Knuckstrike's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rain Drums]

Very nice.

Those water sound effects you use at the beginning immediately give this song a rainy feeling. Nicely done. Just after that odd drum (I forgot the name) came in, which gave more of a beach feeling. Nice to have those two sorts combined.

After that nearly the whole song existed of those beachy drums with a background music and beat. It was nice how tropcal it all sounded, but it did get a bit repetive.This only started near the end though, so don't think this whole song was boring, because it isn't.

Perhaps the only thing I didn't like about this song was the volume going up and down around 1:40. It irritated me more than it gave a feeling of something special.

This song has one of the best intro and ending I've heard in a while on the audio portal. It gives a nice atmosphere, and would fit just fine in a game. It even is nicce to listen to just on its own. I don't think it's completely perfect though.

Review request club

Rinibra responds:

Thank you so much for taking the time to review!! :)

[~SW~ The Fire Temple]

A nice experiment

It's always nice to see someone posting a experiment like this, and that it actually works. Although it sounds more like a desert song than a fire temple song, it still sounds pretty nice.

It isn't a top song though, mainly because just three instruments lack the energy to make it a powerful song. Because it's just over a minute and has only two different kinds of parts (a slow and a fast part), it's not really diverse.
It was probably the best choice to make it that short, because you only had three instruments. So mixed feelings about that.

Great job on the looping, by the way. The slow pat at the end matches the slow part at the start. This makes the middle part stand out even more.

Review request club.

SkyeWint responds:

Hello! Glad I got another review!

It is difficult to get a lot in a song when it only has 3 instruments. I tried to make it diverse under the circumstances. And for a video game loop, it's actually on the longer end, considering some I've heard. :P

It wasn't meant to have a lot of energy, but rather more of a background rumbling - the actual 'fire' would be in the situation. It's more of an ambient thing, I guess I was trying to do something like the LoZ fire temple - that's what was in my head as I made it.

I'm glad you liked the looping. I worked really hard on that bit.

Thanks for the review!

[[NLC] Hyrule Field Fixed]

Definetely your best one yet.

The clear sounds the song immediately starts with are really great. The echoing it has sounds wonderful with this song, and gives the whole song colour.
That instrument, plus the happiness are what really attract me to this piece.

That doesn't mean that the rest isn't good though. All of the different parts sound wel, and have better "bridges' now. The only bridge I don't like is the one at 3:26. It's the only sudden stop in this song, and stops the kind of trance this song has. If you put four slow notes in between them, like the four at 3:36, it may sound better. That, and the ending was a bit abrupt. You probably have more knowledge of this though.
Apart from that, I think the song is pretty much perfect.

What I like in all your music is the large amount of variation, and this one definetely has that too. With the nice sounds and feeling of completeness this is your best song yet IMO.

Review request club.

KrisKrosNL responds:

Hmmm, seems you're right. I've slowly noticed this, too.

[[NLC] Molgera Battle]

Mixed feelings.

The way it builds up the suspention is nice. And by that I mean the intro. The soft drums really add to that.

I didn't like that there was something else coming it at 0:25 though. It seemed a bit odd with the main melody. Especially around 0:32.
It was good that you gave the advice to listen with headphones, since without it it doesn't sound good at all.
The softer part in the middle is really nice. It gives some variation.

A few of the parts after that didn't sound nice. It wasn't too often, and each time just for about ten seconds, but at times like 1:33 the main melody and the background music didn't sound well with each other. Another example was around 2:35. The song got better at 2:21 though. It darkened a bit there, which is nice if you make music from a boss battle. But then again at 2:35 more melodies started to mix.

Mixed feelings about this song, because the intro and the ending are really nice. You put a lot of time into this, and with a few parts it's certainly possible to hear that. Most of the time it sounds really well, and there is enough variation in this song.
Some of the experiments didn't work to well though IMO.

Review request club.

KrisKrosNL responds:

Ok, thanks for the review.

[[NLC] Basshunter (WIP Remix)]

A remix of a remix

It actually sounded nice.

What I liked is how you made a soft song from a powerful techno song. I haven't heard the original before, so I listened to that one first.
I must say that I wasn't a fan of the quietness at the start, but when you put a few extra instruments in it (e.g. the echoing instrument) it sounded well together.

The simple melody is good because of the dance feeling it can create, but of course don't let it get too repetive. I agree with MaartenC that it didn't get too repetive. But adding another instrument would make it even better.

It's good how you changed the song in the end though. You should keep that in if you are ever going to make a next version of this. And by that part I mean the part from 2:49. That's probably my favorite part in the whole song. It's to most complete there. And nice work on the transition there.

The clapping at 3:06 was a nice addition. I had hoped you put that a bit earlier in the song though, along with one or two extra instruments. It gives each part a bit of a different feeling, which is important in a song for me.

Review request club

KrisKrosNL responds:

Very epic review of you.

Yeah, you can see by my submittions that I dislike loud sound.

I'm planning to add different instruments and some extra notes on each part.

I'm gonna add the claps at the early two stages, as well. (You know, make it sound a bit lively)

Hmmm, gotta check that out. 2:49...the stall part. Maybe I'm gonna keep that and change the first two parts.

Yes, I will put the claps earlier in the song.

Thanks for the review!

[Kipling - If]

Something you don't see that often.

I have to admit that I don't know what a few words mean in this poem. But I don't think that that isn't necessary. Your voice is very nice for a poem like this, and just hearing it is quite relaxing.

It was a good idea to post the `lyrics` in the author comments. Because I read it with the spoken word, it´s like an audio book. Very professional.
I even learned a few words from the poem.

I wouldn´t mind a very soft background song though. I bet you can find or make something that fits with a nice poem like this.

I haven´t heard from the real writer before, by the way. But he´s certainly a good poet.

Review request club

Coop responds:

Surely you've seen Disney's Jungle Book at some stage in your life? Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book as well.

I'm after some decent background music for my reading, but even if I could find it, I don't have the skills and / or programs to adapt it.

If you know someone that could, give me a shout, as I have big ideas for 2012!

[[NLC] The Great Sea]

Sounds great once again

The wind waker is one of the only Zelda games I haven't played yet, so I don't know the original. The only time I've heard this song before is in brawl, so I'll compare it to that.

I'm a fan of this song's opening part. At the part where more instruments start to kick in (at 1:41) the song really starts, but I like the part before more. The background music isn't too different from what I've heard before, and certainly as nice, if not nicer.

That doesn't mean the part after isn't nice though. The instruments used are perfect for a song like this. Every one with high notes, and with their own notes.
It sounds like all the notes are a bit higher than the original. That's nice, and it gives the song a little more character, but some notes were a bit too high for my liking.

Another small point of improvement is the repetiveness. Something you can easily get with a song this long is that parts repeat too often. That was the case here too. Everything was nice to listen to, but not exiting enough to listen to three times.

It's a pretty soft song, and it would fit great into the original game. Or at least into what I've heard of the game.

Review request club

KrisKrosNL responds:

The high pitches are done for one reason: a second part, according to the original. I couldn't add a special "third part" since at that time my computer couldn't handle the amount of power it was using. That's basicly the reason why it's repetive. :P

Thanks for the review. :P

[Christmas Rock Medley]

A nice variety of Christmas rock songs

I'm going to review every Christmas song apart.

Jingle bells:
It immediately starts hard. Although I hoped for more of an intro, it's directly clear how it's going to be. The rocking here is good, and the drums fit nicely with the main guitar. What the guitar plays changes enough to not make it boring, but the background music stays the same almost all the time. Since it's quite hard too, it would be better if that changed sometimes too.

Frosty the snowman:
I liked this more than the previous, because the Christmas feeling is more here. The melody is clear, and the guitar sounds nice. Again the background drums are repetive, but it's less boring somehow because the front melody is more on the foreground. Good job on this bit.

The part I forgot the name of:
The original melody stands out a bit more here again, but this time it's still rocking. It's the shortest part, but pretty good. I didn't like that it had the same drum sound as the first part though. Now it started to irritate a bit.

Part I've never heard of before:
I don't know if this is a real Christmas song, but nevermind. It was the nicest part IMO. It had the most original drums, the most variation, and sounded the most like rock. I expected to like a more Christmasy song to be my favorite, but this one is. The fade out is nice here. Instead of the others, it finished nicely. A good ending for the medley.

A small improvement would be a bridge between each of the different medleys. This is because the style changes completely with a different christmas song, and that makes it more of a real medley instead of just a collection of rock Christmas songs.

Review request club.

Thegluestickman responds:

Thank you for such an in-depth review. The last two songs are "Deck the Halls" and "Carol of the Bells", "Carol of the Bells" isn't that popular so that's probably why you never heard it. Appreciate the criticism, hope I will do better next time!

[Under the Stars]

Great

This is just the perfect song for some background music. I can't see how this hasn't been used in a game before.
I think this mainly because I think it sounds really well. It is indeed very calming, and all the small, crystal sounds in it make it complete.

Not just those sounds, but also the trumpet are my favorite part of this song. It just fits very well.

Great job on the very quiet part in the middle too. I recently read that one of the characteristics of ambient music is a small pause in the middle. Nice to hear that in this song too.

And I don't know how you can make six minutes with very slow music not boring, but you did it. Well done.

Review request club

ChineseCommando responds:

Thanks for the review!

[<EagleGuard> Wandering]

Great

It almost sounds like a remix. I hear all those lines that sound familiar. Not a bad thing though. The first few notes from 0:20 sound a bit like the song "I was made for loving you". But that might just be me making odd connections.

The clavinet is an instrument I've never heard before in a song. It gives it a nice effect, and some variation on the rest of the song, which is more dark.

After listening to the whole song again I didn't get bored, which is I think because of the clavinet. I did find that some of the parts were too long and too often, like the part that starts at 0:36, and then again at 2:12 and 3:16. It was a nice part, but not good enough to hear three times in a song.

Compliments on the intro and the end though. They fit well with this piece of music.

Review request club

EagleGuard responds:

Haha, I never noticed similarity you mentioned at the 0:20 part! You're right, it does sound a bit like that song from 'Kiss', but that's purely incidental.

Wasn't too sure about the clavinet when I first put it in, but I'm glad it worked out alright. It was one of the few instruments that I could think of that has a bright, yet 'crisp' sort of sound.

I was really doubting about shortening the parts you mentioned. Guess I should've done that, but oh well. That's something to think of next time ;)

Thanks for the review!