stunkel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Jambon Froid Jeté Sous La Pluie]

I can totally see this song working well in a Italian Leonardo Di Vinci's workshop themed song... at least until it goes into that synth stuff... :P but even the synth that comes in works well with the theme i described :P the la la's are just awesome, that really makes the song for me. Is that your voice? It makes me want to include something like that in my own music :3 Drums are badass too. Also I can see this working well with what you described as you said. Being made in a factory... DI Vinci's workshop... same thing! But awesome work dude, I really love this, favorited 5 starred :D

-Stunkel

ZipZipper responds:

It is my voice. Any voice-work heard in any of my pieces is me squawking and yelling in falsetto. There's a little alteration here, but I'm glad I can still basically achieve these pitches.

[White Caps]

I like this a lot. Really calm and pleasant... I saw what you described but in a montage of some sorts. I didn't see any oceany themed things, but I could definitely see everything else you described. I liked the piece and good luck in the contest! :D

AndretheXLR8R responds:

Thank you, yeah i think the french horn just reminded me of more of a sea adventure, it also sounds somewhat foresty as well.

[Snow in The Trees (8Bit)]

Sort of reminds of the snowy levels in donkey kong country. If this didn't have drums it would be a perfect candidate! You weren't going for that so it doesn't matter so much I guess :3 Awesome job though, sounds really awesome

8BitPICE responds:

Thank you! :) I don't really find the donkey kong soundtrack sounding much alike my songs at all, but that's of course your personal opinion. Love the Donkey Kong soundtrack btw! So thanks :)

[Exploring the Highlands]

Sounds lovely :D Really nice use of strings! East West is really amazing :D For some reason, lord of the rings comes into mind! Which is a very good thing. You should enter a song in the monthly audio contest this month :D WIth these instruments you are sure to win!

Neon-Bard responds:

Thanks man! :)

You're darn right about East West, it is fantastic! I think I know what you mean by the Lord of the Rings thing (huge compliment btw, I love LotR). It sort of has a Rohan-esque sound to it, likely due to the violin I used. Perhaps I will enter a song! Again, thanks for the review Stunkel. :D

[R.E.M. (WIP)]

Awesome man!

ChasingPresence responds:

Thank you thank you thank you :)

[Birth of a Champion]

First! :D

Love this dude. Glad you finally pulled through with this. I forget hearing this song in the game, but I can definitely hear this song working amazingly with the game. I really don't know what to say. The only thing I might say is that the violins melody at some points seem a bit empty. That is just my opinion though. By the way, East/West Ra sounds amazing!! I really might get it after hearing your beautiful usage of instruments. I think this is a really good recreation of this song though. No complaints really though. Love it.

5/5 stars
5/5 star rating :3

-Stunkel

Step responds:

Hey man, thanks for reviewing ^______^.

"First! :D"

Haha you say that as if there are going to be lots of reviews.

"Love this dude. Glad you finally pulled through with this. I forget hearing this song in the game, but I can definitely hear this song working amazingly with the game."

Perfect. I wanted to make it sound like something you'd hear in the game. Wasn't entirely easy because due to my lack of a PS3 I can't play Journey, but I familiarised myself pretty well with the game's music and that helped a lot. I wanted it to not only remake the melodies in the soundtrack but feel like the soundtrack too.

"I really don't know what to say. The only thing I might say is that the violins melody at some points seem a bit empty. That is just my opinion though."

dsgdsgdsgsa you got me. I was actually trying to fix that problem! I couldn't though... no matter what I tried it was either too full of depth and therefore it lost its charm, or it was too empty. Decided to stick with too empty :P.

"By the way, East/West Ra sounds amazing!! I really might get it after hearing your beautiful usage of instruments."

Ra's lovely, but the thing about it is that it isn't very diverse at all. If you add an instrument from Ra to a track of yours, then no matter what instrument you choose (save for some of the American instruments), it'll give a very distinct eastern or tribal/ethnic flavour to your track. This is unlike Stormdrum 2 which is a lot more diverse. I was lucky enough to get both in a buy one get one free offer!

What's great about Ra is that each instrument is focused on in great detail. You've got various articulations and even grace notes or embellishments or things such as 0:46, 1:09 and 1:21. It gives you a lot of control and makes it SO easy for the instrument to sound realistic.

"I think this is a really good recreation of this song though. No complaints really though. Love it."

Awesome, thanks again! Very glad you enjoyed it.

[Digital Insanity!]

Nice man!

ChasingPresence responds:

You too!

[Polarized]

I love it! :DDD

ChasingPresence responds:

love you too :} (no homo) :D

[Kris Kringle's Voyage]

Wow man! This is epic! People have said this sounds like Super Mario Galaxy and Legend of Zelda. While it does sound like both of those... I think you really captured a "Neon-Bard" sound :P. To be honest though... In a lot of this song I can definitely hear christmas... But for some parts of the song... it doesn't feel like christmas, but instead just orchestration with jingle bells playing along to it. Not sure why, but I just get that feeling. But overall dude, there is nothing wrong with this song. It's overall very christmassy, and a hint of adventure... I think the hint of adventure really brought out the Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda out of the song. Although I don't think you were going for a video game song... I think that this is missing some aspects to make this a video game song... I can't put my finger on it... It may be because the song loses instrumentation too much too often? I really don't know DX But that doesn't matter because you weren't going for that. Again, very adventurey and christmasy. Kris Kringles Voyage is an AMAZING name for this song. And it really captured what Kris Kringles Voyage would be. And whatever bit of this song was inspired by my song. I think that this song is inspiring me to create a new adventurey song :D Nice work man!

4.5/5
5/5 Star rating

Neon-Bard responds:

Fantastic review and feedback as always Stunkel! Very appreciated! :D

I'm glad you thought it was very "Neon-Bard" as you put it, even though I suppose that's a given, it's always good to hear that I'm keeping to my 'roots'. For once, I didn't go for a 'video game sound' which was a little strange for me I suppose, given that a good 80% of my stuff is based on something game-like. I'm really glad that you liked the name because at first I was little bit hesitant to call it that, but it seems all worked out quite well!

Thanks again for the awesome review, it means a lot! :D

[LoZMM - Clock Tower]

Nice man! Funny how we both post similar songs sometimes XD Like we both posted a zelda song. But this is pretty awesome. Nice mix and instrumentation. The song is called Song of Healing by the way. But nice work! Sounds great with your orchestral interpretation. really pretty. Great job!

Neon-Bard responds:

Actually yeah...that's really strange! :P

Thanks for the review btw! Also, fun fact: both titles are in some ways correct. 'Song of Healing' and 'Clock Tower' are somewhat interchangeable (stress on somewhat), though both songs do have some minor differences! I noticed though that my 'version' of the song sounds much more like the Song of Healing so perhaps I should have just called it 'Song of Healing' instead...