Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Real Me]

AkioDaku, Real Me
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,8,7,9,10

I really loved this super heavy track. Industrial hiphop. Cutting to the quick, the mix really hits lows and highs expertly but there sounds like an entire mid-section of texture is missing. The track also got a little repetitive which is a rough critique for a track that's under three minutes long. I gave a wonderful 10 for technicality because live vocals are tough to incorporate perfectly but I took points off in production because of how flat the vocals sounded. A better recording could have filled up some of the missing textures I was complaining about. There was also too much reverb for my taste. Reverb is something I like to automate in and out to get better fidelity from certain sections but it sounds kind of like there's a little reverb on everything. THIS SONG WAS RECORDED IN A CAVE. Less is more ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

I know what it's like to work extra hard on a unique sound and commit to it but I thought the glitch patterns on the 1:40 vocals could have been teased in better. Once again, sometimes less is more. Level automations might have turned those sounds into sweeping eerie ghostly echoes. Sweeping sounds like that in and out of volume can sometimes work wonderfully, sensually rubbing ear drums instead of becoming a grating element. I have a lot of respect for the work that went into that effect but I'm not sure that the payoff was maximized or pleasing.

I'm having a hard time finding more to say but I want you to have a good day AD. You have some serious creative integrity and everything I hear from you stands out. May the power of music go with you!

SkankyMojo responds:

I completely agree with you on everything there. You've got really good ears, some of those things you listed we're time crunch comprises and that fact you picked up on them confirms to me your judgement is on point. The things you've brought to my attention are fantastic to be made aware of. Genuinely thanks for taking the time to post feedback and thank you for the kind words and score. <3

[Uxvellda - Theia]

Uxvellda - Theia
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,10,10,10,10

I'm usually really easy with my contest scoring but I truthfully had a hard time trying to find something I didn't like about this. I just couldn't do it this time. I could have nitpicked the climax's kick/snare drum pattern for a static continuous velocity but I've been playing a lot of drums lately and to be honest just staying consistent irl is hard. Keeping the drums to the climax was a great surprise. I usually want more organic stylings from EDM percussion but I think I'm forgiving those max velocity climax dubstep drums because of how well done the intro was. The hard-hitting static kit was a perfect contrast from that heartfelt cinematic intro. That three minute introduction allowed the climax to hit extra hard. I loved it, very humanized orchestra and choir sounds tie the pulsing drums back into the wonderfully crafted atmosphere.

Great job Uxvellda, looking for minor errors in this is driving me insane. Just... take this perfect score and go hide with it somewhere. Don't tell ANYONE I'm giving you a perfect score, they'll take away my judge card :c

Uxvellda responds:

😳 I'm so flattered lol

[After All]

I came to drop love but stayed for the tags. eewwwwww, nuero lmao!

This sounds reslly good on the kitchen google speaker. Tiny snare slaps, Id have been tempted to layer in the occasional big snare for fills and breaks but I was still loving the moody atmosphere. This track rolls <3

Is that an elephant sample? lol.

CryNN responds:

No elephants were harmed in making of this track xddd

Yes i think it could have more variations damnnn. Im in amiddle of an artist block rn

[Qshunt - Trust Issues (NG Version)]

lmao I don't even remember what the samples I sent you sounded like. Can't pull out any familiar sounds in this so you really took the track in your own direction entirely. The song is maximum nuero tier, love it. Professional sound Qshunt. Really great reese synth, clean drums, big bass, 10/10 :')

Qshunt responds:

Thanks Quarl!

I wondered about whether you'd recognise any of the samples?

I used most of your percussion hits and the full drum loop. I ran the loop through an HPF and sat it back in the mix to complement the rest of the drums after the breakdown.

The stabby synth was based on one of the hihat hits, fed through a vocoder among other bits and pieces.

It's way better being back on my proper monitors though.

I think the mixdown shows that haha!

Thanks for listening and thanks for the awesome review! :D

[Yehezkel Raz - Two nights in April (Remix feat. DMZL)]

Damn those vocals are heavenly. I'm in love with those crunchy drum sounds. Piano is great too, especially loved those drunkenly dissonant notes. Mix suits the romantic stylings and vibes. Perfect track arbelamram!

[My Feet Are Sunburnt]

Much as CryNN pointed out, length was a big issue while scoring. The track is sweet and beautiful but when others are willing to write 8+ minutes, 1:30 feels like a cop out. I actually hate a long track if it doesn't stay interesting the entire time and am typically of the opinion that sometimes a short track says everything it has to but for a song writing contest, I think 3 to 5 minutes is the goal to hit. Gotta stay competitive with your peers to a degree. If this was a theme-song contest for a cartoon or video game you got a perfect little ditty. This is a wonderful sample, but some users are breaking themselves in pieces trying to push the limits of length. IMO, stick to the middle ground, write something that isn't too short or too long. 3-5 minutes is fair in my book.

There are fidelity issues with those drums. The rhythms are all awesomely inspired, I love me some funk and the notation is inspired but the drum fidelity came across a little too digital and static. You could breathe a little extra life into them with some additional aux percussion samples or more dynamic range. Sometimes just layering in some new samples for tambs, rides, bells, chimes, cymbals, a second snare drum that hits different textures, a ghost snare, a second bass kick, anything really helps emulate the diversity that a live drummer might bring to the table as they push their kit to it's limits. Your rhythms are top notch, I loved them but I'm a drum slut that always wants more texture and power. Extra layers for the core drum components (kick & snare) will create some really nice diversity.

That vocal samples "are you ready" and "ow, oh mother" was perfectly soulful. I love it when people put that kind of stuff into the track, felt organic and real. I love me some live elements, even if they're "fake" or "afterthought" it just hits me nice. I love feeling like I'm there, a part of the recording process and in the studio.

The bass line was jumpy, staccato in the best way but maybe a few odd legato licks and pitch bends would have sounded nice? Maybe not? I'm learning bass guitar at the moment and sometimes I think something will sound good only to record video/sound and realize after that it doesn't. There was definitely some more room available in the mix and while you don't have to fill everything all of the time, you can often push the bass a little harder to fill negative space then counter that amplification with some good old fashioned side chaining. I guess I could ask for two things from your mix: more drum presence and more bass. These are hands down the strongest elements in your track but they lacked some power and unf.

Oh, back on the velocity of the drums you have a snare triplet at 00:26 that you could have written crescendo or decrescendo. A small roll, flam, or drag would have an amplification or de-amplification over time depending on how a drummer might play the notes. If you were going for full on IDM/EDM experimental music I would be a little more forgiving for certain ideas, but you have a really nice live jam sound going on and I would have loved to hear dynamics as nuanced as the notation.

Please don't read into how critical this might all come off, I love this track so much. I'm just letting you know where you might be able to tune up some ideas to write the best music you could possibly write. Deathmatch is a tough contest, I do hope you look around at what some of your peers have been writing because I'm amazed at the quality I've been hearing from the Newgrounds community in recent years. I'm sorry it took me a while to get around to this review but my IRL life is super busy. You have some inspired ideas and melodies, good luck with all your future endeavors!

[beauty of something unrecognized (ADM ROUND1)]

Sorry it took a little longer to get around to reviewing your song, it was a very short list. I HAVE NO EXCUSES, I AM A TERRIBLE FRIEND AND LOVER. Here, I started to quarter myself as punishment. Take my intestine and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction with it, it's the only way I'll learn my lesson.

So I really loved your track, I had to open the score sheet to give you the best feedback possible. I came down hardest on production with an 8/10, the feedback your about to get might seem a little extra or infuriating. Though I loved your style I can guarantee certain headphones are going to sound thinner and possibly painful. You can counter that by pushing the bass tones a little harder. Audio Technicas in particular offer up a flat response that can really hide sub sonic frequencies in such a manner that makes bass music sound wrong. Even with my subbier Sennheiser's the bass is noticeably lacking. This is a mastering issue, the track might sound better on your gear but I specifically own a few pairs of headphones and monitors to try to get a better idea for how something I write is going to sound to others.

Though a track can become over compressed and brick unnecessarily, something I like to tell people is "you need to mix a few bricks to understand your limits." A compressor could help amplify your bass tones a little more which will give the track a little extra power. The intro is most obvious, that bass could have been more potent. The climaxes you wrote are almost full, there's not much more room but when I warned you about the feedback being infuriating, this is it. I'm nit picking that bass. It sounds a little more potent at 3:20 but I'd have included one or two chromatic slides to help distinguish it from the lead and give it a little more organic style. Genres like nuero or dubstep perfectly merge the subs with the leads but since your instruments are so different from each other I'd have gone a little harder in distinguishing the bass from the lead with bass melodies that depart from the harmony a little bit. The final two minutes in your track could have used some legato bass tones and chromatic pitch slides to drive the track across the finish line.

I took one point off "technicality" and one from "emotion." I probably took one from emotion because my issues with the bass will effect the over all power and delivery of your climaxes. Technicality can be unfair to judge for Newgrounds competitions when people are mostly just sitting in their chairs writing music with mouse and keyboard but that score might also loop back to the bass just holding down a tone the entire time. For a bass tone I can make out so obviously, it just kind of sits there doing one thing the whole time. That sub was practically crying the entire time like "NO ONE PAYS ENOUGH ATTENTION TO ME. EVERYONE TREATS ME LIKE I HAVE ONE JOB BUT I CAN DO SO MUCH MORE. I'M TIRED OF BEING LOOKED DOWN ON AND TREATED LIKE MUD. I HAVE PERSONALITY, I'M MORE THAN JUST THE BASS GOD DAMN IT. I WENT TO COLLEGE." At least that's what I heard. I'm speaking directly to your sub bass right now, it's going to be ok girl. I could hear you loud and clear behind everything else. You'll be strong, we just got to fatten you up a little. As soon as we can get HalfDemure to start paying more attention to you I suspect you'll become one of the most potent aspects of their music. You're more than just "the bass," you're a hero. You hold everything together. We love you... bass.

Sorry if this isn't the review you were expecting, I've been really busy lately but I'm glad I got another chance to listen to this. I remember loving it when I heard it in the queue. Have a lovely day Michino :3

CrowdDoll responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback, I agree a lot to your point especially I see the Sub Bass as something like a support to the whole track and I never thought he's going to help me more because I thought it's going to sound very off for my style. And I also agree with you that it felt too compressed and I do lower the frequency of the Bass in mastering so it can sound more clean.

Thank you so much for the criticism, I promise I will now look the Bass more better than before and I will never let you down. (Pssttt btw Michino is my Discord username not my real name)

[A Colossal Oh No]

Disclaimer: without the score sheet in front of me I may review this a little differently than I did in the fever pitch of trying to score everyone else fairly in two weeks. This review is just an elaboration of why I may have scored the way I did and everyone I'm reviewing today will receive this little disclaimer, kisses.

As said in private message, I'm starting to recognize your unique style and funk from the previous contest. There will be times when the integrity to maintain a distinct style can harm your standing in competition. Judges might get tired of it eventually but you don't have to worry about me today. I'm loving the technicality and composition. At times your style is a little too sporadic which may turn off others but the evolving melodies and tempos are still in my opinion lovely and wonderful. Your progressions are heroic. Probably my biggest complaint is going to come for that tiny jazz kit. With some basic drum engineering tricks you could create a unique drum sound that matches the energy of your style...

Don't get me wrong, the inventive auxiliary percussion was exactly what I loved but I was still missing a potent kick or snare drum. I wouldn't say you necessarily needed some big ass Excision or Koan dubstep drums but there are some dubstep producers lake that out there who are processing some interestingly inspired percussive sounds. Lets try some IDM drums? I'll give you some technical ideas to get unique tones but first a few classic artists I love to name drop are Square Pusher, Aphex Twin, & The Flashbulb. Certain nuero and breakcore producers have tickled my ears with unique drums, Noisia, Unknown Error, Receptor. Even hiphop producers have been making drum kits that can snap with unique potency and funk. I'll talk about layering samples to get new sounds but always start with drum samples that sound good in their own right. A bad sample is a bad sample...

I like to merge and layer complimentary drum samples from the drum machines into fidelity units. Specifically I'll use two or three kick drums and three or four snare drums. I merge signals like kick samples or snares then send them to a graphic equalizer, then a compressor, maybe a stereo imager, maybe a distortion unit (bypassed until wanted), and then to a mixer. I suppose you could give every individual drum sample a string of fidelity units like that but it's quicker for me to just send all the snares to one place and all the kicks to another. This will still give you a lot of tonal control over your drums. Color the graphic EQ with automation lanes to program cool tonal switch ups. Aside from engineering a unique sound, another benefit of layering is that you'll have a handful of extra drum samples laying around. I love using one or two layers of the snare drum for introductions and break downs only to pair them back up with the bigger drum samples for hooks & chorus's.

For emphasis: this track was wanting at times for much bigger, snappier drum samples.

I love bending the pitch of snare drums and hi hats via automation lanes to match the energy of a track or melody. Snare drums can quickly bend pitch and become their own fills or rolls. Climaxes can have snares or hats that suddenly sing higher or lower. This style of drum programing would handily compliment your zany melodic and tempo switch ups. Automation lanes are your friends, experiment with them. One more time, I just wanted to compliment that creative auxiliary percussion. Think I heard a wrench, a spring, some change? That kind of creativity is needed for the primary aspects of your drum kit too! You have such a nice little unique style growing here. Pair your melodic style with equally heroic drum programming. What do kids call the style these days? Future bass? You can be the lord of future bass!

My computer crashed while I was writing the first draft of this review. I didn't have to bring it up, I just wanted credit for writing this review twice. I'm not sure how much more I could say but good luck! If the style of my review sucked at all please let me know and I'll work on my cadence, tempo, and tenor. Thor's blessing Zechnition!

Zechnition responds:

Thanks a lot for your words! I've been frantically taking them into consideration, and made sure to include the Flashbulb as one of my references for my next piece early on :)

also, who knew intense pitch bending snares sounds soo cool!

[DANC_EXE [NGADM 2022 Round 1]]

Disclaimer: without the score sheet in front of me I may review this a little differently than I did in the fever pitch of trying to score everyone else fairly in two weeks. This review is just an elaboration of why I may have scored the way I did and everyone I'm reviewing today will receive this little disclaimer, kisses.

So without the score sheet in front of me I'm willing to venture the guess that I took points off from "production." If I blast my headphones past the 15-50% volume I usually work at there's a small chance of creating risk to fatiguing and damaging my own ears. I've been reviewing tracks all day, if the other judges are like me then I might want to point out that some of us are working at lower volumes for endurance. At lower volumes I couldn't initially hear the next issue but as soon as I pushed the volume I started to notice slightly obnoxious high frequency sounds. Your mid to high frequency sounds are going to punch painfully in a pair of Audio Technicas. If any of the judges are working in Audio Technicas, they will hear a different sound than something with more sub sonic emphasis and the loss of those subby lows will hurt them. I hate Audio Technicas because of that, such a flat response they kill certain genres of music but since they are popular headphones I would recommend picking up a pair just to help master your music. Know what your peers are hearing.

Mastering issues will drive you crazy. There is nothing I loathe more than taking a song I worked hard on and hearing it on someone else's sound system or car stereo only to notice things that could have easily been fixed or avoided with some extra work. This track is very dry on my Sennheiser's, I know for a fact it will be painfully dry if I swapped brands right now.

I'll take a second to point out how silly that snare drum is, the envelope sustains all day. I've always loved a crunchy snare drum but a new layer with some more mid emphasis might balance those crisp tones some. You could get some cool dynamics playing with the envelope a bit, short bursts at times and longer snare drums for the climaxes? More snare diversity would be a nice trick to help reduce fatigue. You changed up the style and cadence of the song a fair bit and I loved that but sometimes you can use a new snare drum from section to section to evolve the rhythm a little more. A pitch bend on the snare channel is another trick that could create interesting diversity in the rhythm's tones without having to introduce new samples.

I'll point out the energy via the visualizer, your track goes 100% the whole time. This is a song writing tournament and the judges all have their own nuances. I would have personally liked to hear a longer, more ambient intro or breakdown, any sort of rest from all the high action. Hearing that constant energy led to me being more critical of things like ear fatigue. As I listen to the track on repeat it's easy to lose track of where the song starts and stops. There were some great transitions in this, but I couldn't listen to this all day on repeat. It's wearing me down very quickly. I feel like it's worth pointing to DJ culture that compliments most EDM genres, this track would probably compliment a mix nicely, but many EDM songs have a softer intro, breakdown, and outro for beat matching and cross fading tracks. Though an expert DJ could rip this up and spin it just fine, on its own I felt like it was lacking a little atmosphere. Maybe I took a point off from "composition" for delivering one constant energy level?

The vocal sample "let's do it" was a little strange, it got old too. I've done similar things, used Captain Falcon like he was the amen break for years. The vocal samples aren't always bothersome, sometimes they were modulated expertly but I think you went a little overboard while flexing. Perhaps the most obvious offense is at 1:44? I get it, you're really good at modulating that one sound. Respect. IMO, it stops being a flex after a while, fight me.

I've decided to go against the disclaimer and check my score sheet, morbid curiosity.

Honestly, I was probably too harsh on "Emotion." That lower 7 was probably entirely for that singular energy level assaulting me the entire time. I love noisy genres, but the flaw is apparent when the track loops and I hardly noticed. A longer intro could have gently introduced a motif and given me some more space to appreciate musicality chops that you didn't display (still gave you a 9/10 for musicality, generous). The intro and outro could have explored some acoustic sounds or atmosphere. For a dance track this would fit ok in a DJ set but on its own I got exhausted. Transport listeners to diverse soundscapes, tell a story that says something emotional or just anything other than "DO MDMA, JUMP UP AND DOWN, DO MDMA, JUMP AND DOWN, DO MDMA, JUMP UP AND DOWN" for three minutes straight.

Alright, I think I conveyed some ideas to help bridge the scores a little. Again, sorry if the scores bothered you at all. I only regret taking one extra point from emotion. 7/10 was rude of me but it can't be changed now. Sorry dearest. I'll be rooting for you in the next round despite brackets.

[ADM Round 1 - Vibin Out]

Disclaimer: without the score sheet in front of me I may review this a little differently than I did in the fever pitch of trying to score everyone else fairly in two weeks. This review is just an elaboration of why I may have scored the way I did and everyone I'm reviewing today will receive this little disclaimer, kisses.

Woot, loved the technicality on this. I could easily hear this track as the menu music for some video game like The Sims or an old television game show. If I took a point off for that metric (which I doubt I did) forgive me. I'd be surprised if I took points off for composition either. Perfect little progressive jazz ditty. I might have taken a point off for production, you could have pushed the bass a little harder. Sounds are just a little thin. Nothing in this mix save the kick drum is really low enough to battle the bass for the lows, go louder. You might have been able to get a little braver with your pan data but sounds are crisp despite relatively static field locations. Great dynamics from everything. I'm genuinely getting curious how I scored this...

TO HELP GIVE YOU THE FEEDBACK YOU DESERVE I HAVE OPENED THE SCORE SHEET only to realize that you got a near perfect score from me. You're making me work here, I just spent half the day writing two reviews, you really wanted to know what my score was about? Your music is amazing but to be brutally honest it's not quite perfect nor totally unique. I don't like handing out perfect scores. In the spirit of that while trying to be fair I may have been a little too harsh? Something that would have helped net you gain my last "spunk/personality" point may have been to include some kind of introductory studio recording atmosphere? Someone else introduced their track with the sound of an exhale into their microphone. You could have recorded a small conversation in the background to make it sound like a band was coming to an agreement about when to start the beat. Trying to emulate that live gig sound would have gave this just an extra inch of spunk in my eye. This track is so perfect, it's almost "too perfect." A one off vocal sample coming from the background is something that can happen in a live studio. Sometimes the drummer will give a small woot and their voice will get picked up off a drum microphone. It's so fucking extra to even mention that you should have done something like that but I'm trying so hard to give you some helpful feedback.

While looking at the scores I'm quick to notice that it was the other judges that were more critical. I was very kind to your track but IMO, it was deserved. You went really hard and killed it with something I can totally appreciate. I'm sorry that the other judges didn't hear what I heard but being aware of their production habits, I will tell you that they are all EDM nerds. Like the metal heads, EDM nerds go extra hard nailing production quality and fidelity, eking out sounds that paint the entire spectrum. That's going to result in a bias against genres that don't take full advantage of sub sonic frequencies. I can almost guarantee that is what happened. Don't take that personally, last year there was a judge with literally zero music qualifications or music written. When it comes to Newgrounds you have to be the change you want to see and volunteer to judge when contests roll around. It sucks not getting to participate but I think it's more rewarding to have to listen to what else everyone is doing, taking note of the community in its entirety. There is so much diversity in music here but Newgrounds raises some blood thirsty hard style advocates. You felt torn to write a metal song, I'm going to advocate you do that next round. If there were some more jazz heads on the judge panel this year you'd probably have done better, I've seen perfectly written bebop get voted down in the past. In 2013 camoshark wrote "SuperCollide" and I still listen to that track from time to time. If I remember correctly, he was eliminated from round 1 of the deathmatch with some low scores BUT IT WAS FUCKING PERFECT JAZZ IN EVERYWAY. I will never forget that song nor how much I loved it. I will always look to it as an example of why you got to play to "cliche" Newgrounds genres if you want to get past round one of the deathmatch. In the future, Dubstep and Metal it is. Don't tell Sequenced I said that, or he'll throw a fit. Know your audience, know your judges, play to their favorites, win more often. It's just a theory I'm working on, DON'T TELL ANYONE I SAID THIS.

Regardless of what I'm telling you, the other judges may have had perfectly legitimate reasons for their scores. I wish I could take the time to leave a review for everyone in the contest because everyone deserves some genuine feedback. It's always going to be an incredibly diverse community here but if you want to help your jazz peers you have to join the judge brackets and promote them a little. I doubt the other judges are as familiar with jazz as I am. I love jazz, it's one of my favorite genres. You may have brought a knife to a gun fight. Whip out your heavy metal dick in the next round, wave it around a little, slap someone with it, make them beg for it :0

For context I'm linking to that camoshark track. Note the waveshape in the visualizer, his bass frequencies are filling up all that extra space. There is a lot of warmth to their production. Take my initial critisism for mix and compare your audio to this track:

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/545364

OH, ONE LAST PARTING THOUGHT: I'm wearing Sennheiser HD 650s which push better bass frequencies and drown out thinner sounds a little. If any of the judges are using Audio Technicas you may have tickled their ears a little with this mix leading to harsher production crits. I got a pair of Audio Technicas because they were very highly recommended by the Newgrounds community and I wanted to know what they were hearing. The headphones offer a flat response, useful in their own right when mastering against monitors with subs but I fucking hate them. Powerful genres like dubstep or metal are so flat on them that they punch ear drums out without the subs to balence them. Mixing entirely on certain Audio Technicas would lead to completely different mix down choices. I'm willing to bet all the EDM judges have headphones that hear differently than yours which led to harsher production scores. I'm like... 50% certain?

I hope this was helpful and you don't lose sleep thinking about mastering issues. I know I do sometimes. Have a good one Teffy <3

TeffyD responds:

Thank you for a thorough review, and I agree with a lot of the production and composition critiques you mentioned. A big problem for me has always been that it's only me involved with all of it, and 90% of the time it's rushed because I only had 7 days total to make the song lol. It's not perfect in the sense that its "too" perfect, no missed notes (other than my shit guitar playing lol), all on beat, etc. I use ATH-M30s so I understand what you mean by mixdown choices like that. I am very happy that at least my music gets the jist of what I'm trying to make across, like a menu song or something.

Judges can score it how they please, and I understand some might be used to EDM or Metal or any other certain genre that Jazz for example might not be their forte. Next round I'll attempt a metal song to spice it up, and if i survive to round 3 i might go out swinging with a fast fusion song who knows lol.