Late critique on Neo Soul submission

[eandersonmusic]

Lance-
Welcome my friend!
Cool bio, and the tracks you have up are all really good. The only advice I could offer that may help is that your tracks sound like instrumentals or instrumental songs, not so much like cues. There's a slight difference in the way the track is built, the progression, arc and how things layer in and out every 4 or 8 bars to keep it lively.
But man, really liking those 3 tracks!
-Erik

[LanceWalker]

Hi Lance, I really like the track. Love the chord work and the bass interplay, and the overall laid-back funky soul vibe. The keys playing is very tight (congrats if you played it that tight without editing, and perhaps that's the source of the 'samples' comment).

IMHO, the stick/snare sounds a bit too prominent, so could be turned down with maybe a hint of reverb to help sit it back. The end of the filter sweep at 1:19 is a bit peaky and pokes out of the mix. The other thing I noticed is a squeak (bird chirp?) at 11s, 21s, 33s, 43s, 1:40s, 1:49s, 2:01s and 2:11s. Sadly, I suspect that alone would be enough to scupper the submission.

However, I really like the rest, so good luck with the track, and if it doesn't get forwarded this time I sure it will find a home, perhaps with minor tweaking (and less squeaking ).

Wow Telefunkin thanks for this response! I'm gonna go through the whole thing and really dig into the squeak and peak things that you talked about. There's definitely not supposed to be any squeaks or bird chirps in the track lol! And I'll listen to that snare too to make sure it's not too prominent as well. I truly appreciate that feedback man, that's exactly what I was needing when I posted here thanks! And thanks for the compliment on my playing too. I took it to heart when he said I sounded strange lol!

[funsongs]

Hi Lance.
For what it's worth - I listened to the first 2 of the 3 tracks on your TAXI page (now that the link works)...
really liked the keys/synth sounds on Groove; cool track.
Cheers, from The Peanut Gallery.

[LanceWalker]

Lance-
Welcome my friend!
Cool bio, and the tracks you have up are all really good. The only advice I could offer that may help is that your tracks sound like instrumentals or instrumental songs, not so much like cues. There's a slight difference in the way the track is built, the progression, arc and how things layer in and out every 4 or 8 bars to keep it lively.
But man, really liking those 3 tracks!
-Erik

Thanks Erik, I'm beginning to learn a lot about the difference between the two just working through the ones I submitted, and with helpful critique like this. I'm gonna do more research on the structure of instrumental cues vs instrumentals. I appreciate the listen man, it means a lot!

[LanceWalker]

Hi Lance.
For what it's worth - I listened to the first 2 of the 3 tracks on your TAXI page (now that the link works)...
really liked the keys/synth sounds on Groove; cool track.
Cheers, from The Peanut Gallery.

It's worth a lot funsongs, thanks for the listen and critique!

[melodea]

Hi Lance

I think the piano and chords are dope! (Did you play the piano?) The Bass is cool but I would work on the drum track. On one hand, I hear the whole Kit including the tambourine not in the pocket groovewise. Maybe it's a problem with the quantization. The groove is a straight shuffle thing with those 16th triplets as the foundation. On the other hand, the sounds and mix of the rhythm layer are not homogeneous enough. The rim click is standing out too much and the kick needs some more bottom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VNm3rGXPXs here's a link that I found within 2 minutes for inspiration. I think with some tweaking here and there the track could be dope through and through!

good luck

Chris

PS: lovely daddy-daughter pic btw

[LanceWalker]

Hi Lance

I think the piano and chords are dope! (Did you play the piano?) The Bass is cool but I would work on the drum track. On one hand, I hear the whole Kit including the tambourine not in the pocket groovewise. Maybe it's a problem with the quantization. The groove is a straight shuffle thing with those 16th triplets as the foundation. On the other hand, the sounds and mix of the rhythm layer are not homogeneous enough. The rim click is standing out too much and the kick needs some more bottom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VNm3rGXPXs here's a link that I found within 2 minutes for inspiration. I think with some tweaking here and there the track could be dope through and through!

good luck

Chris

PS: lovely daddy-daughter pic btw

Thanks Melodea! Yes I played the piano and chords indeed. I played the bass track too, but I use the keyboard for that though as I'm not a bassist. The drum track critique makes sense to me as I didn't put as much love into that as I did all the melodic instruments. And I didn't quantize one instrument including the drums lol! Sometimes I just like the real feel that it gives me, but in this case, I'm pretty sure I should have quantized!!!
I've gotten quite a few remarks on that rimshot so I have some work to do all around as far as making the drums stand out or sit back in this track. I'm about to check out that youtube link out too to see if that will help. Thanks for the feedback sir, I have a lot to work through just from your feedback and a few others that had some really good things to say. Cheers!!!