ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[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! :)