johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pressure]

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

This is a pretty cool track! You certainly delivered on your promise of MASSIVE BASS. The mixing here is pretty good in general, which is always a good thing. What's not so much of a good thing is how repetitive this track is! It definitely repeats some of the same ideas so much that I start to get tired of them. With a bit more variation on both overall sound in different sections as well as variation of melody and chord progression, I bet you could easily improve this song!

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: 1/4
Overall (this is not an average): 5.5/10

Ultimatepalmtree3 responds:

Thank you! I appreciate this :)

[Cyan Horizon]

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

There are parts of this song which I really enjoy. For instance, you seem to do really well with drums. I'm not quite sure what you're using for those, but whatever it is, keep it up! However, there are also some problems with this song. The worst of all is that the melodies seem to be very random and directionless. I'd suggest reading some of my tips for how to write better melodies! Since this piece is so focused on melodies, I have to say that that had a large impact on the score. What I did like is the sections when you introduced the strings - those sound really nice and you did well with them. Perhaps focus more on those in the future.

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: 1/4
Overall (this is not an average): 4/10

Tetrahedrix responds:

Well said, much appreciated I actually suck at drums so I'm currently using XLN Addictive Drums 2 for drums, and so I sometimes try my hand at my own beat; but mostly end up utilizing drum beat presets and tweaking the hell out of them to get the groove I want I do wish I was better at making beats. I do tend to make random melodies and so having been making my own music for 6 years now I am need of improving my melody flow. I've been as of late focusing on my transitioning and general balancing, improving my mixing and mastering capabilities. I do like the strings, most of the track is synths, while the main lead is a tweaked preset from XLN Addictive Keys. The drums are an AD 2 Metal Set. Thanks for the feedback, will do on seeing how to better represent the melodies in a more focused flow.

[Unkown Street [Dub version] 。]

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

Gotta say, right off the bat I'm really impressed by the scratches and other misc sound effects that you're doing. The song has a very chill vibe, which I enjoy. You transition between a lot of interesting sections, and I feel like they work well together, with the exception of 4:30, which is just really dissonant and not super enjoyable. Overall, though, I really enjoy the vibe of this song - it's something worth cultivating. With a bit more work on the sound design and mixing, I think this song could be really solid.

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: 3/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6.5/10

Tarenlee responds:

That's a great comment, thank you.

[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!

[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.

[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

[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!

[Angel Dust (Satire)]

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

You know what, I actually like your beat quite a bit here. The hihats are well done, and there's a bunch of other details that work well to give it that gritty and dirty hip hop feel we all love. I just wish you took the rapping a little more seriously, you know? Like, if this wasn't a satire song, and you REALLY rapped, it would be a lot better. Like, I can also see the chorus being REALLY GOOD, if you took it seriously. Ah well. I still don't think its bad (though the kick could be louder!)

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: 3/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6.5/10

Kurtiskong responds:

thanks for the review. Me and my buddy do real rapping but we are just doing satire stuff for fun at the moment.

[Road To Eternity]

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

Hehe, I recognize a lot of these presets from Sytrus ;-) (I also recognize FL Keys, which I really don't like, but I won't ding you for my pet peeves.) This is not a bad song, and I definitely think you did a lot better at most than mixing. What's lacking to me is the composition. The melody isn't random or anything like that, but it doesn't really catch my ears, either; it's kind of middle of the road. The song is also a bit repetitive; it could do with more, different sections.

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: 2/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6/10

krimbe responds:

Thank you for the review. :) I was happy to be invited to the NGAUC. Too bad this wasn't good enough for the knockouts, but I'll do better next time. I ain't even mad. ;)

[Gargoyle's Cry]

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

Oh man. So actually you did pretty well on the arrangement here - you do a good job of introducing sections and varying up the energy level. What really bothers me though is the melody. It just sounds totally random to my ears - it's very directionless. I'd definitely say that the composition needs the most work here. The instrument choice is not that bad, though perhaps it could be better, but the melody is definitely the first thing to focus on.

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: 1/4
Overall (this is not an average): 6/10

kenki responds:

I appreciate the rating! I'm currently working on exactly what you're criticizing. This was the first time I actually ever used scales in my work, and I think my inexperience limited the sound that I was going for. I do try to compensate with mixing as much as possible, but obviously to the trained ear this doesn't matter.