Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[LO - Protagonished]

maw :3

The irony of your user name is that ambient dnb is called liquid :p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_f unk

Nice track you've got going here but I want to try and be a little helpful. First thing I notice is that there's no bass. All the sounds aside form the bass kick are mid to high range. You can probably turn the pads down a tad to help out the other sounds.

If you're having trouble with levels, pan things up. Panning creates the illusion that sounds are louder than they really are so after you pan things up you can turn everything down a little to give you more space. Those hats can be a little less prominent. You'll notice that a lot of pros tend to keep the aux percussion lower in favor of amplifying the kick and snare.

Another thing that can help is a trick called layering. If you like a sound but you think it needs more umpf, layer in some more sounds. That snare you have in there sounds fine and dandy but have to ever thought of maybe putting in two or three more snares? I like to have anywhere from 5 to 6 layers dedicated to just snares. Same deal with the rest of the kit... and every other instrument. Layering creates big sounds. Try it out sometime.

I'd leave you some more tips but I really have to get to bed mate. Good luck with your sound!

Oakwood responds:

Your totally running my song into the ground and gave me a 9, say what? :P

jk

I left the bass out on purpose to add that ambient feel. I didn't want this to just be drum 'n bass so I had to variate.
Those things you say about the beat are pretty much true. Yeah I've noticed how DnB producers keep their hats down and level up their snare and kick. However, this beat was made in Hammerhead which is a simple freeware beat generator and it's options are limited. But I'll think about your advice in the future.

Also, thanks for the link, it's always nice to know more about genres :P

Thanks for the review! :)

[[S,J] Mixed Junkie]

samasmdmaddmoadom

This song is fucking epic on so many levels. That Beastie Boys sample in there was tight. This dub is fucking dirty. The only thing I disagree with it the snare kind of but the bass is so tight I never really pay that much attention to the snare. Plus the kit is perfect in a lot of other respects. Peace and love.

SmithCommaJohn responds:

Everyone's on the snare, aren't they? lol

Thanks for the kindness, man. Means a lot. No srsly.

[Brutal Beauty]

murmrrmrurnrrrurrrmrrnrur

hot damn. i fucking love what you did to dubstep here. fucking brutal man. this track really has it's own flavor/ smell. The only thing I might recommend is a cow bell or a ride cymbal in there for added sex points. Other than that this song pretty damn fine C:

PERVOK responds:

I tried to add that kind of ride/cowbell/thingy feel with the open hat. I tried to make the rhythm evident starting at 2:34. I guess some more percussion will be required though.

Thanks for stoppin' by, fellow :)

[thunder shore]

dkdkjddjjdf

Great track mister! There were a few things I noticed though that kind of got to me...

The first thing I notice is the bass. It sounds like it can be a little deeper. Play with a compressor, EQ or filter to bring out its tones. Those drums can be a little more present if you bring up the levels a little and play with the dynamics a bit. In terms of how the song pans out I kind of felt like this track was missing a real climax. You might also play with throwing in a few more background intangibles. Those are auxiliary sounds that don't necessarily contribute to the songs melody or rhythm but add character and atmosphere.

Try playing with those ideas and you'll have a killer track here. Peace.

dr-vibe responds:

well thanks!
the bass could be deeper... i know about EQ and such, but it's a raw minimoog and i wasn't up to tweaking it's tone... all i did was add a little bass chorus.
i'm no master of drums, but i'll play with it, thanks.

thanks for the critique, i'll try harder next time :3

[Accented Hope]

maw

not sure what program you're using but in reason getting that "wobble" sound is a matter of making a sawttoth synth, throwing on some distortion, then slapping on a LFO and playing with the frequency/ resonance. automation is your frieeendddd.

Kirbyfemur responds:

I know automation is my freeeenddd but i like seeing what i can do with a song with the least amount of altering of that sort. But i probably will when i decide to mess with it again. And thanks for that bit of advice too =3

[Anakin]

ssaasasasa

hot cocks this is some crazy fucking idm. squarepusher shit. there's really nothing about this i can say that would really be helpful at all other than fucking congratz on such a crazy track.

doctormario responds:

Thanks. I love deep fried insanity. :)

[SpK*) - doesnotcompute [WIP]]

error-Your summary was too short. Please add more

fuuuuuuuuuuck. love dis spikrodd :)

Spikrodd responds:

And fella-dude-man-hombre, it's gonna get bigger and better as the days pass; like your track.

[AD - Lightmass (DUB)]

mayhaps

cool little ditty you got here. I'd recommend turing the end of this into a drop then make a slamming hot dnb to top it off. just a suggestion good sir. peace :)

AeraDynamic responds:

I already have some ideas for the intro and the drop, I will structure it properly

[Awake - Serenade]

rub step

haha, fuck yeah. Great track man. This is a great dub step track and I'm loving it. The only thing that would make this competitive with a commercial dub step song would be a drop followed by a really hard chorus. Just dropping those pads for a minute would do it. You always have really pro sounds but the only thing keeping you from the mainstream is a song structure that would fit perfectly into any DJ set. That's really my only feedback for this man. Great work! Peace man :)

Rawrthaas responds:

thanks brah

[Drum and Bassizzle]

not drum and bass butttt...

It's still a fun song. It really reminded me of some old genesis games... specifically sonic 3d/ pinball.

A good technique to try out is something called layering. The drums sound decent but if you layer your drums you can get much fuller sounds. Try layering several different snares and kicks and you'll get what I mean. Find a snare that attacks low frequencies, one that hits mids and one that hits highs and create a new sound by bringing them all together. Equalize as necessary. Trying to get a hold of that technique should keep you busy for a while. Took me ages :P

molkman responds:

Thanks, I'll make sure to try that shizz out.

I always try to make my songs sound less videogame-ish, but they always turn out that way. It's kind of the easiest "genre".