Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Danger at the 2nd Floor]

This is cool! I won't try to lie to you, the track has a ton of amateurish vibes to it but that's one of the draws I like. A lot of users here have tracks from their early days when they were getting accustomed to their equipment. I love hearing the progression people make to their work. You is young lmfao, stick around Newgrounds and seek out feedback that can sharpen your musics!!

I'll give you a few tips that were handed down to me ages ago. Drums are always going to the be the most important element in any given EDM genre. Take a nice long listen to the producers you like and try to get an idea for what sounds and characteristics make up their drum kits. When I build EDM drum kits, I layer different drum samples to make new samples. I'll typically use three different snare drums. One will have strong mid frequencies and two others with more high for timbre, tone, and general character. Lot's of producers now a days use cool pitched up snare drums, clappy 808 snares always make good layers, I like having a small but woody sounding snare to play ghost note rhythms. Play around with layering and make really unique snare drums! It takes some practice and eventually you need to add fidelity tools to everything, but it's so worth it. Building drums is so much fun, the crazier you get with the signal flow the better :D :D

Bass drums can get that same layering treatment. Once you get a few good samples that resonate perfectly with each other, you can go crazy with fidelity tools but layering is a pretty game changing technique on it's own. Also remember to pick up good drum samples whenever you can. I posted a few drum kit sample folders a while back on Discord, let me know if you want them in a private message, I love sharing those.

I don't know if you've discovered automation lanes yet but if your program lets you use automation lanes, use them. Use them to give instruments crescendos and decrescendos, pan sounds from side to side, put a filter on a synth and automate changes to the frequency and resonance knobs, pitch bend things at will! Automation lanes are just recordings that emulate movement. If the MIDI tells a synthesizer to play a note at a certain velocity, the automation lane tells that same synth when to move certain knobs. Automation is power!

Again, let me know if you want those drum kit sample folders! They're totally legal to share, one folder is mostly just amen break chops but they make wonderful layers <3 <3

I hope you love what you're doing, music making is an awesome thing! You need to make a follow up track called "Drugs On The 3rd Floor," think about it! You can have a whole series of songs going up a really strange building, make an EP called "Really Big Building."

guiltlesslmfao responds:

Hey! I appreciate the review (probably the longest one I’ve ever gotten). This song’s couple months old and since last month I’ve been trying to learn how to make my own drum sounds and playing around with em. I’ve also been using automation lanes for couple years actually (at least I think so) though I didn’t use it here. Those drum kit sample folders sound nice, so you can share them to me! And yes, a series sounds awesome, if I do it I’ll probably remake this track as well. Thanks!

[Spider Stones]

Classic jungle, lush instruments, funky breaks. Sub bass is perfect. The whole track is mixed perfectly. I might crave some more mid freq drum kit punch but I have a bias for louder drums so you can choose to ignore me and keep grooving.

[Jade]

Woof, this one hits hella hard. Love the style and groove. I get the feeling that the mix is a little dry, you have a lot of elements coming together to make a wall of sound. I'll totally forgive any issues with the mix because everything else is perfect.

If you want some ideas for the mix let me know and I'll send you a PM. I get the feeling there isn't a whole lot of panning but with some pro tips this stereo field can be a lot more dynamic and face melting :3

HypercubeRecords responds:

YES SEND :D and thanks !

[Ice Girl (EP)]

I am going to remix "You Are Filled With Determination" and there is nothing you can do about it.

EDIT: actually... there are several things you can do about it but please don't D:

[666XXX666]

I saw that wave shape and laughed. I love how classic techno genres max out that field with like... three instruments. Bass drum, a romantic 303 "bass synth," and like... a hi hat. Add a few compressors and that audio field is totes maximized.

I love hearing the variety that comes out of you D.

Demonicity responds:

yup i need to master this one better

[NGUAC - Wannabe Heroism (CRY.NN)]

Jaysus Cry, synths and drums hit hella hard. Those raunchy 303 acid bass lines were piff. Could probably get away with automating some of those hard gabber kicks in such a way to get some variety in the cut off? They have a static cut off that can benefit from longer and shorter pulses. Those bass drums could also pulse at various velocities instead of the constant 100% hard style max volume.

I love hard styles and the unique sounds these genres evoke but I know that the judges for these comps don't always have the exquisite taste people like you or myself might have. You can soften up the drums a little and then sprinkle some of that hard style in at key points. Even the shoe gaze kids will appreciate the apparent restraint. You and I can handle pure hard style but I worry that this will kill the judges. Their bodies can't handle the pure unmitigated force of your bass music. You're a mad man Cry D':

This is near perfect hard style. I'm only trying to coach the best work out of you right now, if you got some time to make changes I'd recommend fusing some more genres in here. You could sidechain a piano to the front of everything, punch it thought the gabber. That ambient section could benefit from a string section, maybe you could have some orchestral strings crescendo in and out, swapping places with the saw pad like an evolving instrument. You can rumble up some orchestral bass drums, or use cymbal swells for transitions. Merging orchestral and video game sounds into your songs will make newgrounds judges hard... do what you will with this advice c:

I wish I had some headphones on right now so I could get a sense of the panning, those ambient sections can benefit from a diverse field. Ààaaaa sorry, I got distracted for a minute. Fell on the keyboard. Where was I... PANNING. You can always make room for more things with clever panning. While your pushing the compressors to the max, you can also pan sounds. Certain elements sound best in the middle like bass&snare drums, sub frequencies, leads... but pads and aux drums can be tossed into various unique places in the field. Tambs, hi hats, shakers can all get panned. A benefit I learned a long time ago is that a panned instrument will have this illusion that it is louder than it really is. You can consequently turn those levels down a little which makes room in the mix for other sounds.

One last thing, I might recommend putting a filter on that saw pad and slowly automating a reveal?? With the idea of swirling in orchestral sounds, that synth can hand off the lead from time to time and that entire section could sound hella more triumphant! Huzzah!!

Sorry to leave you a wall of text on a competition song Cry. I want you to be the hero you want to be. I want you to become the Phoenix that emerges from the ashes. You are a mountain. You are a lion. I believe in you.

CryNN responds:

;D thanks for the review as always Quarl. its always a pleasure to read them!

[Killer Robot Blues]

"Sounds like rock and roll to me." Been listening to a lot of 90's grunge these last couple of years. You got that classic garage blues bop down pat. There are minor issues I can hear in the mix but I got no idea where to start fiddling with it? Vocals might sound better without that distortion fuzz? Is this a real drum kit? Doing things live is hella difficult and expensive when done right. I'd never take off points for using samples or drum machines :3

Loved the rock and roll approach instead of the tired electronic nonsense typical for Robot Day. Happy music making :D

LexRodent responds:

Great ears my good mate.
That was indeed a bit of rock n' roll , a bit of garage blues with a pinch of alternative and a low key tuning. I wanted to experiment a little with the dist on the vocals, but maybe a got a little carried away :D
That's a virtual drum kit indeed (by far the hardest part to record and mix properly in rock).
Glad you like it ; Thanks for listening.

[-Salvation-]

Track has a fun tempo, the synths are killer. Mix is nice and big. Would like to hear this with a longer intro. You could introduce some of the pads and slowly swirl the track into a climax instead of going right into it at 100% velocity. Those cinematic atmospheric introductions make for some entertaining drops :3

Good stuff none the less Hexil, track hits haaaaard :D

Hexelbit responds:

Thanks, I'm glad to hear it! Actually I do synths in about the same way as I choose tempo -absolutely in random (I just liked the number 160) roflmaolol.
And as for the structure, I specifically did not add it. As for me it is the most frequently used stuff. Like in my opinion, this makes the track super not original. But maybe I'm wrong

[Kiru]

Absolutely stunning melodies and perc! This track hits hard.

If I may critique the mix a little, that drum kit could punch much harder through the bass & synths with some side chaining. Track like this, I'd be tempted to merge both the bass drum and snare drum signals to control the levels of your synths. You could then beef up those same synths with some controlled distortion or EQ units. A compressor will let you minimize the differences in an instruments dynamics in such a way that makes it sound louder. With that contrast between side chaining, distortion, and compression you can make some tremendous leads.

That arp pad @ 00:41 could benefit from some experimental cross channel panning! You could automate a change in pan continuously from left to right in a square shaped pattern. The benefit to panning is that doing so will induce an illusion that a sound is louder than it really is. This then allows you to turn the levels down a little on that instrument making more room in the mix for everything else. An amazing mix knows when to pan what. Bass frequencies sound best in the middle but mid to high frequencies can get some nice field panning. I typically find a place all the way to the left or right side for my auxiliary percussion such as tambs and hi hats. Since the drums are typically the most important element in the mix for EDM genres you can leave the bass and snare drums center field :3

There is much to love about this track. Please don't take this review for negative. I just want drum and bass producers to produce the sexiest drum and bass they can :D :D

[Good Morning, Babe]

Love it Jern. I'm in the same boat in that I didn't "master this proper by listening to it on the car speakers, on my phone, over the WalMart PA system, through a can with a string." Glad to see someone taking LMMS to new heights. Instrumentation and writing is top notch! Super funk vibes. I love how many directions this goes in. That lounge jazz section around two minutes in was a solid change up and the down tempo drums coming back in was arguably sexy. The length of the track shows off amazingly inspired song writing skills. You didn't keep things static or unchanging and I know Spadezer will love that. I tried doing that with my track but felt the entirety of it revolved around a repetitive Rhodes chord progression. You more or less nailed what I wanted to do :3

Good luck Jernemies! Our bracket is sounding tight. Looks like we still have to wait to see what cMackie brings forward. It's not too late to team up and kill him I guess?

Jernemies responds:

But... didn't you already kill him? WHY DID YOU DECEIVE ME? >:/
Glad you liked it tho