Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Awake - Supernova]

raaaawwrrrr

ahaha, 190 bpm? I only go to 180 when I'm trying to be dramatic and 182 is my tops to date. The track is insane, not for the casual dnb listener. The sounds are all interesting and clean. Honestly though, this tempo is fucking crazy. I'm gonna have to try it out sometime. You do it so well.

This song makes me really fucking happy. Nothing else to say :P

Rawrthaas responds:

:3!

yeah the song I mentioned in the comments is actually 200 bpm :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kGyO 83HiU&feature=related

[Awake - Raven Song (preview)]

I've been hearing a lot of dubstep lately too...

Personally, I think it's just a passing trend. Don't get me wrong I love dubstep, but I feel as if the entire genre is just the introduction to a really crazy dnb track.

That aside I really liked this. The sounds are great, as are the background intangibles. The atmosphere is cool, the melody is cool. Really slick sir! There's just one thing I could have used. Slightly crazier drums... which I know you're awesome at. Seriously, you held back on this one. Para's smog step was nothing compared to what you're capable of :)

Rawrthaas responds:

I remember when I use to incorporate glitchy idm breaks into almost every single one of my tracks... I don't know what happened but I stopped doing it altogether after a while hehe.

You're right, I need to bring it back with the chopped beats :D

[[TheDimension4] Wooden Town]

rawr

I'm actually not a fan of impressionism. I'm thankful for what it did to the art world in the long run. I'm just not a fan of the style. This is a cool piece you have here. I've just been getting into romantic composers so this is really the kind of sound I'm craving at the moment. There's really nothing I can say that could be even remotely helpful... curious though, what did you use to compose this? The dynamics gives off the impression that you played this but the sound quality gives off the impression that you're probably using a daw and midi controller?

floccari responds:

I use a Kawai Stage Keyboard with a Edirol Audio Midi Interface. On the software side I use Reason. The interface I use is a more high end one so you can use high quality instrument sampling in real time. So basically you get to have your surreal quality sound and still play it like a traditional piano. My compositions usually never make it to paper. Like the others on this album, this started as an idea in my head and improved through improvisation.

[-(Purple-Walking-Buildings)-]

mraw

Definitely a cool song sir. Given that you called it "experimental ambient" I can't really say that there's anything this song needs or doesn't need. There are a few things I would have done differently but those are subjective opinions that don't really help you out. Since your pointing out that bit about the bpm, I honestly would have gone a little slower. I might even have automated some tempo shifts to achieve some rubato. Other than that, this track is nice and chill. Beautiful :)

Tykwa responds:

I did too aswell lower the bpm even lower, and it indeed sounded even more mellow without an added repetitive, I do not currently know how to automate tempo yet, Well, I've never tried it, It's probably simple... Hmm ill see :)

[Awake - Field of Dreams]

saucy

haha, "sauce beat." I'm floored... we'll... as floored as you can be without a four to the floor. Lame production joke aside, this isn't my typical kind of genre but even I gotta admit that it sounds perfect. The melodies are perfect, the mix is perfect, everything is perfect. Fuck yes.

Rawrthaas responds:

I just realized after like 5 billion years your icon has a skeleton in it :o

[Violin_Liberation [Box-Ki]

nice!

Hey hey, really cool song. Just a few things I would have done differently if I found myself doing a classical song starting with the dynamics. Real instruments change their dynamics over time expressively. Dynamics is just a fancy word for amplification over time. There were a few crechendos in here, so I know you what's good. Just playing with the note velocities would create a good amount of terraced dynamics, but I find that it's more effective to automate shifts in dynamics instead. Of course you could go on to say that a song about a tyrant works better with terraced dynamics to give off a sort of marching dictation to it but I find that rhythm has a better effect than dynamics at expressing that kind of vibe. You're probably familiar with Nobuo Uematsu's One Winged Angel theme but go look that track up and really listen to how the instruments effectively change their amplifications over time to create tension. Sometimes the composer even uses syncopations that really create tension. Such a good fucking song.

Panning: I have trouble telling where there's panning if it's not really obvious, so I'm sorry if you did have some panning in there, but perhaps more pronounced stereo imaging would have been effective. Stereo imaging emulates live acoustics so it can help eliminate the digital burden of a mono mix. It also creates the illusion that things are louder than they actually are so you can turn the levels down on everything and have a cleaner mix in general.

Harpsichord: I'm really anal about that instrument. There wasn't anything wrong with using it. I'm just not a fan... you also used it in conjunction with a piano. Nothing wrong with that either. Like I said, I'm just really anal about it and in a typical classical piece, the two instruments would not have been heard together. This review could have gone without this harpsichord tirade :P

All in all, this song will work great in a flash and it's really cool man! The melodies are all really interesting and the harmonies work well together. Keep at classical composition, you definitely got some skill here :)

Box-Killa responds:

Yeah Man, I sort of forgot about panning and amplifications, I did a little bit but no much.

The harpsichord was just inside another instrument i wanted to use, so I couldn't get rid of it, but It does add a little bit of flair so its all good.

[Rig - VOT FIVE]

fuck yeah!!

I can't even begin to dissect this one jp. FUCKING PERFECTION.

Rig responds:

I KNOW RIGHT

[Ode to Madness]

sdisgrisgrgsjrgsogsojgsogso

Cool song. I don't normally give this genre a listen so I don't know how to be helpful, but everything sounds cool from my perspective. Really dark and brooding. I heard some digital clipping in there. I'd recommend turning down some of the louder levels in there that are doing that. If your not familiar with the term clipping, it's basically just digital distortion. It's that popping sound you hear when the levels peak. That would probaly be the only negative thing I have to say about this mix. Great melodies and sounds! Peace sir :)

popraz responds:

Yes, I noticed the clipping too, but i thought it was just my headphones being really old and faulty. I usually keep a low volume level so I'm not sure exactly why I got distortions. But now that it's officialy an issue, I'm going to have to look into it, maybe I missed something. Thank you very much for reviewing.

[Post Dr.Pepper]

fbbfbsfsff

Nice mix you got going. Chill melodies, good sounds. The only thing I'm going to complain about is the hi hat rhythm. It's kind of awkward. I like the variety you threw into the rhythm and by the second listen through the rhythm stopped being strange but that's always something to try and keep in mind while producing. I don't know what your writing process is like, but it definitely helps to take a step back from your work for a day or two so you can come back to a project with fresh ears. Sometimes you get really used to how things are in a track and you just let them be. I don't know if I've ever left you a review with this idea, but try throwing some delay on those hi hats and have it sync to the tempo. This will create instant dynamics and with a bit of practice can really flesh out a rhythm.

All in all, cool track sir!! Peace.

Syntrus responds:

Sounds like something interesting to try.