ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - A delicate cycle]

AIM 2018 Review -- and happy to see you out here representing!

Starting off, I'm not really liking those dense chords so deep in the register. They're sorta discordant and chunky down there.

Trimming the chord voices (say, you have a 4 note chord and strip it down to bare bones for the intro) or inverting them (see chord inversions, music theory term) could improve their effectiveness. You could also apply panning to different voices of the chords. It sounds very flat and centered as is -- actually, most of the piece sounds very centered but especially the keys. Closed-voicing chord progressions in lower registers tend to sound a bit cluttered, too, whereas closed-voiced high chords sound less so.

You may offset this muddy, centered sound with FX. A lo-fi filter with a fade in/fade out on those naked sections of keys would probably have distracted me enough not to notice how flat sounding the intro is and may have even made good use of that tight, low chord voicing.

Chord voicing is not quite optimal throughout; I'm hearing a lot of hanging around on the root notes of chords, parallel motion (music theory term for parallel 5ths or octaves), etc., and I think it would be worth your while to study a bit of theory to help you make better use of your sound palette here.

Percussion is actually what shines in this piece, despite somewhat laying on top of all the other elements. I particularly enjoy your choice of samples and hi-hat writing. Would have liked to have heard some panning, perhaps a little FX play (delay or panned reverb), a riser or two, and a little more consistent mixing on the kit. Harder compression and/or side chain would massively improve this piece. It's very quiet; even its loudest, hardest hitting points are missing that extra oomph. The peaks here resemble an uncompressed, unmastered demo.

Structurally the song is quite uniform, and though there was a definite direction, I found myself wanting a bit more melody -- although it did convey the cyclical nature of the art. I at times felt as if some elements had been copied and pasted.

FX use was rather sparing, which I appreciated. However, the camera in particular sat on top of the mix and it seemingly came out of nowhere. I would have liked a gradual use of FX throughout as a warmup. Things like switches flipping, sinks running, covers ruffling, lamps clunking on, etc., if you wanted to convey more of a life cycle.

I also really recommend using velocity and modulation on those bell-ish sounding synths that come in at 48 secs. I don't particularly like that sound hanging around in the high register, doubling your other bell arps, probably because it's so centered.

Bass could probably do with coming up one to two dB. Kick as well. Snap sample could come down. It lays on top of the rest of the track.

Other than that, pretty solid work. I enjoyed it enough to listen more than once, and it fits the art. I think that's about all I have to say on the topic. Let me know if you have any questions, or if you'd like pointers to some free music theory/software resources.

Ciao!

DarkHorseOrchestra responds:

Thanks for your review! Will definitely come back to this time to time and drill these tips into my head. Point away to them music theory resources

Thanks again for the review, appreciate it!

[SkyDome - Music Nation]

Ahh finally something that's not clipping. This isn't half bad. Kick could come up a little, and so could your snare. It also kind of feels the same throughout.

Also, those claps you're laying down around 1:30 don't lay in with the beat at all really. It sounds like those awkward white people claps in church. Yes, we know the ones.

On a slow beat like this, you're gonna want that relaxed clap on beat 3, or if you're adventurous, on the "and" of 3. Or follow the 3 clap in the next measure by one on 3 and one on the "and" of 4. This is kind of verging on hip-hop territory.

SkyDomeOfficial responds:

I dont know what you mean when you say that my claps at 1:30 doesnt lay in. And I used my tablet so its normal if its not that good... But thanks for the advice!

[Distrion & Electro-Light - Rubik [SkyD. Piano Remake]]

This piece is WAY too loud. Lower the volume of all your tracks before you try to apply compression or anything.

Also, I don't know the song that well, but it sounds like that loop around 1:00 is in the wrong key.

SkyDomeOfficial responds:

ok....? Ill tell you that again, i used my tablet and i made that a while ago... The problem i got now, is that i cant really find a good melody......... help me...... plz.......

[Are We There Yet? (Demo)]

I'm feeling blues more than jazz for some reason. Like some weird in-between. It's a bit swingy.

I'm also not liking that thick low-mid on the keys. Sounds like everything is too close together, really. Some chord inversion may fix those issues -- and maybe paring down the voicing a bit. I know jazz loves to pile on the weird notes, but usually not super thick, if you get my meaning.

Chord progression also felt like it stayed in mostly the same place. Jazz loves to move around to all sorts of new colors. So I would probably classify this as more modern swing/lounge.

Not bad though!

MistyE responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you brought up the low-mid on the keys, I can see why that'd sound worse. In retrospect lounge would definitely be a better descriptor for this than jazz.

[Queen of Hearts (Demo)]

I'm definitely feeling the U2 vibe with those bendy, floaty melodies and the rhythms themselves. Watch that. I'm sure the resemblance will pass a bit with the actual recording, etc.

I felt the rhythm guitar was a bit too repetitive. Some varied rhythms would spice things up a bit. Chord progression also felt a bit too safe. Probably would change some of the chord voicings around too as there are a lot of what sound like parallel fifths. Then again I'm listening on a crappy laptop setup atm. If I return to this later with my proper monitors, I'll send you a PM

MistyE responds:

Ah yeah, chord progressions are something I still have to fully get the hang of. I have the tendency to find one that works and run with it, sometimes for the whole song, which works sometimes but I agree that variation is important. I'll also look into alternate chord voicings today. Thanks for the review!

[Desert Rider]

Like the sweeping intro. Feels like this track as a whole is practically a chord and harmony study. Good structure. I feel like that bass could be taken down and octave and sound better.

1:26 break is nice, but I was expecting it to go on longer. Sad that it didn't because that was a nice chord. I was happy when you brought it back toward the end. Feels unresolved, though.

Drums are hiding a bit in this mix. Probably has something to do with the overly middy bass being so high and loud.

Not bad.

Congrats on the FP!

sergy147 responds:

Thanks for the constructive criticism, it's my first attempt at making this kind of music so it's all very helpful :)

[Erased From Existence]

Writing is actually really good. What's killing it is mixing, volume levels, and to some extent, instrumentation. Piano is too loud. Velocities in some places are very samey.

Can't hear a bass, even on the choruses. Vocals are very quiet in the mix, and it sounds like you need a pop filter. Don't worry if so; you can make them for less than 3 bucks with an embroidery hoop and whatever kind of cloth you can stretch over the thing, plus some kind of mount.

Otherwise, melodically, this is very well written. I can't understand the vocals, however, mostly because I just can't hear them that well. There are also some places where they could use a little more gusto and syncing. Simple grid-snap off, cut, click, and drag however many ms would fix many small imperfections.

Drums also are very dry sounding and are not giving that dark feel you want. Don't be shy. Distortion, reverb, etc., are all your friends!

Nice to hear you're doing well on Spotify too :)

Keep it up!

maxxpump responds:

This song was made at the beginning of last year and was made on a Tascam DP-02 recorder so unfortunately will not be able to remake this with you suggestions, but I will keep them in mind when I get around to doing a similar song in the future. I did actually use the pop shield which was included with my Rode NT1-A. But I will try to get back from the recording source when I do this in future.

Drums were very dry s you said and I will add a bit of reverb in the future, I guess this was a element which slipped through my net. Thanks anyway for you constructive comment, these type of comments are very few and far between, so I greatly appreciate it!

I went to college to train doing the art of mixing and some times it can be very hit and miss, but I am trying to take a lot of time now so I can get the mixes more perfect. The last example of this is my newer song "Time Goes On" Instrumental and complete versions. Those you can find in my back catalogue in the beginning of this year.
I spent a good week with a friend on and off mixing it and it took about three days while mixing it on four different sound systems and getting slightly different mixes each time, we then settled on a mix which sounded good on all four systems, and used this as our main master. The other three tracks I spent a lot of time mixing was the following: "Do You Love Me" https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/701109 which took a good day, "My Downfall"https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/702265 which took seven days to mix and it is probably one of my best mixes to date, not to mention my best composition and finally, "Like a Dream" https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/704104 which took a week.

I think this track took maybe half an hour so you can really tell the difference.

Spotify is going fairly well and I am just happy to have my music featured on there, but I had to release my music via Freshtunes which have rinsed me through their open contract basis and they have effectively taken quite a lot of money from me (as I got to a certain limit of a minimum of how much I could take out of my Freshtunes account and as I got to the limit they raised the bar. They have effectively taken every penny from over seven and a half thousand album sales. I am now actually signed to Diamond records which are owned by Parlophone, so am getting a fair amount back through my new contract, but my songs via them are not featured through Spotify.