Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[goofy little song]

Piano melodies were beast, loved those funky riffs. Drums were well programmed too, rhythm was tight. I'd recommend adding some dynamic changes in velocity data. It would help put some life into the drums by emulating the velocity switch ups from hit to hit that a live drummer would have. It's amazing how much that one trick will add life to your drums. Since I play, I'll mention that I put a lot of emphasis on whole notes like one and three, then use softer hits every where else. Percussion can crescendo and decrescendo to emulate the physical actions an actual drummer plays with. Drummers don't necessarily have a lot to be "emotive" with so dynamics is key. Volume is one of the few tools a drummer has to convey emotion. Play around with making notes louder and quieter :3

The hi-hats are a great thing to point to, you can slap on an automation lane for hi-hat volume and draw some fake dynamics rather quickly. Draw some peaks and valleys on the automation lane, copy and paste the automation when you have some dynamics that sound alive. I'm actually not sure what program your using or if it has a tool like this but it would be faster than selecting and fixing each individual note.

I really do love this song. I just want a little extra babe. You'll find out rather quickly what that volume control does for drums. Think of an object being far away. By playing quietly, then slowly getting louder the drums create the illusion that they are moving around in space, AND THAT IS INSNANE. drums are far away AND NOW THEY ARE RIGHT HERE. ARE THEY ON WHEELS???

[Wobble Rhymes]

Amazing, love the collab. Rapper has a good recording set up, his voice came in sounding nice and warm. The back track is everything I'd expect from Casper, tight perc samples, soulful rhythms, melodies and instruments are all gorgeous. I love how contemporary rap can sound the way it does. The lyrics aren't anything I'd give a Pulitzer prize to but it jives so well with the groove. The lyrics come across like they were written by a kid but Grant delivers the goofy lines like a pro. The message is relatable and I love it. This is powerful <3

[Welcome to Ram Ranch - Cloppin' Clyde]

I'm not too proud to admit that I shook my ass to this honkey-tonk without thinking. Yee-haw, and all that stuff.

[The catalyst [ambient djent 2]]

Wow, wrapped up in an almost two hour jam? Love it when creative projects happen like that. Nice guitar patches, I'm guessing it's all in DAW? I only recently patched up some guitars for a project, never liked digital sounding guitars but digital instruments have gotten better every year :D

SchattenDnB responds:

Yes, the idea was to create a short metal demo just for the sake of it, I used to make a lot of my older music in this way since I really didn't have much of a choice. Getting the full version of my DAW really changed that in a way. Everything is all in the DAW, I understand the issue behind digital guitars, i just use them in between demos and also for aesthetic purposes as well since i can't get the same result out of my current guitar. I still fiddle around with it nonetheless and can even play some of the riffs I've wrote.

[Barren]

All feelings relevant and present dearest <3

[just a little vibe check]

"Vibe check" is one of those youth slang terms, yes? I think I saw a meme or two vibe checking at the academy awards recently but I try not to know what humans are doing at all times. Loved the arpeggio. Honestly this track is so much more than I was expecting. That jazzy brass patch leads perfectly. Or I think that's a brass sound? It's way high pitch... I really can't identify it, I love it. That modest percussion let's the harmonic instruments do their thing. Harmonies are center stage here. Jeez, I love it when that plucky synth line decides to join the arps in the beginning. I wish I had some headphones on right now to see if there's any panning data but I'll do that laturz...

This is a really tasty music sandwich Mr. Death. I'd mosh to this <3

Father-of-Death responds:

thank you Quarl!!! <3 You are the best! :)

[It's Not Your Fault They Hurt You]

You can always shoehorn this into glitch-hop/IDM but we're given such limited genre tags on Newgrounds. I used to throw songs into "ska" and "bluegrass" out of frustration. Haven't done it in years but you should be safe in hip-hop. The dnb kids would probably get down to this as well, that's a very diverse genre to belong to. DNB artists have eclectic taste... join us midnights. Make your own sub genre of IDM, call it hiphop-step. You have my support and well wishes. HIPHOP-STEP HYPE.

Edit: I completely forgot to say how much I love this track <3

Midnights-Ocean responds:

I really wish the music genre boxes would get an overhaul here. I mean it's all technically breakbeat right? heh. Though you are probably right about the crowd, when I think of D&B I think of faster more busy beats with loads of pitched snares, which I love btw. With this one being more slow I figured, hiphop maybe sorda? lol

Thanks! I kinda have that bad habit of creating new hybrid genres when I make music. I love when music surprises me with fresh combinations. I'm so glad you like it. ^_^

[Path Of The Forgotten]

This sounds beautiful Casper, no surprise there. Instruments are awesome, I love that percussive melody. The sound effects are pro and gorgeous. IMO, track is perfect. I feel like 100% of the tracks you put out are quality. Prove me wrong, I dare you.

Casper responds:

Thanks, I've been having a hard time producing this month, made a lot of WIPs that I am not likely to come back to. I was listening to some of my older songs that I have uploaded on newgrounds and i feel like I rely way more on my tools and samples now. As for the track being perfect, I think the drums could have been cleaner lol. I pitched the original loop down like 6 semitones and tried compressing and cleaning it as much as i could, also has a tiny bit of reverb decay so it wouldn't end suddenly but I guess the crash fixed that anyway.

[loser]

I'm gonna slip this into the ol' love making playlist. It will sit alongside songs like "Leave the Door Open" by Silk Sonic, "Fuck You Like Animal" by NIN and "Rollercoaster Of Love" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hope you're excited to share a playlist with these music legends, you're going up in the world Vurb.

Hella fun dance track. Creative melodies, awesome use of samples. As someone that often uses dnb switch ups I was genuinely happy to hear one in this. Totally unexpected, those kinds of tempo switches usually feature some kind of synth riser or a slow noticable automation change to the BPM. I love how that spastic break just hits out of nowhere. 10/10 dear.

vurb responds:

thanks mom