johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Synth-Mania]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Yo sup SwaggyPig007! Ok, that username is hilarious. Anyways, this is a neat piece that you have here. I'm impressed by your sense of arrangement - you did a good job of introducing a few different sections that fit well into the song. Also, my goodness, but you did a pretty good job on mixing that bass - it sounds surprisingly good on my headphones. What's not so good here is the composition, however. Most of the melodies do not really stand out to me or catch my interest. Also, the song does begin to get a little repetitive towards the end - more variation would help.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 4/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 1/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

VorticityMusic responds:

Ok thanks! Just made using GarageBand on iPad so not much I could do really! But yes I understand what you mean... this is going to be part of a playlist full of simikar stuff of mine in the future so please keep a look out for improvements! I noticed it needs a drop so I might add one in the future.

Btw thanks for the username comment!

[Trojan]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Haha. I enjoy your melody here! It's kind of got this goofy, almost circus like vibe. Compared to a lot of the songs that I hear, you're definitely doing a lot better on melodies that have a sense of direction to them. Plus, the arrangement isn't bad either; you do a good job of introducing new sections. However, I would like to say that the song does start to get a little repetitive by the end, which could be fixed by maybe varying the chord progression or something. Also, that main instrument is just bizarre. Still, this song is pretty cool, and you do a good job with the composition.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 3/4
Arrangement: 2/4
Composition: 3/4
Overall (this is not an average): 7/10

[The Artful Bear - Intro]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

This is a bit of an interesting take on orchestral music. Most people go for the really huge, bombastic, epic tracks. I like how you've sorta gone in the other direction, giving us a really chilled out track. I feel like you've done a good job of having different sections and taking a single melody and doing little riffs and variations on it. What I feel like is lacking is also what makes you unique - since the piece is so chill, it needs to work extra hard to stand out, and I don't think that this one ever really caught my attention. Either better melodies or more variation in the arrangement would really help here.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 3/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2+/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6.5/10

[Culmination]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Ooh, a long and ambitious techno piece! I'm always a big fan of the sort of piece that has a long arc to it, and I am also a big fan of the sound of your plucks - they sound really neat. However, the problem with the long piece is that it can very easily come off as repetitive unless you are very careful. In this case, this piece does unfortunately come off as repetitive. It needs more variation throughout the buildup. The melodies also come off as a bit random; I have to think that the song would be better if the melodies had a bit more of a direction behind them.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 3/4
Arrangement: 1+/4
Composition: 2/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

poipoi responds:

I was in a bit of a rush for this one. There were some weird transitions with the rimshots and drums. Changed the lead as well. Had to change the speed of the arper because it actually ignores notes based on the speed, too slow and it misses notes. However I think there was good composition if not for my mixing (I just had to use Vocoder and String Theory didn't I!) and transitions.

[Tomorrow is Gone]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Oh man, I may as well address the elephant in the room right away. The mixing here is just no good at all - your voice needs to be much louder. There's really not too much bass to speak of in the guitars or drums either, which is a big problem. It's such a big problem because this piece should really be a heavy, hard hitting piece, but the weak mixing takes so much out of it that it's hard to take in the sense that you probably want it to come off.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 0/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

[breaking protocol]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

If there's one thing that you're doing well, I'd definitely say that it's arrangement. I see that you've definitely picked up a sense for when to transition to and away from ideas, and the song actually comes off as cohesive, which is a good sign because all your ideas are fitting together. However, this song is lacking in the other two areas, most notably composition. The melodies aren't particularly catchy or interesting, and they actually feel a bit random. I really want more to them! Also, the mixing seems a little squashed together, and some elements don't really fit in the tune (notice what happens to everything else when the crash cymbal hits, for example). Still, not bad - keep going!

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 2/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 1+/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

[Interconnection]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Haha, this is totally a silly little song. The vocals are such a weird touch! Whatever processing you put on them is highly disorienting and quite bothersome. But I think that's actually the effect you were going for. :P I like how this song actually has multiple sections rather than just repeating the same thing. However, I wish that you did a little more rather than just doing simple arpeggios over the chord progression - that gets rather tiring to listen to over and over again. It's not really much different from just listening to the chords themselves. With a little more variation, this piece could get better.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 2+/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 1+/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

mutty99 responds:

this is my first song and it has many bugs, hope that my future works will be better lel XP

[Empty]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

This is a pretty cool atmospheric piece! I enjoy all the detail work you did in this piece. I mean, the introduction of the subtle voices in the distance really adds a lot to the atmosphere of the piece, but I also appreciate the work you did on the closer weird noises (I don't know how else to describe them - they're vaguely vocalesque), and the hi-hats. As much as I enjoy the atmosphere of this piece, I feel like the piece itself is rather empty - it doesn't really do anything or go anywhere. That's ok in some contexts, like background music for games, but may not be the best choice for a piece submitted to a music contest.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 3/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2+/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6/10

[Just exploring]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

I have to say, your transitions are actually pretty solid in this song. Like, for the most part you do a good job of introducing new sections, keeping the song interesting, buildups and breakdowns, and segues into new sections. So that''s pretty cool! Unfortunately, what this song is really lacking is strong composition. A good melody or two could go a long way here. Also, this song transitions well, but it almost transitions TOO much - by the end, I start wondering if I'm even listening to the same song any more! More cohesiveness would be nice.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 2/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 1/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5/10

[Zone Control]

=== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review ===

Gotta say, I love the idea here. I mean, who doesn't like ludicrously fast-paced techno with really insane melodies? Not me, anyways. Er, that was a double negative. That's aside from the point however. Unfortunately, this song suffers from 2 rather large issues. The first is that the mixing needs quite a bit of work. A lot of the melodic instruments end up buried under the bass! And since the melody is really the focus here, that is a rather large problem. The other problem is that the melodies themselves are not always great. Some parts are good, like 4:45 (I'm a sucker for that chord progression), but in others the melodies just seem to go crazy without any sort of reason for doing so.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
Mixing: 1+/4
Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2+/4
Overall (this is not an average): 7/10

LaserVision responds:

Thank you! I will for sure take this in consideration in the future!