Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Qelaion - Farsaet]

Damn sex. Loving the super chill vibes. I wish I had a better sound set up at the moment to really enjoy this. I was reading a comment below about the hats. I get what your going for and you nailed it.... but I agree with the reviewer. This track could have some really jazzy hi hat doublets and triplets in there to give it some more dynamic spice. You could then pitch bend said notes and get some idm going on in this dub step. IDM step :p

Just a creative opinion though. Again, you nailed what you were going for. Gratz!

Qelaion responds:

I agree, I kinda rushed the production of the percussion, hence why it's so repetitive and annoying, I was too busy trying to get everything else to work that I completely forgot about making the percs on par with the rest of the song :P

IDMStep sounds like a good idea, I should try something like that in a new song C:

Thanks for the review!

[Attack Of the Brains Full]

This is freaking awesome man! Im in love with your bass. You have some really juicy sounds in there. Your synths are so much fucking awesome. Marrrrr. If I were to be critical I would have to point out something that I do a lot too. I have a tendency to draw things out for too long/ copy paste a lot. Things get kind of redundant. I saw in a Noisia interview that they like to change things up every 16 bars to keep things interesting. You changed things up eventually but I kind of felt like this song could have been half as long and benefitted.

That snare sounded really thin to me. I'd beef it up with another layer. EQ them a bit? Possibly a little distortion on a snare layer for character. The way it is now it sounds kind of thing. Everything else is mixed perfectly.

I don't hear any background intangibles. Those are sounds and samples that help add atmosphere and character to a track. If you drop some vocal samples in there from say a movie, show, or song other people will have something to really remember your song with. They'll say "hey, I'm gonna listen to that song with that thing from Lord of The Rings." Or something. Not sure if this is your cup of tea but search Moonway Renegade by Noisia. That track has so many background intangibles in it that it makes my head want to explode.

Well, that's all I can say about this. Good stuff man. Peace and whut not :D

[Untitled Liquid WIP]

haha, sounding sexy man. I'm gonna guess it's a WIP/ possibly never going to be done kind of song. I have so many WIPs that just sit around. I'm gussing it's a work in progress due to the length but I'm really digging the vibes.

I'd probably have some different drum textures. I don't want to drive you crazy or anything, they sound pretty good as is but something about the punch of that bass kick was a little too strong. Maybe work on it to make it a slightly rounder/ bassier sound instead of punching so hard. If this was a dark step track the bass kick would be perfect though.

The snare sounded kind of weak to me. It probably only needs one extra layer in it to really make it fit in. It might have to do with the contrast between that huge punchy bass drum and that thin snare. Dunno, just throwing that idea out there.

I'm loving those melodies with the piano pad but I'm thinking it's long cut off/ delay is muddying things up a little. If it's the same piano that comes in at 46 though it would be a shame to lose the textures it creates by messing with that delay... I might try a "Save As" so you can play with that pad without losing what you got. Maybe duplicate the instrument and keep that melody on one track but change the delay on the initial piano melody. Dunno. That might ruin what you have going on but it's worth a shot if you ask me :p

That bass is sex. Loving it. I might actually raise it a tad/ try fattening it up and widening it. EQ the bass up, make it rounder too :D

Sounding so good man. I love hearing what your up to man. I fall out of the loop a lot so keep me posted!

Jassummisko responds:

Hmmm, dunno, I kinda liked the contrast between the kick and the snare. But I'll play around with it.
Cheers

[Rig - Old Machines]

Damn, you have quite the flavor rig. The tracks perfect but if I had to request anything it would be some more style change ups. You do a really good job to keep things constantly interesting but maybe it would have been nice to get a tiny melody in all that chromatic hell raising. This whole track is perfectly dark. Maybe an ounce of hope, a light delicate pad breathing for a half second somewhere to add sensitivity... dunno man. This track is so filthy and claustrophobic. Love it <3 <3

Rig responds:

I had originally planned to have an "Alliance" part that would feature the more uplifting songs and sounds from the game, but I was having too much fun with the Reaper stuff to get around to it. I think I'll make another song in that regard ;P

Glad you like it!

[Dubstep WIP]

Sounds like you have a great start to an awesome track. It sounds like the things that are giving you the most trouble is the mixing and general tweaking of things to get the sounds you want. While things are sounding pretty decent as of now they also sound kind of messy. The thing that's getting to me the most is that snare because I have to constantly hear it. I think it would benefit from a faster cut off. Letting it take up so much extra space is gonna muddy things up in there. Let the pads create the atmosphere not the snare. That isn't to say that you can't have an interesting sounding snare... you just have to watch that space and mix things with a more critical ear. That bass drum sounded like it could use a more solid layer. It sounds really hollow.

I'd have turned down that lead just a tad and hit it up with a filter to clean up those highs.

That string pad was perfect. Loved it sitting ethereally back there :]

After giving the track a few listens to I really think my only gripe is with the drums. Resample, layer, compress, distort, EQ, side chain... actually, it didn't sound like you were side chaining at all. you can side chain an instrument to the drums so that every time the kick or snare (or both) goes off it momentarily de-amplifies the instrument it's attached to (such as a lead or a bass.) This really helps clean up mixes and gives more punch to those drums which is a huge characteristic of those harder dance genres.

Peace and love. Good luck with finding a sound in dubstep <3 <3

zenodio responds:

Thank you very much for the review, I'm working on it now :)

[Apocalypse WIP]

asdasasdasd

Holy shit man, you're really finding a unique sound. Those synths after the drop were incredibly tight. I can't wait to hear what this Hellraiser EP sounds like. That intro had me turned off just a little but it really worked into a slick Dub. I think what had me feeling negative vibes towards the beginning were some of the drum sounds. The rhythms were cool, but the drums had a high frequency click to them that made the rhythm feel a little off? Also, there was too much reverb on the kick at 0:53 for me to handle. They're negligible gripes though. Really this track surprised me. It seems like just yesterday I was moderating tunes and came across your first tune. You've made so much headway. I'm jealous :p

Jassummisko responds:

Hmm, well the kick is kinda clicky, I could change that!

[Great Summer Time]

sdfsdfksfk :D :D :D

Damn, thats a big kit your playing with. I would have gone with a bit more id init cause it's mostly hi and low but it still has a really awesome punch to it :)

I loved that lead a shiz ton. This was a really fun song to listen to. Also, nice name :p

Jassummisko responds:

Thx mate!

[Quarl - IGBM (Jassummisko RMX)]

that melody sounds familiar :p

lol, dark step. this has an old school dnb sound to it. massive reese bass. aside from the piano I can't exactly pick out the original track vibe much but I actually like that you took the song in such a different direction. <3 <3

Jassummisko responds:

Well, there is nothing from the originial except the piano. When I was listening to the original I was going "hmmm, this may sound good as a really dark and disguisting song" and BOOM, therez da finished result!

[Amnesia Drumstep VIP]

slslslslslslsslslslsls

damn man, I feel like a dick. You review all my music and I rarely comment on your stuff. This is a retribution review for great justice.

Awesome track man. That bass was incredibly full. The drum kit, also fucking awesome. Really, the only problem I've got is that your using too much compression. Over compressing the track squashes the fidelity and creates massive distortion for the worst. Go back into this and ease up on your levels a little.

One more little thinga-ma-jig... background intangibles. Background intangibles are just sound effects and noises that don't really contribute to the melody or the rhythm but add atmosphere. Maybe some vocal slices, some fun synth stabs... dunno. Play wit it gurl. Really though, aside from those tiny tid-bits this track is almost pro :)

Jassummisko responds:

Well thx. And you cant be a dick...ur not male :P But being a bitch is possible though!

[<MWA> Skittles on Crack]

durms

you think this comes close to skrillix? From a rhythmic/ melodic and structural outlook yeah. This is a really sexy song. The one thing you're missing out on is mixing/mastering. You've made some really sexy classical stuff in the past so I'm guessing this just isn't your genre so congratulations on branching out :)

If you want those next level beats you need to learn a few tricks for drum programming. First of all, where are your drums? In dance genres the drum kit is the most important part of the mix. It sounds like you might be playing a bit with layering but in case your not I usually have up to five differnt snares playing simultaneously to make a new sound. Slap a compressor on your drums to help get more power out of them. If you have the ability to merge all the snares into their own channel do that before EQing it all to get a super sexy snare. You can follow that trick on the kick too. Layer your bass kick, compress, EQ and experiment.

Since the drums are so important I usually make a drum kit BEFORE I go and make and entire song around them. Nothing sucks more than to make an awesome melody, pad, or lead only to turn around and not make a fat enough drum kit.

Either your sidechaining or some of your instruments have slow attacks. Both ways are good strategies :)

Some of your synths and pads sound a little lo-fi. I would have hidden them by turning some of the levels down on them and letting the drum kit rip... but seeing as how the kit was as it was I wouldn't have been able to hide them.

I guess to recap my review: DRUMS. Everything else is sexy as pie :)

mjattie responds:

Hey Quarl,

I think this comes kinda close to skrillex apart from mastering yes ^^

I've been making a lot of electronic music though, but nothing more "agressive" than light-minded trance (like "in search of sunrise" and so) , which means that the bass does not have to be in your face and all.

I totally agree with you about the drums. It has been quite a hell for me making the drums and still the outcome isn't great, I've used about 4 kicks in this song tried a lot of EQ and effects and I believe tried to layer the snares too but I failed, and tbh I failed with the kick too. I started with the drums before doing anything else ;)

Every instrument has a side chain with very fast attack. It would probably be better if I turned up the attack on some instruments. Every instrument has a limiter too to pump it up to 0db...

All the synths are made from scratch so I guess you can say that I didn't make them the best possible, because that would've cost me even more time, especially since I don't do this style often.

thanks a lot for the review and tips! I'm currently doing something a bit similar and the kick and snare tend to sound a lil bit better. :)