ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Reunion]

A very interesting take on the source material. Now, I feel the bass could certainly use more presence to match the intensity of the lead, which could actually be brought down a little. This reminds me of music from Resonance of Fate -- in the initial town you start out in. Sort of dreamy but down to earth and comfortable. Nice work!

McGorilla42 responds:

Thank you so much for your response and criticism! RealFaction said the same and after listening again, I 100% agree. I will make those adjustments after the AIM judging is over and replace the file :) Feel a bit frustrated because it was the other way around just before uploading (bass too loud, lead little too soft) and I clearly overcompensated. Thank you again! :) Really appreciate you taking the time to write that.

[AIM - Crimson Daze]

This does feel like sidescrolling past that mountainous landscape, although I can't say it's something that I would recreationally listen to. Just a very calming piece I would imagine as the credit screen to an aged videogame. I would have appreciated some chippy percussion to drive the piece along. As is, it's sort of lulling me to sleep. That could be the intention, of course. I did dislike the sort of squirrelly lead.

Zechnition responds:

Thanks! That is the style I was going for. Sort of a day night cycle, with the calmer night in the middle. Also, did you dislike the lead because of how it fit with the other instruments or just the instrument itself?

[AIM - Not You Again...]

Arrangement of this song is good. Mixing is lacking a lot of punch though. Feels kind of muted, and like everything is sort of laying there with these tweety trumpets and strings over top. Snaps are a bit too loud, and things that should be loud aren't. The accompaniment is louder than the melody, and the snare is dominating the track. Other than that, not too shabby, and I did enjoy the tune quite a bit.

ConnorGrail responds:

Thanks for the solid feedback. This is the type of stuff I like to keep in mind when I'm doing a new mix.

[AIM - BattleStorm]

Composition-wise, this is very nice, but the highs are completely drowning out all the bass frequencies. Also, some serious tuning issues on your guitars. It could be a consequence of downtuning, in which case I'd recommend heavier string gauges on the offending strings. Your intonation is suffering. Also not liking the chord structure on full bar chords. Leads to a lazy feeling and some notes are just dissonant.

Also, the reverb on that classical sounding snare needs taming. It sounds quite unnatural. In short, playing and composition, good. Mixing is really stealing the emotive power of this piece. Even got a bit of clipping here and there, unless my ears are tricking me.

NahuPyrope responds:

Thanks so much for the review!, my guitar... is actually broken, I can't intonate it at all, I have to change the floyd rose on it because of that problem, I'm using .74-.09, It's actually pretty impressive you noticed it!, I don't know about the clipping, I really took care of it.

I have to get a lot better at mixing tho!, or get someone that can mix for me, thanks so much again!

[Penderecki's Dream]

This piece makes me sick, in a good way. Like looking at burnt, blackened skin. I can offer no critique, but I can say I wish to all hell I knew where you got hands on a string library to accomplish this piece! Very nice.

Phonometrologist responds:

>>This piece makes me sick
I laughed so hard when I read this.
The string libraries represented here are these two:
8Dio's CASE Solo String FX and 8Dio's CAGE Strings

Thank you for commenting.

[endK - Hybrid!]

Very strange piece, and spacey. I feel the percussion gets kind of lost in the mix. Kick is fine, underwatery, maybe. Snare just seems to be laying there. The rest of the track may not be to my particular musical taste and sound a bit preset-y, but that could be owed to the chord structures. I did enjoy the piece. Transitions were good.

endKmusic responds:

I love to experiment with panning and velocity when it comes to hi-hats and percussion in general (not kick and snare). Maybe that's the reason you said it's getting lost in the mix.
I wanted it to, let's say, flow - so it's not too linear.
And yeah, don't know what genre would it be, but was going for the melodies and transitions as the main focus of the song.
Thanks for another review :)

[AIM - Ultra Demon Cannibal Force]

A fantastic idea garbled together with the execution. The vocal filters and mixing are completely muddying the sound and soaring above the rest of the track in an unpleasant way. Generally, I adore screaming, but I can hardly understand it at all. Sometimes it sounds like holding a microphone in a wind tunnel.

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for the tips :D I have lots of practice to do with these vox, will definitely be trying other approaches in the future!

[An Fáinne Nua (The New Ring)]

Composition-wise, this is very solid, dynamic, and quite enjoyable. What I dislike is the mid-range reverb ringing, which is just very unnatural to my ears. No matter how much I enjoy the composition itself, whatever reverb plugin you've got going on is just not doing it for me.

frootza responds:

Thanks for your thoughts EDM. No reverb plugin, just the reverb that comes with Versil's EtherealWindsHarp VST. Composing for playable harp can be challenging, (which this scored composition is, a playable harp composition). At any rate thanks for leaving a review :)