ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[rubberband pillow]

That's a strange dream indeed. I like how the song builds off of itself. Simple, but it works. I'd like some more interactivity between the layers and a bit tamer percussion -- the hihat sticks out a bit. The snare and kick seem buried by comparison in the other instruments

[Last Hope]

The melodies of this piece shine considerably despite mixing issues with the percussion cutting through, especially the chorus. I think some trimming to cut out a little bit of the build of the latter part of the song and a more dramatic entrance could give it a little more sense of urgency. But overall it sounds pretty nicely developed and like it knows where it's going. Nice work :)

[Adsorption]

The composition on this is quite excellent. My complaint would be that once the orchestral instruments come in, the drums and bass are buried. Save this project, come back, and revisit it.

You could probably benefit from sending a quiet file like this to a mastering engine of some sort, perhaps having someone draw out the percussion and bass for you via another program first. I could actually do that for you, and perhaps reduce some of the reverb that's taking over the piece.

Those arps toward the end are quite masterful though. I'd say on the compositional end, you're far exceeding what software you have. Those short staccato trumpets and bones might do well with a facelift using musescore soundfonts, if you can figure out how to use them.

Can't wait to see what you come up with next :)

[Lost Army (Original)]

I think I've found my new genre. Absolutely filthy. I think I've been going in this direction with my own music, actually, with a bit more videogamey sound.

[Max Pills]

Song is really nicely written and progressed, but it sounds very, very overcompressed, especially regarding that arp in the beginning.

The hard, percussion driven feeling you're going for could probably be best achieved with sidechain and slightly less compression.

For the dnb elements, chippy feel, and verses, I would probably suggest putting this in nerdcore :)

[Vista Sounds - Air]

This mix is a bit sibilant for my taste and has a lot of reverb wash on it, but is nicely written. I'm not sure that it belongs in hiphop, maybe dance, but I won't swap the genre. Occasionally on those rolled bell like key leads, the volume spikes noticeably. Watch out for that. Maybe compression will help there :)

The percussion is a strong point, but it could use much less reverb. Also, the bass seems to be cluttered by other low mid frequencies from what sounds like mostly reverbs or sustains elsewhere in the mix. You could probably afford to saturate it a little and bring it up in the mix, as well as high pass those reverb signals and other instruments up to 250 hz or so.

Composition is very nice. Keep doing what you're doing!

[Tong Kat Ali]

I confess, I absolutely hate the bass instrument used, maybe could use swapping or an elaborate fuzzy fx chain applied to it as it just sounds dry to my ears, but otherwise really like the presentation. It's very aphrodisiac like :P

There has to be something to make those fantasia/pads a little more lively. Maybe a slow LFO with a high/low pass?

[SH - Battery Acid]

Hehehe this beat is absolutely mischievous! Just a few changes on the mix and a few different choices of note -- some areas the instrumental itself either follows a predictable fall in the 808 or clashes slightly with the mariachi sample.

I would take down your arp just slightly in the mix, up the vocal chops or compress them more evenly. I might also apply some sort of LFO so that the arp itself feels more lively, whether it's a wah wah effect, some distortion, just something to give it more breath. You could also cut the release some more, and take down the reverb a bit. It feels very soft and ... unpressurized on top of the beat. I would want more of a screeching tone, take it down some, etc.

Anyway, grats on the front page. Sounding good :)

[CHEESE WORLD HEYOPC INSTRUMENTALS]

Did you seriously sample Gucci Mane chops? hehehe. Nice to see you popping out full albums.

heyopc responds:

yessir i did

[ntfrl 2021]

Nice drill elements here and creative instrumentation. It's not perfect, mostly on the mixing side, as the melodies themselves are entertaining in their own right, but it works.

For the mix, it's a little sub heavy, and it sounds like you have different sub frequencies and low reverb frequencies cluttering the bass up. You can clean up your leads and other synths with EQ to keep room for the bass. There are tutorials for this on youtube which are great for the purpose. Beyond that I would hi pass filter any reverb or delays no lower than 250 hz just to eliminate a lot of that noise, then use side chain to keep them tame and all your percussion snappy. Some people use gates as well to quiet all that wash when the instrument isn't playing.

I would like to see a little less factory Nexus keys, or at least some FX to breathe life into them. But overall I really like it.