ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Endowment]

Strange sound palette here. I can tell that these choir synths aren't organic from the extremely sharp attacks, but when padded, they aren't much of an issue. The violin sounds quite thin and synthy, but it seems to be doing its job. Drum mixing is really hurting you here with these patterns. They're starting to overshadow each other in their pensive droning. Need to be panned out a little more, pushed back in the mix somewhat, given a little more dynamic contrast.

Actually, ignore that for a second. Your instruments are overshadowing your percussion shortly after they come in. I really want to like this piece, but that sudden style change was really unexpected, didn't flow well, and loses the charm of all of the above. It comes off as trying way too hard with the synths, even some wrong notes here and there like at 3:05. The drums are all very dry, soulless, and lacking in punch. Compress those suckers. EQ them well. Bring them up in the mix. They sound like tepid water.

Sax coming in with the piano for a unison solo then fading away struck me as odd. That should have been repeated once, then slooooowly faded into the next phrase. Your brass samples are also abhorrently weird. Better mixing and attention to attack would have helped them sound more natural in relation to – there's that wrong note again at 4:52. Pay attention to your chords and resolutions Ectisity! Would have been so much better if the brass were more muted and pensive. It sounds like you're trying to bring something up that isn't there as is.

Also, that ascending raindrop transition annoyed me. Why so heavy on the right ear? Why not delay and pan it alternately?

This piece is an amalgamation of a lot of instruments, sounds, and styles that just refuse to work together, piling on top until it becomes obnoxious. If you had spent more time on each section rather than trying to cram 4-5 different styles in, it would have been much better. The transitions were weak and forced. Leads were glaringly flat and un-dynamic, sticking out of the mix rather than soaring and flowing. Certain instruments were overly synthy and inauthentic sounding. Wrong notes every couple minutes took me completely out of the jive, and style changes felt so superficial – not to mention the drums were crushed through the EDM genres and magnified to the point of absurdity in the classical/world genres.

A lot of inattention and self-pride went into this piece, and I can feel it the whole way. Humble yourself. I don't want to hear Ectisity's ode to self and skill. I want to hear emotion and movement. Remember the power of FX, panning, reverb, delay, and other simple FX. Also, make sure your leads and harmonies are out of the way of your bass, which I could hardly hear for all the cheese laid up in the heavens – leads.

Key change was fine, but that sax felt so overdone, I had lost my attention by that point. Also, different FX felt like adding more cheese. I just really do not like your leads and harmony. The synths are so flat and distant from the rest of the mix. I could have gone without the guitar tone, really, as well as a lot of the other flourishes in this piece. It's fairly well written, but I just sincerely did not like your execution.

EctiBot responds:

All your comments mixing wise makes sense, and the drums are something several people have pointed.
The "wrong note" you keep pointing out is not a wrong note imo. It's off key, but I added it there for the interest. Might not have worked as well as I thought.
The transitions are a bit too sudden at times, had some trouble getting them to sound good. i'll work on that.
Please, I really, really appreciate the feedback, but be careful when you label others work as "self pride". I tried to be original with this, not feed my own ego. I didn't want to make a dime-a-dozen piece, so I tried to make something special. I respect the score I got, and I really don't care too much about me not getting through, but it's a terrible thing to tell a musician to "humble yourself" instead of respecting that they tried to be themselves. Was this piece overambitious? Absolutely, what I gunned for is something that still beyond my abilities, but that doesn't mean that I'll sit on my arse and make safe "emotional" pieces. Music is more than just emotion and movement. If you feel like this is my "ode to self and skill" then every track I make from now on will be exactly that. Also I guarantee you that no form of "inattention" went into this piece

I'm got to emphasize again that I'm not complaining about the score or the critisism, but telling a musician to humble themselves is something that's just too ridiculous to be written in an elsewise really good and serious review, and I really hope that you won't be telling other people the same.

Thanks for the feedback, I really do appreciate it :).

Ps. Can't stress enough how much I appreciate your detailed review. I ended up writing a lot about the one thing I didn't like about it, but that's only because I felt like it's important to point out for future reviews. I never get offended by feedback, and I really don't want it to come off as you insulted me or anything :/.

[Rushing into Deepness]

Opening textures are interesting, with an olskool feel to them. Breakbeat? Nice. Although that bass feels a little flat in comparison to those strings and highs. Needs more grit. I am appreciating the chord structures, as well as the hi pass play. One of the few instances of where it's tasteful. Unfortunately, there is just so much high and mid going on, the track feels extremely top-heavy, no matter how tastefully arranged.

I'm not really enjoying how we reach the end of our piano phrase to come into such a slow and empty buildup. It does pick up later into some good breakbeat with piano overlays every now and then to accent. I can hear some intense focus here, all centering on our tonal anchor. Still think that piano should have been panned hard left and right rather than so centered. Your bass is your focus, or should be. It's very muted in comparison to the drums and even the occasional percussion panning left and right on beat 3. I felt like the strings and rhodes that came in later were in the space where the piano should have been. Piano just takes up way too much space in the mix. It should sound farther off to blend better with the rest of the track. Rhodes were also a bit too loud.

Enjoyed the track as a whole. Felt shorter than it really was.

Adjeye responds:

I wanted to let the listener feel the emptiness before building the drums back up, so that there would be a dynamic contrast in the build as a whole, it didn't work out that well in the end, but this was my basic idea behind that.

My basses haven't always been that great (which is terrible in DnB, I know, and that's why I like to mix in a lot of instruments, to cover that up. It works most of the time, but I should really be working at my sound design.

[Seres]

Very soothing, with the exception of your lead sort of shrieking at first. I really appreciate the mixing on your drum kit here. However, the lead and everything else overshadow it just a little bit. Remember, the drums must be the loudest offering. Also, got some wicked clashing on your low end caused by that really long note tail.

The glitching made me think my computer was clashing, which was disconcerting. Using it as a transition however was a very nice touch. I really like what you've done here. Still think the drums could stand just a little more punch. Kick could use a bit more high end, but my were those solos satisfying!

Parallel motions here speak to jazz. That lead could come down about .4 Db or just have the mid taken down. Boy, am I on a pensive journey here. This may be my favorite out of all the tracks I've judged so far – not many. The room for thought here is much, and it doesn't hammer me with the same idea over and over. One complaint, the stick click could be a little more organic and perhaps stick out less if it had some delay – a little less high end.

And here we are with the main drag which propels us into another satisfying solo section. This is relaxing, beautiful, and nothing is really sticking out. Mixing could be a bit clearer, but your ideas are well-executed and play nicely together. I'm jealous of your ability to weave all these seemingly contradictory ideas together. I was not ready for the track to be over.

Pros, piano mixing – very organic, solo sections were fluid and progressed the track, harmonies didn't stick out over the lead or the bass. Cons, drum mixing could have been just a little cleaner, more precise, and less jerky at some points, but it never really took away from the piece for me.

Superb! I wish I could keep this one forever.

Onefin responds:

aaaaaaa everyone thought it was shrieking when i don't hear anythinggg

also for the glitching maaaaybe i should have considered only glitching some of the sounds

hey thanks for bringing the train like you said you would wait that sentence should have came first

Dang, that's the best stick click I have. Just got it, thought it was better than all my other ones, used it. Any suggestions for better stick clicks?

Drum mixing, my old friend. Frankly maybe I should have considered sidechain, cuz I don't think I used it. At all. Eh it's probably a crap ton more than that

Pianos are one of my strong points I think. They're actually pretty hard to get wrong

[Codename: Tom Selleck (NGADM '17)]

Writing was on par. Progressions standard for the genre. Transitions well done, with the exception that I did not like the sudden cliched glitch for coolsies before the last chorus was nailed home.

Mixing on the other hand is subpar.

Guitars are very flat. Rhythm is buried. Lead meshes in with the rhythm so that it's hard to pick out where your melodies are coming from. There's not much use of melodic space note wise.

No soaring highs, crushing lows, or full use of what the sonic space has to offer. Actually, the lead sounds so much more muted than the rhythm, it made it hard to pick out the pick noises! There's practically no treble to your leads, yet the rhythm is hot on the treble. As a result, the leads sound like they're hiding in a dark room while the rhythm does the hard work of driving the track -- rather than the leads soaring above and LEADING.

I also didn't like the section at 2:00. Really showcased the next area of weak mixing/production I'll be discussing.

Drums are totally buried in the mix, ESPECIALLY cymbals, and all the instruments are flat. Also where are the toms? As slow and ponderous as the drums are here, the lack of them for fills REALLY shows how empty the writing is. Snare sounds flat and lifeless too.

Drums need more compression overall. The only instrument I can really pick out is a poorly tuned snare with a serious ringing overtone that clashes with the key of the song.

Kick is also very tinny and lacking in meat. Compress it. Apply EQ. Kicks shouldn't interfere with your bass frequencies much at all, though.

Speaking of bass, it's almost non-existent here. Remember, the purpose of bass is NOT to be replaced by low-tuned baritone guitars, but to beef up the rest of the track and breathe life into it. I can hardly hear the bass at all. No pick noises, no nothing. Don't hide your bass! It's better to have it too loud and have to turn it down later than missing it almost entirely. I can hear it just on the edge of perception, and that really bugs me. Some of the best metal has a prominent bass line, which it sounds like you've shoved into the corner here.

Think about that. It's the same as if you'd made your drums virtually inaudible. You'd rob one of the essentials of the track!

Finally, this piece as a whole does not excite me, move me in any particular way, or impress me. These are things I already know I can expect from you. The song itself has all the excitement of a backing track for an emo band ballad. This is not to say that it's bad or completely boring, or even without merit. It's just missing something.

JDawg00100 responds:

Thank you for the detailed review

[my first beat]

Good idea, but far from complete, and it sort of just abruptly stops. Keep at it!

Gexorter responds:

thank you so much!

[All the World]

Pretty good. Little quiet, and your drums sound really dry as a rule. Drums dominate the bass until it gets really loud at 45 seconds. Then it sounds like this is about where you wanted it to be. It's kinda hard to hear the hats. You have a lot of muddy frequencies on that reverb. I would recommend cutting the low end off the reverb unless it's an instrument solo. Also the oohs that come in and some of the harmonies are way overbalanced -- too loud in the track. Vocals need a little more presence in regard to them too. Solution would be to bring those overtop harmonies down. It is pretty pleasing to listen to, though. I like the arrangement.

Recommend a little chorus and compression on that vocal. She sounds so naked!

MarkySpark responds:

Thanks for stopping by with your recommendations. I appreciate it.

[Imo Ringtone (Bandstep Remix)]

Interesting. So you're using Musescore. Are you including accents? Any good piece has accents. This would be the equivalent of velocity in other DAWs. It still sounds really rudimentary, and I urge you to think outside the box. Adding octaves is not really adding depth to your piece. The parallel motions sound lazy!

theweathermanYT responds:

I wrote this song for a percussion quartet, which might explain the emptiness. I, again, was rushed into this song. And there are accents, but MuseScore sometimes doesn't pick up on them. Thank you for commenting!

[Unraveling [Bandstep Remix]]

This doesn't sound as naked as your other piece, but I know partly that's because it's a remix. You're really suffering from percussion not giving this aaaaany kind of boost. The perc is so hidden in the mix, the lowly flute covers it up. Compress your drums! Also modulate your velocities or every note will sound the same. Now if I heard a band playing this, dynamic issues fixed, I would be quite a lot less bored, I suppose. It just lacks substance on its own and is pretty boring and monophonic at points. Also, what the hell with that trumpet part coming in at the end. That was very abrupt.

theweathermanYT responds:

I understand what you are saying. I tend to focus more on harmony and making sure each note is either matching or harmonizing with the other ones playing at that time. I do need to focus more on dynamics and structure, as you mentioned. And the abrupt loud ending is a glitch in Musescore. I put a crescendo there and it did not read that I put one there. Thank you for commenting!

[Saxostep]

This song really doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. The build up is miles long, and then it's still really naked. Percussion is really rudimentary.

The tempo change and key change are fine, but this piece lacks almost all of the gravity you wanted to convey not only because of the emptiness, but because the percussion instruments you chose don't lend to it. This sounds like a song someone would perform in beginner band. Also, where are cymbals? What are transitions and structure? You should really ask yourself this. Also, one of your progressions is a scale toward the end. We start and end in the same key, so this isn't a biggie, but I was mostly just bored.

theweathermanYT responds:

I can assume the reason that it doesn't go anywhere is the way I wrote the piece. I focused on each individual "block" (every 2 measures) of the song, which might have led to the lack of structure and transitions (and the fact it doesn't go anywhere). It is empty because the instruments I used were 4 types of saxes and percussion. Yes, I understand it sounds like a beginner band song, I tend to do that in all of the works I scrap, but I finished this one. As for cymbals, I was going to use them (and I should have kept them), but in the end, I scrapped them because of a MuseScore glitch which totally messed up the cymbals. The way music is around my neck of the woods, this song is very nice. Lol I'm a band nerd. Thank you for commenting!