[Saunders]

Donkey Kong Country 'Jungle Stomp'

First my comments from the judge forum:

Originally Posted by I

Okay, it starts off sounding like it's gonna be okay.. but uh, that trumpet sample almost kills it.
The animal effects don't really seem needed either.. maybe that's just me though.
Other than the trumpet though, I think this mix is pretty cool actually.

That's basically all I have to say. It's well done, especially the drums, but the trumpet is pretty ass. And any/all animal sounds really seem unneeded to me.
Not one of my favorites by far, but it has a place here.

[Adhesive_Boy]

I dunno about this one...when I first looked at it, I thought it would be a crazy industrial version of some sort, but instead there was this. It seems a bit weak and simplified in the melody part, which made it a lot harder for me to get into it. Thankfully, around 2:50 it starts to sound good to my ears, but that part is short-lived. In general, it just seems like it's missing something...

Also, the samples aren't great, but I can understand how hard it is to get quality samples for wind instruments. Overall, it's a good effort, but not as good as some of the other remixes of the DKC main theme avalible on this site.

[Disco Dan]

Sort of wish I had caught this one before it was posted. Drums do seem really good. I recognize a couple of the brass rise samples that CotMM has. Nothing wrong with the samples as far as I'm concerned. And what I've noticed in the past is that if you use reverb, delay, and other effects tastefully on a not-so-great sample, you can cover the blemishes to a degree. Anyway, like I said, the drums are done really well, almost uncanny at times. My beef with this tune is the lack of harmony. I hear a bass line at some points that basically follows the melody, and when all of the instruments come in near the middle of the song, they're all playing the same notes at the same time. If you can imagine a marching band doing this, it would be incredibly boring. You know that last note in most symphonies? The one that sort of rolls on like buuuuuummmmmmmmmm. That's a unison or ocatve, usually. A finality. The thing about using a chord progression or even a melody and contrasting bass line, is that it shows development and helps transition. With everything in unison, there's no statement of key or key-center, it's just random notes in order. Besides the drums, this piece seems to have no meat. It's got really good bones, and some reeeeally thin skin, but nothing in between.

DC

[Jonathon Striker]

I agree with everone. i heard it and thought hey this is gonna be good. then after that introduction to the main part, it was all gone. I lost all respect for this remix right there and then.

[Kooper909]

Originally Posted by Jonathon Striker

I agree with everone. i heard it and thought hey this is gonna be good. then after that introduction to the main part, it was all gone. I lost all respect for this remix right there and then.

Thanks for your "constructive" criticism. I "appreciate" it.

[Jeff]

When this song was first posted I deleted it almost immediately, mainly because Kooper909's remixes from vgmix had dissapointed me, to say the least. I decided to give it another chance this morning, thinking that I had possibly judged it too harshly before.

At 0:31 the wind instruments start playing the main melody in unison... doesn't sound right at all. Ugh.
By 0:53 we have some animal noises, I swear it sounds like he used the same monkey sample that Scott Peeples and Prozax used previously in Phear the Monkey.
The animal fill lasts for a good 10 second, leading to a variation on the main theme whch works rather well. Very DK64.
Skipping to about 2:25 we get the nice sounding pan flute, giving us some much needed tonal relief :D .
The song ends with a few more variations, not leaving me bitter at all.


Overall I give the song a 2 out of 5 possible bananas. I think I'm going to keep it this this time. I do like the percussion. However, there are better much DK remixes on the site. I'd recommend new listeners to download Phear the Monkey and DJ Pretzel's Diddy Evolution for better renditions of this same theme.

[Nobbynob Littlun]

Awesome percussion! Trumpet is a hurt on my ears though (liked the animals though, made me smile) - I think, maybe, yes this cello ensemble sample I have here would fit nicely methinks if you can use a .wav file - and that high pitched thingy that's somewhere around 1:05 or 1:10, according to my often-defunct display, I can provide you with a small violin ensemble sample as well if you'd like.

They both are royalty-free. A friend recorded them off his ghetto-orchestra at the college, I am given to believe. If you want Kooper, you can contact me on either AIM as "gnomewarriah" or Yahoo IM as "gnomewarriorsillymight". After all, everyone's raising a stink over that trumpet :(

[Kooper909]

Don't worry people, the one that's pending now is MUCH better ...

It has harmony, for one thing. >_<

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Kooper909

Don't worry people, the one that's pending now is MUCH better ...

It has harmony, for one thing. >_<

It's great to hear that you've improved.

[Ultimo Hedgehog]

Well, I have to say that it made my CD list. I liked the drum beats and trumpet. Not too hot on jungle animals, but then again it is a pretty good filler sometimes. And the occasional explosions were interesting!