johnfn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Heartsteps]

Melodies: The main riff is pretty nice! It definitely merits being repeated throughout the song. Good job! My main criticism is that when you try to do variations or solos on it, you're using too many quarter notes and you need to mix up your rhythms a little bit. 1:54 is a good example. Or 2:19. More complex rhythms can spice up a melody nicely. (I've actually been thinking about this in context with my own music too.)

I like the break at 1:43. I thought the song was over for a second! haha. I think it might be more effective if you didn't bring in the bass immediately. I do enjoy how the song is empty for a second though.

The mixing sounds pretty good to me! The bass stands out and the other voices are not fighting to be heard. The only thing that I thought could be fixed was the drums. They're too quiet! EVERYONE gets drum loudness wrong, all the time, always, including me, even though I already know this - so don't feel bad. Slap a compressor on those bad boys. It doesn't have to be aggressive, but I do think they should be louder.

Synths: I think they sound cool, but I don't really think that they belong in a song like this. Like the first synth that you introduce (:18) has got this really eerie feel to it that clashes with the otherwise chill and happy vibe the song has going. I honestly think that a piano would be perfect. Though I always think a piano would be perfect. :D Other orchestral instruments to carry the other voices (like strings, woodwinds especially) would do well, too.

While I'm talking about sound choice, the drums are kinda electro and a clap is pretty weird in a song that's emotional like this one. I would personally use someone like Skullbeatz on newgrounds as a reference. He has beats with emotive tracks all the time, and he does pretty good at it. (I mean, come on, he has the word "beatz" in his USERNAME).

I'm all for using reference tracks. Good artists copy, great artists steal, blah blah.

I was also thinking that you could switch up the progression somewhere in there and get more feels out of the piece. The main progression is great and carries the feel of the song nicely but if you switch up then you can get even more mileage out of it when you switch back to the main progression. One that I think might compliment your main one pretty well is d minor -> g major -> c major -> a minor. Bonus points if you do the descending baseline C -> B- > A for the chord change from C major to a minor. It gives it that extra emotive feel. :D

Also last thing, don't be scared to loop your main melody a little more, you don't have to always make variations on it. Good melodies deserve to be repeated!

Overall, I like this song a lot. Good job! I think the biggest thing to focus on would be synth design. With more organic sounding instruments that match the feel of the piece, the song could go far! :D

LunacyEcho responds:

=> Melodies =>

Whoo! Got one right!

=> mix up your rhythms =>

Wow, that's really insightful. It sounds like something really simple, but after looking back and listening to all the rhythms I used again, I realize that I use the same rhythms a lot. I'm definitely going to pay a lot more attention to melodic rhythms from now on (even though that feels like something I should've been prioritizing in the first place)!

=> break =>

That was definitely inspired by 'i believe' - it really got me thinking about how to use silence in music. Thanks! The reason I didn't keep the bass out was because I don't generally like only having one instrument play at a time (unless it's a solo composition). I try and put a lot of replay value in my music, and when I listen to stuff, one thing I find that really detracts from replay value is having really simple instrumentation, since replay value comes from finding stuff in a song you never found before. It's hard to find the unexpected when you've only got one instrument to listen to.

=> mixing =>

Really? Drums? I've always felt like my earphones made me hear music differently from others, but now I know that's the case. Gotta work harder on mixing!

=> synths =>

Aw... I thought they sounded quite nice! I do agree: this song would be vastly improved with a piano. I kinda liked the sound design on these, but after listening to some of Skullbeatz's stuff, I can see what you mean by instrument choice and the mood of the song.

=> progression =>

You know, I wanted to change up the progression during the break. One of my more progression-based songs was my NGASS one, but this one's pretty boring in terms of chords. I think I'll try using that chord progression in another song!

=> main melody =>

But... repetition! I think in my reviews, the one thing I call out people the most on is their amount of repetition, so I try to keep that to a minimum in my tracks. I guess I could afford to have some more - perhaps changing up the background instruments instead of the main melody to preserve interest?

Thanks a lot for the humongous review! It was so helpful, and it gave me lots of ideas to create new songs with. Good to see you're making your way back to Newgrounds! :)

[Chompy]

Screw you Step. Stop hogging all the good mixing. Some of the rest of us need it sometimes :P

Seriously though, what are you doing with your drums around :13 (and elsewhere) to get them to sound so nice and meaty! It must be some special stardust or something.

My only complaint about this song is that the chorus is Hit the Road Jack. I mean I can hardly complain since it's just a baseline but, eh, you know.

It's so fun though! I think my favorite part is at :54 when I thought that you were done with the chorus and transitioning out (in typical Step style of erring so far to the side of not repeating your best parts that you don't even do them at all, hahaha) but then it goes into this alternate take with more orchestral stabs! You totally fooled me for like 2 seconds there. :D

One suggestion is that at 1:01 instead of holding on the final chord you could actually keep ascending the scale. I see the cool kids doing it and it can have an equally interesting effect.

My only thought is that the piece is SO dynamic I find myself wondering how it could work in a game if it's looped? I would expect something that stayed a little more in the background...

But whatever, as a standalone piece this rocks!

Step responds:

JOHNFN. Yay. Thanks for dropping by!

"Screw you Step. Stop hogging all the good mixing. Some of the rest of us need it sometimes :P"

Man, I'm actually really happy with the mixing in this track. I think the sax could've been louder and the bass is a bit too full-bodied, but otherwise I actually think I nailed it for once.

"Seriously though, what are you doing with your drums around :13 (and elsewhere) to get them to sound so nice and meaty! It must be some special stardust or something."

I have no idea, man. Sometimes I just finish composing a section of music and think to myself "how the hell did I do that". I must enter some sort of trance while composing because I can almost never explain how I did anything :(.

"My only complaint about this song is that the chorus is Hit the Road Jack. I mean I can hardly complain since it's just a baseline but, eh, you know."

Yeah, funny story about that actually. I didn't even think of that song when composing this. I finished the first half of the track, went to camoshark and was like "hey look at this sweet descending bassline I invented!", to which he responded by sending me like three different tracks that use this exact same bassline, including Hit The Road Jack. Didn't feel so original after that!

"It's so fun though! I think my favorite part is at :54 when I thought that you were done with the chorus and transitioning out (in typical Step style of erring so far to the side of not repeating your best parts that you don't even do them at all, hahaha) but then it goes into this alternate take with more orchestral stabs! You totally fooled me for like 2 seconds there. :D"

Awesome, so glad you pointed that out. I feel like the nature of the game I made this for is kinda jumpy and hyper, so I wanted to reflect that by doing things like over-the-top shifts in dynamic, plenty of jazz stabs/hits or, as is the case with 0:54, haphazard rhythm changes.

"One suggestion is that at 1:01 instead of holding on the final chord you could actually keep ascending the scale. I see the cool kids doing it and it can have an equally interesting effect."

That's a cool idea. Or maybe I could keep the chord going with the strings/brass and ascend upwards with the mallets.

"My only thought is that the piece is SO dynamic I find myself wondering how it could work in a game if it's looped? I would expect something that stayed a little more in the background...
But whatever, as a standalone piece this rocks!"

Yeah, this is something that gives me a lot of trouble when composing BGM to video games. I can't bring myself to keep the dynamics limited since then I have trouble introducing variety. It's something I need to work on.

Super glad you enjoyed this. Thanks again!

[TL - Words Lost in the Waves]

Whoa crazy chord change at :41.

Also that transition at 1:40... I know you can do a better transition than that given how much you complain to me about my transitions hehe ;-)

To me the first half of this track is definitely ambient, but as soon as other instruments other than that watery synth come in, then it loses it's ambientness. (that's a word) It almost like it's two separate songs!

The melodies could use a little bit of help. Try singing/humming to your song (I do this where no one can hear me :P) and then transcribing what you just sung. Sometimes that can help.

I really liked the ambient first half! The watery synth is just awesome. Makes me feel like I'm floating in water, illuminated by sun... drifting around. It feels really nice, and I almost wish you spent a little time just on the chords rather than bringing in the other instruments as early as :20.

Nice job!

TaintedLogic responds:

So nice to see you've been more active these past few weeks, Johnfn! :D Yeah, I love doing crazy chord changes. :3 I agree about the transition at 1:40. There's actually this massive crescendo in the bass at 1:36, but it's really hard to hear because I suck at mixing in Garageband. I'll do better next time! I totally recognize the "it's two separate songs" complaint too. I tried to tie it together with that melody at 2:16 and the chords in the background, but I understand that it still may have not sounded that coherent. That's a helpful tip with the melodies! I might just use that... Glad you liked the ambient part. I try to keep my intros under 30 seconds, but maybe that's a bad thing in this instance, haha. Thanks so much for the review, Johnfn! I'll review your latest track as soon as I get the chance. ;D

[Medley of a Shattered Mind]

This is really nice! I was thinking while listening to it that you must be my musical alter ego or something, since your chord choices sound almost EXACTLY the same as mine (at least, when I'm in this sort of emotional piano mood). The only things you did that I normally wouldn't do is that sometimes you really go heavy on the chords e.g. 3:55 (or 2:00). Aside from that, we're pretty much exactly the same :P I was thinking we should get together and play piano, but... Finland...

I have 1 technical nitpick, which is that sometimes the mixing gets a little muddy - too much sustain I think. For example :29, and :32. You generally don't want to sustain 1 base notes that are in different chords - it sounds muddy very quickly.

I have another suggestion about the composition. This piece is like I'm in a train (in Finland?) looking out the window, and I'm seeing different stuff all the time, and it's all very pretty, but to me it feels like there isn't much of an arc in the music itself. I think you could help by having more variation between your different sections. Each of your sections are the same sort of moody slow chordal stuff. There's nothing wrong with it, but you can give your song more of an 'arc' by switching it up. I mean, I'm the last person you should call a classical music expert, but even I've listened to moonlight sonata, and I'd bet a good reason it's so successful is that it starts out with a slow moody section, but by the end it's exploded into this insane arpeggiated craziness. Keeps the listener's attention!

Another thing that might help would be to try sticking with 1 melody as a sort of theme, and then try bringing it back throughout the piece. Gives the whole thing a sense of coherence.

Anywho, those are just some random thoughts. Hope that helps. I liked the piece! You have a lot of good ideas on the piano. I liked the thing at 1:44 especially. Heck, I thought that you could have got even more mileage out of it just by repeating it again! Also, isn't 3:20 the phantom of the opera theme? hahehah. for like 2 seconds anyways. It works really well.

Good job!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey, this was a totally unexpected and big review! Thanks a lot!

"...your chord choices sound almost EXACTLY the same as mine..."

=> That's quite the compliment right off the bat, there! Maybe we both just have really good taste in chords ;)?

And well, 3:55 is kinda the climax of that segment, so I wanted to give it a slightly different feel, with the orchestral rhythm and all :)

Yeah... We don't exctly live close to each other (Hehehhehe, now johnfn will never get to know how bad I am at improvising along with others >:D).

I agree with the sustain pedal thingy. I'd like to blame Phonometrologist, who added much reverb while mixing the track (knowingly, because I like much reverb), but I DID hold the pedal down at such points you mentioned. On my electronic piano, it doesn't get that muddy if done like this, but with the piano vst that Phonometrologist used, the same thing is not true :p
So it was a clash between different intruments, I guess (I always play a bit differently on a real piano and an electronic one, as the sounds are still so different).

I can totally see the train analogy, as this is a progressive piece in the way that it always moves forward, without looking back (Which is also why I don't have repeating melodies that moce across the sections!!!).

While I agree with every criticism you give, I'll still give you my point of view. While the melodies and chord are different in different sections, I agree that they are all similar (well, there was the clumsy change from 3/4 to 4/4 at one point, and a few other rhythmic parts) to each other. The reason for that is mostly how I approached the peice. I first made a few different melodies and parts, in a similar manner, as I wanted to glue them together into a sense-making piece. However, they turned out to be too different from eachother (when I was about midway done, or so) for me to easily be able to make them sound part of the same piece. This resulted in them being similar in the way you mentioned, yet different in the way that they don't mix well together. That is why I decided to come up with the story for the piece. My thought process was that while the sections represent different emotional times of a persons life, it's still the same person in all the parts, which is why there are both differences and similarities. So basically, I made a medley :)
That's just my take on it though, as much is up to the listener.

I still agree with what you said though. It's just that I was so far gone with the piece already, so I was too lazy to make many changes :p

(I love the first and third movement of the Moonlight Sonata).

I do sometimes stick with 1, 2 or 3 main melodies that repeat in different ways, but many times, coherency is not what I go for. I also like to switch up the melody and change it a bit, using the same chords, or play the same (or a very similar) melody, but with different chords.
It is a very useful technique though!

You definitely helped! I didn't even think about the pedal thing at all, for instance. You have a great ear for music, as usually. You know, I actually thought about repeating 1:44, while making it a bit more dramatical, but I ended up with 1:56 instead :/
And I can see what you mean with Phantom of the Opera; there are some similarities in the overall tone as well!

Thanks a lot for the big and sudden review! I really appreciate it!
Now... Time to go review your newest upload...

[T-Logic - Influx]

Good job! I like the chords around 1:50 the most. The percussion is pretty good too I think. Yay!

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks Johnfn! Happy to see you're not dead. I really worked hard on that percussion, so I'm glad you liked it. Also, do you have any plans to upload anything soon? I swear I've been going into Johnfn withdrawal over here. :O Seriously though, thanks again! ^^

[To the Stars]

Awesome!

Pretty darn good handling of chiptune I think. I guess sometimes (during the solo) I was imagining you doing slightly more intricate/jazzier takes on the theme (rather than just reiterating it usually). Maybe in difference voices. This may be just because I listen to a ton of jazz chiptune, but I think it's usually a good idea because it sounds awesome! :D (listen to this sometime http://fearofdark.bandcamp.com/album/motorway, you'll love it)

I was pretty impressed by the mixing of the dry chip with the rather wet orchestra in the first half. No clue how you did that, whenever I try it never really works out...

The track is filled with highlights but the best part by far is at 2:20. IT GIVES ME FEELS. Even when I'm lying in bed sick with the flu. Such a good part!

My one criticism is with the Step MonsterCymbalCrashes (TM). To me, whether it's true or not, they sound to me like you're a little insecure about your song - using one feels like saying "here comes the good part -> -> -> " but honestly I think the good parts would stand out just as well with simpler, stripped down transitions. I also have this suspicion that big transitions like that make a listener tire of a song quicker, but I don't really have any evidence to back it up. (yea, I might be a *bit* of a hypocrite here...)

P.S. <troll> Also it doesn't make sense to include chiptune in this medley since SMG didn't have any chiptune in it ya dunce </troll>

Step responds:

"Awesome!"

Johnfn! Was just reminded how much I enjoy your reviews. Thanks a million for dropping by! I'm really happy you enjoyed the track (and gave it one of your hard-to-earn 10/10s). This and my other arrangement (In a Dream) are two tracks I worked super hard on, and I'm proud of both, so it's great getting reassuring feedback!

"Pretty darn good handling of chiptune I think."

Glad you think so! Got to be honest, once again I totally ripped off your style of lead synths with vibrato and grace notes and stuff for that Gusty Gardens solo. Hope you don't mind :3.

"I guess sometimes (during the solo) I was imagining you doing slightly more intricate/jazzier takes on the theme (rather than just reiterating it usually)"

Aghhhh, you are very much correct, and it kills me because I really wish I thought of it while making the track. You are also not the first to mention this. Echo mentioned that there should be some kind of contrapuntal thing played by another voice during the solo, especially during 3:22~. Maybe I would've thought of it if I had more time, but I basically went through a music-making marathon to finish this on time, sometimes up till 3 - 4 AM in the morning, so I unfortunately had to rush a lot of it.

But yeah, I agree 100%.

"(listen to this sometime http://fearofdark.bandcamp.com/album/motorway, you'll love it)"

Thanks for the recommendation! Heard a good part of it already and I absolutely adore it. I think I'm going to buy it, in fact. It's amazing, seriously.

"I was pretty impressed by the mixing of the dry chip with the rather wet orchestra in the first half. No clue how you did that, whenever I try it never really works out..."

Have you tried adding delay? I don't have too much reverb on my chiptune synths but I do have a hefty amount of delay. The chiptune percussion is also full of "muted" white noise "hits" (dunno what else to call them) and other little intricacies and effects, which kind of fill up the gap of depth that the reverb would've otherwise filled, if that makes any sense.

"The track is filled with highlights but the best part by far is at 2:20. IT GIVES ME FEELS."

The Good Egg Galaxy theme is beautiful isn't it? I remember getting really excited to get to 2:20 so I can just throw all I've got at a huge uplifting climax, and I'm glad it worked out!

"Even when I'm lying in bed sick with the flu."

Still sick? Aw man. Get well soon!

"My one criticism is with the Step MonsterCymbalCrashes (TM)."

LOL I love how they're a trademark now. But yes, once more I agree entirely with you. I didn't really think about it while composing the track, but the other day I was listening back to it and just thought "man, so many cymbal rolls... what was I thinking". The thing about them is that the more you use them, the less effective they become when you actually NEED to use them for a huge climax. I should've used them more sparingly.

"P.S. <troll> Also it doesn't make sense to include chiptune in this medley since SMG didn't have any chiptune in it ya dunce </troll>"

Hahaha well, Super Mario Galaxy didn't have any particularly CHIPTUNE influences, but it had plenty of orchestral with electronic elements, a lot of which were kinda reminiscent of chiptune I think, such as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVFnc9QQOvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eue6Zvv3GlI

Plus, chiptune is pretty much always linked to video game music, especially to Mario, so I thought why not!

Anyway, thanks so much again for the detailed review. You da best.

[Skyless]

:O :O :O

Either you've been holding out on us this whole time or over the last 2 weeks you learned how to sing as good as the Muse guy?!?

This song is epic! I like the chord before the chorus the most. That's a pretty nice chord. The rest of the chords are pretty good, too.

garlagan responds:

thank you John <3
Initially this was going to be my Round 1 submission actually. I thought it had potential so I left it until i could work more on it

[Imminence]

Real nice. I appreciate all the sound choice/design you did, and I think it's all pretty solid honestly, feels pro and would definitely be at home in a visual novel like atmosphere... with the exception of the drums. I think the drums could be a bit better maybe, they feel a bit muffled. Better samples perhaps. I never know what to say about drums. Also the big heavy hitting crashes e.g. 2:27 are great but maybe a little out of place in an otherwise chillaxing piece.

Also the little section at 1:12 is SO Step. (so are those crashes I just mentioned :D)

Mixing is fine. I like how the strings swell in, that feels very pro to me. Definitely has an eerie feel, like I'm exploring a haunted house, but the house isn't VERY haunted, it's haunted by like the ghost of a dog or something. Despite you saying the song is very melodic, I don't really think that it is - it feels more atmosphere driven to me. I don't say that as a criticism though, it still works well.

Step responds:

JOHNFN. Man, I missed your reviews. Thanks a million for leaving a review!

"Real nice. I appreciate all the sound choice/design you did, and I think it's all pretty solid honestly, feels pro and would definitely be at home in a visual novel like atmosphere..."

That's great to hear. This is my first time making an OST this size, so I'm having HUGE amounts of trouble trying to follow the requirements for each piece. Ergo, (I feel like such a snob using that word) every bit of positive feedback is a huge breath of relief for me haha.

"with the exception of the drums. I think the drums could be a bit better maybe, they feel a bit muffled. Better samples perhaps. I never know what to say about drums."

I'm not huge on the drums here either! I wasn't quite sure what kinds of samples to use. 0:23's drums are supposed to be muffled as they're mostly an atmospheric element, but when the actual drums come in I agree that the samples aren't quite fitting.

"Also the big heavy hitting crashes e.g. 2:27 are great but maybe a little out of place in an otherwise chillaxing piece."

I COULDN'T HELP IT, MAN. I feel like my music is almost DEFINED by those huge cymbal roll transitions into the climactic sections. I'm a one-trick pony, it's all I can do well :c. I think I did go a little overboard with it, but still, since this is the first track to appear in the OST, I also think that it won't be entirely out of place to have a more eventful piece of music in the background.

"Also the little section at 1:12 is SO Step. (so are those crashes I just mentioned :D)"

Hahaha. I need to vary my style more. You know what, one of these days I should make a track involving a smooth synth lead with subtle portamento and a bunch of reverb playing uplifting melodies with grace notes, and I'll give it a lowercase song title.

"Mixing is fine. I like how the strings swell in, that feels very pro to me."

The wonders of volume automation! Nowadays I actually don't write any string patterns without having an automation clip on their volume, in fact.

"Definitely has an eerie feel, like I'm exploring a haunted house, but the house isn't VERY haunted, it's haunted by like the ghost of a dog or something."

Yeah it should have a somewhat eerie and slightly tense vibe, as if you're expecting something to happen, but shouldn't verge on being too tense or too eerie. The haunted dog thing certainly wasn't what I had in mind but it's definitely interesting haha. Woof.

"Despite you saying the song is very melodic, I don't really think that it is - it feels more atmosphere driven to me. I don't say that as a criticism though, it still works well."

I think it's pretty melodic for atmospheric BGM but what do I know :3. Thanks a lot for the great review!

[Impulse]

So epic... so much variation... even if I wouldn't have dropped out I think you still would have won ;-)

I would like to hear you take a slightly new direction next time though, that would be pretty neat.

garlagan responds:

I started working on the quiet section of the track at first. It was going to be all around that idea. But walking about I had that melody playing loud with drums and stuff and I couldn't stop myself from taking it into that direction.
And I've already started something kinda similar to this track for the next round haha. I promise after NGADM you'll hear something more interesting from me.

Also, you know both of us had the same chances. Don't be silly and go make music right now John! <3