Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGUAC - Wannabe Heroism (CRY.NN)]

Jaysus Cry, synths and drums hit hella hard. Those raunchy 303 acid bass lines were piff. Could probably get away with automating some of those hard gabber kicks in such a way to get some variety in the cut off? They have a static cut off that can benefit from longer and shorter pulses. Those bass drums could also pulse at various velocities instead of the constant 100% hard style max volume.

I love hard styles and the unique sounds these genres evoke but I know that the judges for these comps don't always have the exquisite taste people like you or myself might have. You can soften up the drums a little and then sprinkle some of that hard style in at key points. Even the shoe gaze kids will appreciate the apparent restraint. You and I can handle pure hard style but I worry that this will kill the judges. Their bodies can't handle the pure unmitigated force of your bass music. You're a mad man Cry D':

This is near perfect hard style. I'm only trying to coach the best work out of you right now, if you got some time to make changes I'd recommend fusing some more genres in here. You could sidechain a piano to the front of everything, punch it thought the gabber. That ambient section could benefit from a string section, maybe you could have some orchestral strings crescendo in and out, swapping places with the saw pad like an evolving instrument. You can rumble up some orchestral bass drums, or use cymbal swells for transitions. Merging orchestral and video game sounds into your songs will make newgrounds judges hard... do what you will with this advice c:

I wish I had some headphones on right now so I could get a sense of the panning, those ambient sections can benefit from a diverse field. Ààaaaa sorry, I got distracted for a minute. Fell on the keyboard. Where was I... PANNING. You can always make room for more things with clever panning. While your pushing the compressors to the max, you can also pan sounds. Certain elements sound best in the middle like bass&snare drums, sub frequencies, leads... but pads and aux drums can be tossed into various unique places in the field. Tambs, hi hats, shakers can all get panned. A benefit I learned a long time ago is that a panned instrument will have this illusion that it is louder than it really is. You can consequently turn those levels down a little which makes room in the mix for other sounds.

One last thing, I might recommend putting a filter on that saw pad and slowly automating a reveal?? With the idea of swirling in orchestral sounds, that synth can hand off the lead from time to time and that entire section could sound hella more triumphant! Huzzah!!

Sorry to leave you a wall of text on a competition song Cry. I want you to be the hero you want to be. I want you to become the Phoenix that emerges from the ashes. You are a mountain. You are a lion. I believe in you.

CryNN responds:

;D thanks for the review as always Quarl. its always a pleasure to read them!

[Killer Robot Blues]

"Sounds like rock and roll to me." Been listening to a lot of 90's grunge these last couple of years. You got that classic garage blues bop down pat. There are minor issues I can hear in the mix but I got no idea where to start fiddling with it? Vocals might sound better without that distortion fuzz? Is this a real drum kit? Doing things live is hella difficult and expensive when done right. I'd never take off points for using samples or drum machines :3

Loved the rock and roll approach instead of the tired electronic nonsense typical for Robot Day. Happy music making :D

LexRodent responds:

Great ears my good mate.
That was indeed a bit of rock n' roll , a bit of garage blues with a pinch of alternative and a low key tuning. I wanted to experiment a little with the dist on the vocals, but maybe a got a little carried away :D
That's a virtual drum kit indeed (by far the hardest part to record and mix properly in rock).
Glad you like it ; Thanks for listening.

[-Salvation-]

Track has a fun tempo, the synths are killer. Mix is nice and big. Would like to hear this with a longer intro. You could introduce some of the pads and slowly swirl the track into a climax instead of going right into it at 100% velocity. Those cinematic atmospheric introductions make for some entertaining drops :3

Good stuff none the less Hexil, track hits haaaaard :D

Hexelbit responds:

Thanks, I'm glad to hear it! Actually I do synths in about the same way as I choose tempo -absolutely in random (I just liked the number 160) roflmaolol.
And as for the structure, I specifically did not add it. As for me it is the most frequently used stuff. Like in my opinion, this makes the track super not original. But maybe I'm wrong

[Good Morning, Babe]

Love it Jern. I'm in the same boat in that I didn't "master this proper by listening to it on the car speakers, on my phone, over the WalMart PA system, through a can with a string." Glad to see someone taking LMMS to new heights. Instrumentation and writing is top notch! Super funk vibes. I love how many directions this goes in. That lounge jazz section around two minutes in was a solid change up and the down tempo drums coming back in was arguably sexy. The length of the track shows off amazingly inspired song writing skills. You didn't keep things static or unchanging and I know Spadezer will love that. I tried doing that with my track but felt the entirety of it revolved around a repetitive Rhodes chord progression. You more or less nailed what I wanted to do :3

Good luck Jernemies! Our bracket is sounding tight. Looks like we still have to wait to see what cMackie brings forward. It's not too late to team up and kill him I guess?

Jernemies responds:

But... didn't you already kill him? WHY DID YOU DECEIVE ME? >:/
Glad you liked it tho

[If You're Thinking About Giving Up, Think Again Because I Believe In You]

Sometimes a song title is so good there remains no option but to listen to it. Good job with that rambling high energy title <3

You have accomplished perfect anime vibes. Let's pretend this song accompanies an anime. This is now my favorite anime, I don't care if it's about a hunchback male janitor in an all female boarding school on an island in the Androma galexy. This is now my favorite anime because the theme song is so LIT.

3xBlast responds:

Thank you so much! That was definitely the vibe I was going for, including the way too long/overly descriptive title! Glad I made someone's favorite OP for a non-existent anime!

[Too Soon - NGADM Round 1!]

I wasn't able to give this a solid listen earlier but I love it so much. Vocals are really well done, melodies lead those vocals perfectly. Perc and tones are all fun and interesting to listen to. This is my favorite track from the first round of the NGADM. IDM background sfx is perfect. Lush track GBF <3 <3

That little sax was smooooooth.

EDIT: front paaaaaaaage :'D

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you so much <33

[Realm (NGADM2021)]

I've been waiting patiently to see what everyone in our bracket brings forward, I'm happy to finally hear your track Diossel. Very gentle, very atmospheric dnb. Lush pads and strings. Those sensitive little keyboard melodies are essential. I love that you chose a fractured snare pattern for the rhythm instead of those big jump up two-step patterns common in the scene.

I'm also glad you wrote a little bit about your time getting into music on newgrounds, a lot of us older users share similar origins. I remember collaborating with Fox Stevenson here when he was 12. Emperor was here for a minute under the alias "Parathile." Spacelaces had an account here. I hope one day I'll be able to say "I lost to Diossel in the NGADM and now he's BIG." I won't have to wait long to know if I get to say that, but I really do love watching people grow. Regardless of what the future holds for us, I'm rooting for you D. Good luck and let's hope the judges know good music when they hear it :D

DiosselMusic responds:

Thank you, I'm very excited to know that people like my music, it makes me feel happy, I really appreciate it.
Thank you very much!!! ^^

[dududu-du]

Loved it. Mix down could probably be a little more fine tuned but I love the elements all coming together to make some really grimy filth <3 <3

Edit: since you're asking about mix I'll toss out a few ideas. Fair warning, everything is awesome I'm just nit picking things. I'm at max volume listening to this but I like having the option of turning the volume down. Theres more room in the mix to push a few instruments harder. People worry about over compression but you might listen to your track on another set of speakers and realize this sounds different. Bass is great but given the genre you might be able to push it a little more. Snare drum falls a little flat sometimes. Maybe experiment with another snare layer more in the mid range? A clap or 808? I'm really splitting hairs here but I do feel like certain tones are missing. Maybe some more aux percussion? This track would love a vibraslap or a waterphone.

I can't tell how much panning is going on but I think you can really push left and right further. Panning creates the illusion that sounds are louder than they actually are. By getting braver with mid to high range panning you can then turn those sounds down a little and make more room in the field for other sounds. Things to try panning with include pads, aux perc, and various sfx. Favoring a left or right side can also lead to issues but you can always find ways to balance the mix. Just takes some playing with :)

I've been advised to keep bass frequencies mono or in the middle. That includes the kick drum. I like to put a small bias on the ghost snare but the bulk of the snare layers stick to the middle. Then use them to sidechain sub bass frequencies.

Again, you did an awesome job. I only came back around because you asked. I'm always willing to clarify stuff :)

djhoohaa responds:

Thanks :) i thought i did a really good job on the mix lol. what aspect of it should i look into? or just a bit of tweaking over all?

Edit: Thanks, i really appreciate your time and reply
Nice, loads of ideas here. i am pretty lazy with panning but mainly due to when ever i have tried it, i dont get the results i want lol however i do try seperate the hi hats a bit. ive never thought about just panning certain frequencies of a sound before. that sounds fun to experiment with. ,Also just had to google what a waterphone is, i kinda want one now.

[Chained Promises]

Just wanted to say I loved this. Great atmosphere and textures. I'm a little confused by the prolonged silence at the end, clip that a little before the judges come around! Looks like there is more space in the mix for extra tones and textures but even with all that extra space the track really holds down strong. Good stuff Wolfgang :D

RosesWolf responds:

Genuinely wish I could fix that silence, but I’m out of the country atm. As I mentioned in the description, it’s a rendering error; FL Studio sometimes has this weird tendency to just add 30 seconds of nothing on the tail end of a project, and I have no idea why it does that. Unfortunately I was strapped for time, so I won’t be able to fix it until I get home