stunkel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Velcro]

NGADM review

That melody is so awesome dude. I was smiling the entire time for this track. It’s a really nice change of pace to hear something as happy as this in these reviews. And I’m really glad I was assigned to review this one! One thing that I find very difficult to do in music, as well as what I hear in other peoples music, is to make really complex and quickly played melody sound good like it does in your track. Not only sounding good, but memorable as well.
This whole track has an awesome personality. I do have to say that the synths used are fairly generic and I feel like I’ve heard them a lot before. And usually the instrumentation in a track can really be a huge prediction in the general atmosphere and personality of a track. However, your rhythmic and melodic elements really overshadow the generic synths and by this you have created a super unique personality for the track. It really reminds me of something from the later Megaman games.
Right from the start, that melody kicks in at 0:22 and I feel like I’m being pushed against the back of my seat from the G-force on a rollercoaster or something while this song plays. The first melody caught me off guard honestly and was a pleasant surprise. You have really nice structure throughout this track. You keep it all really diverse and the fact that most of this track is a solo is pretty badass as well. It’s a pretty cool feeling to look at the time of the track and realize that only 1 minute has gone by and SO much has happened, and then I have almost 3 more minutes of awesomeness! You nicely incorporate more instrumentation appropriately to make the track more enjoyable and immersive during certain points as well.
The mixing is pretty solid too. Everything sounds really clean. I think that the mastering could use some work though. It sounds really nice on all speakers, however I noticed that on certain sets of speakers and headphones it sounded way better than others. I won’t take off points for this, but it’s something I thought I should mention. It’s really that it’s way more enjoyable when I listen with my computer speakers as opposed to my mixing headphones. The drums… which some other people have commented on, I’m a little indecisive about. I actually don’t think it took away from the track that they were at this volume, but the sound of them was totally fine and fit the track. I think it was fine whether you left them at this volume or raised it.
Also, the triplet section that you went into at 1:29 is SO awesome. You had such a seamless transition into an entirely rhythmic section that still fit really well with the rest of the track. Also, what taintedlogic said about winding the piece down at the end was REALLY awesome too, which I overlooked. Each part is super unique from one another, and presents a new rhythmic and melodic element all of the time, and each part still flows with eachother so well. You really did a great job on the compositional structure for this.
So I keep coming back this track while I’m doing these reviews over a course of a few days. There isn’t a single point in the track where I get bored or feel like I want it to be over. The judge skype chat was loving this song so much man, including myself.
Thanks for this track, I had a ton of fun listening to it and reviewing it. This is definitely my favorite from round 1. Sorry you didn’t make it to the next round :/ I’m not familiar with your other work, but the judges all said that this is a huge step from your previous work, so congrats on that. Seriously, great work! And favorited.

9.2/10

-Ryan

LunacyEcho responds:

Hi stunkel! What a review! o.o

=> That melody =>

Aha, funny thing about the melody. When I first came up with it, it was really slow and somber, and I thought about doing some epic orchestral theme to go along with it. The thing at 0:31-0:41 was actually my original melody, and in my head, it was originally much slower and played on strings. I fiddled around with it in Logic until I remembered I don't know how to orchestral, then sped it up and made it electronic. Turns out, it was an awesome melody!

The "chorus" melodies at 1:06, 1:52, and 3:15 all come from me misremembering and misplaying the first melody, lol. Funnily enough, they turned out to be more interesting and memorable! Go figure. :D

=> fairly generic =>

I'm pretty bad at sound design. I guess I sort of get used to hearing certain instrumentations in my melodies, then I get so fond of them that I don't bother changing them post-composition! :D johnfn's right. I should do chiptune.

=> later Megaman games =>

Ooh, I need to check this out! :D

=> SO much has happened =>

I actually took a few tips from johnfn about maintaining listener interest. :P According to him, if you switch something up every eight bars, the listener won't get very bored, and I tried to do that here!

=> most of this track is a solo =>

Solos are badass, aren't they? ;)

=> mixing/mastering =>

...aaand here's the moment when I admit I know very little about production. :D Interesting how it turned out to sound different on different speakers. I mean, I only used my computer speakers and headphones to mix this, so I didn't have that many points of reference! I'll try to do something about that for future music :P

=> drums =>

I feel like my drum mixing is notoriously bad, since in my headphones, I tend to hear drums louder than what most other speakers display. Maybe that's why I always mix them too quietly. Glad you liked them at this volume, though! Gives me hope that maybe I'm getting better. :D

=> judge skype chat =>

You guys keep mentioning this mysterious Skype chat! It's really piquing my curiosity. ;)

=> favorite from round 1 =>

:O Thank you for such high praise!

I guess I'll just sit here, hoping that someone from the group of 16 drops out. :P But even if they don't (which will probably happen lol), I'm still completely satisfied with what I've accomplished. I'm also slightly scared of this being a one-hit wonder and all my music going downhill from here!

=> huge step =>

haha step

But actually, I'd agree with them on this account. :P Personally, I'm pretty blown away at how far I've come in just a year. I was in the NGADM last year, but I completely bombed with a piece called 'Dawnglide'. I thought the judges were being harsh at the time, but when I listen to this and listen back to that, I can really see what the judges were saying and I'm just glad I could improve this much. :P

Thank you for the insanely positive and huge review! And thanks for all your work in the NGADM. Have fun in the rest of the rounds, and I hope to be a part of this again next year! :D:D

[Pluto]

NGADM Review

So this definitely feels like Pluto… you meant Mickey Mouse’s pet right? Because I can totally see him walking in slow motion down the street while slowly putting on sunglasses to this song. So I felt the track is pretty immersive and fun to listen to. It definitely had an atmosphere to it. I felt that it could have been a bit more engaging though. There isn’t a whole lot of musical or melodic variety to it unfortunately and as a result makes the track sound bland. If the song changed up more in it’s dynamics, melodic content, and general arrangement, it could have a lot more going for it!
The drop itself is pretty cool too! The build up to the drop could have used some work because it felt like it came out of nowhere. This is where better composition comes into play. If it was lead more to that drop. Adding something like another synth to build up to the snare drum build up, or a bouncing synth could have been nice. You even could have used a melody to build that up. Also the snare drum build up was very out of sync to the rest of the music from a rhythmic standpoint.
So overall, the track was okay. I just felt it was lacking in most compositional sides of it. As a result of this it turned out to be pretty bland and didn’t give the track a lot of personality. Keep it up!

6/10

-Ryan

Pandasticality responds:

Pluto as in the planet not mickey mouses pet xD thank you or the review!
- Pandasticality

[Friction Point]

Hey man! So basically I want to start this off by saying the track is REALLY good. The production and mixing is outstanding. And your playing is undoubtedly incredible. In that regard, I really have nothing bad to say. So I'll just go through what I didn't like since I think that's what's important for self-improvement and such.

So my main problem with this track is just one thing really. And it's that it doesn't really grab my attention. It didn't really have me wanting to come back for more, and I didn't quite feel an emotional connection to the music being played. The production and mixing like I said certainly grabs my attention. But I just feel that a lot of the things in this track from a compositional standpoint generally doesn't work properly for this track. I really don't know if it's the melodies or the compositional structure of the song that isn't working for me or what. I can tell that you had some awesome ideas, the beginning had me bobbing my head getting ready for what was in store, but most of the track was not the case in this sense. I just felt that a lot of the track was random playing and improvisation, which isn't a problem at all, but a lot of it didn't feel super memorable to me. There's a lot of fast playing and quick melodies being played, which is certainly impressive, but it just didn't stick with me like for example lunacyechos track (you mentioned you heard it so I thought it'd be a solid example). Miles Davis said that the notes that he plays doesn't mean nearly as much as the space between notes. To be more specific, the timing from one note to the next is what matters more, letting the listener anticipate what is coming next.

I feel this review was sort of all of the place, and it's honestly because I'm not sure what the solution to what I am feeling is, which is why I just said a bunch of random stuff including quoting Miles Davis. It could be completely subjective from my end that I feel this way, but I figured I'd just share my thoughts on it. Looking forward to your next track! This was still definitely the best in your group from round 1. Good luck in NGADM!

p.s. if you'd like me to try to go more indepth on the track to be more specific since I didn't give a clear solution, send me a PM and I'll give the track a little more time.

Rated 5/5

-Ryan

PirateCrab responds:

No no no this was exactly what I wanted to hear. It wasn't all over the place at all. From what I can gather there was no real discernible melody that made you go "Oooo that. I wanna hear more of that!" which is totally fine. I've tried to do that in the chorus but what makes me go "THAT. PUT IT IN!" probably doesn't work for everyone!

Most of the tracks I post won't be full on shred mode either, so you'll hear some more notable melodies come out hopefully which will catch your ears.

Glad the production and everything else was spot on though, makes the writing for my following tracks 10x easier ;) Cheers pal!

[Stompstump Peak (1f1n1ty Remix)]

So here's a review since you asked!

I love pokemon, but I haven't actually played the mystery dungeon games. The music is probably my most listened to of any game series ever. Mystery dungeon music has escaped me though.

So the track itself. The ideas are really nice and you have some nice compositional ideas like the rewind at 0:43. I really like parts that change the dynamics like at 1:32. Your melodies are also really nice that lie underneath everything. In terms of the arrangement, the melodies all seem to compliment each other pretty well. I don't quite understand the part at 2:37 in terms of the arrangement, by that I mean I think a smoother/cleaner transition could have been accomplished. While the dynamic changes are really nice, I feel the structure seems to be a little bit hap-hazardous. Like I mentioned at 2:37, I feel a smoother transition could have been arranged at many points. The general parts and how their order comes really nicely, but the transition from one part to the next feels a little uneventful.

The mixing needs some work however... It's a combination of how the sounds of the instruments themselves sound on their own, as well as the instruments and how they compliment eachother. I mentioned earlier that the melodies compliment eachother really well, but this is negated by the fact that the mixing is a little bit shallow. To make those nice melodies work together better, some better mixing would really pull this track together! An example of the general sound of the instruments not working would be the low drum at 0:45. It feels really flabby and like it has a loose drum head. I realize you might not have access to great samples, but if you read up on compression and equalization and learn how to use them properly, that is all you will need to fix up your mix. You will be able to create something really full. So my recommendations would be to read indepth on equalization and compression. You will only be able to go so far with those mixing aspects, so better samples will need to be accessed. Having better samples will also make it much easier and less time consuming for your project.

Hope all of this helped!

3/5 stars
Rated 5/5

-Ryan

Onefin responds:

First off, thanks for spending the time to write me a review! I appreciate your criticism, since it's so hard to come by these days.

Mixing. Yeah, that's one thing I actually don't know how to do, like, at all. When I mix I usually just move faders and try to EQ things. Overall a pretty amateurish approach. Compression is something I have a general understanding of but not nearly enough to actually use it to make things sound good. EQ, for me, is just "oh, this sound has lots of presence here, let's raise that. and this sound plays with another sound that has presence here, let's lower that. cut lows, cut highs, done" I've tried finding good sources but a lot don't help much since they're generally tailored to a certain breed of music and/or are hard to follow. And samples, yeah, I have no money so I have to go for free samples. I've tried looking up really good kicks I can use, to no avail. :( If you could link me somewhere that would be great...

Melodies: Since this is a remix, a lot of the melodies aren't actually my original work. But the rewind and the dynamic change are both totally my idea, so thanks! As for the transition that needs work, well, that's all I could come up with :| I had nothing better. Generally when I make complextro like this there's a lot of disorienting hap-hazardness going on which isn't usually seen in my more sane tracks (hopefully, anyway). But I'll keep trying!

And finally, dude, you should seriously play some Mystery Dungeon games! They are the BEST Pokemon games EVER, no joke!

Thanks so much for the review, and I'll try and work on the things you pointed out!

[Becoming Independent]

I think it fits really well man. In regards to you thinking it sounds cheesy, I have in some things I have scored or done music for, and noticed that a lot of the cheesyness comes from the picture it is fit with. I bet you if you put this song in a Mario Galaxy Game you wouldn't think it's so cheesy anymore. There are some parts I would say can be cheesy without the picture, but that is all in the instrumentation in my opinion. Great work man! Especially for doing it in one night.

Step responds:

Ohey, thanks for dropping by m8.

I think it fits pretty well too, myself! Maybe the brass sections were a bit too uplifting for what happened in the video but I wanted to add a section like that in a score about independence haha. I can't really imagine this in a Mario Galaxy game though. This is the LAST piece of music of mine that I'd expect to be compared with something as amazing as Mario Galaxy music.

GLAD YOU LIKE IT THOUGH. Thanks again. c:

[Chompy]

u shud haf let me rap on dis dope trak. i can bust out sum killer rhymes 4 ya.

.5 because you aint let me spit some words on dis.

...but i actually rated it 5 c: very awesome especially on such short notice.

Step responds:

stinkle sunds! next tiem tlel me earlier 4 d rappin. we cud of maed some tight shizz yeh?

[The First Elf]

This is wonderful Neon! Glad to see you again. Admittedly I haven't been around much either... Been busy with a lot of other stuff, but finally put something out a few days ago! Anyway, the voices sound really really nice, a little synthetic at times, but regardless I think you did a pretty good job with them. I wish the drums have come out a bit more. The flute sounds a little bit like a gliding synth a bit at sometimes, like it belongs in an electronic track... The melodies are really nice I suppose that the realism is where it falls short for me.

The atmosphere and emotions in the track are really lovely. It feels ominous and magical at the same time. I wish there was a bit of a fuller sound, perhaps if the drums were a bit louder, and a little bit more low end would be great. YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE THIS A FULL SONG. With some greater dynamics and counterbalanced emotions, you could have a really fulfilling track! As it stands though going a little over a minute, I think it's really solid. Not sure what else to comment on. Nice work!

Hope all is well with you :) Miss talking with ya, message me at anytime.

-Ryan

Neon-Bard responds:

It's been a while, Ryan! The voice, from Shevannai, sounds marvelous...I love the whole library! I definitely could have been a bit more careful with their implementation though, I see what you mean by synthetic. As for the drums, I turned those down on purpose because I felt they were too loud haha! That's a quick fix all the same.

I'm taking notes on that 'realism' point; that is always something to strive for. I SHOULD HAVE MADE THIS AS A FULL TRACK! :D

Things are well, and I hope the same goes for you - talk soon, and thanks for the great review!

[Jungle Swing]

Step, for me, this is your best song. I realize it's only a remix, and that you didn't contribute as much to the main-melodic themes of the song as David Wise did, BUT I think you have outdone yourself in composition, and general immersion. Both of which in my opinion are the most important aspects in any musical piece. You encompass a jungle-esque vibe within seconds from the start of the track. You manage to make the music shiny, powerful, and groovy all at the same time. This will probably be me randomly rambling about the qualities about the track that I really love. Things that I find awesome, brag-worthy, and maybe tiny little nitpicks that I have... and they are most definitely the nittiest of picks.

What I find impressive is how you manage to use so much of the original songs (including other DK tracks) to your advantage and pretty much utilize them however you can. The most impressive instances are during the transitions from part to part. Like at 1:45 to go into the next bit was perfect, you do it again later before going into the map theme from Donkey Kong Country. The song is separated by a few different songs used from the games, and you manage to transition between them seamlessly, and also manage to connect them all within one flowing track while making them sound unison in a way that it ALL has that jungle vibe I mentioned earlier, holding the original immersion throughout the entire track. Each transition perfectly prepares me for the big emotional dynamic changes from your countering emotions throughout the track (like going from the main theme to the more cheerful guitar, or even the guitar to the map theme). I also really enjoy the variation of your melodies (the ones from the original tracks I meant, not the improvs), you really use them to your advantage to, again, make proper transitions and create a greater dynamic.

The dynamics in this track are beautiful. In volume, and emotion. Going from sparkly, to badass to cheerful and back to badass, etc, etc. You mentioned that some people thought the map theme section was underwhelming, but as I mentioned, I completely disagree. One reason I once stated is because it offers a greater dynamic throughout the entire track. The more important reason to me though, is in the composition. The very ending would not have been as big if it weren't for the dynamic change and the build up right before hand. The map theme is naturally more less exciting, and let's be honest... nothing is more badass and NOTHING can be as exciting as the Congo Jungle Theme which go back into after the map theme. So like I said, the dynamic change in the specific instance of the Map part to the next works really well for the tracks compositional aspect. I can elaborate more if that doesn't make sense, my wording is a bit weird.

One thing I was a little disappointed by was not hearing the theme a little more at the end. I have heard this track at least 10 times since the album has come out, and I never really thought about it but I would have liked to hear the theme a bit more. I only thought about this after those 10 times, so I think you really nailed the ending that you kept... I guess I just realized that I wanted more :p Which is definitely another good quality about the track, wanting to hear more of the awesomeness within it. I can also see how making the song bigger throughout that final "chorus(?)" would be difficult as well. So again... nitpick. Along with the ending, I love the calm feel you give off. It sounds BIG (4:55)... but then you sort of just let it cool down and relax with the last little bit (5:01). Again, the track is very dynamic, even on an emotional level.

Oh man Stephan. The mixing. It's just wonderful... you give off a warm powerful feel throughout the entire track, you are hitting every frequency you possibly can from those crisp rolling cymbals to the down-low tribal drums, bongoes and whatever other drums that Stormdrum2 has that no one knows the name of >.<. But anyway, you covering all of that distance on the frequency spectrum just gives this song the full sound that gives this song the amazing feel that it does. The ONE thing that set me off a tiny bit was the bass guitar in the beginning that plays the main theme. It sounds awesome, and it hits me hard every time and sends chills down my spine. The problem is that the movement from note to note is a little difficult for me to hear. I'm really unsure what it is... But in my experience it either needs a little bit of shelving EQ on the high end to cut through the mix a bit more, or increased bell curve EQ in the mids to bring out the movement from note to note. I really don't feel this way about it anymore, but the first few times listening I really did feel this way, and I may have just gotten used to it/gotten over it... So take it with a grain of salt, because I've felt both ways. Besides that, the bass has an incredibly smooth and clean sound.

WAIT I JUST HEARD STICKERBRUSH SYMPHONY. YOU SNEAKY BASTARD. That was really really really well hidden. That makes me wonder how many more references you put in your track (I hid a bunch in my track too). Anyway back to the review.

You utilize melodies at whatever point you can and each tiny transition. Full and broad, with beautiful harmony from your Camoshark VST. I'm not sure what you had to do with the improvs, if you gave them any sort of direction to go in, but they were really wonderful. There was one or two points in the brass improv that kind of threw me off a little bit... As in it didn't quite match up with the rest of the tracks background music intensity building throughout that section. It does pick up, but it just takes some time I suppose. It just seems a little up and down and all over, at the very end it picks up and ends strong, but it would have been cool to hear it build up to a faster rhythm to reach that big part towards the end (quarter to eighth notes to etc.). The guitar improv is solid throughout. I really enjoyed it especially when the guitar harmonizes with multiple notes.

I really don't know what else to say. You nailed it Step. This is the first song I show to my friends so they understand the kind of standards the album has. You created an incredible atmosphere with your great instrumentation, mixing and composition skills. I really wish I could think of more things to comment on, but I really can't. Great work.

-Ryan

p.s. please don't hurt me for any typos
p.p.s. let me know if you need any clarification.
p.p.p.s. butts

Step responds:

HOLY...

This review is akin to the review you gave me on Encapsulation. You were like "ima review this track" and I was like "k" and then you blew my socks off with a thesis. I've got to say, these are VERY insightful to read and I am super grateful. In short, U DA BEST.

I'll do my usual blow by blow response, but since this review is so gigantic I'll only pick out the notable phrases.

"Step, for me, this is your best song."

I'm actually not sure if I agree with you on that. Maybe! I really don't know... I haven't made much new music recently to justify choosing a piece that I'm most proud of. I'm just really happy with all the work I did for the album, and this is certainly no exception. It's high praise, though, to know that you enjoyed the track enough to call it your favourite from me, EVEN THOUGH it's in a genre I never make, so thanks. c:

"What I find impressive is how you manage to use so much of the original songs (including other DK tracks) to your advantage and pretty much utilize them however you can."

Very glad you mentioned that. It's relieving to hear because I kinda felt like the main "selling point" of this arrangement, so to speak, isn't that it sounds particularly BETTER than the original music or DIFFERENT (let's face it, the original was a jungle-esque jazz/swing track, and so is my arrangement), but its saving grace is that it combines different themes together, plays around with the structure, has stuff like improvs and real instruments, etc.

"You mentioned that some people thought the map theme section was underwhelming, but as I mentioned, I completely disagree."

Like we said the other day, I concede that the map section isn't as exciting as the other sections, but I agree with you that it's still nice to have it there to break up the track a little and add some dynamics.

"The very ending would not have been as big if it weren't for the dynamic change and the build up right before hand."

TOTALLY agree with that ^_^.

"One thing I was a little disappointed by was not hearing the theme a little more at the end."

Damn it, I ALWAYS do this. In hindsight I am entirely in agreement with you. Would've been great to keep the theme going for another 8 bars or so, perhaps with some more instruments playing or variation of some sort. I made this mistake in so many other tracks of mine, including Encapsulation. I just have this constant worry that it will get repetitive and end up being pretty conservative with how long I keep a climax going.

"The mixing. It's just wonderful..."

This track was an absolute ASSHOLE to mix. There are so many drum samples especially... it killed me to balance it all together. Needless to say, I am therefore very relieved that you think so!

"The ONE thing that set me off a tiny bit was the bass guitar in the beginning that plays the main theme."

I can't agree more :p. This is another fault of mine that I do often. I don't have any actual bass guitar samples that are any good, so I end up just using some pseudo bass guitar sample which is actually just a bass synth or sometimes even a crappy bass guitar soundfont. Hence, I hide it beneath the mix so it doesn't sound awful. SkyeWint uses (or at least used to use) similarly bad bass samples, but he'd do some weird magic to get them to sound awesome, whereas I don't have that skill haha. Because of this I've been heavily considering getting Spectrasonics Trillian, but moneys...

"WAIT I JUST HEARD STICKERBRUSH SYMPHONY. YOU SNEAKY BASTARD."

WOOO, YOU NOTICED IT. After hearing Rush of the Rainforest, which was being made at around the same time I was making Jungle Swing, and learning that the album was going to be split by franchise, I thought it'd be cool to add a few nods to Stickerbrush Symphony at various sections of the track, to work as a sort of foreshadowing for Rush of the Rainforest in the album. Plus, Buoy added a section with Congo Jungle in Rush of the Rainforest, so I thought I should steal that idea with Stickerbrush Symphony :3.

"There was one or two points in the brass improv that kind of threw me off a little bit... As in it didn't quite match up with the rest of the tracks background music intensity building throughout that section."

I'm happy with that sax improv myself, but I'll have to agree that its direction is a little wonky. Compared to the guitar improv especially, which mirrors up perfectly with the intensity of the background and has a solid direction in its melodies, the sax improv was a little bit less satisfying. In the defence of the sax player, I gave half the amount of bars (nearly wrote bras over there) to him for an improv than I allocated for the guitar improv, making it harder to build up a solid melodic idea in a more limited time period. Ah well, in the end it's still a SICK improv that leads wonderfully to the next section so I'm happy with it!

"I really don't know what else to say. You nailed it Step. This is the first song I show to my friends so they understand the kind of standards the album has. You created an incredible atmosphere with your great instrumentation, mixing and composition skills. I really wish I could think of more things to comment on, but I really can't. Great work."

I am totally flattered. Thanks A MILLION for the incredible and detailed review. I hope my response did it justice!

"p.p.p.s. butts"

posteriors

[Tune of Tempests]

My dad works for nintendo so I get Wii U-2 before anyone else. We have Bono's music playing on it now, but I can get this song to play on the menu screen because my dad works for nintendo.

Step responds:

omg this wud chaeng my lyfe. tell ur dad 2 tell satouruou iwaeta i sed hi

[High Rollers Castle (Zelda)]

Wonderful job Chris. Well deserved praise. You did something with the Zelda theme that I don't think anyone else could have done as well in the way you achieved. Really enjoyable to listen to, and I love when it gets crazier towards the end. Quick movements and beautiful piano movement. You are truly talented. Great work! Glad to see everyone on this album composing some awesome pieces!

SoundChris responds:

Thanks a lot Ryan! The plan here was to find a way to arrange zelda onto a kind of jazz that even non jazz fans could stil like - so i tried to avoid extreme or atonal moves and did lots of variations about the zelda theme here to keep the zeldaish feel present all over the piece. Glad you liked the approach. Thanks a lot for leaving your thoughts here!