johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Weil - M.T]

HOLY CRAP THIS IS SO HEAVY UGHHH I'M STRAINING UNDER THE WEIGHT...

Heh, I don't usually listen to heavy techno, so you'll have to forgive me... I like the chord progression you were using - it's nice! my main criticism is that when the really heavy bass comes everything gets really really muddy, especially on the low end. Do you have some crazy amount of reverb on your kick or something?

I'd also maybe like some sort of detuned saw doing some cool melody or something.

By the way, along with what EternalEndeavor said, this song is quite repetitive. I personally prefer shorter songs that are less repetitive - as a listener, I can always just put them on loop if I like them, plus as a songwriter you get to optimize your melodies and things over less time, so you can make them better!

Anyway, keep at it! (And don't take the "low" review personally - I try to review so that 5 is average.)

DarkMauri responds:

Thanks for the review. Well. ive tried to optimise the bass because it was so loud depending on which earphones you was using. The kick is done with another 3 kicks together and changing things. And for the track i wanted to do it quite repetitive because i like chilling with my own track. :p ). i know i have a long way till i manage better the eq and the compresors and everything. Thanks for the review and check out my other tracks.

[Let your voice be heard]

This is incredible. INCREDIBLE. What can I say - I'm a sucker for sliced vocals, and this song is pretty much nothing but sliced vocals (ok, there's beat there too). That dominant vocal melody at 1:20 gives me shivers. It was an amazing idea to distort it like that. If you put a little echo and chorus on it I may even give this a 10.

My only critique is that the instrument at :50 sounds a LOT like a 303. Which is a shame because the rest of your instrumentation is so unique.

[In Defense of Logic]

Some random thoughts:

I LOVE the intro melody.

Wow, great piano breakdown at 1:11!! This is your best melody by far. It's REALLY GOOD.

Alright, the sounds really mix together at 1:45. Pan them out, put one on the left and one on the right, it'll be PERFECT. Same comment at 3:22.

That beat at 2:20. Needs more hi-hat. Needs more punch.

Whoa, build up to something really cool at 3:40ish. My main issue is that your sounds are kind of mixing together.

The instrument at 4:00 sounds kind of distorted at the high ranges. Careful.

Thinking about it a little more, that instrument for the intro melody may be the wrong one... I'm not sure, I'd have to fiddle around with the project itself.

Anyway, this song is really great!! Be sure to pay close attention to detail and it'll be even better. Keep it up. Exciting music!

tomdink responds:

Thanks for the in depth review! It's always good for me to get advice that can help me out like this.

[Self Destruct Sequence]

This is really cool. I'm only docking you stars because it's WIP currently. When you finish it you'll get some more ;) I love how the sound keeps evolving.

Some comments:

Not a fan of the zip sounding thing at :55.

The melody at 1:20 isn't that great. But the melody at 2:00 is pretty cool. It's also quite unique.

And I LOVE the modulation at 2:09. That's really rare to hear!

At 2:40 I start to get a sense of why it's called Self Destruct Sequence.

Keep working on it!! I really like it.

[I broke the dam]

WHOH. This is nuts. So much Slayer!

First, don't take the "low" score personally - I'm trying to review so that 5 is the average. Besides, review scores don't count for anything anyways, and I don't really vote. :p

My favorite part is that section that starts at :45. That's a really interesting idea that I'd like to see developed a little more.

On the other hand, I felt that some of your melodies are kind of random-sounding. I'd like to see a little more melodic coherence throughout the song.

[Lights *Remix* V3Project]

The score kinda looks bad, but optimistically I can give you the other half of those points when you finish the other half of the song ;-)

This is sounding good so far. My main criticism is that I don't hear that much of a difference from the song other than the new percussion. I'll admit that I haven't actually listened to the source material that much, so I'm probably not picking up all of your nuance - sorry about that.

Keep me updated.

(I don't vote low, that's too contentious anyways.)

g4ebguyGT responds:

Well the rest of the orig song is very good. I just wanted to change the bass, kicks etc etc.

[Death is a folktale]

This needs some work. The big thing is instrument choice - your instruments are really bizarre. The main instrument (leads off the song) definitely shouldn't sound like it does - you probably want to make it sound more pluckish.

The other big problem is the note choice - a lot of the notes seem really out of place and don't really fit in with the key. Listen critically to your songs! Make sure everything sounds right.

Sorry to be such a debbie downer! Keep working at it. My favorite part of this song is the saw melody that is going at :35. Work on that idea a bit more, think about your instruments some more.

(I don't rate songs, I just write reviews. Rating is too contentious anyways.)

[DJ Theof - Loneliness]

Hmm... It seems to me that that baseline should be a bit lower at times, or maybe panned somewhere else. It gets so high that it kind of interferes with the melody for me. (1:52 is a good example).

Anyway, this is a nice song. It's a bit repetitive - can we have a little variation on that melody? Other than that, it's cool! Keep it up.

TastyTeo responds:

I made the bassline like that on purpose, the melody is 32 Beats, the first 16 beats the saw bassline is lower and the other 16 beats it is higher one octave, it sounds good to me, and i like it like that

As for the repetitive melody, techno is a repetitive genre, if i had done variations or stuff like that to the melody, then it wouldn't be that good for me at least. Repetitive melodies get stuck in people's minds and so they get addicted to the song

Thanks for the review, have a nice day :D

[CLS (Arcane RMX)]

I think the gate at 3:00 holds your best melody. Definitely bring it to the foreground. You have some crazy instrument going at the same time (it sounds like a harpsichord... but that can't be right... or is it lol?) - I'd pan that one to the side a little, things can get confusing if everything is coming from the middle. Also the melody on the harpsichord is kinda random haha.

You do really good with dynamics, bridging the loud bits with nice string intermissions. Good, very good.

I also really like the part going at 6:16. I feel like it just needs a stronger beat. That's the climax of the song, right? It should burst through my headphones!! BOOM BOOM BOOM.

Another piano outro haha, nice.

ArcaneSoul responds:

lol had a hard time bringing up that melody. All my good ones are usually hidden away :C

also its not a harpsi.