Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Glue]

I've been watching Katie over her shoulder. Not a fan of garage band but it's fun to watch the learning process in action. I should show you some drum sampling tricks next time I'm over. You can chop a sample from youtube using a browser based application, trim the sample further using audacity, then layer the new sounds in garage band. When you have a few sounds you like in garageband you can then export those sounds, resample them and keep layering sounds until you have all new sounds from old ones. Layering 101. It's a great way to get nice full drums.

I also recomend you invest $300 in a pc and just build a decent desktop to do work on. My cheapo can run circles around your Macbook. Back up you're data and I'll show you how to transfer it from mac to pc.

[No Smoking]

lol, slow core. You kids are too hip for me. Great timing for atmospheric rock, I'm just getting back into Explosions In The Sky. This doesn't quite have the same explosive climax that their work features but it was still really good. Not everything needs explosions and climaxes btw.

I'm one of those people that detests fade outs though. And it was just when the guitar was like "I'm here guys! Hold on, let me plug in my amp... wait... where is everyone going??"

SineRider responds:

But Slowcore is from the early 90s maaaan

Thanks for the review Quarl, I may go back and make a better ending. I couldn't figure out a good way to end it so I just did a fade

[Gentle]

Really cute little ditty. I love hearing music box textures and plugins. Great stuff Dev. Killin it.

[Kill you all.]

Moving Shadow circa 2001. I swear this takes me back. That bass sounds like early Calyx for certain. Love it. I can't critique this at all because it just tickles my nostalgia just right. Really stand up job chozz :)

[Arcadium]

Loved that laid back atmosphere. Really conservative wubs. Forgot you existed LJ. Glad to see your still playing with some tunes. Just looked at the catalog, you've slowed down a lot these last few years but hey; at least this. You doing any other alts, or gigs I should know about?

LJCoffee responds:

no alts - only other gigs are for the man... I'm currently thinking about performing a live-set somewhere - most likely an hour or two of pretty straight-forward house in some little known club somewhere. I'm almost ready though. Thanks for the remarks!

[idk to be honest]

hahaha, crunchy. I had a number of disagreements with the mix from a standard producers point of view but the artist in me was really digging it. Those breaks were fun to jive to. Really simple mix concepts. Just a drum a bass and a pad but hey: simplicity can be beautiful.

For future inspirations: being sick is no excuse. The old surrealists used to intentionally deprive themselves of sleep until they hallucinated to inspire their work. I'm not sure about where your production skills stand at the moment but to clean things up I'll usually merge a few different drum layers into the same channel so that I can really keep things clean. As in: I like to send three kicks into a merger to make it all one signal and send the signal into an EQ, then a compressor, then to a mixer...

I like to have an entire mixer dedicated to drums which get's eventually gets chained to the main mixer where I put all my instruments and samplers. It's slightly convoluted but after doing it for so many years it's just basic. Need that extra control over those drums. Like I originally said, I was really digging the crunch aspect from a creative point of view but I might have wet myself if this was a cleaner track. There are some seriously good ideas in there tonally and rhythmically. It's just lacking that mix quality to make it sound professional. Much love yoshi <3

[liquid messabout]

Awesome old school vibe. This takes me back to some of the sounds that came off of the Violence label. Gridlok and Hive <3

AeroMusic responds:

yess its nice to see someone know their dnb round here :P I've got such a love for that era
happy you enjoyed it mate

[Night of the Living Dead]

First dubstep? This is a really good start. Loving it. Those drum samples are surprisingly full. Nice work with them. A few things for your next outing...

1) Motif. There really wasn't one. The track started out on a bassline and it just maintained the same energy level through out. A pad could really help add some atmosphere to your music. Be it a string orchestra, a soft saw wave, a synth chorus. The possibilities for pads are limitless. They add character and depth to a track. Without those few background noises you added this track is predominantly just two instruments. Add some more textures! Drop a few more voices in there :)

2) Rhythmic variety. That beat got a little stale after a while. Drop some drum hits in new places, add a fill at the end of a measure, add some tambs or some toms. You kind of changed the beat at 00:42 but then it went right back to that hip hop beat. "New" beats don't have to be vastly different. Just, add a kick or two to the "old" beat and it will really add some dynamic changes you may not have been expecting.

I saw your thread in the audio forum. I'm not aiming to hurt feelings when I leave reviews like this. I really just want to see people improve and get better. I've seen so many artists come and go over the years but it's always fun to notice the progression that happens to the ones that stick to it as time passes. Keep on keeping on, you have some serious potential! Loving it :)

[Down]

It's always fun to hear producers fuggin around. Those filtered bass sounds had some nuero funk to them. you familiar with nuerofunk at all? It's an off shoot of drum and bass and something tells me you might be a shoe-in for that genre :)

Cool sounds :)

wiseyoungfool responds:

Thanks man! I do know neurofunk and it has definitely influenced me when making this :] dnb is the shit! I have a few more songs in the works that are even more neurofunky than this one and I'll definitely be uploading them as soon as they're done