ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Enchanted Forest]

I'm reminded of the forests in Dragon's Dogma. I'd say you definitely represented the artwork well. The abrupt cut at the end is what takes me out of the experience. Anything else I could say has already been mentioned. Good work!

[Rig - Am I Cool Yet?]

Mixing of the vocals into the soundspace could have been way better, but can I really complain when you turned cardboard into a certifiable instrument?

[AIM - RPM Overdrive]

Enjoyed this piece for reasons already mentioned. The bass I think could actually use a bit more presence in the right places. Right now, the high mids are sticking out a bit and the bottom end is hanging out somewhere. We don't know where, so our ears are drawn to those finicky mid-frequencies and it ends up sounding quite thin and crunched up.

I really didn't enjoy the half key change around 2:20 and the octaved arpeggio. Really took me out of my element and felt a very lazy add-on. In short, good work, but could have been more thought out. Solo sections were nice, mixing was fairly well done, though could be better in places, and I did enjoy the listen.

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for the review! Will definitely try to reel in that low end a bit in the future, really appreciate the tips. Glad you enjoyed it :D

[AIM - Fallen Angels]

Writing of the piece is stellar, although mixing could use quite a bit more fine tuning. As is, the breathy highs sound muted. Dynamics are very much in the middle range, and not all is meshing together so much as it's hiding. Percussive instruments could use a bit more reverb.

This could easily be a videogame score cerca 2007. That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy the listen, and the artwork is well-represented.

CloakedSoup responds:

Thank you for the excellent review! :D I have been trying to get better at mixing my music ever since around this time last year and I think I'm finally starting to get somewhere with it. Still, I have a long way to go and your critiques are invaluable!

[AIM - 23069601337]

Simple and action-packed, just like the artwork it represents. Any critiques I have are already mentioned, minus some easily identifiable pitch-shifted samples. That's not a big deal, though. Enjoyed the listen!

5TanLey responds:

k :) pitch-shifted samples are bad or something?

[AIM - Witches Night Out]

This is a well-written piece with good transitions, but again frequencies on the instrument vsts are kicking your butt. Some notes are jarringly standing aside from the piece. Some instruments themselves are noticeably very flat and synthy. I always say in that case it's better to just use an obvious synth in the case of real instrument modeling entering the uncanny valley.

[AIM - Chris, the Boat and the Tormented Sea]

I don't generally listen to many solo piano pieces. However, this captured my thoughts, and I think it deserving of merit. The notes outside the chords depict the most emotion, which I admire. Your control and spidering fingers breathe life into a piece I otherwise would have seen around and not through -- a splendid entry. Thank you!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

It's cool if you felt my piano piece was good enough to listen to and enjoy, even if you generally don''t pay the genre too much mind. Thank you, for being so avid in reviewing everyone's work; you're doing a great job!

[AIM - The Test]

Not really enjoying this. It's really repetitive and distorting -- redlining. That's either a sign of being wayyyy too overcompressed or not having a master limiter. Another complaint, the entire song is centered on a single chord. Feels very lazy.

[Staring Back]

Strings in the beginning are very flat and I feel are absolutely cliche. Bass that comes in at 00:40 probably could have done with being laid under that melodic line instead -- or even with it. What follows next is about par for what I'm used to hearing on NG cerca 2007. That's to say, fair to middling. The chord progression is really not doing it for me, although your phrasing is not bad.

I dislike that it took so long to get a standard 4 to the floor kick going, and it feels like it's layered over the other little ... loop? Drums are totally buried. I would side-chain that over just about everything for this song, because without side-chain, everything sounds veeeery flat and repetitive.

As it goes, it does grow on me, as songs do when the chorus repeats. Not bad work, but feels very been-there-done-that, and I'm the sort that is easily bored. Hope you don't take my criticism too harshly. I did read that you're relatively new to the program so that could explain a lot.

Also, definitely incorporate some cymbals into your mix. Ears love them.

Rather than a worn out riser, I like to take a nice spacy crash cymbal, copy it to the clipboard and make sure to trim it so that the end of the clip is even with a beat, reverse the cymbal, and crossfade the reversed cymbal into the normal cymbal. I trim it again to make sure I can copy and paste this to all my big transitions without them being wonky, and voila, DIY riser.

[AIM - Crash and Fade]

I'm in love with the tranquil acceptance and weirdness of this piece. It feels as though the weird flower in the piece is speaking (metaphorically) to us, the soldier, while our life support beeps at us. While I think this may be in the wrong genre -- although our categories are woefully insufficient -- I'm very much enjoying the vibe.

Only complaint, an outro would have been better than a single note at the end with that pad. Very nice atmosphere.

Kalviter responds:

Thank you, I'm very glad you enjoyed it! I will admit I struggle heavily with categories on NG, but hopefully I can figure it out. The outro could have been extended a little bit, but I did want the finality of one note to show the soldier finally passing.