johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[1923]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

Holy crap! This piece is realllly coooool. I already loved the chords and the jazzy vibe, and then the synth solo really took me aback. My gawd I love pitch bend. The mix, on the other hand, needs a bit of work. I think it would be a much better song if the mix wasn't so darn dense. The song also clips in points, so you're going to need to turn down the volume of your instruments. Hypothetical score: 8.0

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3+/4
* Arrangement: 3/4
* Mixing: 2/4

Nebulean responds:

Hey, thank you very much for your constructive comment!
I'll try to improve the mix in my following tracks, but I'll improve it slowly, mixing is the hardest part of music (for me).
For the density of instrument, I know, the problem is... me. ^_^
Friends always say that, but I like it, so... If I improve the mix, It'll surely sound better.
Thank you again for this criticism!
Nebulean

[Revelries]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

Wow, this song reminds me a lot of Space Walk by Lemon Jelly. I mean…A LOT. When that bass comes in…ugh, it feels so nice and happy! It’s such an awesome vibe - I wish you would have explored it more. And then when that trumpet comes in…eh, it’s actually totally out of place and way too loud. The melody on the trumpet, too, could have been a bit more refined - it feels pretty random to me. Still, I really really like the warm, happy vibe of this piece, especially before the trumpet, and the mixing (aside from a few instruments being too quiet) is very good.

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 3/4
* Mixing: 3+/4

adieuwinter responds:

I had a listen to Space Walk, loving how the voice samples are weaved in between notes. Since this was a bit of a rushed piece (didn't have much time until a couple nights before the deadline) and I haven't submitted it anywhere else yet, I'll definitely try and develop the bassline. Lately I've been trying to find ways to fit MIDI brass into my tracks, but I haven't been having much success - I'll try and substitute other leads / instruments and see how they work out.

Thanks a lot for the feedback and I'll see what I can do to improve this song.

[Neon Valley's Sunset Girl]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

Wow, what a happy and upbeat tune! The chord progression is a really positive and uplifting one, and the mix is working really well to really bring that energy out. On the other hand, I thought that this song was really missing a gripping melody - or really, almost any melody at all - to keep the interest. You do keep the song properly varied with a lot of different sections, which is good. It’s a great track, but a good melody could tie the whole thing together and make it much better. 8

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 4/4
* Mixing: 3+/4

bluebooblue responds:

Thank you very much for this constructive criticism!!!
I was very happy when I made it haha and I'm happy again to know you liked it enough to write a review!! Right now I am reading your post about composition and I'll read all of them, I find your advices very smooth and helpful!
Once again, thanks again for your review!!

[Deaf Tones]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

Wow! This song is weird as heck (usually a good thing!). The drum beat that you open with is awesome, but it does get buried in the mix a bit later on, which is unfortunate because it seems to me that this should be a heavily beat-driven track. I don’t hear much in the way of transitions, which is kind of unfortunate, because I think that more attention to how the song changed over time would really help. But the biggest thing to get right would definitely be the mix - at least for a track like this, anyways. Score: 6

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 2/4
* Arrangement: 3/4
* Mixing: 2/4

bdog705 responds:

well for starters thanks for the review ^_^
the song wasnt meant to be 100% beat driven as the drum beat repeats itself after 8 seconds with a constant resonance progression and the resonance actually fit well with alot of the sounds so i left it like that
i actually thought i did pretty well with transitions on this track and i suck at transitions
as for mixing i don't really know much about things like that, i just make the noise and place it and call it a day, as for mastering well...... i never really master my songs because i have no idea how mastering really works and me usually trying to find out just leads me to more pointless plugin tools

i appreciate the review thanks ^_^

[Twisted Fantasy]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

Whoa, stacked rhythms! I haven’t heard that too often in this contest - it always sounds really neat. This is a pretty sweet beat! Of course I’d really like to hear someone rapping over it, but the beat actually does pretty well even on its own. The big thing that this track needs is a slightly better mix. It’s hard for me to explain exactly why, but for some reason this track sounds slightly disjoint, like it’s a lot of separate instruments playing together, rather than one cohesive whole. There’s also the problem of the “HEY!” sample (at least I think that’s what it is - it sounds slightly like a bunch of people yelling “HEY!”, anyways), which sounds insanely distorted and doesn’t fit in the mix. On the positive side, the beat is awesome, the hi-hats are well done (hip hop always has crazy hi-hat rhythms), and the overall atmosphere is so solid you could cut it with a knife. :D Score: 8.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 4/4
* Arrangement: 3+/4
* Mixing: 3/4

[I was never really here]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

So, let’s get the obvious out of the way first: the mixing here is pretty darn bad. By 1:30, this track is clipping (or just being squashed under a limiter - I'm not totally sure) horribly. To fix this, you really need to turn down how loud all your instruments are, until it’s no longer clipping. This makes the whole song very difficult to listen to. The main melody of the track is somewhat interesting, but the song is so long and the melody is repeated so much that it gets pretty tiring towards the end. You should really shorten this song to give it a bigger impact. The melody *is* creative though - I think you’ll be able to write better songs in the future. Score: 4

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 2/4
* Arrangement: 1/4
* Mixing: 1/4

SlaughterClub responds:

ok well
it was recorded live at the same volume & compression as all my other live tracks pretty much which i have no problem with the master volume at all ..?

i wow see what i should of known that the competition was going to be main stream stuff accepted only
like all your perfectly sequenced notes in your Nintendo ds-10 software (just sticking to the rule book) i guess

draining the fun ,creatively & life out of music...

thanks 4 the heads up
i will not bother with the competition now at all

[Livid Hue]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

This is a really interesting song. It has a really cool, dark vibe, and the beat (although sounding somewhat mechanical at points) supports it very well. I think the melodies need work though - although they sound at times like they have some sort of meaning behind them, at other times they sound quite directionless. Score: 5.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 2/4
* Arrangement: 3/4
* Mixing: 3/4

[More Than Human]

== I wasn’t your judge for the NGAUC, but here’s some constructive criticism anyways. ==

So first of all, this track is somehow panned all the way to the left. That kinda wrecks any ability to listen to it on headphones.. :P The cool thing about this track is that you have some really good vocal melodies - they are actually pretty catchy! Unfortunately, the mixing is just - I’m sorry to say - terrible. It’s incredibly distorted and straight up difficult to listen to, and it's panned 100% left. With better mixing, this track could be a lot better, but as of now, it’s hard to know for sure. Score: 5.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 3/4
* Mixing: 0/4

Gergaloth responds:

Yeah that was a fuck up on audacity, I recorded it in stereo and didn't swap any of it. Used to default to mono but had factory reset my computer and forgot to change it back. I'm pretty ashamed because I didn't save the project to fix it.