Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rig - Old Machines]

Damn, you have quite the flavor rig. The tracks perfect but if I had to request anything it would be some more style change ups. You do a really good job to keep things constantly interesting but maybe it would have been nice to get a tiny melody in all that chromatic hell raising. This whole track is perfectly dark. Maybe an ounce of hope, a light delicate pad breathing for a half second somewhere to add sensitivity... dunno man. This track is so filthy and claustrophobic. Love it <3 <3

Rig responds:

I had originally planned to have an "Alliance" part that would feature the more uplifting songs and sounds from the game, but I was having too much fun with the Reaper stuff to get around to it. I think I'll make another song in that regard ;P

Glad you like it!

[Dubstep WIP]

Sounds like you have a great start to an awesome track. It sounds like the things that are giving you the most trouble is the mixing and general tweaking of things to get the sounds you want. While things are sounding pretty decent as of now they also sound kind of messy. The thing that's getting to me the most is that snare because I have to constantly hear it. I think it would benefit from a faster cut off. Letting it take up so much extra space is gonna muddy things up in there. Let the pads create the atmosphere not the snare. That isn't to say that you can't have an interesting sounding snare... you just have to watch that space and mix things with a more critical ear. That bass drum sounded like it could use a more solid layer. It sounds really hollow.

I'd have turned down that lead just a tad and hit it up with a filter to clean up those highs.

That string pad was perfect. Loved it sitting ethereally back there :]

After giving the track a few listens to I really think my only gripe is with the drums. Resample, layer, compress, distort, EQ, side chain... actually, it didn't sound like you were side chaining at all. you can side chain an instrument to the drums so that every time the kick or snare (or both) goes off it momentarily de-amplifies the instrument it's attached to (such as a lead or a bass.) This really helps clean up mixes and gives more punch to those drums which is a huge characteristic of those harder dance genres.

Peace and love. Good luck with finding a sound in dubstep <3 <3

zenodio responds:

Thank you very much for the review, I'm working on it now :)

[Great Summer Time]

sdfsdfksfk :D :D :D

Damn, thats a big kit your playing with. I would have gone with a bit more id init cause it's mostly hi and low but it still has a really awesome punch to it :)

I loved that lead a shiz ton. This was a really fun song to listen to. Also, nice name :p

Jassummisko responds:

Thx mate!

[<MWA> Skittles on Crack]

durms

you think this comes close to skrillix? From a rhythmic/ melodic and structural outlook yeah. This is a really sexy song. The one thing you're missing out on is mixing/mastering. You've made some really sexy classical stuff in the past so I'm guessing this just isn't your genre so congratulations on branching out :)

If you want those next level beats you need to learn a few tricks for drum programming. First of all, where are your drums? In dance genres the drum kit is the most important part of the mix. It sounds like you might be playing a bit with layering but in case your not I usually have up to five differnt snares playing simultaneously to make a new sound. Slap a compressor on your drums to help get more power out of them. If you have the ability to merge all the snares into their own channel do that before EQing it all to get a super sexy snare. You can follow that trick on the kick too. Layer your bass kick, compress, EQ and experiment.

Since the drums are so important I usually make a drum kit BEFORE I go and make and entire song around them. Nothing sucks more than to make an awesome melody, pad, or lead only to turn around and not make a fat enough drum kit.

Either your sidechaining or some of your instruments have slow attacks. Both ways are good strategies :)

Some of your synths and pads sound a little lo-fi. I would have hidden them by turning some of the levels down on them and letting the drum kit rip... but seeing as how the kit was as it was I wouldn't have been able to hide them.

I guess to recap my review: DRUMS. Everything else is sexy as pie :)

mjattie responds:

Hey Quarl,

I think this comes kinda close to skrillex apart from mastering yes ^^

I've been making a lot of electronic music though, but nothing more "agressive" than light-minded trance (like "in search of sunrise" and so) , which means that the bass does not have to be in your face and all.

I totally agree with you about the drums. It has been quite a hell for me making the drums and still the outcome isn't great, I've used about 4 kicks in this song tried a lot of EQ and effects and I believe tried to layer the snares too but I failed, and tbh I failed with the kick too. I started with the drums before doing anything else ;)

Every instrument has a side chain with very fast attack. It would probably be better if I turned up the attack on some instruments. Every instrument has a limiter too to pump it up to 0db...

All the synths are made from scratch so I guess you can say that I didn't make them the best possible, because that would've cost me even more time, especially since I don't do this style often.

thanks a lot for the review and tips! I'm currently doing something a bit similar and the kick and snare tend to sound a lil bit better. :)

[LO - Bang-O-Rang (MD2011)]

slurp

Mur, returning a requested review. I really love a lot of the elements in this shiznit. Alright, first thing I notice is that those drums need a bit more presence. Compress and EQ the living hell out of em until they punch you in the face. Maybe even play with some light distortion? That voice sample was sex.

All the melodic/rhythmic elements of the the track were insanely sexy. Maybe the hi hat/ crash sample was a bit too messy. I'd clean up the mix a little by switing in a different hat and maybe a shaker. Some tambs might slip in this track really well. Aw man a cow bell would really make the rhythm pop a bit more.

I think the bass could stand to be a little rounder if you know what I mean.

Really other than those few points this track is mutha effin cool as shit. Really banging :)

Oakwood responds:

Hihats and cymbals might sound messy because I increased the higher frequencies when I mixed this for speakers. Also I can imagine a tamb, but a cowbell? Dunno...
I don't know what you mean by round bass. If mean more like a sinus, the bass is a pure sinus so that would be pretty impossible xD

Thanks for the review!

[{dj-N} TransformR]

maw

I've been listening to this for a while but I failed to drop a review for lack of something to say. Then I remembered I could always just say "good work" or something like that. Really clean track man. I'm loving the variety in those synths. Aside from a nice full kit and an awesome lead the track is really spacious. Not a lot going on in the background but no one ever said that was a bad thing. The few pads you left lying around did the trick.

Awesome work, like always <3 <3

dj-Nate responds:

You da mayne