Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Spectral Fun ~P~]

Really awesome sounds! This experiment was super well produced. I had to research SpectralLayers, looks like a fun app. $400 seems like a hefty price tag for something that kind of looks like a gimmick but hey, I bet people say the same thing about Propellerhead's Reason. After watching the demo video I have to say I want it. Could I get some opinions on SpectralLayers? Is it as easy to use as the video makes it look? I need to know how you feel about the app. Pretty pretty please?

Half star taken off because what was that stutter in those kicks at the beginning? Is that a side-effect from chopping frequencies in SL?

Phyrnna responds:

Ah thanks! :D
I decided to yank it as part of their Audio Master Suite which included both SpectraLayers and SoundForge (which I already had been using extensively) for $600. Honestly well worth the money for the incredible utility of both softwares and while other "cheaper" alternatives exist it's well worth the investment.
The interface isn't as super intuitive and easy to learn as FL's, but it's a very easy pick up especially if you look up tutorials or just read the instructions. The few stuff shown on their video is definitely as easy as it seems (though further tweaking yields more fun results) and already lets you do quite a bit. I've done some further experimentation to get some further interesting results and sounds.
As for the kicks at the beginning, that was a side effect of spectral casting tempo sync'd kicks but with slightly different decays and attacks. I guess you could say I created a sort of destructive interference lol.

[start it simple]

NO WON CAN STOP YOU FOD!! KEEP MAKING GOLD TRACKS SON AND WON DAY YOULL BE THE KING OF GOLDEN TRACKS, GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD. I have always believed in you. I will always believe in you. Believe.

Father-of-Death responds:

I BELIEVE IN YOU QUARL!!! MAKE MORE BEATS BRUH!

[Pastel Raindrops (demo)]

You mentioned that you used Logic, a program that I know little about. I use Reason, an equally pretentiously named program that's 100 times less learner friendly than the name would suggest. I'm going to program a DAW called "Common Sense" and the learning curve will be so steep kids will literally get hurt trying to climb over it.

"Picking out instruments." It's always good when a sound bank has what your looking for but I might suggest toying with initial patches or resting devices so that you can synthesize your own instruments for a second? Presets aren't dirty or anything but learning to make your own synths is like learning to make your own food. You will never go hungry ;)

Like I said, Logic is not my baby but this little tutorial video looked like a solid bread winner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktXARX-qDnI

If newgrounds adds a space in the html you'll have to delete it.

The arps in the second half of the song were pretty! What did you use to write them? Pure curiosity. Was it the preset instrument? Most DAWs have an arp effect or device of some kind that you can plug into most things. Usually. I'm not fact checking that but it's true. Arps are a totally legit way to compose. Just... don't let anyone know you do. Shhhh. Arps are the sexiest way to make chip tune synths from squarewave and sawtooth oscillators. Don't. Tell. Anyone.

Ahem. You have a knack for arranging musics together! Hope you hang out a while and keep composing :)

Lanmola responds:

Thanks for listening and reviewing! Actually, I tweak all the preset instruments either a little or a lot. I want to get my hands dirty building sounds from scratch more or less in the future. The arps are my favorite to mess with, getting the patterns just right for the song.

I generally start with a chord progression and build from there.
<(-.-<)

[Ruined]

I BELIEVE IN YOU FOD! NEVER GIVE UP MUSIC THIS SONG IS TITS AND I LOVE YOU!! SHOW ME YOUR TITS FOD!!! PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR TITS >:0

Father-of-Death responds:

( > Y > ) they are pointy cuz im excited

[The next VIP]

Psh, what a shitty review toast.

The drop was the best part. That nuero bass was so wet IF & D.matrix. Really crisp stuff. What are you guys using for this collab? I'd be curious to know how those basses were put out.

IonicForce responds:

Hey Quarl!

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed those basses!!

Our DAW of choice is FL 12 and the drop is composed with Sytrus, Serum, Massive, and FM8. That neuro bass was actually a vocodex bass and we used a bunch of slide notes. The Neuro FM was made of an FM8 Modulating a neuro carrier from Sytrus. Serum was used three times in this part of the drop. Two of the serums were growls and the last one was used for pitch bending. Massive was used for its performer functions, also a flanger and vocodex was used to create that "liquidy" sound.

I hope that helped a bit!

[baby baby baby]

I'm jealous I didn't write it first.

[Better Days [Glitch/Electro Swing]]

Nice vibes. Raunchy. IMO snare could have used a high frequency layer like an 808 snare or a clap. That snare had some nice bass to it but I like getting punched in the face by a snare. I'm a masochist. A ride cymbal or some tambs could have made that beat a little more layered.

Cool of you to note the sorrowful memory samples. I'm not that cool. I usually just shrug now a days because literally everyone that makes EDM samples in some odd way. Right down to the synths people use, there's almost always some kind of sample library behind the instruments. Like I said, that was really nice of you. I looked up 이문세 - 애수 just to see, I'm guessing it was the horns? I still have these Sorohan Mihai samples on my computer from the Hey Babulia remix contest ages ago. This track is giving me some inspirations!

Cool track Devil, 10/10 :)

TheMusicalGhost responds:

Thank you so much, and also for the very detailed review; I know what to do next time. I'm glad that I gave you some inspiration ^^

[Distress Signal]

Dude, I'm reading your words and seeing a lot of self deprecating. Drum and bass is such a hard genre to do right, don't be mean to yourself! I faked it for so many years, I still have no idea what I'm doing. Instead of writing a normal review I'll just type for a minute as if this was one of my own songs.

First thing I'd do is side chain that huge pad that fades in about a minute into the song. That pad has some nice quality to it but if you don't side-chain it will over power the drums like crazy. Drums always go up front in a dnb mix. Use the drums (or sometimes just the bass drum) to side chain the bass. I'm not sure if Ableton has a different word for it but look up side chaining if your not familiar. In short it lets you control the level of one instrument with the levels of another. Every time a bass drum hits, the bass guitar will de-amplify to make room for the drum. So good, sometimes I side chain everything cause I have no chill.

Not sure if your using a compressor but the drums need to be compressed stupid in drum and bass (unless your going for a liquid/idm vibe.) Compression takes a lot of practice so just slap a compressor on something and play with it until you can get sex out of it. It's going to diminish the difference between an instruments lowest lows and highest highs and flatten the sound to create something that sounds paradoxically louder. It's magic.

Hi hats are usually kind of like pads, further in the back of a dnb track but still important. Actually, turning them down just a little might be all they need. I'd screw with a pitch knob on that hat for like three hours until it's a pitch I agree with but that's just me. Some producers will say all the drums need to be in the key of the track but fuck that, it needs to SOUND right. Drums are a relatively atonal instrument and the texture of a voice is actually more important than the pitch when dealing with drums. Most my dnb drums are actually a layer of three to four different snares which combined makes a fat, atonal noise. LAYERING!

I made it this far without mentioning layering somehow. Find a few good drum samples and layer them up to make new drums! Let your snare drums all hit different areas of the spectrum. Play with the pitch knobs, volume, EQ and stuff for a few hours until your snare drums all work together. Drums are an infinite thing to play with. Be happy with them at some point but I'm not going to lie. You haven't written drum and bass until you've spent days just fucking a tone knob on one snare. And some producers say "match the pitch on your drum to the pitch of the track." LOL. Do what makes you happy. I have 4 snares, 3 bass kicks, and 5 hi hats to tune. I'd rather not worry about pitch when tone is the real battle.

I'll get into self deprecating now. It has its function as a learning tool of sorts but quality dnb takes so much self deprecating it get's suffocating after a while. I'm glad to see you're writing other genres too. Keep yourself busy and find happiness in your work to avoid suffocation! Find lots of inspiration. Don't be afraid to do anything.

I really like a lot of what I'm hearing! Sorry if you knew any of that already or if this review was boring <3

[Day of Yearning]

I hate it when data gets lost. Great track to revive! Loops perfectly. Most artists now a days get that digital arp sound with aid from a machine so kudos to writing it out! This track reminds me of something you'd hear out of a Final Fantasy sound track :)

Troisnyx responds:

Funny you mention Final Fantasy, because Final Fantasy X (the original OST, not the HD remaster) actually influenced a lot of my soundtrack-writing, along with Kingdom Hearts and a few other things. FFX in particular had this part orchestral, part synth, all MIDI sort of sound that felt like it belonged either in late 1990s enka music, or on the PlayStation 1.

Really glad you like it ^_^ That arp was fairly easy to write. Kinda doesn't help that when you're classically trained in piano, one of the things you're drilled into doing over and over AND OVER AGAIN are... well, basically, arps. What used to be the bane of my existence seems to fit perfectly here.