stunkel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Encapsulation]

Okay... I promised I would do a review for you on this song, so here we go. I plan on making this a good one and worth your time. You give everyone a kickass review, you don't give a "This sounds good LOL" or a "Nice work man!" you pour everything into it. So I'm going to give you the best I can give! I have heard this before and I thought it was near perfect, so it might take me a few listens to find some flaws... but I will find them... even if I die trying.... WELP HERE WE GO ^_^

First off, omnisphere is freaking amazing. I feel like the reason you asked me to review this song is because you are trying to convince me further to buy omnisphere, and I think the way you use it's instruments on this song alone may have pushed me over the edge to where I am hanging on by one finger (my lack of money and CCC2 are keeping me on barely) But the more I listen to it, the more I want to get it x_x. This song is so atmospheric and creates a world unlike any other, the elements that you pull into the song from synth pads to what I thought would be a secret agent song, BUT NOPE, you went to some ethnic song to cinematic to secret agent for real, to... an atmosphere and vision that I can't describe. There is so much to this song, so many dynamics in composition and instrumentation and playing. I think I may have hit Nirvana while listening to this it is so immersive. And you two made it in just 3 days?? I honestly have nothing but praise for this song.

Let's go into the composition. I REALLY wish I hadn't heard this before reviewing so i could really just lose myself completely when listening to this (best way to listen to music in my opinion, and it's partially a reason why I think electronic is so awesome, it's very easy to just fall into the atmosphere created). But anyways, the start of the piece makes me feel nothingness and just going no where, I'm actually a little stuck while writing this review because I don't know what else to say... The use of the symphonic orchestra strings in the beginning as pads was a really nice touch. They can blend REALLY well with the electronic genre, and I personally think that you nailed it. The piano gives off a bit of life to the song and it really makes me feel like the song is growing as a person... is that weird? HA I WAS KIDDING? HA? The little radio effect you put on the piano makes it feel like it's smaller than it really is and really does have a great build into the next part with the heavier electronic drums.

The song has a bit of an evolution to it. Start off in a world of mystery then a build in evolution, and discovery. The electronic drums bring in the feeling of evolution and progression, and the acoustic guitar really brings in a very interesting vibe to the song. It was an interesting choice as well... On paper if you were to play a song like this and say "I want to throw an acoustic guitar in there" then I would probably disagree or let alone even try it, but it actually worked beautifully and it totally threw me off as to where the piece was going to be going. I think the effects you threw on it really made it sound nice and blended well with the track. The transition out of it with the sliding guitar into the next part is just awesome with synth going doo dee doo dee doo dee (1:46) The doo dees was playing earlier in the song and playing it at the end there after that part was an awesome idea. (I have no idea why that stuck out with me so much)

What's great about this song is, no matter how different you make it, it stays to it's electronic/cinematic roots. I think it's great when songs change things up and go from one genre to the complete opposite, but here I think the fact that you kept it semi electronic the entire time was a nice touch. And of course for the competition with the Biodome, the song should stay electronic and it really does fit it perfectly.

On to the next part! These transitions where you just let the song sit and play some synth pads in the background are really showing off the songs compositional dynamics and make the bigger parts of the song pop way more. Great compositional technique there good sir! And it isn't in a way where I am just waiting around for the next part to come or I am listening to just one chord, there are little chord changes here and there to immerse me into the song and change things up for me. And that really brings a nice cinematic element to the entire track.

I love the staccato strings (cello?) coming in at 2:05. Like I just said two sentences ago, it brings in that cinematic feel to it. However I think that maybe they could come out a little bit more. They seem to be very quiet and are a great addition to the song, so why not turn it up a bit more :p I love how you bring the piano back in at 2:16, it's not the same melody, but it gives off the same feel as before. Sometimes even putting in the same exact melody as was played before is cool because people have heard it before and it gives them a connection that they had earlier in the song. It's obviously not something they would get hooked on, but you get what I mean.

Although you change up the melody and the instruments, I still notice a little bit of the same theme play throughout everything in the entire song. That is some nice composition right there. Changing up the melody a little bit and spreading it across more instruments and such. Again it gives people that little connection from one part to the next, and maybe that is why this song flows together so well, because everything can be connected in one way or another.

Okay this might be a little nitpicky, but for some reason, the brass at 2:27 sound like they are a little too lonesome. They do pick up eventually but for that one moment they sound like they are a little too by themselves and there isn't too much going on there. There is a lot going on, but it feels empty when it shouldn't be. Maybe just adding in a little bit of background instruments like you did throughout the rest of the song would be a nice touch. The little background noises are so subtle but at the same time they have such a big impact to the final piece. It can really make or break the piece. Again, just nitpicking a bit. The drums picking up more while the song plays is just freaking awesome man. It does it so subtly too which is awesome, the first time listening i caught myself bobbing my head more and I didn't even know why.

The ending is just epic man. The part with the choir at 2:50 was awesome. The only thing that bugged me was that the last part didn't go on long enough! It was such a good part and it deserves more time! Keep on building on it as that part goes. A key change could have been epic, the ending is definitely the most cinematic part of the entire piece and it would have tied in greatly! Maybe you could have played the ending play once with an instrument replacing the choir, and then have a key change where the choir comes back in. Just an idea! And of course, ending with a solo piano and synth pads. It gives me an empty feeling, the piano ending is a little cliche, but it works so well (hell, i'm guilty of it too :P). It really does work well and no one can deny that XD

Hey guys, I had a blast reviewing this song. The melodies were powerful and they really speak to the listener. The song changes up in ways that I can't wrap my head around. I just had some small little problems with the song, but it's the nittiest of the picks that I am making on the song :p Just some stuff based off what I might have done differently really. Most of the track sounds very realistic (where there was orchestra anyways) and the electronic parts were mixed in very nicely. There are some parts throughout the song where some instruments sound very quantized like the staccato strings at 2:05, or even the spiccatto strings at 2:16. Well I've been rambling on quite a bit, but I think this is an outstanding track. Great work guys, this is probably my longest review yet, and there is a lot of fluff, but I had a lot of fun doing it! Oh and btw, throughout all of the times listening to the song, I never really got bored of it, so that's another plus. Nice work guys, you two work very well together!

5/5

-Ryan

Step responds:

OK wow this is just crazy. You promised a longer review than your previous one, but I expected maybe 3 or 4 paragraphs max and then BAM, 10 HUGE PARAGRAPHS (and 5/5, and -Ryan) OUT OF NOWHERE. This is incredible and you are absolutely awesome for writing what seems to be the biggest and most detailed review I've ever received.

I don't even know where to start! But a detailed review like this deserves a detailed response so HERE WE GO.

"First off, omnisphere is freaking amazing."

I know ;_;. The reason I asked you to review this wasn't really because I think you should get Omnisp-screw this, of course it was ^_^. Well, partly, at least. Omnisphere is just the best thing since sliced bread and while it doesn't help that much for pure orchestral or tracks which are supposed to sound realistic, it has such a huge variety of sounds that it's impossible for someone not to find a use for it.

"This song is so atmospheric and creates a world unlike any other"

I'm proud of the atmosphere in this track and I think that it's so atmospheric compared to my other works because of the fact that I originally intended for this to be ambient, but then halfway through I kinda realised I had no idea what I was doing in the genre (a notion which was verified once I made the track explode with over 20 instruments playing at one go towards the end).

"But anyways, the start of the piece makes me feel nothingness and just going no where"

Nothingness and emptiness is totally something I was aiming for, mostly in the intro and outro. It's such an awesome feeling/atmosphere to depict in a track. Glad you caught that message!

"The use of the symphonic orchestra strings in the beginning as pads was a really nice touch. They can blend REALLY well with the electronic genre, and I personally think that you nailed it."

Strings are some of the most dynamic instruments I find. Not as much as piano, of course, but I find that strings can work in a lot of genres.

"On paper if you were to play a song like this and say "I want to throw an acoustic guitar in there" then I would probably disagree or let alone even try it, but it actually worked beautifully and it totally threw me off as to where the piece was going to be going."

I'm not entirely sure why I added that acoustic guitar. I think it might be because I'm a bit more adept at using real instruments than synths, so you'll find that the instruments that carry the melody in this track are always real instruments - strings, brass, piano, guitar, etc. I thought it would be better to play it safe in that department because whenever I make songs whose main instrument is a synth it often doesn't sound that great (unless that synth is a square synth but it's PISS EASY to make a synth sound based out of square waves to sound awesome).

"synth going doo dee doo dee doo dee (1:46)"

Oh I'm happy you noticed that! It's an FL Studio preset which I heavily detuned and distorted. Wasn't sure what to do with it so brain was like "DOO DEE DOO DEE DOO DEE" and I was like "k".

"What's great about this song is, no matter how different you make it, it stays to it's electronic/cinematic roots. "

I don't usually have genre switches in my tracks (or if I do, they're usually forced). Although I do try and have a few mood switches, which I hope this track had!

"And it isn't in a way where I am just waiting around for the next part to come or I am listening to just one chord, there are little chord changes here and there to immerse me into the song and change things up for me.

Hell yeah, this is what I wanted to hear. Ambience is hard for me to make since I'm constantly worried that if I keep everything low-key and without much happening, it'll get boring.

"I love the staccato strings (cello?) coming in at 2:05. Like I just said two sentences ago, it brings in that cinematic feel to it. However I think that maybe they could come out a little bit more."

That's Echo's part. I agree, he should have turned them up a little more haha. They are pretty awesome. Maybe their rhythm might've clashed with the rhythm of the drums if they were louder, dunno.

"I love how you bring the piano back in at 2:16, it's not the same melody, but it gives off the same feel as before."

That's another one of Echo's ideas. He has a habit of using piano in quiet sections and I shouldn't be complaining because he generally does a good job with it haha.

"Okay this might be a little nitpicky, but for some reason, the brass at 2:27 sound like they are a little too lonesome."

Oh right, now that I think about it that's a good point. I felt like Echo's brass work is awesome but sounds a bit empty and dynamically flat at times.

"The drums picking up more while the song plays is just freaking awesome man."

Woo thanks!

"The ending is just epic man. The part with the choir at 2:50 was awesome. The only thing that bugged me was that the last part didn't go on long enough!"

Yeahhh, you're not the first to mention this for sure. I actually think you're like the fourth or fifth haha. Totally my bad.

"And of course, ending with a solo piano and synth pads. It gives me an empty feeling, the piano ending is a little cliche, but it works so well (hell, i'm guilty of it too :P). It really does work well and no one can deny that XD"

Yeah man it's entirely cliché but I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF ;_;. I had to do it, and it's been getting mixed opinions. Some people hate how it ends, others say it's the best way to end the track.

"it's the nittiest of the picks that I am making on the song :p"

Nittiest of picks... I'm definitely stealing that one.

"There are some parts throughout the song where some instruments sound very quantized like the staccato strings at 2:05, or even the spiccatto strings at 2:16."

Yup - johnfn and SkyeWintrest mentioned the quantized thing. Certainly an oversight on Echo's part. What a dumbass :3.

"Well I've been rambling on quite a bit, but I think this is an outstanding track. Great work guys, this is probably my longest review yet, and there is a lot of fluff, but I had a lot of fun doing it! Oh and btw, throughout all of the times listening to the song, I never really got bored of it, so that's another plus. Nice work guys, you two work very well together!"

Yeah, I really don't know what to say other than THANK YOU SO MUCH for the incredibly detailed and helpful review. That was awesome and I feel like all the cookies in the world wouldn't be enough to repay you.

THANKSSSS.

[Song Preview 8]

Crap... Well I chose a bad time to go into the review for review thread... I have never done it before and I am so unfamiliar with electronic music x_x I will do my best to review this though! And also, I apologize in advance if I seem too nitpicky as I am only trying to help, so just don't take the review too seriously if you get the feeling that I'm splitting hairs :p

Right off the bat. SO HAPPEH! A lot of people consider this kind of music to be way too happy, but I say screw that, that's not possible. This is one of those feel good songs and I love it when people do songs like this, it can be difficult to do sometimes and you nailed it perfectly. The whole track flowed together really nicely, melodies weren't too repetitive and it had a consistent mood the entire time which I assume is a good thing to have in drum n bass. Although I am inexperienced with most electronic, I wouldn't say that this is drum n bass only because of the feeling it gives me. Electronic genres are weird to me in a way that the genre can be also determined by the emotion that you get from the music. And this feels more like electro to me. It's not a bad thing at all by any means, it doesn't change the fact that you have an awesome song, it's more of a question for myself and wondering what would determine this to be a drum n bass song rather than something else.

Now onto the composition, the whole song is a head bobber. From the start I am bobbing my head and at the end I still am. The melodies are consistent in a way that they transition from one to the next very smoothly and that can be difficult to accomplish as a composer sometimes, but you manage it perfectly here. You have some cool ideas like putting a sort of radio effect on the lead melody at 1:50. It's very slight and you mixed it in nicely to where it doesn't stand out too much. The one thing I was a little disappointed in was that the entire song was staccato notes. There were no legato notes where it would have been AWESOME to hear them. Maybe towards the end you could have gone into a big chorus where some background melodies were playing long monophonic legato notes flowing into one another. And maybe earlier in the song during a verse or on a part right after the chorus, you could have had a bridge to lead back into the verse. It makes for a nice transition and it's nice to hear some variety like that! The staccato notes throughout the song sort of just come at you REALLY hard. And the melody is very fast paced so I think it would be a nice change to ease off of it and let the listener go on a smooth ride on some legato synths :3

The whole song sounded so full and worked together so well, I honestly had no problem with it, everything you did was clearly intentional and was fun and smooth. From the little drum n bass I listen to, I would say that the kicks and snares are a very important part along with the lead melody. Those should be the stand out the most and you did perfect with that so nice work on getting that part of the mix right :3 The high hats were present and easy to hear but didn't pull focus. The background mix sounded solid from what I could tell, perhaps maybe if it was a little more present then it would have been nice. When I relistened I noticed there were some nice background melodies going on and should be heard! But again, the most important part is the kick, snare and melody, so I think you did just fine!

You have a great piece here. Very happy and uh... yeah I just realized that this is a WIP. Probably should have read the description before hand. BUT OH WELL. Great work again, I enjoyed reviewing the song :D

4.5/5 stars
5/5 star rating

-Ryan

Everratic responds:

Thankyou for the review. I loved your last review, but this is even better!
I will most likely use your suggestion of using legato notes. I never pay attention to note size. I didn't know what legato meant until I went to dictionary.com lol. I'm glad the mixing sounds good. I was so worried about that.

[Esperanza de la Vega]

Geez man... What is this madness that you have created. East/west gypsy has incredible guitars. That alone may have just convinced me to get them... Regardless of how good a VST or AU sounds, learning how to use it well is more than half of the battle, and you did something awesome with it. I remember you mentioned that you weren't using the grid in Logic when you were making this. Which I think is just ridiculous, because the song does have a whole new world of realism to it. I'm sure it was difficult to do, but it definitely paid off. It's like someone is actually playing without a metronome. I think you took a big risk doing an almost solo instrument piece for NGADM, but I think it paid off. It's great that you went out of comfort zone to do this, and you have been with every single round, and I don't think it has turned against you yet (Except for last round maybe, but it still paid off because you were the highest scoring contestant!) And for not being a guitar player, this is just fantastic, even if you were a guitar player, this would be very impressive. It's so hard to choose who I want to win in this whole contest, everyone is making impressive works and are pouring their hearts into these songs. I really think you have a great shot at winning the entire thing though. Good luck man, you nailed it again :P

-Ryan

SoundChris responds:

Thanks a lot stunkel for that very helpful and monster detailed review! I decided to do some solo instrument track because in the rounds before i made stuff with many instruments and lots of tracks. Because the last time the critique has been that the judges were missing a recognizable main melody i decided to focus on realism and composition. So if you think it would sound real this compliment makes me happy :D

To be honest - to compose without the DAW grid was pure horror, but i really think it improved the degree of realism a lot (but it was very time intensive). You never know how things will go in the NGADM because all the contestants made pretty nice pieces but i still have hope that this journey could go on a little bit longer. This contest helped me to improve and discover many new aspects of music. I always think to choose a new genre helps to grow as a musician... and the possible styles and genres out there are just very appetizin :)

So thanks a lot for that great review of yours! All the best,

Chris

[She Was Picking Flowers]

Your music is awesome. I've been keeping my eye on you during this competition, and you have impressed me more than anyone else. Like honestly... what is this style?!? It's celtic with an electronic twist to it. I have to assume you want to do some video game music in the future, because this stuff sounds like something that I would hear in Super Mario Galaxy in some parts. The production is awesome, and mixing is full and clean. This song is so calming but it goes into an epic direction so well and just gahhh. The music box at the end is an awesome idea, the sample was decent, but I still enjoyed it :p Great work man, I really hope you nail it for the judges. This just sounds incredible. I'll be keeping my eye out on you

-Ryan

steampianist responds:

Keeping an eye out? sounds painful dude... Ahe

Lame joke aside thank you for the review and yes I like ost tracks from video games. Cos videogame music allows you to be as surreal as you want almost impractical for live instruments (unless you use a keyboard/piano). Oh and btw this style is called surrealism

Again thanks for reviewing

[Retro Funk]

Damn dude, nice work! Sounds solid :3

8BitPICE responds:

Thank you! You have great songs as well!

[The Tomb Shaker]

This wuz gud but I didn't hear a shaker newhere in dis song. After all the song is called The Tomb Shaker. -10000/5 stars.

But seriously. This is great work. The change in the beginning was much better in my opinion in terms of realism from when I heard it last. The songs demonstrates the possibilities of what you can do with the Dan Tranh very well! Sorry for the short review. I promise when I do the encapsulation review it will be much longer :)

5/5

Step responds:

"This wuz gud but I didn't hear a shaker newhere in dis song. After all the song is called The Tomb Shaker. -10000/5 stars."

nu nu nu u dont get it lol. dis sung is about a tomb-enthusiast who shakez his ass all day long. not about shakers lol. stoopid.

"But seriously. This is great work. The change in the beginning was much better in my opinion in terms of realism from when I heard it last."

Yeah I like it better too! Thanks for that suggestion.

"The songs demonstrates the possibilities of what you can do with the Dan Tranh very well!"

That was the whole point of it so I'm glad that came across well!

"Sorry for the short review. I promise when I do the encapsulation review it will be much longer :)"

Woo, looking forward to it. Thanks for the review man!

[NSP: Evil Clones]

Does NSP stand for Ninja Sex Party? :P

SilentMrDave responds:

Name Still Pending :P

[Lover's Lament]

Hey Bass! Congrats on getting 2nd/3rd in the first round of NGMT! This song is very indeed simple. In my opinion you chose the perfect instruments to create a monochromatic theme. That muted plucked harp in the beginning is exactly what monochromatic is to me. Very nice double bass playing might I add! It's too bad you weren't able to brag about that in the voting because I'm sure you have gotten a few more votes for live playing. You pointed out the intonation issues, but there were only a few times where it came up, and it didn't really bother me too much to the rest of the piece. I know the the contest was to make it simple, but maybe it would have been cool to hear another instrument in there to change it up a bit. Maybe throw in some piano chords on it's own. I feel like it's repetitive, but in a way where the entire pieces dynamics or ideas don't change enough. Nonetheless, this piece is a great representation of the monochromatic theme. Great playing and great composing. A well worthy 2nd/3rd place! Great work!

-Ryan

bassfiddlejones responds:

Hey man! Thanks for the review. I'm glad the monochrome theme really came across. I was indeed hoping for a few more votes, but I'm very happy with the piece and my placing! I probably could have added some more variation, but was going for as simplistic as possible. Glad you liked the piece man, thanks again!

[The Monochrome World]

FIrst, off. Congratulations on winning the first round of NGMT! The voters seemed to choose well this round :P This meets the themes standards perfectly. I'm not sure if you were going for one color or no color, but to met it sounds like there was no color, if you went for that, then nice work! You pretty much touch up on everything in your description that needs to be changed. The violins are a bit cheesy, they are a bit high-pitched at times as well... I would have liked to hear my variation in the piece though. The piece isn't repetitive note-wise, but conceptually it is. Just message me if you don't get what I mean, I can explain further DX Maybe it would have been cool to hear some piano take the lead melody and the violin take a break, that may have helped tone down the cheesy-ness a bit. But anyways, this was an awesome piece and was well worthy of winning this round! Great work!

-Stunkel

EvilRaccoon responds:

I think I get exactly what you mean. Thankyou very much for the feedback, it helps significantly!

[Dawning]

YAY NEW SONG :D

ChasingPresence responds:

:DDD