johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Anxiety Attack (mastered)]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

The mixing is pretty darn solid, but unfortunately the composition and melodies don't hold up. The melodies seem to just go around randomly, without any sort of direction or contour to them. The piano break is a good idea to allow some relief to the techno section, but the piano melodies have the same problem: they don't really have any direction either. Keep working at it! 5

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: 3/4

Daydream-Anatomy responds:

Thanks a ton for the critique, I appreciate the analysis and honestly:3

[Space Empire Rising]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

Not bad, it has nice brooding chords and a dark evil feel to it - but it kind of just drifts around and doesn't really develop. Yeah, it would work fine for a video game level, but as a stand alone piece i really need that development to hold my interest. Some of the high frequencies on the synths hurt my ears (and I listen to chiptune!). The mix, also, needs a bit of work - it sounds like it's going into the red and then shoved under a limiter, so it could be a bit clearer. Still, not bad work here. Score: 6.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 2+/4
* Arrangement: 2/4
* Mixing: 2/4

DESHIEL responds:

"but as a stand alone piece i really need that development to hold my interest"

Hehe, maybe I'll make something for you if I get bored enought. :D

[Survival Gangster]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

This is weird as heck. In a good way. Some of the tones (like the horns and that one weird synth YOU KNOW WHICH ONE) sound off to me, but that's all I can really complain about. The amount of ideas stuffed in a 4 minute piece is just ridiculous, but the song never sounds disjointed somehow! How is that possible. Kor-rune magic - that's how. The transitions between different parts are sublime. That 1:05 solo takes me by surprise every time. It's just awesome. One of my favorites of the audition round. 9.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 4+/4
* Arrangement: 4+/4
* Mixing: 4/4

Kor-Rune responds:

Thank you so much Johnfn! I have never shown those shitty horns love and i have no regrets LMAO

I appreciate the nice comments and all you do to review!

[Reaper's Song]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

This piece has a very cool, dark vibe - it fits the title perfectly, and it sounds very evil! (I think it could also be a Halloween song :-)) On the other hand, the sound design needs work, and the instruments, e.g. the saw bass at 3:07, are sometimes too loud or too quiet (too loud, in the case of the bass) in the mix, which makes the song feel unbalanced. This is a good and interesting attempt - keep at it! Score: 5.5

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

Lone-X responds:

I appreciate the review! I've checked your guides as well and will try them out!

Peace and love,
Lone X

[Death of a Prodigy]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

This piece definitely has a lot of emotion to it. You have a really good sense of arrangement - you add and remove energy almost effortlessly, and it works really well. It definitely has a really strong and somber feel to it which perfectly matches the title. I’m also impressed by how you do so much with so few elements - just strings, and a tiny bit of piano and horns. On the other hand, I find that sometimes the melody can be a little undirected, and since the piece is already so subtle as it is, the piece loses a some interest. The piece is pretty darn good, though. Score: 8

P.S. I noticed you said this in a response to someone’s review: "if I add too much stuff my computer can't handle it, and Kontakt starts dropping samples when exporting.” That’s not a limitation! You can bounce down your tracks to waveforms, and then you (obviously) don’t need Kontakt for that instrument any more, so you can add MORE instruments! :D

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: 4/4

larrynachos responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed this piece :) As much as I love keeping things simple, you're right. It can lose some interest.

I've tried the method you suggested before, but even just exporting ONE instrument can be a challenge (my computer SUCKS). I just need more ram lol.

[The Space In Your Eyes (Master)]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

OMG. This is AMAZING. Wow! WOW! This is a friggin great psych rock song. It’s got all the trippy elements of psych rock, and then it actually goes even further by being super varied, having a ton of different, equally compelling sections. Your vocals are awesome - they are really reminiscent of Tame Impala, a great band - and the mix is pretty darn good as well. This was my favorite audition piece. Score: 10

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 4/4
* Arrangement: 4/4
* Mixing: 4/4

fearing responds:

Hi John!

First of all thank you for your review and taking your time to listen and write this out. I'm really really happy that you enjoyed it, let alone say it's your favourite. That's amazing!
Also, I was happy to read your comparison to Tame Impala, I've been listening to them a lot lately, so that's a huge compliment.

Cheers again buddy, your reviews are great.

Jevon

[Kite (Original Overhaul Mix)]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

Dang! Melodic trance is always really fun, and this just checks all the boxes. The mix is fantastic. It’s very very well arranged and varied - there are many sections that work very well together, and the breakdowns are just as interesting and well thought out as the climaxes (which is very rare to see in edm!). If I were to complain, I’d say that the main melody at 2:16 could be better - but thats just because the rest of this song is so lovely that I had very high expectations! You did great here. Score: 9

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: 4/4

D-Chain responds:

Thanks a bunch johnfn!! much appreciated!

[The City's Ghosts (Original)]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

WOW. Let me say that again: WOW. Let's get this out of the way quickly - the mixing here is terrible - it's often muddled in climaxes, and it's even clipping at points. But omg - the vocals are out of this world, the composition is amazing, the arrangement is perfect. The rapidfire delivery of vocals at points is just perfect (I strongly disagree with the previous reviewers here), and I love how the piano and strings back it up. The composition and arrangement are so good, in fact, that I *still* gave this a ridiculously high score, even though the mixing is so obviously flawed. I won't be so kind in future rounds - so be sure to clean up your mix. (Hint: Less elements are easier to mix. Also, make those vocals louder in genera, but make sure they never clip! I have 2 guides to mixing in my link below, and I'd highly recommend you to check them out :-)) One of my favorite audition pieces. Score: 9.5

Mini-scores (Note: See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)

* Mixing: 1/4
* Composition: 4+/4
* Arrangement: 4/4

Jabicho responds:

Thank you so much, johnfn!
I was very happy to read your review, and I appreciate a lot the help you gave us with the mixing, we're gonna work hard on it, and improve it for our next piece :D
I'll check out your mixing guides too :)
Thanks again, for your help, your words, the score and mini scores, the review, everything, it means a lot

[Children of Gravity]

== This is an NGAUC Audition Round Review. ==

Holy crap! This is easily the most ambitious piece of the round (though I'd keep an eye out for Birdinator and TylerSchrader). It goes ALL OVER THE PLACE, from a 2 minute orchestral opening that reminds me a lot of some of the old SimCity music to INSANE HEAVY METAL RIFFING to chill breakdowns, but it all sounds very coherent. The transitions never jarred me or took me by (unpleasant) surprise. So that is all very impressive. However, the ambition of this piece is also the biggest flaw. Since the piece is so long, there are points where the mix deteriorates (though, admittedly, for 90%+ of the song, the mix is solid). The biggest problem, though, is the composition: the melodies seem to be pretty random, and I probably would have difficulty remembering one after the song was over. Still, though, this piece is pretty darn impressive. Score: 8.0

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: 3/4

Crueldeity responds:

Wow thank you sir! I will try to work on melody cohesion more as my work progresses. I do thank you for the incredible depth of review for my song. This type of feedback is very helpful for really honing my sound. Thanks Johnfn! \m/

[Got Home]

Argh, solo piano! Jazz chords! Lazy sunday vibe! My one true weakness! This song starts out fantastic, but right at the :25, it suddenly slows down and the melodies fail to resolve in a satisfying way and it starts sounding random. I don’t think that it *is* random, but something about the arrangement is not letting me really get into the second half of this song. It almost sounds like you forgot what you were going to play for a little bit! This song has a lot of really nice aspects to it - great chords and progression, a beautiful vibe, and some really nice melodic sections, but it needs a little tightening up to be excellent. Score: 7.5

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3+/4
* Arrangement: 2/4
* Mixing: n/a

Noisysundae responds:

This is my essential expectation everytime I send something to the contest. I admit that I had no idea what should I do on the second half. (I definitely going to read your post now!) I usually do my musics in both opposite polars - Go full mix or empty solo piano like this. XD
Followed, faved some of yours, and looking forward to your future release and review. Hopefully, you will leave a review another one if you have some time because I'm more into making electronics than classics. However, I still love to do both. This review was a blast even if it wasn't for the sake of NGAUC! Thanks a hell lot!!!!!1111 :D