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View Profile johnfn

866 Audio Reviews

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== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Okay, first things first. THAT BASE LINE. I LOVE IT. It's just so goofy and fun! When the other melodic instruments started coming in, I knew that I was in for a fun time, and I was totally right. This song is a total joy, it reminds me of racing around in Mario Kart or having fun on a sunny day if you don't play video games =P The composition style here is just really enjoyable and fun.

As for things to improve, definitely think about the mix. I have a guide in my profile, you might want to read it! An easy win would be to just turn down a lot of the reverb you have going here, and then once you've done that, turn up the drums a little bit.

Great stuff though! A really enjoyable and fun listen =)

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 2+/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.4

Quebi responds:

Thanks a ton! But if you've ever listened to all of Axel F, you can tell that had an influence. To the point that when I originally named the project, it was Axel G until I could come up with something

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Holy freaking smokes. I don't think I've ever been so pleasantly surprised by such a unique style since Arbelamram's "flow master" back in the audition round. I mean come on dnb with an asian bent, I love it (and btw, the title for this song is hilarious). And the middle section, where the amen break comes in out of nowhere and then 55 different chords and bass things explode in 55 different directions! What's not to like??? The track has all sorts of great touches to it, like the chord/arps that come in around 2:30, and the way that it just completely cuts to those paddy chords around 3:00. No clue how the transition works, but it totally does. The mix is excellent in this one, btw.

It's actually pretty tough to give suggestions for improvement, since this totally doesn't fall into the typical patterns of music that I've heard in the contest. I'd say that the piece as is is maybe a tad too repetitive, and could have been varied more by adding and removing additional rhythmic elements at points during the drum loop. Other than that, great stuff, definitely one of my favorites!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 3+/4
Production: 4/4

Overall: 9.0/10

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Oo, this one is fun! Dude, I really like your middle eastern inspired composition style! The little trills are great, and I really like your melodic style. Probably the thing that I really want to praise is the excellent way that your melodies talk back and forth with each other, like how in 0:44 the chords talk with the base, and then the base idea is then completed by another instrument. As I continued to listen to this piece, I kept on picking up more and more fun little details, and every time being surprised and pleased. It's really quite the detailed piece for only being a minute long, and I'm nothing if not an advocate for quality over quantity =) (The composition style actually reminds me a little of the Ocarina of Time OST, like the koume and kotate theme!)

I'm definitely going to complain and say that the mix in this track was not the best - there are almost no crisp highs to this track at all, and there really should be. That on top of the fact that the bass is very muddy. STILL, the composition is so great, varied and engrossing that this ended up getting one of the highest scores of your group from me =)

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3+/4
Composition: 4/4
Sound Design: 3/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.9

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Cool track! Props on trying something new and writing a rock song. Also props on recording your guitar and getting the distortion all set up and all that fun stuff. (To be honest I don't even know what's involved...) I also appreciate the break with the strings.

I think the biggest things to keep an eye on for next time would be the mixing and the guitar tone. The guitar is mixed far too loudly at points in the song, like 1:55. In addition, the tone of the guitar is just not a very pleasant one. I've heard that searching for tutorials on getting a better tone can be very useful, so I'd encourage you to go in that direction.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2+/4
Sound Design: 2+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 6.6

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Well, for a track named Almighty Destruction, I feel like you hit the mood you were aiming for 100% - this track sounds like it's the end of the world and the heroes have to stave off the evil or be annihilated entirely! So yeah, the sound choice and design is all working in this one - the choir, trumpets and everything sound great. The progression also works - it definitely has that feeling of finality to it, and it drives the track forward very well.

What's not working so great is the mix itself. The drums aren't nearly loud enough in the mix (they should almost certainly be the loudest element!), and there's almost no bass to speak of. Try comparing your mix to known good mixes by professionals and seeing what easy changes you can make to sound closer to their tracks!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 3+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 8.1

Nedwin04 responds:

Thanks for the feedback john!

I must admit mixing is not my strong point; I used to be criticised for producing bass and drum heavy music so got a little scared and went conservative with my sound. I'll aim to get the balance right next time!

Thanks again!

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

This is a pretty fun and enjoyable piece - the main melody is pretty cool, and the way that you add additional instruments in order to keep it interesting is a good idea.

Unfortunately, this track has a rather large problem with it - the mix. When you get into the drop, the piece completely lacks any sort of bass whatsoever, and the drums are far too quiet. Try comparing your song side by side with other songs to see if the levels seems appropriate or not.

This one is definitely a bummer to me because with a good mix and a proper arrangement that was trimmed down to, say 2-3 minutes, it could do really well!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 2/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 2/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 6.6

Azuleux responds:

Damn, well, thanks for the feedback! I'll keep it in mind next time

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

This is a fun track. I definitely want to commend you for your fun melodies - you've definitely written some really fun to listen to stuff here, and I gotta give you props for that! The square wave melody in particular is really fun.

However, a track can not exist on melodies alone (as much as I've tried to argue for the opposite...). While you've got your melodies in place, the sound design and mixing definitely need help. Try referring to my mixing guide on my profile, or referring to other professional tracks to see how they approach those two areas for help. One big problem - make sure that when you have piano melodies, that not all notes are the same loudness. This makes a big difference.

Also P.S. as much as I love the 16 random modulations in this track (I think you get some sort of award for most modulations!), you definitely want to build into them in some way - like put crashes whenever you modulate, and drum fills up to that point, or something.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 1+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 7.0

mutty99 responds:

Thanks, i'm really happy to know that my melodies are fun to listen :)
I'm still learning how to use FL Studio, in particular sound design and mixing

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Ooh, neat track. At first I thought this was just going in the way of a nice peaceful background cinematic track with a moving progression, but then the introduction of the drums took me way off guard (in a nice way). Special shout out to the chord progression idea that happens around 1:15 - that one is especially nice. =)

I feel like the mixing is a little funky on this track (the high piano is a bit too quiet imo, and the drum kit could be a little bit more pervasive in the mix). However, I can't deny that this track has a very nice and peaceful ambiance. Nice stuff.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 3+/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.2

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Not a bad start to a track! I think you actually mixed this one pretty well, and I like how the chord rhythms are not just straight bars. That's pretty neat. Also, the chord progression that you lead off with is pretty cool and a pretty fun idea.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with this track is just that it's insanely repetitive. I'd definitely encourage you to try adding more sections with different chord progressions & melodies into the track, to keep things interesting to the listener!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 2/4
Composition: 2+/4
Sound Design: 2/4
Production: 3/4

Overall: 5.7

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Oh man, this one's tough to sum up. I gotta just say that the mix is really really bad, it really needs a lot of help. The drums are way too loud, and the melodies are too quiet. Try reading my guide to mixing on my profile and seeing if you can apply those tips towards your songs. The melodies and stuff in this one are cool, especially when they start going really fast, and I appreciate that you actually varied them up a lot. The passage at 2:50 is really neat! Unfortunately though the mix is such a huge issue that it's hard to appreciate this track as it stands.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 2/4
Production: 1/4

Overall: 5.4

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