Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[From the Darkest Side]

Track is pretty good but that second segment from 1:40 onward was tops. Loved that plucky pad. Next on the list of skills to aquire is some sidechaining to get those drums punching forward. Snare has such a huge envelope, I'd start with just the bass drum. Slap a compressor on the lead synth/bass, then use the levels of the bass drum to control the levels of the synths via signal flow. A compressor unit should have a sidechain function. Would clean things up a bit :)

Not sure if you pan much but playing with that in the future gives you more space to work with. Someone once described it to me by saying that panning creates the illusion sounds are louder than they really are. You can pan things then turn their levels down a little. Makes more room for other sounds in the mix when everything gets it's own place in the field :D

Keep pushing Dieswyx, this work is really promising.

Dieswyx responds:

Thanks for the tips Miss Quarl. Although I could't fully understand, I know they will be of use to me in the future.

Thank you very much for your comments, I appreciate them very much. ^^ ♥

[Yes Man]

I had been meaning to drop this a review today when I gave it a quick listen earlier. Bass is huge, kit is awesome. I feel like there could have been a few extra aux drums like tambs, rides, cowbell... it's a minor nit pick though. This track has some of that old spor nuero vibe when he was hanging with the demoliton room. Love it Sinth <3

Sinthology responds:

Spor is my DnB daddy so this is a massive compliment

[Eien]

Nothing I like hearing more than clean IDM. A lot of brain dance has good vibes but lacks fidelity. You pushed the spectrum and maxed out the creative elements <3

Zerisan responds:

Glad you enjoyed the experience.

[Humanity]

I'm not an avid listener of ambient musics. I wouldn't assume most people are. The genre has a reputation of sounding a lot like someone found a good pad and left a brick on the keyboard. This was nice and short though, kept my attention, changed up often enough, and was very pretty. I actually kind of wish it was longer. Those sweeping square pads sounded lush. I would have dropped some saw arps into it, blips and what not. Maybe a high potamento sine pad, long cutoff?

I guess my personal beef with ambient is that it always feels like there is more that can be done to a track. I'm not taking off points though. Most of my feedback just comes down to preference. I got my enjoyment from this, and listened to it a few times :)

XORVUX responds:

Thanks! I like to think of ambient music in terms of layers, for which I say the more the merrier. Lots of different voices give you something to pick out through each chord. Saying that though, I was pretty conservative with this track. Couldn't think of much else to stack on top... But a sliding sine pad sounds really nice! Oooh, and some one-shots too? Both really clever ideas. I'm definitely trying that out next time :D Thank you for the feedback!

[Toxic]

"Dubstep is sometimes related to danger." My mom told me to stay away from three things growing up. Drugs, strangers, and dubstep. She is no longer a part of my life.

Great track by the by. Could have pushed and compressed things a little more, that wave shape is kind of thin. I'm not sure where to start in the mix, instruments are sounding pretty well mixed. Maybe boost those drums a tad, up the sidechain signals to help those kicks and snares cut to the front. Things are sounding pretty mono. You could pan things like mid to high drums, sound fx samples, and pads further which would give the illusion that they are louder. Panning lets you turn things down and make more room for more elements like lead synths, pads, and basses.

There's a lot of good stuff going on in here but get those fidelity tricks under control and this could melt a dance floor.

SuperSoniker responds:

Thank you very much for the comment, when making this song I only focused on making epic grunts, but in the next attempt I hope to improve and add more elements like the ones you mention, I appreciate your advice :)

[Fuck It All (and fuck you)]

Dank, I feel totally fucked. Thank you :')

*check the voice actor threads and forums. See if you can get some throat singer to drop some pig squeals on this.

djt820 responds:

Still waiting for our toilet collab bro

[Qshunt - Vortex]

Can't pick out the vocal sample, sorry. Track has some of that driving pendulum two step. A tamb might have brightened up that rhythm a little but that's the best crit I got for you. Loved that break down around the 3 minute mark.

Again, I can't pin point the vocals. Only 90's trance artist I can name is Aqua. Sorry :/

Qshunt responds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqSYFSvicJw&ab_channel=ohral_tv

[N.L. - CyberRosa]

Heavy, lush, sounds great. I might have punched the initial drums a little more forward (0:00-0:30) but all the elements mesh perfectly. The drums get a little more powerful after that first section, dank. Mix just comes across a little too bright at times, might counter that by making the bass a little more prominent? Not sure what to say other than make this longer. Track is fucking awesome <3 <3

NightLover responds:

Thank you, very appreciated ^^

[Waves]

Intro had a nice, soft, lush pad. Old school amen breaks, but clean drum samples and engaging rhythms. The ghost snares and bass drum grace notes were fun to grove to. I got an amen break arm band tattoo, the sheet music glides around my fore arm. I got nothing but love for the amen break.

Worth noting is that the track feels a little repetitive. It's easy to get to a point and say "heck, I'm done" but I've found there's always more you can do to a sound. Some familiar auxiliary samples can help break up repetition. A poor example might be Mario saying "Let's Go" or Luigi saying "WOAHAOHAOH!!" I call it a bad example because of copyright laws but you have to admit, Nintendo mascots would sound good in the background of something like this.

I don't say this as if sampling is a crime. You have good sampling and bad sampling. When you admit to using samples sparingly, a lot of mods will turn a blind eye to it. IMO, that's a fair use of sampling. No one's going to bark at you if you use a vibraslap or chimes from a youtube demonstration video. Fact is, no one would notice that. Most won't get upset if you're honest when asked about it. Sampling is... complicated.

Additional thought, that sub bass could have been pushed a little harder. It wasn't as noticeable on my PA system as compared to my headphones. I've had success with layering a slap bass on top of subs, then adding some distortion to boost bass frequencies while muting the highs, then EQing the two instruments together. Slap a compressor to the final sound for good measure.

Hope this helps a little. Honestly, I hate sounding critical when I actually love it. I just think this needs a little more character to really stand out as a phenomenally flawless jungle track <3

ksdmusic responds:

Omg thank you. I may Upload a "reworked" Version of this. But thank you so much for the feedback

[POLY - A Year Where Decades Happened]

Happy to see you on the front page love. This sound has an accessability to it I don't get from some of your more atonal work. Keep pushing yourself dear :)

Anchorwind responds:

It's always good to hear from you. This piece is one wherein I would never be satisfied with it. I started with what I thought would be a direction and then "but this" "and this!" "i should fix this" "no i don't like this now..."

Over time I think we get better at understanding life is an incomplete story. Whether we do well with accepting such is an is a different matter. Polish people have a nice summation for it: Jakoś to będzie (ya-kosh toe ben-jay) - to worry without consequence because things will work out in the end. In the Army we had a much more blunt way of putting it. "Shit'll buff out."

I hope we all can emerge the other side of this rollercoaster, heal, and somehow be better as a populace. We've learned some hard lessons.