ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Inactivity + me = not anymore]

You asked for critique in the audio forum

I don't think music theory wise that this is entirely bad -- up to 31. What's going on is that you have your chords down REALLY low in the piano register. You said everything is in the same key, and I can hear that. What's happening is that the low notes are clashing with one another because of register, not because of tonality.

I also love jazz, so those "wrong notes" coming in toward the outro are actually my favorite part of the song.

Try writing less congested chords (not so many notes) if you want to write in the lower register, and if you like them being congested, try moving parts up 12 semitones (1 octave) and see if you still think they don't fit. That's all I got.

Also, this track is really quiet. Try learning a bit about mastering while you're at it. A simple boost in volume and a brick wall limiter would suit well in the case of this track, which is not very complex. The volume level to me is more off putting than anything you did compositionally. I think it's okay!

SuitedBroccoli responds:

thanks (:

[night dream]

В основном, трек хорош. Слышу и понимаю сразу, почему ставили на ФП. Ответ на твой вопрос -- что менять. Я бы уменьшила громкость звуков воды -- кажется что это капли воды слева и справа. И тажке будь внимателен, чтобы не очень часто те же самые сэмплы повторять, если они легко узнать. И это все. Думаю что кроме них, все ровно сидит в миксе. Тщательно ты выбрал остальные пресеты, модуляции, параметры сайдчейн итд. Возможно я бы делали мелодии чуть погромче, но было просто класс.

Продолжай!

G2961 responds:

Спасибо большое за отзыв! Хорошо, я постараюсь учесть эти ошибки в дальнейшем.

[Eptic - Propane (Seven Chakras Remix)]

I think this is more midtempo than synthwave, but nailed it. Despite whatever mixing deficiencies -- studying some professional mixing and mastering will help you there - I like this version better. In general I think the 250 hz and below of the bass would do well to be centered, the bass come down just a bit, and snare come up in the mix.

SevenChakras responds:

this was from 3 years ago, a bit late for that type of feedback lmfao

[Evolution of Everything [G2961 Remix]]

ОФИГЕТЬ -- басс такой жирный, прямо в лицо ударит. Думаю что около минутки 1 надо исправить некоторые уровни громкости -- например ревербераций. Они должны падать вниз или немножко сокращать продолжительность, чтобы компрессор правильно звучал. Сжатие довольно жесткое, и думаю что также можешь его уменьшить лишь чуть чуть -- чтобы вторая часть трека сохранила свой динамический контраст.

Но в общем, мне очень понравился трек.

G2961 responds:

Хорошо! Спасибо за расширенный отзыв!
Да я в принципе знал про то, сжатие прямо жёсткое, просто я как-то делал ремикс нехотя и у меня не было идей на продолжение.

[zDk - Codex of Honor {UPD}]

Going to write this review in english -- there are some concepts I would have trouble explaining in Russian.

In general, this is nice, blazing fast DnB. A few things I would adjust -- take wet reverb down somewhat, apply slightly less compression so the track does not appear to be a sausage. In general this will allow for more clarity and the bass to cut through.

Needs a bit more sub/bass, and attention to detail of the phase of the bass -- see that when the kick and snare come in, if there is no sidechain applied, that it does not cause the kick OR the bass to decrease in volume. Deselecting random phase generation/position on oscillator can assist this. Then manually slide the start of the waveform until the problem is no longer present. I'm not sure if that's happening here since the waveform is so fat, but it could be, as I notice just a bit of thinness in the bass.

I actually would like a deeper, lower kick, and a higher pitched, more classic snare. Be careful also that your hihats and other percussion are a bit cleaner. The amount of verb on the track and instruments sharing this frequency range are clouding things up a bit. Great job not having them super sibilant. No ear pain achieved))))

Overall I love the energy of this track. Two thumbs up from me

G2961 responds:

WOW! Thanks for advanced review!

[ZDK - [Vengeance BEAST]]

Хардстайл мне очень нравится. Однако думаю что надо обратить внимание на фазу басса прежде чем ставить компрессор и тщательно исправить уровни инструментов, чтобы громкость басса и бочки не уменьшилась когда новые мелодии играют. Остальное мне просто класс и ностальгия!

X-500 responds:

Спасибо за честную рецензию! Я обрачу на это внимание)

[At The Seams ("Deathslab!" 's BOTB ENTRY)]

Liking the motion on that synth in the beginning. Feels like brauer motion -- could be generic rhode oscillating. I would like if that were to stop at some point, though it's interesting. The accompanying nnnnnnyeeeeaow texture could oppose it in terms of panning for depth.

On the drums in that opening hook I'd like to hear a bit more dirt on the snare, some crunch, and perhaps a bit more bite on the kick transient.

Vocals on 1:24 are not bad. Don't apologize. Could just a bit of de-ess on tweety s's. That's about it. I would also potentially apply harder compression, perhaps distortion even, to it. The choral portion hard panned reminds me of Queen. Lots of layers here and interesting choices in writing -- atmospheric. Potentially bring the lead vocal up by 2 dB.

2:44 is intended to be a massive section -- I can hear it. I would reduce cymbal and kick volume slightly, reduce reverb wet, and bring up the keys. Double track another patch for what is written in piano, and pan that left. More subtle oscillation on the rhodes for this section.

Compositionally speaking however, this is great. Lots of interesting progression and tasteful use of dissonance. I wish the snare popped more throughout, and the whole arrangement was more in your face. Really, I think there is room for low-tuned, high gain rhythm guitar.

Other than that, I quite enjoyed it. The section at 4:56 is gold -- again I would take up the lead vocal and perhaps drop wet signal on it some.

Guitar solos are a high point in this piece also.

Outro sounds great!

carboluka responds:

Wish we had that idea for 2:44, that would've sounded so nice... Thank you for the feedback!

[Dreams As Deep As Oblivion]

Definitely feeling the black metal aspect, and it's blending well with the rest of the instrumentation. My only complaints would be as with all black metal, it's quite difficult to understand lyrics. At points I am able to pick out phrases and surmise it is perhaps because of the relative lack of sibilants after FX, as well as many instruments sitting in the range of the vocal.

The spoken word portion is much easier to understand but appropriately spacious, sordid, and dismally confused.

Writing wise, 10/10. One of my favorite subgenres combined with another favorite. Some great virtuosity in those solos as well.

Mix, I think the choir and keys are crowding out the guitars a bit. I may have even quad tracked the rhythm lines. I would like to hear much more of them and a bit of a compromise between 90s wet OST and modern dry. Perhaps utilizing side-chain to achieve clarity, or gating. The kick is audible at all times, which is necessity, but it blends somewhat in with the bass. BM kicks are usually quite high tuned so I'm fine with this. The snare sounds like a concert snare from a march though in this mix. I might replace it with a high tuned copper snare, something along the line of early Blink-182 Travis Barker's kit, or David Silveria's kit on Blind. Nasty and audible.

On sections where there are vocals, just a tad more care can be taken to help them shine, intelligible or no! Besides toning down a bit of the backing keys and other elements, I would simply ensure they are clearly audible over the backing, along with the rhythm guitar. I wouldn't change a thing in terms of delivery, or your sound palette. That is actually what I enjoy most!

Looking forward to hearing the two of you revisit this tune! It's lit.

LD-W responds:

Thanks for the review!

We're treating this track more like a demo to see what went well/didn't go well on a time limit & within all other specified rules, and how we'd approach things going forwards with anything under the same project name. While we won't be revisiting this particular track, we may be looking at doing a full album (at a casual pace) during 2024 when we've got spare time.

#1 thing is that I'll be swapping out the drums for future tracks under this project. While the Blackbird kit is decent for many other kinds of projects, it was abit too 'clean' for this kind of style really. Snare was a DW Edge and was a pain to try and not make it sound thin for this particular production-style overall. I'll be swapping over to a much dirtier-sounding kit and probably run with something like a Ludwig Black Beauty snare in the future etc.

[Nobody Will Listen To You]

I actually love the drums you've made. In BeepBox no less. I think the pads could come up a bit, but the sheer variety of wild sounds I've NEVER heard anyone do with this tool amazes me.

Once again I'm left with sounds I want to sample -- those drums are YES

JimmyTheCaterpillar responds:

thank you adrean :)

[napalm/hopscotch loop]

It looks like this is a bit quiet on the waveform, however going to turn it up for the sake of review. I think where this shines is actually in your percussion. It is quite dynamic for such a limited range of frequency. I think something could be done to get a bit more punch out of the kick, perhaps find a frequency that doesn't clip out so much at the bit rate.

As far as melody, the portamento shines atop the almost lackadaisical up and down arrangement. I think the supporting countermelody can get a bit busy, particularly at 12 and the repeated section -- largely because we already have fast moving hopscotch percussion and the melody is quite slow.

I would like to hear more of the bass on this piece, if you have the possibility to turn that up in I assume beepbox. I'm not very familiar with this tool. I also think that you could maintain this internal loop and change the break before 18-20 seconds leading into the new section. It sounds better as a true finale stinger before the swooshy transition, as opposed to leading into a B section. I hope I am able to make this clear.

What I typically do when I am making a short drop like this is start with 4 bars, copy. Change bar 4 and leave bar 8 as the final fill. To extend to 16, I do the same process, change bar 4, 8, 12, or 16 accordingly to keep the illusion I did NOT just copy and paste everything. And I generally make changes in the bass or the harmony instruments before I touch the lead. It keeps things fresh.

There is another principle to building a song structure -- add 2 things at a transition, then remove 2 things. Keeps things dynamic. Can be done with one element at a time of course, but it helps keep things shifting ever so slightly, and is a great exercise in creativity. You are already doing this to some degree in your guitar knots pieces, I see.

Again, great to hear from you, and happy to see you improving each time!

JimmyTheCaterpillar responds:

Yeah I think i'm starting to get a sense for when repetition is utility and how to organically sort out how to keep things moving.

i think your second paragraph really sums up where i faulted this song,,, i really just made it so busy and then i was like!!! shit!!!1 what now!!

mixing in beepbox can be weird, some instruments just want to be quiet. I have a method worked out for more specific mixing in the program, that being to just export every instrument individually to audacity and then mix and match from there but i think i'd have to really either like the track or be expecting something from the track to make that extra credit effort essentially lol

thank you so much for your continued support. i didn't always understand some of the things you meant abt production and stuff when we initially started talking, but i think i'm starting to click a couple things. i'm grateful!