Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[She Makes You Feel Like You're Alone]

As a bad bitch, I take offense to this song but also... I don't care because I'M BAD YO. I LOVE MYSELF, you just sads.

That wah'd up guitar solo was perfect. Damn Joe-Mega, calm down. That guitar solo takes a goofy song and makes it actually legit good. Blues/Hip-hop/Synthwave/Indy rock sandwich xD

Vocals are channeling some Faith No More... and now I'm listening to Epic... HOW DOES THAT SONG ALWAYS GET BACK INTO MY EAR??? D:<

Joe-Mega responds:

Damn, too kind truly.

[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. ^_^