New Taxi member with review and other questions

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KevinT
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New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by KevinT » Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:25 pm

I joined Taxi a short while ago so I'm a newbie. I wasn't totally sure where this fit, whether here or Peer to Peer or Collaboration. I have submitted to a couple listings, all returned. Mostly because they weren't right for the listing, but most recently because the vocals are pitchy and weak. And I agree. So I was seeking feedback both on the vocals and to see if I could find a better vocalist. Either that or I will go back and sing it again maybe with pitch correction. I can do better but not great. Also the guitars were tuned but I can hear the tuning issues reviewer refers to. Can fix that. And I guess I was a little confused because the listing asked for songs that would ultimately be sung by someone else. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, about the vocals or the song or anything else. Trying to get better. I'd like to post feedback on other posts as well but I'm so green that I didn't know if it would be valuable to anyone. So here's the link to the song and the reviewer feedback. Many thanks!

https://www.taxi.com/members/6ySeYguTTK ... k-from-you

What I like most about this song
I enjoyed the shuffle rhythm and storytelling of your composition "Get That Look From You", and I admire the craftsmanship involved.

I think you could improve this song by
There is some instrumentation that isn't quite as well tuned as it needs to be. The guitar is certainly in need of it. The vocal is another aspect that could apply some pitch correction also.

I returned or forwarded this song because
This is being returned primarily because it isn't executed well enough to be a viable pitch option.

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by superblonde » Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:55 am

I like the tone of your vocals, they fit the style great (country blues?). I'd say don't find a vocalist if this is the type of song you write because you're singing the feeling dead on. Definitely the pitch is not good, and that just means vocal practice. That's what ruins it. Use a piano to sing along with (or MIDI if you dont have a piano) to sing along with the exact notes, after some months, the pitch will improve a lot. I'm not sure about trying pitch correction plugins because it would also mess with the vocal character you have, plus be such a hassle, and is hardly being a 'real musician' if everything always needs pitch correction. Songwriting, also try singing some lines up 1 octave, especially chorus lines, which might be vocally hard, but that's just more practice. I also agree with the other parts of the review. It also sounded like towards the beginning that one of the chords was simply not the right chord at all, that's just more practice needed. So yeah, no need to get an outside vocalist if you're willing to put the work in.
. . . www.superblonde.org "All Kale Seitan! ♭II ‼" -Moshpit Chant of the Vegan Metalhead

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by Casey H » Wed Jul 21, 2021 10:34 am

superblonde wrote:
Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:55 am
I like the tone of your vocals, they fit the style great (country blues?). I'd say don't find a vocalist if this is the type of song you write because you're singing the feeling dead on. Definitely the pitch is not good, and that just means vocal practice. That's what ruins it. Use a piano to sing along with (or MIDI if you dont have a piano) to sing along with the exact notes, after some months, the pitch will improve a lot. I'm not sure about trying pitch correction plugins because it would also mess with the vocal character you have, plus be such a hassle, and is hardly being a 'real musician' if everything always needs pitch correction. Songwriting, also try singing some lines up 1 octave, especially chorus lines, which might be vocally hard, but that's just more practice. I also agree with the other parts of the review. It also sounded like towards the beginning that one of the chords was simply not the right chord at all, that's just more practice needed. So yeah, no need to get an outside vocalist if you're willing to put the work in.
Using pitch correction is the norm nowadays. Remember what you are competing with. They problem isn't per se that it would mess with the vocal character, it's how far off you are to begin with. If the notes you sang were fairly close and just needed a little tweaking, it would work. However, if you are far off, it will sound artificial. Nothing wrong with working on becoming a better singer. However, that's a long term thing. In the short term, you could hire a vocalist, someone who 'gets' the style you are after. The taxi forum is a great place to find vocalists and collaborators. You also might want to start thinking about making Film/TV your target, as getting artists to record your songs is probably the toughest nut to crack. Nothing wrong with giving it a shot, but be realistic.

Kevin, as far as the song being a pitch for someone else to record, keep in mind just how high the bar is there. Artists, labels, managers receiver VERY high quality demos every day, ones that sound radio ready to begin with. If yours sounds pitchy and out of tune, it will be clicked off very quickly. The song has a cool vibe, BTW. 8-)

:D Casey

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by KevinT » Wed Jul 21, 2021 10:56 am

Man, this is great. Thanks a million Superblonde and Casey H. This is the type of song I'm writing so I'm thinking I'll try it again and experiment with the pitch correction. If it sounds phony I'll drop it. Mostly just gotta get better. Really appreciate the feedback! Happy to have found my way to the forum here.

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by Casey H » Wed Jul 21, 2021 10:58 am

KevinT wrote:
Wed Jul 21, 2021 10:56 am
Man, this is great. Thanks a million Superblonde and Casey H. This is the type of song I'm writing so I'm thinking I'll try it again and experiment with the pitch correction. If it sounds phony I'll drop it. Mostly just gotta get better. Really appreciate the feedback! Happy to have found my way to the forum here.
Definitely worth a shot. Also, for a few bucks I bet you could get someone here help you with the pitch correction. That is, if you don't feel you are experienced enough with it yet. Quite a few folks here are great with Melodyne. :D

PS You remind me of John Sebastian!

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by KevinT » Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:25 am

Thank you for saying that! I knew Loving Spoonful and Welcome Back but he also wrote Darling Be Home Soon. That I didn't know. Just googled after you said that. Got Todd Snider as a comparison before. I have songs that are funnier than this one I guess. Same pitchy vocals though.

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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by superblonde » Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:50 am

I've had several vocal instructors and they were varying degrees of horribleness except for 1 who was amazing (he also had a Ph D as classical vocalist & trained some top opera singers). I believe that the correctly chosen vocal exercise can solve a vocal problem like this in just about 2 weeks of daily practice of 90 mins per day, and improvement can be noticed immediately. Yup, it can be that fast, especially if practice session is broken up throughout the day. Alternatively with the wrong exercise and/or wrong instructor then it could take years of going in unpleasant circles.
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Re: New Taxi member with review and other questions

Post by KevinT » Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:08 am

Thanks so much Superblonde! I am going to give this a shot and hope I can find a good one. I'm a little worried about the horribleness and years of unpleasant circles. Really appreciate the advice.

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