Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[IDM Thing]

mraow

haha, not a bad go. You followed some classic patterns of the genre but kept a hold of those airy melodies you seem to enjoy. Good tactic. Not sure if you've ever listened to any squarepusher but he's worth checking out. His awkward syncopation choices always leave me pretty pleased.

It sounded like you were gonna stick to that core tech step drum pattern you always use but you only employed the core rhythm once before heading in a different rhythmic direction for a bit. After the first drum measure, it got hard to follow any bass kicks that landed on the + between 3e+a4. The 64th notes were classic. Those are always nice to hear. The pads employed some interesting shifts in attention. It was nice when they would switch up. It might be interesting to try panning those up so the attention shifts it's direction too but I'd imagine that things like that don't really matter when your just experimenting.

All in all, good work stan! It's nice to hear what your playing with C:

[Awake - Suspended in a Cloud]

meow

Sounded great like always. Love your work good sir. This comment isn't related to this song but actually finish stuff for a change. I know it's tough. I just finished two songs I started about a year ago. I just finished a painting yesterday that I started around 6 years ago. If you put something on hold, force yourself to get back around to it or you might not finish it. Constantly moving on guarantees that a new project will come around and make you happy or keep you entertained for a little while but if you really liked the way something sounded there's little point in leaving it in limbo. The song you hate the most could end up being the song the person sitting next to you enjoys the most. I've had quite a few of those moments and because of them, I've learned to like the stuff I don't...

What I'm trying to say is finish colors of the fifth rainbow. I really liked that shiznit.

Rawrthaas responds:

If you didn't write that I probably wouldn't have opened up the file for colors of the fifth rainbow and finish another 30 seconds of it. Ty lulz :D

And you're right about finishing things. I keep procrastinating, putting all those previews that I upload to newgrounds off and eventually I forget about them. But I assure you now that I'll have the CotFR full up here very soon =]

[MH16: One Last Wish]

rawr

It's a great track! I loved it. There are just a few things I'd like to say...

The first is in response to b.a.b.s review. What panning your instruments does is it emulates live acoustics. I didn't realize that for a while and I just panned shit like crazy with full blown automatons. The equivalent to that would have been someone running around the stage with an amp and a synthesizer just kind of rocking out... not necessarily a bad thing. But different speakers work in different ways. I noticed with some speakers that when things get panned baaaack and fooorth they lost their amplitude. The mastering process is a bitch. Panning is always a good thing but be careful with it. One more thang, a lot of people tend to keep the bass towards the middle. It creates a base... get it? Bass/base? It was a pun... I hate the internet.

Greater dynamics... there might have been some because when I listen for them I might be hearing them because I expect them... but who knows. Live musicians change the amplitude of their instruments over time to create tension. Play with those note velocities a bit more to really make things pop... dunno... like I said, maybe you did :P

One more thing. Play with those piano melodies more. One note at a time? That happens sometimes with the bass clef in classical music but unless your trying to drive your piano player crazy, give him a little extra. Make some chords out of those melodies. Use what you already have as the root of the melody and add some higher pitches. Make it as if he was using his second hand to add some counter melodies.

Oh! I just realized it might sound cool if you throw some reverb on those drums! Or lose them completely... dunno... play :P

Ar! You have a great song. The first two things I said were really professional tips, so I don't expect you to chase after them. After that the review gets subjective. One persons opinions will always be different than the next's, so you can throw out whatever I said. Just keep on keeping on ^_^

FairSquare responds:

I'm stunned by the awesomeness of this review. Seriously!
I'm definitly going to try some of those advices you gave in your review.
The only downside of these kind of reviews is that you can't really thank a person enough in a simple response. So expect a review on one of your tracks soon :-)
Again, thanks for this review. It made my day :D

[Piano Study No. 3 "Blocks"]

rawr!

Drummer here. Can't say much for the melody because it really skips over my head but I'll try...

The dynamics are great. I love em! Great changes.

I'm a hypocrite for saying it but play around with those rhythms. It would have been nice to of had a rest from all that action. Maybe try holding things legato for just a little longer? There's plenty of change but perhaps less would be more in certain areas. Dunno...

I'm not sure if this is digital or live but if it was digital add some more instruments in there. If not through out the piece than at least in strategic places. If it's live... why not try throwing in some digital instruments? It might be worth playing around with :P

Regardless of what the kids think, I love it man. Keep in mind that music can be just as subjective as art so when it comes right down to it, any thing I left you with is just an opinion. Meow :3

EmperorCharlemagne responds:

Regardless of what artists may say about doing it for themselves and stuff like that, everyone loves to hear another opinion, and for that, I thank you very much.

I originally wrote the piece on staff paper for piano, and to tell the truth, -this- production never had me pondering the use of different instruments. However, if I ever decided to produce this 'professionally' so to speak, just about any instruments could work. This song would work so beautifully a capella, I think.

"Less is more"... That's an interesting thought, one I have to consider a great deal. I thought the song was pretty bare bones, but I might be wrong.

Again, thanks for the review and opinions!

[{KgZ} Encounter! (Loop)]

Berklee you say?

Berklee huh? Thinking of going there? I have a friend over there that just finished his freshmen year. Great place, great people.

Since getting out of a recent car accident I'm noticing that I listen to music differently. Everything is becoming a little less subjective. That makes leaving an adequate review kind of difficult... dunno.... I feel like the dynamics could have been greater. The "expert" at Berklee might have missed that. I've worked with live violins once so I know how hard it can be to manipulate those strings once they're down but greater dynamics could have been done with a little bit of creative mixing. They could even have thrown in a trill or two. Everything sounds like it comes in at around the same amplification. Maybe some of those drums could have been brought forward. A little... dunno. I'm a hypocrite for pointing out any of this because when it comes down to the final product I get too lazy to do any of this. Besides, it wasn't really your call to make. Aw well :P

It's good, I just feel like it could be a bit better. Regardless, I can't necessarily hold any of that against you. It seems like most of my criticisms weren't your fault... you get a ten for composing in 5/4 ^_^

KgZ responds:

Thank you very much for the feedback, I really wish I could have done more with it. I actually only had 30 minutes to use live recording and 30 minutes to mix it, so I was really limited.

To be honest, I didn't plan on this being 5/4. I kept getting frustrated when I was singing the melody why it didn't fit in 4/4. I felt so stupid afterward, haha.

[Your dissolving face]

rawr!

Alright, you asked for a review so here it is. Cation to the wind, I'm a dnb producer so I might not have the best advice...

Melodies: great! I loved em man. Maybe you could have put a bit more variety in the chord structures around 1:09, maybe the rhythms could have been different... thing is when they fist came in I was a little thrown off. Personally, I feel like electronic dance music is really hard to be creative with because of the amount of rules you have to follow to produce a track. Melodies are even harder/ near impossible to be creative with given you only have 12 tones to rearrange. A better combination of words for "creativity" in the music realm regarding melody is "self exploration." Dunno, you're a creative guy, so keep doing what you do and eventually it will all come together.

Sound quality/mix: ACE! Aside from the vox being a bit loud everything was mixed really well. All the sounds came through at good levels and with fairly good space. My only complaint here is in the dynamics. For instruments like the piano/ sounds that came in at around 00:13 there would be a benefit from slight changes in the amplification over time. Live musicians never play at the same amplification over time and in fact create tension by purposefully dropping the amplification over time. You can do it by changing the note velocities or you can find a way to automate the volumes. Dunno, look into that. It's a hard/ complex idea to tackle... in fact I'd say it's a really professional thing to try and get, but you'd benefit from it so try it ;)

Vox: If I were anyone else I'd tell you to lose them. They sounded kind of interesting when they first came in but they just don't "fit in." Granted, you might be able to change that. If you can figure out how to automate them to change their pitch over time they'll become less of just rhythmic tools and more like melodic ones. Another fun little thing I'd try is automating them to pan over time so they're not static in one location.

Dunno what else to say other than great song. It's always fun when I stop by here only to notice how much you've improved. You keep doing this and next time I stop by you'll be fucking amazing.

[Rig - Am I Cool Yet?]

mraw

When the track started up I thought you were going in this direction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQp7Id 8iRA4

Yeah! Alright! Cool!

Great bass making technique. I've heard that one before though. It's really funny to hear the different stories of how people have made effective reeces. I remember in the lifted forums, someone made a really sick reece from recording raspberries being blown on his girlfriend. Nav told me how he took a bass kick once and played it next to itself a few hundred times in the sequencer to get a reece sound. Good times, good times. Nothing I can leave review wise to be constructive. Just keep doing what you do :3

Rig responds:

I love that video. I so should've done something like that.
THANKS QUARL :3

[[ solar ]]

rawr

Hmm, it's good... but I know/love the original too much. My personal philosophy is that nothing beats the original and it's damn tough to challenge Geier. I'm not sure if I want to leave an in depth review for this because you seem to know a lot all ready. Also, one problem I run into all the time with remixes is that it's really tough to get that original sound in there while balancing it out with your own creativity, so I know how hard it can be, but this is missing so much... more modulation/ less volume on the reece might help. Maybe even just less volume on the reece. Who knows, try taking off more of the high end on that reece. Play with that reece more. I think that's half of what I don't agree with. In fact... that might be all I don't agree with. I guess I should apologize and congratulate you on such a good song then immediately tell you to work more on that reece. Sorry :P

Dunno if you've heard Misha's Remix of Solar, but check that on youtube if not. Good stuff ^_^

boney-man responds:

yeah i've heard it... i like the original better :D

and i know about the reese, now that i hear this song again, that reese needs a lot of work... maybe i'll fix it and re-upload.

thanks man