Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hunt]

Sequenced, Hunt
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
9,10,9,8,10

Sorry to greet you in the losers bracket but at least I'm being forced to write reviews this time. It's easier to score meaningfully when you have to write a short essay, I've had it too good up until now. A problem with moody EDM genres is how repetitive things can start to feel, especially to outsiders that hate EDM. Eight minutes can be a little risky if you bore a certain judge the entire time. Length isn't the flex you might think it is. Luckily I loved all the pulses the entire time, the music felt incredibly alive with the evolving grooves.

It's a little unfortunate that I wanted to grab an instrument and jump in because that usually implies that there was more space available. I suppose there is always more room in a drum circle for additional elements; my hometown had a weekly drum circle on the beach that had to be shut down because of how massively popular it got. The drum circles I attended involved grabbing a percussive instrument, a leader would run around and conduct newbies with a rhythmic pulse and place them with similar instruments, then that leader would conduct certain players to rest while other sections shined. Those drum circle memories allowed me to look past some of the moody emptiness in favor of wanting to join in with my own tools. Knowing I could have propped some melodic solos on top of this with a keyboard or string instrument is what led me to remove a point from technicality. To be fair, it's kind of hard to judge for technicality because a lot of people are sitting in front of a monitor mousing it up. It's the least favorite criteria I chose to judge with but I will stand by it to help the people that are making full use of their creative tools, sue me.

A point came out of composition because I was left wanting for a discernable climax to the overall track. Something simple like a vibrato sine or Rhodes keyboard solo. I know you compose for dance floors but you can risk getting a little more creative with the Newgrounds community. That same composition point I removed ties into emotion. The one moody dance pulse was expressed expertly for 8 minutes but it lacked a wider range of emotions you could have expressed with a simple hook. Every point I chose to remove circled back the very basic concept that I just wanted a little more from this. Gotta give you credit for avoiding a cheesy hook though, I took points off of someone else's track for writing a particularly bad hook. Motifs, can't live with them can't live without them...

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

An added thought: I took yet another point off emotion for that meager two-word author's comments. Incorporating the authors comments is a concept I introduced during the Art Inspired Music contest. You should feel welcome to write up some additional thoughts or feelings for your listeners, intention is something I value. There are people on Newgrounds that care about your feelings and goals, we're creative peers. If there happens to be a judge that scores for something like "emotion" take advantage of your author's space to build anticipation with a few sentences or thoughts. I had 8 minutes to sit still and listen to this track and after giving it about 20 listens I would have eventually read whatever you felt was necessary to share. I spent almost two hours this week just listening and grooving to it, why waste my time telling me the sub genre when something like "I was very hungry when I wrote this" would have told me more about your emotional state? Music is all about energy, emotions, tension, pulses... we can't enjoy music without a human element.

I sheepishly judged losers bracket instead of winners because up until now I wasn't required to write reviews. Truthfully I was very burnt out after AIM. Giving everyone the feedback they deserve can be hard but I love sharing these thoughts. A lot of competitors love getting honest feedback and interactions, so I understand why I'm being asked to write reviews but it always feels like a small slap in my face when I can easily say more about someone's work then they can. The happier I am with a track, the less I write but you wrote so little that I now need to go back and review all my other scores to make sure I'm consistently angry with people that didn't write enough (actually they all wrote plenty, you're the exception). For future reference, a few sentences can speak volumes and endear a community to your struggles or vibes. I actually think you'd appreciate Uxvellda's data driven author's commentary. I recall old regs from my highschool days that would similarly include just data, tools, plug-ins, length of time spent on the track, number of instruments. Author's comments will give you a chance to add authenticity to your webpage, people that don't know who you are can become endeared to you for your feelings, ideas, or general vibes. I encourage artists to strive to be more than just a webpage. Toy with my feelings more and stand out by pointing to the things I wouldn't have noticed or cared about otherwise.

I know the author's comments has nothing to do with the actual music but before you accost me for taking a point off, I'll share with you that one of my favorite college professors encouraged everyone in her class to blog or publish a book. Artists can't expect their work to always speak for itself so an artist's statement is a huge opportunity to direct your viewers attention. Sometimes an artist has a great idea but delivers it strangely. Artists have so much potential, spread your creative chops and write when you get the chance. In the AIM, people would color the author's comments with poems, lyrics, short stories, images... and I loved that. It shows passion and care, sensitivity to details. When people love what they do, I can relate to that. Spend more time talking about your music, life is too short to risk not having a voice.

IMO, at your age you should be more of a role model for others still trying to find their way. Don't hide who you are behind some sick grooves. TELL US WHO YOU ARE. TELL US WILD KEIZER. TELL US THE STORIES OF YOUR HEROIC BATTLES. TELL US HOW MANY KINGS HAVE KNELT TO YOUR POWERFUL MUSIC. TELL US ABOUT THE TIME YOU RAN INTO BATTLE WITH NOTHING BUT A GUITAR AND EVERYONE STOPPED FIGHTING SO THAT THEY COULD HEAR YOUR BEAUTIFUL CHORDS AND STYLINGS. TELL US KEIZER. TELL US EVERYTHING D:<

Sequenced responds:

I once had a peanut butter jelly hamburger

[The Courtship Of Love]

DigitalProdigy, The Courtship Of Love
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,9,9,10,10

Jumping right into business, I took off a very meager point in production because there was a lot of 100% velocity data on the string section at 1:19. I've been commissioned to score projects that I wish I could have gone back and nitpicked my violins a little more. Some of the licks hit a little too loud, even for my old ears. That guitar solo at 3:20 in particular punched out of nowhere. Something could have helped raise the action of the track up to that epic solo, like a cymbal swell, chimes, bass drum swells, toms, a vibra-slap, orchestral crescendo... almost anything could have built up the energy to meet that wonderfully written guitar solo. I also took a point off composition because of that sudden action, I'd apologize for it but I know I'm one of the easier judges to make happy. SHE TOOK TWO POINTS? QUARL IS SO MEAN.

I'm actually going to move along to the next track I have to judge without saying much more, sorry if you wanted a more detailed review but you wrote a really good song and I don't feel it's necessary to try to find more "mistakes." Hope the other judges feel similar but I only speak for myself. Thanks for writing such an inspired song, I really enjoyed this :3

[Real Me]

AkioDaku, Real Me
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,8,7,9,10

I really loved this super heavy track. Industrial hiphop. Cutting to the quick, the mix really hits lows and highs expertly but there sounds like an entire mid-section of texture is missing. The track also got a little repetitive which is a rough critique for a track that's under three minutes long. I gave a wonderful 10 for technicality because live vocals are tough to incorporate perfectly but I took points off in production because of how flat the vocals sounded. A better recording could have filled up some of the missing textures I was complaining about. There was also too much reverb for my taste. Reverb is something I like to automate in and out to get better fidelity from certain sections but it sounds kind of like there's a little reverb on everything. THIS SONG WAS RECORDED IN A CAVE. Less is more ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

I know what it's like to work extra hard on a unique sound and commit to it but I thought the glitch patterns on the 1:40 vocals could have been teased in better. Once again, sometimes less is more. Level automations might have turned those sounds into sweeping eerie ghostly echoes. Sweeping sounds like that in and out of volume can sometimes work wonderfully, sensually rubbing ear drums instead of becoming a grating element. I have a lot of respect for the work that went into that effect but I'm not sure that the payoff was maximized or pleasing.

I'm having a hard time finding more to say but I want you to have a good day AD. You have some serious creative integrity and everything I hear from you stands out. May the power of music go with you!

SkankyMojo responds:

I completely agree with you on everything there. You've got really good ears, some of those things you listed we're time crunch comprises and that fact you picked up on them confirms to me your judgement is on point. The things you've brought to my attention are fantastic to be made aware of. Genuinely thanks for taking the time to post feedback and thank you for the kind words and score. <3

[Uxvellda - Theia]

Uxvellda - Theia
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,10,10,10,10

I'm usually really easy with my contest scoring but I truthfully had a hard time trying to find something I didn't like about this. I just couldn't do it this time. I could have nitpicked the climax's kick/snare drum pattern for a static continuous velocity but I've been playing a lot of drums lately and to be honest just staying consistent irl is hard. Keeping the drums to the climax was a great surprise. I usually want more organic stylings from EDM percussion but I think I'm forgiving those max velocity climax dubstep drums because of how well done the intro was. The hard-hitting static kit was a perfect contrast from that heartfelt cinematic intro. That three minute introduction allowed the climax to hit extra hard. I loved it, very humanized orchestra and choir sounds tie the pulsing drums back into the wonderfully crafted atmosphere.

Great job Uxvellda, looking for minor errors in this is driving me insane. Just... take this perfect score and go hide with it somewhere. Don't tell ANYONE I'm giving you a perfect score, they'll take away my judge card :c

Uxvellda responds:

😳 I'm so flattered lol

[After All]

I came to drop love but stayed for the tags. eewwwwww, nuero lmao!

This sounds reslly good on the kitchen google speaker. Tiny snare slaps, Id have been tempted to layer in the occasional big snare for fills and breaks but I was still loving the moody atmosphere. This track rolls <3

Is that an elephant sample? lol.

CryNN responds:

No elephants were harmed in making of this track xddd

Yes i think it could have more variations damnnn. Im in amiddle of an artist block rn

[Qshunt - Trust Issues (NG Version)]

lmao I don't even remember what the samples I sent you sounded like. Can't pull out any familiar sounds in this so you really took the track in your own direction entirely. The song is maximum nuero tier, love it. Professional sound Qshunt. Really great reese synth, clean drums, big bass, 10/10 :')

Qshunt responds:

Thanks Quarl!

I wondered about whether you'd recognise any of the samples?

I used most of your percussion hits and the full drum loop. I ran the loop through an HPF and sat it back in the mix to complement the rest of the drums after the breakdown.

The stabby synth was based on one of the hihat hits, fed through a vocoder among other bits and pieces.

It's way better being back on my proper monitors though.

I think the mixdown shows that haha!

Thanks for listening and thanks for the awesome review! :D

[Yehezkel Raz - Two nights in April (Remix feat. DMZL)]

Damn those vocals are heavenly. I'm in love with those crunchy drum sounds. Piano is great too, especially loved those drunkenly dissonant notes. Mix suits the romantic stylings and vibes. Perfect track arbelamram!

[My Feet Are Sunburnt]

Much as CryNN pointed out, length was a big issue while scoring. The track is sweet and beautiful but when others are willing to write 8+ minutes, 1:30 feels like a cop out. I actually hate a long track if it doesn't stay interesting the entire time and am typically of the opinion that sometimes a short track says everything it has to but for a song writing contest, I think 3 to 5 minutes is the goal to hit. Gotta stay competitive with your peers to a degree. If this was a theme-song contest for a cartoon or video game you got a perfect little ditty. This is a wonderful sample, but some users are breaking themselves in pieces trying to push the limits of length. IMO, stick to the middle ground, write something that isn't too short or too long. 3-5 minutes is fair in my book.

There are fidelity issues with those drums. The rhythms are all awesomely inspired, I love me some funk and the notation is inspired but the drum fidelity came across a little too digital and static. You could breathe a little extra life into them with some additional aux percussion samples or more dynamic range. Sometimes just layering in some new samples for tambs, rides, bells, chimes, cymbals, a second snare drum that hits different textures, a ghost snare, a second bass kick, anything really helps emulate the diversity that a live drummer might bring to the table as they push their kit to it's limits. Your rhythms are top notch, I loved them but I'm a drum slut that always wants more texture and power. Extra layers for the core drum components (kick & snare) will create some really nice diversity.

That vocal samples "are you ready" and "ow, oh mother" was perfectly soulful. I love it when people put that kind of stuff into the track, felt organic and real. I love me some live elements, even if they're "fake" or "afterthought" it just hits me nice. I love feeling like I'm there, a part of the recording process and in the studio.

The bass line was jumpy, staccato in the best way but maybe a few odd legato licks and pitch bends would have sounded nice? Maybe not? I'm learning bass guitar at the moment and sometimes I think something will sound good only to record video/sound and realize after that it doesn't. There was definitely some more room available in the mix and while you don't have to fill everything all of the time, you can often push the bass a little harder to fill negative space then counter that amplification with some good old fashioned side chaining. I guess I could ask for two things from your mix: more drum presence and more bass. These are hands down the strongest elements in your track but they lacked some power and unf.

Oh, back on the velocity of the drums you have a snare triplet at 00:26 that you could have written crescendo or decrescendo. A small roll, flam, or drag would have an amplification or de-amplification over time depending on how a drummer might play the notes. If you were going for full on IDM/EDM experimental music I would be a little more forgiving for certain ideas, but you have a really nice live jam sound going on and I would have loved to hear dynamics as nuanced as the notation.

Please don't read into how critical this might all come off, I love this track so much. I'm just letting you know where you might be able to tune up some ideas to write the best music you could possibly write. Deathmatch is a tough contest, I do hope you look around at what some of your peers have been writing because I'm amazed at the quality I've been hearing from the Newgrounds community in recent years. I'm sorry it took me a while to get around to this review but my IRL life is super busy. You have some inspired ideas and melodies, good luck with all your future endeavors!

[beauty of something unrecognized (ADM ROUND1)]

Sorry it took a little longer to get around to reviewing your song, it was a very short list. I HAVE NO EXCUSES, I AM A TERRIBLE FRIEND AND LOVER. Here, I started to quarter myself as punishment. Take my intestine and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction with it, it's the only way I'll learn my lesson.

So I really loved your track, I had to open the score sheet to give you the best feedback possible. I came down hardest on production with an 8/10, the feedback your about to get might seem a little extra or infuriating. Though I loved your style I can guarantee certain headphones are going to sound thinner and possibly painful. You can counter that by pushing the bass tones a little harder. Audio Technicas in particular offer up a flat response that can really hide sub sonic frequencies in such a manner that makes bass music sound wrong. Even with my subbier Sennheiser's the bass is noticeably lacking. This is a mastering issue, the track might sound better on your gear but I specifically own a few pairs of headphones and monitors to try to get a better idea for how something I write is going to sound to others.

Though a track can become over compressed and brick unnecessarily, something I like to tell people is "you need to mix a few bricks to understand your limits." A compressor could help amplify your bass tones a little more which will give the track a little extra power. The intro is most obvious, that bass could have been more potent. The climaxes you wrote are almost full, there's not much more room but when I warned you about the feedback being infuriating, this is it. I'm nit picking that bass. It sounds a little more potent at 3:20 but I'd have included one or two chromatic slides to help distinguish it from the lead and give it a little more organic style. Genres like nuero or dubstep perfectly merge the subs with the leads but since your instruments are so different from each other I'd have gone a little harder in distinguishing the bass from the lead with bass melodies that depart from the harmony a little bit. The final two minutes in your track could have used some legato bass tones and chromatic pitch slides to drive the track across the finish line.

I took one point off "technicality" and one from "emotion." I probably took one from emotion because my issues with the bass will effect the over all power and delivery of your climaxes. Technicality can be unfair to judge for Newgrounds competitions when people are mostly just sitting in their chairs writing music with mouse and keyboard but that score might also loop back to the bass just holding down a tone the entire time. For a bass tone I can make out so obviously, it just kind of sits there doing one thing the whole time. That sub was practically crying the entire time like "NO ONE PAYS ENOUGH ATTENTION TO ME. EVERYONE TREATS ME LIKE I HAVE ONE JOB BUT I CAN DO SO MUCH MORE. I'M TIRED OF BEING LOOKED DOWN ON AND TREATED LIKE MUD. I HAVE PERSONALITY, I'M MORE THAN JUST THE BASS GOD DAMN IT. I WENT TO COLLEGE." At least that's what I heard. I'm speaking directly to your sub bass right now, it's going to be ok girl. I could hear you loud and clear behind everything else. You'll be strong, we just got to fatten you up a little. As soon as we can get HalfDemure to start paying more attention to you I suspect you'll become one of the most potent aspects of their music. You're more than just "the bass," you're a hero. You hold everything together. We love you... bass.

Sorry if this isn't the review you were expecting, I've been really busy lately but I'm glad I got another chance to listen to this. I remember loving it when I heard it in the queue. Have a lovely day Michino :3

CrowdDoll responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback, I agree a lot to your point especially I see the Sub Bass as something like a support to the whole track and I never thought he's going to help me more because I thought it's going to sound very off for my style. And I also agree with you that it felt too compressed and I do lower the frequency of the Bass in mastering so it can sound more clean.

Thank you so much for the criticism, I promise I will now look the Bass more better than before and I will never let you down. (Pssttt btw Michino is my Discord username not my real name)

[A Colossal Oh No]

Disclaimer: without the score sheet in front of me I may review this a little differently than I did in the fever pitch of trying to score everyone else fairly in two weeks. This review is just an elaboration of why I may have scored the way I did and everyone I'm reviewing today will receive this little disclaimer, kisses.

As said in private message, I'm starting to recognize your unique style and funk from the previous contest. There will be times when the integrity to maintain a distinct style can harm your standing in competition. Judges might get tired of it eventually but you don't have to worry about me today. I'm loving the technicality and composition. At times your style is a little too sporadic which may turn off others but the evolving melodies and tempos are still in my opinion lovely and wonderful. Your progressions are heroic. Probably my biggest complaint is going to come for that tiny jazz kit. With some basic drum engineering tricks you could create a unique drum sound that matches the energy of your style...

Don't get me wrong, the inventive auxiliary percussion was exactly what I loved but I was still missing a potent kick or snare drum. I wouldn't say you necessarily needed some big ass Excision or Koan dubstep drums but there are some dubstep producers lake that out there who are processing some interestingly inspired percussive sounds. Lets try some IDM drums? I'll give you some technical ideas to get unique tones but first a few classic artists I love to name drop are Square Pusher, Aphex Twin, & The Flashbulb. Certain nuero and breakcore producers have tickled my ears with unique drums, Noisia, Unknown Error, Receptor. Even hiphop producers have been making drum kits that can snap with unique potency and funk. I'll talk about layering samples to get new sounds but always start with drum samples that sound good in their own right. A bad sample is a bad sample...

I like to merge and layer complimentary drum samples from the drum machines into fidelity units. Specifically I'll use two or three kick drums and three or four snare drums. I merge signals like kick samples or snares then send them to a graphic equalizer, then a compressor, maybe a stereo imager, maybe a distortion unit (bypassed until wanted), and then to a mixer. I suppose you could give every individual drum sample a string of fidelity units like that but it's quicker for me to just send all the snares to one place and all the kicks to another. This will still give you a lot of tonal control over your drums. Color the graphic EQ with automation lanes to program cool tonal switch ups. Aside from engineering a unique sound, another benefit of layering is that you'll have a handful of extra drum samples laying around. I love using one or two layers of the snare drum for introductions and break downs only to pair them back up with the bigger drum samples for hooks & chorus's.

For emphasis: this track was wanting at times for much bigger, snappier drum samples.

I love bending the pitch of snare drums and hi hats via automation lanes to match the energy of a track or melody. Snare drums can quickly bend pitch and become their own fills or rolls. Climaxes can have snares or hats that suddenly sing higher or lower. This style of drum programing would handily compliment your zany melodic and tempo switch ups. Automation lanes are your friends, experiment with them. One more time, I just wanted to compliment that creative auxiliary percussion. Think I heard a wrench, a spring, some change? That kind of creativity is needed for the primary aspects of your drum kit too! You have such a nice little unique style growing here. Pair your melodic style with equally heroic drum programming. What do kids call the style these days? Future bass? You can be the lord of future bass!

My computer crashed while I was writing the first draft of this review. I didn't have to bring it up, I just wanted credit for writing this review twice. I'm not sure how much more I could say but good luck! If the style of my review sucked at all please let me know and I'll work on my cadence, tempo, and tenor. Thor's blessing Zechnition!

Zechnition responds:

Thanks a lot for your words! I've been frantically taking them into consideration, and made sure to include the Flashbulb as one of my references for my next piece early on :)

also, who knew intense pitch bending snares sounds soo cool!