ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Waves of Life]

Official AIM2018 Review!

Atmospheric SFX in the beginning threw me off a bit. Sounds like distant girders knocking into one another, with enough reverb it was almost confusing when I realized they were drums. Perc almost sounds like it's in a really big can. Attacks are really muddy as a result.

I like the idea of this track a lot, actually. Some elements are totally overshadowing others in the mix though -- like that bass. WAAAAAY too loud over top of your drums, which already sound far away thanks to the experimental FX throughout. 1:14+ for timestamp.

However, I do complement your writing. Mixed better, missing most of that reverb, and with a more obvious transition at 3:05, this could and would be a banger. You might even try having the reverb for kick and snare on a separate send channel and using a compressor to duck it out of the way of their respective attacks.

3:05 transition is very chopped to my ear. Where is the downbeat slam signaling the climax of our journey?! However the mixing is closer to what I think you were going for throughout. Good writing with the sudden departure from prior theme but I feel this should have been done earlier -- or more subtle parts of the track replaced with that face-melting bass-laden chorus.

Other issues like slight cheese on the choral or string synths have been mentioned. I don't feel like they're serious enough to merit more than a passing comment. What's killing this piece is a few iffy transitions and possibly compression issues, not your instrumentation. Keyboard choir and Lindsey Stirling 2.0 were fine on the other hand; they just needed a little more velocity modulation and EQ to sound more natural. I recommend cutting those boxy low mids some more and minding those airy highs too.

At some points, choir was so mid heavy I cringed a bit. May have used something more subtle. Either a different but still very vocal-ish instrument with formant shifting/wah-pedal or a different choir patch. Maybe even a low-pass filtered instance of the same patch. It's just kinda shrill at points.

Drums were not standing out very well in this piece and sounded in between muffled (kick, snare) and way too sibilant (crashes, hats). Steam chugging highs were a nice touch though. I also appreciate that you tried to do something with dubstep drums other than side-chain and pump.

Tasteful piano was A1.

I've probably said so already, but thanks for turning out to this year's competition. Times two, for that matter! Keep at it!

5TanLey responds:

alrightyyy, frankly, I had no idea what to do with this mixdown, never tried to make anything like this before, no excuses though, could've spent more time on this for sure

Thanks for your review!

[AIM - Sunken Streets]

Official AIM Review!

Last year someone selected this piece -- and wow have you taken it into a totally different direction. May be some of the finest olskool-y triphop I've heard in a while.

That said, I got some beefs. I need a little more of that snare, a little bit more crisp on that mix. Hi mids seem to have been cut down a bit, which leaves the bass standing out a little more than I'm quite comfortable with.

Extra points for sampling your hood. Indeed does sound like waves lapping at the shore.

Wanting a little more of that rim sound on the snare. Goes nice with your texture.

I also like the adventurous, avante-garde feel on that bass. You're not afraid to make things fit the way you want them to. Super jazzy.

Piece could have ended at 3:56 and I'd be happy. Might condense that down a bit or cut out a repeat or two from earlier sections.

I'd also tame that low sub a bit. It does take over the rest of the song a bit. Maybe cut 30 hz and under from everything but the kick.

SFX outro came out strong. Extra points for representing the artwork well.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

sro responds:

Thanks my man, the snare is definitely something I've been told to give more love to; so right now I'm learning more about parallel compression. Looking back on it, I feel you on the sub being a bit too much. Could definitely condense it a bit, but some part of me just wanted to wallow in that vibe longer.

Thanks again for the detailed review and for having me, first time making music to reflect art. Also had no idea someone else used the same art piece, goes to show how different interpretations can be.

Your compliments really boosted my artistic confidence and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

[Forsaken Reality]

Official AIM Review!

Really not liking that violin synth. It's a bit sharp and almost out of character in comparison to that beautifully written piano riff. I might even recommend a saw synth instead, since ears seem to be much more forgiving of these.

Now, your percussion isn't mixed perfectly, but it sounds pretty good. I'd recommend chopping that loop instead of running it over and over.

Transition at 1:39 feels like it should have happened much earlier in the piece.

After that point, we've got a catchy chorus. Your string swells sound pretty good. Mix is a bit cluttered though. Feel that brass pulse should have been brought WAY up in the mix. This is the most vibrant part of your piece.

As mentioned, I feel most of this progression relies on the adding and subtracting of elements, rather than progressing the theme. You've got a good range of sounds together, but not a lot of variety.

Note, on your mix, that low end is so muddy, it's starting to distort. I'd recommend checking out johnfn's tutorial. Don't have a link here but you can PM him and he could probably find it for you in his newsposts. Basic idea is cutting low end aggressively in your solo instruments, harmonies, and even basses, not so much that it changes the timbre of the instrument, but so that unchained low frequencies are not interfering with one another in your mix when you have those big, bombastic sections. You would be surprised just how much low end is hiding in your pianos, strings, saws, etc., until you actually look at them on a spectrograph.

Anything else I have to say could probably best be summed up by TL's review.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

CrystaluxX responds:

Thank you so much for this nice review! I thought that a saw synth would'nt fit the mood. I wanted to put the focus on more classical instruments. And in my next tracks I will probably improve my mixing.

[AIM - Music Identified]

Official AIM Review!

Points for appropriate SFX, tasteful risers, and overall interesting presentation. Those chord stabs provide a sense of alarm, an illusory chaos, and a nice drone for a later major I chord development. Although I /did/ hate your string synth. Something obviously synthy or even low quality may have blended better.

After a while, it did feel suuuuuper repetitive, so despite those sick ass breaks, I did start to wonder what I was listening for. Solution may have been changing up some instruments, maybe tribal drum break, industrial noise, metal chairs... I can't quite nail any critique beyond hoping for a shift of the root somewhere along the line. Maybe some dirty wubs in a section to spice things up. Love my drone music, and I could totally zone out to this though.

Production quality was ace. Levels were where they needed to be. More points for that.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

Quarl responds:

Much love Andrea :D

[AIM - Mystical Swamp]

Official AIM Review!

Bright piano in the beginning has a good timbre, but the velocity seems very machine gunned -- all 127. Needs humanization as well. Even simply selecting the notes and moving attack/release around 10-20 ms will help this. I'm also not liking that the low chords are so condensed. Try taking some of those notes you want in your chord tones and moving them up an octave. They're very muddy in that low register.

A lot of my critique has already been mentioned by TL. Mix is a bit dirty. Side-chaining seems not to be enhancing the mix any -- and I can't really find the bass all the way up to 1:16.

0:45 we have a fairly good chord progression, but your voicing is killing the victorious mood. Whatever bass line you had in mind, I'd take it out of the brass and move it an octave lower on some other kind of bass. Your brass is really heavy on the reverb too, which is part of the muddy mix issue.

I do like your use of SFX despite an abrupt end to the first movement. Unlike the first intro, the rain is mixed in fairly well.

Essentially, I like the structure of the song, but it comes off as half-finished, missing a bassline, no mastering, not compressed and radio ready.

However, I do see that you have a good sense of melody, and you've been pretty sensitive with your pacing. This is good. Keep doing that. Your outro at 4:05 is probably the strongest point of the song. I'd have liked to hear that on your second build up before a bombastic close.

Overall, despite some flaws, I enjoyed the piece. Focus on clarity of sound, not necessarily big-ness and power, and you'll come out stronger. And remember, the number one thing that makes or breaks a song is your bass. This is the foundation upon which everything else rests. A band with no bass, no matter how technically erudite, is just noise. People will often forgive other mixing mistakes if you just get two things right -- drums and bass. :)

Thanks for turning out for this year's AIM!

FractureClutter responds:

Thanks for leaving review!
Yes, velocity on piano is not done right. It's all standart if honestly. I already have some better updated version, but I'll wait until AIM ends. Reason of some bad sounds is using default FL plugins. Also, I want to say that I hear most of the problems you and TaintedLogic mentioned now, since I have some good quality headphones. And I promise to become better at producing. Promises will become reality someday..

[AIM - Something Evil In The Forest]

Official AIM2018 Review!

Loving the atmospheric sound effects. Tasteful reverb -- occasionally sounds like a bit of clipping in your mix but that may be SFX or unchained sub 20 Hz noise. Do rein some of that in.

I'm definitely feeling the dark forest vibe of the artwork chosen.

Could have probably used a little more low end on your kick and some other hits, but as a whole, this piece really does convey the angst of a terrified mother, fighting against impossible odds to get her son back. You've done a masterful job here maintaining that atmosphere consistently. Very engaging piece.

Use of SFX at the end is perfect. My only complaint would be occasional muddy distorted sound throughout, which may be a thematic statement. Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

FateModified responds:

Thanks for the review! I noticed what sounded like clipping too during the pad at the beginning that sounds kind of like a low dragon's growl. If that's what you're hearing as clipping, it actually was an effect built into that preset which I used in Absynth. I wasn't sure I liked the 'clipping' effect so much but I really liked the way it sounded like a dragon growling quietly, and I couldn't figure how to get rid of that effect so I just went with it. I think that pad preset might be the source of the "muddy distorted sound" you mentioned. I really need to learn to use these synthesizers better to create my own perfect sounds, but I'm a long way off from that I'm afraid due to the limited amount of time I have available to learn the complex process of synthesis.

I did have a bit of trouble with the kick. I really wanted the "breathing" kick effect which I created with some delayed reverb, but I found that to get the effect right I also had to use a certain kick with a certain sound, and so maybe I sacrificed the sound of the kick itself a bit in order to get the effect just right.

Thank you for saying I've done a "masterful job," and for calling this a "very engaging piece." I put a lot of work into it and so I'm glad it turned out as well as you and others say it has. :)

[endK - Automaton Squad]

Official AIM2018 Review!

This is my second time attempting to write this -- got nuked by Windows update -- but man, this track really is a journey!

First thing I want to get out of the way, I'm not hearing the pacing issues TL is evidently hearing. On the contrary, I hear solid writing for the most part, variation of themes, great modulation on your leads, and flowing melody. However, I also hear is a little rockiness in the mix.

Particularly, that opening saw lead is pretty flat, even for a nostalgic 90's house/techno sound. The naked saw sections throughout are my least favorite part of the piece.

The bass also seems panned slightly to the left. This may be a compression issue if other elements of the track are panned to the right. Bass could also use a bit more presence.

The track overall is a bit sibilant, hi-hats being a particular offender. They seem to sit just on top of the track, and I can't tell if there's too much reverb or they were processed before being mixed in.

I would also probably ditch those ride samples in favor of a swooshy reversed cymbal or something in that vein -- or at least had some subtler samples for repeat hits. However, your FX are otherwise handled well, and this could just be my personal dislike of canned rides. You may have had a little more luck chopping and sampling jazz drum breaks. Definitely could have used a true crash every now and then.

2:23 was a bit naked for my tastes. Break was a bit jarring from the usual solid presentation.

I will say I would have liked to hear harmonies in the lead synth parsed out to a different instrument. That synth is so in your face, two notes at the same time, in the same octave, is just a little hot. A softer lead panned a bit alongside that would have been super. You flirted with the idea earlier in the piece with what sounded like a parallel motion (+7 semitone) double track at 1:17, which worked pretty nicely with that organ-y pike on one hand and a fantasia-esque sound on the left. Organ was about .5 dB too loud for my taste, but it worked.

That about rounds up my critique. The track almost has too many melodic elements for me to analyze effectively, especially since my previous thoughts have gone poof, so let me just stop and say that I am super impressed with your presentation this year. You've come a really long way since I first heard you in NGADM, learned a lot, and really brought the whoop-ass. Keep up the good work!

endKmusic responds:

Damn those updates! >: (
Had almost identical experience few months ago.
Anyways, totally get what you're sayin' with leads, should've fattened them up for sure, defintely would sound more 'juicy'.
I also think that I could've controlled reverb / delay much better as I'm listening to it once more.
Don't think there's panning issues on bass, since everything underneath 200hz is mono and centered up.
Maybe I should've raised a volume a bit higher, don't know what was the thought process at the time I was producing it, but I certainly did want to justify all the frequencies throughout the song.
2:23 (feel like you're reading my mind all the time, LOL) was kinda rushed I admit that, but wasn't that bad so I decided to go with it. Didn't want to implement more (new) transitions, since the song is already all over the place at that point. Just wanted to go back main part once again.
To sum up, I totally agree with almost everything you said and thanks for pointing that out.
Thanks for the compliments too. :)
Gladly takin' these advices for the upcoming stuff.
<3

[AIM - T-Rex Handshake]

Official AIM2018 Review!

This may be one of the finest EDM tracks I've heard on Newgrounds. Clear writing with varied rhythms, a nice harmonic minor groove, and crazy runs. My only complaint would be a little muddiness in the mix itself, what sounds like a bit much reverb on your hats, and a bit of a flat sound. Of course, I'm listening on really flat monitor headphones, so that may contribute to the raw 'verb sound.

1:18 is a nice build, but it's a perfect example of that very fizzy, muddiness I'm talking about. Also would have loved to hear a little more nuance to those attacks on your orchestral synths. Felt that the section was also seriously mid-heavy. Would have liked the bass to sweep in before we hit the next section.

Our drop of course is a real A and B call-response type thriller, which I appreciated massively, and this is followed shortly after by a sub-heavy build into -- SURPRISE, square wave retro fun. That was a treat. I do wish the sub were taken a bit down during that build at 2:37, simply because it sticks out heavily with the relatively un-sausage-fattened state of the track.

What follows is a bit of a B-side take on our original theme, building back into our chorus for a final push.

4:34 break was just a bit too naked for my tastes.

Throughout, I find myself wishing for just a bit more oomph on your strings. Compress those suckers harder, multiband compressor, preferably.

Use of SFX was sparing throughout. I found myself wishing for a few more T-rex noises just to drive the point home, as what I pictured throughout was less a guy frantically running from a T-rex -- more a high speed car chase, which may or may not have involved a T-rex. This is not a serious detraction from my listening experience -- song is jammin', has a definite thematic statement to make, utilizes cadences excellently, and demonstrates monstrous talent -- but this IS an art inspired music competition, so it's worth mentioning.

Also, this may just be my taste, but I feel the song as a whole is a little under-compressed.

Nevertheless, great track. Definitely going in my favorites. Thanks for turning out this year to AIM!

ActualElf responds:

Thank you for a kind and so thoroughly thought out review!

I agree with all of the points you raised, I saw a lot of these flaws in the track as it progressed but due to my current workflow and set up I had to accept the flaws to move forward and find enjoyment more in the compositional aspect.

Luckily I began piecing together my new pc tonight and hopefully it spells the end of my CPU struggle. My usual workflow consists of having to print ideas to audio as soon as I write them, which contributes towards the muddy mix. The orchestral elements especially, having reverb printed as it saved some processing power but too complex an arrangement to warrant going back and redoing it all in midi to make them slightly dryer.

The fizzy muddiness is probably mostly from making too many rising effects to try and pull as much momentum into the next section as I can, I'm working to improve at achieving high momentum and anticipation without having to resort to extreme soundwalls and I'll keep chipping away at it.

The reverb on the drums I didn't actually take note of until you pointed it out, which drives home even more the fact that I don't pay enough attention to the actual musical decision making when it comes to matters like this. I have a tendency to just place some on to help the drums share a space with the other elements so it wouldn't surprise me if I'd ended up going to far and not realising.

I thought about the amount of dinosaur samples a few times but settled on having it be a few times and keep its novelty rather than be riddled with more and risk becoming too gimmicky.

I massively appreciate both the kind words and especially the criticism, I'll have a closer eye on these points in future.

Thanks for the time you spent listening and reviewing ADR3-N, hope you and the other judges had a blast running the contest this year <3

[Week 18 2017 (Acapella)]

Rhymes are perfect. Diction is a little uncertain in some places, like

This afternoon you can be dead certain
I'll be outside sipping sunshine closing them curtains,

Could have been remedied with a stop-and-go flow like

This afternoon... you can be... dead certain
I'll be outside sipping sunshine, closing them curtains

Because as fast as these bars are, short-long isn't gonna do them justice. Maybe revisit this flow with that in mind. Reading through I was almost feeling a 123/123/12 vibe. Listening, you blazed through those rhymes.

Otherwise, I don't know why you're warning us about quality. These bars might not be platinum, but they fiiiiire.

Ps, what Kieran said.

Cyberdevil responds:

Thanks again. :) Diction's definitely not perfect with this one, though surprised you didn't comment on the:

I didn't know him and I didn't care to catch up,
Sunshine man! Don't get too much of that stuff.

...that's the one bit I really bump my head against the keyboard at, listening to again. XD Stop-and-go flow hmm... solid point. Appreciate the feedback!

As for quality: it's just not very processed. Just a little reverb, pretty much, and very few takes on each, so not perfect balance and such. Personally I feel my voice was pretty weak on this but glad y'all hear it differently! :)