Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[shteppi - high speed techdeck escape 2005]

Hell yeah, class. Fun breaks, classic samples, pad is a little loud, bass is a little flat but what can you do? I love to point out the same mix issues I deal with on the regular, hypocritically. Track is short but you knew that. You posted a shortie with full intention behind it and I respect that. This has that jazzier violence recordings sound from Hive, Keaton, and Gridlok: sick.

[Lotus Vale [Electronica x Breaks] | Free Game Music]

Loved the groove, tight drums and melodies <3

JensVide responds:

Ah thank you! The drums are a sped up loop, cut up at some places to create fills. As for the bass I tried to imitate the bass sound in "Silhouette Dance" from Ridge Racer Type 4, but have a different type of groove.

The melodies really came by themselves, when I was making the song I heard that flute melody in my head. The guitar is improvised the whole way through.

[She is dead. You blame yourself but others tell you it is not your fault. Deep down, you know you ca]

Came for the title. Still reading the title. Technically stayed for the title. I love when a song title is too long for my browser. Track has some slick indy hip hop vibes. Loved those crunchy drums <3

[AIM - A Lifetime Later]

A Lifetime Later, masterakuma99
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9.5 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:10

Before even listening to the song I felt compelled to write up a review. It might reveal a bias to be honest but I had the opportunity to meet Grant Wooley in 2016. He was a very chill person, kind, and talented. I have a drawing of his in my sketch pad from 2016. I still follow his work on Facebook, his landscapes are bliss.

I'm grateful that you weren't afraid to pursue the "low hanging fruit," so many people seemingly miss the opportunity to reflect their chosen art with "atmospheric samples." I'm talking about the bird and water sounds at the beginning. It's such an obvious thing to do and so many people are like "NO. I'M GONNA WRITE SOME GENERIC DUBSTEP, HELL YEAH." Even within bass music genres the option to sample machinery, animal, or atmospheric noises exists so it's a really stupid flex. It was a slight let down though that you only introduced the track with that and didn't bother to reintroduce the idea at a later point. I love a reoccurring motif or theme outside of the melody and revisiting it could have sustained a little more ambient time to the work (though 3 and a half minutes is fine.)

At the end of the day a lack of reusing or introducing more atmospheric samples was the only thing I felt like nit picking. I'm satisfied with this, it's both minimal and perfect. I had a purely technical question to ask, as a drummer myself: there is a white noise that reminds me of the rattle of a snare's resonant head (the wires). At times it just sounded like white noise and I almost took off a point until I started to assume it was attached to the resonant head. How did you program those drums, they sound lovely and authentic! It's not some super technical blast beat but there was a lot of creativity as far as percussion is concerned and it still suits the nature of the art. Someone else might find the decisions distracting but my ears flipped right up.

Goodluck masterakuma99, I'm just now remembering you from the last time I judged AIM. To have remembered your name years later from the one song, your work must have stood out then too! Cheers!

masterakuma99 responds:

Thanks for the review once again, Quarl. Two years ago I also entered the contest and you gave me a really positive (i think even perfect) score. Glad you still remember me and enjoyed this track as well :)
To your question: The short answer is 'a lot of effects'. I love manipulating sounds through any means possible like a maniac. When I play guitar for example I use all kinds of things as picks. Coins, paper, sometimes even forks lol. I also like to experiment with all the effects and plug-ins I have. Specifically for this case there are three different drum tracks playing (in some passages) at the same time, all layered on top of eachother. I wanted the mass of drums and percussion to be a singular unit, existing only with eachother. Each one has an eq, saturator, plugin called vinyl from izotope, reverb, a tiny bit of distortion and another eq. Then all of them are glued together with multiple compressors to give them that lofi roughness. I think that is why it sounds like white noise/very faintly like an actual snare. Layered and compressed with other stuff makes it this sound that fits right into the instrumentals.
Thanks!

[Dream of a Gondola]

Dream Of A Gondola, LucidShadowDreamer
Composition/Structure:9 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:9

You put those chimes in it for me, right? There are times when I recommend chimes to represent elements like twinkling stars or wind and it feels like you saw one of those reviews and was like "what happens if I take the lid off the proverbial salt shaker?" You chimed all the way from start to finish, hilarious. I noticed you didn't write as much as when I last judged this comp, was a little let down because I love reading about feelings and getting a better idea of how my music friends are doing. Sure, it can feel disheartening when that kind of stuff gets ignored or questioned but now I'm like "is LSD ok?" I'm reading into nothing but I had to take a break from my scoring just to say that you're an old favorite of mine, you're powerful <3

The art is kind of minimal, the sound reflects a minimalist approach. Since I have to really consider all sorts of things, you're going to hate me for this, I saw those square plateaus and was like "wish he used a square wave pad, cresendoing and decresendoing in the background." (Edit: post scoring, I'm hearing a lot of work on those background sounds I might not have noticed at the time. A pitch bend on the chimes... really wish you included some extra data.) Landscape implies that there might be wind blowing the tree branches and grass... the chimes could actually reflect that to a degree as well but I was already associating them with the stars. I've started using the phrase "low hanging fruit" to refer to foley sounds and atmospheric samples that could convey what's literally in the image. I'd have dropped some blowing wind in this here and there, maybe had some sections where it replaces the chimes entirely?

You have so much strength as a composer, I really hope you don't take too much offense to my scores but it felt a little too minimal for what I know you're capable of. The music was very restrained and hit me with one energy level the entire time. I suppose that arguably reflects the image but I've previously pointed out that some composers are not choosing work that challenges themselves. It's almost like the art is holding you back. I don't want to have to judge the art, the last thing I ever want to say is "pick better art" but it's a feeling I get sometimes in this comp and expressing it could be a little dangerous.

I do love your work and seeing your name pop up. I hope you find my crit reasonable and I wish you luck with the other judges LSD! Have a nice day :3

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hii!
It's been a while, so it's nice to hear from you :D

I feel a song description can sometimes be as meaningful as the song title. Therefore, depending on my intention, I will write more, or indeed, less. My approach has also changed across the years. Sometimes it's apt to explain exactly what lead to the creation of a piece (which I intend to do for my next one, which I will probably upload by the end of the week). At other times, less is more ;)

I'm okay, btw! Thank you for wondering <3
I hope you are good too!

I think your review is entirely fair. I didn't as much set out to pick a "simple" artwork, but I also didn't set out to win this year. As I wrote, I was on holiday at the time of composing this piece. I was in Portugal, which was super relaxing. So I wanted the artwork and my music to reflect that type of serenity! At the same time, I was certain that the relaxation is a fleeting feeling, and one doesn't know what lies beyond the horizon, so I definitely snuck a bit of ambiguity into the composition as well ;)

Some atmospheric sounds could've worked for sure, but I more or less felt that the harmonies and chimes already fulfilled a lot of those functions!

Thanks again for your review; I will look forward to future ones for sure, as they're always a pleasure to read :DDD
Have a lovely day, you too!

[[AIM] Vaarzuleth - Hekate]

Vaarzuleth - Hekate, V-Future
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:9.2

(Edit: art relevance score got rounded to 9)

Sick tune, just wanted to clarify that I mitigated a point from production because while the production is often perf, tip top, there are some sections where the drums sounded over compressed or too bright, too static or repetitive, etcetera. As someone that likes to introduce evolving drum kits I also run into this exact problem in my own songs. One minute the mix is perfect, then you change the pitch or a layer on the kit and it's a totally different tone. Going into each part of the kit and automating changes to treble, EQ, volume, pan... change whatever you need to change but it can sometimes become really easy to over-look what might sound grating on someone else's monitors or headphones. The bass drum around 1:50 in particular drives me so crazy that I kind of started to twitch. That two step pattern needed some bass drum fidelity automation love, the second kick in each pattern maybe less treble? You could probably get some faux dynamics by just automating that treble knob a tad :p

I wanted to take a full point away from art relevance because there were audible cues in the drawing that you just probably didn't think about. A percussion instrument could have emulated the rattling of bones, there are animals that could have been covered with samples of dogs howling or snakes hissing. I like to call that kind of audio "low hanging fruit" and it's crazy how many composers in AIM seemingly avoid the low hanging fruit. The choir patch kind of suited the eldritch vibe of the drawing but I only wish you took a few more moments to think of all the possible background sounds that would have fit, DNB is so awesome when you get cool atmospheric samples that tie the song up in a neat bow. That yelling at 00:15 is actually exactly what I'm talking about, that could be a spirit in the bones, credit where it's due. Nice reverb on it by the way: killer envelope. Couldn't find a different guy screaming sample at 2:07 though, ha. I pitch bend specific samples if I use them more than once to try and hide how lazy I am, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SEEN V-FUTURE? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SEEN?? >:V

I'm probably kind of biased but this is bass music that hits all the categories of the contest just right. I love that you did your homework on Hekate, it shows that you had your heart in the right place and you didn't just pick something cool that vibes with your style. I went through your catalogue because sometimes I can get a better idea of an artist's breadth and whether or not they challenged themselves. You got "the heavy sound," you kind of went with a visual that suit your skills and that's totally ok. Was just letting you know that I went that much deeper while judging everyone's tunes. I love this one so very much. Great work V-Future and good luck!

(Came back to this to try and work the score a little bit. Someone else might think that the fidelity get's washed after a while, I'm not going to complain about over compression but the song really hits one energy level the entire time and that could be a problem on successive listens. I have a bias for this kind of music, other judges might consider what I'm bringing forwards. I think you earned a really good score though.)

V-Future responds:

Hey, thanks a lot for the in-depth feedback. I tweaked the drum gain staging a bit, so hopefully that fixed the problem. Could you give it another listen and see if the drums sound less squashed and overly bright now?

[[AIM] I Keep Daydreaming About An Island]

I Keep Daydreaming About An Island, carboluka
Composition/Structure:10 Production:10 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:10

I don't like giving out perfect scores when I'm judging a contest. That is all I'm going to say, good one carboluka.

*Awkwardly walks out of the room while squinting at you for getting a perfect score. Slams door. Doesn't elaborate.*

carboluka responds:

I'd like to know why if possible 💀

Still, thanks a lot, insane I managed to get one perfect 10!

[AIM - Promised Forever]

Promised Forever, NativeNiles
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:10

I had to pick and choose who to write reviews for this year but felt compelled to review yours in particular because you made a really conceptual choice to reflect the imagery that I appreciated. "I kind of figure the cello represents the male character, the violin represents the female character." I wouldn't have picked up on that without you saying so but I did something very similar in college over a decade back. I welded up two metal sculptures, painted one blue and one pink. With a speaker in either sculpture I made low frequencies come from the blue on the left and high frequencies come from the pink on the right. Simple panning to create whale songs essentially. Thank you for including your idea in the author's comments, it's the kind of thing I'm always trying to explain in so many reviews. A lot of people seem to write what they like writing with zero elaboration on how the art inspired the piece of work. Every choice down to chosen instrumentation can reflect something in an image.

I don't want to have to judge the art, some people chose some very lame imagery though. You at least picked a work that you could reflect in the genre that you wanted then took it a step further. If you're wondering why I took a couple points, some of the orchestral percussion elements could have been a little more dynamic or even experimental. A lot of classical writers are purists, refusing even to use reverb units to sustain a texture. I'd love to hear just a little bit more breadth, the characters are pure fantasy. I love it when classical people include a synth patch or play with delay/distortion/reverb/pitch bends and so on. From an aux percussion perspective I've learned to love glistening chimes, waterphones, vibraslaps, guiro... I'll pitch bend cymbal swells slightly each time so that it doesn't sound like the same texture over and over again. Each cymbal could have a pitch automations going slightly higher or lower to reflect the feelings and acoustics produced by the melody. Bass drums aren't any different as far as that's concerned, one drum sample can become many while only considering simple pitch automations.

Props on your panning, I'm not sure if it was always balanced perfectly and there were a few tones that kind of grated. Not sure if you use automation lanes to your benefit but when I get too unbalanced I like to drop an automation lane on the panning knobs to better fit different sections of the song, same with volume. We write our music in digital spaces that are seemingly limitless in some respects. I'm only bringing this up because I have considerable respect for you via this song, I would just love to hear you push your sound into directions you might not have considered. Expand your ideas to experiment with new genres and sounds, I checked out your catalogue very briefly. You're just as bad as the people that only stick to one or two EDM genres, integrity to a specific sound can really hold you back sometimes. You are a fanatic of classical sounds NN :p

Goodluck NativeNiles, I do hope for you the best! Keep being an incredibly creative force :]

NativeNiles responds:

Thx for the review!

[Missing Mini Mushrooms! - AIM]

Missing Mini Mushrooms!, Irish-Soul
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9.5 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:10

Noticed that none of the other judges had reviewed this one yet. Having the chance to review this song felt like waking up on a Christmas morning when you know you're getting socks but you love socks because you need them. I adored this one the first time I heard it and I still adore it, absolute gem! As a judge I reward people for finding the low hanging fruit. I also reward people for doing "foley" work. That probably attributed to the point I took away on emotion/atmosphere, without obvious jungle noises and animal samples this could arguably represent some other imagery?

However I also noticed everything you had to write about the song and that made it arguably difficult to take any points away from "relevance" over some foley noises. Some people have complained to me in the past about taking the artists comments into account but we live in an era of AI tools, AI art, and AI taking jobs. I have always pushed the idea that we need to speak up if we are going to retain any power over our work, we need to identify. Sharing your ideas in that space added authenticity. Anyone that enters this contest is capable of using that space to "defend their thesis." A judge might not catch a march when they hear one, they might not understand the conceptual idea of using instruments to convey literal aspects of imagery. The judge panel can often become a mish-mash of people with different ideas so it's wise to proudly talk about our works so that we can identify who is authentic and who isn't. Thank you for spoon feeding it to us.

Last year I had used percussive instruments to emote an animal trot, so I'll give you that idea; it sounded like you were incorporating percussive instruments to emulate the pitter-patter of cute little feet. I also caught the themes a march. Feels like the mushrooms really are marching into all sorts of misadventures, the snare drum is doing the work of creating a "happy" military march tempo. Identifying a march is an easy thing to miss if a judge is having a weird day but I felt compelled to write this review just to let you know that you nailed an impressively reflective OST. If I were hiring a musician to write a song for a project and this comic had been the story board, your work landed you the pay check.

This is going to sound really weird but when there's supposed to be silence it sounds more like a room with unique acoustics. I found that really distracting but what can you do? Someone else might think it a novel addition, for all I know you incorporated an actual recording of an empty space so it's just nit-picking at that point. The panning was executed as if it were a real orchestra, which only got distracting around 3:18. I feel my EDM bias hitting so hard like "should have automated the pan knob to balance that section a little" but... I just admitted it was an EDM bias. I can also feel my EDM bias wanting juicier bass tones and frequencies, hit the bass boost button for the sex appeal D:

I ended up taking a half point away from production and I'll stick to the idea that it was weak bass tones, yeah. Regardless of how the other judges look at this song, pat yourself on the back. It's awesome, cheers!

Edit: You got first place, guess the other judges heard what I heard. Great OST work Irish <3

Payton-Petkus responds:

WOW! This is an incredible review, thank you so much for the thorough assessment and your thoughts. I completely agree with your points on the production and foley. The panning in the last part is something that I especially agree with because my audio interface is currently broken (I'm working on fixing it) and only outputting a mono signal. So when I was mixing it is mostly guesswork.

Your comment "for all I know you incorporated an actual recording of an empty space" was really funny to me because that was actually one of the last additions to the song. I was mixing all the stems and told myself "dang, this doesn't sound like a real orchestra" so I added some room tone from ProjectSAM's Orchestral Essentials 2. I'm glad you noticed it (even if it wasn't your favorite part of the track).

Thanks for judging this track and the detailed feedback!

[AIM - Cosmic Beach]

Cosmic Beach, G2961
Composition/Structure:10 Production:8 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:7

Loved the song but I wanted to take this moment to point out that in regards to "inspiration" so many audio artists are missing the low hanging fruit. In the image you choose to reflect I can spot a lion, a Gundam, car traffic, moving water, an entire cityscape full of potential noises and sounds. The song is great but I would have loved some atmosphere that reflected the actual image. I did appreciate the vaporwave/synthwave relationship though so I still gave you an inspiration score I thought was fair.

Regardless it's still a great song and I loved listening to it. I know the genre subtly nods to late 20th century music culture but I would have loved hearing this with drums that hit a little more powerfully. There would have been very little risk to adding emphasis to those drums. Could have probably compressed them some more, not sure how much side chaining if any is happening but that's also an essential technique to get those drums shining and pounding at maximum EDM strength. The textures are all lovely though regardless of power. The patches all vibe hard and the melodies intertwine beautifully. This was a great song, despite any misgivings it might seem like I have. Ignore the competition scores if they bother you at all, you know you wrote something really cool. Thank you and good luck G2961!