Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[In the Back of the Locker Room]

Hey...

When you make a song in garage band, make sure to pay attention to those little red dots next to the track descriptions. Those let you know when you need to EQ you're work lower. When stuff gets too loud, it clips (at 00:58 it clips BIG time.) If you want to accent stuff, try to lower the tracks that surround the lead. Also, you should always keep in mind how loud the master volume is. You see that lone volume indicator right above the midi creator, right next to the tempo device and right below the track editor? Try to keep the volume here as close to the yellow as possible.

Also, the guitars in garage band are all right if you know how to get the right sound out of them. What I like to do when I pull out the guitar is change the amp sim effect to the british overdrive. I feel like that sound is a little more true. Then, I'll turn off the echo and turn up the reverb. Dunno, it's just prefrence. Also, chords suck. Never play chords using the electric guitar preset, something I don't think you did anyways. meh.

You're melodies are great. I love them. You obviously play music outside of garage band. If there's really one thing I'd say work on, it's mastering, the drums were horribly mixed. If you ever want to colaborate, I can help you with the drums. I use garage band and I'm a drummer :P

mkron responds:

GARG, I HATE MASTERING IN GARAGEBAND! GAHADFKJASDLFJA
lol, thanks for the uber feedback my man. Actually, in regard to chords, if you write fifths, or simple two note intervals, the guitar doesn't sound so bad, but actually writing what a guitar would normally definatley does. Yes I do play music outside, and compose traditionally. This was just a fun piece I through together to see if I could, sort of like a timed writing. But, Mastering i really need to work on!
Thanks!

[Moonlight Rave -r]

:D Meow sass!

Rock on rawrthaas. I'm not as into the trance/ dance genres, but this was nice. The effects came through great. The synths, pads, drums and generally everything else rocked. You're my hero. I love you <3

No homo.

Rawrthaas responds:

WHEN I TOUCH MYSELF I THINK ABOUT YOU NO HOMO

jk lol omg

seriously though, thanks =D

[Dreaming of You <(^^,)>]

rawr!

It's all right, but it felt really empty at times (primarily the intro.) I'd recommend adding some background pads to add the atmosphere. Also, the instruments didn't sound really too good until the chorus came around.

The track itself is all right, but there's a lot of work to be had to this. I doubt my review could be helpful at all, but I really have to get going right now and I don't have the time to leave an adequate review. Sorry man. Hope the next review is use full :P

Sp1r1T responds:

Yeah, I thought that the pad near the end should be added to the intro.

Ive replaced it with the mastered versoin so It might be better.

[Nostrum Atrum Ago]

Garage band :)

haha, I recognize those garage band instruments. Good job! I love hearing other people use garage band for something more than just a loop sequencer. You did a pretty good job with this too! Rock on man.

I didn't really like the retards near the beginning with the piano, but thats all right. The melodies themselves were ace! One other thing though, I would have experimented with changing the velocities on some of the notes to chrechendo/ dechrechendo to give it a more dynamic vibe. I also felt like you should have had a little more fun with the instruments though. Full on presets just don't sound that great in my opinion. This track has great structure and theory, but the instruments sound a little bland.

The drums made me really happy. Those hi hats were so called for. Shakers (possibly out of the loop browser though modified a little) were called for. I would have done something to that cow bell. I also would have used a few cymbals here or there. The "long crash cymbals" out of the loop browser work really well sometimes. That glitch fill was great. I find it hard to get a good glitch sound out of garage band.

I didn't like the "make it rain" mono tone interjections, but whatever. Easy to look past because there's so much here to like. Those strings were appropriate (guitars,)
the synths and pads created a good atmosphere.

What version of garage band are you using? I say we collaborate sometime. Check out my sounds and let me know if your interested. A lot of my stuff in DnB, but I'm capable of producing this type of sound too. Just send me a pm.

timpinisucks responds:

By far my most helpful review on any song. EVERYONE TAKE NOTE! Thanks Quarl.

[A Night in the Valley (beta)]

All right.

Well, I'm not a fan of the more dance oriented electronica genres, so hopefully some one else will be able to leave a more in depth review for you. I'll think about nominating you as an underdog in the audio forum, hopefully that will get you some more reviews.

When I saw "Gerudo Valley Remix" in the advertising thread, I had to check this out. That was probably one of my favorite songs from ocarina. I've downloaded a few remixes of it off of newgrounds. This one isn't the best, but believe me, it's by far not the worst. There are some parts of this that feel kind of empty. I understand that you can only do so much with a remix, but that doesn't mean you should hold back at all from making this your own. Really, go nuts!

Some of the instruments sound like they could use some work. The melodies are perfect, but the atmosphere the sounds create just seem a little off. Try working with the instruments a little more until you get a more professional sound out of them.

The instrument at around 1:08 is the piece of this track I dislike the most, the way it quickly fades and comes back. You can get that kind of effect to work, but it doesn't here. Try fine tuning that.

All in all, I'd say that this is a good beta. When you get the final out, send me a pm. Try not to submit the song until you get a little more feed back though, trust me. If I can get you any more attention in the under dog thread, I'm sure that the people there will be able to get you some more adequate advice.

Conian responds:

Thanks for the pointers and the fact that you're considering to put me up as underdog. :-D Glad you liked it, regardless of it not being the best.
As for the emptiness, I want to add some instruments to the mix with countermelodies (like the original has) and actually create an alternate melody myself that will play a prominent role.
I might have gone a bit overboard with the reverb on the main rhythmsynth, I'd like to give that one a bit more of a "biting" sound, almost like a Saw Wave.
I don't quite understand what you mean with the instrument around 1:08 though. Do you mean the Moog that plays the lead melody (yes, it's a moog), or the rhythm synth?
All in all, thanks!

- Conian

[Memories...]

Meow.

haha, I love that garage band pad. I used it once in an old song. Glad to hear someone actually using garage band to record. Gah, this reminds me of a lot of my old stuff I removed a little while back.

Beautiful piano, nice use of the strings, I love the melodies. Really, this is a nice piece of work you have.

While I didn't necisarily notice the flaws, I did think that some of this was a bit minimal. You can always go back and edit your melodies using the midi creator thingy. With that in mind, I'm a little curious why you didn't go back and add to the drums. This could have benifited from a hi hat rhythm, and a more complex rhythm in general. While one could argue against complexity, I'd say that a rhythm that accents the sounds around it is much better than a rhythm that just accents itself.

I love hearing people use garage band correctly. Rock on.

Cruston responds:

Lol yeah it was a program I use to use. I have some better stuff now that I have been working on. I am making this song a lot better and keeping the melody.

[Flare - Spaghetti]

AHHHH

Bah, these short tracks are agrivating, because I want more. I want more so damn badly. I feel like your teasing :P

Another great track with crazy awesome bass, fun drums. Seriously, forget zenon, the speed is incredible... is that a cat at 00:23?

Fuck it, this review is over, I'm laughing so hard it hurts.

StereoTactik responds:

don't talk shit about zenon, or total. and yeah thats a cat.

[Karco - Apology (Trance Remix)]

aha!

Well, it's very clean. I thought it painted a pretty sound. Loved that piano work. Very sassy. The song itself was very repetitive, but that's kind of a given paradigm with electronica. If there's any advice I could give you, it's to vary things up a bit more. Maybe a voice sample here or there, maybe a change in the melody/rhythm more often.

The song is perfect if you were going for a plain old classic dance track. Rock on. I noticed that the song was voted down at a 1, so I threw you a 5.

Karco responds:

Glad you like the quality, it's something I'm getting better and better at! :D The piano work... well, it was old composition, all of it, except for the high part - these days I don't like having a piano playing only in the middle/low ranges, so I had to add a high part to it. ;D

Well, at least you didn't mind the repetitiveness... :P As for varying things up - this isn't a good song for using vocals, as it would break the atmosphere I was trying to set up. And this is a remix of an old song that mostly was made up of bad, so-so composition. I just salvaged the best of it! XD Even as a trance song, though, I can see where you're coming from, especially since you're now the third to mention it. So that means I'm keeping a closer look on that diversity now! ;D

Glad you liked it, thanks a lot for reviewing, and for the 5! :D

[Through My Window (SD Ver.)]

Oh hell yes.

I think this is more industrial then techno but it still rocks out. At first I thought it was gonna build into a dnb with that drum sample towards the beginning, but then it went all ambient. GAH, I love this. The sounds are so awesome, the grinding pads, the morphing sounds, the strange rhythms. I love that natureness. It's very natural :P

All I have to say is that this track is a piece of art. Rock on.

ShinDenjin responds:

Why thank you kind sir. It was more an experiment than anything, which was why I kept it out of the public domain for so long.

~Shin

[Rucklo ft.Kerstin - OpenFields]

rawr!

This song is really cool. I can't knock you for the mono quality. At art school, I have to cut so many good ideas from my projects due to time constraints, so I know where you're coming from.

That voice is perfect. She would have to be a professional? Hmmm, I wish I could sing like that. The morphing bass was really cool. The drums sound perfect. Gah, this is cool. I'd love to hear a re-mix of this, but you stated that's unlikely...meh.

Rucklo responds:

Yeah, Kerstin is more or less professional, I think she's studying to become a teacher, for singing and piano or something like that...

If I ever find the time to, it's not impossible that I re-use the vox and maybe some of the track... who knows...
Thanx alot for the review mate! :)