Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[After Curfew]

Lol, I can picture an indy game playing along side with this. Game loops only need to be 00:15 - 00:45 seconds long though. If I were trying to get the attention of game producers I'd just keep tracks short. Gotta hand it to you, four and a half minutes is a solid investment. I have trouble past two minutes xD

[Europa]

This has a cool world vibe. Super creative use of auxiliary percussion to create atmosphere. Definitely fits in the world of Drum and Bass musics. It has that driving tempo and powerful kick/snare rhythm necessary for the genre. Without an over powering lead nuero synth, this has a liquid or IDM sub genre vibe.

I love it. Another unique style I'm getting exposed to today :)

[Ad Astra (VRC6)]

Punk rock rhythm, in-your-face bass. Love the melody progressions. If this was a Sonic or Mega Man game the stage with this song would be my favorite.

MaldivirDragonwitch responds:

You flatter me! So glad you like it! ^^

[Jaywalker]

I hear your 7/8 time signature loud and clear. My college thesis work was all about time signatures, love the world of syncopation <3

Melodies and rhythms are all really cool. Is this a Beepbox creation? The last five or six people I've listened to have been using that app xD

edit: Famistudio, read it on your other track :D

MaldivirDragonwitch responds:

Ah, yes, the prog fan in me can't resist having fun with odd time signatures now and then. Glad you like it! That college thesis work sounds sweet. :D
I personally never used Beepbox, this was done in a DAW with the some 16-bit sounding VSTs and some Genesis soundfonts. Not a "true" chiptune, but I think it sounds rather cool!

[Dog Bus Remixed in the style of QUAKE]

Super avant-garde. Creepy space vibes. Most people wouldn't consider this to be music but those people haven't spent enough time in a small room with a bunch of video artists learning about Fluxist stuff. The is the kind of track that would cream my sonic art professor's pants. If the instruments here were plugged into a surround sound mix, this would qualify you for a BFA from a University :p

Redead-ITA responds:

Well to that i credit trent reznor and the quake community for the feedback!

[digital dream]

Another great track. I think the lead synths could have been turned down a little bit... how much panning is going on? I love the qualities of this track so much but I'm going to nit pick the mix a little bit. Everything sounds like it's coming in mono. Getting a little experimental with your panning can create space in the mix for everything that's going down. I'm not sure if this is good advice or not, but I like to automate certain instruments from side to side sometimes. Low quality speakers will sometimes lose areas of the field when you do that but I don't make music for people with potato spud monitors.

Panning creates the illusion that sounds are louder than they actually are so you can pan an instrument a little then turn down the volume to help make room. Then take another instruemnt and pan it in the opposite direction to balance things a little bit. You can get creative with it. The better you get at panning the more often certain instruments develop a mental home location. Personally, hi hats, tambs, shakers will often get hap haphazardly tossed far to one side of the field, bass kicks and instruments take up mono center, pads go where they are needed to help buff the field... everything falls into place :D

[Nam]

I'm sorry but this reminds me of moancore so much. Educate yourself, moancore is in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyS_c0ZpMB8

[Koom By Yah]

Heavy and hard. I really love how ignorant of all the norms this is. The repetition here is oppressive and unforgiving. It's so hard it can almost be a parody of hard music in general.

I took the time to export a version of your track under a more typical structure for funzies, uploaded to google drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F0JfIKNjivQRWkvPULPYf4t8AMmlYkC3/view?usp=sharing

I also layered a really bad snare on top... ignore that :D

[Warp]

This is so massively cool. Only suggestion I might make is a crisp snare layer, maybe an 808 or a clap to give the track a little more of a spine... it sounds like nuero and idm had a spineless jello baby... track just melts. Bass reeses are nice and wet. You got my attention so hard with these creative breaks. Drums are busy doing their own thing and I can't get enough of them. Again, only suggestion is to add a crispy snare layer. I feel like aux percussion can always fit places. Chimes would sound nice at 1:23. Tambs, shakers, and rides could add a little more diversity at 2:07. I notice a lot of producers seem to avoid toms but I love tossing in an odd fill or roll. I keep reminding people that vibraslaps and güiros are awesome instruments to sprinkle in.

That's all I'm gonna say about suggestions. You have such a unique style. This is mad cool and I love it.

HypercubeRecords responds:

THANKS!! Alot!!!