johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dreams and memories]

Wow, the inclusion of the vocal at 1:40 was really surprising, and really brings the piece together in a satisfying way.

That piano at 2:00 though sounds very lame. (Don't mind me... I play a lot of piano. :X)

Your melodic ideas are actually pretty solid, but without any sort of transitional structure to let me know that you're starting a new one, I almost always end up missing them unless I really pay attention. Try putting a cymbal crash right as you start your next melodic idea and I think it'll help things come together more.

Overall I enjoyed it. The main thing that I didn't like are the somewhat random string hits. Even when you don't have random string hits, you have random piano hits. It makes listening to the song a very jarring experience.

The non vocal stuff is, to be blunt, not as interesting. But the vocal parts, man. They show promise! I think you should take that vocal idea and build on it, extend it out. That's the core of the song.

Good stuff, keep it up.

[Children's Overture]

Dangg that composition is spot on. Sure, there a buncha little errors here and there, which I'm sure you know all about by this point, but I thought you'd just like to know that the melodies are seriously great.

You know what this reminds me of? Wind Waker. Particularly the sailing theme - it has that same sort of boundless optimism to it, which is something that I really enjoy in music.

You're actually one of my bigger influences on Newgrounds, because your specific brand of melodicism and your approach to music in general just really speaks to me. I hope to hear much more music from you. :)

BlazingDragon responds:

I was specifically thinking of Wind Waker when I wrote the middle section with the bass melody. :D

Thanks so much for the review. I love writing melodically, but my production skills have a long way to go. I love the polish and detail in many of your tracks. Maybe we can learn from each other!

[Tranquility (8-bit)]

The synth at :51 is really harsh, idk why. Same at 2:46, something about the higher frequencies makes me uncomfortable in the same way that BlueOceans was talking about.

I really enjoy the chords - they are super warm and tasty! But I feel like the melodies are a little wandery. I feel like they rarely express a full story or something I can latch on to. I don't hear any clear motif throughout the 5 minutes, and as a result I feel like the song feels a little directionless without anything to return to.

Every now and then (4:09 is a good example) I hear a melody come in that's strong enough to be the motif. But in the 4:09 case, it does something really weird at 4:20 (imo unnecessary) and then I don't think it could be the motif any more.

While I'm complaining about 4:20, you have some clashing frequencies there with your higher melody and your lower one, so it's hard to tell what's going on.

In terms of energy this song is pretty much constant throughout the entire run time. There is only the barest buildup and breakdown, and I only really noticed it when I really started paying attention to the beats. Buildup/breakdown is the easiest way to give a song direction, so you may want to consider more extensive use of it.

Anywho, this is a cool take on electronic music/chiptune. So many people want to take it in the high octane/hardcore direction that I'm always pleasantly surprised when someone goes the other way. Plus, I'm always a big fan of the jazz chords and so I like the feel of this one quite a bit (despite all my complaints above!). Cool stuff, keep it up!

stunkel responds:

Hey john, thanks for the review.

For the harsh synth I could have maybe EQed the high's out a bit. Maybe on the master track even if it is a reoccurring problem. That's risky of course but you never know. I actually did have some trouble with the melodies. Like you said, I really liked the chords! But the melody was tough to come up with. Maybe a clear motif would have been cool to do though. The part at 4:20 maybe should have been used a little differently. Maybe continued the motif a little bit further. I will keep that in mind for my future music! I'll definitely consider giving the song some more dynamics, and the frequencies was a tough choice to make, because I really enjoyed the melodies I created, but changing one of them to a different octave did not sound very good at all... I wasn't sure about about a way to keeping them from interfering.

Thanks for the honest review though! I really do appreciate it. I'll keep all of stuff you said in mind!

[nov1]

LONG REVIEW CUZ BIRTHDAY

YEY

The first 3 seconds are lame because they sound like those demo presets that FL gives and people are probably like "who's this krrmaim noob" and turn off the song before it even goes anywhere. I legit think you could trim out the first 30 seconds of the song entirely and no one would notice (or better yet, just get rid of that squarey sounding synth).

Whatever you're doing to the piano at :30 is excellent. Love the feel of it.

Great ambience at :50. The whole song sounds underwater, I like it a lot.

Synth at :57 is way too harsh in the high frequencies, it is very jarring. Cool melody, interesting pairing with the comparatively much less harsh piano. Also put some reverb on it.

I think you have musical ADD though, this song is going all over the place, tons of crazy ideas. The crazy panning arps at 1:25 are the main offender, but it could just be a problem of instrumentation (maybe harp would be a better choice? idk)

Easy stand out idea in this song is the bit that starts (out of nowhere I might add) at 1:51. Relistening to the song, this sounds silly because this is actually the idea that you lead with. Maybe that abrupt transition is actually working then, because it gets me to pay more attention to it.

The progression tells a story of making progress only to be pushed back. Funky pluck combined with subtle underwater effects adds a lot of ambience and is really enjoyable. As usual, the synth that comes in (hey, that's the same melody as before! maybe you're not as ADD as I though you were) is far too harsh for the rest, and the song would be a lot better (imo) if it had a filter to trim off the highs. Plus, have you tried putting vibrato on it? I'm addicted to vibrato, it makes everything sound better. Melody wise the synth is good but I'm not buying the rise from 2:57 to 3:00.

One other thing to do might be to put some lower bass on the song. Like, there could totally be bass going I think, there's definitely space down there, so why not? I personally like to put an electric bass on practically anything, it fills out the song nicely. Relistening I definitely hear some bass at 1:17, but it's either being cancelled out or it just doesn't exist in other parts of the song. I want to hear some bass eventually emphasize the 1:51 idea.

Though that's just because I always want the song to move forward, but that might not be what you want.

Somewhere between 8 and 9. Sharp saw synth is the biggest thing holding me back right now, it jars and doesn't let me get into the ambience as much as I would like. Honestly? I'll come clean, I just want you to use my synth in "undersea world", I think it would fit in here so well.

P.S. how old btw?

[Alone and Adrift]

Oh my goodness that melody is just so sad ;.;

I really love this piece. It's so sad and beautiful. argh.

The break in the middle with the sitar feels really out of place but... still... the melody.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember hearing a better melody on Newgrounds. I teared up.

[Expression of Freedom]

Oh my god... those melodies... so good... they sound like they're straight out of some SNES game or something. You know what they really remind me of? Stickerbrush Symphony. They've got that really longing melancholic feel to them. And Stickerbrush is like the best vg song ever, so well done.

My only suggestion is that some are a lot better than others. If you clean up the issues I'm about to mention down below it'd be a 9, but if you arranged this properly and cut out the less good melodies it could be a 10.

My favorite melodic points are :35, 2:02, 3:15. This is not an exhaustive list though.

The big problem that I see with this piece is the clash of the melodies and dnb. Like, the melodies are too beautiful and placid to have crazy beats going on under them, and so the two just don't go together well. Normally when I hear dnb songs they either have repetitive energetic melodies or more sinister dark bassy stuff. The melodies in this song are straight out of some happy RPG or something, so I feel like it's not working. The other possible cause of this problem is the actual samples you're using - I feel like they're too meaty and would typically make up a 4 on the floor beat. If you want an example of beats that might work better, listen to this song: http://compo.thasauce.net/files/A_zu_ra_-_Ticking_Time_Bomb(OHC259).mp3 Something like that might have a better shot of fitting into this song (though it'd still have to be slowed down).

The other problem with it, and while it's not as big it's still pretty big, is those panning notes that go through the whole song. I like them initially, but they eventually feel very repetitive. This can *sometimes* work, but I think it's not working here. It may just be a problem of instrumentation - if the instrument was more bassy, it might work better. Also maybe if it was quieter? But I can't really say.

Minor: baseline is too busy at 1:47, kinda clashes with the melody.

Anyway you already know how obsessive I am about melodies so the good news is the hard work is already done! The melodies are great and that makes the song great by default. You just have to put the rest of the song into place.

ChronoNomad responds:

Thanks a lot for the review, John! I'm glad to hear that you like the melodies so much, and that's an incredibly gracious comparison. I definitely get what you're saying about the DnB beats not really fitting the music, and while I'd love to be done with this piece at this point, you've got me seriously considering revising the beat and a few other nuances.

Can you even change the genre once it's set? Hmmm... I'll have to make sure that it's even possible before I delve into this one again, that's for sure. I suppose there's no reason why not, but goodness knows the Newgrounds submission system can be more than a little willful at times. Thanks a lot for your input, and I'll probably come back to this one at some point and see about improving it and giving it a more appropriate set of beat riffs. I've got a couple other things in the works right now, so it may be a while. So much for my first foray into DnB. Heh.

Thanks again! Your input is very much appreciated, and I really respect your musical acumen. Good luck in the NGADM 2013 finals, by the way! Can't wait to see (hear?) the epic battle between you and SteamPianist! :D

[Busy Feet]

dfgsdfg. That is all I have to say.

...

No it's not. I just can't keep my mouth shut huh? This is great. Your vocal control is ridiculous. The atmosphere is so strong I could eat it. But what is most commendable about this track is how reserved it is. I've been feeling pressure to write more and more epic songs to appeal to the judges (and judging by steampianists' track it's possible he feels the same way). But you took that in the complete opposite direction and wrote something much more introspective. That was quite a risk and I think it paid off in spades.

The one thought I had is that your voice is almost too defined when you put it on top of all those slow moving pad like sounds. I was thinking it would be really interesting to apply some sort of filter on top of the vocal to make it blend in a little more with the rest of the song. But eh, that's just an experimental idea, not a problem with the track.

P.S. The concept of this track reminds me of a few Radiohead songs - if you haven't heard of them, definitely check them out, they're amazing. The one I'm thinking of in particular is "The Tourist" but if you haven't listened to the album "OK Computer" you should just listen to the whole thing. :)

etherealwinds responds:

Thank you so much for your review!! I try to take the feedback and learn as much as I can from it. Throughout the competition, I've tried to focus on improving the mixing quality, especially leveling. I've gotten positive reviews from the general themes, moods and atmospheres, but I wanted to create something a lot more exposed this round. It's easier to hide behind compositions that are epic with a lot going on, but I thought I'd bear my soul a little more in this track!

I never considered putting any sort of filter on the vocals in this track. The only Radiohead I was familiar with beforehand was 'Creep' but I'm listening to 'The Tourist' now. It reminds me of Kor-Rune if I'm honest. Gorgeous! Thank you once again and good luck!