ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Castle Dregs]

I was waiting for some toccata and fugue vibes.

Interesting fusion of elements. I like that reversing shizzle. However I think your 808 is WAY too loud relative to the rest of the track. I can hardly hear your snare over it in any section where it is present.

Could also use some transition FX, crashes, reverse crashes, and etc. just to make transitions clearer. I want to hear some ride cymbals too.

At 1:55 the piece feels muddy, a lot of melodies and stuff going on that could probably be parsed out into other drops.

The song is also SUPER long for hip-hop at 5:40. That tells me some things could probably be cut out, like that section I was just talking out where the choir instrument and strings are being written in a way that doesn't necessarily serve the quality of synth you're using. For instance I might cut the 3:24 section to 4:30, sub in one more drop and leave the rest to 4:54 or so as an outro. A fade out is not needed.

Super, super long!

Beyond that, the ideas you have here are not bad at all. Some places I disagree with execution, like those super hard, super distorted 808s (which don't get me wrong I myself LOVE to spam) with a LOT of other elements on top and complex percussion. Give your ideas a little bit of space to breathe.

Also I have a sample pack you may enjoy -- Adreanaline, made myself, with tons of grimy 808s and percs for you. And a ton of other freebies packed away in my news posts for hip hop and industrial. I would recommend you some plugins right off the bat: kshmr essentials kick (percussion processor), Diablo Lite by cymatics (same), Pocket Blackus cello (a kontakt instrument free), Spitfire LABS (a ton of orchestral and other sample based intruments that are free), cinematic cymbals. If you go through my own audio discography I list a lot of the things I use most of the time. If interested, hmu and I will see what we can find for you.

That's really all I have to say I think on the piece. As we speak it has ended, and it is indeed stuck in my head despite mix issues. Very catchy. Excited to see what else you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

SednovaNova responds:

I appreciate the feedback. I will take it into consideration most definitely.

[elytra]

Я думаю, что с гораздо меньшим реверберированием, эта песня звучала бы намного лучше. Звуки переходов фраз песни довольно громкие относительно остальной части трека.

Я не могу отчетливо слышать арпеджио из-за реверберации и слишком громкой ведущей мелодии.

Несмотря на это, песня мне нравится очень. У нее хорошая структура, и она по моему отлично написана. Поздравляю.

Спасибо, что пришли на NGUAC!

[Follow Me]

The track is pretty quiet. I think you could run it through a free internet master or Audacity's amplify FX and fix that practically instantly.

1:05 is a nice, cheery bop. The song itself is quite simple and I don't know what critique to apply beyond I think it could use more than hipass play and a typical club beat in terms of percussion and FX to keep things interesting. Past 2:02 I'm not sure what else new could be brought to the table in such a minimal composition. 2:59 makes me much happier.

Nothing sticks out as ugly, perhaps due to the pentatonic feel of the track itself, as if all is supposed to indeed go through this very happy parallel motion. I am almost robbed of words of what to say I feel it lacks beyond wooshy wooshy noises, overt crash cymbals and reverse crashes, and perhaps a catchy bassline.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

DeweyDewster09 responds:

I appreciate the honest feedback it helps a lot!

[Dekiru - I'm Falling]

Oh, this intro is capital c cute!

Nice little can't-tell-if-it's-a-shamisen-or-koto melody. I think I would like a bit less tinny feel on that instrument.

I feel like we have a super long intro there into a build and another build, all the way up to 1:22 -- aaaand we're still building. 1:34 is quite a bit of a long intro! I would decide what could be chopped and moved into a different verse or bridge.

Mix wise I think 1:30 or so is almost unintelligible for your snare. The heavy sidechain makes it audible but if not it would just not be there. Up that snare and give him some space! Your bass also suffers in intelligibility from too much sub.

Other than that, at this point, 1:56 I am still enjoying your writing despite these issues. I think the grainy rain/vinyl samples could come down a full dB and still add to the sound.

The attack on your shami-koto w/e feels the absolute same on each note, especially noticeable on the sweep up

3:03 that lead is WAY too loud for this section. I can tell by how the compression reacts at 3:20 that this was mixed very loud. Also at 3:30 the compression is struggling to handle ALL that low sub as well as all your leads. It sounds as if you may have turned them up to cope with the rest of the song being super loud. Be sure to modulate your volume on individual clips as well as the whole instrument track!

At 4:18 I still think the lead is too loud. It also seems to lie flat in the space it sits in, no ping pong delay, etc.

Outro piano is super pretty.

All in all, after the LONG intro, I really enjoyed the listen. After that, the track knew where it was going and how to get there. I would cut the chaff on this one, as it is a long 5:13. Otherwise, I have no real critique. Your writing is noice. <3

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

dekiruGD responds:

Thanks for the review! I still have a lot to learn about mixing.

[Lesser]

I sits. I enjoys straight fire beets. I fade away in a pair of acid wash jeans to the sound of a world in decadent decay, carried on the wind by the digested mess of lead guitar.

LexRodent responds:

Can't tell if this is an abstract review or some modern poetry.
Either way, it's very appreciated ;)

[Madness]

I have no idea what you're sampling, but you're absolutely destroying it, and that's interesting in and of itself.

I'm not sure about the reverb on the bass at 15 seconds or so. I think that could come down by a lot. It would sound much better with a centered bass with not too much reverb or chorus.

I'm not sure about the machine gunning marching snare, but by 1:18 we're getting a nice little bit of spoop going on. I like how unusual the piece as a whole is. It's hard to even form a coherent thought with this on.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

deepfriedfiend responds:

I ripped and modified most of the sounds from Hydrogen's death metal drum kit, even turning a cymbal into a lead. Some are resampled and modified from individual notes recorded from various Yamaha keyboards, my own voice, or made entirely from FLStudio plugins.
I am glad to join NGUAC. And thank you for the advice! I'll consider that!

[Hell]

The SHSH sample in your intro is pretty loud relative to everything else, as is your hihat and ride ting.

The idea itself I really like -- sounds like industrial dubstep. 1:00 is a very pleasant, ugly cacophony, which sweet nois. I would like to hear a sidechain on your 8th note bass for the kick and snare. That may not be possible with your current software. I'm not sure.

The tom at 1:50 or so sounds out of place. I would sub for another strange industrial bang noise.

Make sure to monitor velocity for multiple hits of the same noise.

I think with some better access to sounds and instruments, you have a fine future ahead of you in this genre. Your piece is dark, mysterious, and creative. I enjoy your samples. They fill my widdle heart with edgyness and remind me of simpler times when I used to listen to more of the same. I'm excited to see what else you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Offline]

Really enjoy your chord progression in the intro.

Something is happening at 25 seconds. I think it got louder but can't tell you how.

I'm not sure about the structure of the piece. We've just heard a chorus for our intro. At 1:00 it sounds like 2 bridges to me at the same time. Perhaps some study of song structure will help you organize ideas like these into cohesive wholes. I was expecting another chorus before your outro.

You manage transitions fairly well even without a lot of transition FX, crashes, or a lot of complex elements. I would suggest doing some digging for more of these, as it could do much for the perception of motion in this piece.

Other than that I don't have much critique. You have moving, sad melodies, solid chords that are catchy, and nothing is sticking out as badly mixed. Just hard to follow the progression is all. Despite what you may think, that isn't hard to fix at all. Hold onto this piece for a later date and see what you can chop it into, and tag me if you do!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Conspiracy]

SUCH WOW MUCH LOUD

Oh I recognize those snares and can't even tell where from. I think I would have liked some panning play with the individual snare samples, and rolling across channels from left to right. Anything to keep from sounding flat.

I like all of your samples. I think at points like 53 secs it's almost impossible to hear the bass doing what it do. Your auxiliary perc should come down, or your compression should come down and your bass should go up on those sections, because 0:59, 1:22, etc are perfectly audible. It's when the 1:38 loop and your breaks are hanging out at the same time everything else is almost impossible to hear.

You can also strip reverb from your basses and that will help a little with compression pains.

Great rhythms though dude. I really enjoyed the variety of sound, even if at points things were inaudible or tinny -- I really am starting to think that's a compression issue of big sections having too many things that by themselves sound nice with the basses but all together squash it too much.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

DEATH-DANGER-INCOME responds:

Thank you. Yea i know. It's just, i needed to make something. Andddd no time was even left before i needed to go do something else. Not going into detail.

[DatCat11 - Frozen Over]

I'm not a huge fan of the steel guitar synth, and I think it's a bit loud over your accompaniment, but the melody writing is great. Recommend doing something, applying reverb/delay to it so it doesn't sound so naked overtop the rest of the ensemble.

I really enjoy your chord at 2:11. I forgot what to call it :')

I think you have a great chord progression. I think it would be even better if you were to use inversions.

The sub bass sounds REALLY detuned and at points is clashing pretty hard on lower notes with the tonic of the chord it is underscoring, giving a mean head throbbing experience.

That said I enjoyed the section through onto 4 minutes. I was expecting a louder, harder drop than was received. Think a different bass would achieved that for you. I actually think using a saw bass or pulse bass would have been a better choice at points.

I really like your lead melody, and this will be stuck in my head for a while. Nice work, despite the head throb. Working with sines is rough in general. I respect that.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!