Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Uxvellda - Fire Phoenix]

Uxvellda, Fire Pheonix
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,9,10,10,10 x2 = [98/100]

Schedules can be super rough, it's a common challenge for many composers to hit deadlines when you have hurdles like finals, jobs, weddings, deaths in the family, stuff. Gotta focus on what matters in life but you still pumped out solid gold for the finale. The length of the track was above and beyond my minimum requirements, plus you kept the track very interesting the whole time. I came to a very early conclusion that this might be a perfect score. You have a very energetic style that crosses a lot of genres before winding back to that big dubstep sound. I wanted to try to address the notion that Deathmatch judges might be biased to dubstep but a bad mix down will honestly get twice the ire. You have a very clean style, but I decided to rip away one subtle point for that drum kit, especially at 3:48 it seems to get a little over-powered with a convoluted mix.

I have a tendency to overload stuff, so when I heard that section I decided to point out what was probably the weakest point of the song despite being what some might consider "the climax." Maybe you could have side chained the drums forward a tad more? It's not often I put an automation lane on sidechain knobs but since your song shifts between dubstep and orchestral so much maybe that track would have benefit from some organic fidelity automations?

I hit up Spadezer for using stiff dubstep drums throughout the entirety of his track. Drum diversity is a powerful tool at the hands of every DAW producer, you managed to eke out just enough diversity with those orchestral drums and percussion. I'd have loved to hear some drum pitch bends, some drum filtering, and maybe another snare drum for color but your style tends to override that thought. I took off a point from production for the mix at 3:48 but I almost took off another point for that lack of drum diversity. Honestly, I hit up Spade for it. You just pulled it off slightly better.

That's probably all I have to say, you managed to work very well within the parameters and schedules of the tournament. Congratulations and I wish you the best Uxvellda!

[The Final Resolve - NGADM 2022 Final Round]

Spadezer, The Final Resolve - NGADM 2022 Final Round
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,9,9,10,10 x2 = [96/100]

I bet you want praise for getting this far? I bet you want to be called a good boy? You want head pats? WELL TOO BAD SPADE. HEAD PATS ARE RESERVED ONLY FOR PEOPLE THAT GET A PERFECT SCORE. YOU MISSED POINTS IN COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTION BECAUSE A LOT LIKE ME, YOU SPEND WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN CAPS LOCK. Give your high action maximum velocity dubstep drums a rest and use a different snare like... once. The track was practically begging for a high action jazz snare or some pitchy koan sound snare to counter the energy. The track went extra hard, which wasn't a bad thing but if your idea of switching up the drums revolves around lowing the volume on them then I might recommend expanding on your drum programming a little. Toss on some pitch bends, add a filter and screw with freq/resonance knobs, toss in a vibraslap, some guiro, switch up the hi-hat rhythms, add some tambs... do literally anything else because the drums were probably the most boring aspect of the track. I hope you don't take too much offense; the track was splendid as usual but it's such a noticeable failing here that I almost took off an extra point. I didn't but I almost did >:C

I think the length of the track had me forgiving some aspects, you really went hard into this contest. I might have mentioned earlier that the score sheets had you sitting at number one seed? Congrats for leading the contest as well as you did. Others might say the judges had a dubstep bias, maybe we did? Honestly, I would have loved to of heard some experimental grindcore or maybe some accordion math rock... but this was definitely a year for EDM artists to go extra hard and your style capitalized. Shout out to the orchestral artists that made it this far as well but EDM artists have that small advantage of finding all the tones in the spectrum and making use of them advantageously. Perhaps too often though, EDM tracks can get very boring when it's just a brick of constant action so I'm glad you get yourself outside the box. Honestly, I'm a little surprised you didn't slip in one screaming woodland creature towards the end for old times' sake. I'd have chortled over it quietly.

Edit: I went back to your track a few times while listening to Uxvellda's track and I think a small oversight might exist in how you started the track with a mighty (but corny) phased synth patch. I like to get to the action quickly when I write so I know the itch to come out of the gate strong, but you might have benefit from using a little less at the beginning? I think it's fair to point to Uxvellda's track, he opened with some strong orchestral drums before hitting me with those big boring repetitive dubstep patterns. Despite not having the diversity in the dubstep drums that I asked of you, he managed to counter-balance them with some very atmospheric orchestral sounds. You both had incredible sounds coming into the end, but I felt Uxvellda was slightly stronger :C

Regardless of my issues (of which I have many issues totally unrelated to your music) I wish you the best Spade, and good luck with the other judges! Excelsior!

Spadezer responds:

Lol. If you didn't have a reason to complain instead of saying it's perfect, I would be concerned. I underestimated how passionate you could be about drums. I can't say you're wrong though. However, as someone who prides themself in being some sort of a drummer, it cuts to the core. You were probably more focused on the drum samples used compared to the rhythm of the samples I'm assuming, but here I was thinking that adding some high hats at the end of the project was a little extra.

I agree with the sentiment about the genre tendencies for this contest. This contest usually is a yearly battle on being the most populated with either EDM vs orchestral artists, and I think there were more orchestral people last year. You give me an idea to maybe try ADM or UAC by attempting other genres I'm not used to. I don't know if I could do orchestral, but I really think the metal side of the community needs more presence in these contests. I want to see more PirateCrab artists. So maybe I'll attempt to lead the change I want to see in this community/contest. The final round in this contest was interesting just looking at artist's genres. You had two very similar moving orchestral artists, two epic style dubstep artists, and a rare house guy along with a frenzied compositional wild man who reminds me of older NG EDM/chiptune guys.

It's fun being compared to Uxvellda. I new even going into the semi-finals that we'd be going in with similar styles. I find their sound design inspiring so there's definitely a chance to get ideas spurred on just by their style. As to how I've handled the intro, that was a direct consequence on how I went about drafting ideas into the song. The first thing you hear is what inspired every other part of composition in this piece, so I naturally and unconsciously had the song flow in such a way that I introduced the main idea/motif right at the beginning and built from there. Doesn't happen all the time but I do have that tendency.

I always appreciate your feedback :)

[Super Bright Colours]

Zechnition, Super Bright Colors
1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,8,9,10,10 x 2 = [94/100]

You've really outdone yourself, pushing that everchanging melodic style to its limits. Another judge may come down on you a little harder for what sometimes seems a little too random and sporadic but the only time it really bothered me was at 1:30. That little record scratch just felt very out of place. The transition would have been fine but that sound didn't endear itself to the switch up. A softer riser might have been welcome. I'm so cliche, I'd have wrote a crescendo portamento sine wave synth with a long cut off or an orchestral cymbal swell. That's just my thing but I stand by the idea that you could have found or engineered a nicer sound. I noticed you used it again later, that's a good technique that can sometimes strong arm a bad idea into becoming a good idea. Repetition is a valuable aspect of music but again, the record scratch is so lo-fi compared to how wet and alive those melodies were. A low rumble could have handed those sections off to each other, a single string instrument rising and falling, a car driving by (sample or otherwise), a choir patch... I can think of a ton of sounds that may have been a little more inspired than a record scratch.

It's a good thing that's the one thing I'm super focusing in on, all your other decisions are spot on. I took two points off production because the mix wasn't necessarily perfect but you almost have a top notch mix. Things were a little quiet. Addressing my EDM bias, the drums could have been side chained more to the front. Sidechaining doesn't have to be super noticeable, but the drums could have slapped a little more prominently. You worked with a sensitive future kit and I liked it but maybe another layer could have gifted you with a soft kit towards the intro, then a slightly slappier dance kit for the later half sections? A nice big kit would have matched the stronk of those synth patches!

*Stronk: adjective- not generally comparable, comparative stronker, superlative stronkest. Internet slang, humorous, nonstandard. Deliberate misspelling of strong.*

Given how pleased I was over all with your drum programming I might have wanted them in the song a little sooner. That initial section with those dulcimer sounding strings might have benefit from a modest four to the floor? Maybe a gentle snare on counts two and four? Loved the bird samples by the way, felt like you were specifically calling out to me and saying "hey Quarl. I put some birds right here. Give me a perfect scor-" WELL I CAN'T BE BOUGHT WITH BIRDS ZECH. I ONLY GIVE OUT ONE OR TWO PERFECT SCORES A ROUND AND GIVEN THAT THE MAJORITY OF EVERYONE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED you had a much higher probability of getting a perfect score this round BUT YOU DIDN'T AND THAT's totally ok BUT NO ONE GOT A PERFECT SCORE THIS TIME AROUND and that's still ok. Music contests are so heavily influenced by the whim of the judges, so I hope you're happy with making the final bracket and I will certainly wish you luck with the other judges! A few of us were rooting for you and your unique style. Have a good one Z!

Zechnition responds:

Hey Quarl! I put some bird foley, AND footstep sounds, so therefore I clearly deserve perfect marks, without question. Please reconsider your choice.

Sincerely,
That Bird Foley Guy

(also thanks for the feedback about drums, I didn't realize & will definitely do that!)

[Spirited Winds - NGADM'22 FINAL ROUND]

eliasalija, Spirited Winds - NGADM'22 FINAL ROUND

1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,9,8,10,9 x 2 = [92/100]

Lovely song eliasalija, very well done. Inspired and heartfelt tones! The six of you final round contestants will probably all see a perfect score out of "emotion." I'm going to take one point off from production for what I felt like were noticeably absent bass tones. I'm an EDM slut, we tend to focus on those bass tones too much. I told everratic I'd fight an EDM bias, given the genre that you two have mastered: things sound great. Have you ever considered padding orchestral bass tones with some suby synth compression or another bass patch? IMO, Newgrounds artists are their best when they are toying with new sounds and progressive genre splicing. Coming into the final round I would have loved to hear some synth play from the classical peeps... it's where I'm taking that bonus point from. I'm aware of your strengths and weaknesses, sticking to your strengths is a fair strategy but I love hearing risky ideas. I think Zechnition consistently demonstrates risk with his style.

Thank you for that insightful commentary, I think everyone is feeling a little tired and worn at this point, but you are finally free!

I've told a few contestants that I consider "three minutes" the bare minimum for a deathmatch track. You were right there, some orchestral tune ups, a few seconds of silence, or the conductor tapping on a music stand would have net you another point! Sequenced came out swinging with 8 minutes of track (that I judged a little hard for being too much) but it's kind of a curtesy concept that I wanted to see tracks between three to five minutes out of respect to the other contestants. If everyone wrote 8 minute bangers I'd actually hate it, sometimes a song can be too long in my opinion especially when a bracket has 64 contestants but for the final round I'd have wanted a slightly longer opus.

I can't take off points for technicality or emotion, you wrote beautifully. I hope I've described the minor grievances well enough, it can be hard to justify scores but I hope this doesn't deflate you at all. I loved the song and you've all performed wonderfully. Cheers eliasalija!

Santi-Montali responds:

Heyyy thanks for the review! I get what you mean, I couldn't experiment much outside of the orchestral landscape because -life- haha. Anyway, thanks for your work!

[The Witch at the Prom]

Everratic, The Witch At The Prom

1]Technicality 2]Production 3]Composition 4]Emotion 5]BonusPoints
10,8,8,10,7 x 2 = [86/100]

Getting right into the critiques because I'll compliment your strengths along the way....

I felt like bass tones could have been pushed some more but the mix was well done for the genre. I want to fight my EDM bias, we tend to over load the spectrum but I couldn't help but think that you could have done even more with every section. I've been telling people lately "you need to mix a few bricks to know your limits." Not that over compression is a great thing but there was a lot of space in that wave shape to boost tones. This is a hard critique to focus on because you apparently used a lot of instrument patches, but my lizard brain only picked up on a handful of sounds at any given moment. Multiple listens allowed me to focus on the atmospheric elements more, but they could have been pushed harder especially during the rests. The dubstep artists manage to max out their orchestral sections so you might be at a slight disadvantage when you only stick to one genre, tone, or energy...

My next critique will focus on longevity, half of the final contestants went extra-long and the other half seemingly extra-short. You wrote a very inspired and ever changing two minutes; it's practically a slap in the face to that 8 minutes of prog house Sequenced wrote. Less is sometimes more. I'm a strong believer in the philosophy that a song is however long as it needs to be, two minutes for any other project is perfectly fine but three minutes is the bare minimum I put on tracks written for the Death Match. There is always room for some ambient tune up, orchestral whispers, or even a cough to liven up the atmosphere. I could have imagined a female chior patch sounding nice in this. Heck, the story you mentioned focused on gender bendy fuckery, GIVE US SOME CHIOR PATCHES, MAKE THE MALE CHIOR FIGHT THE FEMALE CHIOR FOR DOMINANCE. WOKE-AGENDA SHIT: MAKE SURE THE FEMALE CHIOR WINS, NO ONE WILL SEE IT COMING. CHEF SMOOCH.

Sorry, the previous outburst had nothing to do with your scores. It's just a conceptual idea, if you're going to incorporate inspiration like that then feel free to let me know what exact sounds translated to the story in your own words. You provided a lot of data in that description and I'm sure by now you know how much I appreciate that. There are a lot of great ideas in this track but I felt aware of your strengths now and maybe I want to hear you try some new techniques or genres? Again, that doesn't really affect any of my scores it's just a foot note (edit: I lied, another point came out of bonus points to help offset bracket scores. I went back and felt that your track trailed everyone else's this round.) Newgrounds artists have always been at their strongest when progressively mixing genres and styles. You wrote some wonderful romantic orchestral, you could have tossed in a glittering synth patch to keep all the silly dubstep judges happy. I'd have accepted a preset patch, I'm not picky D:

In the end I took two points off production, for what I felt like was a blindness to the overall spectrum and in respect to the other contenders (final round, I can't ignore that eliasalija also went orchestral but managed a noticeably bigger sound). The two of you had a lot in common coming into the end here. Your digital tools could have boosted instruments and sections to match his energy. I did notice you managed some very sensitive panning, loved it. I'll come down just as hard on eliasalija for the longevity of his track, that's where I'm taking off two points. You two are very strong composers, please forgive the two points from composition. I noticed the commentary about how busy you've been so I'm sorry, but I don't feel like I can be a little more generous given the nature of the competition. I'm the easiest judge to draw tens out of but I'm sticking to the idea that deathmatch songs should be three to five minutes long in respect to the other contenders. The three points subtracted from "bonus points" is my way of describing your track in the overall line up for this round, the other contenders felt much stronger, imo.

Hope my input is all well and good, you and many others deserved to make it to the finals so congratulations Everratic! I hope the hectic nature of your life will resume to a regular pace and the stress eases. Cheers and word up to that winners bracket bonus!

[Kawai Sprite - Blammed (St4bility Remix)]

You kids these days, this song is so hard it's giving my arthritis arthritis. There are probably a few frequencies in this that my ears can't pick up on anymore but I'm gonna bop my head all the same. This track is hard xD

[skullDome]

FIRST, YES! I DID IT. I'M OFFICIALLY THE FIRST PERSON TO COMMENT... ALL YOU OTHER FIRSTS CAN STOP PRETENDING, IT IS I, THE FIRST COMMENT. I AM FIRST, ALL YOU OTHER FIRSTS ARE JUST HATERS, GET IN LINE BEHIND A LONG LINE OF OTHER FIRSTS. FIRSTY WANNA BE FIRST POSERS. I AM FIRST.

[junebug [TRANS PRIDE DUB WAR]]

Effing awesome sounds. I especially loved that dnb-breakbeat section towards the end. Lots of grime. I find it funny that there are enough dub trans producers in one place to get a decent soundcloud compilation. I hide in my little space, would have contributed if I knew something like that was going down but it's impossible to be everywhere at once. SCREW GENDER- I JUST WANT TO BE AN OMNIPOTENT MULTI DIMENSIONAL ORGANISM THAT VIBES WITH EVERY GRAVITATIONAL PULSE, DON'T JUDGE ME.

That dubstep section had room for a little more character if you added some more pads and atmosphere. I have a dulcimer bias, would have topped on some middle eastern sounding dulcimer licks. Would have also liked some reverbed vocal chops but I notice a lot of young producers are afraid of sampling stuff and why shouldn't they be? Copyright infringement laws are scary D:

I think the mix down could be a little more powerful but finding that space can be difficult, even on a good day. Loved the leads so much but they are the most powerful aspect in the mix. Maybe the sub could be amped just a tad more? I think there's a lot of room for additional panning data, things are kind of mono sounding, everything sounds like it hits from the middle. So much diversity in that lead synth, you can probably create some really fascinating dynamic switch ups by automating the pan data on it. Panning is something so many producers overlook but doing it right can create powerful illusions of space and depth. I love it when pads, leads, and sfx move around the field. Music often emulates nature, bring life to those synths by giving them organic and constantly changing locations :3

I don't want to tell you how to do things girl, you got a great sound going. I just have this bug to critique peers to try to get the best sound out of them, blame the art major. I'm just as critical on my own work and often fall short of my own expectations so I'm sorry if this review comes off the wrong way. I've been listening to a few of your other tracks while writing this review, lament (feat. Lunanescence) has a great mix down. It manages to hit those spaces, textures, and tones I'm talking about when I say something like "there's more room" but it also looks a little squished. Compression creates that illusion that sounds are louder by removing some dynamic information but it's noticeably more powerful... could just be the sub bass?

WHY DO I WRITE LONG REVIEWS? NOBODY ASKED FOR THIS REVIEW, THANK YOU FOR WRITING A GREAT SONG, YOU ARE A SHINING STAR. YOU SHINE BRIGHT, LIKE A DIAMOND. A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH, YOU SHINE, SHINNINGLY, SHINEFULL. THANK YOU.

patchstep responds:

thank you so much for the in-depth and overall extremely positive comments!!!! loved reading this

[Magic Hand]

Mix down is great, sfx is inspired! Loved those drum fills and reverse sounds. This definitely has some super creative energy lacking from a lot of contemporary DNB tracks that are mixed and written for DJ spaces. There was something off about the mix getting to me but I figured it out at 1:11, that sub bass has an atonal rumble to it.

Kind of sounds like two oscillators with one slightly pitch bent a semi tone to create that dissonant resonance. It might be cleaner if the bass tones were on pitch but then you also lose something raw from the earlier segments. Maybe you could automate that bass tone to dip in and out of harmony a little? The off harmony oscillator is a good technique for building bigger reese tones but the synth I'm talking about sounds more like a sub bass. Maybe some extra distortion hitting mids or highs would give it some cleaner reese tones while maintaining that dark sound you got here? A filter can always give you the bass tones back if the crunch gets over powering but it's all on you. The track is great.

(Looking through other reviews, FRNTHSTIXX is picking up on it too. Might just be our headphones but I'm only bringing it up to highlight that he isn't crazy, he just needs to clarify technique a little.)

[Inktober #30 - Don't Give Up Now!]

Hey sorry I didn't get around to dropping a comment earlier but I've been stupid busy. Wish I made the song a little longer for you, I never thought anyone was gonna rap on it. You just kept coming up with the rhymes. I lost it when you started off like "hell yeah I'm not giving up," fucking laughed my ass off. I'm glad someone understood the core message XD

A lot of hiphop I grew up with was super moody and negative. It's a nice change of pace to start a track with a huge happy grin, cheers CyberDevil :D

Cyberdevil responds:

Heya, no worries, I'm used to spontaneous and/or sporadic interactions here. :P Length-wise this was perfect really. Gives the impression there's just no limit to my capabilities when I keep going off beat too IMO, feels like it worked well with the 'don't give up' theme. Though I might've initially chosen it since it was shorter actually - instrumental inspiration exceeded expectation.

Thank you. :) The original track's such a happy vibe too - mutually moodboosting!