Re: Tough Feedback Welcomed

[arkjack]

I gave a listen....Your stuff is really good!! Nice vocals, nice arrangements, great playing and instrumentation , nicely written contemporary sounding songs .... use of piano for songwriting and accomplished.... all in all I listened through a few tunes and you have a very pleasing groove and vibe... music to my ears and I would say the recordings are clean and well done .... and IMHO you are ready for TAxi submissions....However ..... Article VII,.Paragraph 6 subsection iii(a)(4) of the song critique code requires me to disclose that the opinions expressed above may be coming from someone who has no F*****ing idea what he's talking about.....But your music sounds great to me.... (interpret this as better than alot of other ....) ArkJack

[matto]

I think your pretty close. I think some of these songs could be forwarded to the right listing under the right circumstances. However if you want deals and film/tv placements (and who doesn't) I think you'd improve your chances if you worked on a few areas. Some comments below...MusicThe songs are well written with a good clear structure. I agree these would be more suitable to tv/film as there's not a lot of artists in this vein looking for outside material, and when they do they want bonafide hits...which these aren't IMHO. Compare them to Keane's hits for example and I think you'll find they're just not quite as solid. All of the songs here seem to have one section that doesn't quite measure up. You may have a great verse and then the chorus is a letdown. Or a great chorus with a verse that seems to drag. I think the key is to keep re-writing and refining your melodies after the initial "inspiration phase" and not to settle for your first melodic ideas.Lyrics:The lyrics are a bit on the generic side, there's nothing that really draws me into the songs. It's a little bit too much "been there - done that" territory for me. This generally won't be a problem in film/tv applications as the lyrics are of secondary importance there...however it would be a problem if you tried to pitch your songs to artists.Vocals:Your voice is one of your strongest assets, it's a very contemporary sounding voice with a lot of commercial viability...a somewhat British/Irish sound to my ears. Lead vocal performances are generally speaking strong, however watch your pitch closely, "Then Came You" is quite pitchy in spots. Pitchy vocals are one of the biggest no-no's when trying to place your songs in tv/film (unless your doing Bob Dylan soundalikes )I'm not too thrilled with your bg vocals generally speaking, the arrangements don't seem very "pro" to me, and often it ends up sounding more like a male choir than a tight bg vox ensemble...a lot of times I think you get too ambitious and as a result the whole song ends up sounding a bit cluttered and muddy.Production:Aside from the bg vox already mentioned, I think your productions are pretty good. The one area where there's room for improvement is in the drums/rhythm. Sometimes it's a questionable judgement call like the overly busy double time drums on "Once There Was A Time", but mostly the rhythm just seem kind of...a bit boring...and could use some more sophistication, some percussive earcandy of either a purely acoustic nature, or, maybe even better, some modern hybrid(which would give you a bit more contemporary appeal).Also be careful not to overplay your piano parts. And the guitar playing on the last track seemed stiff and the gtrs are mixed too loud.Engineering:I would say the engineering on these songs is quite good, and, as far as I can tell from listening on rather crummy headset type headphones, purely from an engineering point of view these songs would qualify as broadcast quality.Well there you have it, you said to be tough... Hope it's helpful at least. As far as whether you should join Taxi at this point...I think your far along enough to where the critiques could really propel you forward...so it might make sense even if the songs aren't 100% there yet.matto

[andreh]

Hi Songwriter-Good stuff - certainly better than a lot of the tracks being submitted to TAXI. I agree with much of what Matto's saying...here are my critical thoughts:- Your vocal delivery is appealing and has a remarkable resemblance to both Chris Martin (from Coldplay) and Sting. This may be good for film/TV placements since they're often looking for sound-a-likes, but it may hurt your chances if you're trying to sell yourself as an artist.- There are some pitch problems here and there that could be tightened up with re-takes or Autotune (I'd go with the latter since the problems are minor and would probably clean up nicely).- Your BU vox's do get pretty busy sometimes. In fact, your songs all have an intensity about them that could let up every now and then for contrast.- Your mixes are good, but I hear too much sibilance often (esp. in the BU voxes) and there's an overabundance of 8-12k in your mixes. Try cutting some of this range out of a few busy percussion instruments if you want to leave this range in the lead vox (though it does cause a bit too much "buzz" in your lead vox IMO, esp. ~12k).- Given that the piano is a featured instrument in most of your songs, I think you should spring for a better sample...it sounds very artificial to me and gives the tracks a colder feel than they might have with a better-balanced instrument.Good job though; your on your way.Andre