Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Jungle on Strings ft. DJ]

rawr

Great song. Just one thing that can use some work. The dynamics. Lets hear those drums change up their velocities every once in a while. It makes the drums sound more organic and live. A nice little technique I use is to slap on some delay with the hi hats, then accent every other note. The delay if kept in sync with the tempo of the track will create instant dynamics. Another good technique is to always make sure the kick on 1 is always stronger. Live drummers have a tendency to accent the first kick. Drums arn't the only sounds that can benefit from deeper dynamics, but those semi arp synths could have used some velocity change ups.

Other than the dynamics this is a really great mix. Interesting panning on the lead synth.

winKoneR responds:

Thanks for listening, reviewing and valuable advices ! I love dnb, but in making it, I suck :) This is maybe first better one ;) Thanks one more time !

[Just Another Number]

meow

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, here goes.

I might recommend dropping that synth lead towards the beginning in favor of a slightly more complex piano line. Or you should try adding some more reverb to it/ cutting the high frequencies... just an idea though. Cool drums... hi hat rhythm can use some 16th notes to add a little flavor/zing. Melodies are working pretty good. Have you figured out how to automate synth modulations? Cause the synth that comes in around 1:42 would sound hot with some filtering or some sort of slight changes in it's characteristics over time. Wait... there it is. It just came in too little too late for me. There's that piano. Sitting in the back. Not where I'd put it, but it has a cool thang going.

When the aux percussion comes in later: shakers would sound better if the syncopation was different... actually, here's a really fun technique to play with... try slapping your hi hats/ shakers with some delay. You'll notice that writing interesting rhythms gets a hell of a lot easier because the delay will create automatic dynamics. Just accent every other note and don't be afraid to throw in a few off beat hits.

I could be more helpful but I'm really fucking tired right now. Long day. Sleep needed. all in all great tune. Not what I'm used to hearing, a lot of things caught me off guard. While the review seemed pretty objective, keep in mind that I'll probably like it more tomorrow when I'm not drunk on tired. Peace sir.

S3C responds:

oooh happy happy joy joy what a pleasant review. thanks!

i'm rather inclined to agree with most of your criticisms:

-i might trash the synth at the intro in favor of a more developed piano, as it does add much anyway, right?
-I agree, the drums could use a tad more flavorizing (mmmm)
-Automating the synth sounds like great idea! I just got caught with working the other instruments and departments that I forgot to fiddle around with the main lead line...hmmm
-My intention for the piano was to just be a color to play simple motifs in the background, nothing more really :)
-Good tip about the shaker rhythms. I actually used that delay technique on the main drum kit once the portamento lead comes in, if you can hear.

Wasted or not, this was still quite a helpful review that I'm appreciative of. Thanks Quarl! And I have been keeping up with your work- I shall review it tomorrow or the day after when I am drunk or tired. Peace sir!

[=[0con]= Night Life]

yummeh

Dem some hot beats. Can I have sum moar?

[Rucklo - Mental Malfunction]

fap

Curious, why rewire to cubase when reason is fully capable of awesome sauce on it's own? In any case, I think I'll take this time to give you an insightful/helpful review. If I wanted to be nice I'd say GREAT JORB but I kind of feel like beating up on you today.

Drums can be stronger. Not sure if you enjoy them sounding like the way you have them, but try this: Make an instance of the redrum, initialize it. Make two spider audio mergers and two instances of the mastering suite combi. Now run three wires into a merger and four into the second. Then run each through their own mastering suite. The splitter with three wires will be dedicated to kicks and the one with four will be dedicated to snares. Viola. Amazing layering complete with advanced control over the characteristics of the drums. Now create a mixer solely for the drums. Channel one and two should be your kick/snare. Now make another redrum/ initialize it. Send it into the drum mixer. Once this is done start setting up the aux sends with effects.

Try playing with delay. I like to put a little delay on the hi hats/ shakers. This makes it really easy to get nice dynamics with out even trying. All you have to do is accent every other note. If you can't get a decent drum sound through layering, try setting up an aux with distortion and hit up that snare a tad. I like to leave room in the aux sends for some reverb, but it's up to you. Typically, I'll only use reverb on the hi hats if the track needs a little more space filled out. Or I'll automate the drums to have heavy reverb at specific times. A bass kick with heavy reverb really sounds nice when used at the right time. A great time for it in this track would have been around 4:45 when the kick is holding the tempo. Just saying, would have been nice.

Now lets work on that reese. I find that the malstrom is great for getting a really hard reese sound. Initialize, set two sawtooths *16. Get the ocilators running through the filters and get the frequencies all the way up. Throw on some scream distortion. Go the mixer and up the treble a tad. You should now have something that resembles a really strong reese. Play with the parameters until you have perfection.

Now I'm not sure how much automation you use, but I find that it's really useful to run automation on everything you can. I find that my malstrom synths typically average around 10 lanes of automation. You really can't go wrong with it sir. Unless of course your using reason 3 in which case I implore you to upgrade. I got the chance to play with reason 3 a while back and all I have to say is that reason 4 makes automation a hell of a lot more fun. Hmmm... I guess that wasn't too helpful if your still on 3. Sorry.

Now, I felt as if this track really lacked a climax. Maybe if you upped the octave of the pad that comes in at around 3:20 and threw on some distortion, you might have a neat little lead. Up the reverb even. Dunno. There's always room to play. If you ever feel as if you like something too much to experiment with it and your too pussy to see how far you can push the undo button, just make a new synth and move the note lane over. No one's looking. Don't feel bashful. Try it.

All things said, it's a great song. If I was wrong about you using reason 3, then I say we collab sometime in reason 4. Who knows. Maybe we could make something beautiful. Peace.

Rucklo responds:

great in depth review right here man, thanks alot for it! loved the remix you made, btw. gonna have to review it! :)

[Hermit Recluse]

meow.

haha, fuck yeah. I love experimental work like this. It reminds me of everything we listen to in my time media class. Since it's more of an abstract piece there's not a lot I could say in terms of what you could do better. Just keep doing it. Whatever it is you do. Do it with all your heart and soul.

Erkie responds:

aye capn

[[ echoes ]]

meow

Rawr. sassy dnbz you've got going on here. I'm not sure where your at in your production habits because I've never actually ran into any of your tracks before, but I can tell you've been at it for a while. I might recommend turning the reverb down on the vox sample. Perhaps try some different effects on it. Cut it up and make some rhythms out of it. Pan it like crazy. Dunno, play some moar plox.

I think the reese could stand to be a little sharper. Try upping the treble on it/ experiment with some distortion. I know this track has a much more laid back feel to it, but that didn't stop mistabishi on his track no matter what. If you're familiar with that song, I had a feeling this was heading in that kind of direction.

I noticed the dynamics of the hats/shakers stayed about the same the entire track. You can get some really nice dynamics just from throwing some delay on those hats and accenting every other note. I do it in all my tracks and it saves me a hell of a lot of time when writing beats.

I'm not sure how much automation you used if any, but you really need to take advantage of that feature when working with DAWs. I find that some of the best effects come from using automation to morph the characteristics of your synths over time. This is especially true in dnb. Meow.

Overall great track and keep experimenting. ^_^

boney-man responds:

Thanks man. I'll keep this in mind. I recently learned how to properly modulate a friggin reese, after like 3 years lol. I'll keep at it.

[Hungry (NG Cut)]

Newgrounds house listeners community?

Ohhhhhh, you mean the forum regs. Right. Welp, I'm not much of a four to the floor guy, but I can appreciate the love other people put into it and whose to say I don't enjoy it? I just prefer dnb.

Of course, not being an avid listener of house, I can't say what aesthetics make up an electro house track, but if it doesn't go against the rules I'd say throw in a few pads to give the track a little more atmosphere. I might also recommend layering on an additional kick to give it a larger punch. If you're using reason, maybe try layering with the bd_basics kick. It's my personal favorite kick to layer with because it can really pack a punch if you know how to work it.

So that's your own shaker loop eh? Next time try putting a little delay on the shaker/ hi hat rhythm. You'll notice it's a lot easier to get realistic dynamics if you do that. Just vary the distances between the hits and you'll see what I mean.

All together, good work and keep playing with reason sir! If you have any questions about what I've said here, don't be afraid to send a pm. I'm a reason user too :D

BrokenCrossfader responds:

Heh, I haven't had a lengthy and such a helpful review in such a long time :). Good point on the shakers, I haven't tried adding delay to them yet (I'm still new to making shaker grooves). It's always good to hear from another reason user with some tips. Thanks a lot!

P.S. Id try DnB if I was creative enough. I like a simple drum pattern going 1-2-3-4.

-BC

[[a.] Soundless Fields]

meow

I never really check out your ambient stuff, but I figured I might as well since it was hosted on the front page. Go look good sir.

I'm a little sad the song cuts off at the end. I'd like to hear a full on pretentious 10 second ambient ending that I'm so accustomed to hearing in all music. It's a little disappointing :(

Other than that, gratz on front page sir.

Rawrthaas responds:

Oh damn. Second time I had a song up there.

Didn't expect this one to make it
yey :D

[Empathy]

rabble rabble rabble

Meow. Not a bad mix going on here. Not my genre but I'll try to leave a helpful review...

You've definitely improved a lot since the last time I gave you a listen. One thing I would have tried doing was push the general characteristics of the synths a bit more. Some of those square sounding waves could have done with a slight boost to the treble and the bassier instruments could have used a tad more bass.

I'm not sure how much automation you do if any but using it to modulate the synths in the sequencer is a pretty good tactic for getting sexy sounds and morphing pads/leads.

I might turn that cow bell down a tad and up whatever is giving the snare it's mids. Rhythm isn't something I get too picky about when it comes to a four to the floor genre, but perhaps a little bit more variation in the hats would be splendid.

The structure is pretty interesting. The track unrelents. Most pros will put in an ambient break down specifically for DJs to use to switch in and out of tracks. If you really want to know more about standardized structures, talk to Nav... granted, it's not like it really matters that much. Ya know, it's not like you plan on getting into DJing, or plan on having someone mix your work, so meh. Kittens.

You're absolutely right about this song. It's not professional but it's still pretty good. You're almost at that level sir. You just need to learn a few more little tricks and I'm sure you'll be cranking out the jams like a pro right soon. Hopefully someone who works with this genre will come around and leave a better review for you, but in the mean time keep producing the tunes!

:D

WritersBlock responds:

Thanks a while lot, Quarl!
Your tips and suggestions are very helpful. I'm so glad to hear that you've noticed an improvement, makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. As far as what professionals do, well I've never really been able to hone in on how they do it.
As for automation, there was some in my chord progression and lead instrument, but it was all kinda subtle. ;D Mostly to give a slightly different sound, but to also pull the instrument down a little more and highlight other aspects of the mix.
Thanks again, quarl. :D

[MR JINGLES!]

Yep.

I'd play this for my children. I'd also attach them to wires and make them dance to this song like marionettes while the wife performs a full on light show. We'd do it in front of an audience of ten million people, and we would be famous. Just saying.

Stalagmite responds:

LOL. just like the tellytubbies, this music is designed to brainwash you and completely anhialate your mind. :D:D:D
its working! YAYNESS!

thanks for the hilarious review dude! :D:D:D