johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Music For The Masses]

You are very good at this music making thing.

This is a good song, and the vocal melody is really well done. My major complaint is the pokey synths towards the second half of the song - they don't seem to contribute much.

I usually have some distaste towards dubstep, mainly because dubstep songs aren't particularly melodic. I think you sidestepped that complaint nicely.

My only other nag is that the beat felt pretty thin with that massive bass.

Anyway, great song.

[Joyful Labyrinth]

This is a nice song. I definitely get the sense of wandering around and feeing vaguely happy. haha.

A few suggestions:

Move that baseline part (the lower, repetitive part) of the acid sytrus into an actual bass instrument (since it's bass). Keep the rest on the acid.

Try doing a pitch bend on the acid. It sounds really cool.

Keep it up!

Xsalvaz responds:

Why thank you very much! Yeah, that actually never crossed my mind. When I created it, it was all acid, and I separated it making so the bass could kick in when I was laying out the song. Thanks for the review! ~Xsalvaz

[<Until Sunrise>]

First things first. 170 hours on a single song is incredible. That kind of dedication is truly respectable. Your work on this song really shows. It's immensely textured and intricate.

Your transitions are really nice and closing in on pro quality.

Your instruments generally sound great.

Now that I've said lots of nice stuff, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

While I listen to this song, one impression that I get is that the song is moving by so fast that I can't even listen fast enough to catch up. It's disorienting. And what I *think* it is is that you really don't have any bass in this song. Okay, you have a little every now and then, but you really need a constant baseline going - it will give the listener something to be grounded to while that melody flies all over the place.

Another thing that you need is a breakdown. Maybe... MANY breakdowns. lol :) You have a really quick one at 2:55. Lengthen it. Add much more. Your music is incredibly fast paced and listening to it right now feels like a workout, haha. Breakdowns give the listener a rest. :)

There is a little collision between the melody and the the piano at 2:23. I think if you moved the piano up an octave or two it'd be good.

Holy crap your high range is EXPLODING at 2:50. Be careful about your range.

Pan your sounds when you have many things going at once. A really common one I hear is piano and synth. Pan them a little to the side and it will sound a lot nicer.

You show a lot of potential as a songwriter! I'd like to challenge you to write a shorter, slower piece. It might do good things for you :)

[Weil - M.T]

HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO HEAVY UGHHH I'M STRAINING UNDER THE WEIGHT...

Heh, I don't usually listen to heavy techno, so you'll have to forgive me... I like the chord progression you were using - it's nice! my main criticism is that when the really heavy bass comes everything gets really really muddy, especially on the low end. Do you have some crazy amount of reverb on your kick or something?

I'd also maybe like some sort of detuned saw doing some cool melody or something.

By the way, along with what EternalEndeavor said, this song is quite repetitive. I personally prefer shorter songs that are less repetitive - as a listener, I can always just put them on loop if I like them, plus as a songwriter you get to optimize your melodies and things over less time, so you can make them better!

Anyway, keep at it! (And don't take the "low" review personally - I try to review so that 5 is average.)

DarkMauri responds:

Thanks for the review. Well. ive tried to optimise the bass because it was so loud depending on which earphones you was using. The kick is done with another 3 kicks together and changing things. And for the track i wanted to do it quite repetitive because i like chilling with my own track. :p ). i know i have a long way till i manage better the eq and the compresors and everything. Thanks for the review and check out my other tracks.

[Let your voice be heard]

This is incredible. INCREDIBLE. What can I say - I'm a sucker for sliced vocals, and this song is pretty much nothing but sliced vocals (ok, there's beat there too). That dominant vocal melody at 1:20 gives me shivers. It was an amazing idea to distort it like that. If you put a little echo and chorus on it I may even give this a 10.

My only critique is that the instrument at :50 sounds a LOT like a 303. Which is a shame because the rest of your instrumentation is so unique.

[In Defense of Logic]

Some random thoughts:

I LOVE the intro melody.

Wow, great piano breakdown at 1:11!! This is your best melody by far. It's REALLY GOOD.

Alright, the sounds really mix together at 1:45. Pan them out, put one on the left and one on the right, it'll be PERFECT. Same comment at 3:22.

That beat at 2:20. Needs more hi-hat. Needs more punch.

Whoa, build up to something really cool at 3:40ish. My main issue is that your sounds are kind of mixing together.

The instrument at 4:00 sounds kind of distorted at the high ranges. Careful.

Thinking about it a little more, that instrument for the intro melody may be the wrong one... I'm not sure, I'd have to fiddle around with the project itself.

Anyway, this song is really great!! Be sure to pay close attention to detail and it'll be even better. Keep it up. Exciting music!

tomdink responds:

Thanks for the in depth review! It's always good for me to get advice that can help me out like this.

[Self Destruct Sequence]

This is really cool. I'm only docking you stars because it's WIP currently. When you finish it you'll get some more ;) I love how the sound keeps evolving.

Some comments:

Not a fan of the zip sounding thing at :55.

The melody at 1:20 isn't that great. But the melody at 2:00 is pretty cool. It's also quite unique.

And I LOVE the modulation at 2:09. That's really rare to hear!

At 2:40 I start to get a sense of why it's called Self Destruct Sequence.

Keep working on it!! I really like it.

[Full Itaots Album Cover]

One day I was scrolling through the audio advertisements page... "generic techno... generic rock... generic house... generic itaots cover- WAIT, WHAT???"

I want to give you a 10 for the sheer audacity of attempting this... But also a 0 for butchering it. Ok, maybe a 0 is too harsh. Dude, I think you could do this pretty well if you actually took yourself seriously. Just open up a tabs page with all the lyrics on it while you do it so you don't forget the lyrics constantly, and stop making your voice sound silly. It can sound really nice (like in the title track) when you aren't affecting it.

The hilarious thing is that the terrible recording quality sometimes sounds just like the album at parts.

[I broke the dam]

WHOH. This is nuts. So much Slayer!

First, don't take the "low" score personally - I'm trying to review so that 5 is the average. Besides, review scores don't count for anything anyways, and I don't really vote. :p

My favorite part is that section that starts at :45. That's a really interesting idea that I'd like to see developed a little more.

On the other hand, I felt that some of your melodies are kind of random-sounding. I'd like to see a little more melodic coherence throughout the song.

[Lights *Remix* V3Project]

The score kinda looks bad, but optimistically I can give you the other half of those points when you finish the other half of the song ;-)

This is sounding good so far. My main criticism is that I don't hear that much of a difference from the song other than the new percussion. I'll admit that I haven't actually listened to the source material that much, so I'm probably not picking up all of your nuance - sorry about that.

Keep me updated.

(I don't vote low, that's too contentious anyways.)

g4ebguyGT responds:

Well the rest of the orig song is very good. I just wanted to change the bass, kicks etc etc.