johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Mare and The Tortoise]

This song is beautiful. It's better than most of the stuff on the radio, not that that's a huge compliment ;-)

The sighing vocals are a great touch.

[Outside the Atmosphere]

This is a very beautiful song. However, if I am to go into super critic mode, I feel like the melody you opened with is your best, and everything else is almost extraneous in comparison. You open with this really contemplative piano melody, but then its almost as if you forgot about that and try to do some other unrelated stuff. Like the synth at 1:10 seems a little undirected.

I do like how you switched up chord progressions halfway in. Nice touch.

OpenLight responds:

Thank you for the review. The reason it seems a bit disjointed may be because of what I was feeling when writing this song. Without going into much detail, it's been a hard couple of months, so I tried to make my song something positive that still managed to express underlying feelings of doubt or suppression.

Long story short, Outside the Atmosphere is about going so far from the world that everything below becomes trivial. The primary melody represents the underlying feelings previously noted while later in the song it becomes more of a springboard into brighter (3:35) or simpler and calmer (4:38) things.

The song ends with the original melody as a representation of returning to the ground.

I guess I should have put that in the description... I may do so, but that's why you felt the way you did. Thanks again for the review! I do appreciate it.

[-Rupture-]

Very nice track. What impresses me most is that you moved away from your traditional baselines and chirpy melodies. The instrumentation is practically flawless. The buildup to that central drums section is well done. That brass sounds like Hans Zimmer (Inception).

If this is the soundtrack of an alien battle, I don't think the humans win. :)

Waterflame responds:

Thanks alot :D That is so great to hear! yeah i know i have it in me to make other things. when i actually try hard. haha. thanks for the review! :D

[FS: Father and Son (ac.)]

I've listened to this song a LOT (one of my favorites) so i apologize for what's going to be an incredibly pedantic review...

You miss a chord change at :44 and 1:10. I noticed it happen a few more times throughout the song. It's a minor I think. VERY IMPORTANT. :P :P

The biggest thing to me though is that the original version is a bit slower. Compare both versions. Stevens takes time to really put emphasis on the words.

Last thing. Get your bro to sing his heart out. Those parts are the most emotionally intense parts of the song! Make the listener cry. >:D

Anyway... beautiful song, great cover.

FairSquare responds:

Why have i never responded to this? :|
And yeah, couldn't play that chord if i remember correctly :p
Thanks for the review! ^_^

[Mischievous Algirdas]

Okay that was totally bizarre. The first half feels off for me. I think it's the instrument choice. Maybe if you reimagined it with different instruments it could be a lot better. It sounds a lot to me like a demented carnival ride or something, so maybe making it more orchestral could improve it?

The second half though I really like, it's really pretty. If it was just the second half I'd give you a 8 or 9/10. My only gripe is that the piano feels mechanical. If you play with the velocity a little bit it may sound better. Anyway that's a nitpick, the second half is great.

KrrMaim responds:

Thanks for listening! This is actually a "dark electronic" sound that I was going for. Also based off of a full orchestral song that i've done :D

I have a strange reverb set up on the pianos at the end so to get that effect I had to push the velocity hard on the key strokes. Good ear though :]
compromise ;_;

[Omen (Arcane RMX)]

I haven't really heard the source material, so I just ducked over to Youtube to see what it sounds like... So, good and bad, bad first: the original song is more crisper and has a more powerful low end. They're pros though. I certainly wouldn't hold that against you (although I'd encourage you to build up that bass more if possible). The surprising thing is that I think I prefer your treatment of the lead. It could be a *little* more crisp but I kinda like your saw, it's more fat and less detuned. And your lead melody is just a tad different than theirs I think, which is nice.

I like how it turned out too. The remix is almost a separate interpretation of a song, which is good. Cool stuff.

ArcaneSoul responds:

I couldn't tell whether i was just going too complex with this song or what lol. I probably could of added a bit more crispyness with the lead and bass too (maybe even layer the bass with a subbass). I kind of wanted to get this out of the way so i can continue to work on my personal album.

[=(Freestyle)=]

The chords and beat that you open with are fantastic. I was a little iffy when it disappeared, but the build back to it at 1:40... PERFECT. (You really love those distortions and slides.)

Streamline the breaks a little. Example, that break at 1:10 is nice but the melody is a little off. You may be able to do without the chime at all and just let the pads do the work?

A good melody is right under the surface at 3:50 - just trim a few notes and I think it will be awesome.

Anyway yeah, this is great. Was thinking about 8/10 and then bumped it up because that build up at 1:40 is TOO GOOD. Lol normally on NG when people have buildups they write the build up first and then it's like "whoops nothing interesting to put here" but your song is the other way around.

ArcaneSoul responds:

3:50 is the pads your hearing -.- lol

Really? I actually rather liked that chippy melody but meh i geuss it could of done without them. And if you havn't known anything about me,

ArcaneSoul = Pads and autogun lol.

Thx for the review and yes the builds, so awesome.

[Speechless]

Steel drums at 2:10, WHAT? This may be the first recorded use of steel drums in a techno song EVER. I commend you.

It's interesting that you tagged this as upbeat. The beat is pretty fast, but you have a ton of dark detuned sounds in here and I usually think of upbeat as cheery music.

The one thing I think this song needs is a captivating lead melody. All the sounds are good and the whole thing is one nice cohesive package - I just didn't hear any sort of melody tying it all together. (heh, double metaphor all the way across the sentence! what does it mean?)

Anyway, cool stuff. Keep it up!

AeronMusic responds:

Thanks man!! Steeldrums?? Euh no there are no steeldrums in this song (o.O )? Maybe you hear bells, but no steeldrums ^^ This is, as I said, a videogamish techno song :)

[Blood Sucker]

This sounds great. That piano melody *is* really nice, and the chord progression is appropriately haunting. Too bad it only really started going right at the end. I'd love to hear the finished piece!

[-Rusty Courier-]

This is a great song, and it's difficult to deny that it's full of joy and happiness. Your instrumentation is flawless and the production is pretty much perfect. But I'm going to dock a point because you keep using that same baseline / chord progression. I would really love to see you push yourself and explore new ground.