ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Game Grinder]

Just dropping a note that I appreciate this track, as well as, oddly, the lo-fi guitars. Never realized I actually liked that sound before.

DESHIEL responds:

guitars are done with good old FL slayer

[GamerHead]

Former Shreddage II user -- at least while it worked on my PC lol. You seem to have gotten the gist of writing with it, but the velocities are machine-gunning on virtually every note. Mix also sounds really narrow and centered, excepting the lead. I also can't tell if you've got the rhythm guitar double tracked and panned 100% L and R respectively.

You may be interested in a particular all in one guitar FX pedal to take care of all your metal guitar needs: Grind Machine by Audio Assault. It's especially for djent but works well for other genres. Complete with distortion pedal, pre-amp, and cab. Gives a lot more edge than the native Kontakt FX.

Also, your guitar tracks seem really, really quiet in this mix; whereas I felt you were writing them for face-melting, slammin' shreddage. Pun intended. If they're not double tracked, double track them. Hashtag willitdjent?

Be sure and check out any humanization features, chord thresh, etc. in that fancy part of the instrument with all the settings. They do make the difference.

Also, pitch bends and modulation are your friend. It's the difference between dry piano-y guitar and... well, realism. I also recommend listening to, Iunno, maybe some Misha Mansoor and doing a little theory to help break into the instrument. It's a helluva thang, and a helluva lot easier to use than what I currently have, RealEight, but it's also keyed sort of weirdly, and the velocity controls are different from any other instrument I've ever used. You'll find it pretty well suited to chugging power chords and doing all those wacky pitch bends and pinches though.

Oh, and those drums -- also velocity machine-gunning. May just be the samples though.

Suggest humanizing everything a bit if you haven't already. Hits triggering all at the same time with any metal instrumentation can get a little grating. No stars subtracted as that may be a genre-specific choice.

I'm not sure what to say about the arrangement, as it's one of your first with the instrumentation, and I realize they're pretty hard to use. Basically a piece I'd love to see you revisit down the road when you've got a good handle on what you're working with.

Nice work. :)

DESHIEL responds:

Wow thanks so much for this. Your sense is spot on on the mix, While I did some mastering tweaks to the volume and the frequencies of individual channels, I did leave everything centered by default. I might take some look on the aditional gear you proposed, but I'm a slow learner. I do not know what double tracking means tho, shreddage 2 itself is so confusing for now. I almost deleted the whole thing when I somehow activated keyswap and my brutalised guitars were gone. I can only imagine that it has to do something with overlaying two patters at once to give it more presence or something? As for now I do not aim to atain some level of realism for the guitar, because as of now my dream state seems to be more electronic than real.
Pitch and modulation? I mess with it from time to time, but its not something I'm fully fluent in doing yet.
I guess I will have to ask my friend about certain terms and meaning of some of your criticism, but thanks for spedning your time on aiding me. ;)

[Zilda]

I'm not sure if this is intentionally low-fi, but the drums are way down in the mix. The leads are overly loud, and the mix itself is pretty quiet. I also really don't like the strings. Kinda seems like the chords are just ported up and down. I would do some research on music theory, particularly avoiding parallel 5ths. Kinda makes your track sound generic as is, and not in the generic background theme kinda way. Granted, I'm listening on laptop speakers, but still. Needs lots of shaping up. Melodically, it's pretty suitable as a background or menu theme.

jacklehamster responds:

Thanks, it's good to have the perspective from someone who's fluent in music theory. I looked up parallel 5ths on Wikipedia and I have no clue what that means...

[Song of Storms (EMBL3M remix)]

Not really digging the intro. Feels kinda trite because it's so naked. Would have preferred just a straight dubstep intro in the vein of 1:33.

Otherwise, song is fine. I do feel like it's a bit overcompressed, even for dubstep -- to do with certain frequencies peaking, an unwieldy low end not either A) multi-band compressed (since your goal is loudness in dubstep) or B) surgically EQ'ed or hi-passed to fit in better with the instrumentation, and vice versa for the instruments.

I personally prefer multiband compression a-la FabFilter Pro over surgical EQ in most cases because it allows you to keep the punchy bass where you need it, without getting that flat overdriven bass sound. You can also use it on your perc to get a little more sizzle, while at the same time avoiding sibilance.

Your use of FX was good.

I don't like the run at 1:14. Feels again, naked. Pan it around, switch to another instrument. something. Also, watch that high octave on your bass. The volume gets out of control, and then it suddenly goes from taking up the just-right amount of space in a highly compressed track to /totally/ flattening everything and its mother. Keep an eye on that. I recommend leaving about 3-6 dB of headroom before going all loud-max on any track. Just pumping volume can actually deaden your listeners' ears to what's going on, to the point they quit listening to your transitions and hit the skip!

Can't really go wrong with Song of Storms though. Enjoyed the piece.

EMBL3M responds:

Thanks for the review!
I agree, this track could be improved in lots of ways. It was my first song made with my monitor speakers and I was getting used to how they sound in general, so it was bound to be bleh I guess xD
Again, thanks for the review!

[Tear Down That Wall]

I came here for the George Bush samples. Please tell me you plan on sharing those in a .zip somewhere. And if you do, let me know.

Also, for a song dressed up as both a contest entry and a shitpost in one, this is lit. Nuff said.
<3

Quarl responds:

lol, thanks for the words. I just uploaded a zip file to mediafire for you. Peace ADR:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/rbehvdba0rcegve/GWB_OldCutups_2000_2001.zip

[Summer Stuff]

"like a lemon up here" kinda threw me off

This reminds me of "Summertime" by Kreayshawn, only less focused on "[my] bitch"

Also, I may be a little more partial to this song right now because it's cold, and damn if I wasn't just talking about wishing summer lasted all year long.

Your vocal equipment is still hurting you a little, making your voice sound a little bit boxy/tinny. May look at a few tutorials to manage that with a multiband compressor or something. I've been looking into that lately.

Nice little outro footnote. Rarely see concise ones like that in hiphop that rhyme.

I'd like to see more of these. Feel free to cop a beat whenever, man. :)

Cyberdevil responds:

Haha, listening now I'm a little disappointed I used 'lemon' on two lines though, could've varied my words a bit better there. XD

Hadn't heard the Kreayshawn one, love the vibe there too, do hear the similarities!

Feeling that same way now too that autumn comes a knocking. The cold a creeping. It slowly flows in, the snow then deepens, woe with no reason, yet just a second of sunshine... is so appeasing.

I missed this review in 2018 somehow, sorry 'bout that! Hopefully recording quality's improved quite a bit since, agree it feels a bit bland and metallic here, not much power in my voice either.

Thank you, will do again soon hopefully! :)

[From Ash To Alabaster]

This is a monster track. Honestly, the only thing holding it back is your vocal equipment, and that's not hard to fix -- I can hear a little rattle going on. Really impressed you took the initial theme, crafted a tight narrative, and weaved a pretty hook. Jabun really took that to the next level, by the way.

You've got a great accent for hiphop and a nice, almost asymmetrical stream-of-thought flow that makes your poetry run like conversation. Does it come natural?

Cyberdevil responds:

Hmm haven't noticed the rattle myself, good ears! I think my breathing technique needs some practice too, but otherwise you're right, not optimal studio equipment yet. He did take it up a notch, agreed!

Thanks. When inspiration really flows it does sometimes, I think this was one of those, but often it take s bit of practice; polish to get it right. Appreciate the feedback! Guess I'd better really focus on quality recording stuff!

[Newgrounds TankBuster (2:32)]

Intro sounds like a videogame, so when the kicks came in I was confused for a second.

For some reason, this kinda sounds a little aimless to me with the formant octave bass. Then again I just don't like this trend of the-lead-and-the-bass-are-the-same-note choruses that bled from big room house to other genres of EDM.

That kick is a bit too loud and subby. Sounds boxy on the rest of the beat. Recommend hi-passing out some of the 20-50 hz or using a multiband compressor on it to get a fuller sound. It's lacking any hi mid punch to it, so it kinda feels like headbutting something unintentionally.

Also, your cymbal samples are... really flat and gross sounding, no offense. They sound like stock mixcraft cymbals. I know you used FL and Ableton, ofc.

Imo, hats could use some panning and variation. Snare is laying flat in the mix with too much low end on it, and your fills need panning to stick out.

Cymbals need to come way up in the beginning.

Overall none of your synths sound ugly, but those harmonies need to come up in the mix. Actually, the bass/lead could probably do with coming down a db or two.

It sounds like most of this mix's punch came out of the master channel with hard compression and sausage fattening, just judging by how the kick loses presence later in the track. If you want to compress hard and keep the kick all-in, side-chain a little harder.

I also was disturbed by the abrupt outro and overall felt the track was pretty dry, just sitting right there, flat. Part of that is listening on ATH m40x's, which are flat studio monitors. You might want to invest in a pair. They don't make everything sound hideous, but they reveal a lot of things your average sound system or pair of casual listening headphones plaster bandaids over.

Overall, good work, and a nice creative endeavor. :)

bdog705 responds:

now this is a review and i thank you very much for writing such an in depth one, it helps in many more ways than you think
thanks for the other reviews too, very well structured and worded, thanks!

[Week 23 2017 (Acapella)]

I'm hearing these weekly verses and being quite rightly reminded of how sub-par my own lyrical skills are. Nice work :)

Cyberdevil responds:

Well you know what they say about practice. :) I know I have a long way to go too but... one week at a time! Thanks for listening!