stunkel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Salvation (WIP)]

Nice intro. Starts off very strong. The strong bass drum is really good for sure. I think there could have been a better transition from the intro to the part at 0:14. I know you put a drum fill there, but it wasn't powerful enough to cue the transition. One thing that could create a better transition is to add another instrument right before the next part, where that new instrument will appear in that next part of the song (If that made any sense DX) But adding that build up of instruments right before the part at 0:14 plus a strong drum fill could be great. But experiment with it!

I think this song needs more instruments. It is pretty good with the sound mix quality, but it isn't as full of a sound as I was hoping for. I think part of it is the bass is a little too quiet. Try boosting that up a bit! It will make it more full. Also adding more instruments will make it more full. The more intricate melodies you put in there, the more full it will sound. But don't put too many in! Or else it will just start to sound annoying DX.

Structurally, the song is pretty good. Like I said before, some transitions could use work. But you add a lot of variety. The main melodies in each part repeat a lot, but there is a lot of variety in the background where it is ok. But this is where you need more instruments. More instruments and more melodies in the song will take focus off of things that are too repetitive.

So overall, you are strong in some and not so strong in other areas. The places you could improve upon is adding more instruments in order to give your song a fuller sound, and to give it more color and atmosphere. Another thing to work on would transitions, where again, adding more instruments to the song would be helpful. But nice work!

Also, it'd be awesome if you could check out my track "Stranded" and give some feedback!

3.5/5
4/5 rating

[Lit Rock]

I heard the first melody and didn't really expect it to go in the direction that it did. But it sounds pretty happy. The song is nice, but there really isn't much of a structure to this song.
First of all, the drums never go anywhere the entire song. They need to be picked up and brought into a real drum beat. It really sounds bland as of now.
The guitar is nice, but that doesn't really go anywhere either. It needs to be made into a real guitar riff. This is a great opportunity for your drums to pick up more. And of course the bass guitar in the background will follow behind both of them.
The guitar, bass and drum kit combination is good, but I think if you want to go for a fuller sound, you need to add a little bit more than that, or use a better guitar sound later in the song.
The feel of the song really makes it uninteresting. But that can be changed if you were to add some more upbeat parts to the song.

Overall, this needs some work, keep at it though man.

Also it'd be great if you could check out my original song "Stranded" and give some feedback!

3/5

[A Grand Adventure]

I like it! The economic/jungle feel is great! One of the only things holding this song back is the instruments sound quality. The violins could definitely sound more realistic. They just sound too midi if you know what I mean. Also with the voices that come in later. Try adding some reverb affect or even some echo to make them sound a little more reaslistic! And overall make your song sound much better.
This doesn't really bother me, but I think people might get annoyed by this. But for the first part of the song, you repeat that melody all the way up to 0:44 seconds in the song. Again not a big deal to me, but people might be a little annoying.
In terms of mixing your sounds, I think you did a pretty good job. It sounds very full at times when it should. And when its not, it never sounds dry. And I'm not sure if it's just my headphones, but to me, the bass is really difficult to hear. Maybe if you could turn that up it would be nice.
The more I listen to this sound, the more instruments I notice in the background that add to the song. It's good that you use as many instruments as possible because it really adds to your final mix and keeps people more interested as a result. At least that is my theory on it :P

So overall, great song. Not so great instrument sound quality, but that really isn't your fault, but to fix it, some effects might help it. Great mixing, and I forgot to mention this, but I think I heard some panning which is great. Not many people including myself don't use that.

Also if you could check out my original song "Stranded" and give me feedback, that'd be great!

4/5
4/5 rating. Nice work!

Neon-Bard responds:

Hey Stunkel,

First, thanks for listening! :D Second, thanks for giving me some great feedback. I don't like to make excuses but unfortunately, I have no other choice in this case. The violins I use are, as you say, not of the 'highest quality', but that's all I can afford at this moment (being a student sucks...ya know? lol) Hopefully in the future I will be able to get EWQL or something of that nature.

As for the voices, I think I will go and add some instant reverb to those, thanks for picking up on that! That and a few other changes will make a difference in the long run. I appreciate it! :)

I'm going to head over to your song now and give it a listen!

Thanks again,
Neon-Bard

[Sandtrap Sunday]

The panning in the beginning was good. I'm saying that because a lot of people including myself don't use it that often DX. The drums coming in is a nice touch. The intro is a little repetitive though. You do add plenty of instruments one after another to create a build. It especially gets catchier at 1:05 when the bass drum kicks in. Having that pulse bass drum is really good, and it can be good in a lot of songs. You executed it very well though. The drums are nice because they change up plenty. And I noticed you only used one chord as well as it says in your description. I think it is pretty difficult to do that for the most part, but for trying to do so, I say you did pretty well. The bass in the song is really good actually though, I would say that is the best feature for sure, unfortunately it doesn't come in till later in the song. Your mixing is really well done though. Everything sounds together and the instruments sound pretty good for the emotion you are going for. At least I assume you were going for the mood I am hearing.

Overall, good work though. Well executed for a one chord song. It's still repetitive, but it sounds good for the most part. Nice work!

Also, if you could check out my track "Stranded" and give feedback on it. That'd be great!

3.5/5
4/5 star rating

DJDuk responds:

Hi stunkel,

Thanks for your review, I like hearing what other people think of my work, it always manages to surprise me somehow. Anyway I pretty much agree with most of what you said. But I never post the finished products on here as I use them in live sets and stuff,` so you'll never get to hear the improvements :(

I will return the favour and review your song as I'm sure you will undoubtably be aware of this already

Cheers
Duk

[Relaxing and upbeat]

Did you use garageband loops? I can recognize almost all of these from when I used garageband loops to make my songs forever ago. Even if you did, I have to admit, you made a pretty catchy song with them! You made it flow very well, but I can't seem to pick out any sort of structure. It sounds more of like a medley of songs. This makes the song a little hard follow along to. Your best part was definitely the piano combo around 0:50 seconds. I know you used garageband to use this, so the instruments won't sound so realistic, but I'm sure there are ways around it. Like you could add reverb to the instruments and they will sound much more realistic. Unfortunately, garageband doesn't have the best sounding instruments, but what can you do. It really isn't your fault.

For sampling garageband tracks, this is pretty good. I think it was alright, but it could use improvement for sure.

I'm giving it a 3 star review, but I'm giving it a 4 star rating to boost it up a bit since it deserves better than one star :P

Also, if you could listen to my song "Stranded" and give feedback. That'd be great. Thanks!

anjidu responds:

YES!!!! So many loops. lol Honestly I was just having fun. In nooo way will I probably ever make music. If I do....I will be amazed, but thank you for the nice criticism. I appreciate that.

I just listened to your song and I really liked it. Very calming, and I would use that as an Outro, or even maybe as the music for a video game area.

[Halindir - Hurin]

Very nice! Sounds very much like a soundtrack song! The drums in the beginning flow nicely with the beginning horns. It sort of breaks from a too happy atmosphere, and it keeps a little bit more interest and wonder to the song. Did you happen to put it in a film of any sort? Just curious XD

I think that your instrument quality is fairly good. I think it could be a little more realistic, particularly the drums in the beginning. It may just need a little reverb on them though and it would be fine. I also think you may have made the drums either too loud, or too high pitched for the song. Not sure which one it is to be honest, but I'm sure if you were to play around with it, you would be able to fix it.

You definitely have some nice builds to the piece. I'm not sure if this was for a film, and you scored it specifically, but if not, I think that it builds a but too much and goes no where for a very long time. Of course that's only if it's NOT for a specific film. Unfortunately it only builds up to a certain point of intensity. It could go so much further!

Also, the song does sound very good and very clean, and it never feels empty at all which is awesome. But it never really is completely full. I'm not sure if you know what I mean by that. But it is never missing anything, but at the same time, I feel as if there could be something added. It doesn't need this missing element all of the time, but only at some points. Maybe it needs more bass? I'm not sure, I would experiment it if you have a desire to fix it up anymore.

The instrumentation is awesome. Very good job on that. The greatest part about this is the piece tells an amazing story. Which is clearly the strongest point of this piece. And I think that could be the toughest part about writing soundtrack songs, but you conquered that which is great. I never feel as if I am not interested in the piece, which I think beats any music quality flaw or anything.

But this really is a great song. Fantastic work.

Also, it would be great if you could listen to and review my song "Stranded" any feedback would be great!

4/5 stars
5/5 rating, Awesome work man

[Ravaging]

I liked the piano melody and the amount of echo and reverb on the intro is awesome, but the piano does sound a little fake even with all of that. Sounds like a cool film score type song though! I think that the drums are good, but the sound quality of it is just a little too ear piercingly high pitched or something. I think if they were just turned down a bit it would be fine. I figure if you changed it too much it would ruin the feeling of the song. I wasn't expecting the film score type thing to come in. It really proved to work very well. The software instruments were pretty good for the most part. About 0:45 seconds into the song, it sounds a little bit out of sync, I'm not sure if there is some sort of delay on the instruments, but I'm sure that you could fix it. For that it is mainly the staccato violins which turn out to be out of sync The song was very good sound mixing wise. I think it could have really been topped off if you added some heavier brass in there. I think I heard a little bit, but they were mainly played in staccatos. If you had some of them playing the same melody as the violins in the background, it could sound better for sure. The structure of the song is really really good! The piano intro is very soft and the sudden industrial themed style coming in at 0:17 really catches you by surprise. Nothing is too repetitive and it really catches the aspects of a soundtrack. I can see a fight scene or something along to it. The ending is really awesome too!

Overall, I think the staccato violins and such could have been more in sync with the rest of the song. Your structure is really really good. The intro sounds wonderful and you truly capture the soundtrack feel which i am sure you were going for. Some instruments were a little fake as I said, but I don't really think that is your fault. For the resources you have, it is very good.

Also, if you could listen to and review my song "Stranded" that would be great!

3.5/5 stars
4/5 rating

[La Reve]

Pretty nice song. I like how you gradually added in more instruments, and when I say gradually, I mean rising in volume. The song was a little repetitive, but I think you got away with it. One thing I noticed that could be done better is some smoother transitions. At 2:00, it worked, but I think it would have been cooler if it faded out the instruments while the new melody played. I'm not sure if that would change the nature of the song or not, but I think it would just give off an awesome feeling if you did that. The part that starts at 3:01 I think may have been a bad idea only because you dropped the songs beat enough at 2:00, from there you should only be going up. Maybe really surprise the listener with a drum fill and a full final chorus to finish it all off! The instrumentation is good, the mix is actually very good! The bass instruments were actually my favorite, I didn't really notice them at first, but they are very good. I think the song would also benefit from a mood change. Try going into different motifs or changing keys. Change the chord progression from this happy melody, to something dark. The song feels a little repetitive for this reason, there isn't much of a build so it needs to rely on different moods.

So overall, structurally, it was decent. In terms of changing up the melody, it did alright. It was a little repetitive, but there were enough melodies changing where it wasn't. Try adding some different chord progressions to change the mood of the song. And try and work on some transitions, I think you can improve on this song for sure!

Also if you could check out my newest song "Stranded" and give feedback that would be great!

3.5/5
4/5 rating

TheyCallMeCaudex responds:

Wow! Thanks! I REALLY appreciate the extensive feedback. It's repetitive because I wanted to make it long to dance to, but I do see what your saying and I definitely think a mood change would be cool!

[Keepin' it Real]

The song is pretty good. The whole song sounds like it is just underwater though if that makes sense. It's all pretty drowned out (pun intended). The high hat from the drums are a little quiet. You should make that a little louder, it will give the song a fuller sound. If you mix the instruments together a little better, you can definitely get a more full sound out of this, because right now, one melody is overpowering the rest a little too much, and you need to bring the rest up to the same volume. The song is pretty good other than that though.

If you don't mind, check out my new song "Stranded", leave a review if you are up for it :D Any feedback is good feedback

3.5/5 stars
4 star rating (giving you benefit of the doubt :D)

[Moonlight's Rave]

You have some nice elements to the song. I really like the piano parts especially. I just wish the piano sound effect was a little more realistic! If it's supposed to be piano that is. I think you could change it up a bit though. I know you change up the melody a little, I'm not sure how I can describe this, but the song is always at a high level of intensity (i cant think of a better word), and because of that, the song does not feel that intense since its ALL intense. So it can't be appreciated as much. To fix this, I suggest adding a softer part of the song, like start it off with a soft piano, give it something to build up to the more intense parts. If it's all at the top, then it seems like it is just the middle, but if you start at the bottom and rise and fall and rise again, the different levels you go at will send the listener through an emotional rollercoaster of awesomeness that only music can bring out. I think if you added some more instruments this could help also. Because you start off with really upbeat sounding instruments, if you start off with something a little softer, it will give that feel I mentioned. Just my opinion, I hope you take it into consideration. Also please check out and maybe review my new song "Stranded" if you have time! Thanks

3.5 stars, but I'll give you a 4 rating :D

tourmi responds:

THAT, is the kind of reviews I LOVE. For the beginning of the song, I did think about starting softly but I almost do that in every of my songs, so I decided to start it up faster. Also, I've used WAY too many times the same piano so I decided to make a change there too. I agree with you, the piano could be a little more softer at somes part, like at 1:30. However, I do not plan on using a realistic piano. I tried it and it ruined the "rave" impression.

Really, thank you SO MUCH for that review. I love that kind of review. I'll listen to your song later today and surely do a review for it ^^