ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Darkness]

I understand the use of dissonance as an indication of darkness, and I do sense some chordal intent here. I do actually like the bass against the strings, as that's a very interesting chord for me, and satisfying. However, the lack of mixing absolutely destroys the musicality of this track, quite a lot more than the preset instruments.

I would recommend moving to a DAW like Cubase/Reaper/Mixcraft/FL Studio. Would recommend Ableton too but the latest update is pretty awful and I've not had good experiences with this DAW.

Your biggest problem is not the lack of musicality in this piece. It's mixing dirtying all that up. Look into some basic mixing and mastering techniques. The simplest way to fix the distortion in this track is to take an EQ, drop the dB some, and then use a master limiter. It's quick and dirty, but for the purposes of amateur work, it will do in a pinch.

Secondly I'd look into some music theory -- basic music theory.

Lastly, your current DAW is really hurting you. You may be able to find a free DAW somewhere that's better. As a rule, I stay away from any mobile apps. Right now they just don't quite cut it.

[People Mountains]

I enjoy a lot of the interesting noises plopped into the 'scape here, but the lack of transition at 00:33 threw me off, and the spin-cycle esque percussion absolutely destroys the musicality of this track. As some subgenre of chiptune and IDM's baby, I can't really get into it at any point despite decent chord structuring and fair instrumentation. The constant tempo and pitch sway really threw me off, as well, and reintroducing your... drop, so to speak, lost points with me.

To sum up, your writing is not bad, excluding the really frantic seizure percussion. The transitions or lack thereof take the most life out of this piece. Last section was actually pretty enjoyable to listen to with the exclusion of not really feeling like it was going anywhere, and the outro was an interesting journey.

[flap]

I realize this is a chaotic mood piece. While not entirely avant garde, as it does have some elements of traditional chordal music, I still am not able to assess which feelings you are conveying with this piece, and it all sort of mashes together, stock loops, incomprehensible intro, wacky tail, and all.

The eq on that kick, as well as the electric guitar synth are ear piercingly treble-y in my ears, which lends a lot of the piece to sounding less like art/thought and more like slapdash. It just doesn't sound musical to me. As a fan of a lot of musics which are deliberately unmusical in order to convey feeling, I think that should mean something. Of course, music is subective.

Beyond that, my own thoughts could be summed up pretty much verbatim with TaintedLogic's review. What put me off most with this track was the jumble of seemingly incoherent thoughts. That may have been what you wanted to convey, but it was an unpleasant acid trip for my ears. Perhaps I'm just missing the point.

With music, in general, you want to at the very least consider that your audience can relate to what you're trying to say in some fashion. Otherwise your music becomes virtually meaningless to everyone but you. Since music is a form of communication, this is sort of the undesirable equivalent of tooting one's own horn a little too hard, and we can stroke our own egos to the point we think this is what we're supposed to do all the time. Always question if your expression is going to be remotely understood, and if it's worth sacrificing intelligibility to ignore what the mind subconsciously expects.

That said, if you want a review, PM me any time!

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Ouch, ouch, ouch. Well, I guess it takes a couple reviews (or 5) like this for me to realize maybe what I was making wasn't as fun, great or revolutionary as I'd thought. This'll still be fun for me to listen to, but I suppose it won't be fun for most others. I tend to like music that represents a jumble of incoherent thoughts, but I'm probably the incredibly small minority, I suppose? I've always tried to make music that makes me happy and hope it resonates with others, but I suppose this one didn't. There really aren't people who enjoy music like this except me, I guess... and I suppose there's the possibility where I'm so blinded by the fact that this is my own work that I can't recognize that if it were someone else who made it I would almosg projectile vomit? I hope that's not the case because then, if so, how can I rely on my own judgement of my own work at all, especially the judgement needed to edit your own work on the fly? Scary thoughts. Anyways, I appreciate your opinion as well as the other judges' opinions, and if anything it allows me to appreciate the fact that even if it resonates with me, it may not resonate with others. It's just frightening to think that I may be near entirely blind.

However, it may comfort you or surprise you to know that a vast majority of my work is based on melodic and chordal harmony rather than dissonance. This is a step out of norm for me, something I used to be proud about... I suppose now I can just be privately proud instead. :)

Cheers
Zig Zag

[Lazer Chase]

What's really killing you here is your recording quality. I kinda like it. Nice driving rhythm. Simple. Diggable. Rockin'. But you've got a lot of distortion in your recording. Again, drum beat with no fills is not doing you favors. I recommend getting a set structure down and trying to program that if you can. Perhaps you'd be better off producing digitally altogether if you're not performing live -- or transcribing you live stuff digitally to midi.

[Some Loop 01]

Interesting, but not really what I would call a song. The bass is not really in sync. Also not sure what's going on with the piano, but at the least, it's an idea. If there were drums or some other progressive elements and more material, I'd give a higher score.

BraydenGD responds:

Heeeeey it's EDM364!
It's not really good since I used a horrible DAW for this (Soundtrap). I might make a remake of this tune one day if I have the motivation to, since school and crap is in the way, and I have 1 odd week left of it.

Thanks for the review and criticism, really appreciate it.

[System crash (loop)]

I notice your chord structures seem to be really inventive, but your structuring and mixing are somewhat weak. Keep working on that. Interesting work.

[-Galactic Jump-]

This sounds like some of the stuff I used to listen to in 2006. Doesn't sound particularly bad, but the arpeggio is way too loud relative to the kick. It also distorts at some points. Interesting listen. Again, you'll get there.

SimpleCubic1497 responds:

ok, this was one of my first songs, so it can sound like trash. Also the sidechain sounds kind of good on headphones.
Also, thanks for feedback.

[Rap beat]

A little wack, but loops flawlessly. You'll get there. I would stray away from preset instruments with no FX though. Sound processing is most of the goodie when it comes to music.

SimpleCubic1497 responds:

thanks man, i will work on that.

[F*** you]

Nice concept. Preset instruments were not the greatest. Mixing was okay.

SimpleCubic1497 responds:

thanks i'll work on these....NUTS! ok sorry i'll work on the instruments..
thanks for feedback

[Procyon Assault | Finnsfolks]

Short but cool. My only complaint is the drum samples sequenced hide just a bit in the mix. The loop is flawless, and the mix is suitably loud. As for dubstep, it could have a bit more wobbling, but otherwise, I enjoyed the listen!

Finnsfolks responds:

Thank you. I should say that I intended it to be short for the sake of being looped to follow the original. And I called it dubstep for two reasons: 1) Tempo, and 2) this may get another version soon where I make it a full song. But until then, I'm glad you enjoyed this one. :)