johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Amarelo Preto (Blackanese)]

== This is an NGAUC Knock-Out Round Review ==

This is a super interesting and cool piece. It has a really unique, chillout vibe that makes it stand out from most of the other tracks in the NGAUC, and that is very cool. The piano chords have a great jazzy, relaxed vibe to them.

You have a great ear for samples, and the ones that you selected work together magnificently to create a piece that’s way more than the sum of its parts.

The arrangement is really interesting to me. I don’t really get bored listening to this piece, which is especially interesting considering that not too much happens in this piece - it keeps the same piano chords, vocal melody etc. throughout the whole song. You do a really good job of adding and removing small elements like percussion, piano solos, and so forth to keep interest.

However, while I don’t really get *bored* listening to this piece, I’m not really *interested* by the arrangement either, since again, not too much happens. This I’m not going to let you off the hook for! I think that additional sections in this piece - with different instrumentation, ideally - would make it a lot more interesting.

I am somewhat indifferent on the piano soloing. I think it’s a great idea and adds a lot of interest to the arrangement, but the actual melody itself could be a bit more evocative. At times, it also sounds off beat.

I’ve noticed a few problems with the mix. I’ll go ahead and list them off. First, those piano chords. They sound really deep and reverbed, and I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of how they’re presented: they sound a bit muddy to me, and they make the mix feel muddy as well. They also obscure the baseline pretty badly. I didn’t even realize there was one until I looped the song and heard it before the piano dominated it. (The bass at 1:40 has a bit more presence, however.) Unfortunately, since the whole song is built around these chords, this is a pretty big hit - I think with a different timbre it could have been much better. The soulful vocal is a very cool touch, but it’s desperately in need of reverb and/or delay: it’s far too dry in the mix, and that makes it jar. The percussion is pretty well mixed, with the exception of the kick drum, which I have difficulty hearing because of the piano/bass combination.

This is a really interesting piece - keep it up.

Score: 6.5

Mini-Scores (see here: http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953):
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 2/4
* Mixing: 2/4

DeadlyAlchemy responds:

EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I KNEW THOSE PIANO CHORDS WEREN'T GOOD DAMMIT

Even so, I'm really happy with a score of 6.5 considering I managed to make this in 2 days.
I'm certainly going to take notes and fix this up because it's one of my better songs and it always has the potential to be better with improvement, so thank you for taking the time to listen and give such a thorough review.

[Jewel]

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

Wow! I’ve always appreciated your music, but it’s generally not been the sort of music that I would seek out. (With a few exceptions like Mote Prime, because I love post-rock). To be clear, it’s not bad music - it’s generally pretty friggin' amazing - but I have to admit, I don’t tend to listen to jazz fusion all too much. It’s just personal taste.

(Though you are doing a pretty darn good job of convincing me to get into jazz fusion, but let’s not get into that...)

Which makes it all the more interesting that I actually REALLY like this song and I would TOTALLY burn it on a mix-tape. (Assuming anyone actually made those anymore.) The first time I listened to it, the chorus really caught me, and I looped it a few times immediately - not even judging it, just enjoying it - which is pretty darn rare.

If anything, I think that the song is a bit short! The chorus is so good that I think it definitely could have been repeated one more time at the end, perhaps with a little more melodic variation like you started to do on the final chorus.

I do have a couple of dumb nit-picks. Someone already mentioned that there are a couple of places where you sing off pitch. This is definitely something to watch out for, though I don’t think I can remember that happening in your past songs. A slightly larger thing that bothered me is the way that your lyrics felt like they would stumble in on the first beat of the measure. “You’re fine”, “You’re mine” etc seemed like they were trying to fit into a single syllable. It bothered me a lot in my first few listens, but less now, so I’m not sure if I got used to it, or if it’s not bad. (On the other hand, I really like how the last word of the previous phrase is the first word of the new measure! It’s such a cool idea, and you make it work great with the melody.) The ending is a little abrupt - I think you could have held the word “closer” for a beat or two more.

I wanted to hear a more epic guitar solo, but that’s only because you spoiled me with like 6 of them in your last song :P

My last criticism is that the handling of the drums seems a *little* off sometimes, particularly when I mentally compare with professional tracks, but I’m having difficulty putting my finger on exactly why. (You know you’re doing pretty good when I’m pulling out professional tracks to compare against.) It’s not the tone of the drums that bothers me, though. One thing I’ve noticed is that you REALLY like to put a flanger on the drums. I’m not sure if it’s bad so much as I just hear you do it a lot ;-) Maybe what bothered me is the use of cymbals towards the end? I think you are using them a little too much - I expect to hear the constant cymbals for really energetic songs, but this one is fairly laid back. It may also just be the 5/4 - without any sort of subdivision the drums kinda make the song feel like it’s lurching forward unevenly.

So if you want to improve, I’d say to head in the direction of drums, but I don’t know exactly what it is. You’re a smart musician, you figure it out! ;-)

This is my favorite of the NGAUC tracks I listened to this round (through I only listened to about half of them.)

Overall Score: 10/10

Mini-Scores:

* Composition: 4+/4
* Arrangement: 4/4
* Mixing: 4/4

Kor-Rune responds:

THANK YOUUU for such a comprehensive review! I will do everything I can to sing better or not at all LMAO. I do abuse the drum flange and the cymbal wash, I'll try new stuff haha! Appreciate all the effort and love johnfn ILY <3

[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 ^_^

[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

[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.

[EnNinja - Journey]

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

It’s fairly apparent to me that you are pretty new to composing music. That’s fine! This song is a bit too abrasive in sound design and loudness for me to really enjoy currently, unfortunately. I’d recommend to try to cover some of your favorite songs, so that you can learn how they do what they do and pick up some of their skills. Keep at it! Score: 2

EnNinja responds:

I am using a new program as FL stopped working and I haven't really got the hang of it yet. That could explain a little. Anyway thanks for telling me what you think :3