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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Honey]

This is incredible. What are you even doing on NG. This is too good.

Have you ever heard of The Mercury Rev? Your vocal style is really reminiscent of theirs.

You should change the name of your album though. No one will take it seriously, and your music demands serious listening.

Kingbastard responds:

First things first, thanks;) Newgrounds has entertained me and been good to me over the years, so I still like to post up some freebies;) There's loads of good music on here, it's just hard to find among the sea of nonsense haha. I have heard of Mercury Rev, I'm a fan, although I like to think I can hold a note a little better than he can;)
Disagree about the album title, but you're entitled to your opinion, even if it is wrong;)

Cheers for taking the time to leave a comment, appreciated.

[=(Magic)= (Arcane RMK)]

One thing - not a huge fan of the delay during piano solos (like 2:40).

There's a decent melody hidden in the background (during say 3:30, and then again at 4:15) but it rarely comes to the surface. I noticed this is kind of common of your songs. Don't be afraid to shove the melody in people's face :D I really like some parts of this song. The little build at 4:20 is really exciting. I think you just need a stronger instrument for that melody.

ArcaneSoul responds:

This song was like a year ago when i really sucked at melodies so of course i expected complaining XD

I'll admit though, that build is cool. I like using that synth for builds.

[=(Dat Lead)=]

I thought I would drop in and review your stuff because i see you reviewing a lot and felt I could repay the favor.

That lead at 1:40 is really weird.

Dude there is no hi hat in your drums. I don't really obsess about this stuff but some people do I think.

2:30 onwards is cool but a bit sloppy. You should come back and touch it up some.

Lol at 3:27 I was like "oh crap the NG audio player is screwing up again."

hmm, there's another lead at like 4:20 on that needs more melodic work, it doesn't really seem to be saying anything to me, it's just like randomly going between different notes. I figure this is because you were doing the song in 4 and a half hours so I can't really judge.

OH PIANO OUTRO YESSS.

I think I was getting on you about writing better melodies before too. So I'm probably just driving you insane now. I'd suggest to spend a few days honing a single melody until it's really great, because that's what I've been doing... Then again I'm not that great :p Plus I understand that this was a rushed piece.

ArcaneSoul responds:

Lol i know i have no melody skills because i have almost no music theory skills. It's one of the few things im going to be practicing this summer.

I was kind of afraid of making the hihats louder because usually when i do try to make it at a comfortable volume, people complain because they are too loud. But i'll make sure if i'll ever remake this (which im not sure i will).

Also do you mean like 2:30s sounds or sloppy or just that part in general? I sort of had like no idea what to do at that part so i just did something random. My bad D:

*le gasp* how could you say that to my favorite melody? O:
Heh was kind of random though. But i feel like if i make a melody that has, i dunno how to say it, repetativeness it gets boring to me.
Maybe you should try to teach me sometime at making lead melodies because when it comes to dance music, i have not a single clue how to make them.

[eclipse preview]

Hey, this is starting to sound pretty interesting. That lead that more or less dominates the first half of the song is really interesting - took some time to grow on me, but I started really liking it later on.

Some nit picks - the instruments you're using aren't really falling together so well. I think it's because you're using a ton of delay. Also, at the 1:00 mark you decide to start modulating to a major chord which I think doesn't fit the theme of your song at all - it feels like a very minor sounding song.

Anyway, nit picks aside, cool stuff. Keep it up.

killapickle1 responds:

I do agree with the instruments sort of soundning off, the thing is though i found that if i changed even one of the instuments, this began to sound like a dance song and not a techno song. Also that change to a major chord was done purposly for progression purposes (once the full song is released it should sound more "in place" so to speak). You also mentioned that the instuments didnt seem to fall together well. I was certain someone was going to say that so ill try to explain the best i can. My main goal with the instuments wasnt to have them fall together perfectly, i was trying to make them fell "loose" so to speak to give off an ambient sort of vibe. I really am unsure if i accomplished what i was aiming for (this is my first attempt at this style of techno) but hopefully i did enough to at least make it an enjoyable expereance. This is only the preview so i still have time to make changes before the full version is released (which im sure in will). Thanks for the insight, it is well aprieciated.
P.S. (sorry about this long responce, i just feel like i need to explain my reasonings to give a full understanding of what i was trying to accomplish :p)