Spin Tunes 18 Round 3 - Tell Me What You Want

[glennny]

ST18R3- Tell Me What You Want Reviews

See Man Ski- Climb up the Leaderboard- Chip tune soul! Your vocals are as amazing as ever. I’ve come to expect that from you. I always look forward to your tracks if for nothing else the vocal performance. You’re a far better singer than me, but my aunt was actually in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Here’s a tip on taming S’s (they sound fine by the way, just read your song bio) sing them as Z’s. That’s what the MTC does. Don’t exaggerate the Z’s. I’m pretty sure Dennis De Young of Styx got the same note at some point. Anyway, good bloops and blips. I’m not a fan of the synth tone, but I lean more analog with my synths (Styx) so take that as you will, it fits the song. This is one of my favorites. Biggest complaint: too short! Left me wanting more. Good job!

Chas Rock- Job Interview- Genre bias. This is not my jam. That said, this is done well. I think the ranting verses are more effective than the chorus. This is a wild ride that feels like 3 different songs. The verse groove is my favorite part by far. This makes me want to go listen to Suicidal tendencies- Institutionalized. Okay, good to hear that again. Now I like your song better, in the right frame of mind. The band sounds great: drums bass guitar. Cool stuff.

Brian Gray- My People- I feel like Justin Roiland needs to hire you to write a musical for a very special Solar Opposites musical episode. This is very Broadway. There’s a lot of great dynamics, but I yearn for it to lift into a rock anthem or a heavier part. I generally don’t follow lyrics to music. I fall in love with a song, then eventually I wonder what I’m supposed to be singing (Oh, Get it On, Bang A Gong!). This song requires attention. It rewards you for paying attention, but it’s not working or driving music. Your universe is funny, I’d like to see a room of writers punch up the jokes and have an animated musical. Good melodies, great singing!

The Dutch Windows- Trapped- Okay man. You can do much better, and you know it. Reading your bio explains a lot. I’m sorry you were ill; I hope you get better. This is pleasant, though the autotuned artifacts are a bit grating, I’m weird, but I’d rather hear things out of tune (explains a lot about my singing, I know). I think maybe the vocals are a bit high in the mix. I think I mostly want more of a hook in the chorus. I enjoy the lyrical concept a lot as a song, but for the challenge, is this an I want song? I guess it’s I want to live. Okay fine, check box.

"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson - Goerfeldt's 3rd - Keep The Band Together-
That’s not a D& D song. This is a D&D song : http://www.songfight.org/music/hatchet/ ... atchet.mp3
Just Kidding, your D&D song is very D&D (just wanted some shameless self-promotion, that song featured Spin Tunes #4 champ - Steve Durand).
Back to your song. There’s not a lot of song in this song. It feels more like a play, with slight musical accompaniment. This is a fun listen once, but it has diminishing returns on repeated listens. The acting and characters are great. Not much of a melody to hang on to though.

Jim of Seattle- I’m not One of Them- Jim you’re a Song Fight legend. You’re one of my favorite artists in these communities. This sounds professional, because you are a professional. I keep you to a higher standard, and this delivers. This is great. This is not my wheelhouse, not my favorite genre, but this song is great! The band is subtle, mixed perfectly. Everything is tasty. The belle of the ball is the lyrics. Clever and fun. Nice melody too. Bravo! It feels a little short, again I’m left wanting more.

Stacking Theory - REAPER MAN (EVERYTHING CHANGES SO WHY CAN'T I?)-
I like the story. I want to see a musical about Death. Production is nice. It all sounds so reserved. It seems like it could have lifted into a more explosive and dynamic catchy chorus. Tension was nicely built, but the release was underwhelming for me.

Phlubububub - Olimar's Theme-
Okay, I love the 5/8. However it becomes a little samey throughout. The tuning you did is fascinating. I should like it. But, I think I hate it. That said, Bravo for the balls to do it! It does build nicely like the grand parade of lifeless packaging with the instruments coming in and building intensity. I love dissonance more than most folk, but there are parts in this that drive me up a wall. The story is delightfully bananas, I dig it.

Daniel Sitler – Miracle-
A+ on the challenge. This sounds like a musical. Nice vocals and playing throughout. I especially enjoy the Gavin Kidder horn. Great singing. Nice melodies. Maybe this is a bit sappy? I guess the challenge lends itself to sappy.

Sober- Leave the ladder-
This is a banger! Just freaking awesome dude! Fantastic playing! Great singing! I’m hoping this makes the next Song Fight not Live video show, or in real life show (if you need a bass player, guitarist, mandolin, I’d be happy to help this come to life). Great lyrics. Great singing. You are clearly going to the finals. What’s to criticize? Not a damn thing. What’s to Nit Pick? Not a damn thing. Excellent!

Governing Dynamics- Home-
This is more Death Cab for Cutie than your usual Appleseed Cast. What I’m saying is this is Indie Rock Gold. This is sung in earnest, and it’s serious. Maybe too serious for a musical? There’s something that’s a little too straight about this for my tastes. The singing the playing, the production is great. Perhaps I’m just too sardonic. It’s a good listen, I wish the lyrics had a twist or an edge or a darkness to them. Okay okay okay I’ll say it. I think homelessness is a problem! I want everyone to have a home!

Third Cat- Techno Man-
I always look forward to an adventurous recording with you. I enjoy this song. Is it weird that a song called Techno man is not a techno song? Like that Sammy Hagar song called Heavy Metal, that’s not really a heavy metal song. I digress. Your voice sounds great. I think this bpm is too slow. I enjoy the guitar solo! This is a quirky song. I dig it. Enjoyed it!

Cavedwellers- I want to be ME-
I guess I never said the words Mechanical Engineer. My buddy in the medical field said “Medical Examiner?” . I did say Mech E. Is that obvious enough? I generally don’t believe in song bios, but I gave in. Don’t tell j$. I mixed this pretty late in my available time. The bands consensus is I mixed the drums too low. So, I wish I gave it a few more passes with the bands feedback. The live session was really fun, It was great to play live in a room, if only Truth was on the West coast with us for the live vocals. I’m not really a musical kind of guy, however Frank Zappa’s musical parody Joe’s Garage is one of my favorite albums. So that’s more my school of thought when approaching this challenge. I justify my bridge lyrics with Zappa. In city of Tiny Lights “You’re so big, it’s so tiny, every cloud is silver line-y”. That always cracks me up. I wonder if the judges will enjoy, or hate it.


Good job contestants!
Good job Shadows! (sorry I have no time to review right now)

[gizo]

ST18R3- Tell Me What You Want Reviews
Stacking Theory - REAPER MAN (EVERYTHING CHANGES SO WHY CAN'T I?)-
I like the story. I want to see a musical about Death. Production is nice. It all sounds so reserved. It seems like it could have lifted into a more explosive and dynamic catchy chorus. Tension was nicely built, but the release was underwhelming for me.

Hey Glennny
Thanks so much for taking the time to share these thoughts - I really appreciate it!

I was just wondering what you would’ve liked to have seen to make it more explosive/dynamic/catchy? I had some strings and brass and the extra vocals, and even opened my vocal chords (which is unusual for me) / but if you’ve got something specific you’d have wanted to hear I’d. Love to know, so I can find ways to improve

Thanks again

(and fwiw, cavedwellers and sober seem the front runners to me this week, and seemanski and GD won my heart - exceptional stuff)

[seemanski]

Here’s a tip on taming S’s (they sound fine by the way, just read your song bio) sing them as Z’s. That’s what the MTC does. Don’t exaggerate the Z’s.

What a great tip, I'll definitely be trying that out. Thanks

[glennny]

Hey Gizo!

I don't think I stressed that I really like this song of yours. I guess i want dynamics like Led Zeppelin- Over the Hills and Far Away, starts soft (which you do extremely well), but I want the BAH DAH DAH DUM! then Bob Plant really singing with all of his gusto. You know what I mean? I'd like to hear you team up with See Man Ski, you could do the verses and have him come in and sing the Hell out of the Choruses.
Anyway, it's just my impression, it's a good song!

[Jim of Seattle]

Jim of Seattle- I’m not One of Them- Jim you’re a Song Fight legend. You’re one of my favorite artists in these communities. This sounds professional, because you are a professional. I keep you to a higher standard, and this delivers. This is great. This is not my wheelhouse, not my favorite genre, but this song is great! The band is subtle, mixed perfectly. Everything is tasty. The belle of the ball is the lyrics. Clever and fun. Nice melody too. Bravo! It feels a little short, again I’m left wanting more.

Thanks Glennny! Song Fight legend? I don't know about that. And for the official record, in case those who do not know me get the wrong idea, I am most definitely NOT a professional! Like most people here, I just do this for fun. It's an all-encompassing hobby for me. As for my official album releases, I think the label has a check waiting for me for like $36 or something. That label also publishes for fun.

As for this song, the phrases "kicking and screaming" and "very very last challenge I would have asked for", and maybe even "special kind of torture" apply. I swam in the musical theatre waters for 10 years, with some success even, then one day decided I was done with musicals as I hadn't seen one I actually liked in a long time. So I swore it off forever. (My early Song Fight entries show the waning vestiges of that DNA) This challenge was about not only writing the song, but coming face to face with those demons. So like you, this is not my genre, but once was my genre in an era long ago. So the music gods puts this challenge here for me to find out whatever happened to those long-abandoned chops. I'm happy to know they still work for me, but I'm most definitely not going back.

I agree it's short. Because I cut the recording short on purpose. The complete lyrics are listed with the song on Bandcamp, all the same music mostly. It was going to be 6-7 minutes, and while that would have worked way better in an actual show, this isn't an actual show, it's a contest, thus the severe edit.

Thanks again!

[Sober]

Quick thoughts. For reference, my focus tends to be on production and performance, rather than lyrical content. Also, I'm an idiot.

Chas Rock: By Songfight standards, this is top-tier. Drunk groove, very fashionable. I'm very sad about your bass tone. Really needs more bottom end and punchy compression. Your guitars and everything else really sound great in comparison. A little bit of room tone on just about everything would glue everything together a bit, and reduce the gap between your live guitar and bass and your sampled drum elements. This is goofy and bizarre, and that's okay.

See-Man-Ski: Immediate Flight of the Conchords feel, which I appreciate immensely. Your backing vocals aren't gelling super well with your lead - maybe double and squash them a bit more? The stabby quarter synth is a bit hot compared to your vocal. Love the super chippy patch. This has so many of the awesome pop-sensible elements that I expect from your stuff. I feel like a bit more arranging work could have tightened things up to make a more impactful, memorable whole.

Brian Gray: The different between your piano and vocal placement is strange - the stark reverb difference, and the strange panning games you're playing don't make a lot of sense. Yeah, on the vocal I can hear your smallish room really plainly coming through. Do a little work treating your space, and you'll have a lot more control over the compression and reverb placement of your vocal, especially for some of the really nice piano/vocal sections. Generally, some subtle reverb work on just about everything would really glue this whole thing together, rather than it sounding like a (very good!) vocal audition over a karaoke track. Tune that tom patch - it's clashing pretty harshly. Some quality things happening here, would love to hear a really slick mix on it.

The Dutch Widows: That string patch is way too lifeless to have so far up front. Tuning is too strong imo, but perhaps that's just my taste. I generally feel that tuning should either be completely transparent or used practically as its own instrument. Bass tone gets lost completely - generally the bottom end of this mix is pretty lost. Your mix is plenty loud - I assume you've got an aggressive ozone preset on the master bus, but it feels like a lot more work needs to be done on the mix before the master bus. Everything is competing for space in the upper mid range. Would love to hear a ground-up remix of this, with perhaps a belted vocal. Four minutes is a bit long for this imo.

Buckethat: More strange reverb clashes - the pizz strings and drum elements have a deep hall on them, while everything else sounds more or less dry. Split the difference, at least with the guitar and accordion. The refrain is such a fucking hook - I want to hear the accordion either doubling the melody, or providing a countermelody of some kind. Something to even further punch up that hook. I won't comment on all the theatre-ish dialog trades, as I know the prompt pushed us in that direction; I would love to hear a version of this stripped down to just a fun song. The mix is just a mess, but this is super charming and fun.

Jim of Seattle: Ow, I can hear so much hiss when your vocal tracks come in/out. Whether it's bus, room, or some kind of compression artefact, you gotta tame that. Or! You could lay a track of that hiss under the entire song, so that it's not as noticeable when vocals come in and out (fade your head and tails more), and maybe you get points for having a vinyl vibe, I guess. Bonus for doing the tempo challenge again. As for the rest, it's very JoS. I can occasionally hear some tuning, but it's not distracting. Agh, that bass patch mirroring the piano left hand exactly - comp with both hands on the keys or kill the bass entirely. Mix-wise, yeah things could probably be tightened/punched up, but I think this is pretty faithful to the style/era.

Stacking Theory: Hey baby, take a walk on the wild side. Super vibey, very cool things going on in every section. I am very much annoyed with your kick patch, and how it's the exact same sound at the exact same velocity over and over. Humanize, randomize, something pls. Maybe a less natural sample would be less grating. Drums are so far back when the big reaper man chorus finally comes in, but I'm kind of ok with it. This deep-cut 90's Oasis vibe is something. Ah, ok so at the end you embrace the Lou Reed thing with the doot doots. Neat I guess. Arrangement is definitely the strong point here; you clearly put a lot of thought into section-by-section instrumentation, and it keeps things interesting. Would like to hear with a modern mix and more attention paid to drum programming.

Cavedwellers w/BSS: Kind of a mess, but that's kind of ok. Sometimes I love the bass tone, and sometimes I want more bottom-end. This feels like a situation where someone like the Foo Fighters would have the bass cab mic and DI channels, and they'd use your cabby sound on the verses, then bring up the fat DI on the choruses for fullness. Your drums are a bit far back in the mix imo. Having some fun with parallel compression might help them punch through and keep everything nice and tight. As they are, I'm losing the kick, and the snare feels really thin. I feel like the vocal performance is too clean and pretty for this. Not looking for Motorhead, but Ed Kowalczyk would be a good target imo. Vocal harmonies in the bridge or whatever are cool, but perhaps too close/tight for them to parse in this mix at that register. Lots of neat things going on here.

Phlub: One cool thing about any just tuning system is that there are always some keys that work better than others, and the incredible tension built up in the "B" section resolves very nicely back to the "A." It feels at times like the timing is in just tuning as well . Definitely a few hits that could use nudging here and there, and by the end, the piano feels almost entirely decoupled from the drums. All in all, a very Phlebby wash of sound that would sound very different with modern mixing techniques, for better or worse. Cool stuff for sure.

Daniel Sitler: Ooh, some real instruments. Would love to hear a stereo mic setup on that cello. The reverb wash is a bit much, and it's inconsistently applied. In my opinion, musical theatre is the worst kind of music and the worst kind of theatre, so I won't comment on performance stuff that's clearly a symptom of the genre. I do think some more rehearsal ahead of hitting record would make the vocal rhythms less awkward. There's space in the lines to fit those syllables in both a musical and conversational way. Agh, at 2:10, there's either a wrong note on the piano, or the pedal is just held through the leading tone into the tonic; kills the resolution. Mix-wise, everything is mid-range. I don't have anything kicking or sparkling. A closer (stereo pls) micing of the cello could solve both, by giving us more bottom end and some wonderful sparkly bow noise. Some really cool elements to this.

Sober: Biggest challenge was getting this idea across without it being incredibly cringe. Don't know if I succeeded. I feel like I'm a bit out of practice, and I'm not at all happy with the mix in the first half of this. Oh well.

Governing Dynamics: bzzzzz. Very Deathcab. I love Deathcab. Thin out the kick drum during the chorus; the busy stuff is great for the verses, but the chorus is stadium rock time. The vocal is slightly too out front, and wanting a little more compression. Maybe bring up the band and throw a bit of parallel compression keyed to the vocal. Boom, problem solved without much effort. The bridge is cool, would love to hear a super tape saturated vocal sound in that part, and then again in the outtro. Would love to hear the last chorus belted rather than the flip up to head voice. The hiss on your vocal is noticeable but not overly distracting on the bridge, but very distracting when it cuts out at the end. And then the buzz comes back. I'm a single-coil guy myself, but man you gotta do something about that in the quiet intro/outtro parts. Noise complaints aside, some good stuff going on here.

Third Cat: Reminds me of VVVVVV. So many cool sounds. Give me more of that bass. Blast me in the fucking face with that bass. The vocal repeat of the 'techno man' line is lackluster imo - that's not bad, but it breaks the mood. Lean into it! Would love to hear that repeat through a super heavy vocoder/autotune/something. It sounds like it's slightly bitcrushed, but it needs more. I hate everything about the guitar solo. Hey, is this another tempo challenge song? Some super neat sounds. Would love to hear this with some tweaks.

Shadows:

Tim Hinkle: Need some more variety in the drum loop (though as I said in the listening party, the z bell is very fun). You have all the ingredients - put in the time studying recording and mixing technique, and then the time to execute same, and you could have a very nice cake.

Jocko: Lots of reverb wash. A small change that would help this groove more: give us something on each quarter note to tap to, especially during the chorus. The hihat hits on the 'and' of each beat are fun, but we need something on the beat, even if it's really quiet. Put hihat hits on the beats as well, even if they're way down low, and you'll feel a huge difference in the groove.

Jealous Brother: There's no change in sound from verse to chorus except that the drums jump to the ride. Simple changes like palm muting, open strokes, etc can make a big difference. As it is, the energy level is the same from downbeat to outtro.

Brother Baker: Cherry Poppin! The guitar tone is outrageous. I feel like the kick is backward in the first verse drum loop - I want to hear that anticipation in the second half of the measure, and a kick on 3. At least some of the time, at least. Neat transitions from swing to latin and back. This is perhaps the most realistically musical theatre entry of the bunch. I'm reminded of Oogie Boogie's song in Nightmare Before Christmas. I do feel like the vocal performance could use a double shot of whiskey to really sell this.

Dr. Lindyke: I'm getting some pops/crackles. Not clear if that's from clipping, or an encoding artefact. Not much I can say here; you're clearly limited by the equipment at your disposal. Running that cheap keyboard into a good VST instrument would make a world of difference, and monitoring that nice and loud would probably get you a punchier vocal performance.

Menage a Tune: I'm going to imagine this is someone's mom singing over zoom. That's charming. There are some chord changes that break what little authenticity existed in the country vibe. That's not to say it's impossible for these kinds of changes to happen, but arrangement-wise you have to do a lot of work to get there. This is neat, but obviously would need a ton of work to stand alone as a song someone would listen to in a vacuum.

Cybronica: HEART. Super fun. I want to hear big guitars with this. This does feel like it wants something providing countermelody to your vocal lines. As it is, it feels vampy and unfinished. One of the better vocal performances of the week. This was fun and Halloweeny

Jocko:

Great bunch of tunes y'all. I don't envy the judges!

[Jim of Seattle]

Jim of Seattle: Ow, I can hear so much hiss when your vocal tracks come in/out. Whether it's bus, room, or some kind of compression artefact, you gotta tame that. Or! You could lay a track of that hiss under the entire song, so that it's not as noticeable when vocals come in and out (fade your head and tails more), and maybe you get points for having a vinyl vibe, I guess. Bonus for doing the tempo challenge again. As for the rest, it's very JoS. I can occasionally hear some tuning, but it's not distracting. Agh, that bass patch mirroring the piano left hand exactly - comp with both hands on the keys or kill the bass entirely. Mix-wise, yeah things could probably be tightened/punched up, but I think this is pretty faithful to the style/era.

Oh man, you can hear that hiss? Dang, I thought I EQ'ed it out enough. I had to leave a little in because the vocals are so naked. Good to know.

The bass/piano doubling is super common in that style of low budget musical theatre cast recordings. Theatre composers typically only write a piano score, and low budget shows don't have an orchestra, and therefore don't have an orchestrator, so the bass just plays the piano line. I agree it's not ideal. I was trying to be true to the style of the challenge! Just shows to go me I suppose.

Wouldn'tcha know it I get a review that's all about production on the one song in years where I decided to de-emphasize production for once...

[Cybronica]

Quick thoughts.

Cybronica: HEART. Super fun. I want to hear big guitars with this. This does feel like it wants something providing countermelody to your vocal lines. As it is, it feels vampy and unfinished. One of the better vocal performances of the week. This was fun and Halloweeny

Thank you for the review! I am 100% with you- this song need some heavy fuzz guitars on it STAT. Alas, I do not play guitar. If any one would be willing/interested in adding guitars to this track for me, I would be so delighted. Please message me.

[DutchWidows]

The Dutch Widows: That string patch is way too lifeless to have so far up front. Tuning is too strong imo, but perhaps that's just my taste.

The Dutch Windows- Trapped- This is pleasant, though the autotuned artifacts are a bit grating, I’m weird, but I’d rather hear things out of tune

Thanks both for taking the time to write reviews.

I have a genuine question about the auto-tuning comments, and I'm going to do something that makes me super-uncomfortable to assist with my question...

One thing to get straight right up front - I'm not a singer. Outside of SpinTunes and FAWM, and very occasional backing vocals/shouting in a punk/ska/new wave covers band, I don't sing, and I hate the sound of my voice. But I really like making music and I've never found a vocalist to work with consistently, so I make do with what I can manage.

For some reason, whenever I record vocals, I'm always a semi-tone flat. I've never managed to work out how to fix it when singing, so I correct it post-recording. It's only ever a semi-tone or so, and it's normally a pretty invisible fix.

The only vocals in this song that were radically tweaked were the last words of the backing vocal lines ("to fly" / "the light"), which were lifted in what I thought was a very obvious way, and the "I'm alive" at the end of the first line of the chorus. If my IT skills are up to snuff, the original vocals should appear somewhere here, with all tuning removed. Other than the points I've mentioned, the rest is pretty much a semi-tone out, and so was lifted a semi-tone, plus it was a bit wavery in places, which I also fixed. (the recording also suggests I need headphones that have a better seal, but that's for another day...)

So does the song sound more 'tuned' than it actually was, and would it have been better to leave the vocal as it was, or tweaked? I prefer the tuned version, and I was pretty pleased with it - the sound of the chorus vocal ("here I am, trapped inside") was the first bit of my singing where I actually actively liked it, rather than just tolerated it/accepted it for what it is. So it's interesting to find that the voice in particular is singled out as a weakness!

[gizo]

For some reason, whenever I record vocals, I'm always a semi-tone flat.

Thanks for sharing - and bless you.

I'm definitely not the right person to help you here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm also a very frequent semi-tone shifter, and quite often even a whole tone out. Thank goodness for flex pitch.

[Sober]

Thanks both for taking the time to write reviews.

I have a genuine question about the auto-tuning comments, and I'm going to do something that makes me super-uncomfortable to assist with my question...

One thing to get straight right up front - I'm not a singer. Outside of SpinTunes and FAWM, and very occasional backing vocals/shouting in a punk/ska/new wave covers band, I don't sing, and I hate the sound of my voice. But I really like making music and I've never found a vocalist to work with consistently, so I make do with what I can manage.

For some reason, whenever I record vocals, I'm always a semi-tone flat. I've never managed to work out how to fix it when singing, so I correct it post-recording. It's only ever a semi-tone or so, and it's normally a pretty invisible fix.

The only vocals in this song that were radically tweaked were the last words of the backing vocal lines ("to fly" / "the light"), which were lifted in what I thought was a very obvious way, and the "I'm alive" at the end of the first line of the chorus. If my IT skills are up to snuff, the original vocals should appear somewhere here, with all tuning removed. Other than the points I've mentioned, the rest is pretty much a semi-tone out, and so was lifted a semi-tone, plus it was a bit wavery in places, which I also fixed. (the recording also suggests I need headphones that have a better seal, but that's for another day...)

So does the song sound more 'tuned' than it actually was, and would it have been better to leave the vocal as it was, or tweaked? I prefer the tuned version, and I was pretty pleased with it - the sound of the chorus vocal ("here I am, trapped inside") was the first bit of my singing where I actually actively liked it, rather than just tolerated it/accepted it for what it is. So it's interesting to find that the voice in particular is singled out as a weakness!

First, I super appreciate the mindset of your reply. This is awesome.

I'm not a vocal coach, but I am someone who also loves making music and who is not the best at all parts of making music. My immediate thought is to lean into what you perceive to be weaknesses. Go nuts with the tuner. Get creative with vocoders. Do some of that shouting. I love shouting.

Your voice is not bad, it's unique. Learn to utilize that uniqueness and get to work.

[lichenthroat]

One thing to get straight right up front - I'm not a singer. Outside of SpinTunes and FAWM, and very occasional backing vocals/shouting in a punk/ska/new wave covers band, I don't sing, and I hate the sound of my voice. But I really like making music and I've never found a vocalist to work with consistently, so I make do with what I can manage.

For what it's worth, I really like how your vocals sound. After the last Spintunes, I spent quite a while trying to figure out what effects you were using and attempted (without any success) to emulate them.

[Cybronica]

For some reason, whenever I record vocals, I'm always a semi-tone flat. I've never managed to work out how to fix it when singing, so I correct it post-recording. It's only ever a semi-tone or so, and it's normally a pretty invisible fix.

So, as trained singer and former voice teacher, I would l o v e to talk to you about your approach to singing. This is actually a very common thing to happen (even among opera singers!), and almost always it comes down to breath and breath support. If the breath is under supported, the tone will come out flat because you’re not getting enough subglottal pressure. Too much and it goes sharp- it’s a balancing act. I know you have a more relaxed style of singing, and I wouldn’t want to mess with that because you have a really beautiful sound. That said, a more supported breath, controlled by your thoracic and abdominal muscles (NOT from the throat muscles) would help prop up your vocals to stay closer to on pitch. /vocal nerd out

[DutchWidows]

Go nuts with the tuner. Get creative with vocoders. Do some of that shouting. I love shouting.

Thanks for that - I'll look into getting a vocoder and maybe have a play. It'll be a battle though against my natural and ingrained laziness to actually learn how to use it! Most of how I record is an effort to try to get out of habits and ruts and get into a space where I'm not thinking about what I'm doing. To assist with that I never bother to properly learn what anything's really doing - I just tweak things till I like how it sounds. Same with playing - I just mess till it sounds nice. I try to have little regard for notes/keys/chord shapes etc. The big downside with this approach is that I can never remember how to play any of the songs about a week after finishing them. I know when I'm doing it that I should write stuff down, but I never learn. Shouting might be the way to go!

Also on this

Your mix is plenty loud - I assume you've got an aggressive ozone preset on the master bus

I have no idea how to master stuff, so once it comes out of Logic, I shove it through a compressor in Audacity to even out the peaks and troughs and make it all a bit louder. I don't have Ozone and can't quite commit to getting it as I'd have to learn what it does - see above re my lazy approach to making music. I know it's something I should do though. I presume it's good, as I know lots of people use it.

Thank goodness for flex pitch.

Finding out that flex pitch existed was the possibly greatest day of my life! Instantly changed my recordings from things I would never listen to again, to things I could tolerate.

After the last Spintunes, I spent quite a while trying to figure out what effects you were using and attempted (without any success) to emulate them.

Ah man, just ask - there's no great secret. I've attached screenshots of the entire vocal chain - compression and EQ on a recording bus (EQ now no longer used, as I'd forgotten it was there - it was pretty harsh and embedded in every vocal), compression, a de-esser, a bit of gain, and a bit of EQ on the channel itself (there's a pitch correction in there that was set to pull the notes into actual chromatic notes rather than in between notes, but it didn't seem to be doing anything so I don't use it now), and then there is some Valhalla Vintage Reverb (my favourite plug-in) via a bus. And that's it. They're saved as channel settings so I just open them up and go, and other than switching things off, I don't do anything else to it. The master channel is attached too, and there's a little more going on there, but most of it is set to be pretty subtle. The Sonarworks plug-in is for flattening out headphone responses when recording/mixing, but it's always switched off when exporting the mixed track. I only record via headphones, so that is pretty useful. One day I might get some monitors...

[DutchWidows]

So, as trained singer and former voice teacher, I would l o v e to talk to you about your approach to singing. This is actually a very common thing to happen (even among opera singers!), and almost always it comes down to breath and breath support. If the breath is under supported, the tone will come out flat because you’re not getting enough subglottal pressure. Too much and it goes sharp- it’s a balancing act. I know you have a more relaxed style of singing, and I wouldn’t want to mess with that because you have a really beautiful sound. That said, a more supported breath, controlled by your thoracic and abdominal muscles (NOT from the throat muscles) would help prop up your vocals to stay closer to on pitch. /vocal nerd out

This is an amazing reply - thank you!

I'm not sure I fully understand how I do that. Like, physically, what does one do to support breath from those muscles? Is it focusing on breathing from the chest and relaxing the throat? When I do backing vocals in my covers band, there is a long running joke that I'm miming, because the sound that comes out is really weak and has no projection/volume to it. However, by the end of the gig my throat is wrecked with the effort. I guess this is all connected to the same issue..?

Feel free not to provide further advice as I think this might be straying into professional coaching territory that I should be paying for!

[Jim of Seattle]

Hey everybody, listened to everything. Lots of interesting things that this cruel, cruel challenge brought forth! If you are interested in any feedback, PM me and happy to go into however much detail you are interested in. Thanks for the fun hour!

[governingdynamics]

Governing Dynamics- Home-
This is more Death Cab for Cutie than your usual Appleseed Cast. What I’m saying is this is Indie Rock Gold. This is sung in earnest, and it’s serious. Maybe too serious for a musical? There’s something that’s a little too straight about this for my tastes. The singing the playing, the production is great. Perhaps I’m just too sardonic. It’s a good listen, I wish the lyrics had a twist or an edge or a darkness to them. Okay okay okay I’ll say it. I think homelessness is a problem! I want everyone to have a home!

Okay first off I have to say that when I submitted this I though "I hope glennny doesn't do any reviews, he's going to tell me these vocals are waaaaaay too loud". GHOSTS OF SPINTUNES PAST!! I'm glad they were apparently actually to your liking.

I'd never heard of Appleseed Cast, which is funny as they're a Lawrence KS band which is practically local (Lawrence bands all play KC and vice versa). Took a listen. Pretty good stuff. Thanks.

We're totally on the same page re: homelessness! I hope the song doesn't imply otherwise I ended up deciding I was going for an "I want" that a lot of people would take for granted. And then I happened to see a post early in the week of that quote that almost everyone is one really bad week/month from homelessness. That kind of tunneled into my brain, sk despite my reluctance to put another song called "Home" into the world this is what happened.

[governingdynamics]

Governing Dynamics: bzzzzz. Very Deathcab. I love Deathcab. Thin out the kick drum during the chorus; the busy stuff is great for the verses, but the chorus is stadium rock time. The vocal is slightly too out front, and wanting a little more compression. Maybe bring up the band and throw a bit of parallel compression keyed to the vocal. Boom, problem solved without much effort,

I also love Death Cab! And the kick drum and parallel compression (which I still haven't got the hang of) are exactly the type of specific production notes I find helpful, so thank you. Although by thin out do you mean that it's playing too many hits or that they're too loud/EQ'd wrong? Or both?

The bridge is cool, would love to hear a super tape saturated vocal sound in that part, and then again in the outtro. Would love to hear the last chorus belted rather than the flip up to head voice. The hiss on your vocal is noticeable but not overly distracting on the bridge, but very distracting when it cuts out at the end. And then the buzz comes back. I'm a single-coil guy myself, but man you gotta do something about that in the quiet intro/outtro parts. Noise complaints aside, some good stuff going on here.

I'll try belting if I revisit the recording (the plan is to do so but if often doesn't work out). I ended up re-recording all the vocals about an hour and a half before due date. What I had before was worse but the rushing didn't do me any favors.

Vocal buzzing - I was experimenting with using a JHS Colour Box as a preamp and I think I just hit the input too hard. Shouldn't be too hard to "fix" (ie probably just redo without shot ears_.

Guitar buzzing - yeah, I was using my G&L totally-not-a-Strat. I love the sound and feel of it but those pickups are noisy (even in 2 and 4 pos) in that way that makes no difference at all live but pretty headachey DI. I was also using a compressor. Probably overkill. I'll tweak with it.

[Sober]

Governing Dynamics: bzzzzz. Very Deathcab. I love Deathcab. Thin out the kick drum during the chorus; the busy stuff is great for the verses, but the chorus is stadium rock time. The vocal is slightly too out front, and wanting a little more compression. Maybe bring up the band and throw a bit of parallel compression keyed to the vocal. Boom, problem solved without much effort,

...by thin out do you mean that it's playing too many hits or that they're too loud/EQ'd wrong? Or both

Definitely the former. Kick on 1 & 3, or whatever hit you want emphasized, but no more than say three kicks per measure would be my approach for this chorus.

Guitar buzzing - yeah, I was using my G&L totally-not-a-Strat. I love the sound and feel of it but those pickups are noisy (even in 2 and 4 pos) in that way that makes no difference at all live but pretty headachey DI. I was also using a compressor. Probably overkill. I'll tweak with it.

My dream electric guitar is a G&L thinline tele in bass boat green. Someday.

[sleepysilverdoor]

ST18R3- Tell Me What You Want Reviews
re explosive and dynamic catchy chorus. Tension was nicely built, but the release was underwhelming for me.

Phlubububub - Olimar's Theme-
Okay, I love the 5/8. However it becomes a little samey throughout. The tuning you did is fascinating. I should like it. But, I think I hate it. That said, Bravo for the balls to do it! It does build nicely like the grand parade of lifeless packaging with the instruments coming in and building intensity. I love dissonance more than most folk, but there are parts in this that drive me up a wall. The story is delightfully bananas, I dig it.

If you ever feel like tracking it down, it's basically describing the exposition to the first Pikmin game from 2001. Captain Olimar's ship gets smashed into 30 pieces and you have to recover all of the parts to go home...and you have an army of oddly helpful plant people helping you do it. It's possibly one of the best video games ever made.

[briangray]

Brian Gray: The different between your piano and vocal placement is strange - the stark reverb difference, and the strange panning games you're playing don't make a lot of sense. Yeah, on the vocal I can hear your smallish room really plainly coming through. Do a little work treating your space, and you'll have a lot more control over the compression and reverb placement of your vocal, especially for some of the really nice piano/vocal sections. Generally, some subtle reverb work on just about everything would really glue this whole thing together, rather than it sounding like a (very good!) vocal audition over a karaoke track. Tune that tom patch - it's clashing pretty harshly. Some quality things happening here, would love to hear a really slick mix on it.

I think I got lazy here. What I thought I was going for was the piano and crowd noise being "real" and set in a tavern, but then the orchestra and vocal being in Globron's head and much more forward. What I should have done is set everything in a physical space, on stage. Have a bus for the tavern reverb and another for the street. Feed piano and crowd to the tavern, the orchestra to the street. Then for the vocal automate sends to the tavern at first (but send maybe at -6dB rather than the piano's +0dB so that it's more forward, physically, in the space), then crossover into the street reverb bus (also 6dB less than the orchestra) along with the pan as he leaves the tavern during "so I guess I'll go". The orchestra stays overall centered but wide, and the piano stays stage right in the tavern even while playing along.

[Cybronica]

So, as trained singer and former voice teacher, I would l o v e to talk to you about your approach to singing. This is actually a very common thing to happen (even among opera singers!), and almost always it comes down to breath and breath support. If the breath is under supported, the tone will come out flat because you’re not getting enough subglottal pressure. Too much and it goes sharp- it’s a balancing act. I know you have a more relaxed style of singing, and I wouldn’t want to mess with that because you have a really beautiful sound. That said, a more supported breath, controlled by your thoracic and abdominal muscles (NOT from the throat muscles) would help prop up your vocals to stay closer to on pitch. /vocal nerd out

This is an amazing reply - thank you!

I'm not sure I fully understand how I do that. Like, physically, what does one do to support breath from those muscles? Is it focusing on breathing from the chest and relaxing the throat? When I do backing vocals in my covers band, there is a long running joke that I'm miming, because the sound that comes out is really weak and has no projection/volume to it. However, by the end of the gig my throat is wrecked with the effort. I guess this is all connected to the same issue..?

Feel free not to provide further advice as I think this might be straying into professional coaching territory that I should be paying for!

You’re totally right, I should charge you for this but I make more at my current desk jockey job than I ever did as a voice teacher, so you can have this for free.

So yeah it sounds to me like you are using your throat to support your sound instead of your breath, which can lead to long term vocal damage. I won’t get too technical but essentially you are putting a lot of unneeded strain on a pair of muscles that are together the size of a dime. Using the breath to support both gives you more control and moves the tension to a more advantageous place.

Here are some breathing exercises to help you get connected to your breath:
1. Stand with you heels, hips, and shoulders up against a wall. Take a deep breath in, and become aware of where the breath is going- I are your belly and chest expanding? Take a few more calm deep breaths, and try to pinpoint them- first into to the abdomen, then the chest, then both. It might take a few tries to get the hang of it.
2. Using this breath, do a long exhale on “sh” for as long as you can. Then inhale for 4 beats, exhale all the breath for 4. As you advance, exhale for 6, 8, 10, 12 beats as you are able. Experiment with pressing in with your abs to control the air flow.
3. Do the exercise in 2, but this time add in the voice on a vocalized “zh” sound. Do the same with an unvoiced lip trill (blowing air between your lips like a raspberry), then voiced lip trill.
4. Start warming up your range with the lip trills before singing