Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[CRY.NN - A Diabolical Journey Across the World]

lol, the female vox reminds me of an old track called "We Want Your Soul." I grew up with a remix version though so, this thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxRuOE2rg9Q

It's impossible to find a high quality version of that track because everyone uploads a compressed version. Talking about the quality on YOUR track now, I know there is unnecessary compression by looking directly at the newgrounds audio visualizer. Newgrounds creates a waveshape that we can look at and I can immediately tell there is something needlessly compressing the export because there is space at the top and bottom of the waveshape. A certain amount of compression is a good thing but I got this track on max headphone volume and am totally unphased by it. That extra room would normally force me to turn the volume down a little and enjoy a perfectly mixed track at say 80% volume. I can't notice any distortion from the compression with my ears because you did a great job mixing but I know it's there is more space in the field available for amplification.

On that note, my ears are telling me they like the end result. I just know that the track could be louder with no bad distortion by looking at the waveform. It's a convenient little feature newgrounds offers, start looking at other peoples wave shapes and nitpick what you like or what you don't :)

I'm in love with the hardstyle vibes you're putting out. This is some awesome musics. I only got that minor criticism for the final export because everything else is perfect. Find the fidelity unit that is over compressing the final version and try turning it off or minimizing the compression. Knob twiddle for a bit, compare and nit pick differences between exports. If you're worried you might ruin the track "save as" first so you have an original version and one to play with.

Final words, just know that the newgrounds visualizer can give you some basic loudness data just by looking at it. IMO, Demonicity is on newgrounds and he's my go to example for perfect mix downs. He leaves good space in his mix where needed to fit a DJ set format, but when his chorus hits, he gets that full range that the sound spectrum offers with no bad distortion.

Sorry I'm not dropping in to say "this is perfect in every way." I really do love all the elements. I'm only being super critical on one minor thing to try and get perfect tones out of you :)

edit: why wasn't I following you already? I follow everyone...

CryNN responds:

I was quiet shook by the looks of the waveform in the tab too. Thanks for the tips and critique. Helps alot ;D Oh yeah im in contact with him too. Thats a +
edit: might look at my latest release. thats a huge difference in the master right there o.o should be like that?

[Brutely Butchin']

Lol, sounds tops awesome. You got room for some pads and instruments though. String ensembles, violins, soft airy synths, choir, sine waves... sky is the limit. Drums could benefit from some new layers. You can get nice and fat sounds by layering new samples on top of your others. All of my tracks have 3-4 snare drums that layer to make a new snare drum. You can use the drums interchangeably, solo one for an intro or break down, bend pitches for funzies...

I'm only tossing ideas in your direction. You got something fresh here and I would love to see your style evolve :D

ToasterPower777 responds:

Thanks for the feedback ^^ Only reason i didn't go into that much depth was becasue this was for a short that had to be made in 2 days so i didn't have too much time
Glad you enjoyed it otherwise tho ^^

[All Gun and Flames]

Lol, haven't seen someone producing with LMMS in at least a minute. Very creative story and coinciding musics. Surprise ending, I'll try not to spoil it for anyone else.

ToasterPower777 responds:

I'm glad you liked it^^
Also yeah i mainly use lmms because it's really good for a free software

[yatse ya!]

Great stylings, I love the emotion coming from this. Inspired shorty. I'm ready to go on an adventure now. It's perfect for what it is. I could hear this in many an RPG. I'm getting soul calibur or fire emblem vibes. I feel like the track is a little quite. I spend a lot of time listening to dance music so I guess I just expect bricks :p

[Farewell And Goodbye]

Loved the honest heartfelt piano melodies. I feel like you could have played with the note velocities a bit to get more alive sounds. I play piano and have midi controls but when I write melodies I always remember to try to vary loud and soft note velocities as if they were being played for real. Rubato also gives piano a more human sound. Some melodies can drag out or be a little off beat and that small detail can create so much life.

Track is so long, I have no idea how many times I listened to this loop. Due credit for making a five minute track. I remember on the first listen that the dubstep/DNB drums punched me out of nowhere. I'd have faded them in with a filter or something to soften that up and then introduce the full power kit at a later climax. Maybe the intro could have used a softer jazz drum kit? The drums here are so powerful. I was expecting this to go full nuero skrillex.

It's still a great track. You're writing great melodies and progressions. Drums, despite sounding like the wrong genre, are powerful and full. There are some great ideas here and I can't wait to hear more :D

TrandafirTeodora responds:

Thank youuuuuuu!

[Deeps of Europa]

Avent-garde, musique concrete. Love the atmosphere from this. Cool scifi vibes and sounds. Actually reminds me of the original Mass Effect trilogy musics. Simple synths and distant growling pads. I got nothing critical to say about this other than stick a compressor on something and amp up the sound levels a little more. You got plenty of room in the field for more noise :)

BlueTuxedo responds:

Oh thanks you, i made this after i heard a ping sound in FL studio library, and my mind after that cracked and i got flashbacks from game Barotrauma so decided to make something ambient about it. The game atmosphere itself is dark and scary if you look out of a window in submarine, if we also include scary monsters that swim around it becomes more scary.. but it all wipes out because game have a voice chat! Haha

[Calmedo]

lol, you got a fun little style evolving over here. You got the right idea for using hi fi sound samples. The drums hit nice, the bass is big and round. I'm getting some armature vibes from this but I'm also hearing good potential. A string ensemble or violin section could have sweeped in at 00:33. Another good instrument would be a simple sinewave synth with automated pitch bends and curves. Bird chirping samples is not a new or original idea but some bird songs might give this track some positive character. Wind chimes could also accomplish the same task. Some tambs and shakers could have helped tie up the rhythm into something that resembles are more contemporary beat. I love drums that are a little unpredictable but a good rhythm has a lot of different sounds working together and against each other to make a solid rhythm. As a drummer, I tend to zero in on drums. There are a lot of ideas in this track that could benefit from more aux percussion.

Thank you for sharing this with me Blue Tux. I can't wait to hear more from you :)

BlueTuxedo responds:

Thanks you for giving criticism on my song! I actually started to making music like not really long ago, like a week or so? I'm making it for fun when I'm bored, i love that someone likes my song's.

[Cabin]

I'm guessing this is also coming out of cakewalk? Wish I knew more about the program so I could offer suggestions for where to take your sounds. You've got a nice young but flexible style of writing melodies that can evolve in whichever direction you want to take it. All I'm hearing right now is the limitless potential of someone finding their voice :)

Catalystl responds:

Thanks for the review!

This track wasn't made with Cakewalk, I used some other program called Brel's Midi editor, which was a lot clunkier to use.

Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is old and outdated, and so is its sound system, but its easy to understand. It just involves using SoundFont files (which contain many .wav files) to change the sounds of midi instruments when they're played.

I kinda like old programs more than new ones because they're just easier for me to learn, even when you can't look up how to do anything in them.

[A Million Caves]

lol, this has some fun dance vibes to it. The drum solo was fire. Loved that break down two minutes into the track. This has great ideas and melodies. Will be awesome to hear you progress further with your ideas, I'm hearing super young vibes from this. Most of the musicians on newgrounds started out making stuff like this so most of us have a fond place in our hearts for the sounds of the early days. Let me know when a few years have gone by and you're making amazing future house dub step hip hop stuffs.

Haven't seen someone using Cakewalk in a good minute, thanks for providing that software tag. It's always a pleasure to know what tools people are writing with :)

[Toxic (Original Mix)]

Great tasty synths. I love the crisp sounds. Long track, you kept it interesting for a good six minutes. Again I'm noting there a minor mix quips but this track is much cleaner than the other you posted. I wouldn't even know what to do differently to get perfect tones out of this. Would probably pan aux drums and pads more, lower their levels a little, and check all my fidelity units to make sure every instrument is getting the love and attention it deserves.

Awesome sounds Kronosxl <3