Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[dub thing]

Cool stuff man. I'm digging the experimental vibes. Those drum rhythms are hand down the best part of the track. I love a song with some thought out rhythms.

I'd have found a way to get those drums to punch through the mix. You familiar with side chaining at all? It lets you control the levels of one instrument with the levels of another and I typically duck the bass and lead synth levels with my kick and snare drums. This alone can really clean a mix up.

Doesn't sound like your layering your drums at all. I'd throw another snare on top of your current snare that's a little thin/ accenting the hi end. Layering takes some serious getting used to especially if your simultaneously trying to learn how to sidechain but it pays off with super crisp sounding drums. I can honestly waste an entire day just making new drums from layering old ones.

You can layer your synths too for really gnarly sounds but at the end of the day it's all just play! Keep playing away and teach me some new tricks while your at it :p

Yoshiii343 responds:

what if i told you that the drum rhythm is a loop

no, not really familiar with side-chaining. it's been months since i've heard that term and i'm still uncertain what it means. i rarely do that tho

i almost never layer too much out of fear that the differing frequencies of the samples will mess the whole mix up

thank yue 4 teh reveeu

[DV - Chemosound]

I'm loving these grimy tracks man. I haven't listened to stuff this dark in a while. Loved those rhythmic glitch effects! Fucking sexy track... in a gothy bondage kind of way.

la-yinn responds:

tie me up baby <3

[DV - Sub Marines]

haha, experimental? Sounds like some classic liquid/nuero. You familiar with Hive and gridlok at all? Violence recordings? Old dnb duders. This has a similar grimy sound to a lot of what they like to put out. Huuuuum :)

Personal preference, I'd have used a stupidly huge drum kit and I would have glitched the beat a good bit more. Honestly, this track takes me back to some of my old favorite nuero artists. Look into violence recordings for funzies :)

la-yinn responds:

Yeah I've heard some stuff, but not nearly enough! (I got dom & roland's through the looking glass album, they have a hand in that)

Tbh I wanted to do this another way but a lot of complications came up and I decided it wasn't half bad as it was so just uploaded it haha. Hoping to get some proper neurostuff going on but it's hard enough as it is, plus my computer is on it's last breath. :c

Thx for commenting mate ;)

[To Smoke is To Ascend]

Sexy as per usual. Always loved your melodic stylings.

Metaljonus responds:

Thank you mama! ;)

[Metal Gear]

That intro was really sex tastic. I'd have given those pianos a little more emphasis but that's because I'm kind of an asshole.

I was loving that synth work at 00:50 but when the chorus hit they kind of got a little too repetitive and fizzled. I get into copy paste flunks too so I'm not gonna be anal about it. Besides, I've already told you that I'm an asshole. I really need to learn not to shit on things all the time.

Only other negative thing to say was that I felt like those drums could have been wayyy larger. I typically only save clap snares for build ups and break downs. Not that there is a correct and incorrect way to go about being creative. It's just... I would have been an ass hat and gone with a snare that punches instead of slaps :p

All in all this track was hella sexy. That outro was smooth :D

CowardlyLion responds:

I'm glad you liked the intro. I'm definitely a fan of it! Yeah I usually give piano a lot of emphasis but for some reason I didn't emphasize it much in this one. Haha, no worries man.

I have to admit, I'm a fan of repetitious, subtly building stuff. I know that's a bit odd, and a lot of people aren't really a fan of it haha. Sorry about that. Yet again, no worries!

Yeah I've been working on my drums and actually have been working on a song with what I think are some better drums.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it overall, haha.

[LO - The Eight Lion]

lol, trance dubstep.

Slick sounds, cool idea, perfect melodies. The only thing that's bothering me is the drum kit. I felt like the snare could have been so much bigger... wider. Dunno. I have a thing for chode snares.

Oakwood responds:

Agreed, the snare is not your average 'punch-you-in-the-guts' snare, but if it were it would kinda defeat the 'softer' side of the song IMO.
Thanks for the review brah!

[Regret]

Awesome track jass! Those melodies were fucking lovely as fuck. No disagreements with anything. The arrangement was beauteous. I just have a few suggestions.

I'd have pitched that snare up a little, aired it up with some emphasis on the hi end and then a little more reverb for breezyness.

Ever think of using different kinds of drums for different effects? There could have been three to four bass drums just changing up the dynamics of the rhythm. Snares too. Not sure if your much of an IDM kid but look into The Flashbulb. He's usually really melodic but his rhythms are tight as fuck. The first song that came up for me on google was Undiscovered Colors. Perfect example of some fun drum programming.

If you want to know a few tricks to get IDM drum effects I can shoot you a PM with some of the stuff I know how to do. I'm not THE guy to talk to though. If you use facebook friend Ian Green and tell him I told you to harass him. SessileNomad makes the best IDM on newgrounds. You can get his albums on BandCamp for "Name your price." Knowing you though you'll want to download for $0. It's a cheat code artists let you use to download for free ;)

On that note, if you DO have a facebook page friend me. Cory MacNiven of Oakland CA ftw.

Jassummisko responds:

Oh shit, I didn't see the review. I'll see what I can do.

[Seeking Fog]

Musique concrète. Love it man. Gotta admit, stuff like this jizzes me. Maybe I'll add some synth work on top in a sloppy mp3 layered on an mp3 kind of way. If thats cool with you?

SineRider responds:

Thanks quarl! Yeah that's cool with me, I could send you a WAV if you like too

[Jajaja Song]

Sounded more like lalalalalalala. I'm accusing you of being wrong and taking off a half star because of this. GOOD DAY.

(also, cool track ;)

Jassummisko responds:

NOOOOOOOOOOO! :(

[FF7 Difficult to Stand ;)]

I don't know what's stranger. Seeing that you're still kicking and making music or listening to a FF7 remix in 2013. Glad you're still 0Con. Unless you're someone else in disguise. Incognito. Hiding inside of secretive secrets. Secretive secrets. Secretive 0con secrets. Secretive.

0con responds:

It's me 0con buddy. Just been a looooonnng time.

Thanks for reviewing.