I liked it. Good run through.
Reviews for "Biohome"
johnfn responds:
Thanks bro! Glad to see you're still around.
Certainly a well-deserved 2nd place! Hell, I thought you or InYourDreams had first place in the bag! This is a very chill, catchy, well-produced and enjoyable track with a great video-game vibe and a lot of diversity in moods. It's so good that it won my vote! Fantastic work with this.
I'm amazed that you managed to make this in just 3 days! As I said in that mini-review I gave you in the thread, this has such a clean and airy mix, and you managed to nail it in such a small amount of time. That is what I call talent. The production of this is off the charts. I can hear every instrument with crystal clarity, and this sounds great at high volumes (especially those bass-driven transitions like the one at 1:47).
The percussion is just great. I literally have no complaints with it. The beat is fitting, and the way you mixed those drums gives them a lot of oomph which, again, sounds excellent at high volumes, especially that kick which is probably the best kick in the contest, I swear. I sometimes have problems using kicks and sub-basses together because the sub-bass clashes with the frequencies of the kick and makes the whole thing sound like a bassy mess (which is tough to fix with EQing), but you execute it here seamlessly. Great drum samples too. Also, let me guess, the drums in the intro are from Stormdrum, right?
The composition is lovely. Everything is just so relaxed; it almost makes the biodome look like a beach resort paradise or something, ESPECIALLY when that guitar comes in later on! That guitar sounds amazing by the way; is it real or sampled? Funny how we both praise each other's guitars. Anyway, I digress. Apart from the stellar melodic content, you make brilliant use of grace notes, in the lead square synth, the guitar and the piano, which may be subtle but really heighten the melody.
My complaint in this section is that I would've liked to hear a little more melodies. I was disappointed to hear that the piano's melodies are practically the same or very similar to the melodies played by the lead synth. It was great hearing those melodies played with such an expressive touch by the piano, but still, I would've liked it if the piano veered off into some different melodic content.
When the guitar comes in playing some awesome new melodies, it sounds like a relief, but that relief is short-lived because a few bars afterwards, the main melody comes back in again. It sounds beautiful at the end, don't get me wrong, particularly when you bring it up an octave and get the guitar playing with it at one point, but you use that melody so much that it cheapens its final iteration. Also, this is just a little thing that I'd like to suggest. Maybe you could have a lush, uplifting pad play with the main melody at the end? Just to give it a bit more of a climactic feel.
By the way, words will not even begin to express how good the transitions in this track are. My favourite transition would, without a shred of doubt, be the transition at 1:47. Unlike TheDoor6, I absolutely love how "empty" the part at around 1:30 sounds, because it creates such a sweet contrast with the meaty, bassy transition at 1:47 that introduces the main melody. You approached that transition perfectly, and when the main melody finally comes in, it sounds beautiful. To a lesser extent, the transition at 3:05 was also great.
Finally, I'll quickly talk about the intro and outro, which, I felt, were sub-par compared to the rest of the track. The intro was nice and cinematic, with an interesting use of the rain sound effect, but to be honest it was a bit boring, and didn't give any indication that this track is something truly worth listening to. In fact, when I heard this for the first time during the voting period, only around 1 minute and a half into the track did I realise that this track could very easily win the round. Before that I wasn't quite impressed.
The ending is alright, but that final ending note could've been a bit more pronounced; you know, maybe you can add a crash cymbal and kick playing with it to give it a more definite ending than just a timid note on the lead synth that is filtered out. In addition to that, you could've added a bit more silence at the end. The ending on the whole felt a little rushed.
In conclusion, you've got an excellent track here. Highly impressive work; I consider this to be one of the best tracks in round 2 and I hope this review was helpful! Keep up the excellent work!
10/10
5/5
johnfn responds:
Holy crap man, what a review. I was thinking of doing a blow by blow response but it would just be me agreeing with every point you made. Ha! So instead I can make some high level comments.
1. Wow you pay seriously attention when you listen to songs. I seriously need to work towards that. I am eventually going to review your song so that should be a good time to practice ;-)
2. This review is a really good motivation to work on those little details, cuz I know that somewhere out there Step (or someone like you) is listening to each of them. In almost every negative point of your review, when I had written that part of the song I had thought "yeah I should fix this but I'm lazy" (or whatever bad excuse).
3. I applied almost every bit of advice you gave on my next entry to NGMT. Sadly I kinda ran out of time to mix it properly because I only had two days to do it. But yeah a lot of your points were suuper helpful.
4. I also really like this review because we agree on almost everything. Intro? Yep, didn't like it (tossed it in to get closer to the theme). Quiet transition? I thought it was awesome too. Repetitive melody? Yeah I knew that was a bad idea. Ending? Yeah, it needed more. Production? Yeah, I really nailed this one. (Somehow - I often struggle with mixing.)
Thanks for the incredible review man. I will try my best to do you one in kind.
P.S.
1. Yup, it's stormdrum. Good catch :-)
2. The acoustic guitar is not live. I wish I had recording instruments!
There is nothing I can say that Step has not already mentioned.
What an amazing track.
johnfn responds:
Thanks bro! Step certainly has that effect, doesn't he? ;-)
I love those bubbly sines, and the wonderful brightness of the whole track. I love where you went with this, and it's really really awesome. I put it in my playlist, "favorites", and it's part of everyone on NG who has awesome music like this. feel free to browse the rest of my wares too. For this being your first good song, it's wonderful.
I like the atmospheric mood and instruments. I wish it progressed a little faster, and it lacks substance at some parts (like around 1:30), but I liked the melody at 1:48 and the upbeat vibe. The structure was also good, as well as the dynamic contrast and emotion at 2:20. The transitions were rock-solid, btw. You varied it really well, too, and I like the ending a lot! :D Some parts make me think of a happy, animated family in a car commercial for a hybrid or otherwise fuel-efficient vehicle. :) Nice work, Johnfn! ;D
johnfn responds:
Ha yes. I was trying to portray both the outside and the inside of the biodome. However the "outside" bit (the first half) was a bit rushed and lacked as much detail. Your animated family thing is kinda great though. Thanks for the review.