ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[I Fly So High | NGADM | Wave | Royalty Free + MIDI |]

This is a nice composition with many unexpected melodic directions on your vocal -- at times I think it could be a bit more on pitch, spot corrected perhaps, or overdubbed for the occasional flub. As this is such a naked piece, your vocals being ON are even more important than ordinarily would be. It's worth investing in a pitch correction/vocoder or something along those lines if you don't have time to do lots of dubs, and perhaps a singing course. I personally recommend Ken Tamplin (and I am no great singer by any means, I feel you!)

The vocal mix is present at the right levels to be heard, but I am really distracted by the heavy low mids on it, and it sounds nasal. That could be from a common cold, OR from recording up close to the mic where your nose is above or past the diaphragm and as such nasal resonance can't be heard.

Besides that, great piece. I appreciated the lyrical themes, and captain plugins definitely came in clutch. Good work!

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your thoughtful insights into music, you are really knowledgeable and I respect you as a skilled musician.

[A Newborn Spirit]

Your piano is mixed quite nicely. The hammers quite audible.

I would like a bit less low mid on your high strings, a bit more in the airy string rasp range, and perhaps some less abrupt note transients as they come in. Ah, attacks, that's the word I was looking for. On fuller sections, that high rasp could come off some to focus on your mallets, as they are coming in with a very twah twah attack on top of them (adjusting timing early in post helps this). So in short, some EQ shifts as things move along, and a bit of attention to detail on those attacks, ensuring they link up with the mallets or any other lead material.

Still you have some sections like right before your end in which they come in beautifully.

Otherwise, you've done a swell job and crafted a nice score. Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

[Vehemenceold]

Interesting choice to have pitched melodic toms down bottom. I think you could use a better selection of instruments or sound fonts with more articulations. Spitfire LABS is a good option, and there are many scoring string quartets and the like for free on the internet. Your strings and drums detract attention from what is really some fantastic writing (I'm very happy to have held on through the outtro, well worth it!)

Rather than further comment on writing, as you seem to have that down very well, I will focus on mix and instrumentation.

I was surprised to see such blazing hi-hats here. Usually expect that in hip-hop modern. See what I mean at 40 seconds. Those could be panned to the left at about 15 % to 25% and taken down a little in volume as they distract somewhat from the rest of the piece.

Your snare could increase in volume along with the kick by up to .7 dB, or if you prefer, a bit more. Personally I think it sounds a bit dry and a bit like stock instruments, but it isn't too bad. There's Salamander Drum Kit and MT Power Drum Kit that may work for your applications here, or if you check my news posts, Saudade Drums Remastered (Kick, Snare, and Toms for plogue sforzando) to give you an extra leg up here.

As far as cymbals, I recognize the ones used here. They are pretty alright.

For your bass, if any, it should come up in volume, and the leads, down somewhat. Remove any low end reverb wash below 250 hz and that should improve clarity there. I had difficulty hearing what was going on between the drops to the outro. Some cutting down of low note piano chords may help as well, i.e. stripping out some notes or moving them up an octave.

Beyond that, I'm not so sure this should go into techno but I don't know where else to put it either.

Good work. Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

[3manon - Brainstorm (Mindscapes EP)]

Nice atmospheric beginning. I would say tone down your reverbs early on, at least the low mids, as they are somewhat distorting at 44 seconds and clipping. I don't think that's what you want in a dnb mix, as you want nice crisp breaks.

At 1:05 your writing is smooth and so are your choices in transition. Lovely chords and smooth leads. Very olskool and pleasant, but throughout your bass is overly present in the 200 hz range, owing to what sounds like reverb.

Section at 2:10 has nice melody and harmony. Great.

2:27 switchup and throat singing is a great choice. Keeps things varied. Mix is also sounding a bit cleaner here, but still really present with the reverb.

I would recommend switching out the strings at 3:08, up high, to something like LABS's free library.

3:30 is sounding good coming in on that hi-pass, notice a lot of the low reverb wash is passed out. Nice key change here as well. Overall I really appreciate the themes presented here in your track. Great work.

I think that guitar could use to be switched out with something that has more varied articulations, same as whatever bass that is. You can certainly find the same sort of tonality and keep that variety.

Beyond that, I don't think I have much left to say. Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

3manonMusic responds:

Thank you for your kind words and feedback! Did you know I recorded my own throatsinging btw?

[Nu Metal Instrumental]

Waiting for Jon to materialize out of thin air on this sick ass track. Niiiiice.

[Metal Up Your Ass]

Saw this out of curiosity, clicked, and proceeded to take an ear break from judging. I most definitely think you should do metal more often. Those harmonics at 2:10 were delicious.

The only thing I could find to complain about is your snare is down in the mix, I personally don't prefer the thin ringy sound of it, and I think your cymbals at 2:50 could come down a bit and potentially be more varied.

Otherwise beautiful in the extreme. Love.

[AIM - Final Frontier]

Definitely feeling the emptiness and vastness of space with this piece. The short bridge at 3:04 is much appreciated, as well as your chords of choice and modulations. Certainly far and away above anything I write these days. So my critiques, the few that I have, will be more relegated to mix.

I would prefer percussion, at least some elements such as the snare or toms that were not so dry. Your writing successfully drives the piece here, so this is a minor gripe. It would be nice if the kick and snare had a bit more presence, say .2 to .6 dB, and the hihats and cymbals had less. I would also appreciate more hihats throughout and various cymbals for transitions. The stepwise and regular shifting of chords at halfnote intervals can get old if the ear is permitted to focus on them for so long!

Speaking of your pads and other instruments, I do believe a more subtle volume or some ebb and flow of volume would assist you there. I found it hard to remain focused on your leads and where they were going between this and the percussion volume, coupled with the regular chord shifts to admittedly interesting places.

Other than that, enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

[Funk You]

Thematically and in terms of writing, this piece has my attention. Some choices of mix are impeding however my full enjoyment of it however. Such as around 1 min I'm having difficulty making out the lead above the very prominent bass and chords on the side. I also struggle to hear the chuckas in the right ear over a heavy reverb wash and the same aforementioned issue.

I think the bassline could stand to have more octave jumps or a sub bass applied to it. It's quite thin for the heavy house drums, which may have benefited from a 70's style snare and less present clap. Otherwise the bass sounds a bit gridlocked for the funk rhythm being played and seems to play almost the same exact octave jump jig throughout. As prominent as it is in the mix, that took away some of my attention from your very pretty writing as well. Some variation there in rhythm or bass reharmonization might help.

I also can't recall any big cymbal transitions, but I did enjoy the sweeps. Something is missing there and I don't know what it is.

Other than that, solid piece. I only wish it were longer! Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

[Secret Service]

I think a move away from these very obvious synth instruments in your intro, particularly a naked synth slap bass and those synth strings, as well as the slayer style guitar lead would do you a lot of favors with this piece. Though the drums don't sound half bad!

Good writing throughout, real spicy.

The guitar lead is real heavy on the 250 hz to 200 hz range it sounds like and that contributes to a boxy sound. You wanted I assume sly and smooth. Probably cut that.

I don't have a lot more to say other than that the mix is pretty alright, writing is great for what it's going for, and I highly recommend looking out for free resources for your VSTs. Ample sounds has some great free instruments, particularly a bass, that puts most others I've seen to shame. There is even a taylor acoustic guitar there I'm sure you'd figure out a way to work with.

Junk Guitar is a free instrument for plogue sforzando also that comes from a Japanese website but 100 percent works and sounds just fine. Is a strat I believe.

I also have made some instruments and samples of my own that you may find interesting. You can rifle through my news for a CTK-2400, some free metal drums, and a japanese/industrial hiphop sample pack.

I have no doubt when you do find the instruments you're looking for and have the means to get them, you'll be whipping up absolute masterpieces. Seriously, great work.

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

ThatAnoGuy responds:

Thank you so much for this review!! I’ll definitely take your suggestions to consideration!! Thanks again!!

[PartySlaughter (May 2022)]

Sounds a lot like olskool dnb I used to listen to. Nice!

I would pump up the sub on the bass through 40 sec and find a way to stereo widen or chorus the frequencies on it above 500 hz. It's a very organic sound and I really enjoy it but I feel it needs more intensity, more saturation, clipping, something. Otherwise. I enjoy the acid vibes at 1:40 very much.

This track is both relaxing, vibrant, and dynamic. Very much enjoy that.

For the section at 2:18 I would bring down the reverb on your saws and the saws themselves somewhat. Or alternatively you can really pump the kick and snare. But it seems hi-hat and all may be getting buried there by reverb wash.

It does not sound like this has any mastering compression, which it would benefit from. There are several online mastering services, even some for free, which would help in this regard, but I would recommend revisiting to mix prior to attempting that.

Overall, really enjoyed the track. Familiar and comforting in the sense I love the genre, and fresh in the sense it's not 20 years old xD

Thanks for coming out to NGADM!

TheNormalMusic responds:

Woah, that's a long one...
Yeah, it's based a lot on those early 00's tracks, I really like their vibe too. Mastering and stuff like that is not made well, I couldn't make it better back in the days, when I was making this song. Anyway, thank you for that review and that you like this song!