00:00
00:00
Quarl

845 Audio Reviews w/ Response

All 1,301 Reviews

This took me back to High School. There was a time when newgrounds was so heavily inundated with oppressive amen break samples and filtered Reese saws. That might sound like an insult but that time period shaped so many of my tastes in the last couple of decades that it is essentially a part of me. I kind of miss that period of wonder and mystery.

Track could use a little more polish but I'm not gonna try not to hound you for it. Couldn't tell if there was any panning going on. Might of been able to slip in some auxiliary sounds left and right to add character. Maybe a simple high pitched synth with a soft release?

On that note, moar aux percussion! Gongs, chimes, vibroslaps, some wood blocks... on that note, I haven't used wood blocks in a while. I'm stealing this idea...

SchattenDnB responds:

haha, no offense taken! i might actually work on a second version of this track since i'm not proud of how it turned out. But thanks for the response, means a lot.

I never got around to dropping you a review. Those drums coming in were something special. Very creative, organic intro. Relaxing keyboard fiddling. Lol, that's a weird sub bass you have there. I like it <3

triplebarrel responds:

quarl 5'd one of my tracks my liFE IS COMPLETE-

In all seriousness, tysm!! I'm still speechless about the frontpage on this track, was never expecting to get one until this happened! Probably gonna continue experimenting with shit, I'm trying to get myself consistent in music production by teaming up with yelldow to release one track a day ^^

Loved those melodic explorations. Those instruments felt like they were searching each other out. Drum rhythms pounded. Those subtle ghost snares added a good bit to the over all groove. I think you could have gone a good bit harder on your aux percussion. You could have fit tambs, shakers, cowbells, more hi hats... and panned them all to find places for them.

On that note, panning sounds like what I'm missing the most. There's so much room left in the mix, every thing that falls mid to high frequency could have had it's own home.

I'm loving those bass rhythms and grooves. This track jams so hard. I only wish the mixing techniques were a bit more powerful. Good night love :D

Noisysundae responds:

"Ah thank you for another bunch of mixing tips, Quarl. Honestly, I was only trying to EQ the existing synths to occupy the highs. Completely forgot about the percussion. :P

About panning, I usually use slight randomization on note panning in FL, rather than just setting that of the synth. Perhaps I should drop this habit since most of my tracks are full of synths playing at once." — The Manager

EDIT: your mixing on logitech and gaming cans? Good shit Q. I used to mix on logitechs. They're great if they're all you got but terrible if you know you can have better. My heart bleeds for you :)

Sorry it took me a while to get around to this. You got on the front page though so it's obviously good :)

Pro mix down, big drums, catchy reese stabs, full sub bass... you're just showing off Qshush. Gotta point out, I think you could turn the treble on a few things down just a tad. I tend to overdo highs too so it's an introspective nit pick. My Senn HD 650s are at max volume so I'm really getting an earful of that sound. It's the only possible mix issue I'm noticing :)

I'm gonna nit pick the snare drags at 2:08 & 3:14. Those snare drags sounded really static or synthetic. I like to automate the volume of snare drags from low to loud to make them sound more alive. When played on a real drum kit, drags are a really subtle wrist movement so getting them right with a drum machine takes a little finesse. Those little fills might sound better without the drags. Maybe try using only one drag instead of three in a row? Maybe make the drags longer? Your choice QS. Hope that automated volume trick makes sense though.

The drum patterns in the second half of the track had me sold. The vocal samples were spectacular. Really creative ending. Thanks for hitting me up by the way, I hate missing out on great tracks like this <3

Qshunt responds:

Thanks heaps for the detailed breakdown!
I wondered about the highs a bit, too.
My audio interface failed a few weeks ago so this mixdown was done on logitech speakers and gaming headphones, also, I'm old and forget that my hearing isn't what it used to be haha!
I always have a habit of over emphasising the highs.
I might revisit the mix, tone it down a touch then replace the file.
Thanks again! <3

There are some tight harmonies in this. Vocal rhythms are well done. I'm not super into hip hop but this is some really classy stuff.

HAHAHA, is that a chop from mortal combat? One of those background synth lines sounded like the synth used in the movie. Is it an FL pad preset or something? I use Propellerhead's Reason so I can't identify common FL sounds. I didn't notice the pad until the beat dropped off around the coda.

00:13, subtle mario coin <3 <3 I have on of those in my sample folder too ;)

edit: I'm bumping this on repeat.

BlackLynk responds:

I appreciate your attention to detail in listening to audio! In this track there is all of one stock preset from FL Studio and those are the orchestra's hits that you can hear VEEEEERY subtly at like 0:27. The rest are samples from packs from a producer community I'm a part of; kick and clap being the only instruments I created from scratch, I appreciate the listen and keep the beep boop love alive haha

This is some super relaxing progressive liquid. Would you mind if I try recording a few jazzy piano solos for this????

KawaiSprite responds:

Go for it

I saw a tag for ADR, is she not getting credit for making that back track? I hope you talked to her at least, she really floored me with this when she put out the original. I wanted to do the same thing when I heard the instrumental version but then I remembered I can't rap.

Nice clean vocal recordings Cyber :)

Edit, just reach out to her and let her know you couldn't resist using the track. Your both contacts of mine and I'd rather see this marked as a collab :)

Edit2: sorry love, I didn't see the related audio tag on mobile. It looked like a "recommended audio" link so I glazed over it :p

Cyberdevil responds:

Yeah it seems she hasn't been online for a while now, was talking to her at the time I started writing this, sent message and project invite shortly after but no response since. The original idea was maybe she could mix my verse here, but really wanted to get this out at the time it was done so... hopefully this is good enough. :P Alas thus not entirely ADR3-N level production quality, but maybe there'll be time for something yet...

The instrumental track's linked to in the sidebar for starters at least. Official co-authorship hopefully popping up soon as she's online to accept it! If she approves...

And thanks. :) Glad the clarity's alright!

Edit2 response: linked/recommended audio do float together a bit! No worries. Do hope she's alright; back on the Grounds soon too...

Tight amen breaks. It's cool to see someone ripping it up in Reaper. Between that and LMMS, which is doing which? I'm not super familiar with either DAW :)

Rakshal responds:

Thanks! I use LMMS for arranging and mixing, then put the tracks over into Reaper for mastering since I'm not super familiar with how to arrange things like melodies and pads and such in Reaper.

LMMS is stupid easy to use and is the first DAW I used so I'm the most familiar with it. Though LMMS isn't great for arranging drums on a piano roll since there isn't a MIDI to piano roll sampler, so chopping even fairly standard breakbeat patterns can be really time consuming.

lol, I saw the country tag and had to check it out. Good stuff kids. Probably the best country I'll hear all year. Probably the only country I'll hear all year :o

LunacyEcho responds:

honored to be your country fix for the year!!

"i like the way this sounds...But you tell me what you think about it"

Well, we all have unfinished projects we liked but never posted for fear of not being liked. I have a fat folder of tracks I felt were "too experimental" or just shitty. The fact that you like it is the only important detail. I'm glad you still posted it.

For criticisms, there is so much reverb dulling the mix, I'd start by turning down the reverb on the claps. You can always automate spikes in the snare reverb if you like the sound but there needs to be a little bit of control on it if you want to clean up the drop.

No joke, with a cleaner heavier drum kit this track could bang just as hard as anything else. Can't tell if you layered your drums at all but I'd add some kicks and snares under what you got until I found the right complimentary kit parts. I usually use three to four different kicks and snares per song that work together to create the kits I like to hear. You can than use the different parts individually to create variety as the track progresses.

I don't know a whole lot about FL but in Reason I like to patch my drums so that they all get some EQ and compression. In dance genres, the drums are basically the most important element of the mix. So treat them like the heroes they are and polish them until they shine to the front of the mix.

Side chain the majority of your instruments with the both the kick and snare signals. It wouldn't noticeably effect the synths and it would let the drums pop.

Sorry for the book length review but I took your "tell me what you think" seriously. You got some good acid house here, just needs a cleaner drum kit. Much love Bary, keep it fresh :)

baryiscool responds:

I never noticed it had to much reverb..
maybe i never noticed it because i love reverb like that

And i have layered the snare and kick but only 2 times.. one low end and one high end
i could layer 4 but for me the drum kit sounded messy and to fat
but yes i could have done with more snares..

ill have to work on my drum kits
i always had a lot of work with those and i never get the hang of it
but i'm glad you liked it and told me how i could fix it

And the bigger the review.. the better

-bary

File existentialism: audiophiles export audio files.

Cory F. Jaeger @Quarl

Age 34, ♀ she/her

Retired

Alfred University

Groundhog Lake, Colorado

Joined on 5/30/05

Level:
31
Exp Points:
10,364 / 10,670
Exp Rank:
3,117
Vote Power:
7.25 votes
Audio Scouts
10+
Art Scouts
1
Rank:
Private
Global Rank:
3,576
Blams:
787
Saves:
1,723
B/P Bonus:
18%
Whistle:
Normal
Trophies:
11
Medals:
748
Supporter:
3y 1m 19d
Gear:
2