johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[OVus2]

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

This piece is weird as heck (not a bad thing!) and super hard to judge. The mixing is great and I love the drum loop - but then again, that's all it is - a loop. You could at least have chopped it up and varied it a little. :P The vocals are a great touch, but the song kinda drifts around without any meaning other than that drum loop. Score: 7.5

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

Mabelma responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback, I truly do appreciate it. I'll keep those things in mind for the next track :)

[Odyssey]

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

MAN. Now this right here sounds like Homestuck music. Which is good, because I love homestuck music. :) (For example, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktuDYYtbs2s) One thing that you make use of which I particularly like is the ii -> V. It works really nicely in a minor context! If I were to critique, I’d say that the song is a bit repetitive towards the end - it needs some sort of structural variation. I’d also say that that buzzy bass thing in the background is just pointless, and the song would be way better without it. On the positive side, the drums are great! I think they could be a little louder, but they have just the right amount of grittiness. Very good work overall. Score: 8.5

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: 3/4

LunyAlex responds:

Hey! Thank you very much for the review. Sorry for the late reply; been immensely busy lately.

Very glad you liked the song overall and I'll take heed of the critique.

Cheers!

[Palabras]

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

whoa - that opening guitar riff! whoa - the rest of that guitar riff! The riffing throughout the song is just awesome, but it goes on too long without a break - the arrangement needs to build and break down rather than just staying at that constant high. Or at least it needs to feel like it changed up a little. I also think mixing could help here - the drums are pretty quiet, for instance - I really want the production of the song to add more energy to the melody. Still - great guitar riffing! Score: 8

Mini-scores (See http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953 for what this means and how to improve)
* Composition: 3+/4
* Arrangement: 1/4
* Mixing: 2/4

DivoFST responds:

Thank you so much for the constructive review John!!! :D

[Prelude to Destruction]

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

This song rocks. The mixing is ace (those drums!!) and it nails what it sets out to do so hard. My only critique is that it's too short and that the climax seems to come and go without even a cymbal crash or anything to let me know that something happened - which leaves me dissatisfied because I feel like I missed the ‘best’ part of the song because I didn’t know it had come. There could have been a stronger melody, but let's be honest - this piece is already incredibly awesome. Score: 9

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

* Mixing: 4/4
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 3/4

Phonometrologist responds:

Yeah you're right about the brevity of it. I made a mistake, I think, in releasing this track without the main one that this preludes to. It definitely lacks in melodic content as well as the emphasis is in the rhythm, but I'm glad you think the mixing is good. Slowly but surely, it seems to be improving.

[Cuddles]

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

OMG... these chords are so gooddd. Half of the melody when it comes in is really amazing, but the other half is out of tune. Argh! (I disagree with the other reviews, btw - a whistle is totally fine for the lead here.) 8.5 - could have been like a 9.5 if the melody was totally in tune - it's like turning in an english essay with typos!

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

* Mixing: 3/4
* Composition: 3/4 (Easy 4/4 with the above fixed)
* Arrangement: 3/4

Pandasticality responds:

thank you for the tip, i already noted up the earlier reviews tips for when i start a new project :)
thank you for the review! hopefully il get to the next round.

- Pandasticality

[Six-Sided Parabox]

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

The opening to this song is really awesome! The song is not bad, but rests very heavily on the acapella, and unfortunately I'm not too convinced by the work in this song that is entirely your own, which is the reason for the slightly lower score. Some of the FL presets I’m hearing dont sound so good to my ears. Other sound design is pretty good though! Score: 6

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

* Mixing: 3/4
* Composition: 2/4
* Arrangement: 3/4

poinl responds:

Thanks johnfn, I learned a lot from your honest review and through the pm's!

[Dark Forest]

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

Wow, that's the first 7/4 I've heard this competition. Cool! This piece is really something else. With almost no discernible melody at all, it instead builds off of tension, release, atmospheric noise, and excellent orchestral instrument choice. It's hard for me to critique because it's so different than the other tracks I'm hearing in the contest (and that is of course always a good thing!). I'll say that as an accompaniment to a game or movie, this would be awesome, but as a standalone piece, I feel that it might lack a little melodic development that would otherwise keep a track interesting. It's still a very good piece. Score: 8.5

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

Azhthar responds:

Huh... just browsed my feed and saw that I totally forgot to respond here, but I guess with all the reviews you did for the NGAUC you didn´t evene realize ;) Thanks a lot for the detailed review. I should do some more 7/4 or experiment with odd meters in general. Glad you like it. It wasn´t really my intention here to make a melodic piece but you are right that as a standalone piece it wouldn´t be choice no1. Maybe I could have developed the violin theme which appears at some points (for example at the end)... Also thanks a lot for the good grades here. I guess I wouldn´t have passed without them ;)

[It's Compo Taimu!]

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

The piano sounds very mechanical - one of my pet peeves as a pianist - vary those velocities! Compositionally very cool - the riff you open with is just unique enough to keep me engaged through the song - but the sound design (that saw wave in particular really stands out) and mix need work. Score: 7.5

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

* Mixing: 2/4
* Composition: 3/4
* Arrangement: 3/4

Czyszy responds:

Thanks a lot! About that piano thing, well... it's the sample library's fault in a way. It uses samples at the same volume in different velocities, which makes it sound stiffish. I'm still saving to buy a better piano plugin. Sound design/mix on the other hand: definitely blame me for that. My ears don't seem be trained enough to catch little flavorings such as the saw being too loud and things. I just sandwich sounds until it sounds full, not paying attention to how different instruments sound together. Now, I'm certain that I really should be working harder. So, yeah... thank you very much again.

[Reflective Dungeon Theme]

This is pretty cool! The mixing is a little off - sometimes the lead gets buried - but dang, you have a pretty good grasp on theory (or a great ear for good sounding chords :-). The orchestral sound choice, too, is well done - nice use of different string articulations, percussion, bells... all of that tasty stuff. The ending 30 seconds are great. 8

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

* Composition: 3+/4
* Mixing: 2/4
* Arrangement: 3/4

LloydeSorrow responds:

I'm very glad you enjoyed it and thank you very much for the detailed review! It's very helpful. I've looked at how you derive the scores and I've also looked at the guides you have on how to improve and I find them really helpful! You're awesome! Thank you again!