Better faster or slower?

[cameron]

Hi gang,I've taken my song "We're Done" and sped it up by 5% through the magic of Audacity. Which version should I use?Original: http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... ream=true5% faster: http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... eam=trueIt might be faster to play them straight from my taxi page www.taxi.com/cearnshaw if you don't want to wait for them to download.Thanks,Cam

[matthoggard]

Cam,The 5% faster is definately the better sounding and feeling version.BUT (im glad your a 1000 miles from me now so you cant throw something at me)I think I understand now what your reviews were saying about phrasing. In the middle verseThere is alot of space between lines and it feels like the singer is stumbling into the chorus.Towards the end of the song it starts to gel and really has some flow.I dont think the demo singer pulled this one off very well. He actually sounds uninterested in the tune. I dont feel any real emotion from his delivery. The production itself seems to be lacking some spice or something. I dont know if this is a pitch ready tune just yet. As usual your lyric and story are excellent. (again, it sounds like a Cam Earnshaw tune) Youve got yourself a bona fide style my friend. I dont feel that the demo performance all around was as good as it couldve been. After your other tunes "Same Shirt" and "Am I wrong" this one just isnt up to your own personal high bar. Not songwriting wise, just in production. The singer just doesnt sound like hes haveing fun and this is a fun song.Ill expect a shoe or glass being thrown my way some time. Just My opinion.M~

[cameron]

Dec 20, 2008, 7:00am, matthoggard wrote:Cam,The 5% faster is definately the better sounding and feeling version.BUT (im glad your a 1000 miles from me now so you cant throw something at me)I think I understand now what your reviews were saying about phrasing. In the middle verseThere is alot of space between lines and it feels like the singer is stumbling into the chorus.Towards the end of the song it starts to gel and really has some flow.I dont think the demo singer pulled this one off very well. He actually sounds uninterested in the tune. I dont feel any real emotion from his delivery. The production itself seems to be lacking some spice or something. I dont know if this is a pitch ready tune just yet. As usual your lyric and story are excellent. (again, it sounds like a Cam Earnshaw tune) Youve got yourself a bona fide style my friend. I dont feel that the demo performance all around was as good as it couldve been. After your other tunes "Same Shirt" and "Am I wrong" this one just isnt up to your own personal high bar. Not songwriting wise, just in production. The singer just doesnt sound like hes haveing fun and this is a fun song.Ill expect a shoe or glass being thrown my way some time. Just My opinion.M~Matt,Thanks for the input and for your kind words. I know just what you mean about the demo though. I've felt that it's missing a little something but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what. I thought it was chorus lift, and I asked them to raise the bg vocals and bring up some of the fills, what you hear now is the "after" version.The singer was sick the day before this was recorded, so maybe he was not feeling 100% when he sang this. Then again, maybe he just thought the song sucked?? I think he's perfect for the song ( I asked for a young Merle Haggard-type voice) but I also hear that there is some emotion missing in places. In his defense though, my phrasing at the end of each verse and beginning of the chorus was awkward to start with-- I sent them several lyric changes at the last minute trying to fix this-- and I thought he did a damn good job here considering what I gave him to work with.I kind of like the song, but to me it needs a little spice.Cam

[questor]

My vote is for the original version, but that may simply because it was the first one I listened to. They are all very good, the vox is awesome, real solid country sound/inflection.Personally, I think it might be best to speed it up by 3.1415927% Seriously though, this is a great tune, very solid performances all the way around and really good lyrics IMHO. Although it would have been nice to read along with the lyrics, but that's just me.Great Job, I think you really can't go wrong no matter what you decide.

[partyofone]

Cam,Hi! My vote is for the slower version. The difference in tempo is fairly subtle to me and I hear the audio artifacts that were mentioned above in spots here and there.Great tune! Good luck!

[liamkelly]

CamA close call. FWIW I liked the 5% version better but I thought I heard strange intonation on the 'fess' part of 'confess' and a little on the 'dress' word in the previous line. Like it had been processed.As you know, I'm no technical whiz. Could be just bias because I knew it was sped up, or my speakers, or my lack of expertise!!Not to detract from a cool song, though

[Casey H]

Hi CamThe difference isn't enough to worry about so I'd stick with the original rather than risk altering the sound quality. The original sounds pretty darn good to me, in fact.One thing that happens to me with my own songs and pro-demos is I have trouble getting used to the demo because it's not what I had in my head originally and I'll obsess over some little thing that no one else even notices. Sometimes what bothers me is the very thing that others like!Other people hear it fresh and new and see the 'whole picture' while you are focused on those smaller things. I'm not saying 'tempo' is a small thing, but here, +/- a few BPM doesn't mean much. The reviewer or A&R person listening isn't even going to be focusing on that at all. The analogy I give has to do with when I paint a room in my house. When it's finished, I'll pain over some tiny little spot in a corner where maybe I got a smidget of wall color too far into the ceiling white. Everyone else walks into the room, sees the whole room and says, "Wow, nice!"... All the while I'm thinking, "But don't you see that horrible spot in the corner?"...Relax... It sounds really good! Merry Xmas, Casey

[cameron]

Thanks Casey and Warren.BTW, I took the different versions down if anyone is looking for them. I decided to go with the 3.5% faster version. The audio degradation was so minor to my ears that it didn't matter.I just got a return on this song. Here's what the screener said:"Strong idea. I feel the song is not finished. Feels like "notes" for the song you have yet to write. I would pull out the best lines and trash the others, and have a serious rewrite session." The previous critique I got for my 40's sounding "Am I Wrong or Am I Right?" song said it could have worked on a Tiny Tim album. Hopefully that was said tongue in cheek, but it was not quite the reaction I was hoping for, lol.Maybe I should just open a hot dog stand on the beach and forget this nonsense. Cam