ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Quiting Music]

This is stressful, relaxing, disconcerting, and somehow dizzily cheerful at the same time. I don't understand, but that weird portamento shit going on with the piano is making my ears wiggle.

As always, your creative approach to sound design makes me feel like a wee babe. I feel your pain with the writer's block.

The only thing I don't like is that LFO around 2:00. And the final section, whiile immensely groovy, feels a bit unfinished. The drums miight be clipping. I can't tell. I'd like some wonky FX on the hats, maybe some stereo play. But now I'm just nit-picking.

Great work! :)

Quarl responds:

Thanks for the review Adr, you the best <3

[Evening Road (v2)]

Dude, you are making absolute fucking magic. No words. Genesis music with nice modern sounding compression applied. Leads could probably come down .1 dB but other than that, perfect.

[Aura (NGRMC 2018)]

Nice slow intro, filter sweeps, etc. Beautiful fill bringing us in, totally unexpected! I had to hear it again.

Now, your "snare" sounds like a clap. Needs some bottom head sound. You can try blending a snare sample, etc., but as is, super thin.

I can also really hear that stereo expander effect. I would advise against using it on an entire track, at least to this wideness. It can start to sound like a cheaply applied verb. I notice it expecially on your chorus. Sounds washed out, like standing a football field away from the main melody, crammed into a gymnasium on PA speakers.

That said, I don't have the same criticisms of your phrasing. I found the change warranted -- I would have gotten bored after hearing the same melody for like, a week tbh -- and you've done some magical things with it.

Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

ClockbeatAdelony87 responds:

Thanks a lot! <3

[Zophar's Domain (NGRMC Remix)]

Very nice video game. Initially I was thrown off by the entrance of the bass at 0:11. I'm disappointed to find we keep hanging out on that note as it's really dissonant most of the time. Even just moving it between 0:11 and 0:13 would have been better.

It does sound like an old SNES game, which I appreciate. I don't have any real useful critique that you couldn't have guessed on your own. I'd like to hear this piece expanded and developed a bit more. As is, it feels like we're repeating the same idea over and sort of just hanging out there. It's also really short, which I understand to be part of a busy schedule -- I barely had any time for music when I was in college, and I didn't go to an ivy league school if you catch my drift.

Still, definitely revisit this later.

Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

GFThePlayer responds:

Thank you for your critique, and yeah, this isn't my best work admittedly, as I could've put much more effort into the making.
Thanks again!

[Hors la loi (NGRMC)]

Man, I'm just as anti-government (hello, has anyone noticed how we've gone from 0 to socialist tyranny in... less than a century?) as anyone else, and I have to say I do not appreciate the lottery crap at all.

I also recognize that these governments, for some reason, are more interested in copping economic migrants who will vote socialist (for free stuff they can't get at home -- bankrupting the government and destroying the culture, shooting themselves in the foot), than giving asylum to honest people such as yourself who actually WANT the freedoms and judeo-christian values that have quite literally given birth to the western nations as we know them (and thus might not vote socialist when they realize, oh crap, socialism leads to communism, and communism persecutes everyone equally for the benefit of the government).

We also have a lottery in the US, and it's equally stupid. If anything, people should not be judged from the country they're coming from; there's probably a reason they want out, just like there's a reason I'd rather stay here in the US! Their individual qualifications, aspirations, principles, and intent to assimilate into the culture they're moving into should be the only considerations we take into account -- something Europe is totally failing at right now, btw. Basically, the main reason there is so much suffering and animosity toward otherwise innocent immigrants fleeing persecution such as yourself -- people who DON'T mean well and actively seek the destruction of the host culture over their own assimilation are ruining it for everyone involved, and the government is complicit.

In that sense, I totally identify with your lyrical presentation, albeit entirely in the third person. The solution is not to abolish law entirely but to change it and make it truly equitable -- equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. The govt unfortunately right now is socialist, so the latter looks pretty.

I will say, this is lyrically the song I've felt you were the most in your own skin about. This is who you are. This is what you perceive, your voice. I haven't even begun to listen just yet. I think I will now. I've been typing out this paragraph hoping it will load, hehe.

-----

Structurally, this may be one of your strongest pieces yet. Sections are clearly outlined, constant sense of progression. Your sense of melody and phrasing, lots of soaring lead work, clear themes, chord progression belying struggle, angst, with a faint glimmer of hope.

FX wise, I would probably dial back the reverb considerably or try gated reverb, since you seem to be a fan of that huge, spacy sound. I would probably also apply some crunchy distortion to those ... are they 16th notes? 4:46 is a good snapshot reference. I can't help but hear a snappy palm muted guitar.

I'm also hearing a bit of À cause de l'ombre -- slowed down a bit and pitched down ofc, on your choruses. You might try mashing the two together in the future. ;)

Now, your verses I have a bit of a hard time picking out diction somewhat. It could be FX -- I'm not sure if you've pitched them up. They may also sound better split even between L and R. Rappers do this a lot with a center track.

Vocals wise, sounds like you're singing out a lot more, more comfortable in your skin -- or larynx. I also appreciate the slightly lo-fi bit at 4:00. Big technical improvement there. I'd still like to hear a little more resonating back against your soft palate. It sounds like you may have a little bit of obstruction back there. Recently I've been taking some lessons from Ken Tamplin. I've noticed just a couple things, tongue-depression (although it almost always makes me yawn), standing up straight, wide open vowels, and diaphragmatic breathing usually helps me get that good resonance and avoid that flat, no-vibrato talk singing I'm really wont to do.

Drum wise, I like those little bounces and bobbles on the snare. That's my favorite thing. You've structured your clicking very naturally here. I think the only thing I don't like is the panning and the hi-hat sample itself. I would love to hear the snare more centered, perhaps some saturation on it or gated reverb, and the hat swapped out for a lower, grittier hss-tss than the teeh-teeh sound the one I'm hearing has. You might try something like Cymbalistic out for a test run. It's got a pretty nice range, plus bell sounds.

I'm noticing your composition improving by leaps and bounds lately, not to mention more consistent. Diggin' it.

My remaining critiques are probably just the compression of vocal lines in general. I think that may be contributing to a little bit of the verse unintelligibility, particularly on "Fuck you." You could even try a bit of saturation on your choruses.

Anyway, overall, I was most impressed with your pacing. Great freaking work!

Oh, and I almost forgot, thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

Troisnyx responds:

The irony in Britain at least is that the government doing this IS conservative, and it got worse during Theresa May's time as Home Secretary and as premier. Both left and right have been responsible for the ill-treatment of *even those who want to assimilate in Britain* -- but it worsened over the last seven years in particular, and I could certainly feel inwardly the shift in people's sentiments as this happened. I told one of my rampant Tory friends that if conservatism is about individual liberties, I certainly do not see it *at all*, certainly not here. Personally: I lean liberal, I wouldn't call myself a socialist. My ideal is centre -- seeing good in left and right and learning lessons from them, providing for the good of all as a civic or even state duty, but endeavouring to guarantee those individual freedoms that are so often trampled upon. Guaranteeing the right to life, the understanding of each person's mind, the spending on public services that has been so badly cut to the bone, and I feel that's only scratching the surface. Somehow I don't know if there is a middle ground, something that is based on common sense and understanding and compassion and heartfelt civic duty, but I want to believe it's there.

But there are the lotteries you mention, but also fractures in the way people think -- that it's practically frowned upon everywhere to lean centre. I feel like in a lot of political matters, I (and perhaps others) have to trade 50% of my soul for a vote either way -- bearing in mind where Britain's history has led her, and the divisions that still haven't healed. And that has immense, bad ramifications for human welfare as a whole. Coming from someone who has read law and understands how the law needs to correct itself with twists and turns, I'm still yet to see the kind of twist and turn that will restore dignity and compassion to people *regardless of*.

With regards to the song -- I'm glad you enjoyed it. Your critique is thorough; I wouldn't have it any other way. 4:46~ Yeah, they're 16th notes. 4:47 is 16th note triplets. I'd appreciate any help you can lend with making guitars sound crunchier, more distorted when the song calls for it -- I'd tried lots of things but couldn't get the mix right hhhh ;;

I haven't pitched up the verses AFAIK -- I think all that was EQ, but it may have been a bit nasal. I took some advice that MetalRenard had given me in the past about turning down the 900-1000Hz range and I did that, but it sounded tinny to my ears. Also someone gave me a tip of tripling that track so you have a strong centre track, but softer L and R of the same thing. Now, I realise I don't need to do this -- iZotope has released a vocal doubler for free; I found this out today -- so I might want to see if I can't put that to good use and achieve a more solid kind of panning.

I'll certainly check out Ken Tamplin; there is a place for vibrato-less singing and vibrato-rich singing, and I think this isn't necessarily the place for cantor-like singing. Agreed on the drums -- I wonder if I EQed them too high and cut out the crashing mids that cymbals ordinarily have.

Huge props and thanks for your review. Lots of love to you as always -- we ought to catch up after this is over!

[X3ll3n - Believe (NGRMC 2018)]

Triplet drums. Nice!

0:06, that wooden-ish sample is a bit distorted. Check your levels.

0:27-0:40 we're having a lot of out of key elements. When you transpose that melody, make sure you also transpose individual notes in the melody back into the key of the song -- which I think is G#/Ab dorian.

I'm noticing a lot of distortion throughout like what I already mentioned. I would first recommend mixing your tracks in 32 bit floating point, and secondly, leave about -6 dB headroom before mastering -- i.e. before you apply the compression and soundgoodizers.

1:49 looks like the track cuts off pretty much immediately. I'm guessing you didn't have time to finish with RL stuff. Nw, I feel you.

Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

X3LL3N responds:

Thank you for taking some of your time writing a complete review :D
I always have some distortion problems and I don't really know keys and stuff.
Hope I'll be able to learn somehow :)

[Think Fast (NGRMC Remix)]

Right off the bat, I'm seeing brick-wall, sausage-casing mixing -- leave more headroom before mastering.

Drop is freaking fire. Had to stop what I was writing (I did this review on paper in a coffee shop) to comment.

Really interesting take on the tune; just too over-compressed for me to enjoy properly. Drums between drops are also a bit too loud, another symptom of heavy compression, and the mix lends itself to almost white-noise levels most of the piece. Despite that, it actually feels shorter than it is, which should speak to you about your phrasing: you're doing something right.

Fix the EQ/Compression issues, and this is a solid 9/10 for me.

Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

Hippokopter responds:

First of all, it really means a lot to me that you wrote this review by hand in a freaking coffee shop first, just so that you could tell me about what you think of this song! Thanks so much!

About the premaster - most artists actually mix to 0dB just because that's easier to think about. To clarify, by most artists, I mean the ones with millions of fans and thousands of producers imitating their styles: VR, Panda Eyes, etc. Not that I don't get what you're saying, but it's not like I'm sending my songs off to a mastering engineer - heck, I do every song in just one project file! All I'm saying is that headroom is something that this genre doesn't need too much of. :)

As for master EQ, yeah, point taken. I just got a book on mastering, and boy does my mindset for EQ need work. xD

Finally, I really appreciate your comment about phrasing, I've never known what good phrasing is, and so it's nice to know that I'm doing okay on that front.

Again, thanks for leaving such a detailed review! :P

[NiTi - I.N.F.1.N.I.T.Y (NGRMC Remix)]

Nice long chord progression -- I respect you haven't taken the easy way out with this piece and just slapped on some 4 chord sauce, especially with the atonal portions to follow.

0:28-0:59, this lead section is a bit long for my tastes, and said lead is both screaming loud and lacks a lot of modulation to give it that breath of life.

Overall, lot of atonal elements, and it often uses samples which have become so cliche, I've deleted them from my library -- like that lex luger riser. There just doesn't seem to be any case where it sounds good anymore. Making your own risers is going to impress a whole lot more tbh. Though, these sounds are memetic; people like them because they're safe, so I don't blame you for popping 'em out every so often.

The only thing I really feel this piece is lacking is some sub to give your drops much needed oomph, and perhaps harder mastering compression. If there is a sub on your drops, while I was first listening, I couldn't tell it apart from some mild background noise in the coffee shop I was in at the time of writing this review. I tried turning it up some more to hear but the snare was uncomfortably loud in comparison to the rest of the track, so I turned it back down.

One thing I do like is hanging out on that major I chord. Gives an otherwise roaming piece a sense of home.

Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

TodukenMusic responds:

Tbanks for your review <3

But, i didn't used a Lex Luger riser, i used a riser from Vengeance Dubstep Sample Pack Vol.1

And yes, I need to make my own risers for more originallity hehe

[Make it Hard (NGRMC Remix)]

Forgive the relative brevity/incoherence of this review; I did it on paper in a coffee shop slash book store, and now I'm rewriting/adding to it, lol.

Starting out, kick drum is too loud during your intro; perc in general is much too loud until the chorus. This sounds to me like your vocals haven't been properly compressed, along with your guitars.

Listening on speakers, they sound less thin than they had on my monitor headphones, but watch those high notes; I can feel you really reaching at points, sometimes overshooting or going flat. May check out some voice training by Ken Tamplin. Every issue you're having, intonation, overall volume, pitchy head voice/falsetto, his singing course addresses (and most of it can be found on YT, albeit more sparsely than in the DVD/online materials).

I can't tell if you're sitting or standing, but if you're sitting, definitely recommend standing to sing. It will make a huge difference in your air stream. Another few tips from the series -- you know how you laugh? From your belly, right? Breathe from there. Let your diaphragm, not your chest, drive your singing. Practice good posture, good tongue posture -- open up like the doc has you in his office with a tongue suppressor, so your singing resonates off of your palate -- if you're doing it right, it should make you feel like yawning -- and if you practice with scales, and I recommend you do, the staccato HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH method is the way to go.

This alone improved my singing in a single session, enough I feel the need to re-do every piece I've ever sung on tbh. You've got a good voice hiding under there. I can hear it peeking out. May be something to look into.

Now, writing here is pretty good; good chord progression, steady pacing, good variation of texture. Never too soft, never too hard. Guitars overall could stand to come up in the mix except for the naked section before 3:00.

Final chorus ends abruptly, bringing all the instrumentation back. I would have slowly pared it down to another naked vocal/guitar section. Bringing everything back is a signal, "We're going to have one last, long chorus," and then poof.

I will say the vocals, both written and delivered, sound very non-native to my ear -- BUT your chorus itself is viral. It's the verses that need more of a natural touch. As I was writing this review out, long after the song ended, it still hung in my head.

Overall, some minor gelling issues between synths and guitars, but otherwise I dig it.

Thanks for coming out to NGRMC!

TheMoebiusProject responds:

Thanks! Very helpful! This was done in only a day so yeah it is pretty rough. You are right about the vocals, Could have been better had I given it a little more detail and practice jaja I practically made it and recorded it as I went. Anyways, thanks for the review. Gonna make some adjustments and make it a full on song. Wish it does go viral :P.