ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dj Halit - Basil]

That sidechain is actually a bit distractingly sharp and aggressive. Part of that is the kick and snare being a bit too loud at points. I recommend studying some reference tracks of your choice for house and see how to emulate the things you like about them in your own work.

Overall pleasant chord progression and good melodic writing!

DJ-Halit responds:

I'm glad I got some feedback on the sidechain specifically. I'll take your advice on board. Thank you for reviewing my song! :)

[black hole]

This perfectly suits my taste, with the exception that I think the bass could have more impact in the stereo space, had it more presence in mono below 130 hz and were it turned up quite a bit more. My headphones tend to overemphasize bass, so if it sounds a bit underplayed to me, it probably sounds more so on other systems. Double check that and let me know if you feel the same!

cad-mium responds:

yep I did this before I had gotten my hands on a subwoofer for my speakers, and my hd560s doesn't have the best bass response so I used to have a hard time properly mixing the bass. but I can hear what you're talking about now

[BASCUTI - SLEEP PARALYSIS]

Is that Ample Bass I hear, or is it Shreddage II?

BASCUTI responds:

Ample Bass!

[Too far gone]

With a little more compression on the master, some more clip on your drums, a revisit of overall eq of the tracks to de-emphasize some of the freqs around 200 hz and bring up your sub, this would 100% bang for me. You've got great groove, a solid theme, good atmosphere and transitions, and interesting sound design. Great work!

Another note, my monitors consistently overestimate bass frequencies. Given that, I would suggest turning down your kick very slightly, and bringing your bass up considerably. Your sidechain is hard enough that it's safe to do so. That may fix 80% of what I was complaining about.

Aistis responds:

Listening again on my monitor headphones, the most annoying part for me is the low frequencies of the kick drum. I've also compressed the bass a bit and made it ever so slightly louder. Although the rest of the mix also needs to be revisited, I don't think I have the skills to properly EQ everything. I'll upload the edited mix once the judging period of the underdog contest ends.

Thanks for reviewing :)

[3manon - Irish Adventures]

Overall the composition, effort, and ensemble I hear in this piece aren't bad at all. I'm just having trouble with the clarity. The amount of reverb is occasionally masking the finer aspects of your mix, particularly on larger sections where the kick comes in. I recommend taking this value down a bit, but more than that I recommend surgically cleaning out the low freq noise via low cut on your reverb. Hopefully it has that function.

Great to see this kind of experimentation going on in the AP. I actually love bagpipes!

3manonMusic responds:

Ah, Thank you so much for the feedback! Bagpipes are hella underrated indeed, just like the throat singing from last year XD
And yea, when I submitted this piece to my mixing class I got the same feedback about the reverb. Overall I think the composition kind of balanced it out tho?? That's why I submitted this one from this year, because I think it is my best composition. That being said, thank you for the feedback, and if there's something else you want to talk about don't be afraid to hit me up in pms :)

[Souichirou Tinder Match]

Some kinder attention to mix, side-chain, and panning would have made this an easy 9.5 for me. Your transitions are good, breaks are crazy interesting, and melodic themes are easy on the ears.

For some reason the bass doesn't feel very driving despite being present in the mix. It feels like it's been stereo spread or chorused in some way perhaps even clipped beyond its limits to keep a good sub balance. Kick is also not sticking out above it but rather sitting under it. Snare and kick in particular need more volume.

Leads and pads also don't sound super clean to my ears. They are sticking out above the snare which typically is a no-go for DnB.

That said, great atmosphere and composition. I really enjoyed it!

2keg responds:

Totally agree, the mix was really hard to "mix", I just threw in the towel towards the end

Anywho thanks for review Mr.ADR3-N

[||TRANZQUILIZER]

This makes me want to make music. Rhythmically, a bop. Got some strange harmonies I don't quite understand in your stabs on occasion, and as you mentioned, it is quite compressed and lacking in range. BUT, I think revisiting again with a mind to clear out wet FX where they aren't necessarily needed, think about your reverb and delay sends -- that low freq noise below 200 hz or so can safely be cut away leaving only the heavenly high freq "air"

Nice work :)

NeuralDelverM responds:

Thank you, always room for improvement so I appreciate the detailed constructive criticism.

[SENTIENTS]

This is sort of a hybrid between the modern day midtempo music, house, and synthwave, and I love that.

1:33 I would check your bass levels and see if you can get that bass more into mono. I'm hearing something overpronounced around the 150-200 hz range. It may be percussion.

I think you probably already know what's up with the rest of the mix. Minor gripes of some reverb wet signals muddying the mix, cymbals occasionally washing out with white noise at points, sounding naked and overpresent at others, and not having a lot going on with panning or slap-backs in alternate channels to keep things interesting.

Your vox chops could also come more to the front of the mix and pan around. The mix to me is either balanced slightly right, or I'm losing more hearing. Check that out and lmk.

Fivening for friendship goals

82/100

KI1 responds:

Thanks! I'd love to give actual midtempo a proper go one day.

Scratched my head for a while on why that part sounds wack. After looking back, it might have something to do with the fact I duped the 'lead' synth (which has a ton of unison) and put it an octave down, which may have muddied everything(?).

Really helpful feedback there, thank you. I think it's well past time I improve from the 'put-on-some-reverb/convolver-and-go' approach I've had for too long. Panning has been something I've been tentatively getting into, going a bit crazier certainly couldn't hurt.

I'm not too proud of the chops if I'm honest - cringing if I turn them up, but not hating them enough to get rid of them entirely... I think you may be right (lol), I'm starting to learn that panning isn't just a simple set-and-forget affair. Looking at where I've left the panning knobs on the mixer, it looks about as right-leaning as a Reddit centrist.

Yay, friends! :D A very generous score, thank you.

["Lose/Lose"]

Due to how naked this song is, it's very easy for the vocal and guitar to sound as if in two separate places. Guitar playing is very clean. I would recommend changing the way you record your vocals, your setup. I can hear a lot of room tone, where that isn't the case for the guitar. The vocal also doesn't sound very compressed, nor up front in the mix. Also, the performance could be a bit more passionate, but hey.

Your songwriting is great, and so is your structure. Keep at it! The only thing holding you back sounds like is mic setup and maybe a little self-consciousness. That's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, so keep your head up!

LANPartyAnimal responds:

Appreciate you taking the time to listen and provide feedback

[The Expedition]

This track would get 100% love from me if the huge amount of reverb were cleaned up prior to the drop at 1:54. Literally almost nothing else is wrong with it except there is a lot of low frequency noise on the verb and long tails, resulting in a muddy mix.

Your drop writing and sound design is wonderful, your melodies are compelling.

Minor gripes aside from that, the electric guitar is in the center channel; best practice is to double track the electric guitar with 2 separate instances, one humanized, one not, and pan them 100% left and right opposite one another. This creates depth and a thicc sound.

I love your drop rhythm and growls

I do think on the first drop the snare is getting buried a bit though.

In short, keep all the ideas you have for this track. They're freaking great. Clean up the mix and it will be PERFECT :)

OkuuMusic responds:

thx for the feedback!