ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Another World (Humans)]

Lots of interesting elements here, super clean, icy percussion, and smooth chord progression.

My only comments are going to be mix related. There's a boxy low wash in your chords, particularly evident by 2:05. You can probably take care of that by low cutting up to 250 hz, or touching on it with a multiband compressor. I feel you've compensated for the wash with making your percussion somewhat tinny, but I would personally probably have taken the opposite approach.

Other than that, great work. Really enjoyed the listen. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

PromisesMusic responds:

Thank you very much for the comment! I hope and be in the next round and I really tried to put all my effort into this song and the ones on my album to bring it my best.

[Stalker]

Interesting slapbacks on that percussion in both channels. The overall mix sounds pretty muddy though, like reverb and delay has been used to make space on a pretty dry mix, or dry instruments. What that creates is a lot of muddy attacks on sustained instruments -- which granted, I absolutely abhor synth strings that aren't hyper realistic. I'd prefer to use 80's pads or something.

Now, I do like what you've done with the human percussion. That's probably the nicest touch on your track.

Riff wise, this is a solid piece. I think you just need to find some instruments that work for you, study mixing a little, and you'll be in a good place as a producer.

If you have Kontakt, Spitfire LABS is a nice, professionally sampled free library. There are plenty of percussion instruments like mini Naal, tincan percussion, Egyptian Darabuka, Clingfilm frame drums, the E string weird string bowing library, Egyptian Ney flute. Lots and lots of free instruments and libraries. Native Instruments also released a huge starter pack of their flagships and some libraries to work with them for free. Then there are some free vsts such as Ample Sound's taylor nylon guitar and ABPL bass synth, which work pretty well for more real-instrumenty applications.

Then there's synths like Psymon (just simon says sounds, but it sounds good to me), some commodore 64 emulators, SQ8L, Dexed, tons of others. If you want a list of those I can see if I can look through what I got.

Mix wise, clarity is your biggest issue. On those instances of reverb and delay you have, I would move the low cut to 250. Getting a big low wash. And if that doesn't clean it up more, I would drop the signal down. Also sounds like there's not a lot of high end on anything, beyond your ah chants.

Beyond that, enjoyed the listen. Reminds me of oldschool mortal kombat levels.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

PandaThePanda responds:

Thank you for all recommendations! I will take a look at all of them as soon as possible. Mixing/mastering has always been something I stuggled with but slowly gotten better at, but I guess I should take a week to do some extensive studying to really get it down for my next track.

Thank you again for your in depth analysis! All love to ya <3

[-Stoopid-]

The idea for this is pretty cool, oldschool even.

Some notes. I like the sample you've chosen, and the ... sounds like either a tight delay or ringmod, but I can't quite understand it. Might compress it so that the consonants are more out there.

Your drop suffers from a thin, airy quality, though I like the idea of the tone overall. I would throw a bass under it.

Mix wise, percussion at times is buried. Make sure at all times, your percussion is the loudest element -- proportionally so, so it isn't obnoxious -- in your mix. The human ear doesn't listen to it first, so it has to work twice as hard as say, even one random piano note strung somewhere in the song. We'll hear that, but we might not notice the snare unless it's an offbeat, backbeat, or funky rhythm.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Hzrdous responds:

Thank you so much for the honest review! I love when people give me comments like these! My mixing does need a major overhaul so as of now I am practicing a lot more in the mixing scene. But I will make sure to take what you said into consideration! Thanks for the review! And no problem! I'm glad I got the chance to join!

[Exoverse]

Intro is sounding good.

Coming into 20 seconds, I'm wanting a bit less sub on your kick, and some more space on that backing drone. I might actually bring that up about .5 dB or so.

By 1:29 we have fantastic rhythms. But I want more bass. Give me some of that tasty 8khz to 12khz, so I can hear her character.

It actually sounds like the song as a whole may have been clipped off in that range -- through bass boosting and compression. Bass will stand out on its own without boosting. Make sure you have a sound system that accurately represents sound, without artificially boosting or clipping off any ranges of sound.

Also, nice Russian sample. Enjoyed it. I'd like to hear more of your samples over all. They're very quiet in relation to the track itself. Hard to understand.

Here is what I heard -- don't know if you are Russian speaker... перед мной в любой точке земного шара, определенной заранее с большой точности. Excuse whatever the first syllables after pere are, because I know it's not pered mnoj, but that's about what I heard. I know enough Russian to work in professional capacity and the mix has me really working for it, is what I'm saying. Meaning the sample is not doing its job of getting me hype. If you are Russian speaker, lemme know what that first word is please!

Beyond that, great piece, really enjoyed it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Michamadman responds:

Oh hey thanks for this great review! Fun fact is that I changed this song few times and last one seemed to be best. Who knows maybe in future I will remix this or make something like this but in different genre... For now I dont think Im some great and professional musician. I got some inspiration from other songs and used FL Studio and Audacity to make Exoverse. Also I am not Russian, Im actually Serbian but yeah we are slavs too.

[S1LENT GHO5T - Two (Official Instrumental) [Bi Remastered]]

Never heard the original Bi, but this key sounds like where it wanted to sit all along.

Some comments. The mix as a whole is pretty sub heavy on the kick -- can probably afford to bring it down about .2 to .3 dB and have the rest of the track stand out more from behind it. Sounds like you could also benefit from cutting some reverb and cleaning out the sub 250 hz on any sends, just to keep from sounding bogged down. But this isn't a huge issue.

There are some percussion slapbacks on your final drop that occasionally come to the fore in a very noticeable way, and not necessarily as something the casual listener would intuitively understand as a transition.

Overall the song is good, but I end up feeling something is missing, something like the vocalist you may have mentioned. There's not really a ton of moving lead material to carry us through sections. But overall, good work. The piece is cohesive and flows without having to be forced.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

LJTLegendaryL responds:

To completely transparent, I wasn't able to rerender the new version since I wasn't back in my original set up, so I tried to send the most recent one I had on my phone. In the updated one I did more EQ work to cut out unnecessary frequencies while keeping the mix stable and fixed the issues with the drums so that they don't overpower or collide to keep the synths from delivering their power.

Thanks for the feedback and it was still worth a shot. My vocalist is delivering the vocals soon so once I mix them in, emotions will be felt. The vocalist is also a fantastic artist, we're going to work on making something special with the song altogether.

Lots of concepts and planning. Once it's complete I'll probably post it on here and promote it across as many platforms as possible.

Fun Fact: The original key was 3 semi-tones lower, but I raised it so my vocalist could sing. Though, I think the raise is what perfected the sound.

The song, in the end, will also be a motivator since that's what I felt when I was producing it.

So even if I may not make it through, I still have something I'm really proud of ^^!

Again, thanks for the feedback, have a good day :)!

[copy and shadow]

Interesting polyrhythms going on here. Some comments on mix and structure.

Reverb here is 100% out of control -- tame that low end by throwing low cut up to 250 hz so the instruments aren't all muddying together. Gated reverb will sound better for your snare, btw, than that long tail. Hell, use it on everything if you want. It's a lot cleaner than just point blank reverb. But if you must use reverb, try to cut it down.

Now, I am a big fan of all your elements -- although they all sound panned left. That could be because your drums are mostly all on the left.

Protip, there are a ton of 808 and 909 sets out there that are free. I think 99sounds has one that I regularly use, for instance on my latest track here on NG, Progressing Degrees of Insanity, if you want to hear what I'm talking about.

Unexpected sections here and there, but this piece is already adventurous enough that I just get used to them.

Your drums I will say, are almost totally buried in reverb and just from not being loud enough in the mix. I would turn everything else down. And probably recommend centering that lowpass bass synth.

I don't know what the noise was at 4:35.

Are you by any chance using Trompette paper trumpet synth? I swear I recognize that flappy noise.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC! Really interesting listen :)

lofiskyline15 responds:

thanks a ton for the response!! yeah the storminess kind of started to envelop the mix but I had to pump it out to hit the deadline haha

it'll definitely be hit by a huge remix and all of the constructive criticism about the mix is hugely appreciated! I realized quickly after this that my mixing gear is slightly unbalanced stereo-wise so over time things kinda started to drift which leads to a lot of the leftness (especially in the drums and bass). it's also pretty reassuring that you thought the drums were actually too quiet cause I usually over-boost them and so I probably course-corrected a bit too hard on this one haha

one thing I was/am having a ton of trouble with in this particular track is having a punchy bass drum and it definitely shows in this mix. so I think just across-the-board cutting the low end on a ton of stuff like you said would provide the breathing room necessary for the kick to actually be heard. and I also think that, even though the reverb is pretty dang in your face, clearing the air in the lows-low mids would make the verb a lot less intrusive so i'll definitely jump on that.

what's kind of interesting (and just goes to show that there's a ton of muddiness) is there's almost no reverb on the drums besides a slight slapback delay on the snare so that just ties back in to the overall washy-ness of everything (which I do want to maintain in a shoegaze-y sort of way but not in a sounds-like-hot-garbage one haha)

and the trumpet is surprisingly just from the Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover pack! with a ton of reverb (again) and some Izotope Vinyl processing (which definitely enhances the flappiness of it all).

overall, thanks so much and I'd love to be on shortlist for any upcoming music competitions!

[Lil Bear - SGD]

Personally I'm not a huge fan of e-piano chords just sort of moved around. I'm so glad I picked up this was mostly a joke before I almost died trying to tell you how to make the vocals sound better.

Still, compress that shizzle, my guy. Make it the best sounding joke on the internet. As it's mixed, I really struggle to hear your vocals over the percussion :P

Also, why not make trap music about Susie the trap? You could be her trap star. She could be your trap queen <3

But yeah, most of my critique is gonna sit on this could be an epic sounding joke song, if it had more attention poured into aspects of compressing vocals, mixing in a balanced way so that those vocals came to the front, and making sure we know Susie's got a dick, and that's okay <3

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

LilBearMusic responds:

I really appreciate you giving me this criticism. Ill definitely compress the vocals and mix it better. ❤

[Downvote (Single version)]

I can't tell if you're going with a blackmetal aesthetic. But some comments on mix. Drums are buried. Take down those guitars by however many dB it takes for them to become clear, and cut the 250 hz and below on everything that isn't drums or bass. I might even cut up to 28 hz on the bass just in case, to make room for drums to cut through.

Your guitars could use some cleaning with a multiband compressor. I think it's ChernobylStudios, or maybe FakeSmileRevolution that does a great few tutorials on just getting an aggressive guitar tone. Works magic on vst guitars.

Now speaking of your everything, the velocity and expression values are there for a reason! No one wants to hear a double bass roll like Skyrim freezing in the morning. Okay, maybe some crazy people do, but I am not one of them. I for one don't want to hear that. It means I have to go and edit values. I hate editing values.

Anyway Misha Mansoor does a great tutorial on youtube for that. Writing drums.

The velocity on your lead sounded the same throughout. I would change the chord thresh value some, turn on a humanizer. I actually can't tell if that sounds like RealEight or Shreddage II. With Shreddage II you're more likely to have that dead on sound of being locked into the beat just because the way they snap into the DAW, but RealEight is just as bad about sounding shitty if you don't use the keyswitches. Take note, use the keyswitches, set up some funky velocity crap. Figure it out so that it doesn't sound like pitching up and down the same articulation of a different note. Been there, lol.

Otherwise, hardpan your left and right rhythm guitars 100% L and R respectively. Leads I would pan anywhere between 13 and 33 percent L and R, with a pingpong delay between the instances to play into the other channel. Make sure to humanize all of these separately and randomly so that they don't sound the same. Use different amps and cabs for the L and R so they don't sound like you just copied the same track, etc. The lead can be made more compelling by playing with 3rds and 5ths every so often.

Beyond that, not really a whole lot of critique. The song isn't overly long, it's not poorly written. I feel the leads may have been lazy, but maybe you just aren't very familiar with the software like I was when I first started mixing E guitars. Personally, I like to do e guitars and synth leads. But this isn't bad at all. Learn your instruments a little more and see where it takes you! :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

413X1NKP responds:

Thank you! I'll try to be better next time :)

[Cataclysm (NGUAC 2020, Outrcy EP)]

Sounds like nice, classically inspired chord progressions here.

Some notes, I know there is a sine bass under what's going on before 38 seconds, but I doubt anyone would be able to hear it. There are a lot of muddy chord intervals -- when you have chords that are down low and the notes spaced closer together, they don't work the same way they do up high. In fact I generally caution against chords where they notes are all spaced together, or using a ton of notes on the same instrument in a chord. For electronic music, it leaves the tendency to copy and paste and throw everything on there.

Also, whatever carillon bell synth you have clanging throughout on the bottom, the reverb on that is completely covering up the melodies you've written. I really feel like by 2:46 we've heard the same melody and chords almost the whole time, and we're going all the way back through for another bout of the same. You've got a chord progression you're in love with, I know, but it sounds like the same 4 chords over and over, for 4 minutes, with almost no melodic development because we move the same melodies into different instruments.

This tells me there is a weakness in structuring songs, not necessarily lead writing. We've just got the 4 chords, and we don't really know where to go with them other than the same big section we built to start off that inspired us to write the song to begin with. So I would recommend some youtube research on structuring music.

Also, throughout there is so much added reverb, more than is necessary -- because really you'll never have enough reverb to convince a human ear that that charang guitar or the piano or the bells are real bells. So cut that reverb down to about half of what you have, and low cut to 250 hz on reverb wet FX sends.

Back to the structure, the way the percussion is laid out tells me we didn't really know where we were going and sort of added it last to hopefully bandaid some naked sections -- I've been there. I still do it sometimes tbh. Finding a song structure you like of say, intro, verse, chorus, verse chorus times two, bridge or solo section, chorus three to four times, fade out or stinger note will help you write more concisely.

You already have in mind what you want to say, just keep in mind as you go along that less is more, and I think that will help you the most. Would love to see what you could do with a nice desktop DAW. I'm amazed you got something like this out of LMMS :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

NolamiAmada responds:

thanks for all the feedback, though the excessive reverb to make it distinctly not real was intentional and since i started making this ive figured out how to actually write a melody, this one suffered from the "this is my 500th attempt at a good melody and it finally sounds nice so lets keep going with it" problem many of my songs have, in the 2 months since i started making this song ive learnt a fair bit on music theory but was too lazy to restart this song, hopefully my round 2 submission will have a better structure to it and thanks a ton for all of the feedback

~Lo7