitch elements, however, there is a really loud sub bass that I can't quite make out and I think that somewhat detracts from this section. Maybe use a different bass for the same line.

At 2:18 the low chords are kind of chunky sounding and close together for me. General rule, when writing lower, make sure there is more space in the chord between notes. The approach of even half notes leaves me feeling like the composition is kind of lumbering. However I do like the chord choices you made at 3:34 was nice!

Maybe switch it up with the melody? I hear lots and lots of 8th notes and am not sure where we are resolving to. May see signals music studio on YouTube for some music theory ideas. There is nothing offensive about your mix that I hear. In fact, it sounds pretty good. I'm just not quite able to follow the melody and chord progressions as related to each other.

Overall though, nice pacing, piece is neither too long, nor too short, and I still enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

GeminiGemini responds:

Thanks for the review and good luck to the remaining.

[Plesiosaur to meet you]

Wild, weird, and just what I expected from the text art.

I would appreciate a bit less reverb across the board, a harder distorted kick sitting higher in the mix, and watching your levels throughout to ensure no clipping before hitting the mix.

One thing I find lacking into 1:27 is hihats and crashes to punctuate transitions between sections.

I think you could sub out that piano in places for some sort of saw instrument and maintain the drama while fitting in better with the mix.

I also have no idea how you managed to get that ascii to look so clean.

Before 2:50 there is one or two notes out of the key in that melody. Not a severe problem but did distract me.

3:15 I'm feeling we are building toward a climactic drop and wondering how long it will take. Turns out to be an outro. I think you could have swapped out a section here from earlier on, or repeated it prior to the fade out.

Overall, interesting piece. I enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

dogsinmrimachines responds:

Lots of notes are out of key intentionally. See: Anything else I've released during the same time period.

3:30+ is a repeat of the melody at 0:35 and 1:45, it's just hard to tell because it's thoroughly layered.

The rest of your comments seem to be reducible to "create a song in a different genre with different musical techniques".

[Dekiru - Shattered (NGUAC22)]

Great chord progressions and phrases here, sure to get stuck in my head. Mix sounds nice and balanced with the exception of the odd overly loud crash.

At 1:07 I find myself wanting some sort of percussion fill, snares, toms, something. It feels a bit empty until 1:32. Here the pads sound a bit overly loud.

At 1:48, drop the pianos down a bit. They are crowding out your melody until 2:08. I also think I hear some notes out of the key but who cares. It didn't really bother me there.

At 2:20 it also feels a bit naked. I think you might have been able to cut out some parts leading into your final drop for a more dramatic finish. Ah, key change, unexpected but appreciated. I probably would have had one drop and then that key change personally, rather than a build into the key change.

Nice work overall. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

dekiruGD responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

[Heuristic]

Absolutely trippy. I'd like a bit more volume on your bass, slightly less on pads.

That trumpet line is supreme. Didn't expect to hear growls. Now I need to know what trumpet that is haha. Can't tell what sax that is after 8 years out of band, but it sounds great.

Your progressions and pacing are great, as well as those wild pads. 2:11 came as a surprise to me. I typically am not one for so much reverb, but as simple and uncluttered as the piano is, you manage it very well.

Wonderful work. Almost makes you forget yourself.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Cresince responds:

Thanks as always for the tips!

I used Session Horns Pro for the flugelhorn (sounds just like a trumpet except more, wide? lol) and baritone sax. It has a good amount of play options and some ensemble mixes as well.

Thank you again for all your hard work judging :3

[PROJECT - 20]

Wow, what an insane shift in tone once the dubstep begins. I'm not even sure what to think. Such shifts in mood.

I think your keys could stand to be lower in the mix. Impressed you did this on FL Studio mobile. I would ask for a bit less reverb on your pads. I think your writing is very nicely varied and keeps my attention throughout, as well as the screaming solos. Very interesting piece.

The outro leaves a little to be desired, and the piece is short, but I think it works. Great work!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

AniGlebGD responds:

I really appreciate your attention to my works.
So, as I mentioned a completely s*ck at other genres except dubstep (future bass).
I put a lot of reverb cause I wanted to make transition between chords very smooth, but I think I overdid.
Sometimes badly - made piece of track sounds much better than well made one.(