Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Djjaner (Extended MD2018 edition)]

Woah boo. That drum kit is so big. I'd say relax a little but getting the drums that big is a challenge in itself. Nice synths too, radical noises. Tight nuerofunk babe (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[Dynamisis (NGRMC)]

Woohoo, I can really hear the progression you've been making. First, the things I like then I'll hand you a few more ideas.

That intro was super tight. The melodies were super creative. The build up at 00:40 - 00:57 was perfect. You have a real strength with melodies and build ups. The instruments were all well chosen too. You have a good ear for this. That final build up into the outro was perfect. Great ending :')

Now the stuff that got me thinking, that tiny clap snare was a tiny let down. I'd have used something with some more punch, some more mids. Maybe a hip hop snare, a dubstep snare, a rock snare, or just something with more punch and less clap. The clap snare might still make a good layer though. The bass drum left something to be desired too but you're learning stuffs so I'm happy.

I want to talk more about drum layering but I think we need to talk about compression and equalization. You're pushing your levels to their breaking point which is creating some distortion and effecting the overall texture of the track in a bad way; clipping. I have the horsepower in Reason 6 to put a compressor and EQ on every instrument. The compressor can help an instrument sound louder while keeping it's levels in check. If you can operate a compressor in your DAW, start fooling around with it. Just slapping one on an instrument won't make things sound better but it will give you some more control over your levels without pushing things into the red.

The EQ will just let you fiddle finer tunes from your instruments. God, I feel so incapable of describing these things today. Don Julio, why???

Last idea I'll leave you with is a fun one, you might enjoy this. Search youtube for samples. I plug searches into google and ride the video links to good samples. I've searched for "skrillex snares," "dubstep samples," "monologues," "George Bush." If I find a video that contains sounds I like, I go to a website like https://ytmp3.cc/ to convert youtube videos into mp3. Then I use Audacity (freeware) to clip the samples into WAV files I can use in Reason. Some of my best samples came from youtube videos. I have the experience to clean up what I find in Reason but you should have similar capabilities.

Keep jamming and have fun Mr. M3. I'm loving it.

MRM3 responds:

Wow, thanks!
This is really quite a bit more than I could have hoped for... And then some... :)
I'll keep everything close in mind, while making music!
I don't have access to many samples yet, but my arsenal is growing! :)
I'm like a kid, with an overactive imagination, yet, with a half-sized tool-box; trying to build a skyscraper, with only a handsaw, a screwdriver, and some nails.
Then you come along... "Here son, try this new chainsaw, and drill!"
Thank you so much!
I don't plan on stopping music any time soon. ^,^

[Race to Saturn (Original Mix)]

Wait... you mean to tell me that house, trance, and techno are not the same genre? GHASP. I've been hoodwinked.

How old is this track? It's nowhere near as clean as your newer stuff. Since your posting an "old" track this is mostly just a karma review. I'm listening to "pico'd" right now. Gurd damn, that's a cool one.

How do you bring yourself to upload an old track without immediately adding shit to it? I open unfinished tracks from a decade ago and start fixing them up. You could have compressed and equalized. You could have diddled the rhythms. You could of at least added a sample of a black guy saying "come on" or an audience clapping profusely >:C

Sequenced responds:

I don't have these old projects anymore lol

[-Pink Spring- (2014)]

The drop hit me so hard. Dirty. FILTHY. I especially liked the part when the bass kick went "thud."

Waterflame responds:

Haha, thanks!

[Avizura - Stardust Memories]

I'm feeling this track way more than the previous, and I was genuinely feeling that one too. This has a video game, manga vibe going on. I can see this introducing some neo Megaman cartoon. This was a solid mix down from start to finish. Melodies were fun. Stan Fox Stevenson Bryne would be proud.

AvizuraNG responds:

Thank you very much. That means a lot to me! :]

[Avizura - Break The Silence]

I love this sound. I can fault paint drying though so I'll just say that the melodic synth from 00:25 to 00:47 might have a little too much focus in the mix and the moments of silence, especially 1:46, I'm not a fan of. Other than those gripes everything here is super fun and awesome. I love that break down, cool tempo stutter. Sounds are nice and clean.

Those captain falcon-esque guitar riffs. I have no idea what to call them xD

AvizuraNG responds:

Youre right about the mixdown, I'll have another mixing session soon.
Glad you liked it !

[Trial and Error]

You've got a fun style evolving. I don't know anything about LMMS so I can't offer up any advice specific to the DAW but I might suggest a few mixing tips that might help :)

Sounds like you could experiment with layering drum samples. You can start to build your own rich drum sounds by layering snares that have different frequencies & fattening up that sound spectrum. Example; you can get a nice fat mid snare from the amen break, layer it with a thin 909 snare. Then try adding an extra or so. You can get really creative with layering and even apply it with basses and pads :D

I'm not sure how much panning you're experimenting with but feel free to throw a pad to the left or right. Hi hats can get panned hard in one direction or the other. You can make room for everything and clean things up at the same time! Panning will create the illusion that sounds are louder than they actually are which will let you turn down levels here and there to help create space for other instruments. Experiment ;)

I remember when sidechaining was a huge deal. If you're doing hard dance genres you might want to see if LMMS has an option to control the volume of an instrument with the signal from another. Example; you can lower the levels on a bass synth for a split second every time a bass drum hits. That will clean up things and give the drum more punch by momentarily making room for it. For dubstep, I always sidechain the synths, basses, & pads with the bass drum and snare. It really adds punch to your drums.

Hope this doesn't seem like I'm being mean. I always leave reviews like this when I like a persons musk. Some of the kids I've reviewed over the years went on to do amazing things, music or otherwise. I think you'll be something special if your not already. Keep writing keep living ^o^

MRM3 responds:

Wow, this is literally the "dream comment".
THANK YOU!! The "cool" or "good job" comments are not helpful. But yours sure was :O
LMMS does not have a sidechain function, and to be honest, I'd heard about sidechaining, but didn't know what it was till you just explained it. That is probably the thing I've been missing... well, one of the many many things...
I've done a little bit of layering but, am just getting into that, and have barely gotten past the tip of the iceberg. (Side note, I've been listening to Tear Down That Wall for hours on repeat.) :P
Thank you again and again.... and again, for actually taking the time and writing such a nice comment!!!
I can not tell how much it means. :O
Just thanks! :)
Seem like you're being mean? That is the best comment I've ever gotten on anything in my whole life. Honestly.
So, thank you again!

[Paralysis]

Legit. I love shorties. I used to try and make 4-10 minute bangers but I've learned to just be happy with little things more and more. Brevity can have just as much value and potency.

Everratic responds:

Thanks for the review!

[Sunlight]

Holy shit, this has some old school newgrounds drum and bass vibes. Sounds like something Rawrthaas would have put out back in the day minus one really hard amen break sample. Add a cliche amen break and you have jungle GOLD.

Not that I could convince you to open up an old song file. I have a hard time digging through old tracks, myself or others. Could you give me a couple tracks that your proud of for me to listen to?

Shout out January 2009, go listen to Rawrthaas right now and drop harder breaks :D

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/206536

ADR3-N responds:

Oh God all of my old material is literally the worst. I think the only thing that did well was Acceptance, Attrition, and Skyfall. And I had no idea what I was doing. Hardest break, probably Overdosed. Some of the better writing I've done, Flight or Clear Skies -- they're basically the same song commissioned by two different people. I've been thinking of revisiting that one with metal in mind what with some decent lead writing going on... Claustrophobia is an avante-garde piece... Non-ethanol and Byzantium are pretty much companion pieces, trap. Wave After Wave is a video-gamey techno piece with some swang. Song of the Dragonborn is the Skyrim theme as elevator music. Everything 2017 to present I'm fairly okay with except for I Need a Hero, which I need to go and redo with the leads sitting lower in the mix.

Basically every piece over a year ago is going to have serious mix issues excepting some of my trap. I don't know how to stress how much I had no idea about that stuff LOL. I could probably open those project files but the problem remains that I no longer have any of the instruments I made them with bahahaha

Thanks for the recommendation! Send me a PM with some of your old stuff in return, eh?

[JUSTIFY THE HEAT]

lol, up that BPM a little, change up the hi hats and you have a super aggressive drum and bass. You have serious strength with your synths. What tools are you using to make those growls and basses?

There's so much going on in the background here. Sweet pads and samples ^o^

ActualElf responds:

Thank you Quarl

I hadn't had the thought about an up-tempo version but I hear it now in my head, I've been listening to so much really modern dubstep lately that the inspiration kinda flushed into this track and took it in that direction.

Most of my sound design is done in Serum, the LFO shaping and workflow really works for me. I feel at home using it and like I can make deliberate decisions as opposed to stumbling around in synths where I don't know what I'm doing lmao. I tend to find it harder when I can't visually see how I'm modulating a sound.

Post processing wise there tends to be multi-bands (OTT), saturators, various free VSTs and I've been working on a "Big Phatty" effect rack that is going pretty well but I have yet to use in a song.

The basses in the section from 3:14 were written really weirdly, making each bass and recording them to the same audio track, I'm mid transition from my old laptop to my new PC so those CPU limitations still had a hold of me for this song.

Thanks for checking in, always happy to hear from you <3