johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rise Of Heroes]

Man what is that piano at 2:30. I have been looking for a piano like that. Is it nexus?

At 5:40 if I'm going to be a little picky I'd say that the mastering is a little messed up, the lead isn't loud enough.

On the other hand I know you really like unique leads and I thought that your choice was good here. To be fair I don't listen to a lot of trance, but I haven't heard anything too similar, so nice work.

I don't know how I feel about the weird diminished-like chord at 2:11, at first I thought it was completely wrong but now I just think it's a little weird. >:P

I liked this one. Melodies are improving. If you brought out the melody in the last section I would probably give this a 9.

ArcaneSoul responds:

Yeah, i overall liked the mastering in general but the end could of been fixed up a little.

Also are you talking about the last bar in the chord progression? Because i am kind of picking up on something weird in that too. I think i might go back and change it a little to my liking. And 2:30 is nexus piano. I just used izotope to bring it out more and sound more fuller.

[Honey Glow]

Intriguing song but even after looping it like 10 times I find it hard to keep track of the wandering melody. I really like the vibrato on the synth though. Too many quarter notes are bad for your health - varying the length of notes help maintain interest :) other than that it's cool for what it does.

[Press Pause Part 2]

I have to give this one a 5/5. Some of the best handling of piano I have ever heard.

[Melody of the Heart]

Thanks for the courtesy review. This is good, nice melody work. My big comments are nit picks, like I think that the lead could be brought down an octave. In a few places the melody could be smoothed out - I mean, it's trying to express a simple idea in a complicated way.

Although you put this under Misc I feel like it wouldn't be out of place at all in a chill video game. Maybe a farm scene or something like that.

I've been listening to a lot of Yasunori Mitsuda recently, and this music seems a little reminiscent of him. If you like this sort of stuff, check out this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSrWG JBL34 The guy was a master.

KrrMaim responds:

Yasunori Mitsuda! I started paying attention to that guy back when I played Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Good stuff.

You should check out Jeremy Soule if you haven't listened to his stuff. The consistency of which he releases brilliant work blows me away.

[Timeless]

This review is going to be very similar to my last one, so you should go read that one first (it was on your 2nd most recent song).

I feel like even though this is strictly speaking a new genre, this song really follows your other song's template almost exactly. We start out with a chord progression and then eventually we have a single melody that goes on top of it that doesn't really say anything new. As usual I think your sounds are all very good but it needs a bit more. Whether that is chord progression interest or melodic interest is up to you.

I would also encourage you to try mixing up how you arrange your songs. Instead of buildup->melody why not try verse/chorus/verse/chorus or something weird like starting with the big part first?

ForeverBound responds:

Okay i'm gonna think about that but i'm not gonna mess much with the arrangement of my songs ;)

[Advanced]

Good stuff first - the instruments all sounded great, your kick/snare/clap all sound legit and work well with the song, it's all very well mastered. Everything sounds good and legit.

Stuff I want you to work on - this song does not really go anywhere. The one melody at 1:20 is really just a simple repetition of the chord progression, it doesn't really say anything new or interesting. You can only really pull of something like that if you have chord progressions that are complex/interesting enough to stand on their own (think Boards of Canada). As is, a more interesting melody line would really help to improve this song.

ForeverBound responds:

Okay thank you for your review i'm gonna work on getting better melodies :D

[The Talking Voices]

Yo wassup.

I like the pads that fade in only to cut to another pad. In fact I was experimenting with that idea a while back, it's a fun one.

I think the build at 0:55 is a very traditional ArcaneSoulBuild (tm). I feel like when the lead comes in the pad should too so that you really feel the transition.

Sounding good, well mastered, good sounds. Melodies though. But you know that already... You should try using different lead sounds. Maybe piano? (You have probably already done this and I just don't remember.)

ArcaneSoul responds:

lol x3

Knew someone would complainaobut the lead xD
Just an F.Y.I, i am using possibly the hardest waveform to make sounds with. It is a REALLY dead sounding one. so sorry if it doesn't sound full xD

[Used Ta]

Love the beat. I feel like it could be a little more bassy but otherwise it's great.

My problem is with the lyrical delivery though, they seem to be a little exaggerated ("she looks gooood in a spray tan" is a good example of what I feel is a little off, although I hear it throughout the song).

I don't listen to too much hip-hop though, so who knows if my opinion is valid ;)

funnyman46 responds:

I agree, more bass would probably make it more jammin. More bass makes everything more jammin.

The exaggerated lyrics are more of a "meant to" thing. We like to have a lot of character in our songs, gives it a nice touch.

Thanks for listening as always though, man! Glad you loved the beat.