Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pastel Raindrops (demo)]

You mentioned that you used Logic, a program that I know little about. I use Reason, an equally pretentiously named program that's 100 times less learner friendly than the name would suggest. I'm going to program a DAW called "Common Sense" and the learning curve will be so steep kids will literally get hurt trying to climb over it.

"Picking out instruments." It's always good when a sound bank has what your looking for but I might suggest toying with initial patches or resting devices so that you can synthesize your own instruments for a second? Presets aren't dirty or anything but learning to make your own synths is like learning to make your own food. You will never go hungry ;)

Like I said, Logic is not my baby but this little tutorial video looked like a solid bread winner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktXARX-qDnI

If newgrounds adds a space in the html you'll have to delete it.

The arps in the second half of the song were pretty! What did you use to write them? Pure curiosity. Was it the preset instrument? Most DAWs have an arp effect or device of some kind that you can plug into most things. Usually. I'm not fact checking that but it's true. Arps are a totally legit way to compose. Just... don't let anyone know you do. Shhhh. Arps are the sexiest way to make chip tune synths from squarewave and sawtooth oscillators. Don't. Tell. Anyone.

Ahem. You have a knack for arranging musics together! Hope you hang out a while and keep composing :)

Lanmola responds:

Thanks for listening and reviewing! Actually, I tweak all the preset instruments either a little or a lot. I want to get my hands dirty building sounds from scratch more or less in the future. The arps are my favorite to mess with, getting the patterns just right for the song.

I generally start with a chord progression and build from there.
<(-.-<)

[Ruined]

I BELIEVE IN YOU FOD! NEVER GIVE UP MUSIC THIS SONG IS TITS AND I LOVE YOU!! SHOW ME YOUR TITS FOD!!! PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR TITS >:0

Father-of-Death responds:

( > Y > ) they are pointy cuz im excited

[The next VIP]

Psh, what a shitty review toast.

The drop was the best part. That nuero bass was so wet IF & D.matrix. Really crisp stuff. What are you guys using for this collab? I'd be curious to know how those basses were put out.

IonicForce responds:

Hey Quarl!

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed those basses!!

Our DAW of choice is FL 12 and the drop is composed with Sytrus, Serum, Massive, and FM8. That neuro bass was actually a vocodex bass and we used a bunch of slide notes. The Neuro FM was made of an FM8 Modulating a neuro carrier from Sytrus. Serum was used three times in this part of the drop. Two of the serums were growls and the last one was used for pitch bending. Massive was used for its performer functions, also a flanger and vocodex was used to create that "liquidy" sound.

I hope that helped a bit!

[Better Days [Glitch/Electro Swing]]

Nice vibes. Raunchy. IMO snare could have used a high frequency layer like an 808 snare or a clap. That snare had some nice bass to it but I like getting punched in the face by a snare. I'm a masochist. A ride cymbal or some tambs could have made that beat a little more layered.

Cool of you to note the sorrowful memory samples. I'm not that cool. I usually just shrug now a days because literally everyone that makes EDM samples in some odd way. Right down to the synths people use, there's almost always some kind of sample library behind the instruments. Like I said, that was really nice of you. I looked up 이문세 - 애수 just to see, I'm guessing it was the horns? I still have these Sorohan Mihai samples on my computer from the Hey Babulia remix contest ages ago. This track is giving me some inspirations!

Cool track Devil, 10/10 :)

TheMusicalGhost responds:

Thank you so much, and also for the very detailed review; I know what to do next time. I'm glad that I gave you some inspiration ^^

[Day of Yearning]

I hate it when data gets lost. Great track to revive! Loops perfectly. Most artists now a days get that digital arp sound with aid from a machine so kudos to writing it out! This track reminds me of something you'd hear out of a Final Fantasy sound track :)

Troisnyx responds:

Funny you mention Final Fantasy, because Final Fantasy X (the original OST, not the HD remaster) actually influenced a lot of my soundtrack-writing, along with Kingdom Hearts and a few other things. FFX in particular had this part orchestral, part synth, all MIDI sort of sound that felt like it belonged either in late 1990s enka music, or on the PlayStation 1.

Really glad you like it ^_^ That arp was fairly easy to write. Kinda doesn't help that when you're classically trained in piano, one of the things you're drilled into doing over and over AND OVER AGAIN are... well, basically, arps. What used to be the bane of my existence seems to fit perfectly here.

[TidalWav]

Seven minutes? Congratulations Karm and Cannon. It always feels good when you can juggle ideas that long. This didn't get repetitive at all. I think I wrote a ten minute song once and the second half of it was just the first helf of the song in reverse with heavy amounts of reverb. Was total shit.

1:17 hit me in the proper feels. That portamento was sex <3

You guys should try doing some more collabs. This was a great result. Maybe next time round out that roundness with more emphasis on sharpness? As in, it's ok to mix mids and highs into the track. You might be able to get more clarity in this with more panning? That sex synth might do more further to the left. Panning will create the illusion that a sound is louder than it really is so you can then turn the level of it down a tad and save room in your mix.

Seriously loved this. This reminds me of my collabs with Stan SB years ago. It's always refreshing to work with new people. Ideas flow more and we grow faster :)

Karmakosm responds:

Youre an inspiration to musicians and artists all over newgrounds. You make good music, youre funny and just plain awesome. Thank you for a wonderful review, Quarl. Life and music wouldnt be the same had I not met you on here! :)

[Dreaming Planet]

You're so modest when you self deprecate. "Oh, dear my gentleness. Here's something that I hope sounds okay." I get super into the self deprecation like "FUCK ME IM A HYPOCRITE."

Ahem. Lovely tune. The piano that punches me about a minute in is so effing nice. I might have tried dragging it in with a big crescendo and an obnoxious amount of rubato but I'm a whore like that. Your version resolves perfectly. I just rewinded 50 times to receive maximum satisfaction from it before even finishing the song. I came out swinging like "FUCK ME WHERE IS THE RUBATO AT MOTHER FUCKER??" before even listening to the whole track. The piano was perfect the way it was.

Holy shit why did your song make me hyper? I'm going to burn it to a disc and listen to it all the way to Philly tomorrow. Four hours. It's that good.

S3C responds:

:D

Domo Arigato, Mr. Rubato. Well I'm really glad you like this track! Have fun in Philly- going to Pico Day?? Thanks for the nice review!

[Vintage Superman Theme Cover]

This brings back some oooooooold memories. I used to watch a few old episodes on VHS growing up. I was a damn little nugget last time I heard this melody :')

sorohanro responds:

Glad to hear you like it. There is a pack with the separate stems if you fancy a remix ;)
Thanks for the review.

[8bit Underground]

This is really damn cool. I feel like if I plug in my headphones I'll hear some clipping back there somewhere but I don't always master my own stuff either. Just plugged in the cans. There are a few finer textures I could nitpick but honestly, throwing a pad onto this track might mask some of those frequencies a little.

omg, redo this song with a new drum kit and just one airy pad. This could be a really sick track with the right drum kit and background sounds. It's already really cool. Fuck, I've been listening to this track so hard I didn't even read the part where you said this is already a redo.

Hate me, redo the redo. I'd layer in a fat, over compressed dubstep kit of some kind then side chain the kit's signal to everything. Where could you go wrong?

Karmakosm responds:

This was the song that made me quit music for 2 months.... The other version from before was cleaner in my opinion. Im not as good at that kind of stuff as you, Quarl. still needs more reverse cowgirl!

[Come&Go (Originally rewired)]

Oh yeah, I enjoyed that. It sounded like you were using garageband. Were those synths and percusion sounds from old faithful? No shame, I started out in garage band almost a decade ago and some of my all time favorite tunes came out during that period. Not a lot mind you, but one or two.

Despite the simplicity of the track the sounds all melt together to make a really intelligent whole. Listening to the arrangement is thought provoking. I feel like you gave every hit an ounce of genuine thought. Again, I need to acknowledge the fact that I have no idea what your creative process entailed but the output of that process delivered a really organic sound juxtaposed with a mechanical driving force. Great work Sunny!

Sunny0911 responds:

Thanks, its just the standard ableton sounds with some fine tuning. i Used push for the creative process with drums, and piano and continued at the Workstation clicking the synth from the beginning (its like a very high bass) and the baseline. For the dynamic effects i used compressor and side chain on the bass and added an extra drum line to make the bass sound more pumping. For Synth and piano i also used "layered instruments" function of ableton with 2 or 3 Instruments in one group. Thanks for your words (my english is a little rusty^^) !