Circle of Titles III

[HeuristicsInc]

Since it hasn't been posted yet, here's my song for Mike Lamb's title "Professional Grade".

http://heuristicsinc.com/media/vocal/He ... lGrade.mp3

-bill

[jast]

I finally finished my song! Yay! Took months for me to get a suitable time and suitable vocal capability lined up... but here we are: http://static.music-jk.net/songfight/20 ... er-net.mp3

Also, reviews! More or less stream of consciousness style.

Paco del Stinko implements Alice vs. Alice (Heuristics Inc.): wow, that's some extreme (obviously deliberate) distortion on the kick. I can barely stomach it. Hmm, I'm liking the style you're going for here ­ works out pretty well but it's still very recognizable that this is your creation. Great guitar work. I can't tell whether the bass is synth or really overdriven real bass. Interesting selection of synths, anyway. The arrangement is great all around. Maybe a bit more sizzle on the whole thing, and slightly punchier vocals, but apart from that this song is pretty darn great. Not the kind of song I'd listen to if I wasn't obliged to review, but who cares! Man, more great guitar tone. Excellent job on sound design. Longest shaker outro ever?

Naked Philosophy implements In My Hand (Sockpuppet): Man, your guitar tone (and mixing) is very distinctive. On hand that's good, but part of the distinctiveness is that there is no bite/edge. This could be made to jump at and grab the listener. Coming from Paco's song, the arrangement is a bit boring... but I can't really hold that against you, now can I? The writing is pretty good, the vocals do the job. The main weakness here is the mix, due to the things mentioned before, and the drums getting lost a bit (they're fake drums, right? No matter, they still need to carry the rhythm). All in all, good job, one of your better songs IMO.

Jon Eric implements I Like it Both Ways (Caravan Ray): Dang, those are some pretty cool vocals. Especially the first line or two. Perfect start! Swell keyboarding, especially in the instrumental parts. I love the organ, of course. The drop in the melody in the chorus... I think that might have needed a bit more work. The melody isn't entirely clear there. Awesome bridge, fitting bass solo. I think the compression (or lack of, or volume automation) on the vocals could be improved. Sometimes the dynamics are rather iffy. What else? Great job at upbeatness, great job at making me enjoy it. Would listen again!

Niveous implements 27 Moons, But One Thing On My Mind (Billy's Little Trip): the ping-pong BG choir is... unusual. I'm not quite sure what it contributes to the song. When it gets more "aaah"-like, it works better for me. Ideally, I would have liked the voice a bit stronger in the mix, it's currently overpowered by the guitar. Say, the way you pronounce "twenty-seven"... is that a thing? Never heard it said like that. Solid singer-songwritering. I don't really have much to say about this. It works, it sounds nice, it doesn't draw me in. I'm kind of relieved at 3-something when you start modulating the melody. That said, I don't regularly listen to singer-songwriter type sparse songs, so holding my interest is harder than it might be with others.

Sockpuppet implements You're Never Around (Paco del Stinko): This has a cool vibe, with a nice arrangement to support it. The ride bell is pretty loud in comparison to everything else. Some nice development in this. So, I like the song and I can't think of much else to say in terms of feedback. Sorry.

Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs implements Concentrated Evil (irwin): The intro is too long! (Heh, look who's talking) Considering the rather sparse arrangement, good job doing a build-up, though I would have loved for it to go much further than that, all wall-of-sound-like. Creative mixing and all that. Still, you keep doing things that are new, so that's good. The composition is a bit weak IMO, it can't hold a song this long together. The vibe does get across, though, and in the end that's almost the most important thing.

Caravan Ray implements Eggshells (DJ Ranger Den): Really? Man, that staccato synth isn't easy on the ears, and the voice patch is awfully cliché. I find this annoying and repetitive. At least it's got rhythm. A missed opportunity. There could have been biting bass synths and hard-hitting stuff in here, and kick-ass pads and all that. Maybe next time...

Milo Dunderville implements Comply With Red X (Naked Philosophy): Ooh, bluesy! Expertly executed. This song goes under "cute" for me... but it's the well done kind. Don't really have anything to say. Review fatigue, maybe... sorry, everyone below this line.

Billy's Little Trip implements Spare Parts (The Real Sign): The sound is almost entirely perfect. The vocals don't sit well in the mix... that's my only complaint. Great arrangement and rhythmic interaction between the various tracks. Punchety-punch. Impossible to not follow the rhythm.

DJ Ranger Den implements Retrophile's Patrician (Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs): Uh, what is this I don't even... seriously, though. For what it is, and that particular "what" isn't one I'm overly experienced with, it's right up there with the, uh, best I know. The mix is a bit sad, though. When everything interferes with everything, mixing is devilishly hard. In general, try to avoid having many things occupy the same frequency range. Failing that, almost any track can stand to have some of it EQ'd away (often a low cut helps, though in this case that probably wouldn't be sufficient). Remember, the tracks have to sound great in the mix... nobody cares what the solo'd tracks sound like.

The Real Sign implements Vacuum (Jan Krüger): I didn't bring any expectations with me when I threw out this title. Man, that's dark. Of sorts. I'm kind of afraid to talk to you again. Now there are instruments coming in. Nice transition. I think the vocals might have liked to be made a bit more prominent in the mix. Woah, I love that chorus thingy! I'd love to have more stuff going on in that, perhaps some additional guitar or Idunno. The pads are a nice start, though. Oh, and again the vocals need more prominence. I like the piano breakdown, too. This time around you're growling throughout the chorus... nothing wrong with that, but the chorus doesn't have enough weight to not be completely dominated by that. Still, I loved this, and it didn't feel as long as it was. That's always a good Sign.

Heuristics, Inc. implements Professional Grade (Mike Lamb): Great synths. Hats/cymbals suffer from lack of alternate hits. Single-hit samples work better for unapologetic electronic sounds IMO. This is too talky for me to really enjoy, the chorus thingy is a bit muddy. Waiting for change-ups, but there are none. Nice concept but could have used a little more vision (and corresponding execution).

Jan Krüger implements Cast A Wider Net (Jon Eric): No 3/4 this time! That title really stumped me for a while. I finally settled on writing about the challenge of fitting in, mostly because that's the only thing I came up with. I'm not terribly happy with the lyrics built up around that, but this is mostly melody-driven anyway. I snowflaked this around the chorus, particularly the titular part, and then just threw more and more things at it and some of it stuck. I posted as quickly as I could after schedule and voice finally lined up. I hope you enjoy this.

PS. this song features my first noteworthy use of: new MIDI keyboard, 4Front TruePianos VSTi, and real electric bass.

[Mike Lamb]

Sorry for my absenteeism... Life has been strangling lately. I am not sure if it's ironic or apt or what, but the title I suggested - 'Professional Grade' came from a tube of adhesive I was using to remodel my house, which is why I haven't had time for SF, so Heuristic's song is particularly meaningful. I have not dropped any granite on my foot yet, fortunately.

Site's been updated. Figures, that me and Irwin are the only two stiffers :\ I promise, though, that I am still working on Parhelion for Niveous. I really wanted to give a cool concept the proper treatment, but it's been tough to get everything together. I will eventually get there, sir, I promise!

http://sheepsound.com/circle/

[fluffy]

So, hey, are these songs available anywhere else? Looks like sheepsound is down.

[JonPorobil]

I just finished a mirror of Circle of Titles 3. It's here: http://joneric.table2.com/Circle3.html

[HeuristicsInc]

great, that prompted me to give another listen to paco's delightful track.
-bill