Confusing Custom Critique?
Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 4:26 pm
Hi All,
I just got a custom critique for a country rocker we want to submit to a couple different listings.
The song is "Scrub You Up" . MP3 and lyrics are here http://www.taxi.com/patandsherry http://www.patandsherry.com/scrub.mp3
The critique is as follows:
"melody in the chorus is catchy. As mentioned before, the melodies are very bluesy based and a bit more contrast in having a melody that is based on the major scale somewhere in the verse or bridge might make the chorus stand out more as the hook it can be.
Lyrically, the idea is good, but some of the lines may be not as appropriate for this genre. "Rub-a dub" may be cute, but is may be a question whether a big star would want to sing it. It is always good to check the artists you consider pitching to and really study how they approach their lyrical material.
As far as the mix goes, if the drums sounding a bit more aggressive, the song might be closer to what is heard on the radio and more appropriate for the tune. Not necessarily louder, but maybe either played with more meat or compressed so as to not take out the dynamics, but lift the bottom up, like a limiting. I would greatly suggest listening to your favorite country rock track and trying to see how you could match the drum sound. Other instruments sound good. Arrangement is fine, banjo is a nice touch. It could be fleshed out a bit more with different textures poking in at the breaks. Once again, check out the songs that you mentioned and observe how they arrange their tracks. A bit of keyboard might be a fine glue.
Overall, the song is good, but you might want to tweak a few things melodically and arrangement/track wise to really have it reach its potential. TV and Film placement is a possibility. Just be sure to make an instrumental version as well."
I'm a little confused. I wanna submit this to a couple female artist listings coming up this month. Should I tweak the lyrics and melody? Redo the drums?
For some reason I keep thinking the person who did the critique isn't into country all that much and didn't get it (does that matter?) , and maybe I should submit it as is and see what a second screener says. Also how much perfection really needs to go into a mixdown/mastering to submit to an artist?
Peer critiqueing here would be appreciated.
I just got a custom critique for a country rocker we want to submit to a couple different listings.
The song is "Scrub You Up" . MP3 and lyrics are here http://www.taxi.com/patandsherry http://www.patandsherry.com/scrub.mp3
The critique is as follows:
"melody in the chorus is catchy. As mentioned before, the melodies are very bluesy based and a bit more contrast in having a melody that is based on the major scale somewhere in the verse or bridge might make the chorus stand out more as the hook it can be.
Lyrically, the idea is good, but some of the lines may be not as appropriate for this genre. "Rub-a dub" may be cute, but is may be a question whether a big star would want to sing it. It is always good to check the artists you consider pitching to and really study how they approach their lyrical material.
As far as the mix goes, if the drums sounding a bit more aggressive, the song might be closer to what is heard on the radio and more appropriate for the tune. Not necessarily louder, but maybe either played with more meat or compressed so as to not take out the dynamics, but lift the bottom up, like a limiting. I would greatly suggest listening to your favorite country rock track and trying to see how you could match the drum sound. Other instruments sound good. Arrangement is fine, banjo is a nice touch. It could be fleshed out a bit more with different textures poking in at the breaks. Once again, check out the songs that you mentioned and observe how they arrange their tracks. A bit of keyboard might be a fine glue.
Overall, the song is good, but you might want to tweak a few things melodically and arrangement/track wise to really have it reach its potential. TV and Film placement is a possibility. Just be sure to make an instrumental version as well."
I'm a little confused. I wanna submit this to a couple female artist listings coming up this month. Should I tweak the lyrics and melody? Redo the drums?
For some reason I keep thinking the person who did the critique isn't into country all that much and didn't get it (does that matter?) , and maybe I should submit it as is and see what a second screener says. Also how much perfection really needs to go into a mixdown/mastering to submit to an artist?
Peer critiqueing here would be appreciated.
Casey