Reviews for through a dark wood

[LucidShadowDreamer]

I immediately fell in love with the intro! It definitely sounds like something that might as well have been composed by someone from Japan.

Hmm... I'm sorry, but as much as I love the rest of the song, I think that when the guitar makes its entrance, something is a bit off (1:04). Also, when it stopped playing at 1:26, the difference is perhaps a bit too noticable. Almost like when people sometimes turn their microphones off every now and then in podcasts/interviews/whatever, and thus, also a backgound noise that suddenly appears. I feel a little bit of the same thing at 2:40. I was about to drop half a star for this, but the rest of the song was just so awesome I couldn't bring myself to it :p

And btw, what kind of brass is that? Some kind of trumpet/horn pad, or whatever you're using? Or is it a brass sound at all? Maybe my ears are fooled by a synth of some kind :/
(Examplewise 1:27. Whatever it is, I love how you used it!)

Really, all the melodies are great, and this is a very athmospherical piece that hits all the right spots. My only isssue is, like I mentioned, that some off the transitions seem a bit off to me.

Nice ending too! From start to finish, this is a very coherent song.

Ps. After guitar month, why don't you do bagpipe month? I'm sure that would be appreciated by everyone!!! :'D

johnfn responds:

> the guitar entrance

My best guess is that it's either what Elitistinen said (too dry) or it's because I suddenly went from a bunch of non panned instruments to a bunch of hard panned instruments and that sounds jarring. Because I've been listening to the song too much I unfortunately can't tell what it is - it sounds fine to me :/ I will come back in a week or two and see if I can figure out what it is.

> And btw, what kind of brass is that?

*evil laughter* it's a synth! I modulated the vibrato, attack and cutoff all by hand to give it that extra organic feel. Totally validates my work that you couldn't tell it was a synth =D

> Ps. After guitar month, why don't you do bagpipe month? I'm sure that would be appreciated by everyone!!! :'D

GENIUS!

Thanks for the super fast review! I'll have to figure out exactly what's up with that guitar part so I don't make that mistake in the future.

[TaintedLogic]

Ah, good! Nice to hear something more organic from you again! :D I love the instruments, especially the guitar, and all the grace notes really added a lot to the piece. The melodies are obviously amazing. I especially love the ones from :44 to 1:05 and from 1:40 to 2:09. It's just so beautiful; it really tugs at my emotions. I felt like you could've led into the ending a bit better (it seemed like it was a little rushed), but other than that simply amazing work. Also, 8 reviews in 24 hours isn't bad. ;D If you keep it up, I have a feeling your popularity is just going to explode. How can it not when you're posting a track as beautiful as this once a week? Congrats on 200 audio submissions, btw, and to many hundreds more! ^^

johnfn responds:

> organic

Yeah! Although of my last 5 tracks, 4 were primarily organic (I think)... it's kinda the direction I'm moving in (maybe).

> I especially love the ones from :44 to 1:05

I'm really surprised that these are getting most of the praise. See, even though I've posted 200 (WHAT?!?) songs, I still can't completely predict what people are going to say.

> I have a feeling your popularity is just going to explode

Haha yeah - but I don't know if i can get much more popular on Newgrounds, the community is pretty small :) I like it though because I get substantive feedback (from people like you!) rather than really anywhere else where people pretty much say "nice song brah check out mine" and move on, haha.

Sure, Waterflame gets maybe 2x the reviews I get, but you guys leave me much longer and more thoughtful reviews. I'd like to think I have a more literate and refined listener base.

:D :D :D

> once a week

Once a week? I submitted 3 songs this week! And I have 2 more that are practically done... *cackles insanely and returns to Ableton*

> 200

Thanks for pointing that out to me - I didn't even notice! That's amazing and also (for some indescribable reason) somewhat terrifying!

[Goldenchikin]

This is by far some of the best work I've heard.

johnfn responds:

Wow, thanks!

[doe333]

Wow, this is very professional sounding and some great, relaxing yet slightly somber music. Awesome work! Accordian month next?

johnfn responds:

Thanks dude! accordion month hahaha tempting, did you listen to my last song? ;-)

[LunacyEcho]

This sounds beautiful. Top-notch melodies as usual, johnfn.

I loved the piano intro. I get how some people call it dry, but it's a nice contrast to the signature johnfn style that we're so used to. You tend to use reverb a lot, and I enjoyed its relative absence in the piano of the song.

I think the reason the guitar feels a bit out of place is that it sounds like you cut a whole in the piano music and jammed it in there, like an artificial liver. Perhaps it would sound better if you cut the background guitar and replaced it with piano? That way, it might transition better. I also think the panning on the guitar is a bit extreme, but that's more of a personal thing; I know how some people enjoy panning.

I loved the synths. Once again, they sounded very custom-made, and they were, apparently. They were calming, but I think they either had a bit too much reverb or too low attack, since when two synths are played in a row, the sound from the first overlapped noticeably into the beginning of the second's, and you know how I enjoy my tempo. :P

Where will you go from here? Hm... HOLOPHONOR MONTH! But seriously, I think custom-sounds month sounds like an interesting idea.

Good job! A few things could've used tweaking, but the overall effect was great.

johnfn responds:

I didn't know that I used reverb so much haha. I kind of do these things without being conscious of them.

I get the idea of the abrupt transition between piano and guitar though, that makes sense. The only struggles I was having was that I was really enjoying the feel of pure guitar and nothing else. Maybe I could do a better transition somewhere.

> I loved the synths

I'm really glad they're getting a good reception. There was a lot of tweaking going on there, and I wasn't 100% sure that the overall effect was going to be good.

> But seriously, I think custom-sounds month sounds like an interesting idea.

I kinda wanted to keep it under wraps until boom next song hits with crazy new things but yeah I'm feeling pretty good about sound design/sound choice month. I'm already kinda headed in that direction.

Thanks for the great review as usual dude. I really appreciate your thoughtful and thought provoking reviews.