stunkel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[What Lies Beyond]

NGADM review:

Hey man, so this track was really pretty to listen to. I really love orchestral stuff and this wasn't an exception. I think the main thing that bothered me in your track was the general sound of it. I think this has to do with the realism of the instruments and your samples used in the track. It sort of just felt flat in that regard. There are tons of guides to help you with making your orchestrations more realistic, I'd be happy to send you one through PM if you need one.

Another area where it fell sort of flat was in the dynamics and compostion. I didn't feel it building up or dropping down at all in volume or frequency content. Layers were added and subtracted quite often I noticed, but it all felt a little too balanced for my taste. I do like how this fits nicely in an RPG genre, but it just doesn't move me quite as much as I'd like emotionally if that makes sense. Anyways, nice track! And thanks for following btw c:

8.6/10

-Ryan

ChronoNomad responds:

Hey, Ryan! So many NGADM reviews at once, it's like Christmas...

Pretty to listen to is good. Glad that the orchestral stuff is to your liking, and I would certainly be interested in ways to make the orchestrations sound more realistic. Been doing my best in this regard, but can't say anyone's really offered me any guides or actual insights, so I would be a fool to turn down such aid. PM away, my friend! Please do, and thank you for the offer. I'm here to learn and improve, after all! :D

Ah, well...this is true, I suppose. All the rampant EDM tracks get away with being compressed to the gills, but I can put more effort into the rise and fall of the Roman Empi--er, I mean orchestral instruments. Yeah, those. I guess adding and subtracting layers on a regular basis does not equate to the same thing, so you got me there. Once again, I really love the RPG comparisons, but I definitely don't want the music to seem lacking in emotion. That is essentially the holy grail of the media world, after all.

Happy to follow, man! You're one talented dude. Been enjoying your tracks for a long time now, but sometimes I forget to click that tiny heart. :v

[No Hope in the Horizon]

NGADM Review:

I really enjoyed this piece. I'm not sure how to review this because although it's a really nice solo piece, it IS a solo piece. The fact that it's a solo piece definitely makes it a little more difficult to create a solid composition because you are limited by the one instrument you have, therefore only having very little timbres to work with. So that being said, the track is nice, but I felt that some more dynamics in volume and rhythm throughout the track would have been nice. The track is consistently playing that specific rhythm and I suppose it would have been nice to hear it change up slightly every once in a while, as well as the volume of the piano being played to dip down and back up. The piano is an incredibly versatile instrument. Use it to your advantage! Also, next time in NGADM, try making your track a little longer. Shorter tracks don't sit as well with the judges usually!

8.3

-Ryan

[Unsung Hero]

NGADM Review:

I felt a very RPG element to the track when I first started listening. Your composition is really a pleasure to listen to through this competition so far, I'm really excited to see what comes next. I'm very surprised at how well you are able to combine such diverse instrumentation together in a coherent piece of music and make it sound really nice as well. Your melodies and compositional ideas really flow nicely from one part to the next and honestly, I have nothing to say other than I love it. Where this song falls short for me is the production. The strings sound a little bit fake to me, and the piano sound is a little cheesy. I also felt that the general instrumentation, while you made it work really well with the overall composition of the track, could have been better selected. I'm not sure why, but most of it struck me as a little cheesy. Really really solid job on this though. You guys have been making some great tracks so far, and I'm really looking forward to the next one!

8.7/10

-Ryan

bassfiddlejones responds:

Glad you've been enjoying the tracks! Thanks for the review. I'd like to hear more about your thoughts that's it's a little cheesy, and what you would do to improve it/what selections you would make differently. Would you be up for PM'ing me a more detailed explanation? Thanks for the work you're putting into this!

[Dark n' Damp]

NGADM Review:

Hey man, so this track is really solid and I actually really like the sound/instrument combinations you used in this track. I felt that it all went together very well and carried a really satisfying and smooth emotion throughout the track. I guess I just have two complaints: One is that the track drags on a little too long. I think I would have enjoyed chilling out and letting myself become immersed in this track more if there was a melody on piano or guitar that played more consistently. Another complaint I had was the sound of the snare in the beginning. When the snares were turned off it just sounded very... present. The fact that the snare was given a pitch (because the snares weren't there) made me feel that it was more repetitive as well it stood out more since it was definable BY it's pitch. I also didn't feel very excited when changes were made to the track, like when you added the distorted electric guitar or the snare sound changed. I'm not sure why I felt this way; maybe it was the pacing... but I just didn't really feel as immersed as I expected to from the beginning.

Anyways dude, solid track! Thanks for participating in NGADM c:

8.4/10

-Ryan

[Zen]

NGADM Review:

Nice nice nice work dude. Huge improvements from your first round track. I actually wish i had given you a higher score listening to this a second time, but regardless of that, I'm glad that you won this round. I really felt that the compositional ideas and melodies really connected together nicely. The stuff about "sounding fast but not being memorable" is all gone. You did an excellent job on making everything emotional and passionate in your melodies and chord progression. Oh and production is obviously awesome as well. The only thing I really have to comment on is just that some of the transitions could have been better. In particular right before the choruses I would have liked it to build up a bit more. I'm not sure if this is an issue of not enough dynamics or what, but it just felt a bit empty at times when the chorus starts. Also the solo that happens later in the song falls under the "unmemorable" side that I had a problem with in your last track. But dude, great work. My complaints to me stand very true, but know that this is a huge improvement from your last track in it's melodic/composition quality.

Also, the ending is awesome. Looking forward to your next track!

9.1/10

-Ryan

PirateCrab responds:

Yeah the mix isn't ultimately very good with this so there's so much dynamic and low end missing which gives it the power. I'm re-working all of these though for a professional release so I'll sort that out!

Thank's massively for the review Stunkel, every bit helps me immensely:)

[Son of Beach (NGADM '15)]

NGADM Review:

This track is really cool. Very energizing right from the beginning. Composition is fairly solid and I enjoyed most of your melodies which you carried and transitioned very well from one to the next. Some really solid compositional ideas that you kept throwing in one after another. My biggest problem with this track is that the mixing wasn't as cohesive as I would have liked. I felt the drums (in particular the kick) were VERY separated from the rest of the track. Oddly though, the rest of the pieces of the drums were very quiet in comparison. This could probably be fixed with EQ, or maybe it's just a general sound problem of the kick itself. But basically, the kick in particular just felt super separated from the track, as if it were in a different room or something. This track is really solid though. Nice work!

8.7/10

-Ryan

JDawg00100 responds:

Thank you for the review, I could really do some work on my drum mixing.

[Tenebrarius]

NGADM Review

You guys had a beautiful track. Really unique ideas and that start with the windup box is awesome. The violins sounded really beautiful as well. Composition was really solid as well. Unique melodies playing almost always throughout the track, it just felt really nice. Really awesome ideas. One thing I would have liked to hear are more CONCISE melodies though. While they were clear, I wasn’t really hearing a clear “this is the melody and should sing back when referencing the song”. You guys have such cool ideas in this song, it changes up SO much which is really awesome to experience.
The production is really solid as well, two things to note though. I felt that the French horn in the beginning around 1:00 felt a bit bare. It would have been nice to hear some other brass or violins which helped blend the entire track together. The other thing is louder drums! Epic and heavy drums would have fit this track really well. For these reasons, the track does feel a little bit bare, and the production wasn’t as awesome as I feel it could have been.
This is an awesome track though. Good work. Favorited.

9/10

-Ryan

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hi! And thank you for judging and reviewing, as well as for all the nice compliments :)

Great to hear that you enjoy the music box! Even though some have found it a bit generic, I'm glad to hear that most people have enjoyed it.
As for concise melodies, you do have a point, just like TaintedLogic below you. I am of the opinion that not everything song to repeat itself, especially if the mood stays as consistent as in this track, and the backing repeats a lot. But I guess that it's a question of preference? Science proves that people generally like tracks with a lot of repetition, as they get to feel like they "know" the piece really quickly (a great example is the song "happy").

There are a few repeating melodies, but I hid them very well in here, I think (apart from the music box at the end and in the beginning). But the horn at 1:00, and the male choir at 1:32 play the same melody (at first) though in different keys (at least the melody is in a different key, while the chords really aren't). Other than that, I guess that the trumpet at 2:46, and the horn at 3:02 play slightly similar melodies. But as you said, that's really it in terms of melodic repetition. The backing track repeats itself a lot more, but it is almost never in focus :p

As for the horn at 1:00, I get your point. I wonder if the issue isn't that the horn is too loud though... Not only would it allow for the percussion to be louder, but it would bring up the backing track more, where a lot actually is going on. But yeah, A violin could've fit there well. It's actually my fault for wanting to make the horn melody really clear XD
The trumpet AND the violin is brought forth at 1:16, so we probably could've had the violin playing earlier as well. Cool observation!

"Drums"

Yup. This is correct. At least between 1:00 and 1:49, but probably later in the track as well.

Actually, I think the mood of this track is a bit similar to your "Castle Theme"

Once again, thanks a lot for the review, and for the favorite as well! :D

[Breathe]

NGADM Review

So the track itself has nice composition as well as some great ideas and unique melodies. It’s an overall very relaxing track that I could see in a skyrim game if were just a little bit more relaxing in it’s soundscape and instrument choices.
Although the track is very relaxing, it didn’t quite move me emotionally. I think this might be due to a number of things. One might just be that there is very little dynamic in the volume or harmony throughout the track. A lot of emotion behind pieces is the unexpected dynamics among the harmony and volume, not expecting what should come next. It did change, and it did move my emotions during these parts, but only ever so slightly. This can also be applied to how diverse a melody might be, which could have also helped you more.
Also the violin lead patch could have been a tad more realistic. It was expressive, but every note didn’t sound unique like a violin usually would. Nice work otherwise!

8.4/10

-Ryan

DSykMusic responds:

Thanks for the review Ryan! Appreciate the kind words and critique. Dynamics is one thing I WILL be working on. I'll have to take a look at the violin too!

[Oak - Mobius (NGADM'15)]

NGADM Review

So the track starts off super awesome and gives a lot of space to go in ANY direction really. You set yourself up really nicely. The part that starts at 0:38 is really awesome. The melodies in general a really awesome. I felt that the song was a little shorter than I would have liked though. From the beginning you had space to go in whatever direction you wanted like I said, but you didn’t seem to take advantage of that. With a track like this, there could have been so much more to do with it.
I felt that the vocals were mixed very sporadically throughout the track. Sometimes it sounded really nice, but other times it felt like it didn’t quite blend properly. The mix itself is really really clean! I think that it could have used more frequency range in the low-mids, but it wasn’t a huge issue. I think that the track could have sounded a lot bigger if it had this though. Also, the loop is very seamless. Nice work!

8.8/10

-Ryan