johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chrono Trigger TitleRemix]

Pretty awesome. Definitely one of the most creative uses of the source material I've heard. I love the concept of jazzy blurry chords on top of chip that I hear at around :15 - it's like if boards of canada decided to write chiptune (or if the fez guys decided to make their noises less chip). The buildup is very cool. I just felt like it could use more development. Half the song is spent building up, and then another quarter is spent in the final breakdown. I feel like the actual drop should go into something ELSE somehow, rather than just being over.

I kinda wish I could say more, but then again, it's a short piece. Nice work. I'm stuck between 7 and 8, so pessimism wins out!

mozzdeep responds:

Thank you so much, I'll be making a lot more music in the future so I'll keep improving :)

[Only The Beginning (Extended)]

There are definitely some out of tune notes around :17. I think you did that on purpose, but I wanted to mention just in case.

I of course enjoyed the drop at 1:15 or whatever. Like you said, I still feel it's a little underdeveloped. NEEDS MOAR NOTES. Or something like that.

Also, that glitchy transition into 1:35 is awesome!

The song almost loses its way around 2:20 or so I feel, that section may go on a bit longer than it should. However, the thing that it drops into isn't really selling me at all. The melodies seem pretty random to me, and the mixing seems off too - the presence of the bass is almost overpowering. (Though it's not really a bass, it's more mid-range).

Again, love the glitch effects in the outro <3

All in all, I feel like this song, particularly after the drop at 1:15, is a bit directionless. The biggest problem for me personally is the lack of melody - the plucks aren't really keeping me interested. I think that the drop at 1:15 is my favorite bit. If you had stopped the song right there, I think I would be giving this song a much higher score. Why not spend some time fleshing out that idea some, I think it could be really cool!

Back-From-Purgatory responds:

You were talking like you were being a total jackass or something in your newspost reply... I was expecting you to like rip it to shreds or something, but that's not the case at all.

It's all valid critique, and a lot of it I agree with. This isn't really a comfortable genre/style of music for me, this is really the first time I've tried something of this sort, I played with a lot of new ideas and techniques I've never used before. I'm surprised it took that long for someone to really dig into those flaws.

Regardless though, I'm glad you liked some of it at least. Thanks for the review.

[The Butterflies]

Very good. I looped it like 10 times (and counting!). Just needs more longerness.

Xorberax responds:

:-)

[Afterimage]

Some time synced comments:

0:00: Dat sytrus.
0:08: Hey that beat sounds good to me, though have you considered sidechaining more stuff to it?
0:16: Now I can officially say dat sytrus.
0:24: I like the bassline melody, but it could be mixed a little better, try using eq to cut the lows out of non bassy instruments.
0:28: Clap is kinda dry...
0:28 Also that instrument sounds kinda off-tune.
0:44 I like the pitch bends, though couldn't the instrument have a little more legato?

I like it but it feels underdeveloped, like it could use a pad. Plus, if you really want to go for that "super speedy" feel you should add some rapid hihats, make the clap bigger and give a little more emphasis to the beat in general. Those two things would make the song better I think.

Also I listened to "Pendragon Legacy" and I thought it was pretty good! Epic medieval/celtic feel :D

ChronoNomad responds:

Thanks for the time-synced feedback, John! A very cool idea, so I'm totally going to respond in the same way:

0:00 - Aw, yeah!
0:08 - Okay, so...funny story. This whole track started out as my first sidechaining experience. It was only going to be an experiment, but I ended up digging it enough to turn it into a quick and dirty loop. I did consider sidechaining the clap, but it was kind of an afterthought. I used Gross Beat for the sidechain, but it's only the demo version.
0:16 - What can I say? I love me some Sytrus.
0:24 - Something to consider in the future. Since I used a demo plug-in, further fine-tuning is no longer an option. It is what it is.
0:28 - Again, clap was basically an afterthought, but yes...it is a bit on the dry side.
0:28 - It sounds cool to me, but I dig the squelchy sound of this particular Acid arp. Subjectivity in spades, no doubt.
0:44 - I actually worked with incorporating more legato in this part, but nothing sounded as good to me as the short notes! Go figure. I'd be curious to know what you would have done with it. :)

Yes, it's definitely underdeveloped. The main concept was basically conceived and arranged (with lots of additional time wasted while futzing around and generally having fun) in maybe an hour or so. It could have been more fleshed out, but life has taken a wonderfully unexpected turn and I have other, more important (!!!) things taking up vital real estate within my mind. Considered using some fizzy hi hats, but I almost went with kick alone on the percussive side. Your ideas are sound and generally awesome, but this one's set in stone...at least for now. Regardless, your feedback is phenomenal and thorough, not to mention highly appreciated.

Hey, I'm happy to hear that you enjoy "Pendragon Legacy!" That one ended up on the back burner for a long time, so it feels great to have it finished and submitted. That epic medieval/Celtic feel is 100% what I was going for, so that's fantastic to hear! ^__^

[~SW~ Fog Between]

Yes yes yes yes yes. More of this please.

The organic electro feel is right up my alley and the chords are perfect.

Your other AIM piece was pretty great too but this one speaks to me more.

SkyeWint responds:

It's funny, the synth which was based on 3xosc was inspired by stuff you've made. :P

Other than that, this was definitely more of an emotional piece, so I'm not entirely surprised it spoke more.

[Exploring the Rift]

I really like it. My favorite part is the formant lead around 1:00, I thought that was really well done. However I just really don't like the drum choices. The kick sounds too electro, the clap is weak and too frequent (I think a louder, more reverbed clap that happened less often would be better) and the hats really don't mix (too high?). I hate to be so whiny but I think this would be a really amazing song if you were to take the time to really get those drums working.

I also thought that the second half was not as compelling as the first half, it really didn't grab me as much. The formant is the showstealer here imo. Also I didn't really like the instrument choices like the weird stringy thing around 2:00 or the plucks around the same point. The only instrument I really liked was the formant, I dunno the rest just didnt resonate with me. THOUGH it could be because I recognize them as sytrus presets (or they sound like sytrus presets) and that is blocking me, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

All in all I think it's a really good song, sorry I complained so much about it I think I just like doing that.

ChronoNomad responds:

It burns! It bites! It freezes!

But seriously, even though I really like this a lot on a personal level, your opinion is very much appreciated. Dangit though, John...I really like that kick! It's just so nice and punchy. Rawr! lol Nevertheless, I can agree that the clap doesn't really stand out quite as much as it should, so I'll definitely tweak it soon. That being said, I really love the way it bounces between being Ambient and sometimes more of an EDM vibe. I like the hats too, but I'll grant you that perhaps they could do with a bit of transposing.

Eh, we all have different tastes and such. I was hoping that you'd really enjoy the overall sound, and you did say that you really like it (mustn't forget that!), but maybe the fact that I made it purely using Sytrus instruments did more harm than good. Of course that was the point of the exercise and I had fun doing it, so...yeah. Formant is just plain awesome all day every day, so I certainly can't fault you for that opinion.

You're such a complainer! But I love you for it all the same. You know, like...as a fellow dude...who makes music and stuff. Nothing weird. Obviously. :P

Grain of salt taken, and honestly...thank you very much for taking the time and effort to leave a review. The harsh critiques just make me want to blow you away all the more, so that motivational undercurrent is the real takeaway for me. Hope you'll keep dropping by from time to time. Stay awesome.

[Fox-trot Fletcher]

Awesome. Sounds similar to your NGADM stuff, just better production.

Also better melodies.

YAY

steampianist responds:

yay claps for me!! TYVM

[Radical Dreamers]

One of my favorites too - I always have to stop by for a chrono cross cover :)

I have two complaints. First, the violin sounds quite fake. I don't blame you - violin is one of the most expressive instruments and its super hard to realistically emulate. If it was up to me, I'd probably insert some humanish sounding synth, and then modulate like every parameter of it throughout the entire song, so that it would be expressive as a voice (well, close, hopefully. Actually getting a synth to be as expressive as a voice is nearly impossible, just ask the vocaloid guys.)

If you think about it, a voice is like a synth that is being modulated by a hundred different parameters and shifting through a bunch of different filters constantly. This constant modulation gives it such a compelling quality, but it's also why it's difficult to replicate - you'd have to do all that work manually.

I'm not sure if you'd want to use a synth there, so maybe you could find another instrument that is easier to emulate (but still expressive) and then use that instead. A flute perhaps? idk, just tossing out ideas.

The other is a lot easier to correct - I think you repeated the verse once too many times. Without the expressive detail and interest of a human voice, the verse is not compelling enough to warrant another listen.

Anywho, aside from my two minor complaints up there I thought you did a really good job. You're at the point where all you really need are better quality instruments, which is a good sign I think :p I really enjoyed the part where the choir come in too, I thought it was well done.

P.S. I'd be interested in recording the guitar part (with an actual guitar!) if you wanted to have another go at this sometime. Listening to the original, the guitar is very upfront and personal, including the slides that the player makes (what a nice touch). Again, tough to replicate that stuff without higher quality samples.

ChronoNomad responds:

Care to contribute to my musical instrument fund? ^__~ jk

Still using all freebie stuff, soundfonts and VSTs and so on, and probably will be for a long time unless I find a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of a rainbow or a magic lamp or something. Maybe win the lotto or strike oil. It could happen.

While I cannot disagree about the violin entirely, I still think it sounds pretty doggone good for what an enormous pain in the rear it is. I would record myself playing the violin if I had one, believe me. I made an instrument choice and stand by, and I don't honestly think using any kind of synth would be much better...if at all. As far as vocaloid goes, I totally know the score there. Sometimes it sounds good, but never really good, and certainly not realistic pretty much all the time. Maybe, when I have the time and proper conditions, I'll just sing the lyrics myself...or see if a friend with talented pipes, such as Jordi Francis, wants to add his voice to the mix! He did his own version of this a few years ago.

As for the number of verses, I followed the original to the letter, so I respectfully disagree. I do understand what you're saying about the lack of variance since I don't have recorded lyrics, but I don't find it to be a deal breaker in any way. Just chalk it up to subjective opinion.

Besides, what if someone wants to sing along? That's an important factor to consider. I can't have some truncated version messing with someone's mojo, after all.

Really glad you liked the choir section and the song in general, johnfn! I know that we artists make some of the most harsh critics, but it's far easier to take honest criticism (that isn't overtly acerbic) from a fellow musician than it is from someone who couldn't lay down the notes for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Can't do anything about the instrument situation at the moment, but when I can, I most certainly will! Until then I'll just have to try that much harder to add my own flair to future projects to make them stand out from the crowd. :)

I suppose that was a bit of a self-defeating prophecy with this particular piece of music; trying to make it true to the original without all the guitar slides and touches that an actual guitar has. I mean it's just not possible, but hey...that doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile to try. Maybe other people who have never even heard of Chrono Cross or Yasunori Mitsuda will stumble across this and they'll want to learn more. That'd be pretty awesome, I think.

Just wanted to see what I could do with what I've got. I'm fairly satisfied, but hey...that's me. ^__^

[Seventh Seal]

This is pretty awesome. Sound design rocks! The 'epic' part is really appropriately epic. Only problem I'm hearing is the mixing, like the drums could be louder and the whole track sounds bit muddy (maybe too much reverb?).

Really great work though. So dark! :O

Goran1990 responds:

Hey, John, thanks for commenting.

I could agree that mixing could be better, but when you do songs for clients, most of the time they have the final say in things, so this was how he wanted.

[Forest Of Desolation]

Really nice job. The sounds are all beautiful, I want those libraries :-) Celtic music is the best music! I felt like the melodies could have been a little stronger (they never came out and grabbed me) but at this point I'm doing extreme nit-picking. The mixing is perfect, the whispered vocals add a good sense of mystery and the instruments are just great (I already said that).

This song would be perfect in a video game since it's beautiful and stays out of the way.

Mattashi responds:

Thank you Johnfn :)