Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[My Onism]

Can't believe I forgot to review this. I listened to this when you first put it up and said to myself "I want to take the time to listen to this proper with my HD 650s.

I've always made fun of ambient genres as being a super easy. You can essentially fake it by sitting a brick on top of your keyboard. That's a gross oversimplification for a genre that can be anything you want it to be but I'm a jerk sometimes. From a conceptual standpoint I really love the way you fill out the majority of this track with grainy sweeping pads. The drum and bass is a small tease but I actually love that it's such a small fraction of the track. It's a strong track.

I think I wanted a little more texture from that ambient section though. You could have fit some juicy pads and samples in there to help give that area some character. It's a great pad but give me some running water sounds, a train thundering by, a park filled with children, a lion growing, maybe bring that drum and bass back later... anything. I get bored easily when I listen to ambient genres so it's more my own fault for wanting more from the second half of the song. I need to chill more :p

This is a really powerful track. I'm glad you wrote something so different from everything I've been listening to. Great melodies and pads. This reminds me of the experimental drum and bass I used to hear on newgrounds back in high school. This track has some serious flavor. Just throw some samples in next time to make grandma quarl happier next time, ok? Much love protagonist Nacho.

larrynachos responds:

The ambient sections in this song and "I Want What I Can't Have" are both just the first sections reversed, stretched, and drowned in reverb and distortion. So yeah, it's lazy and "easy", but whenever I listen to the second half of this song I get anxiety, so hopefully I'm evoking thoughts and emotions in people.

I could have added more elements, but I think this was a song I made in a few hours before work one day, so at some point I just settled for what I had.

This definitely should give off that 2008-2011 vibe cause I think I exclusively used sytrus presets xD

Thank you so much for the review! It's always good to hear from you :)

[Time Attack (Remastered) in E]

My opinion, that sound can be phatter. This track is missing some serious frequency range. It's unfair because the track kicks ass in every aspect minus the mix. It's not even like the the mix is bad or anything, it's just small. Everything can use more volume and punch. Maybe more layers with those drums would help. Conservative amounts of compression on everything. Mind you compression can make sounds louder as well as quieter. Hit it.

You can also pan things way harder. Rig once told me that you can make sounds seem louder than they really are by panning them. That illusion will allow you to drop the levels on those instruments which adds more overall room to the mix for other instruments and noises.

Rig referred to those same background noises as background intangibles. Background intangibles don't contribute to the rhythm or melody. They just add sass and character to the track. Atmospheric sound effects. Think of a game like Mario cart where you're driving along and something you pass on the track makes noise like a volcano erupting or a hawk screaming as it zips by you. Atmosphere.

This track is so dope. I just wish it was louder so I could turn the volume down a little. I'm listening at max and my ears are still squinting :p

Edits: accidentally spelt "ass" instead of "add." Oops, Frued slip.

Noisysundae responds:

"And you still gave it a 5 despite all these flaws, so thank you. :D

As the title suggests, the original mix was made long ago. One of my goals for the 2019 remasters (which includes 15 menus I'm going to release on Sundays) was to alter the original elements only where it counts. Anyway, this one in particular has a very small number of instruments to begin with. This was pitched up by 2 semitones, and the detuned saw was buried under a heavy reverb. Those might explain the lack of mids and everything lower than that in some parts. I do make use of compression and layering (though maybe not much for the latter) for newly made menus lately.

Regarding the stereo field, I completely agree with that. I've committed murder with using stereo offset in almost every instrument in the past for the sake of widening things, but that works only on the headphones. Pretty much all of them older menus are ruined in merged mono. It's either panning or inverting one of the channels for me now, but to do the latter means to sacrifice some sounds when played outside headphones (due to the phase cancellation).

Sound effects too are what I hesitate to add to the menus. While it helps emphasizing the atmosphere, it can also limit what this menu can be in listener's mind, and that's not good if someone wants to use my menu for their contents. Sure, I can give them a version with no sound effects, but I doubt anyone will bother asking me for it. They'll just go for something else in that case.

Oh, I didn't mention this since I've literally rewritten this reply because I lost all of it by pressing escape, but I'll go with doing stereo stuff to make it sound louder. I want to keep the same mastering rules for all my menus." — The Manager

[I'm Gay]

This is probably the gayest thing I've heard in a while. Good job. You can finally tell your parents you're the best at something.

[Showdown on Capitol Hill]

This song reminds me of a blog post I read recently. I can't remember the specifics of it but I came here and favored this track because I am a free thinker with original ideas.

[Bones WhiP]

Not sure If I'd call this dubstep. This drones like industrial, IMO. Not that I'd know what real industrial sounds like, I'm only 30 years old. Real industrial was made before I was born and therefore I do not contain the knowledge needed to identify the genre properly.

I need to listen to this again on my computer but I was afraid of walking away and forgetting to listen to this.

How are you liking Ableton Lincohn'Ham?

SymbolCymbal responds:

I think my original intent was dubstepish and just started hitting buttons and keys and drawing automation. But yeah you are right this does have a touch of industry. :3

I'm absolutely loving Ableton Lincoln. It has a very smooth workflow and it genuinely fun to use. I'm still just working out some kinks here and there. Honestly I'm just happy that I can make music again. It's been years since I have had software and been able to create anything.

[trippy count]

This came through my feed I check once every day or two. Thanks Death, for continuously doing your thing for as long as I live thus far. You are always going to be top tier in my book.

Father-of-Death responds:

QUARL~~~~~! WHUDDUP! I'ma go to sleep atm but now i'ma review bunch of your songs yo!

me and you go waaaaaaaaaaay back

[We Are All Doomed]

EDIT: In response to your comments, ALWAYS SIDECHAIN. I'm not sure if your DAW lets you modulate the size of it but even a tiny bit of drum to bass sidechain will help keep things level. You don't need to use 100%. Tweak some knobs, even if your ears don't notice a difference. Be neurotic about it. I side chain the bass AND my pads with the drum kit. Sometimes just the bass drum signal and sometimes I include the snare. I'm surprised you didn't sidechain at all here, good kit samples, though it would seriously help. Crisp drums :3

Fug dude, you have come far. This kicks ass. Sounds like the bass over worked my low end monitors but I had to give this a listen with my Sennheiser 650's when I realized this was next level... I splurged on next level headphones for stuff like this :3

There are minor tweaks and nitpicks to make about the mix down but you know what your doing at this point. Nitpicking the mix from where I'm sitting seems unnecessary. Holy shit this track made me sex groan. Literal g-spot noises.

This track is too good for newgrounds.

larrynachos responds:

The only thing I know I didn't do was side chain, because I couldn't make it not sound like garbo. If you have nitpicks, I'd like to hear them. All in the spirit of improving.

Thanks for stopping by Quarl! Good to hear from you :D

[With You]

This is some tight liquid. You're killing it kid :')

[Walking the Wavelength]

This was super dope. Cool unexpected rhythmic choices from the drums. Keys were on point. The mix was a little amateur but that's totally ok. You've got a lot of instrumental talent on showcase here and getting good quality recordings can be challenging. A good recording requires a good studio and not everyone has that at their fingertips. Also, mixing/mastering isn't as organic a process as just picking up an instrument you can rock in the moment. Mixing is boring in comparison.

The lyrics were simple but well written. Some people like to write crazy rambling stanzas. Yours were straight to the point, curt. The accent threw me off a little bit, so while I read the lyrics I kind of tuned out eventually and let your voice become just another instrument. It's unfair, you're singing was great. I guess I'm not used to hearing a Polish accent. I don't want to go into detail about the accent though because I know how hard and embarrassing it can be to find your voice when you sing. Vocals take so much courage, I'm happy you just let it all out. Seeing as how you're Polish I'm guessing you choose to record in English for a reason? To be frank, I'd have been totally ok if this was all in Polish. I listen to so much metal, half the time I listen to music the vocals are totally a mystery to me. I'm a tone lover :p

GemeroftheWind's sax was on point. Super tasty wails :D

This is a good long listen. Was nice to hear something fresh today. Thanks Czy <3

EDIT: I'm listening to some of your other tracks. The mix quality is notably better on some of that stuff. I'm just going to assume this one being 20 minutes long is some kind of passionate one off :)

Czyszy responds:

Thanks for the super detailed review! It's a pleasure to read. I can't do anything about my accent but a lot of people have told me my voice sounded better in English. In terms of mixing and mastering I tried hard to get a vintage lo-fi sorta vibe. It's a shame that it didn't work out.

[Burning Sands]

You mixed a hell of a brick there. Any more room in that spectrum for... anything? Would a dog whistle fit in it or would that clip the whole project?

BoomKitty responds:

Ahaha isn't this waveform beautiful? It's still nothing compared to a RIOT track LOL.