Reviews for inside the machine

[KrrMaim]

I enjoyed all the panning tricks and the layering that you did to add bulk to the sound but I came to this song expecting some dark electronic. Which may have made me enjoy this less. I'll have to come back to listen to it again later. What kind of machine? Like a furby or something. The crazed mind of a furby perhaps. Also just to be more critical, in my opinion, that bassline didn't shine enough. It obviously isn't the main point of this song but because it's on a completely different part of the sound i'm definitely sure you could have made it stuck out more. This is still me making reviews on my headphones though so I still have skewed perspectives.

The portamento stuff was neat.
I enjoyed the filtering on the drums.
I think the gating at around 2:40 was completely unnecessary though. Since you were reintroducing the beat back into the song filtered I feel that instead of giving me that big break out I would have liked to hear it ended up just keeping the same pace on my ears. So more of a flat and consistent ride instead of having exciting peaks.

johnfn responds:

Hm, maybe I named the track wrong? I couldn't really settle on a good name.

Lol, yes, the evil mind of a Kirby was definitely the inspiration for the track! ;-P

Honestly the bassline sounds pretty great on my headphones. I mean, it's not like, kick-you-in-the-face bass, but it seems pretty present. However I don't have a lot of equipment so I can't really get a feel for how it sounds on other people's stuff. I'll consider making it louder for the benefit of people using other headphones. (Listening again, it's quite low at times, which may be the problem you're running into.)

It kinda sucks that the 2:40 break didn't work for you though, maybe I should have quieted down the gated thing. I really liked that effect though. :X The track could do with a little more dynamic variation I agree.

Thanks for the good tips and review!

[Deidara]

The intro sucked me in, just had that sound that made you want to listen to all of it. The rest was also very, very nice. I just woke up and this was really calming for a morning, but in an epic sense! This would be amazing track to hear in a game~

johnfn responds:

I find it really funny how you and another guy both said it's calming and epic at the same time. Seems like I can't help but create calming tracks, even when I try to infuse them with energy. Or maybe it's how it's only 120BPM... Anyway, thanks for the review!

[killakillakilladick]

that was unbelievable

johnfn responds:

Thanks! :-)

[TaintedLogic]

I love the instruments and atmosphere. :D Stylistically, it is a lot like your Round 1 submission. It's very funky and moody, though - I love it! :D The transitions were better than usual, and those melodies are overwhelmingly engrossing! The mixing is fantastic, btw - the part at 2:25 was really cool where it sounded like the frequency was oscillating really fast. It almost sounded like a wobble bass in dubstep, except not with a bass! XD The only thing I was a little disappointed about was the ending - fade-out endings just aren't interesting imo. I have no complaints about structure, instruments, or anything else, though. This is another amazing track, Johnfn! :D Your attitude about ZipZipper reminds me of Kor-Rune's attitude about Camoshark in Round 1 btw, and Kor-Rune made it to Round 2! I'm rooting for you, Johnfn, if you make it to Round 3 or not! ;D

johnfn responds:

Phew thanks! I'm glad that all my work with mixing and so forth paid off - it was really driving me pretty crazy. Haha, the midrange dubstep thing. I discovered that trick a few weeks ago while messing around and I thought it was really cool! So in this song I inserted a break there as an excuse to use it. ;-)

That's true, I do sound a little like Kor-Rune... but then again, Kor-Rune is Kor-Rune xD. ZipZipper is a cool guy though, so I'm looking forward to what he makes, no matter if it destroys me or not.

I knew the ending thing would come up! If I somehow find time, I may upgrade the ending to something slightly more interesting, but honestly a lot of groovy songs end with a fadeout - I feel like it suggests that the groove goes on, even after you've left.

Thanks a lot for the review as always. It's great to have some sort of validation after pouring a lot of hours into a song.

[ChronoNomad]

Wow, this is both totally chill and intensely frenetic...somehow at the exact same time. There's almost too much going on to really pin down every cool little nuance of the music in just one play, and that is definitely a good thing. Your track just plain rocks, and if this doesn't have a chance against ZipZipper, then nothing does. Fantastic instrument choices, some of the best transitions I've ever heard, and an obvious wealth of effort and dedication easily earn you five stars from me. Best of luck in Round 2!

P.S. - I totally read all of that.

johnfn responds:

Thanks man. When I'm wrapping up a big project I always get this fear that what I've made isn't any good, so this totally made my day. I'm really glad all my detail work paid off. Though ZipZipper didn't get #4 for nothing.

P.S. Wow, I really am impressed.