Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hysterical Notions]

Honestly, a thin mix down like this creates a great "tired out" vibe. We're all feeling stretched right now with this Jamuary song a day nonsense. I feel like this mix down is hella relative. I love that bubbly pad sound. Bongos just slapping away. If you looped this for ten minutes instead of ending after one, I wouldn't care or say anything against it. I'm so worn out right now, this track basically sounds like how I feel. Stretched, chewed up, wrung out, but still funking away. Slapping those bongos, chin up high.

Casper responds:

Was considering sleeping but im not giving up, just 339 more daysss jk i would literally physically diee

[Jamuary 2022 (Day24) - Don't Look Back]

I'm surprised any of us are still posting stuff everyday. Great tune by the way. I'd have changed one note just to say "I finished this today" but there's literally no reason to do something like that. I love how chill this is. I have so much trouble keeping things simple but I have a lot of respect for music that just is. This doesn't need to be anything more, the melodies are lovely. So modest and pure c':

metalblinga responds:

Thanks! I appreciate it :)

[On The Case]

Authentic vibes, first computer I remember was a 95. I feel like old computer games get glossed over a tad by sexier retro Nintendo/Sega gems. I remember playing computer games in the 90s that had no right to be called games because they weren't fun at all but we played them because we got a floppy disk at some random flea market and it said "games" on it AND WE LOVED IT.

You remember Encarta Mind Maze? Renaissance style trivia maze, each room had a question? That shit was my jam.

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

tripledigit responds:

I'm glad you like it! I put a ton of work into it.

I used to play the games that came in cereal boxes. Disney did that for a while. I had a skating game from An Extremely Goofy Movie, a first person exploration game for Atlantis, and a game for Dinosaur that was a collection of mini games/activities.

[Soulless]

Sad vibes today, don't diss your own music! Everyone has their own funk that grows and matures. Self promotion can be a depressingly existential sadness but you can't let it get to you. Who is this rapper by the way?

Unrelated but do you listen to DreamEater at all? I don't think he raps but his lo-fi tunes are tip top. He's one of my favorite Newgrounds producers :3

Casper responds:

Listened to a few of his tracks, outside of my own music i don't really listen to lofi though. I just updated the description to include the link, its natjamesworld which is a guy I found on looperman. I don't think I'll ever get my sounds clean enough or unique enough or whatever enough for them to be standalone tracks that people can just listen to, it'll always be about improving it and getting feedback but I shouldn't care, it's only gonna drive me more insane

[Mellow Misery]

This is a really good swing. Loved the crisp glitch effects and off beat modded clap snares. This is probably my favorite thing all month but I'm such a slob I hate to admit that haven't had the chance to listen to everything.

Such clean sounds on this. Amazing :' ]

Casper responds:

Thanks, i've been wanting to layer those snares or make my own so i can fill up my drumkit but haven't had the time, glad you enjoyed it:3

[N. Different (feat. Yasiin Clemens)]

Gonna have to give this more listens laturz, tablet monitors at the moment. Only way I'd have made this better would be with a 2x osc saw/sine lead programmed with sweeping portamento, pitch/shift mods, and automation lanes for them. Portamento slides and pitch/shift modulators are awesome but the option to automate them on/off creates a very human feeling.

That is such specific feedback but the track itself is amazing. Chord progression is lush. Drums sound nice and full (on my tablet). Aux percussion is killing it. That vocal melody is hauntingly gorgeous. I'm curious what that is. Sample, recording, midi instruments, or something more mysterious?

I'm gonna ask you guys to gush a little bit about the creative process under author's comments. An artist's statement is an important tool to communicate ideas. Telling us to check out Yasiin is legit, he is very talented. Though, you could include some more feelings or thoughts. Newgrounds is a community of creative people and artists. They love to learn and share ideas. While it feels safe to assume that your music will speak for itself, saying a few things might attract a larger audience. Make yourself personable to some degree. I realized at a certain point that if you say nothing about your work, you are just a webpage to everyone that stops by. A webpage serves to be used. Force people into acknowledging that you are a person, not just a webpage :D

Hairmilked responds:

Hey Quarl!

Massive post so I'll do my best to break it down and any good points will be put in the bio.

I synthesized the bass myself and originally it was more of a Halftime sine with a deeper sine under and modulated at 16ths but Yasiin wanted a more analog bass which I think fit better in the end.

The analog was sequenced so I agree it wasn't that human, I tried modal randomness but that didn't go great so I left it alone while I had my sanity.

The chords were Yasiin's he did a bunch more stuff but I personally wanted the drums, snare and hats that I made to be used as I thought they were floaty and spatial.

The chords were so bouncy and I needed to match that, once the bass was done I need the lead. The mysterious piece you speak of is actually a simple synth. Harmonic series and saw at a high pitch, gated as a pluck and EQ'd for high frequency.

I'm super proud of the melody, I started with Yasiin's chords and worked backwards to make the rhythm more bouncy and infectious. I'm glad you thought it was a vocal as that was my plan hehe.

There are also some pads that in truth I got from Splice as I was racking my brain for something to layer on the bridge.

I of course want to be more personal in the future but have struggled with getting real on the songs, I will do my best in the future.

Take care,

Stache :D