Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[modus - Sector Five VIP]

Some dance music aficionados might get a little tossed at the rhythmic change ups but I'm loving the techy break downs and chin-strokingly smart syncopation. Was looking at a comment that used the word "disjointed," and I get that. Was listening to "Beyond The Satellite" by Prolix recently. That track had a good balance of offbeat nonsense but he brought the groove back every few measures and I think a lot of DNB fans like that dance floor capability. Gotta give them something solid to groove to every so often. Predictability, controlled chaos. Toss the groove out the window and suddenly all the jump up kids are like "I hate it." I veer more towards IDM and breakcore, so naturally I love this.

Gotta give you props though for passing a sound that's way cleaner than the typical producer of either said genre. I've been listening to your music lately and while I might not fall in love with everything, all your tracks are tops clean. Your music went through the wash twice.

Was that a fucking pikachu at 1:59? It might not have been. Sometimes when mixing songs I hear shit that's not happening. Certain frequencies sound like my boyfriend so I rip off my headphones like "WAS THAT YOU? TOM, ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE?" You ever hallucinate to audio like that?

iammodus responds:

Controlled chaos would be the perfect term for what I was trying to achieve. The track as a whole was pretty dense so the mix was the number one priority. Glad it shows!
And that's not Pikachu - just a tapestop effect! Kinda see the similarity now that I think about it though

[Pufferfish]

Jaysus D:

[lately]

Hi lead synth, my name is quarl and I love you. I can hear those arpy trills. You can't fool me, you're doing sonic fast arpeggios and I love it. Sexily unique lead. Hi. I love you synth, yes I do.

My only useful critique is on the lack of aux percussion and mid frequency field. It's a really clean mix but there is room for so much more. Additional hi hat rhythms, tambs, rides, triangles, shakers, toms, bells, gongs. This could use some splashy crescendo drum rolls, and nasty drum fills. I love to remind people that vibraslaps and güira are things. WINDCHIMES. This track needs some breezy windchimes, I've decided it.

I kept imagining a large boat horn, sounds of the dock or ocean. I could hear crowds of people, seagulls cawing, kids running around, and this audio field has room for so much more sound. Don't get me wrong, the mix comes off across super clean, it was perfect in so many ways. Just consider adding some aux percussion or some additional samples. Spacelaces once told me that atmospheric samples can add character to a track and help people remember it.

Using my own experiences as an example, a kid here used the sound of someone sipping a slurpy or icy drink through a straw and I listened to that track everyday for the next month. I was like "THIS SOUND IS SO UNIQUE, WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TO SAMPLE THAT?" On that note, I just spent an hour searching through my favorites list just so I could listen to that track again because I forgot it's name.

Found it:
https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/787431
(It was actually the squeaky toy sound that I fell in love with late track. I forgot about it and remembered the drink instead but the point is I remembered the track.)

Fuck I love your arp lead. I'll probably listen to your track a few more times until I can make an arp lead like this that I'm happy with. Hi synth, quarl loves you, yes I do.

[My Name is Tom]

This is one of my all time favorite tracks in the audio portal. I am now on the record for having said that.

[Will It to Be]

That melody pad reminded me of Popcorn, Hot Butter mashed up with some Mass Effect synths. Not sure if you're using some kind of piano roll to write the arpeggios with but they sounded really clean and nice :)

I was kind of missing a snare sample of some kind. A clap, a slappy 808, an amen... hi hats, tambs, shakers, vibraslaps, Güiro, chimes... percussion isn't always necessary but this track would totes benefit from that kind of stuff. I'm a percussionist, so I'm going to zone in on those elements. You filled up a lot of space with low frequencies but there is so much space for tiny textures and high breathy pads. Strings, violins, sine waves... just a few ideas :D

Welcome to the music making club by the way, first of many tracks I hope? Don't be afraid to gush about your work in the description. This is a community with a lot of content creators that love learning from each other. There's a chance most people won't pay attention to the details or author comments but for those of us who do... we love it.

[Shadow People Jam]

New favorite techy jungle. Drums rocked something unique. What programs you using to make tracks with??

LaserBrain responds:

Thank you. At this point I was using ableton live and my own Max/MSP patches/devices, as well as a bunch of old freeware plugins

[Implant]

Tight drum loops. Probs a tad over compressed. That bass kick hits so hard it sounds like it clips stuff, might also be the hi-hats working at the same time. You got that loudness thing down pat though :)

You side chaining that sub bass at all? Letting the bass drum counter the levels of the sub would let you fatten both sounds up, juicy. Toss in some liberal panning on the hi hats to give off the illusion they're louder than they really are then lower their levels to make some room. You could also fit a shaker or tamb and pan it into the channel opposite the hi hats. It sounds like there is some white noise when the drum kit plays... not sure what that is, might be a shaker :)

Damn, I love how experimental it gets. I usually don't recommend people put silence into tracks but I liked that fuzzy silence at 4:40. You could have slipped a sample into that spot there but, meh. This track reminds me of old Violence Recordings with Hive, Gridlok, and Keaton. Keep bumping the breaks :D

edit: six minutes long? Calm down there LazerBrain, you're flexing on the rest of us with our 2 and a half minute romps.

LaserBrain responds:

Hello, thanks again. I resampled all the drums through an old tape deck, that's why everything is clipping. I'll take notice of the side chaining. Violence Recordings is class, thank you. Cheers

[Icy Wind]

lush pads and keys, those jazzy drum solos gave this a huge squarepusher vibe. I might have gone for a higer fidelity jazz drum kit but the fuzzy distortion has it's own charm. Lol, flutes :D

[Botched Break]

Despite wanting to move away from dnb I always find myself moving back towards it. It's a tough genre to move away from for some reason.

That drum kit sounds like it could be massive with more side chaining forward. Kicks sound pretty clean, but I'd toss a snare signal into the sidechain too to help those snares pop a bit more. Maybe the snare can be crispier with an 808 layered in? Your breaks are going so hard but with some cleaner fidelity this could rock as hard as anything else out there. I'm really feeling those breakneck drum lines...

Last crit, maybe a tamb or shaker rhythm panned to the left or right a tad would add some action to those drum rhythms?

A friend recently mentioned that the master out in FL has a limiter/compressor default turned on. I only point that out because I ran into a problem with Reason where 90% of my tracks were getting needlessly compressed and the problem was fixed with one button. Default fidelity units can ruin you.

I only mention all of this because I want you to experience the same second guessing and self loathing that I feel every time music happens. I want you to write music that kicks so much ass that you have to keep making it to appease the inner demons. Do it for the demons Morty. Do it for the demons D:

larrynachos responds:

"Do it for the demons Morty" made me laugh so hard, thank you for that.

I'll try layering the snare and sidechaining it, thanks for the tip. I always start an empty fl file so it doesn't throw a limiter on the master or anything, but I did throw ozone 9 elements on the master with the default preset because it does a good job of evening things out and bringing out the best in each element.

I guess my main problem is that it takes too much setup to hit my musical flow state. I always start each track like "what" and usually either fizzle out or diddle with a neat preset or drum pattern until I eventually slide into it. Coming back to a project gets harder each session, and I can only do 3 or 4 before I just start duplicating and call it a song. I try to watch tutorials and music production videos, but I don't really take much away from it or use it in practice. I guess I'm very aimless when making music. Right now my inner demons are like "make music, or a game, or something else, or don't. But also you have to do something right now MAKE SOMETHING MAKE MONEY"

Thanks for stopping by and listening :)

[Icryke]

Cool amen break chops. Voice pad was tender. This had a nice ambient vibe to it, despite the eccentric drums. The mix needs some work but the rhythmic and tonal elements are working for you. It's awesome when people can take the harsh sounds of the amen break and make it into something loose feeling or happy. The sub bass really helped give it that ambient feeling.

I guess if you want to try filling up some more space you could add some extra pads or samples. There sounds like a lot of room for more mid frequencies. Maybe some water droplets, bird songs, chirping sine waves, arp pads are just a few ideas that came to mind. Panning synths, leads, piano melodies... this mix has the room for it :D

Rakshal responds:

Thank you for the advise! I do tend to make things a bit too on the minimal side. I am probably going to try to use songs I like as references for how to fill out a track better. ^.^