Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Axeph-Null - Euler Characteristic Zero]

I'm not familiar with SunVox, it looks like a fun & flexible little program! If you're feeling some constructive crits I will say that there is a lot of ambient noise that gets in the way of things. It's all that reverb/envelope release time muddying things up. I have a tendency to tell people "less reverb" now and then just because it often over powers everything else around it.

Not sure if you can layer sounds but that snare could use another sample or two to help buff it up. It sounds like paper :p

You could layer the bass drum too. Hell, layer everything. I usually have at lest three different snare drums, bass drums and hihats that fill out slightly different areas of the sound spectrum. Bass and snare drums I mix towards the middle of the field while hats and aux drums get panned willy-nilly.

I'm reading a forum on warmplace.ru that explains side chaining in SunVox. You'll want to sidechain instruments such as bass and pads with your kicks and/or snares to make for cleaner mix downs. If you're not familiar with sidechaining, a little reading. It's one of those techniques that will really give you maximum control of your audio.

Hope this helped love, I really liked the track!

acheney responds:

Thank you for your review! I didn't sidechain the pads as much as I should have because I didn't want an excessively driving feeling for the song. Layering the drums is something that I can do, and the snare does sound a little thin. I'll have to rework it a little for the EP that this will be a track in.

[°°Dragon's Den: Panic Mode°°]

Pretty damn good chip for a 6 hour throw together. Only complaint is how those arp triplets at the intro kind of sound weird when they loop. Not sure what I'd do differently because I don't make chiptune but the point might just be because my brain is expecting a new chord progression or a different drum rhythm and instead I just get a loop. Meh.

This sentence was only added so that my review looks longer than your author's comments.

Whirlguy responds:

Why thank you! I see what you mean with the ending looping back to the beginning. I find this to be less jarring in the original "Normal Mode" of the song, which is a lot slower. The reason I use arpeggios so much is because PSG chips were monophonic and I like to work with chords. The problem with arps is there is nothing subtle about them. I also blame the current NG player for being terrible at looping ):< Or maybe it has something to do with the song jumping between 4/4 and 3/4?

This sentence was only added so that my response looks longer than your lovely review.

[AIM - Losing Control]

I came back to this song a few times while judging. It had some decent elements that made this track mid-tier for me. The thing that really hurt was the mixing quality and lo-fi sounds. It gave off an old school RPG element which actually paired nicely with Toradh's art. The fire crackling was a nice touch too. Always smart to toss in some musical element that calls out to whatever inspires it.

In regards to the melodies and structures everything sounded great. I loved the chord progressions and pacing. It's actually a really good composition. It just suffers from those digital sounds. The percussion was simply done but exciting. I can hear that tiny snare drum working hard back there. Worlds smallest drum kit :)

If you want to wow the judges for these kinds of comps avoid those lo-fi sound banks. Not everyone will buy EastWest virtual instruments but there are plenty of cheap alternatives that won't sound like Finale Notepad. I've been composing with Reason for over a decade now. I paid for my program a long time ago. Reason will always allow you to redownload your purchases years later when you log in to their website and they let you upgrade for free if you pay attention to the version updates. I'm not sure what program you are using but it might be worth asking others what they use to get their sounds with. See if you can't find something cheap or free that others recommend and comes with better virtual instruments right out of the gate. Make sure it comes with mixing & mastering tools.

I just want to drive the point home that your biggest focus should be to beef up your instruments. You can probably export the midi notes from this track and slam them into some better instruments later. You'll thank yourself so much if you can manage some kind of upgrade. Since your profile says 17 years old, I have no idea if you have a job or means to pay for software but it can be well worth it. Do your homework and pick up some equipment that works for you.

There are means to pirate software BUT NO ONE ON NEWGROUNDS IS ALLOWED TO ADVOCATE THAT, HOW DARE YOU EVEN ASK. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. I DIDNT PIRATE REASON 4 AND FRUITY LOOPS IN COLLEGE AND SO WHAT IF I DID. I LATER BOUGHT REASON VERSIONS 6 AND 10 LIKE A GOOD CONSUMER WHORE, STOP JUDGING ME. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE JUDGING YOU. THIS IS ME JUDGING YOU >:C

Have a nice day Sleven. I hope this review inspires you to build wonderful musics :D

SI-7 responds:

Thanks for the feedback.
The DAW I'm using is LMMS, and most of my instruments were synthesized using the plugins built into it. I am currently looking around for better instruments that don't crash LMMS, but it's starting to look like I'll have to swap to a different DAW because LMMS conflicts with a lot of different plugins and instruments.
I do think that a decent part of the mixing/mastering being bad was my fault though. I'm still learning how to use some of the tools for it. I still don't quite understand how much of compression works, though I've learned the basic idea of it.
The only paid-for thing in the entire song is Valhala Room reverb, which was a prize from Zelazon's contest a few months back. I don't currently have a job or a means of paying for software. I have done some research, but it's still very hit or miss, since sometimes I can't find any info on whether instruments are compatible with LMMS.

[AIM - Level One Start ~ Alien Landscape]

My love, I had you in my top 20. This was a track that fought valiantly for a higher spot on my list. I recall one of the other judges putting your name forward when we needed two more tracks to round out the final list. Try not to take that personally, we listened, we liked.

I told a few other contestants to write more about the creative process. Your description helps judges find their way through your creative process. If there were any unique challenges or elements you were really proud of, talk about it. Troisnyx wrote 11 flipping pages about her methods and thought process. It was a little excessive but I could totally relate to her passion.

I noticed that your from Brazil, so maybe English isn't your first language, Portuguese? Write in your native language, do a blurb in English for everyone else. We love getting diverse artists on newgrounds. Different cultures have unique perspectives. MUSIC JUDGES LOVE DIVERSITY. Stick some Brazil up in us.

This track had an indie video game vibe. I could easily hear this in a cheap steam video game like Starbound. It's cute little style was a positive but I think where it failed a little was in how short it was. Not everything needs to be long but making a loop for a contest might affect your total score with some of the judges. It doesn't loop proper on my end. I can hear how it's supposed to but I think there's a problem on export or with newgrounds player. Some of my "loops" don't loop proper. Sad face.

JessieYun hit on some points that I think were veering towards dynamics. Live instruments and orchestrations will have dynamic crescendos and decrescendos. I didn't even bother to consider that when I listened because it never felt like you were going for a huge cinematic orchestra. This is a song that feels like it belongs in a video game and I felt it did a good job of giving "Alien Landscape Commision" the atmosphere it needed. Sadly, I know what other judges want and they want orchestrations, expensive sounding sound libraries, and evolving instruments.

On that note, you didn't give the judges what they wanted. I don't like to participate in competitions here because of this. You can't hand the judges your best work and expect them to review with an open mind to things like genre. It's a small bit of luck if you happen to get judges that genuinely love your work. I went to art school, so I can love sandpaper on violin strings. If I went to school for music, maybe I'd have been more critical of your song.

I wasn't critical by the way Teb Cat. I loved this. I just happened to love a bunch of other songs a little bit more :'C

KEEP MAKING MUSICS, PUSH YOURSELF TO THE LIMIT!! FIND YOURSELF AND LOVE LIFE!!! LOVE LIFE TEBRY, LOVE IT >:D >:D

TebyTheCat responds:

Thanks so much for the sweet message!

Not sure why I left my description so short, I'll keep that in mind when I write about my work in the future. Yes, portuguese is my first language, but I do feel confortable using english (... with the help of google translate to check from time to time)
I also will keep in mind the loop thing, even if I like to compose loops I also know how to end them

Overall thank you for the kind words! I just felt a little sad in the beggining when I saw the results, but it is totally understandable! I loved lots of entries as well, many are in my favorites :)

[AIM - The Mountain]

Hello SirQuebi, thanks for reaching out for a review. Congratulations on your third place by the way. Truth be told, I didn't have you as high up on my list as the other judges. There were a few cinematic and orchestral tracks submitted to the contest that I felt did a much better job at stoking my excitement. JordanKyser's "A Dreadful Space Journey" comes to mind. I had placed Seprix and Lucid Shadow Dreamers tracks higher on my list as well. At that point I might have told myself "the orchestral tracks are covered, time to vote on some underdogs." In a competition like this, standing out is important. For myself, there were a lot of tracks that sounded like this but did a better job with things like dynamics, mix, and pacing.

Your track stood out for certain, it 100% qualified to do justice to the art it was paired with. The wind samples gave this a very cold feeling. The instruments fit the mood and setting well. Those strings gave this an Eastern vibe. If I were to nit pick the instruments at all I'd start with the percussion. You could have brought the bass drums forward a bit to add some depth to the mix. If you could automate the levels on the bass drums so that they hit harder then dissipate faster, they'd have punched a little more. An EQ could have let you add emphasis to that bass, a compressor would have let you bring those tones forward a little without overpowering the mix, and some side chaining would have allowed you to drop the levels of the string instruments slightly on every bass drum hit. EDM jargon, sorry :C

The percussion problem is illustrated in how static the note velocities are. Orchestral percussionists have one note they can make. They can very things up dramatically with crescendo or decrescendo. I'd have gone more over the top with those values to create some very dynamic percussion. Some cymbal swells might have helped add tones to the mix as well.

The rhythms are all great. I'm not picking on you for your rhythm, just the tonality and dynamics. Electronic artists tend to max out tonal diversity using only a handful of instruments and a ton of EQing. Perhaps larger crescendoing would have helped this stand out for me. It's the mix down and dynamics that I think I'm paying the most critical attention to.

Oh hi, a cymbal at 2:56. I've listened to this track like 20 times now and I only just noticed that poor percussionist with her hammer over there doing nothing the entire time. I assume she could have also been playing something else but she really wanted to hit that cymbal more. It had a tonal quality missing from the majority of the track.

Your melodic choices are great. You write good melodies SQ.

My love, write MORE about your work. Especially in a contest like this, allow yourself to gush. You wrote three sentences. While I don't assume you already wrote a song before the contest and found a work of art to juxtapose it with, the more you say about what you put into the track the more of an influence you can have on the judges and their opinion. It can feel diheartening when it feels like no one is listening. Sometimes I write one emo sentence and upload my work, then I cry myself to sleep. Don't be like me. Show your passion for what you do. We artists have so much passion but we can't allow our work to speak for itself. Your competing with others who feel the same way you do. Stand out a little bit more by describing all the instrument choices, the pace of the track, the time you spent doing something. If you were particularly proud of something, let us know about it. Sometimes I'll say something along the lines of "I'm really proud of my ride cymbal rhythms in this," and the judges will be like "yes, that was the only thing I liked about your song also." Gush my love. Gush about your work because it is special...

Holy shit I'm late for work. This is why I don't automatically write reviews for everyone. I spent an hour here. If I didn't say it yet, I LOVED your work. It did stand out but it stood out in a competition full of artists that also stood out. Judging this competition was hard. I wish I had placed you a little higher up my list... (14th, sue me)... but I'm glad the other judges felt that you deserved the recognition here. The judging process can be so painful. Congratulations SQ... I'm late for work Sir, okay? Bye <3

EDIT: Now that I'm at work and safely off the highway I wanted to go back and edit a couple of sentences. Also to clarify, though you were placed 14th on my list, that was a hard decision to make. These comps aren't going to make anyone famous or get us paid. They are for fun and self improvement. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings SQ. I hope to see some more awesome work from you in the future :)

Quebi responds:

Thank you for your review. I'll definitely make it a point to write more about the pieces that I upload. Secondly, I do really need to focus on my percussion. It is a point that is consistently brought to my attention. Hearing your input helps direct me towards improving my percussion in the future.

[AIM - sursum=corda.EXFLOW_cls.PANDAEMONIUM::STORMFALL/.]

This was one of my favorite AIM tracks to judge. Doing some vocal work of my own these last five years has taught me to respect artists that use their voices as instruments. In many ways a vocalist is trapped in their own tones but the more you sing the more you expand your range and technique. You can accomplish so much with just your voice if you follow that creative vein. I'm also aware that you are an avid percussionist, you really put your soul into your work dearest.

I didn't take the time to read that essay you wrote about the track but I already knew that you put a serious passion into your compositions. You don't typically do something unintentionally which is a huge boon in a contest like this. It helps for a judge if you gush about your work and describe how it relates to everything. In fits of depression, sometimes I only write one sentence about a song and throw it up knowing no one will listen to it. This contest is not the place for a brief intro. In a contest like this, intention is everything. The judges have no way of telling if an artist just pulled a track out of their ass and picked a random work of art to display with it, or if they genunienly loved a work of art and tried to compose something original to it. The more information they can give about their work and why it relates to the art the more they help themselves here. You ummm... you wrote too much. I really hope someone read all of that information but again, it didn't hurt you at all. LET THE WORDS FLOW, ART IS FEELINGS, YES!! FEEL THE MUSIC <3 <3 <3

Let's talk about Chromatic Storm by Wuggynaut and why this track did glorious justice to that illustration. The drawing itself has an other worldly vibe. The choices of color were phenomenally potent. Is a world ending, or a new world being created? WHO KNOWS! Those colors were wonderfully represented in your arps. Something about those scales gave the song an etheral color to itself. There was a Final Fantasy X vibe I got from that, specifically Besaid village. Soft, pretty arps. I also loved the way you incorporated a second language into the track because it helped create a tone and a setting. It took me somewhere entirely unfamiliar. Language can create so many new emotions. Smartly done Tron.

The only thing I didn't entirely enjoy was the high pitched alien voices. Creating a quartet can be hard if you don't have a low register though. I use a loop station to create four tone melodies. I'm lucky I have a range that includes a baritone and can top with a falsetto, not everyone has range. It might have been worth trying to reach out to find a guy to hit a low register for that one part. Good luck finding men that will sing for you though, especially with language barriers. 4:30 had a lower tone I really liked... after going back I realized it might have been in that earlier part too...

BRING IT FORWARD. People love husky voices and that low pitch voice would have beefed that section up more than the high pitch voice. Bass is super important to a mix. People tend not to realize how many tones they can fit around a dominate bass line but the bass can really fill up a space and not take up too much priority in a mix.

I remember telling you once to lower the reverb on your voice so we can hear your sass vocals. This time around the reverb was perfect. Hell yeah.

Choice samples, thunder and rain. Was that a wet synth at the beginning? I always loved making water droplets with my synths. I think you get a slightly better tone with a sine wave synth. Use a quick chromatic octave jumping pitch bend, a short AF envelope, and some reverb for the perfect water droplets. Just saying, a good synth water droplet is something that can be perfected :)

If it was just a sample, boo.

Congratulations with your win Tron, all the judges placed you highly. You deserve this win. Keep doing things we love :D

Troisnyx responds:

Gosh, thanks for the thorough review and commentary! 💖

To answer some things you mentioned or asked—

1) I'm glad you heard the passion in the drums; it's been quite the vulnerability to me. Thank you.

2) When you get chance, simply for background purposes (and possibly future doujin related story purposes), please do read the essay — gosh, I can't believe I'm calling it such. There's so much in it that I would love to explain that might not just give context to this song, but also to a lot of Cosmocrystal related stuff.

3) I love the OST to Final Fantasy X. It's one of the first I've heard in detail. Perhaps the world / synth combination does bring FFX to mind, though it's certainly not what I had on the brain. 😅 The closest, in my mind, that this'd resemble, is that song that plays when you escape Macalania Temple and when you explore the first regions inside Sin.

4) I admit to the higher pitched throaty voices being less refined than they ought to be. That, I think, is down to poor breath control, something I feel I need work with. Those basses, I'm surprised I even reached them — I briefly reach G#2 in the lower parts of the choruses, "O let the rain etc." and that's my lowest note yet. I can't sustain it, I am ordinarily a mezzo soprano. Still, I'd be happy to train it more.

5) Water droplets in the beginning were a wet synth (specifically, the Droplets patch in Sytrus, so it is modifiable). I'll give your tips a spin though, for outside of vocals and instrument playing, I've never designed sounds before. I'd love to give it a shot!

I'd briefly heard from Jessie how highly you all placed me, and I was honestly surprised. Thanks so much once again.
Was granme ra chs hymmnos sos omnis yora! 💖

[Psychic]

Super original and unique! Cute samples, good breaks :)

KawaiSprite responds:

thank u mucho

[DV - Compression Calamity]

Gave this a quick listen at work on my phone. Glad I put off the full listen till I got home. Great stuff :)

When it comes to that "bricked" spectrogram there's good bricks and bad bricks. The sub bass seems to fill out those monochrome graphs so it's hard to tell visually what the fork is going on. Once you start sidechaining your sub bass out of the way it's like "lol, I have textures again."

la-yinn responds:

Don't tell anybody, but it's been over half a decade since I've sidechained anything so I've actually forgotten how to do it...

I should probably get on that, now that I think about it lmao. But I bought / rented Serum through Splice yesterday evening and now I'm literally hooked to music production again. Don't understand the synth at all yet, but my god.. Such powwa. Seriously, I replaced my weed addiction with a production addiction and I'm loving every second of it. Who knows, give it a year or so and I might start to produce some legit quality shit. Like I tossed my dreams into a trashcan years ago cause it wasn't working out and now those dreams are back and they're like all buff and shit and they wanna kick my ass in that dark alley over there.. ~ _~

[d1]

I just mentioned side chaining in my review on "test." This track is dope and almost perfect. It would really shine if you used the kick and snare drums to side chain the bass and pads out of the way. EDM genres revolve around the drums. If you can make the mix revolve around your drums, you'll note a huge groove improvement. Right now, your basses are over powering a little :)

I'd also layer another kick drum on top of the other to give it some flesh. It's so phat, give it a complimentary mid kick or a shorter envelope? Up the pitch on that hi hat, IMO.

Really this is sick jass. I feel like I focus so hard on mix quality but my own melodies and rhythms are uninspired. You're writing some dope beats and some killer melodies. Killer.

Jassummisko responds:

Hi again!
Not gonna lie, my mixing in general is pretty shit so I really appreciate any comments you give.
Having the mix revolve around the drums sounds like a great mixing philosophy to go by.
Thanks for the feedback!

[test]

:D

Drum and bass can be a hard genre to mix for. It's a damn good kit but it's missing a few tones. Layer some more? The sub sonic bass frequencies are drowning the drums a little. I'm not sure how hard you're sidechaining that bass but I'd max it so that the kit pops through the bass. Then I'd probably add some distortion on that low/mid frequency synth you have and try to EQ some more tones out of it. It's a mad low energy bass but even low energy bass lines can shine and punch.

Forget everything I just said and look up "Diplodocus" by Noisia. Try and make this track sound like that track. Note how everything in that track pops. It's all about those finer frequencies my love, sick test <3

Edit: layer more and compress everything, then lower all the channels, control z a bunch of times, twist a bunch of knobs, then compress that, then layer a few more times, then compress it again. Was this helpful?

Jassummisko responds:

Hi Quarl!
I fucking love Diplodocus. Easily one of my top 10 Drum n Bass tracks of all time.
I'll look back into it and see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback!