Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[GBA Getaway! [Jamuary Day 11]]

Reminds me of Mario Sunshine but whoever writes those happy Nintendo jams has a monopoly on good vibes across a multitude of games and genres. This would fit right in with any old Nintendo property regardless. LOZ Windwaker, island people jamming it up? Milky can do that. Yoshi hanging out with his fam? Milky was there with a kalimba. Even a franchise like Final Fantasy needs happy, upbeat jams and Milk is prepared with her tropical margarita musics. I'm not a fan of playing triangle but if you approached me to just stand still for five or ten minutes and hit a triangle once a minute to something like this I would Will Ferrel the fuck out of that triangle. 10/10.

[N. Different (feat. Yasiin Clemens)]

Gonna have to give this more listens laturz, tablet monitors at the moment. Only way I'd have made this better would be with a 2x osc saw/sine lead programmed with sweeping portamento, pitch/shift mods, and automation lanes for them. Portamento slides and pitch/shift modulators are awesome but the option to automate them on/off creates a very human feeling.

That is such specific feedback but the track itself is amazing. Chord progression is lush. Drums sound nice and full (on my tablet). Aux percussion is killing it. That vocal melody is hauntingly gorgeous. I'm curious what that is. Sample, recording, midi instruments, or something more mysterious?

I'm gonna ask you guys to gush a little bit about the creative process under author's comments. An artist's statement is an important tool to communicate ideas. Telling us to check out Yasiin is legit, he is very talented. Though, you could include some more feelings or thoughts. Newgrounds is a community of creative people and artists. They love to learn and share ideas. While it feels safe to assume that your music will speak for itself, saying a few things might attract a larger audience. Make yourself personable to some degree. I realized at a certain point that if you say nothing about your work, you are just a webpage to everyone that stops by. A webpage serves to be used. Force people into acknowledging that you are a person, not just a webpage :D

Hairmilked responds:

Hey Quarl!

Massive post so I'll do my best to break it down and any good points will be put in the bio.

I synthesized the bass myself and originally it was more of a Halftime sine with a deeper sine under and modulated at 16ths but Yasiin wanted a more analog bass which I think fit better in the end.

The analog was sequenced so I agree it wasn't that human, I tried modal randomness but that didn't go great so I left it alone while I had my sanity.

The chords were Yasiin's he did a bunch more stuff but I personally wanted the drums, snare and hats that I made to be used as I thought they were floaty and spatial.

The chords were so bouncy and I needed to match that, once the bass was done I need the lead. The mysterious piece you speak of is actually a simple synth. Harmonic series and saw at a high pitch, gated as a pluck and EQ'd for high frequency.

I'm super proud of the melody, I started with Yasiin's chords and worked backwards to make the rhythm more bouncy and infectious. I'm glad you thought it was a vocal as that was my plan hehe.

There are also some pads that in truth I got from Splice as I was racking my brain for something to layer on the bridge.

I of course want to be more personal in the future but have struggled with getting real on the songs, I will do my best in the future.

Take care,

Stache :D

[Without Stress]

I hate to burst your bubble but I counted the drums in 4/4. Snare always falls on the third quarter note but that fourth pulse is still there. You can count this in 3/4, the pulse will eventually overlap 4/4 every 12th quarter note but I'm not getting a prominent 3/4 pulse out of this.

Time signatures can be a strange concept but I'm glad your trying it out. Writing stuff that divides time in ways your not used can lead to interesting ideas and new jams. Try 3/4 again, try to get the drums on a good triple "waltz." You can do it!

Wouldn't be fair if I left you on a critical note, the jam still funks nicely. Moody, chill, pro. Loved the birds, they always make wonderful pads. Just googled this for the musical trivia, birdsongs in music:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdsong_in_music

Birds have always informed our musicality so I'm always sampling them and noticing when others do it too <3

Casper responds:

Yeeeah i had to do the drum pattern several times due to weird rhythms and awful sound selection , i've been producing way too little to get time signatures haha. This was rushed, I'm working on some music for a video game and figuring stuff out for my album. Thanks for the review:)

edit: im counting.. 2/4? tf did i do this is a disaster, a chill disaster

[stormz uh brewin]

Lol, "pop."

I'm listening to this on some low fidelity tablet monitors but I love the crazy eccentric jungle energy. Nice breaks, synths all contribute to a good harmony. That lead goes all over the place. Your my hero, this goes hard. Great track beenie :D

beenibroh responds:

thanks man :)

[Jamuary 2022 (Day11) - A Possible Mission?]

Don''t you mean... see if you can HEAR it? Sorry, it's a semantic issue and has nothing to do with the track itself. Great work. Love that play around the mission impossible theme. Love me some 5/4.

metalblinga responds:

Thanks! 😄

[GOBLIN]

Samples are mooody AF. The beat kicks. Phat bass. I can get down to this :O

[Jamuary 2022 (Day8) - Clear skies and a new day]

I wouldn't call this an attempt, you wrote a really chill song and three hours is impressive. Congrats on writing something really relaxing in that three hour time frame. Track is polished and lovely. Honestly, I'm finding it way easier to write "chill type songs" on short notice but I've been saying this a lot: great music doesn't have to be an extravagant affair. Great music creates feelings, and this guitar is making me reflective. The pads are gentle and work in perfect harmony. Great work metalblinga :3

metalblinga responds:

Thank you! That means a lot 😊

[honk if your brain isn't working (mine hasn't in a while) [jamuary2022]]

Glad to have you back, track sounds great. The instruments work really well together, trippy modulations on those patches. Loved the perc. That little ball whistle sample is a smart detail. I don't think I've ever used a ball whistle in a song. I really wanted to use one in my highschool band but I suppose we all had creative differences :'c

vermeen responds:

thanks so much quarl! i live for these oddly-specific anecdotes. glad you liked it

[Cruisin [Jamuary Day 6]]

Love those funky clav pitch mods. I just used your track to demonstrate an effect to my mate. Reggie Watts will use his loop gear to make fast pitch modulations on his voice, noticable on his performance of "Kwanzaa Juice," but they're more obvious on your clav thing than his voice.

If you've never watched Kwanzaa Juice... do it.

milkypossum responds:

I'll have to look it up, but phasers and pitch mods on clav are always the way to go for funky beats!!

[Jamuary 6th]

Yeah, normally it's wise to take breaks while producing to rest your ears. I've learned to work at a lower volume and max it after exporting to WAV to get a better idea for the mix. I'm not gonna lord advice over you though, kill those ears. Tinnitus is like having someone follow you around with a really high pitch chime all day, HEARING LOSS IS BASICALLY THEME MUSIC

:D :D :D

A house purist would strangle you for those drum syncopations but I'm not complaining, I'm vibing with it. Don't let those purists dictate things for you. You are free of limitations. You are a bird. In a thermal, you rise above the clouds. As your altitude climbs and your wings soar, the small world below becomes meaningless. From this height, human civilization waits for you timelessly. You are now a time traveler experiencing perspectives in the past, present, and future. Time stretches aimlessly in every direction. As power flows through you, so does power flow through all cosmic life like a beam of light. Every atom in existence harmonizes with you. A face looks back at you through the ripple in space and time. It's the face of a clock.

It's way past my bedtime :C