Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[DigohD - Influenza]

I'll be honest with you, my first thought was "seven minutes? This better be worth it because I've already wrote one sentence which means I need to finish this review and by the time I finish this paragraph I'll still be less than a minute into the track.

Very slow start. I'm an adrenaline junky so I can write that feeling off as just being biased to what I like. I really love hearing the ideas flowing in this though. That intro was super relaxing and you picked inoffensive patterns to build an atmosphere with. I didn't get bored with the intro despite the simplicity :)

Unfortunately I got bored listening to that bass kick over and over. I really wanted some kind of 909 snare or something punchy to contrast that kick. I get a tiny clap snare around 4:40 and that was way tooooooo long a build up for me. The samples you choose to use and layer with to make your drums have a huge impact on the punch of the track. Sometimes I'll use three to four seperate snares that all hit seperate areas of the sound spectrum, make them all one signal, send them into an equalizer, then a compressor, then to the mixer. God, my drum stack is a mess. We all have our vices.

You have some serious potential if you can clean up some of your choices in samples and layer on some fatness. Since this is such a dancy trance song I want to hear some squelches that make me orgasm a little. I want a pulsating drum kit with super compressed fat ass beats. I'm such a slob.

Please don't read this review as if I'm trying to be hurtful because I'm not. I hear so much good stuff in this I just want to hear what you can do if you push yourself to that next level. Cheers Digs :D

DigohD responds:

This i an excellent review. Probably the most interesting and valuable comment I've ever got. I've taken your criticism and wishes to heart, and it will surely impact my future work.

I'm currently struggling with mastering the sound of my music, especially the beats, and I'm often afraid to make it to noisy or loud.

Thanks for the review, and the best of regards,
Simon

[Bird's Song After The Storm]

The arangement is great! Love all the different sounds you have going. There are a few elements in the mix I'd have done differently but seeing as how I don't make this kind of music all my suggestions should be taken for a grain of salt.

It sounds like some of those instruments have a ton of space. Ditch that reverb and shorten the cut off times of those instruments to help clean up the mix. It sounds like your using those plucked strings with some heavy reverb right at the beginning to make it a pad. That's one of the instruments I was bothered by but it's such a minute detail.

I'd have lowered the volume on that percussion. The genres I usually attack are more suited for strong pulsing rhythms but those hihats, tambs, and what have yous really over powered. Maybe taking those hats and giving them a shorter cut off time would have made more space? Funny story, adding shakers might even things out a little. Sound is crazy like that.

Sorry to bother you but I really loved this song. I could loop it forever. Great track boo!

nerevars responds:

Thank you!

-"It sounds like some of those instruments have a ton of space. Ditch that reverb and shorten the cut off times of those instruments to help clean up the mix."
I think you're thinking about the contrabass. Yeah it was heavy in reverb because I think it will make the sound more "full".
I was thinking doing it without reverb, but it sounds so dry. Clean but dry.

-"I'd have lowered the volume on that percussion. The genres I usually attack are more suited for strong pulsing rhythms but those hihats, tambs, and what have yous really over powered."
I'm using the shaker the whole song to make it like a crowd and dance like. But I think I get what you mean. Should make the instrument cleaner. So the mixing need to be better huh?

Anyway, thanks again to reviewing my piece :D

[We Wish You A Merry Star Wars]

To be perfectly honest I laughed more out that jazzy outro than the star wars part. Probably had something to do with juxtaposition. It was so smart but so dumb at the same time. Love it.

sorohanro responds:

I love smart-dumb things, love them... love-hate them...

[Vader Bells - Imperial Christmas]

I'm going to put this on a mixtape and give it to someone I love <3

sorohanro responds:

Now that's the best compliment a track could get. Thanks.

[Xial - Stop, Now Go (Z mix)]

Cool ideas! I'll have to go check out the original now but if I may say a few things that might have cleaned things up a little...

-Those cymbals made the mix sound kind of thin. Not that it was a thin mix but those could have been traded for a slimmer, crisper closed hi-hat rhythm. The length of those cymbals kind of takes away attention from the surrounding sounds. Live or not, when I arrange drum rhythms I try to use those long drawn out cymbals for emphasis on the first or last beat... or anywhere I really want to place emphasis. They won't emphasize the entire song though if that's the only cymbal sound you choose to use :)

A lot of the other elements were great though! Keep plugging away at that drum and bass nucka :D

Zambies responds:

Thanks for the critique. I had intended them to be a sort of crash ride and they're layered with regular hats but perhaps the execution was a tad poor. I have plenty of music I'm sitting on right now, some being drum and bass, that will be up sooner or later if you care to follow, and if you're looking for the original it's up on his soundcloud posted in the discription.

[JEBBAL - Bonetrousle Remix Teaser / Undertale]

This right here was some cute tunes jeb. You did the inspiration some good justice, that synth work was right up there with the same general tone and vibe. That kit was nice and fat which was a good break from the first track! Good job keeping your version under a minute. If I had to sit here 15 times longer I'd have probably started to cry about seven minutes in.

The only thing I preferred about the original was the tempo but that's only because I'm a preferential slut for up tempo. Great stuff Jeb 4 president.

Jebbal responds:

Oh boy, thank you Quarl! I plan to rework the synth and come up with a fuller sound for the main beef of the song, this was really just for the purpose of uploading a loop. Actually I'm probably going to restructure this completely so it's more of a remix rather than a remake or cover. Glad you liked what I came up with so far!

It's going to definitely be over a minute, but not 15. Don't worry ;)

Thanks for dropping by to leave some words! I appreciate it!

[Jon Toniq - Real Lemonade]

Nice use of effects and stuffs. Makes me wish I had better speakers plugged in, sounds super bass heavy. My only constructive input would be add a few pads in there. Way too often the song goes from full spectrum to full rest in order to emphasize one or two elements. It get's a little repetitive in that respect but as an artist I'd assume your aware of the fact that you could just do whatever the fuck you want. It just felt like there was no lead element.

Aside from that it's a damn cool song. Good job enterprise :)

C-Enterprise responds:

Thank you very much for your nice review! I kind of wanted to have that "high contrast" troughout the song but you're right, at least in the melodic parts some more musicality would make it better.
Thanks again Quari :)

[Ambient II]

Great ambient! I loved that really low piano back there and the drone reminded me of something from Mass Effect. Maybe I'd have had a few more piano hits through out the track to add some more flavor to the drone but over all the track carries a lot of weight for something so simple. Cheers :)

NekoMika responds:

Thanks for the helpful remarks Quarl!~ Quite helpful, <3