ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sodium]

Didn't expect guitar tracks with this instrumentation.

I would have liked more modulation on your synths in that intro. Not sure what's going on at 0:35 but that lead is not meshing very well with those guitars.

Structure of this song is good -- but that drop, something is missing. Sounds like the sub bass there needs to be sidechained to the 1:11 bass wobbles. As is they're competing for the same sound space and the sub is winning, resulting in a muddy mix.

1:36, had I not looked, I would have thought this was a premature end to the song. Actually, that could have worked. I feel like you really just bring back the same elements we've heard earlier around for round two here aside from the swung perc. 2nd drop could have gone to the 1st or 2nd half of the first drop and made a much more cohesive song.

Also, perc is hiding in the mix. I wouldn't bring them up though. I would bring everything else down until they shine!

Walpang responds:

Good to know 👍

[lchavasse - Lunar Abyss (Ummabeats Remix)]

I don't think I've ever heard the original to this song.

This mix is a bit sibilant, lacking in the low mid range, and your percussion is too loud -- sounds side-chained and too loud at the same time.

Other than that, your transitions are great.

1:05 sample is too loud. Volume levels as a whole feel inconsistent throughout, like those drop wobbles. Interesting approach with the short brass section. I was hoping that would be more developed.

The mix as a whole on your drops feels very empty for some reason, other than that really loud growl. Probably could have used some offbeat or backbeat chord stabs.

Did like the piano outro.

UmmabeatsMusic responds:

Thank you for your detailed review.
I can understand everything and hope that I'll do better stuff in the future.

[Perception]

Wave sample panning around so hard was a bit confusing. I see that you're playing with that to create a soundscape. I recommend some delay on opposite sides to balance the sound out. Rain sample was abrupt.

The chorus on that piano is so hard, it sounds like a flanger. I would probably recommend turning it down, playing with the settings some more... I'm really not liking how it seems like those harmonies you lay over it at 0:55 are just the same interval transposed around. It isn't very exciting. This actually sounds like Mixcraft piano with classic chorus on it. I'm not for sure on that though.

I would probably take this piece back to the drawing board and studying chord inversions, if nothing else, to help you spice up those chords. 3:15 is probably the most varied, exciting bit of your piece. More like that!

Also, watch for clipping. It sounds like parts of this track were mixed too loud. Protip, make sure your track peaks no higher than about -6 dB. If your mix sounds good here, it's safe to apply master FX like compression, EQ, and limiters. 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.

TheB34R responds:

First off, you are quiet right when it comes to Mixcraft... The rain sample is a stock one from Mixcraft and this was more of a test piece if anything that ended up becoming my assessment piece making it get a little rushed. I'm starting to completely remake this track as now I feel like I can do so much better with this song. With the piece at 3:15 I'm looking around at how that part worked, and just tinking around with this piece. And with mixing I'm still yet to get used to it, mixing is a little hard at times, but that is also the reason why I have so many lost projects just because I could never mix them well. Again, this was being slowly made at a time but then it became my assessment for school meaning I got a small time limit and this got rushed out. I'm kinda glad for this feedback though because it gives me something to work with, and knowledge of things I could do better

[Space Academy]

That's one unique intro. I'm not sure what's going on at 0:17 and beyond. There is a lot of tension but hard to find the releases. There are a lot of different and interesting melodies entering the fray at various points, but I'm not able to understand what melodic statement you're trying to make.

Also, your chords in the lower register are very dense and chunky sounding. I recommend studying some videos on chord and voice leading, as well as inversions and chord voicing. These will help you make the statements you want.

There are some places this piece shines like 2:03, but even these are muddied up with mix clutter, probably too much reverb, etc. Try turning down the FX wet and hi-passing your 'verb sends. These frequencies tend to gradually build up and muddy your mix. It's also beneficial to manage your different instrument reverbs via send tracks. I.e. create send track for appropriate 100% wet reverb, put reverb on the send track, then determine how much of each other track you want sent to it, and manage the volume of the send track collectively. This saves CPU too.

It sounds like there's not really a bassline going on as well. Most of the frequencies I hear could be played on a trombone or something, without an F trigger. A lof of the energy in tracks comes from the bass!

In short, I'm not sure exactly how to critique here, but recommend definitely checking out tutorials for the genres you want to produce, make sure to learn some music theory (it speeds up the writing process exponentially once you know the basics, and it only gets faster and better the more you learn) -- let me stop a sec and appreciate 5:08. Those first two chords are good. They work. Kinda chunky and condensed as mentioned. Third is wonky and I would change it out. 4th is just the right amount of nasty to sound jazzy.

Really, I would have liked to hear more in the vein of this outro. Six minutes was a long time to wait to get around to that -- and really, this part felt more well thought out than the rest of the piece combined. Extra half star for that.

Tetrahedrix responds:

Thanks, due to the situations involving the track prior to something happening and after. The ending melody kind of took a sad turn and was in fact I suppose where all my details and attention went toward since the rest of the track was pretty much done to me at that point. I see your point of unnecessary length leading to that part. I definitely still have some transitional and length issues with my tracks sometimes.

[Rainy Day]

That free piano sounds great! What is that?

I find the SFX just a bit too loud for the piano to sustain, especially the occasional thunder cracking.

Sonatina violin -- or cello -- sounds a bit much too dry when it enters. Also lacking those breathy, sibilant pieces which could set it apart from the rain foley.

I really have no other critique aside from the track itself being fairly repetitive up until the outro at 2:15 or so and not really being able to emotionally engage with the piece. It's almost monophonic and does not seem to really progress. Was hoping for a more bombastic -- or even smooth, flowery section before our rather somber finale.

No points deducted for this as well, but that's a really long silent tail. I try to remember to always cut those in audacity or something once a track has been rendered. :)

tansuma1 responds:

It's called The Whisper Piano http://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2014/09/bigcat-maize-vstis.html Bigcat has some amazing instruments that he and a few others put together on that page, all free!

On another note though, thank you for your review. I've realised lately that I have been making music that only really engages with my needs/emotions and that is not the way to go about creating music, so your criticisms are fair but hit hard. Oops! I always forget about the tail, I'll be sure to edit this promptly.

Maybe my next piece will be the flowery bombastic sensation it should be! :D

[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 :)