ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wanna Be With You Dear]

Shreddage is one of my favorite E guitar synths.

Some things I would recommend, spreading out your guitars more -- double-tracking the rhythm with the A and B options in Shreddage, and panning them 100% L and R respectively with slightly different amps or cabs. This will help create an illusion of space.

The mix and arrangement somewhat harms the feeling of space, despite nothing being terribly wrong with your E guitars. Having used Shreddage for 10 years I can identify the single notes in the high octaves chugging along at slightly different velocities. I think more FX was needed there, more modulation. I can easily identify repeat notes, and it sounds a bit naked and clean. Sounds balanced slightly more to the left channel.

That said the arrangement is great, it just sounds like a few of the guitars are out of balance, either hiding in the mix, not doubled, or just slightly too loud without having been panned strongly enough. Other than that I have no complaints.

Also, the master is very quiet for such an energetic and happy track!

Otherwise, great work!

78/100

SnugglyBun responds:

I only been doing rock and related music relatively recently so there's still stuff I have to learn about it. Thanks for the kinds words and feedback.

[One Btn Bosses: Revolution Resolution]

crazy good composition and olskool videogame feel, hampered only by percussion samples at points sounding weird, namely cymbals. They sound almost... flanged or chorused somehow. Really weird feeling.

Recommend bringing up kick and snare and reevaluating space in the mix versus your favorites out of this genre. Reference, reference, reference.

Wonderful composition though. Might be the best I've heard all day, and I've been judging for a while!

ComposerEvans responds:

Thank you very much for your constructive criticism! I'll take some of these points into consideration.

Glad to hear you liked it! :)

[Out of Place]

These are my shortnotes from NGADM judging -- and before you read them, I want to say besides that, this song is friggin fantastic! Great emotion, great vocal performance, atmosphere, and groove!

----

vocal could use more crisp
hihat needs to come down, it's the loudest aspect of the mix and sounds too clean relative to the rest of the mix
bass can come up a bit and have more presence
snare could use a bit crisp in the 5k-8k range
bridge has REALLY dirty mix with rhythm guitar suddenly way too heavy in left channel

----

Those are the entirety of my gripes. Besides that, perfect!

Ajtastic responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it! :)

[NGUAC2024 - Elimination]

That section around 3 minutes is crazy good writing -- what a lead riff!

With a more professional mix and master, this would make a solid 4.5 out of 5 for me. Since this is not my primary genre, I won't spend too long explaining, but essentially, what I'm hearing is a fantastic demo track. From the waveform, we see that it is not mastered, and the distrubution of volume is somewhat uneven.

In general, the drums are hard to hear throughout with the exception of the hihat which is a little too loud. The bassline could also benefit from more volume and presence. It sort of hides throughout as well. Leads and samples tend to be very pronounced to compensate for the loud hihats. Besides a few samples really jumping out in terms of volume, it otherwise isn't bad. It's just quiet.

Snare in particular really hides in the mix with few exceptions. It seems to be intentionally turned down at points like 2:20.

Great writing, great ideas. Was a real pleasure to listen to!

MutatedBacon responds:

Thank you for the feedback!
Yeah I was touching up this track when I was on vacation, which is probably why the mix is so sloppy. I'll use the points you made to revise it!

[~Time~]

My main gripes with this piece are vocal performance and vocal mix, and reverb mixing decisions. The vocal is not very present in the center, sounds like it needs to be de-essed manually or via plugin, and is not very uniform in volume. It also is somehow out of tune on lower notes with the instrumental. Whether this is because of detuning of the synths or otherwise, it's noticeable for me.

The vocal additionally may have sounded better with a doubled higher octave.

Lyrically, I'm having a hard time understanding the vocals, partly due to mix, partly due to what sounds like cramming the lyrics into an unusual (for those words) rhythm. This is somewhat common in trance so I'm willing to forgive it!

The bass also due to the level of compression, lots of reverb, and arrangement also does not shine as well as it could. I recommend reducing the level of reverb and reducing the low-mids of the reverb itself through hi-pass/lo-cut, changing the arrangement of your piano (the chords in the low register are a bit muddy), and potentially even changing out those keys for another instrument entirely.

Are those nexus keys?

Basically my entire review could be summed up to, good ideas hampered by a muddy mix. Still, the melody is catchy, and I love this genre. Really takes me back. Keep up the good work!

7.2

ImmyShack responds:

Finally, some actual criticism!

Other than adding an EQ (vocal preset from EQUO) to boost the high ends I haven't changed anything in the vocal.

The lyrics are nonsense, hence why I didn't add them in the description. Just what Dooky Mackey (credited writer) had been drinking?!

The piano preset comes from nexus, I wrote a double octave piano to add background in the bridge between lead section #1 and vocal section #2.

I'll see what I can do, thanks.

[PARTY HATZ! - SHUTTER$HADES]

Omg. This takes me back to like 2009 hahaha. Proof that the music of that era was ahead of its time xD This sounds disturbingly similar to some of the dance tracks that I remember from back then

The lyrics are on point and probably the best part of the song

Mix could use improvement. It sounds very muffled, owing to heavy handed compression on top of levels that are loud going into the master. To eliminate this, I mix at a lower volume until I like what I hear, export, and then master the resulting wav (mp3 if I'm lazy) in a separate project file. This also allows me to slow or speed up the file if I want in audacity before mastering.

The vocals are hiding in the mix for most of the song and very widely spread, resulting in them feeling less intense and in your face than they probably should.

The instrumental in general has a boomy/boxy quality in which the low mids are over-pronounced along with the sub, and the finer details of hi-hat and lead are unclear except in sections where the compressor is not fully engaged. In short, it sounds like a combination of heavy handed mastering on top of mixing that is not quite ideal. Most of it has to do with volume levels pre compressor, it seems.

But I loved the song through and through. Great lyrics and theme, good groove. Nice work!

7.7

PARTYHATZ responds:

thank u for the tips :3 im so clueless when it comes 2 mixing and mastering but im learning every day! thanks again this is extremely helpful:))

[-AnxiousBreaks-]

Great groove to this track overall and handling of FX initially. I really think the only thing holding it back is mix -- and 1:25 the choir is distractingly lo-fi

1:44 I think it would have paid to keep things chaotic and offbeat, using samples rather than synths. You appear to mix samples much better than synths -- the non-bass synths occasionally get quite loud, are not necessarily great quality, and they also clash somewhat with your bass.

At 3:09 the initial charm which drug me into this track is somewhat lost. You're bringing some of it back for the outro, but by then I know the track is over, and this makes me sad. I do really like the wild stuff you do at the end with samples though. Bring on the confusion lol.

In short, I think you had a really strong statement in your opening, with a little lapse in the middle. It's okay. Experimenting is part of what makes music a blast. No pun intended. Good work, and thanks for coming out to NGADM!

6.5

Creeperforce24 responds:

Thanks for the criticism! Yeah, I’m probably not making it past the first round lol!

[cORRuPTEd]

Mix is pretty quiet overall with what sounds like some clipping/clicks from zero crossings in the intro.

It also is pretty unbalanced in terms of both panning and levels of lead, percussion, and bass. The lead contrary to popular belief shouldn't be the loudest in your mix -- it actually falls behind the bass, kick, and snare. The bass should be just slightly louder than the kick, side-chained so that it ducks whenever the kick hits. Optional to sidechain to the snare as well.

Compositionally, however, this is fantastic. Your production and FX are creative and keep me engaged despite the flaws of mix.

I would give your bass more mono-presence. There are plugins that will allow you to mono-ize bass below a certain frequency. I usually choose 180 hz and below, or sometimes 150. This is because when you add chorus to a bass, you increase the chances of phase cancellation -- of weakening it. We definitely don't want that in 99% of cases.

In short, I think your ideas are fantastic. It's just the mix and master that need a tune-up. Keep doing what you do!

6.7

rYANCOOPERmx5 responds:

I really appreciate the feed back, Thank you a bunch :D

[Illusion]

Yo, Audio Technica headphones are beast. I prefer the m40x for the sound profile

The transition into bassline was unexpected and probably could be either A, more smooth, or B, more jarring for maximum impact. Bass is throbbing in my ears pleasantly, but other elements could be darkened and obfuscated sufficiently to better fit with the bass. The lead through your initial drop is pretty clean and contrasts against the bass rather than providing lifting accompaniment.

As we go on, your wetter synths are sounding more enmeshed with the bass and thus better.

I think your kick could be a bit louder. Your snare is about appropriate in volume and sounds pleasant. Sample at 2:49 is a bit indistinct and a little sibilant due to bit-crushing.

For the genre, song is about the right length, since psytrance is generally quite progressive in nature.

Singing bowl/temple ding cymbals are slightly too loud at 3:27

3:42 was a pleasant drop of retro strings that made me smile. Your portamento laser synth could stand to come down and be wetter and further back

Your handling of perc next was an eargasm. Like literally spinning in the middle of a perc groove. It does go on for a while so I recommend modulating other FX such as tremolo, delay, hi and lo pass or flange to get more mileage out of them. Even just a subtle change in volume can make all the difference in holding out a groove.

I love your bass mix overall despite thinking there could be just a bit more hi-mid range to it.

Overall the track is much more than the sum of its parts and kept me engaged throughout. Great work!

7.8

burningmagma responds:

Thanks, glad you like it! :D