Reviews for inside the machine

[SkyeWint]

Hi.

The Good:
-Oh man, dat main theme. The introduction with it is just awesome. The glitchi-ish background is great.
-The way those drums come in sounds just plain awesome. VERY good at depicting the machine.
-"Perhaps it was the subconscious fact that I knew that skyewintrest was going to be judging my track, but I spent a lot of time working on transitions" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That made my judging session, I might have to increase your score just for that
-Seriously though, your transitions are excellent. And just because of that, I'm going to nitpick the hell out of them. Don't worry though, no score reduction for it. ;)
-The solos are excellent, your mixing is excellent, in fact just about everything about this is excellent.
-Drum fills are sweet, I really like them a lot.

The Not-So-Good: Mainly transition nitpicks but then one major issue.
-NITPICK TIME! Your introduction could have been slightly better. Rather than instantly diving into the song headfirst, why not have a small lead-in from the silence?
-At about 1:20, the mixing starts getting really fuzzy due to the increased loudness of everything and the kicks leading into the next section are buried.
-3:20 has pretty much the issue as 1:20. ...man, I didn't have much I could nitpick.
-Okay, now I'm going to have to slap you. This is what kept your score from being more like a 9.8. You did not end. You faded out. I want to slap you repeatedly with a newspaper made of iron. Please don't EVER make a song this awesome again and give it such a shitty non-ending. >:(

Overall: Score of 9.2/10. FADEOUT ENDING. >:(

johnfn responds:

Ahahahahaha. That's what I get right? I knew you guys had a hatred of fadeout ends... and I did it anyways!!! >:D

Though if you allow me to soliloquize for a second, I don't think that fadeout endings are all so bad. I mean, geniuses like Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder and even Radiohead make use of them, and they can work fairly well in some contexts. Though it's fair to say that it doesn't work here haha.

Fine though - I resolve to make no more fadeout endings this NGADM. I have been properly reprimanded. ;-P

Your nitpicks are appreciated too :-) The idea of starting off a little quieter is a clever one. I was actually messing around with the opening up till the last hour.

I think the fuzziness you are noticing at 3:20 and 1:20 is a white noise sweep - my fault for not making that more clear (actually, I'm not even sure it's necessary on a relisten).

Finally, like I said to Step, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the work you did for NGADM! I realize that writing all these reviews is no simple task (especially writing 31 in a single day hahaha), and I am super duper appreciative of all the work you guys have done.

P.S. I shall forever regret adding that fadeout ending so I didn't get the fabled 9.8. xD

[Step]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

Oh hell yes. This is fantastic. The sounds you've chosen are just excellent. The lead synth has a spacey texture to it that I just love, and yet most of the time it seemingly forgets all its trippy and spacey qualities and plays the groovy and energetic solos with the badassery of an amazing lead guitar player. Your pad and bass elements are highly fitting, giving this a very deep sound and doing wonders to the atmosphere. Your drums are, as usual, punchy, varied, and absolutely fantastic. And then you mix all those sounds so well! Everything has its own space in the mix, and the production is lovely. Of course, I also turned the volume up to the high amount just to hear how clean your low end is, and I was not surprised to hear that it is as always spick-and-span. You are the unofficial master of clean low ends.

The composition is great too. I don't think anyone can help but smile once they've heard the main riff that instantly plays during your wonderfully understated intro that doesn't waste any time to introduce the track. The track only gets better from there, with a huge variety of melodies and excellent progression between them. I love the moments where your synth just trails off into the low or high register like 1:20 and 1:36. Despite not being very tonally cohesive, it somehow gives your melodies a great tinge of excitement and energy. One little detail I appreciated was how you repeated 2:25's melody at 4:01 except quicker and developing it even more. I laughed at you mentioning that you might've worked extra hard on your transitions because SkyeWintrest is judging. Good thing he's so picky about transitions though because in turn your track has fantastic transitions from beginning to end.

Regarding any issues... well, what can I say? This track has all of the good qualities of your previous one and then some. Not only that, but it improved over all of the bad qualities of the previous one. The compression is tighter and more fitting during the harder-hitting parts (and yet still loose enough for dynamic variation), the intro is great, the piano fits this time... hell, even the reverse cymbal is just the right loudness. Perhaps 2:08 - 2:24's section was a bit unnecessary since it didn't really offer much to the track (apart from the badass transition to the next part which you could've implemented into the part before it). Also, the fade-out ending! It fits for this kind of song, but just barely. I can't help but feel that if you had a more finished ending with the same "boom factor" that your previous track's ending had, then it would've worked better.

Really though, this is absolutely fantastic. Jam-packed with detail, variation, and sweet production to boot. Brilliant job.

Score: 9.5/10

johnfn responds:

Man I'm super psyched that you liked it so much! You even caught the 2:25->4:01, which is something I sneaked in wondering if anyone would notice! Also, holy smokes, your review length doubled from last time. Must be because of 1/2 the number of submissions! I tremble in fear in anticipation of your round 3 review ;-)

Phew, it's going to be tough to improve upon this song for the next round... Still trying to think out a strategy :-) I will definitely be thinking about arrangement more for next time, since that's something I still struggle with (and you called me out with the 2:08 thing).

And finally, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all the work you do with these reviews! I know that this must take a TON of time, and I (and everyone else in NGADM I'm sure) am MASSIVELY appreciative.

P.S. Want to know the secret of how I do my bass? I actually use an electric bass! I know right, seems crazy that an acoustic instrument could fit into such an electronic song, but it actually works pretty well eh?

[SoundChris]

Good piece with many details and a good choice of synths and a lot of stuff goin on - hooked me from the beginning. The synth solos are really entertaining - also all the arp action. Gives some kind of 8 bit feeling but sounds better - i had a commodore c-64 when i was i child and am still in love with the sound of SID. This piece was - even in not 8 bit - very nostalgic for me. Thank you :D

The insertion of the piano part worked great. I also appreciate that you tried to use the full spectrum of volume.

You really did a very great job here - dont know why i didnt listen to the track earlyer- one of my favourit submissions of this round.

5/5

johnfn responds:

Haha, you're one of those c64 geeks :D Though that stuff was before my time, I have a lot of respect for the c64 remix culture - those guys make a lot of great stuff.

In fact this song started out VERY chippy, down to chip drums and much more bitty instruments, but eventually seemed to want to go more in the way of electronica. So I guess some of the chippy melodies and sound design remained! I'm glad I could sneak in some piano too - last time, that was a little less successful I think.

I'm really honored you could call it one of your favorites from a round with such great songs in it!

Thanks a lot for the review.

[garlagan]

Been a while since i wanted to drop a review here.
Finally some time !
I really like your style ; 3. The way you use those synths is pretty cool man. But I'd love to hear something a little bit more catchy throughout the song, at some parts maybe.
The beginning is great. And the way the track starts to build up from there is beautiful.
THE CHORDS, MAN. THOSE CHORDS.
The mixing is pretty much perfect. That's not easy to achieve when there are so many instruments and atmospheres going on. Well done.
Regarding the structure, i think you've done a VERY good job. It sweeps from part to part like nothing. But I feel like the track could be rather shorter. Also, I don't like fadeouts for some reason, but it worked pretty well in this one. Props for that!
PS: i read all the text you wrote. I enjoyed it but give me cookie, now!

johnfn responds:

Thanks man, you have a lot of great points! I'm really glad that the mixing is working well! Seriously... that took SO LONG. And I was really happy about the chord progression - it uses some chords that aren't strictly part of the key, which seems like it shouldn't work, but for some reason it does!

You're right about the length too - what ended up happening is I wrote some really great transitions that needed a place to go in the song, so I had to extend it a little. Kinda silly, I should learn to make songs that have transitions, not transitions that have songs xD.

I'm glad the fadeout is getting some counter-support >:D

Again thanks for the review - it's full of great points that I'll definitely keep in mind when writing future pieces!

P.S. I am way impressed by how everyone is reading that stuff haha. Cookie incoming. [ COOKIE ]

P.P.S After listening to your song some more I have deduced it's probably my favorite of the round. I wish I could edit reviews...

[Jakey-San]

this is the second piece in round 2 that made me get up and dance! haha seriously though, I love this. the structure flows well, and the production is super solid. I don't know much about this genre, but this song reminds me of Ronald Jenkees' music (love that dude!). I feel it could also work in a classic Sonic game, haha! great work, and I wish you the best of luck in round 2!

johnfn responds:

Haha great! :D Yeah I think NGADM is cool because it gives us exposure to genres outside of our comfort zone - like I don't listen to much cinematic/classical, but I get blasted with it when I browse NGADM pieces :-) Thanks for the review! I've never heard of Ronald Jenkees before but I started listening to one of his songs and he rocks!