ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chocnoon - Nadir (CCCXXVI)]

This piece is pretty muddy -- lots of reverb, lots of choruses or delays that are bleeding together and impeding the clarity of mix. Snare is not audible over them. I advise turning down instruments until the kick and snare are the loudest in the mix, and turning down hihats until they are not prominent.

I don't really like the high kick. It sounds like it is not in the same key.

Your writing is not bad but looking at the track, you see that virtually every section is the same volume, and there are not a lot of transitions or identifiable sections except key changes.

In short I like your melodies a lot but there is a lot covering them up, and they could use to be developed more. No matter what though, don't stop producing what makes you happy. The only person you should really compete with is yourself as you were yesterday. Don't stop until you make the kind of music that makes you rave <3 The problems I'm telling you about, I have experienced for years, and I still do sometimes. Keep it up. I believe in you!

name responds:

Thanks!

[e v e n w h e n t h i n g s g o w r o n g]

I think the intro vinyl is a bit too loud relative to the chords coming in, as is the sweep! However, olskool feel is a vibe

The low mids on the piano at 1:04 could be tamed, and a bit more high end until 1:21 allowed for.

1:28 that transition noise is a bit sibilant and loud! Thoughout it is quite evident. I would advise to pick either one or the other -- loud and not sibilant, or quieter and still sibilant

I love your melodic lines.

Beyond those minor gripes, I don't have much for you. Great work!

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you for taking your time and listening and leaving suggestions.
Definitely gonna work on my mixing games.

[Anubis]

Other than this mix being a bit top heavy, vocals being pretty centered, and some minor issues of clarity/overcompression, this is a flawless dance track.

I'd like some more out of your low-mid range synths, a bit less reverb overall, slightly more sidechain if possible, perhaps to soft clip or saturate/drive vocals, and apply a chorus

It's pretty hard to hear the bass on sections such as 1:38, and the hihats are far too loud for my taste throughout. Overall around 8k to 13k is pretty intense throughout the hardstyle portion. It sounds like most everything except the vocals has been heavily saturated. I was not able to clearly hear the snare/clap at most points. This is where the most mud is in the mix.

53 sec has great interesting textures that could probably be better expressed with less high end on your lead, so there was more contrast between elements.

TLDR, revisit mix for clarity, especially reverb, and this will be PERF. I think you will feel less need to pump the high end if you tame the mids and low mids (those long delays and reverb wets)

Also the fucking cowbell at the end LOL

[Aqua[cult]ure (Kallamar’s Theme)]

Going to leave a 5 here because I hate zero bombers. My NGUAC score will differ. Much love to you and sorry you're dealing with dumb GD players not knowing how this site works, not to mention that they do not have rights to use any song they want in GD. I say that as someone who enables all my songs for use. Not everyone wants that, and that's okay.

As a composition this flows flawlessly, no complaints there.

Mix wise I have some gripes, few
mix is sub heavy at sections such as 3:18, and snare is hiding in the mix. I want to hear more of the high mids on your basses

It actually sounds like the song was mixed loud and compressed down, as the issues of clarity improve drastically on thinner sections which do not have your sub bass throbbing.

at 1:14, clarity is an issue -- the reverb of the pads and sub is washing out your build under that tight compression.

Hiccup at 1:33. I think your synth had a minor midi stroke

In general I would prefer less reverb, less volume before hitting the compressor, heavier use of sidechain

2:15 you have toms that I can't hear over the reverb, which I would love pushed to the front! Occasional fills of those would be nice, with some sidechain or some such to help them cut.

Hihats and cymbals sound like they are pushed high to compensate for lack of clarity. I think pushing them down and snare up would help.

Otherwise, really enjoyed it. Great composition and smooth writing all the way through!

GlowBoyMusic responds:

Wow! This is such a wonderful and comprehensive review! Thank you so much for this!

I currently have a limited amount of music tech due to practically living off of commissions, so soon things might sound better just by that alone, but overall, I value this highly!

Thank you ever so much for this review, and have a great day!

-- Glow

[Stasis]

Ahahaha this description is story of my life xD I had to change my buffer rate for mine

Appreciating the sort of ambient foray we're going into here. Like ambient lofi hiphop.

Those sweeping pads could actually use a bit less air/volume relative to your 808. 808 needs to come up by quite a bit. Lead could also use a bit more width, chorus, and perhaps delay to fit into the wide sonic space of those pads and pull the track together.

Overall the melodic element to the piece is quite short relative to the ambient. I think I would have liked a longer piece with more developed phrases. HOWEVER I will say as I haven't heard anything like this from you before I really enjoy the experimental journey you're going on and aside from mix aspects this would have been a solid 8.5/10 for me!

GlaceonDash responds:

Thank you! It's apart of just trying to find my musical identity.

[the world would become a better place without me so i'm staying]

Meme is perfect and totally sets the mood

I think I would exchange your mute guitar synth for either a live instrument OR a synth alternative with a similar sound. Also, probably put a wider chorus on it, or double track it. As is, it's a little thin.

1:27 I yearn for a different treatment to the bass, such as heavy saturation, clipping for drops, or an alternative bassline for the drops. It sounds a bit same throughout. I have this problem all the time tbh. Good practice is to write 4 bars, copy paste, change bar 8, copy paste section, add a flourish or change a note in the 3rd set of four bars, and change bar 16. Works great for drops. I then take the first 2nd 8 bars as a short hook/drop, and keep 16 bar verses. It's just a matter of building to the hook at that point and the song should come natural.

That's really my only complaints about this piece, as it builds a bit slowly, and doesn't have a lot of variation beyond the flutes coming in for the final hook. Add and take away some elements as you develop.

I will praise that reverb is pretty well tamed minus a bit on those strings. They also would do well to have another instrument on the opposite side on the same line

I think turning down some of your plucks, turning down the pads/chords, and bumping bass, kick, and snare, would help drive this song forward more.

Otherwise, I love your chord progression and your arpeggios are pretty af. Great work using minimal instrumentation and simple beats. :)

[OST EP Vol.3 - desert (SF videogame)]

I think the fade before drop at 1:00 was a bit long and strong -- and did not enjoy the repeat at 1:13 of the same effect, though it was more subtle. I think some other transition could have been done here, as the mix is not very thick to warrant it.

The lead at 1:42 is a hair loud

I praise your chord structures and driving bassline.

2:03 that lead could probably use a pingpong delay and a slightly quieter volume.

I feel like we are moving into house at 2:27. Chip house? VG house? Sounds cool. I want more volume out of kick and snare throughout. The low pass crush is making it hard to cut through. I think a crispier treatment would do the snare well.

Overall, good piece. I think I would like to hear a bit more expressive modulation on your flute lines, bring them out a bit more, and a little less low-pass feeling to the track overall. Not bad at all though! The concept is really cool, and so is the cover

[APSM (NGADM)]

Have to say my critique would go along the lines of TL for composition. As far as mix, it's a bit top heavy on your intro glitches, as well as breaks. I'm talking the 6k and especially around 10k and up

Wishing there were more volume on your bass and less contrast between loud and soft sections, by a few dB perhaps.

Your watery noises at 2:20 or so are out of stereo field it sounds like with your synths. I think panning, widening, delays, or some other effects to achieve the wideness of your harmonic instruments could help there. The biggest issue is mesh between textures. I can't describe why some feel flat and wide, others centered, like the contrast between watching a spectrogram in one hand and a wall of noodles perpendicular to it is what my brain tried to conjure up as an analogy for how the sound is behaving.

It may sound better on open air monitors, but it sounds a bit thin. I think multiband compression tinkering could help fatten individual instruments and FX up, and a subtle treatment to soften high treble (hi-hat range) would do well on the master. That's the only weak point of this piece, stereo mix and the outro being quite abrupt. Otherwise I sincerely enjoyed it.

[Timeless Ibis]

Could benefit from a master -- the mix is quiet!
But writing is fantastic. There are a few bones I have to pick with mix, such as kick and snare not always being upfront and clear, but overall is clean and easy to hear all important elements

Great work!

death2go responds:

Thanks! I definitely can understand needing to try to make the mix louder and polish up on a mastering, though, Though, it feels odd that it renders out quieter than what the DAW is that, i found out recently that my Master mixer Volume Exceeds what a lot of people would consider normal mixing volume, so I've been adjusting that and trying to experiment on trying to increase the volume so it matches closer to other songs. I don't like the idea of someone having to turn their volume up to listen to this, then going to another song and getting blasted because they forgot to adjust their volume. maybe whenever I understand it a bit more later down the line, I'll go through the songs that have this issue and update them! Thanks for the review! It means alot!!

[Evidence Of A Creator]

Could benefit from mastering for volume level (the mix is FANTASTIC), but otherwise, this is a stellar piece, with great modulations and lead writing. Sounds like something straight out of Final Fantasy 13-2. Like discovering time travel. Nice!

DarkGod666 responds:

Appreciate the comparison! I love the more experimental vibe of that ost. I suppose I could have clipped the transients more and pushed up the volume a bit, yeah.