Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wood and Winds]

Since you asked for feedback on the Discord channel I'll totally mention some stuff! The music theory is spot on. Love the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and ideas. Not trying to insult what you know but the mix quality is amateur. Mix down and fidelity tools can take years to figure out on your own but you can do it without watching tutorials on youtube. I'd recommend watching those videos and tutorials though because figuring it all out by ear while twisting knobs sucks. Even just one tutorial can propel you in good directions for years.

When I mention fidelity tools, I'm talking about devices such as equalizers, compressors, filters, stereo imagers, maximizers... there's a ton of tools but the two most helpful will be the first two I mentioned. I just gave BandLab a look because I forgot what it was. I'm not sure if bandlab includes those types of tools but at the very least you could look for them and see if you got more goodies up your sleeve.

One last thought because I listened to this a few times, that high pitch synth tone at 4:06 is the worst. You can totally juggle tones like that into a mix for big bass dance genres but it feels so out of place in this. The song is generally relaxing and wholesome, then that tone shows up late and ruins everything you had built up in the previous 4 minutes. I love a lot of contrast and spontaneity but I'm not so certain it's working out here. If that tone did one thing right, it made me appreciate everything that came before it so much more.

Sorry if that comes off a little harsh but I do want to compliment the writing you did that was perfect! Great music theory, fun to listen to, nice long composition, bad ending. Keep trucking towards your album, I wish you best with it!

SirSandman0 responds:

Thank you for the feedback! I am going to start researching how to properly mix audio since I've noticed that being a common criticism for most of my songs. Maybe I'll write a better outro to the song once I get it figured out

[Ganymede]

Followed you from the NG audio pub Discord channel. Mix is over compressed but ignoring that massive over compression the elements are great. Love that lead bass synth. Drum samples and loops sound great. That's a nice unique tone from the ghost snares. Pad melodies are liquid AF.

Your mix down is the one thing really separating you from the pros. You need some new mixing and mastering tricks to spread around. It sounds like your slapping compressors on everything and boosting levels instead of keeping the levels to a more reasonable level. My mixing tends to vary a lot from track to track but some stuff to experiment with:

More sidechain signals. If you're already sidechaning the lead bass synth & sub using the kick drum and snare, I might recommend pushing the sidechain signal to really get that drum kit controlling bass frequency levels. I use a splitter in Reason to send that sidechain signal to anything I've slapped a compressor to. Your compressors should be able to increase or decrease the intensity of the sidechain signal, push it harder!

I can't tell how much panning is going on but when you pan stuff, there is an illusion that the sound is louder, letting you turn things down a little. I like to split my leads into two signals, one left and one right, to give me a little more fidelity control in each ear. This also lets me drop the levels a good bit and make room for other elements towards the middle. Obvs bass frequencies should be center stage but anything mid to high can be biased left or right. I like to automate the panning knob on the really high frequencies, make things pulse left/right/left/right. Panning data can give the illusion of movement but it's also just interesting to drive a listeners attention around the field instead of one static location.

A good thing to experiment with this on in this song would probably be that saw pad behind the bass lead. Using an 8th note pattern I'd try automating the panning data: 45, -45, 45, -45, 45, -45 or a more potent 55, -55, 55, -55, 55, -55 to give that saw synth some massive dynamic character.

Mixing for DNB requires some good balance and contrast to avoid a static mix down. You can really drive yourself crazy on the mix down but do spend some time focusing on it. I wasn't kidding when I said the only thing separating you from the pros is the mix (and a big following/cult). Sorry if my tips aren't helpful but there really isn't a cure all solution to mix and master. You have to compare yourself to the pros you listen to and try to find the techniques that will give you more fidelity control. You have LOUDNESS which is something a lot of producers don't understand, instead choosing to keep their mix downs quiet. You figured out the compressor, now work backwards! Make things a little quieter to make room for all that loudness :)

Sorry to drop this all on you. I really like everything going on I just want to hear my peers at their absolute best!

[I Wrote an Album but I Scrapped It]

"lol, new EP coming out maybe at some point, dunno, lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Material sounds tight af. Word up to the contraceptive your parents didn't use! I really liked the mix on 4:26, super crisp.

lol, 7:24 hitting with that sad/happy energy that can mysteriously sell popular songs. Favorite track, sue me.

YasiinClemens responds:

I feel like I grew up on stuff like semi charmed kinda life by third eye blind so I love writing happy songs with wild lyrics and tones lol

[Heaven Energy]

woof, love that goofy rhodes upstroke chord bop! Reeses are tight, great sounds Dieswyx. I'm angry to be listening to this on a tablet with no bass but I'll get around to it with a better sound system asap. MY WEDDING IS THIS WEEK, BUT I'LL MAKE TIME FOR YOU BECAUSE LOVE.

Dieswyx responds:

🥺🥺🥺

[Let The Battle Begin]

Love the intensity Ketyri. That snare rhythm sounded lovely, would have loved to hear it just a little more. Only two suggestions I could think to bring that snare forwards is a combination of minimal sidechaining and some experimental pan data but most people probably won't care. I play the drums irl, call me biased. That rhythm was sounding feckin well programmed. I could really hear more of those dramatic snare dynamics towards the end. You brought life to that snare drum!

Maybe it popped towards the end because that last section has much less bass drum? The bass drum in earlier sections over powers a little with a long sustain, that drum might be a good thing to practice sidechaining? I'm not even sure what I would use to side chain it with. I don't even know anything- have been faking it for decades now. I'm a fraud. Don't take my advice for anything. I haven't looked at my credit score in a couple of years now, it's probably negative...

junipersona responds:

The snare isn't the focus of the track, but it does seem likely that at some point I will revisit this song and touch it up more

[AIM - Moments In Life]

Beautiful work AceMantra. Inspired melodies and composition. Suits the JRPG style and vibe from the art perfectly well. Every note works together nicely. If I were judging this year I'd have to discriminate all sorts of small ideas but a game designer or animator could honestly just stick this in the background of their project without any problems or interference. I hope you know that your work is really good and that someone out there needs your music for their projects.

AceMantra responds:

Thank you for the kind words, and stopping by for a listen! I really appreciate it. :)

[Racing Tides]

Had my headphones off tbh, was gonna just pop in and give you a five so I can go back to nursing my covid but I could hear those glittering piano arps from where my headphones were and I had to put them on. After giving this a few listens I'm thinking it's a little over compressed, could just be my clogged sinus's. Elements are all great though. Horns are fucking beautiful. Melodies are killing it. Beat is chill, giving attention to all the other elements. Everything is beautiful.

That aux percussive woodblock might be a little too loud? It's bigger than the snare. Beautiful tone though. I think the hi hat might also be a little too loud. Sorry, I'm only nit picking because I said it sounded over compressed and I can't just leave it there without pointing out one or two things that might help? I over fuck my own mixes all the time, I'm a damned hypocrite.

Next time I send my man to vegas I'm gonna make sure he brings home something better than covid.

Casper responds:

Definitely over compressed, it was even worse than this, got carried away with boosting my mids on the bass and making the drums punchy lol, I would have fixed it but the project is buffering like hell and my cpu can't take it sooooo.. I guess I'll keep this in mind for the next track lol. The chords are also way too stacked, some layers are probably not even audible, I mostly experimented with this track since It's my first actual attempt at an 80s synthwave vibe even if I tend to use the same elements in my regular beats. Compared to my other stuff the mix isn't as good as it could be but with 101% raw DAW processing power I think it's good enough lmao

[The Mountain King ([FoD M]

Thanks for making a quick playlist of all your favorite tunes. I've been thinking of doing the same and turning the material into a Bandcamp EP. This song goes hard. That acid house 303 squelch is one of my favorite noises but I only managed to get it right once. Accidentally overwrote the rsn file for "Not Afraid Of Dying" and now that synth alludes me despite all the youtube tutorials I've watched in the meantime x.x

Such a classic sound, I should just spend my extra money on the hardware and become Infected Mushroom D:

[Chrono-Femboy [Serenade EP]]

I came for the femboy.

[Cabbster Is Insane]

Love the pads and that lead is juicy! Drums are really nice! Cool tune eml :3