ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sishi]

Chord progression is a little fast in your intro.

I would probably recommend taking the downbeats of your bass notes on that 4 string synth and either palm muting or modulating their velocity to about 30 versus what sounds like about the 90 they may or may not be at now. Those machine gun attacks are bothering me. I would probably recommend a free bass plugin like ABPL -- if you want a sample of the sound, I used it on "Old Wounds" in my catalog, which was front paged a while ago. Small, quality synth.

I also didn't like the rhythm of your lead. It sounded a little... cheesy? Eighth notes for the I chord, 16ths for the next, back to I with 8ths, then 16ths again. I know from hearing you write, you've got some better rhthms stowed away somewhere. I'm listening to those polyrhythms at your drop and thinking to myself, man, why didn't that occur to ya sooner? :P

Like your snare. Good piece, solid pacing. Just a couple minor gripes is all. :)

ShareeBon responds:

Oh, okay.

[Broken Glass]

I'm noticing really heavy reverb here. That could be what's causing the slight muddiness in your mix. Try turning down the FX wet and hi-passing it. These frequencies tend to gradually build up and cover up whatever polish a mix may have. I'm not a huge fan of all the synths used here, so some free recommendations, ABPL bass, AGML acoustic guitar, Headroom Piano/Intimate Piano -- I don't remember where I got that last one but it was free and probably in the free kontakt library thread in the audio forum.

Other than that, nice writing. Mixing is the only thing that really needs work. I like the organic feel. Would have rated a full star higher for cleaner mix and better treatment of non-piano synths, especially percussion, which is almost hidden in the mix for most of the track.

shadow-ghost responds:

Thank you very much for taking the time to comment; I do appreciate the tips and critiques. I think lack of knowledge of mixing on my part is what's making the reverb a bit too heavy (among other things), as I've always been more into the writing/composing part than anything else.

I'll see what I can do to improve and try my best to reduce the muddiness next time. ;)

[Saruz - Violin Master]

Writing and mix on this song are stellar. Mixed like a classical/cinematic track, with all the dynamic contrast preserved. Violin solo does sound somewhat floppy and inorganic but I do find that the virtuosity of your writing prevailed in the end. If I had to recommend a synth to replace that, Synful Orchestra. I would also mix that violin lead with more breath to it. String friction is what really makes or breaks the violin sound in my eyes. Still, I have nothing bad to say about this song. It's sitting on the razor's edge of 10.

Saruz responds:

well, this violin's artificiality may come from that I have pretty limited orchestral sounds libraries, so those instruments won't sound like living ones. but I admit, I could have made that violin sound more various. thanks for the synth recommendation and the whole review!

[Abandoned Abandoned]

Static sample sounds just a little too high. Almost louder than the music itself. Also noticed that lack of high shelf. This is something vinyls all have in spades and kind of contributes to how loud the vinyl feels. I have really not ever heard a vinyl that had this much crackle unless it was old or badly molded/copied.

That said, the piece as a whole is charming, well written, and fairly well mixed otherwise. Nice work.

Ruko29 responds:

thx <3

[MRИ - Illusion]

Like that bass going on here. I'm not sure what's happening with that stabbing synth -- I could probably do without it. Your lead sounds good on its own and doesn't need a plucky stab to ring announce for it.

0:46 section was a bit flat with those naked, dry synths. 1:05 mix is a little muddy on that sub, and we seem to be going from buildup to build up there which is a no-no. If you wanted to use that sub riser, don't have it sit there and just stop! I was getting excited, lol.

Other than that, structuring on this was pretty alright, other than some other reappearances of the sub bass riser which got really muddy and clashed with your bass. I'm not sure what was happening there.

There are some really nice melodies going in here, with a lot of potential. Structure is kind of inhibiting you here, though. I recommend looking up some tutorials on the subject. This could have been a real banger!

RobinvanDommelen responds:

Mixing and mastering aren't really my strong suits. I'll do what I can to improve as much as possible :)

[The Church In The Forest]

Like the dark SFX in the intro. Church bells sound almost haunting. I was not expecting them to go away. Definitely think they should have lead up to the section at 0:26 with cacophony.

I'm not sure this is glitchhop. Sounds more industrial. A bit slow to develop and seems to lose intensity before 1:00. I think part of this is the drums are totally buried in the mix under that beautiful bass.

Also not understanding some of the volume fluctuations here. Careful around 1:35. I heard some clipping, and not the good kind.

Really wish the song had a more constant level of energy, something going on even in those quiet parts to tell our brains that yes, even though we can see the waveform and know the song is not ending, no, this is not a poorly planned fadeout we're hearing.

Also swooshy transitions please. I need them in my life. Maybe even delay hang-over perc at the end of each phrase just to make those transitions less... weird.

Nice track though. Fun little bass line and church bell samples. Enjoyed it despite its quirks.

Red65 responds:

I usually don't get these kinds of comments, it's good that you specifically tell me what's good and what's not. Thanks for criticism that I can work with. I'll look into these things next time I make this. Thanks

[Return]

Watch out for those machine gun attacks on your snare rolls. I'm also not sure why the march is swung, and those rimshots could probably go as far as I'm concerned. The track is missing some... je ne sais quoi.

Writing wise, this is not a bad piece. It's got a definite theme -- could probably use a little overarching melody. I'm not sure how to critique really, as my only other critique would center on your midi instruments. I recommend Black Noh Snare for a more natural synth snare. Probably synful orchestra for natural, low CPU strings and winds.

That's really all I can say.

Novent-Music responds:

Thank you for your review and critique.

I looked back at the song and the snare does sound choppy, so I have taken that into consideration for the future.

Also thank you for the recommendations ill be sure to try them out.

[Lost]

Nice lead writing here, but your low mids and bass are heavy, muddy, and cluttered (chord wise)

I will say I REALLY don't like your guitar synth but that's just because it's machine-gun attacking. I would recommend something like RealEight, Ample Sound AGG, Shreddage... Or if you need a free library, Ample Sound AGML. The attacks on all of those instruments will not disappoint you.

This out of the way, 1:38, that lead has been waaaaay too loud for a bit and actually distracting me from what I was typing. It's a consistent problem throughout. It's glaring enough I think it could actually be your headphones not presenting to you in that frequency range. If you really can't hear it on any of your gear, I recommend Audio Technica M40x, used, if you can afford them. They are indispensable to me in identifying problem parts in the mix. Failing that, you can always look at a spectrum analyzer and/or sweep your track for frequencies that are sticking out in the mix with ReaEQ. If interested, PM me and I'll find the tutorial where I learned to do that.

You've structured your song well. However it does sound like it's been mixed way too loud before mastering FX were applied. Protip, before you apply FX to the master channel, make sure your track peaks no higher than about -6 dB. If your mix sounds good here, it's ready to be mastered. It's hard to squeeze a track under -6 dB when you're used to mixing everything all the way up, but it's worth it. Mixing loud will not make everything sound better unless it already sounds good.

4:01 I can tell this track is compressed way too hard with how loud that lead is. Headache territory.

I definitely recommend some tutorials on mixing, mastering, voice leading, and writing melody/chords. For the first two, you'll want to try to stay genre specific, but the last two, Ben Levin does some great instructionals on YT. As someone who's been reading music and studying theory for years, it helped get me out of a box.

I do see potential in you to be great. Can't wait to see how you grow over the years. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC! :)

NoobGameYT responds:

Thank you so much for the advise, this is really helpful :) I will definitely check out some tutorials on YouTube to make sure I get my mixing better. Again, thanks for the advise and for seeing potential in me :D

[Sea Drift]

Lot of lo-mid noise on your reverbs. Try turning down the FX wet and hi-passing it. These frequencies tend to gradually build up and muddy your mix. I hear it especially on the big boomy FX. You'd be surprised how little reverb you really need to accomplish the sounds you're going for.

Boom FX is too loud in the mix. I think I hear clipping at points.

Other than that, chill piece. I'm vibing with it. Synth bass could probably use some humanization.

2:56 is clipping pretty bad. I don't think a limiter would be a big enough bandaid for it. Protip, make sure your track peaks no higher than about -6 dB. If your mix sounds good here, it's ready for FX and compression in the master channel. It's hard to squeeze a track under -6 dB when you're used to mixing everything all the way up, but it's worth it.

KnockVoltage responds:

Cool, thanks for the tips! The clipping near the end gets me every time I hear it. I'll have to work more on master channel FX and compression so I can mix lower.