ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[CDJeremy - Bassy]

Interesting writing here, and switching between two basses. I find the second really points out where the first is lacking. If you like that sound, I'd mix them to the point they had a similar response.

0:58 I'm having PTSD from sound font piano sounds. I would swap to a synth, say from a free instrument like SQ8L.

Actually, I really feel here that available synths to the arranger is where you're suffering the most. You've got good idea, structure is good, mixing is passable.

The biggest issue with mixing I hear is drums not cutting through the mix. They should be the loudest part of your track, point blank. They've got to cut through everything else, because we're not attentively listening to them... until something sounds off. I will say your transition crashes are at a good level though, and this does not mean to turn drums up. It means the opposite, to turn everything else down until you hear them properly. Then you apply your master FX, everything sounds clean, and presto. Feel me?

I also would clean up any reverbs you had and leads/other synths by chopping off 250 hz or so and below to make room not only for your bass but your kick. You're not listening to a lead to hear those frequencies, although when playing off by itself they don't sound bad. When they're in an ensemble, they're constantly getting in the way of the bass frequencies you do care about.

Anyway, enjoyed the track. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

CDJeremy responds:

Wow, that was the longest review I had in life, you analyzed everything, and I love that...

I probably had all those errors due to lack of practice or pluggins, I will try to improve on it

It was a pleasure to participate here since it is my first time doing it xD

[Afterimage]

I feel like with most of our chords here, your leads are only one octave above the tonic note of the chord change. That leaves not a lot of room for groovy progressions.

Now, what you have going for you, your structure forces it to be somewhat moving, even in the chords themselves want to just kind of sit there. So good job on that! That's an accomplishment. Keep with this structure. It works for you.

Now, by 2:14 we get some chords, but that disappears quickly. I would have at the very least repeated that twice.

You might try learning about chords in general. A good channel to watch on YT is Signals Music Studio. There's only so much you can do with one note.

3:50 is a nice change and ambitious compared to the main chord progression. I feel like this should have been your drop, period. Repeat that second section we have for your drop again, and Let 4:36 be the end of your song.

And no matter what happens, never stop writing. The more you do, the better you will get. Every finished song is an accomplishment!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC! Excited to hear from you in the future :)

BlueNexus responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[BlighterProductions - Quasar]

Intro is very subtle. Dig.

I think the perc comes in just a liiiittle too heavy. I'd take down the hihats about half a dB. Maybe more. They're quite loud compared to the rest of the track by the time our bass comes in.

I may also space out what sounds like claps somewhat more and possibly reverb those veeeeery lightly.

The next section to come in is so abrupt sounding due to how quiet the piece is. Might take that arp down by a dB and low pass filter it.

We also have a lot of low frequencies. Make sure any ensemble you have, the instruments aren't in each other's way. I.e cut the low frequencies of higher instruments or non-basses to crisp them up and get them out of the subwoofer's way. 250 hz is usually the magic number. There are tutorials and lots of free plugins for this like ReaPlugs which will let you see the frequencies you are working with as they come in.

I would still take down those hihats more as we get to 3:47 and take the arp down a bit more until we get those wide swells in. I like that btw.

There is some synth that has a lot of tingling ringing in what sounds like the 18k or so range. It's like tingling change in my ear and I don't really like it.

The radio noise also could probably come down -- the tuning SFX. And I would give it a ping pong delay.

You're talented at creating atmosphere for sure.

I think JBL headphones might be coloring your sound some. Commercial headphones tend to add a lot of bass or alter mids and highs to get people to think they're somehow better than others, when really the issue is inferior audio quality. I use Audio Technica ATH-M40x studio monitor headphones. They give a good representation of how a song will sound all around and make for a good reference headphone. I would try to mix songs so that they will sound good on the average sound system, as well as the extraordinary, since not everyone has the luxury of JBL, beats, or any other great setup we might like to have represent our music. :)

Great work, and thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey ADR3-N, thanks for your constructive advice. I would like to answer on some of the points you mentioned:

-You shouldn't take the JBL thing literal, it's only since I use JBL headphones to create my music, and I tweaked them to the JBL headset perfectly, which is perhaps why it sounds different on other devices. You couldn't know this, but thanks for letting me know. It's only more helpful to know these things.

-When the second drop comes at 228 seconds, I didn't even realise to the point you notified me about it that there is a little too much of a 'significance' (if I wrote that correctly) between direct attack and swelling attack.

-The tingling is caused by resonance in the so-called ''Droplet''-synth. It's an instrument I frequently used in my newer songs (Natrium Flow, R136A1, Discothéque to name a few) and also with my headphones they're decreased since JBL headphones are automatically equipped with a lower frequency equalizer that causes more bass.

-''You're talented at creating atmosphere for sure.'' Thanks a lot, and I only joined the NGUAC to learn some new stuff in music on NG. And I reasoned that, since this is my most popular, and also one of my best songs, this would make for a good submission (not trying to show off or so).

There are still point in your comment that I can't really agree with, but it's nothing personal, more something from my point of view. But comments like this are always welcome in my comment sections.

-Signed BlighterProductions

[ZUN - A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander(BegissoR's Remix)]

Right off the bat, I would cut the reverbs on your organs and intro substantially, chop off everything below 250 hz. It will do loads to clean up your sound. Same with all your sidechained reverbs throughout. It will help so much with your transitions and sidechain sounding clean. Right now despite these blazing fast rhythms and great structure, that sound is making it hard to get into your bass groove, which is what DnB is all about!

Also, compliments to great use of that sample. My heart. <3

But yeah, I'm really enjoying the theme itself, but noise from that verb is distracting me even from your transitions. Before 2:44 is pretty rough. That kick build also seems to be close to distorting a bit. Might dial back just slightly the compression there.

Bass is sounding good before 3:16. Past that I think we are pushing the limits of just how hard the track can be compressed before the bass suffers. Make sure to clean out room in all your FX chains and instruments for the bass to lay into. Eg. cut frequencies on leads, pads, and other synths below 250 hz. Cut reverb aggressively because those boxy sounds just don't add anything to the song unless it's a completely naked sound out there.

Bass wise your squelching growl could use actually some 1000 hz or so I think. And the lead and other synths could come down a bit more so I could hear it in the mix. Cutting those frequencies will help. You may even apply a chorus to it.

I might even cut the attack and release on your sizechain just a little so that it's shorter. There are some places where it gets a little hard to make out bassline and other synths because it's so deep and long. 45 seconds or so and on is an example. I also can't really hear the bass well there because it's a sine wave. You might try a ramp in that section.

I would say the offbeat stabs at 2:40 or so and the lead are also a little too loud. Maybe .5 dB.

Otherwise great, fast, furious remix. Love it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

begissor responds:

Wow, never expected such a big respond, thanks. I always highpass everything that isn't a bass as you say. Reverb is a problem, yes, will fix in my new works. Also I have problem with sidechaining dnb, variative dubstep drums and etc.

[Ethnobeat B-Side]

Very solid composition, lead writing, and progression.

My critique would be reserved for mixing. There is so much reverb in this piece, and it's muddy. I would pull down the 250 hz of all your reverbs and in general shorten the tails.

I might also take whatever chorus or bass boost is on your bass -- possibly change oscillator shape. You have a lot of what sounds like 30-40 hz hum and a mid cut on that bad boy.

I would compress your drums more, notch the mids a bit, and apply a gated reverb to your snare. The kick also is very subby and doesn't stand out a lot in the mix. Sounds good but I want to hear a little more of the head.

Compositionally, very much a journey. I am at 2:50 and am appreciating all the little diddies we've got going on here. Pushing the bass down to 3:15 though is stretching the limits of what it wants to do power wise, the way it's mixed. That's why I say adding some mid can give it some more oomph. Make sure also to make room for it by cutting the lower frequencies of leads with multiband compression or EQ.

That low saw at 4:12 is loud and isn't really doing a whole lot for the mix. I would move it up an octave and take it down volume wise or forgo it entirely.

By 4:40 I'm feeling like we're ready for complete fadeout. 4:55 just feels like drawing it out some more. Not to say that it sounds bad ofc. We could have had that breakdown a whole chorus ago, is what I mean, or cut that section where the bass was straining, etc.

Very nice work though. Monster track :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Basiator responds:

I appreciate such constructive technical and precise critique more than the main prize.
Thanks very much.

[Blast Off]

Like the first chords going on here.

Mixing wise it sounds like it's been soundgoodized. Over compressed. Try to mix your track well before you do that. Make sure reverbs have clean low end, cut it off about 250 hz, etc. Shorten any tails.

I do like that little dissonant diddy we end with. It goes well with the bassline.

I would bring out your percussion more -- by turning everything else down a little, and also, if you're going to use guitar synths, you can use a technique called double tracking with different amp and cab simulators for each track, then humanize the notes slightly differently, or even use different guitar patches, and it will sound more spacious/better.

You can also look up gated reverb for snares.

Enjoyed the piece. Keep em coming. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

BALDORF responds:

Thanks for the feed back!
You obviously know your stuff well, mixing/mastering is probably my biggest weakness. Much more about the arrangement.
Appreciate the advice!

[glass half empty]

Really interesting little piece.

Some mixing critique, your harmony acoustic guitar on those fingernailed chord stabs needs to come down a lot. They ring out a ton -- there's no way the listener can't hear them. Bring those vocals up some and cut down the reverb wet some. Bring up the lower bass strings on the guitar a bit. Take down your kick sound about .5 to 1 db. We're also not going to unhear that magically because it isn't very loud. It's the only sound in that range.

I would also not autotune the vocals so hard but that may be a spacy stylistic choice.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Aweror responds:

awesome, the critique means a lot. thank you!!

[I Am, Are We?]

Very cool this was made with a bass. Makes me want to pick mine up.

Writing wise this is great, very unique sound. Lyrics are poignant. Vocal delivery is not bad.

Mix wise, I find some choices I don't necessarily agree with. For your verses, I would have a right and left vocal about 23-40%. On your choruses, the vocals are very, very clippy sounding. I don't know if they were recorded with red line levels, clipped, distorted, or compressed, or if they clipped on mix down. Sometimes that happens. That would be the first thing I would fix if you were to go back into mixing this track.

Secondly, it doesn't sound like your vocals have a lot of compression on them. I would turn those buddies into sausage casings and maybe use a transient shaper. Multiband compressors are good for this, and you can cut down on the frequencies below 250-300 hz to both save room in the mix and get a little more mileage out of the compression. right now it just sounds like you turned them way up.

I also would apply chorus or delay, to taste. Cutting reverb sends down and making sure the low end on reverb gets cut will usually improve the clarity.

For your choruses, your lead voice would probably do well centered, with those reverbed doubles pushed off to the side about the same amount as you've done your verses. I'm not sure if I'm left ear deaf, or if this song is just very heavy in the right channel with your vocals.

Very cool effects with the whammy btw.

Also, I find it VERY hard to hear your drums. That doesn't mean necessarily turn them up so much as it does turn everything else down. I would mix my tracks at about -6 dB of head room or at 20% or less volume on my PC. You'll find you tend to make better mixing decisions that way.

Anyway, fantastic job with this piece. It's like djent, but alt rock. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

SkankyMojo responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback. 🤓

[DeLoreans]

So punky it hurts. My only critiques are going to be mix related.

I would apply a little more compression and reverb deadening before processing (ERA-R is a good plugin for this) to your vocals. They could also probably come up by about .2 dB but compression might fix that.

Your 2:30 little bridge sounds great. Then that spacious sound dies out when the chorus comes back in. That tells me either you yeeted those synths down, or compression is killing your sound. Make sure your synths come through the chaos by shaving off low end on guitars, vocals, and indeed the synths themselves. The magic number seems to be around 250 hz.

Your kick sounds really boxy, like it has a ton of 60 hz. I might sub it out for an airier kick or turn it down some, and play with the EQ some to get a cleaner sound. As is, it's a little muddy.

Also, I felt robbed we cut out at 2:53. Let that note ring out, dammit! :P

Otherwise, pretty banging track. Can't wait to see what you come up with next! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC

AjSkull responds:

Thanks for the feedback! The ending actually cuts out fast because it leads into another song.

[Abstrack - Together]

Nice soft, subtle intro. I'd have appreciated just a little bit less ghosting on those snares just to let that happen at some point later in the song.

Otherwise I have very few points of critique other than not liking a super deep sidechain so early on in the song -- before we ever hear a drop. Also, your transitions are very sibilant. That's fine on my monitors, but it might be really airy on a pair of commercial headphones, which tend to have a bellcurve sound.

I'm not a huge fan of such long reverb tails on your snare. It's creating a real high washing sound.

I would also turn down your lead and harmony synths down about a dB. They're so much louder than your bass and percussion that I'm having a hard time getting into the groove. 1:50 is an example of just how much louder they are, as well as 2:02. That's really out there compared to your bass and percussion, and it doesn't ever seem to come on.

The tempo of this song could probably stand to be just a little faster. 5 to 10 bpm

The slowing down outro was a nice touch. I would have liked to hear a I chord on the end, just ringing out for a second or so.

Good work!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Abstrack responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I might revisit this song later with these issues in mind.