johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The First Armada]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Okay, first things first. THAT BASE LINE. I LOVE IT. It's just so goofy and fun! When the other melodic instruments started coming in, I knew that I was in for a fun time, and I was totally right. This song is a total joy, it reminds me of racing around in Mario Kart or having fun on a sunny day if you don't play video games =P The composition style here is just really enjoyable and fun.

As for things to improve, definitely think about the mix. I have a guide in my profile, you might want to read it! An easy win would be to just turn down a lot of the reverb you have going here, and then once you've done that, turn up the drums a little bit.

Great stuff though! A really enjoyable and fun listen =)

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 2+/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.4

Quebi responds:

Thanks a ton! But if you've ever listened to all of Axel F, you can tell that had an influence. To the point that when I originally named the project, it was Axel G until I could come up with something

[Little Mouse from the Desert]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Oo, this one is fun! Dude, I really like your middle eastern inspired composition style! The little trills are great, and I really like your melodic style. Probably the thing that I really want to praise is the excellent way that your melodies talk back and forth with each other, like how in 0:44 the chords talk with the base, and then the base idea is then completed by another instrument. As I continued to listen to this piece, I kept on picking up more and more fun little details, and every time being surprised and pleased. It's really quite the detailed piece for only being a minute long, and I'm nothing if not an advocate for quality over quantity =) (The composition style actually reminds me a little of the Ocarina of Time OST, like the koume and kotate theme!)

I'm definitely going to complain and say that the mix in this track was not the best - there are almost no crisp highs to this track at all, and there really should be. That on top of the fact that the bass is very muddy. STILL, the composition is so great, varied and engrossing that this ended up getting one of the highest scores of your group from me =)

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3+/4
Composition: 4/4
Sound Design: 3/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.9

[Sundial]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Cool track! Props on trying something new and writing a rock song. Also props on recording your guitar and getting the distortion all set up and all that fun stuff. (To be honest I don't even know what's involved...) I also appreciate the break with the strings.

I think the biggest things to keep an eye on for next time would be the mixing and the guitar tone. The guitar is mixed far too loudly at points in the song, like 1:55. In addition, the tone of the guitar is just not a very pleasant one. I've heard that searching for tutorials on getting a better tone can be very useful, so I'd encourage you to go in that direction.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 2+/4
Sound Design: 2+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 6.6

[Almighty Destruction]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Well, for a track named Almighty Destruction, I feel like you hit the mood you were aiming for 100% - this track sounds like it's the end of the world and the heroes have to stave off the evil or be annihilated entirely! So yeah, the sound choice and design is all working in this one - the choir, trumpets and everything sound great. The progression also works - it definitely has that feeling of finality to it, and it drives the track forward very well.

What's not working so great is the mix itself. The drums aren't nearly loud enough in the mix (they should almost certainly be the loudest element!), and there's almost no bass to speak of. Try comparing your mix to known good mixes by professionals and seeing what easy changes you can make to sound closer to their tracks!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 3+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 8.1

Nedwin04 responds:

Thanks for the feedback john!

I must admit mixing is not my strong point; I used to be criticised for producing bass and drum heavy music so got a little scared and went conservative with my sound. I'll aim to get the balance right next time!

Thanks again!

[Conclusion]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

This is a pretty fun and enjoyable piece - the main melody is pretty cool, and the way that you add additional instruments in order to keep it interesting is a good idea.

Unfortunately, this track has a rather large problem with it - the mix. When you get into the drop, the piece completely lacks any sort of bass whatsoever, and the drums are far too quiet. Try comparing your song side by side with other songs to see if the levels seems appropriate or not.

This one is definitely a bummer to me because with a good mix and a proper arrangement that was trimmed down to, say 2-3 minutes, it could do really well!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 2/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 2/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 6.6

Azuleux responds:

Damn, well, thanks for the feedback! I'll keep it in mind next time

[Arkanoid]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

This is a fun track. I definitely want to commend you for your fun melodies - you've definitely written some really fun to listen to stuff here, and I gotta give you props for that! The square wave melody in particular is really fun.

However, a track can not exist on melodies alone (as much as I've tried to argue for the opposite...). While you've got your melodies in place, the sound design and mixing definitely need help. Try referring to my mixing guide on my profile, or referring to other professional tracks to see how they approach those two areas for help. One big problem - make sure that when you have piano melodies, that not all notes are the same loudness. This makes a big difference.

Also P.S. as much as I love the 16 random modulations in this track (I think you get some sort of award for most modulations!), you definitely want to build into them in some way - like put crashes whenever you modulate, and drum fills up to that point, or something.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 1+/4
Production: 2/4

Overall: 7.0

mutty99 responds:

Thanks, i'm really happy to know that my melodies are fun to listen :)
I'm still learning how to use FL Studio, in particular sound design and mixing

[All the Way Through]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Ooh, neat track. At first I thought this was just going in the way of a nice peaceful background cinematic track with a moving progression, but then the introduction of the drums took me way off guard (in a nice way). Special shout out to the chord progression idea that happens around 1:15 - that one is especially nice. =)

I feel like the mixing is a little funky on this track (the high piano is a bit too quiet imo, and the drum kit could be a little bit more pervasive in the mix). However, I can't deny that this track has a very nice and peaceful ambiance. Nice stuff.

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3/4
Sound Design: 3+/4
Production: 2+/4

Overall: 8.2

[2nd Entry]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Not a bad start to a track! I think you actually mixed this one pretty well, and I like how the chord rhythms are not just straight bars. That's pretty neat. Also, the chord progression that you lead off with is pretty cool and a pretty fun idea.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with this track is just that it's insanely repetitive. I'd definitely encourage you to try adding more sections with different chord progressions & melodies into the track, to keep things interesting to the listener!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 2/4
Composition: 2+/4
Sound Design: 2/4
Production: 3/4

Overall: 5.7

[Miami Shredd3r]

== This is an official NGUAC Review ==

Whoa, yeah, that intro really just knocked me off my seat. It just sounds amazing and eerie in all the right ways. The production is just excellent, as well! The mix sounds really full and detailed, which is great. I really enjoy the chord progressions and overall atmosphere here.

The problems I had with this track were due in large part to the beat, unfortunately! Once the song really kicked in (0:30), I expected a nice steady beat, but unfortunately what I got was anything but that. The beat seems to have random sections of it cut out, to the point where it doesn't drive the song at all and in fact makes it feel constantly faltering and staggering around (maybe like a victim of a serial killer?!?). My other problem is that the guitar's placement in the mix is a little too deep and it's quite difficult to hear, which is the opposite of what you'd want for a track that should be guitar driven!

So yeah, this is a really awesome track unfortunately marred by two huge issues. Still some really impressive and great stuff, though!

Mini-scores (not used to calculate final score in any way - just so you know what needs improvement):

Arrangement: 3/4
Composition: 3+/4
Sound Design: 4/4
Production: 3+/4

Overall: 8.6

Joey4Track responds:

Thanks John for the feedback and leaving a review. Haha, yeah for sure my style of percussion is often unorthodox and you can hear it in almost all of my work to be honest, I'm used to it putting people off, lol. But I was never one to follow strict formats and such which is why I don't really get much into EDM these days, too many labels and rigid structure.. Especially for synthwave you always have that same driving beat and it's something I am particularly trying to avoid. I actually quite like the drums here but then again I wasn't the one getting all excited for the beat to drop so I completely see your point.

This is going to be on a game soundtrack and I am consciously trying to steer away from that typical 1-2 kick snare beat and have a different drum beat for each track(I do have one song that does have that beat but I already made it that's why you don't hear it here, lol) It's not so much the staggering victims but the killer himself who is out of sorts in his own fragmented mind. But yeah I totally understand, you were expecting it to just settle into that steady beat and it never came, sorry mate!

And damnit I knew it about the guitar! but I had people saying it was loud in a feedback session in discord so I turned it down. That was dumb. Last time I ever listen to people again.. My next submission will most likely have guitar as well so I will make sure you can feel that shit in your balls!!

Thanks man