Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Battle of Ships]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
JinZ Battle Of Ships: 10,8,10,10 (38/40)

Stop making me bop to this, I'm trying to compare how this song relates back to the art and the listenability/complexity is making me hella biased. Good work on making a track so wonderfully engaging and energetic.

I'm gonna nit pick the mix a little, it looks like you maxed out your sound field but the track is sounding a little flat for some reason. I might recommend experimenting with your panning data. Sounds that are panned give off the illusion that they are a little louder and panning will free up room on the other side of the field for other tones and textures. Dynamic changes to stereo data can make a track become more engaging for the listener. Panning also emulates "movement," which is a powerful tool a lot of producers never take advantage of. This track kicks so much ass, I just wish the mix down was perfect. I won't take off too many points for the mix but this is one of my genres and I'd love to hear you do it at 110%. I'm also getting on some people's case for not writing enough, Newgrounds is a community that feeds back into itself, sometimes we're like a family that argues. After spending decades of my life on this website I've come to appreciate knowing more about people that come through here. Use this creative space to develop a manifesto of sorts. Your kind to include your age on your profile, I've worked with a lot of prodigies here that went on to do impressive things. I believe you'll do very well with a metered anticipation of your future. FYI, there's almost no money in music but you can still pursue your dreams and find satisfaction with your work regardless of outcome. I'd be very satisfied with this amazing work of sound design if it was my own.

I'm not taking off massive points for the mix/panning because the art chosen is legit hi-class pixel art. The music is almost too good for the art but the fact that it's animated is playing into a deceptive degree of complexity. You did honor to the artist with work that makes me wish this was a steam game I could purchase and play. Though the mix sounds a little flat, there's still plenty of room for ambient sfx if this was playing in the background of a video game. That space is where I'd sneak in classic retro 8-bit chips and blips, panned to emulate their location on the screen. At the moment of scoring this, I feel you have exceptionally accomplished the task of the contest. Each judge will approach the subs in their own way but know that I loved this, and it was a treat to listen to. Top tier work.

An additional footnote I'm adding at the time of posting this review, don't be afraid to write more about your creative process, what specifically inspired you, and how it relates to the visual. Tagging your equipment is beneficial, this is a community of peers that often loves and rewards data. You don't have to write as much as I do but I take notice when people include their feelings. Often it feels like no one is listening or paying attention but when they do, holy shit it feels good. I hope you have a wonderful day JinZ, salud!

JinZ responds:

Tysm for this feedback
I think youre right, i should elaborate what was going on before i release a track xD

[TRANS RIOT MUSIC]

Snare after that first drop has a crispy snap to it on my Sennheiser's but I know that hi-freq snare pop would be painful on a pair of Audio Technica's. Even without switching the cans it's killing me a little on my Sennheiser babies. Include your equipment in your tags so I can know what to listen to this on, it rocks so damn hard but I want to hear it with the apparatus you intend it for. Should I turn around and plug this into my PA system? Something tells me it's gonna shake my house apart if I give it a go on the monitors... SHOULD I DO IT? SHOULD I SHAKE THE HOUSE DOWN??

FREE99 responds:

yes Yes. YES

also mixing these songs is impossible @ this point too messy, all are at +1 LUFS etc.. made with SHURE SRH840s doesnt sound painful 2 us on mac speakers, HR824's, a scarlett solo, iPhones, or DT 770s but our ears are also. used to a beating at this point. appreciate that feedback / might play around w it a bit ^^ <3

[Nowhere 2 Go (Feat. Milkypossum & Maxxjamez)]

Woof, y'all three are killing it. Explosive beats, catchy hook, romantic old school drum machine samples... perfect music collab <3

YasiinClemens responds:

Thank you so much 😭

[Shining Star ✨]

I mean, I'd toss this into cinematic or video game. Those genres tend to blend styles and ideas freely as both a movie or a video game needs music that evolves with the action. Also, VG producers tend to be super chill and experimental. Nice people. Either genre fits this just fine.

I'd give this some bigger constructive crits but I'm not an FL user. Instruments all sound hella nice, those FL presets? Kids these days get the best preset synths and drum loops, in my day we had to scrape drums off of youtube <3

EDIT/RE: it's all good love. I was actually mostly curious about that drum loop. I started in GarageBand back in 2006/2007, used only preset instruments and drum samples. Everyone starts somewhere but it looks like you've been at it a few years now. You're age excites me, you're at a great place for 16, prodigy <3

CJspellsfish responds:

aight, I change that genre to a videogame. didn't wanna mark it vgm because I dont wanna put all my songs in one genre.
the instruments used:
FLEX/Essential Strings/Violins Staccato
FLEX/General Midi Library/Timpani
GMS/Leads & Synths/Drivepass
NES VST/Triangle
FLEX/General Midi Library/Synthbass 101
FLEX/Essential Strings/Cellos Sustain
FPC/Electronic/707
Sytrus/Arp/303ish 4
FLEX/Essential Pianos/Electric Piano
GMS/Classic Detune TE
LABS/Percussion/Percussion
Boobass
FLEX/Histebe Electronica/Between Voices
samples used:
drum loop (idk where its from)
a very short static sound

[She Makes You Feel Like You're Alone]

As a bad bitch, I take offense to this song but also... I don't care because I'M BAD YO. I LOVE MYSELF, you just sads.

That wah'd up guitar solo was perfect. Damn Joe-Mega, calm down. That guitar solo takes a goofy song and makes it actually legit good. Blues/Hip-hop/Synthwave/Indy rock sandwich xD

Vocals are channeling some Faith No More... and now I'm listening to Epic... HOW DOES THAT SONG ALWAYS GET BACK INTO MY EAR??? D:<

Joe-Mega responds:

Damn, too kind truly.

[The catalyst [ambient djent 2]]

Wow, wrapped up in an almost two hour jam? Love it when creative projects happen like that. Nice guitar patches, I'm guessing it's all in DAW? I only recently patched up some guitars for a project, never liked digital sounding guitars but digital instruments have gotten better every year :D

SchattenDnB responds:

Yes, the idea was to create a short metal demo just for the sake of it, I used to make a lot of my older music in this way since I really didn't have much of a choice. Getting the full version of my DAW really changed that in a way. Everything is all in the DAW, I understand the issue behind digital guitars, i just use them in between demos and also for aesthetic purposes as well since i can't get the same result out of my current guitar. I still fiddle around with it nonetheless and can even play some of the riffs I've wrote.

[just a little vibe check]

"Vibe check" is one of those youth slang terms, yes? I think I saw a meme or two vibe checking at the academy awards recently but I try not to know what humans are doing at all times. Loved the arpeggio. Honestly this track is so much more than I was expecting. That jazzy brass patch leads perfectly. Or I think that's a brass sound? It's way high pitch... I really can't identify it, I love it. That modest percussion let's the harmonic instruments do their thing. Harmonies are center stage here. Jeez, I love it when that plucky synth line decides to join the arps in the beginning. I wish I had some headphones on right now to see if there's any panning data but I'll do that laturz...

This is a really tasty music sandwich Mr. Death. I'd mosh to this <3

Father-of-Death responds:

thank you Quarl!!! <3 You are the best! :)

[It's Not Your Fault They Hurt You]

You can always shoehorn this into glitch-hop/IDM but we're given such limited genre tags on Newgrounds. I used to throw songs into "ska" and "bluegrass" out of frustration. Haven't done it in years but you should be safe in hip-hop. The dnb kids would probably get down to this as well, that's a very diverse genre to belong to. DNB artists have eclectic taste... join us midnights. Make your own sub genre of IDM, call it hiphop-step. You have my support and well wishes. HIPHOP-STEP HYPE.

Edit: I completely forgot to say how much I love this track <3

Midnights-Ocean responds:

I really wish the music genre boxes would get an overhaul here. I mean it's all technically breakbeat right? heh. Though you are probably right about the crowd, when I think of D&B I think of faster more busy beats with loads of pitched snares, which I love btw. With this one being more slow I figured, hiphop maybe sorda? lol

Thanks! I kinda have that bad habit of creating new hybrid genres when I make music. I love when music surprises me with fresh combinations. I'm so glad you like it. ^_^

[Path Of The Forgotten]

This sounds beautiful Casper, no surprise there. Instruments are awesome, I love that percussive melody. The sound effects are pro and gorgeous. IMO, track is perfect. I feel like 100% of the tracks you put out are quality. Prove me wrong, I dare you.

Casper responds:

Thanks, I've been having a hard time producing this month, made a lot of WIPs that I am not likely to come back to. I was listening to some of my older songs that I have uploaded on newgrounds and i feel like I rely way more on my tools and samples now. As for the track being perfect, I think the drums could have been cleaner lol. I pitched the original loop down like 6 semitones and tried compressing and cleaning it as much as i could, also has a tiny bit of reverb decay so it wouldn't end suddenly but I guess the crash fixed that anyway.

[loser]

I'm gonna slip this into the ol' love making playlist. It will sit alongside songs like "Leave the Door Open" by Silk Sonic, "Fuck You Like Animal" by NIN and "Rollercoaster Of Love" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hope you're excited to share a playlist with these music legends, you're going up in the world Vurb.

Hella fun dance track. Creative melodies, awesome use of samples. As someone that often uses dnb switch ups I was genuinely happy to hear one in this. Totally unexpected, those kinds of tempo switches usually feature some kind of synth riser or a slow noticable automation change to the BPM. I love how that spastic break just hits out of nowhere. 10/10 dear.

vurb responds:

thanks mom