Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM 2020 - O'Malley]

Nice swing 4/4 rhythms and the melodies grooved. Sounds were well mixed and compressed to impress. I can see some people griping over the power in that snare drum but hey... it's drum and bass. The kit is half the point. I realized years ago listening to Noisia and Evol Intent that a good drum kit can fill all of the space in the mix on it's own.

My only direction is that there might have been some more variety in the aux percussion. Some tamb triplets, a couple of splash cymbals, a vibraslap, maybe an orchestral bass drum swell. If this wasn't AIM I'd recommend some vocal samples of Bernard Shaw or Morgan Freeman saying something inspirational but hey, samples skirt the line of acceptability in comps.

Good luck Wolfie, I really love this sound <3

RosesWolf responds:

You're the first person on this site to call me by my nickname (Wolfy) since I joined this site, lol!

But that's all very valid feedback, and I'll definitely look into some vocal samples, that's a really neat idea! I'll definitely look into further auxiliary percussion.

I haven't seen anyone really complaining about the snare myself, and I think it's a relatively light snare for something like DnB, but that may just be my inexperience talking.

Thanks so much for the review, and I'm really glad you liked it!

P.S. Not sure if this counts, but all the high hats throughout the piece were played in 12th notes, so a sped up triplets :3

[Coherence]

Fuck yeah, dark two step. Those reese basses were tight. I wish those drums hit a little harder but that's a critique coming from a girl that doesn't know how to turn the drums down. I just keep pushing the levels up but after that I lose track of where the knobs are and couldn't turn them down if I wanted.

I'm loving how techy everyone seems to be getting. Stay classy Elf <3 <3

ActualElf responds:

Hey Quarl, thank you ^^

I'm still around and always make sure to check in to see what music you've been putting out.

I've always had the same thing where I made my drums super loud in the mix, I'll probably forever be on either side of the line during the search for balance ahaha

Thank you for the kind words as always <3

[Horizon]

Bleen isn't wrong about the mix but I didn't really focus on that too much. The melodies were really well written. My attention just slid back into the tasteful progressions and happy vibes. I tend to not give a damn about the mix when it comes to genres I don't jive to. I'm just happy to hear people doing their thing.

I loved the variety here. I was expecting a full on house song but you let your drums explore a good bit. There was even a little dnb in there at one point. It was adorable. My favorite part was that somber outro though. Like fuck me, you went from full happy hardcore to let's all be sad now. Damn.

LazerwingMusic responds:

Thanks for your positivity <3

[Greyscale Cascades]

I wish I didn't spend all day working on stuff because my ears are a little fatigued. This track has a lot of creative energy. I wouldn't say it's as clean as all the other dubstep out there but I kind of hunger for more rawness anywho. Whenever I hear something that's too perfect I knee-jerk assume it's stolen content. I miss out on some cool stuff like that :/

I decided to really give this a listen with my headphones when that climax hit. That part was powerful. Again, it's not the cleanest mix but it has so much unique force I just couldn't care. That intro banged, the melodies swirled and evolved, and no fucks were given. Away from the polished elitist crowd, you have a super cool sound that goes somewhere different.

Curious, why didn't you upload any commentary? I like to know what artists are thinking :)

Diivi responds:

Ty for the lengthy review! Sorry, i didn't upload much commentary because i don't have much to say about the song

[Among Others]

Damn clean jazzy drums, sassy vibe melody, nice full bass... you're on some good drugs. This track pulled me in when I wasn't paying attention and forced a review. Happy and somewhat unpredictable breakdown melody was super cool. Stellar work Jass <3 <3

Jassummisko responds:

Yooooo Quarl, how's it going? Really glad to hear from you again.
Super happy you liked the track!

[Beauty in Chaos]

The drum and bass was ok but I came for the birds chirping. You're getting all avant-garde on us. Your next track better be a half hour of just recorded water running down a stream or we are no longer friends.

I'm wondering if something is holding the mix back, it sounds like the mid frequency range is in low supply. That mid range helps add power, this is all low/high.

God fuck, I love those birds. They go super well with that crispy piano. FYI, the bird sample ends abruptly at 02:40. Automate that channel so it fades out with the piano :)

larrynachos responds:

It was supposed to cut off suddenly with the bird sample but I exported with leave remainder instead of cut remainder >< There's something unnatural about it that I kinda like for this track though. I seem to always miss the mid range, maybe it has something to do with the headphones I use or the way I cut out frequencies. I'm really glad you enjoyed it Quarl!

idk if I'd describe this as avant-garde, I'm certainly not the first one to put nature noises in my song. But thank you! I do however have an alt profile @cx330 that I use for more ambient/experimental stuff :)

Thanks again for stopping by!

[Cartoons]

I've been keeping to myself when I listen to your stuff but I do love the goofy energy I get from your tracks. I get a real Rustie "Ultra Thizz" vibe but better quality and more consistent. The reason I don't drop reviews on your tracks is because I'm always kind of afraid it will come to surface that you might be uploading other peoples work and stealing credits for social points.

Don't take that the wrong way. The only reason why I suspected your tracks might be someone else's is because they are too good for this place. Newgrounds hosts a lot of amateur hobbyists but your work doesn't sound like it comes from an amateur hobbyist. Your style sounds pro. That's a good thing, damn my skepticism. You got a nice full mix down, good compressed bass, full drum kits, beyond creative sampling style, great melodies, and dank rhythms.

What programs are you using? Who inspires you?

KawaiSprite responds:

Thanks Quarl! I hope I can put any kind of rumor like that to rest because its all original. I actually never saw it that way before maybe because ive been doing this for so long that its all just second nature to me. idk. I occasionally post vids on my twitter of music im working on, actually here's this exact session: https://twitter.com/kawaisprite/status/1250274350873210881

I don't think anyone has really complimented me on my mixing, I really do put a lot of focus on making everything sound as good as I can get it, So i really appreciate that. I dont get that much.

Rustie is definitely an early inspiration. EDM music is changing and morphing so quickly, people like iglooghost, Sophie, umru, A.G. Cook, 100 Gecs are making types of music that ive never heard before so on a technical level that stuff is really pushing me to make something crazy and fun. Melodically speaking I'm a fan of many types of music but I do enjoy me some Jazz, City Pop, 80's synthpop, Indie Rock, drone, lo-fi pop, italo disco, hip-hop, rap, eurodance, videogame music, J-pop I could go on and on. But I think my main influences are Baths, Ariel Pink, Balam Acab, Toro Y Moi, Joe Hisaishi, Aphex Twin, Animal Collective, Neon Indian, Yasutaka Nakata, Iglooghost.

Im using ableton live 10 at the moment, but i also use reason 11 as a vst because theres so many good sounds in there. I have various favorite vst instruments like Massive, Korg Polysix, but i think alot of the sounds in this song are from Reason. Live 10 has a really great audio stretching algorithm that I tend to overuse to get some wacky sounds. The vocal chops are just me singing thru autotune but its all sliced up. the 808s are ones that I made as well as the snare. I try to not use hihats and replace that percussive element with something unconventional.

As far as being on Newgrounds I guess you could say that maybe I could be out of place but honestly after a year of being on this platform, I've realized that people actually care here. Even if my ambitions/future plans are unclear, I just like being here. I really want people to start taking the audio portal more seriously, but I also want it to expand and allow for weird unique interesting music to shine thru as well. As it is the audio portal is a niche little pocket but I think NG as a platform would benefit from it if musicians knew what kind of opportunities they could have being here.

[Trilogy II]

lol, your blog is pushing a track from 2016. Feels like yesterday, doesn't it? Perfect mix down. Gratuitous guitar solos. Sexy metal drums. Funny story, when I mix DNB, double peddle rhythms take up too much of the mix so I can't 32nd note a bass drum as well as you metal people do. 2:34 kicked in just as I was typing that and for a half second my brain wanted to caps lock. DOUBLE PEDDLE RHYTHM KILLING ME.

JDawg00100 responds:

Oh man I haven't listened to this one in forever! I miss doing these Trilogy songs. They are always my favorite to write, creativity overload. There's so many solos in the beginning haha. I'm surprised there is because I am definitely not a lead player lmao. I feel ya about the double bass, it can get a little crazy. I actually never use a snare and a bass drum hit at the same time when it's that fast.

But yeah I really like these Trilogy songs. My favorite is definitely Trilogy IV

[wtf2020]

Compared to Affliction, this song has a much better mix. All that nit picking on your other track goes out the window here. I have a personal problem with keeping up my quality from track to track. Sometimes I listen to something from one year ago that doesn't hold a candle up to my work from four prior. I'm guessing the tones missing in Affliction might have been a result of the stress from NGADM? I stopped competing many years back because I always felt that the pressure to try and be the best was useless. I'd put out work I wasn't proud of to just meet a deadline. Maybe I'm projecting my own insecurities onto Affliction?

This track is so dope. Killing it JD.

JDawg00100 responds:

And yeah i'm not gonna lie Affliction was a nightmare to finish for me. I started with the intro riff and for the next few days I just couldn't go anywhere with it. It's one of those riffs that you write it and maybe a month later you come back and make a song. So I just forced it and barely got done writing it before deadline I think. This song I let my ears rest a bit and started mixing later, which I don't really do enough.

Thanks for the review :)

[Affliction]

lol, I think every metal composer has started a track on that grainy filtered guitar at some point or another. Was listening to a chimp spanner track the other day like "yep. I've heard this filter before." It's always filthy though.

I'm wondering if this track could have used a little more bass compression to being those low tones forward. The guitar work is phenomenal which is why I'm noticing that lack of bass. It also helps that I'm wearing some expensive headphones :/

I wish I could get the same level of variety from my melodies and rhythms. I feel like most the time I just copy and past until I call it a day. Seriously great stuff JD. I love it when a track feels like it tells a story. This composition goes places <3

EDIT: I noticed that guitar at the intro was all the way to the left. I couldn't ignore it after that. I'm noticing a splash cymbal is hard panned too. I spend a lot of time panning but I usually don't pan something 100%. It creates an empty feeling because tones become unbalanced. It creates a lot of extra space in the mix but in a genre where your guitars are each creating unique tones, maybe go softer with that panning to help balance?

I don't know why I'm nit picking all this. Maybe those NGADM reviews below put me in this vibe. Let's just blame them. Your work is great as always :p

JDawg00100 responds:

Yeah for some reason I decided on keeping the bass low in the mix. It might have just been the way I recorded the guitars. I used IR responses instead of what I usually do. I haven't tried to go back to the way I recorded this song ever since, it's so much trouble and latency. I always try to record my guitars as tight as possible

As for panning I always pan hard left and right for the rhythm guitar, maybe have a fortifier rhythm in the middle (which I didn't in this song because I was essentially using two different tones for each panned guitar). That leaves me a lot of room for lead guitar, or my favorite harmony guitars. As for the drums I really don't mess with the panning of my vst. I'm so bad with mixing drums, I've barely got the parallel compression down

This NGADM I didn't really care an awful lot. Got pretty far by the skin of my teeth too. I've had some awful years, I stopped joining them after a few really bad years. So much so that the songs I made for those specific years I just really hate, I need to go back and listen to them after so long. But really I just wanted to join it to force myself to get back into making music, so that definitely did that for me.

Thanks for the review :)