johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-+[Exile Vilify]+-]

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. This song is really muddy in the low end. It's mainly the fault of the deep piano/strings combo. Take off any reverb/delay/sustain pedal you have down there, the song should really clear up once you do that. Plus I think you have too many instruments down there (though it's hard to tell). Just one - the piano - should be sufficient.

The other thing is that I think you've transcribed the piano of the original song slightly incorrectly. There's no high note being played immediate at the third bar. I think the rhythm of the other notes is also just a touch off (but not enough to really drive me crazy).

The good stuff is that your singing is totally fabulous and it ties the whole song together. I really like the subtle delay that you can sometimes here "suckers luck-uck-uck". I'm not much of a singer, so I can't talk in very technical terms, but you did a really nice job here.

Also, you chose the BEST POSSIBLE SONG to cover. I really like The National and I like this song in particular. So good job there. ;-P

[Labbaik]

Now that NGADM is over and the judges are finally done with complaining about my songs, I was looking forward to writing tons of scathing reviews on your guys' songs, so that I could FINALLY HAVE MY REVENGE!! But instead I found this amazing song which is practically perfect. Way to ruin my fun, you JERK.

No but really this piece is amazing. Those brass blasts are just so tasty. My only complaint is that repetitive string melody that plays on top of them. I also love that soaring vocal and the decidedly arabic feel of the melodies, which works without feeling cliche.

And at electric guitar too... just really well done all around.

bassfiddlejones responds:

JUDGEMENT ALL AROUND!

Thanks for the kind review johnfn. I'd probably do this a little differently now if we were to compose it today, and change some of our generic approaches. We wrote this nearly three years ago now that I think about it... man! Time flies.

[Waterfall City Tower]

I decided to listen to one of your thingies to somewhat pay you back for all the hard work you did on NGADM! I GET TO JUDGE THE JUDGES HAHAH (Um... and I realize that giving one skimpy review is hardly sufficient pay back... haha)

That beginning really took me aback. As bizarre and offputting as the glitching is, it's also refreshingly unique, so I like it.

The drums are really bizarre, but not in a jarring way. I really enjoy the open high hats (I think?) that fade in and out.

The mixing is really nicely done. Not much to complain about. The instrumentation is really unique. Futuristic, but in a way that is still essentially human.

The melodies need a lot of work though imo. They seem kinda random.

To be honest I wasn't very convinced by this song until about 2:00 when the acoustic guitar came in. I really liked that idea and wanted to hear a lot more of it. Maybe some sort of sweet futuristic jam idk.

So yeah. Trim other stuff, take acoustic guitar section and run with it because I love it. :)

alternativesolution responds:

Whoa! Sorry for such a late response. Thanks for the review, I appreciate it, dude :)

[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.

[The Traveler (Battle) WiP]

Why don't I just start talking about stuff I like?

First thing is the inceptiony brass at :08. Very cool, wanted to hear more of it.

The changeup at :25 is really nicely executed.

I really enjoy the percussion at :28. Though perhaps it could be louder. :D

I really like the trumpet flair at :41 and shaker things at :46.

Though if you're trying to execute some sort of call/response there it's not 100% working for me. I can't say exactly why, but maybe if you added a bigger hit right as the strings come in it would work better? I dunno.

Like others are saying I could go for more bass perhaps, and I think that the beats could have more presence, particularly at the beginning. Other than that I enjoy it and would be psyched to hear the final product. :)

headphoamz responds:

Yay! Thanks john :D

[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!

[Lover's Quarrel]

I was all set to give this 9/10 and be like "bla bla it's a great piece for a film but as a standalone it doesn't work as well" but then 3:37 came and made me realize it would be stupid to give this anything other than 10/10.

You did a fantastic job here and I'm as impressed by the execution as I am by the change in direction from your past stuff. Seriously, if someone came up to me and put this song right next to music from a mainstream film, I would have trouble figuring out which was which. Mixing was perfect, and I really loved those crazy buildups that drop into something quiet - that's such a cool idea. While I'm listing things I loved, the techy percussion at :43! That stuff is great.

This is one of those special songs that I hear on Newgrounds that reminds me that I have a lot more work ahead of me. Thanks for the inspiration, and keep at it - not that you need me to tell you that :)

[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?

[Haywire]

You did successfully avoid the clipping, but now what I'm hearing is a bunch of extremely loud instruments pushing up against a limiter. This is making the mix really really cluttered. What I want you to do is to remove any limiters from your track, and then turn down all the volume controls on each individual track until the master channel is no longer in the red. This will clean up your mix considerably.

I can hear a good song in here wanting to get out, but the mixing is really preventing me from enjoying it.

I'd also suggest that the beats could be a bit more organic. If I'm hearing a guitar, I generally expect to hear rock drums under it, which means that the edm-esque kick/snare combo is a bit of a surprise.

I also really dislike FL's built in keys. There's a VST called Piano One which is free and sounds much better, so go check that out.

Sorry for being so negative, but once you fix up these issues (mainly the mixing - please please do that!) the song will be much better!

Smitsy responds:

Thanks for bieng honest! To be honest, I just had to look up what a limiter was because I didnt recall using any. Turns out theres one on the master. Ill go through it and maybe reupload it.