JohnFloyd's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[.A New Hope.]

lesson one

A suggestion on how to give drums "meat:"

EQ and Pan. Each person has their own preferenecs, but slightly panning each drum will add a little depth. EQing so that each drum has it's own frequency (bass drum will probably claim a low range, snare probably a high range) where it's allowed to "punch" through a little bit will add a lot too. Because you've assigned them their own frequencies, you can turn up their volume a little and it won't drown out the rest of the instruments. Try it out, see if you like it!

johnfn responds:

Ooh, thanks a lot! I'll try this on my next song! I have to say, I've never used EQ before, so this is gonna be fun :D

[§Zeth§ War of souls]

woohoo

I agree with Chronamut, but don't be discouraged, it's really, really hard to "master" a track. It's great to see how many of your tracks have been used in submissions! Keep up the good work.

XGM-Zeth responds:

I thank you, I agree with it being hard to master a track, but I'll manage.

[oilycloudbiscuit (full)]

neat

This was cool! I liked the harpsichord itself but not the "left hand" chords in the harps, they got kinda muddy. Not repetitive, yet it doesn't get lost in itself. You obviously know what you're doing -- keep up the good work!

[Dr. Awesome's Musical Bonanza]

good start!

I've written a bunch of reviews today, and in many of them I have said what I'm about to say to you: be aware of frequency ranges. There are two ways to do this: as you're choosing what instruments to use, consider if they share a frequency range with your other instruments. The other way is to EQ most of the tracks so that they each have a frequency to themselves... it's okay for them to share frequencies, but if each has it's own "sweet spot" the clarity of each instrument will be increased dramatically. It sounds silly but it's really, really amazing how much a track will sparkle with a little EQ. Anyway, keep up the good work!

[A Windy Day in Texas]

but i want *more*

I like this but I wish the lead guitar stood out a little more (before the drums kick in). The drums sounded a little over-processed for the tune, in my opinion. All in all a track that deserves some airtime in flash submissions. Chop-chop, animators!

curriemaster responds:

Hehe thanks again John, I made this tune before I knew how to use midi, so its just the line-out of my keyboard on the "drums" voice. It was taken all in one go, which is why it gets a bit out of time in places.

I would like to redo it with MIDI drums and using a mic'ed guitar again, but I don't know if I can be bothered. Unless someone wants to use it in their submission! Thanks for the cool comments John :).

[Septacaemia Isn't All Bad]

nice

The orchestration and instrumentation is great! If I had been making this piece I think I might have tried writing a "bridge" section with a different guitar loop (or with no guitar loop at all), just to see how it sounded, but it's not necessary at all. There's plenty of variation with the other instruments and with dynamics that I never get bored with the loop. I'm not 100% satisfied with the recording quality of the loop itself, though... it sounds out of place with the high quality of the rest of the sounds.

curriemaster responds:

Hey John thanks for the review, in the next incarnation I suspect that the guitar will be removed for the first part of song and then come in during the short four bar interlude; after that Im planning on adding a bridge right at the end of this. I might even CHANGE CHORDS! Thanks again for the constructive review, 'twas helpful :)

[The Ego is Broken]

great

Excellent. I don't listen to much techno so this isn't going into my personal library, but it's a mighty fine example of the genre. I usually try to add a little constructive criticism but I've got nothing to say! 5/5 all the way. (oh, incidentally -- this piece of music made Cursorized a blast to "play," I doubt I would have made it to effect #100 if it wasn't for your music. I hope to see more of your music used in submissions.)

ShinDenjin responds:

Thanks man, I'm glad you like it. I want my other songs to be used as well, but only fate knows what to do next. I've got my fingers crossed^_^

-SD-

[E flat Minor Sucks]

no

I disagree. As a performer reading notation, yeah, keys with lots of sharps and/or flats are a pain in the butt. However, as a composer, Eb minor is great if you happen to be in the key of Gb, because it's the relative minor. Anyway, the musicians in the 18th and 19th centuries had a lot to say about aesthetics and the "color" of each key, and Eb minor was generally referred to as one of the most striking of the minor keys. Schubart had some interesting things to say about it. Also, Eb minor is used to great effect in heavy metal and rock songs all the time -- it's very easy to play on a guitar. And you obviously have some singing background, so you should know that with the moveable tonic style of singing it's not difficult for singers either.

macbookpro responds:

I actually like Eb minor, and improvised this song as a joke. I do have a singing background, and I have had to sing pieces in Eb minor on short notice. I haven't had the opportunity to perform a piece in Gb (or F#) major yet, but I am aware of the relationship for other keys. Maybe I'll make a similar song about another key. :)

Thank you for your review.

[Remembering the Good Times]

okay

The drums have a nice beat, but their relative volumes should be considered a little more (there's that one really loud one that keeps jumping out... I doubt that this is intentional). The arpeggiation, in the guitar/harp/whatever, is a little too complicated in my opinion. A "beat" doesn't have to be melodically interesting, even though it *can* be melodic, a lot of the time it's better for it to be very simple and just hang out, and even dropping out all of the pitched instruments from time to time can be a very effective technique. It's not about making sure there's a note in every beat of the song, it's about getting your point across. I'm looking forward to hearing your next submission.

thedon61 responds:

hey

sorry i could respond earlier, just been stuck with a lot of work of late,
i worked on my two new submissions before i read your review, and i kind of did the opposite of what you recommended, but I'll rework them using ur suggestions, thanks for the really helpful criticisms, ill try to post more work as soon as i can find the time,

[Remote Control Robot--_--]

dance or stand there looking foolish

This is great stuff. A far sight better than a lot of the crap I've heard played at clubs. I expect to hear more of your songs in Flash submissions in the future. (I usually try to come up with a suggestion of how you could make it better... but nothing's coming to mind. Either you like this piece or you don't.)