ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Solaraloe - Takedown [NGUAC 2022]]

I'm appreciating the strange rhythms but think you may be dealing with soft clipping from looking at the waveform and listening to your high frequencies in the very beginning.

Watch those very high frequencies on your risers. They are pretty piercing and loud.

Your rhythms and writing are wonderful. I think I'm only going to take issue with the mix and perhaps some choices in percussion -- and perhaps that the song does not let up even for a second volume wise for a transition. I end up having the very full head feeling.

2:35 is a wonderful melodic progression.

Mix wise I would leave at least 250 hz and below on your bass alone in the center channel.

Beyond that I don't have much to say. Hihats are a bit high in the mix. Snare could use more volume and transient shaping. Kick is doing okay thanks to sidechain. You may try tuning it.

I recommend less sausage fattening for effect and cleaning up frequencies, long reverb tails or too much reverb, and any noise that doesn't need to be there in your mix. It's causing the compression to sound like a wall.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Solaraloe responds:

Thanks so much for the review! I really appreciate it.

[[Experimental] TRANQUILITY]

Opening sample -- fire. I was expecting hiphop

I think the drums don't entirely match. They're very sibilant. That snare is okay but the ride is what is throwing me off. Take it down in the mix by a dB or more until 1:18.

Your bass sounds perfect with the chords.

Sax addition is fire.

I would add an additional half a star to a full star for a longer arrangement with full choruses and perhaps a sax solo.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

spicymango002 responds:

First off- thanks for the comment! I wish I could get back sooner, but they took phones at camp last week. I'd like to address this quick- I'd like to change the drums to be a bit more quiet in the first part, but that requires another channel to set the drums on, and I already had 30+ different things going on at once and it was a mess to keep organized as it was. I would take the drums down a bit, but you wouldn't be able to hear them in the last part of the song. So (just going to be honest) took the lazy route and kept it on the same channel for the song. And yes, I made a longer version, not by a lot, but I'm always open to improving my work. I appreciate your feedback and I'll get to work on that!
Have a great day :)

[Exercise in Difficulty]

I think this would fall somewhere between techno and synthwave.

I appreciate the simplicity. And wow, I think I recognize some of those fluttery high frequencies from instruments I used to use back in the day.

I would first of all bring up your bass and take down your hihat in the mix. Your leads and harmonies I would also take down so that they did not sit too high above the snare in volume.

for your snare, I recommend a transient shaper vst and/or saturation. Kshmr Essentials Kick and Diablo Lite are free and may be fun to play with.

Nice arrangement overall and a spacy piece. I like it. You may potentially shift the genre to dance for a better reception -- or videogame.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TechnoDrama responds:

Wow. I've been around a long time. I started posted my songs on MP3.COM in the late 1990's. All these years of posting music online and I've never heard anything like this. Ever. This is absolutely, hands down, the best and most constructive feedback I have ever received. I put this stuff out and no one ever talks about the mix and that is the piece I struggle with the most and the part that I always worry about the most. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I'm going to back and try these suggestions out and see what happens. Thank you so much.

Also, I realize the irony in being around all this time and still not knowing how to mix but I do have a life that, for good or bad, takes precedence over this hobby of mine. By the time I figure it out...well...I'd rather not think about that yet.

[Sasayaki]

Nice treatment of bells in your intro. I think they can come down by 26 seconds somewhat to make room for the timpani.

I think much more sparing use of reverb here would sincerely help the intelligibility of your section before 50 seconds. Also be mindful of not using the same velocity.

Your runs at 1 minute in percussion are quite nice but the reverb from them covers up your melodies. I would turn the reverb values down by 1/2 or more their current settings, specifically wetness. I think the tail is okay.

The piece itself is slow and pensive. I'm not sure what emotion is supposed to be evoked, but the writing is good. I would like to hear more of your orchestral horns throughout and much less reverb so that I hear them well. I would turn them up above the bells especially for the section right before 3 minutes.

Beyond that, nice piece. You have a great selection of synths that I envy and the will to use them hehe.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Tetrahedrix responds:

Thanks for the feedback glad to be back in one of these NGUAC. Fair critique is great for me since this all a hobby nonetheless. I hear you on the reverb, I was worried about it having too much reverb initially. Velocity and automation are an area that is utilized a lot less. I suppose I could start trying to incorporate that more now.

In terms of emotions well that kind of is bipolar for me, I've always struggled with song progression, expression and structure. This song was one of my better ones with better writing so to speak. I've had people who usually say (its a no from me, its missing something). Then somehow I nail it with this track and got good family feedback). The song kind of started out one way, then I named the track and it got molded by the name if that makes sense. Sasayaki is just Japanese for *Shhh*

I suppose I molded it from there to be some sort of emotional tom and jerry calm styled battle over who can Hush the other better. Hence, the 3 horn sections each a tad more powerful than the other.

Thanks for the feedback, the next track that I begin for the competition and even if I don't get through will still utilize this feedback. In the next track my recent ideas are going to puddle around possible hints of similar styles from the track that plays from from Legend of Zelda Wind Waker when your on a boat or in the fortress and or maybe faster paced video game boss battle unsure yet.

[ThunderFrank - Apocalyptic Destruction [NGUAC]]

I think the track may be too loud before it hits the effects on the master channel -- compression, etc.

The percussion is no issue to hear but is VERY loud relative to the rest of the instrumental and occasionally hurts my ears on quieter sections of the track, where the other instruments aren't as loud.

1:33 sounds like an explosion of static. That one hurt.

Now I will say you take a lot of elements that sound atonal and make them seem as if they belong together. I appreciate that part of your track.

I would like to hear a growling bass underneath the synth bass at 2:26.

Other than that I don't have much critique. It's a simple piece with a good arrangement. The mix is what makes it difficult for me to listen to. Less snare volume, whatever that loud sample is on your outro could be changed out or dropped in volume, more kick volume, a sidechain if possible on kick and snare, more volume on bass, less reverb on the lead.

That's all I got. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

ThunderFrankMusic responds:

the one at 2:26 is the subass, bro, thanks for rating my song :D

[=If I made Stereo Cloud now=]

15 seconds, you have a chord completely out of the tonic of your melody. A minor against F I'm not sure what chord that is. Going to the G against that A is gnarly. The next chord doesn't really feel it fits either.

All the chords are parallel movements with no inversions -- some study of music theory would be helpful.

Your percussion is VERY loud relative to the rest of the piece and kind of hurts to listen to, no offense, just because it's loud and repetitive at 1:17.

I'm not sure what to really make of it, but it certainly is not just noise, and that I appreciate. There's room for improvement, and I think you'll find that if you look up songwriting, song structure, and music theory tutorials for a while, practicing and releasing as you go. I highly recommend Signals Music Studios on YT. They helped me get to where I am today. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to do the same. My first music submissions were not even this decent -- I was submitting crap I made in punkomatic or online browser DAWs with loops at the time.

Wishing you the best in future submissions and all of your endeavors. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TimeWarpKnight responds:

I not very skillful, but thx for VERY big comment with critic

[Frozen Industry]

Oh UwU listen to them percussions in the beginning. Reminding me of Turok. I'd like to know what you used for them.

I think at 26 seconds the sudden increase of volume is just a little bit dramatic, and some of the bangs also could come down very slightly. Maybe try a bit more aggressive panning for some SFX and particularly motion in the panning from one side to the other.

Despite having not a whole lot of melodic content, my brain is beginning to interpret chords in the drums at 1:40. One of the resonant bass notes is a low B. Another is a G#4, and your bass comes in at C and F when we get to 3:00. At 4:24 we have a Bb5. Very interesting timbres. Were you aware of those note relations in making the piece and did this on purpose, or did it just sound right?

The piece is super long, but I don't mind. I'm just enjoying the ride. Perhaps the TIKtik-titik could come down just a bit throughout but it's not too bothersome.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

VictorLincolnPine responds:

Yeah, mostly this was done by ear like most of my other tracks. I have it really long cause it's a game track and I wanted enough variation to the music for the listener not to get used to it too quickly as it loops.

As for the drums, I used a combination of dragging my keys on a table and two drum packs: "Bins and Barrels Kit" and "Foley and Real Drum Kit", with a metal pole hit sound in the former kit that I added a slow phaser effect to in addition to delay effects and Valhalla Supermassive reverb effects via aux buses to get both the full wet and full dry signals at once.

Thank you for your input, by the way. I'll take that into consideration for my future tracks.

[ikitai (feat. 初音ミク)]

This track is very quiet. I think it could benefit from a free online master or amplifying in Audacity.

I really enjoy your pingpong delay.

I think the hihats are a bit loud.

I appreciate the use of Miku and the Japanese. I myself am an occasional vocaloid and Alter Ego user myself.

I don't have much critique as the composition is fairly simple and nothing sticks out to me as dissonant or poorly mixed. It's so quiet that mixing decisions really only matter in so far as I wouldn't be able to hear anything -- but as bare as this piece is, everything is audible.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

wheremakingthishapen responds:

hi, thank you so much for your critique!!! i do have a problem with making my tracks a bit too quiet, as i tend to get worried about them clipping and such, but i'll definitely keep your critique in mind for any future tracks i make and try and work on making them a little louder. i'll also try and work on adding more stuff to my future tracks so they aren't as bare :) again, tysm for your critique, even if you didn't have much to say it was still very helpful!!!

[Castle Dregs]

I was waiting for some toccata and fugue vibes.

Interesting fusion of elements. I like that reversing shizzle. However I think your 808 is WAY too loud relative to the rest of the track. I can hardly hear your snare over it in any section where it is present.

Could also use some transition FX, crashes, reverse crashes, and etc. just to make transitions clearer. I want to hear some ride cymbals too.

At 1:55 the piece feels muddy, a lot of melodies and stuff going on that could probably be parsed out into other drops.

The song is also SUPER long for hip-hop at 5:40. That tells me some things could probably be cut out, like that section I was just talking out where the choir instrument and strings are being written in a way that doesn't necessarily serve the quality of synth you're using. For instance I might cut the 3:24 section to 4:30, sub in one more drop and leave the rest to 4:54 or so as an outro. A fade out is not needed.

Super, super long!

Beyond that, the ideas you have here are not bad at all. Some places I disagree with execution, like those super hard, super distorted 808s (which don't get me wrong I myself LOVE to spam) with a LOT of other elements on top and complex percussion. Give your ideas a little bit of space to breathe.

Also I have a sample pack you may enjoy -- Adreanaline, made myself, with tons of grimy 808s and percs for you. And a ton of other freebies packed away in my news posts for hip hop and industrial. I would recommend you some plugins right off the bat: kshmr essentials kick (percussion processor), Diablo Lite by cymatics (same), Pocket Blackus cello (a kontakt instrument free), Spitfire LABS (a ton of orchestral and other sample based intruments that are free), cinematic cymbals. If you go through my own audio discography I list a lot of the things I use most of the time. If interested, hmu and I will see what we can find for you.

That's really all I have to say I think on the piece. As we speak it has ended, and it is indeed stuck in my head despite mix issues. Very catchy. Excited to see what else you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

SednovaNova responds:

I appreciate the feedback. I will take it into consideration most definitely.

[Follow Me]

The track is pretty quiet. I think you could run it through a free internet master or Audacity's amplify FX and fix that practically instantly.

1:05 is a nice, cheery bop. The song itself is quite simple and I don't know what critique to apply beyond I think it could use more than hipass play and a typical club beat in terms of percussion and FX to keep things interesting. Past 2:02 I'm not sure what else new could be brought to the table in such a minimal composition. 2:59 makes me much happier.

Nothing sticks out as ugly, perhaps due to the pentatonic feel of the track itself, as if all is supposed to indeed go through this very happy parallel motion. I am almost robbed of words of what to say I feel it lacks beyond wooshy wooshy noises, overt crash cymbals and reverse crashes, and perhaps a catchy bassline.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

DeweyDewster09 responds:

I appreciate the honest feedback it helps a lot!