A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

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A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

Well.. it rhymed. *shrug*
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

Lyric thread here about: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11387
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Songs posted! Sorry for the longer than usual delay. I've been pretty swamped due to making music/songs every day, and yesterday was my birthday too.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Heine »

Where is the Foobar entry?
The lyrics made me wanting that song.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Huh, weird. My script for downloading the entries from the fightmaster inbox missed that one somehow. I'll fix it when I have a chance. Might not be till tonight though sorry!
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

OK fixed now after all.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Heine »

Thanks! Didn't know if Foobar really submitted. I only saw the lyrics.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by lichenthroat »

Wow, the songs are great this week! I'll do full reviews later, but great work, everyone!
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

BSS - I wasn't crazy about this one on first listen but it really grew on me. It has a good energy to it and there's something about the vocal that reminds me slightly of Sonic Youth for some reason. I feel like it needs an edit though, two guitar solos is a serious red flag for me and I think the ending could be cut quite a bit shorter.

Foobar - really like this one a lot, the gorgeous piano and soft-but-confident vocal remind me of Lambchop. There’s one slightly odd bit of phrasing / mixing - the word “bitten” is so softly / quickly sung that I thought there was a glitch in the mix (or a foobar, if you will!) until I checked the lyrics to see what was going on. But even if I deduct points for that, this is still my favourite from this fight. Also I listened to these songs using foobar media player!

Fractal Elves - I kinda admire this one but don't hugely enjoy listening to it. It's cleverly put together but you're working with quite an abrasive palette of sounds - the discordant piano etc. That’s undoubtedly your intention but I didn’t really click with it. Lots of good ideas though, and the spoken word vocals are cool.

glennny - excellent New Wave-y vibe to this one, love the mix of synth bass and fuzzy guitars, and the harmonised lead works really well. Lyrics are fun too. My second favourite from this fight.

Heine - there are a few things in this one I'm not crazy about, most notably the way the acoustic guitar sounds like it has some chorus or phaser effect on it or something? But in general I like it a lot. Sometimes it really bugs me when the vocal melody lines up with the instrumental like your chorus does here but in this song it's really effective.

Lichen Throat - some strong elements here, I think this is one of your best vocals and the lyrics are interesting as ever. The song as a whole feels a little unfocused, I think part of that is the drums, which are arranged interestingly but I feel like they should kick into something more propulsive at some point, and part of it is a general lack of dynamics.

Mandibles - good to see Mandibles in a Song Fight! Vocals are amazing as ever, although towards the end they sound like they've been recorded a bit "hot" and there's some slight distortion that is a little grating. Excellent clean guitar work, but the fuzz guitar is a bit tinny in a way I don't find very enjoyable to listen to.

Paco Del Stinko - is that 5/4? This is another one that grew on me considerably over the course of a few listens. I wouldn’t quite put it among my favourite Paco songs but I do like it a lot.

Pigfarmer Jr - enjoyed this one, and I'm glad you went back to add some extra stuff to the arrangement - the acoustic and electric guitars sound really good together. Another strong vocal performance too. My only real criticism for this one is that the "doom with a view" line feels a little forced, the lyric is solid otherwise but that part kinda feels like "oh shit, I need to get the title in there".

Third Cat - cool synthy arrangement, I like the way the pads sort of pulse with the arrangement (not sure if that’s some sidechain compression or just some kind of auditory illusion) and this is one of the best lyrical takes on the title I think.

Vom Vorton - my initial plan for this fight was going to be to try something more experimental because I had this weird lyric and the title seemed to invite it, but somehow during the recording process I ended up basically writing another fairly poppy melody. I like the mix of synths and guitars in this one, I'm not it's quite as good as my last entry but I'm fairly happy with this.

Kinda want to vote for most of these, but Foobar and glennny are my definite favourites, so I’ll listen a couple more times before I make my final judgement.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by foobar93 »

Heine wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:44 pm
Thanks! Didn't know if Foobar really submitted. I only saw the lyrics.
Thanks for catching this, it's much appreciated.

I haven't submitted in like five years which not coincidentally is the same age as my oldest child now. I randomly had some free time and browsed over to the home page and was super freaked out by seeing one of the fights I entered in the past listed as "five years ago." So I thought what the hell I would try and submit something. I'm glad I did, although it's a lot harder to find a quiet space and time to record these days. I had to keep it really short and simple, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

Anyway, nice to know this community is still going strong even after all these years.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by glennny »

Doom with a View- Reviews.

I got carried away with the links to other songs. I'm just having fun. You're all amazing and original! Don't read too much into any of it.

BSS: Geech on drums, Ken on Bass, Lunkhead on right guitar, 1st solo, and Vocals, Glen on left guitar and 2nd solo. This song was built around Ken’s bass line. Lunkhead is producing this one. I love his vocal performance, I did both solos too. The groove is a nice one, we jammed it for a while so it got to gel in a big way. Greta playing by all the guys. It was great to see Geech again and make some good music. (last time (for me) was City in Fog).

http://www.songfight.org/music/city_in_ ... ne_cif.mp3


Foobar- Where ya been? Good to have you back! 5 years? 93 seconds? This seems like a song that belongs in a concept album like the Final Cut (Pink Floyd) or Berlin (Lou Reed). What I’m saying is, get Bob Ezrin to produce this concept album. Good stuff, wish there was more of it. EDIT: Ah kids! Here’s my unsolicited advice. Use them in your music as much as possible, make them a part of the process and song as much as you can. They’re only that age, with that voice once and it goes super quick. I shamelessly use my kids whenever I can, there are haters, but it’s well worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9tkbMnp7tM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBpQnTQlgiE

Fractal Elves- Nice and weird! Reminds me of King Crimson- Dig Me. Something with a high tension build before the release of the groove. This is really cool. I dig it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-2kl8HgVpo


Glennny- Hey that pre-chorus reminds me of Adam Ant- Prince Charming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p__WmyAE3g
Seems like a poor man’s Superdrag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAYsXTnX4ck
Ummm. I like it. I hope everyone else does too. Did you catch all of the time signature changes?

Heine- 4 years? Where ya been? Good to have you back! Recording sounds great! I love the vocals, reminds me of Peter Murphy. I like how it builds in instrumentation, i could imagine the orchestration to continue to grow. It’s hard to be an orchestra. Good job!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cy7B9x0qk


Lichen Throat- Why do you hate snare drums? There’s lots of boom but no thak. I want some thak! Parts of the music are very interesting and cool, other parts are awkward to me. It sounds like you wrote the lyrics before you sang them. This is the opposite of my approach. I start out singing nonsense, then I refine the nonsense into English with meaning as deep as rock lyrics. I like your lyrics a lot as they read, but they don’t flow so well as you’ve performed them. I like the quirkyiness, with a little more melody you might end up in the Eno-Golden Hours territory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxyg3sP ... N9RWUlVRK1


Mandibles- The classical singing always takes me to Pentangle. I think for rock you need to turn up the Pat Benatar. But why do rock? Pentangly folk is rather awesome. The drums are soooo quiet. Vocals though beautiful are way too up front for my taste. That 3rd verse is very long, 5 stanzas? Atrocity of verbosity. It’s a good story, the lyrics read nice, but I think the melody needs more variation rather than harping on the same melodic phrase for 5 stanzas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9gCN9-Jnfg

Paco del Stinko! - This is brilliant! The 5/4 lends itself to a link to JT-Living in the past. Your musicianship is on par with the Tull. I’m amazed and awestruck by the brilliant vocals and guitar playing. I’m a big fan! I cherish all your entries dear. I could soak them up for a couple fights. If you wanted to take a break for like 2 fights, I wouldn’t fault you. How can you follow such a brilliant track like this? VOTE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YymGJKhGgY


Pig Farmer Jr.- This is great! Nice to hear a fully flushed out song. This fits nicely in that Alt-Country vibe. The tasty licks in between the vocals on the bass and acoustic remind me of Led Zep- Hey Hey What Can I Do. This makes me want to drink domestic beer and slow dance with a barfly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epX8Th4aiMc

Third Cat- Wow! I love this chorus! The verse serves its purpose in setting up the chorus. I resent the volume increase at 2:23. You are the Andy Kaufman of Song Fight. I ran to my TV set to adjust the picture. This is total synth pop. In the vein of Architecture in Helsinki-Contact High.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxjcszKEcHE

Vom Vorton- Excellent recording! Why was this title so New Wave? Dynamics and harmonies are perfect. The synth bass and general love for 80’s reminds me of the end of the 00’s nostalgia for the 80’s. Like the Faint- Glass Danse. Great song! Gets a vote!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQWe6y2 ... BDYbZVy7mv
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Heine »

Some doomy reviews - Great work this fight. Each song is worth listening to.

BSS – Nice guitar work. Like the tones and the hard panning. Could be a nice UFO riff. Good song. – Vote.

Foobar – Your lyrics made me want to listen to that song. And you didn't disappoint me. Hm… well…, a bit short. But when all is said it should be over. I like your voice, it really delivers the message. Great. Btw: Do you like Lou Reed? – Vote.

Fractal Elves – That's what I call doom. Gives me feelings of oppression. Nailed it. Me, personally, I wished there'd be a bit more view than doom.

Glenny – I really like the lyrics. Quite catchy. Good song overall. Oh, a slide guitar! It should be a bit more prominent in the mix. – Vote.

Lichen Throat – Joy Division goes America! (Only my thought?)

Mandibles – A fine tune. I really appreciate the vocals. A strong folk character. A bit madrigal? Oh, how I wished the electric guitars were acoustic! (Your song makes me want to listen to Tudor Lodge, Hoelderlin and Ougenweide, again. If you dare: some brillant folky Kraut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1mPNBAx5rw) – Vote.

Paco del Stinko – What measure is that? Excellent guitar work as usual. Is it the microphone or the fx? The voice sounds a little bit 'canny' to me.

Pigfarmer Jr – Laid back feeling. Very appealing to me. I really enjoy the guitars and the vocals. I guess your lyrics nailed what I was trying to say – if I only could do it more directly. Maybe my favorite track this time. – Vote.

Third Cat – Hello 80s! Some fine sounds in there. And some parts sound even British to me. A solid song.

Vom Vorton – Some fine chord progression. Even some 80s vibe I feel. Good production. Great song! – Vote.

heine – (Oh, me!) That bad relationship thing. It starts quite drab, ends a bit more hopefully. I was using my flute for the first time. Just started practicing some weeks ago (so don't expect too much). - Oh I've just noticed that I have also been part of that 10-year-ago fight; Love Me a Little Bit More was my homage to the Scorpions (from my home town). To me one of the best tracks I did.
vowlvom wrote:
Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:29 am
...the acoustic guitar sounds like it has some chorus or phaser effect on it or something?
No fx on the guitars. The strummed one is a 12 string. I tuned it before the recording started. But it always got a bit of phasing/chorus naturally.
glennny wrote:
Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:22 pm
I love the vocals, reminds me of Peter Murphy.
Never thought of comparing my voice to Peter Murphy's. But nice! I even own the "Deep" CD since it has been released because I loved "Cuts you up" that much. And "Strange kind of love" even a bit more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cy7B9x0qk
Last edited by Heine on Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by lichenthroat »

Berkeley Social Scene—Great intro, and some interesting lines in the lyrics. I’m not wild about the chorus, but everything else is pretty good. Solid work.

foobar—As someone else remarked, this would not have been out of place on Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut. (I made the same association before reading the other review.) I wish it was longer, but it’s very good. Vote.

Fractal Elves—I think this is supposed to be more about the atmosphere than the musicality. It succeeds in creating the noir mood, but it’s not something I’d want to listen to a lot. I do kind of like the synth bass part in the chorus, though.

Glennny—Love this! Definitely my favorite of yours that I’ve heard. My one nitpick is that the vocal melody and weird delivery in the “Don’t depend on devils…” line seem out of place. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve been cranking this up in my car every time it comes on. Vote. Before I read your reviews, I’d been planning to mention a song that each of this fight’s entries reminded me of, whether because of the music or lyrical content. I’m going to forebear doing this for everyone, since I don’t want to steal your thunder, but I will mention that yours was going to be “Wind Him Up” by Saga.

heine—I was very impressed with all aspects of the performance and recording. This reminds me of Cat Stevens, with hints of David Bowie and Jethro Tull occasionally peeking through. Excellent work. Vote.

Lichen Throat (me)—This was written with the expectation that one of my friends would play guitar and sing, and I think it would have been better with a more skilled singer and a good guitar player, playing an actual guitar. It needs a little more variety (you’re right, Vom). Otherwise, I’m pretty happy with it. This is the first song I’ve ever intentionally written in 3/4. (“Tearing History Down” had parts that were de facto in 3/4, but I didn’t realize that until someone else mentioned it later.)

Mandibles—The vocal performance is great, but the recording doesn’t sound right, especially toward the end of the song. I like the pairing of the old-fashioned vocal melody with the dark-toned electric guitar. This is a little on the long side, but I like it overall.

Paco del Stinko—Hard to find a handle for comment on this one. Performances and production are highly competent, as usual. I liked this, but I found it a little inaccessible. That’s probably more about me than about the song.

Pigfarmer Jr—I imagine myself listening to this while eating good barbecue on a patio (and no, not Alien Barbecue). You’re getting quite good at these lazy-afternoon bluesy songs. I’d like the songwriting to be a little more memorable, but I enjoyed the performances and tone. I think your singing has improved a lot over the last year. Have you been consciously doing anything differently? Vote.

Third Cat—I’m genre-biased against this—sorry. Your vocal sounds really good, but the overall tone of the song is not to my taste. Sometimes the genre bias just can’t be overcome. Again, sorry.

Vom Vorton—Delightful! I don’t like the vocal melody on “…at least it’s a doom with a view,” but everything else is spot-on. Lots of nice little touches, like the stray guitar tones coming in unexpectedly at the perfect moments. Your last several songs have been great, and this is no exception. Vote.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by lichenthroat »

glennny wrote:
Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:22 pm

Lichen Throat- Why do you hate snare drums? There’s lots of boom but no thak. I want some thak! Parts of the music are very interesting and cool, other parts are awkward to me. It sounds like you wrote the lyrics before you sang them. This is the opposite of my approach. I start out singing nonsense, then I refine the nonsense into English with meaning as deep as rock lyrics. I like your lyrics a lot as they read, but they don’t flow so well as you’ve performed them. I like the quirkyiness, with a little more melody you might end up in the Eno-Golden Hours territory.
I don't hate snare drums, but I'm kind of afraid of them, and cymbals too. I feel like they often call attention to themselves in undesirable ways in my arrangements, though not in anyone else's. I probably need to understand more theory about use of drums, but I will make an effort to include more snares in the future.

Believe it or not, I used the exact procedure you recommend in writing my vocals for this song, beginning with establishing the melody and meter using nonsense words, and then writing the real lyrics. I was even careful about counting syllables, but some of the phrasing is still awkward.

Thanks for the link to the Brian Eno song. I didn't know too much about him before, but his quote about "theory over practice, serendipity over forethought, and texture over craft" does sound somewhat similar to my approach.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by thirdcat »

heine - the song is pretty darn good, like a demo for a classic 70s rock song. the recording does have that demo-ish quality, bit lo-fi. vocals & guitar playing are good. pretty cool outro, the way the energy builds there is nice, and I like the flute, nice touch. overall I liked this one and can imagine voting for it if it grows on me with more listens.

BSS - pretty raunchy feel, I dig it. the vocals work well for this style. I can hear a sneer which seems like the intention. some nice contrasts between the sections. tasteful keys tasty leads. one of the better BSS entries for my tastes and a very likely vote after initial listens.

Vom Vorton - some pretty cool production/mix stuff here. Like the synth bass quite a bit. and some very tasteful guitar bits that come in at just the right times. love the way you just let the guitar chord ring out there at certain points. possibly my favorite of the fight and a definite vote.

pigfarmer jr - nice acoustic guitar; has a very classic sound. which is both a positive and a negative I guess (it reminds me of something I can't place, but it sounds nice and is well played - maybe it's just one of those bits that's so good it sounds like you've heard it before even when you haven't.) I think this may be my favorite pigfarmer jr vocal performance. And overall I think this is one of your stronger songs that I've heard. I like the guitar solo. Probable vote.

Fractal Elves - the musical elements are very interesting. has me curious whether the the piano and uh ... horn? are samples? cool drums. cool synth. unfortunately for me the vocal part kinda pulls down my overall appreciation. I think as just an instrumental it's quite cool & interesting.

foobar - nice sounding piano. I don't love the drums, seem a bit out of place. vocals are pretty good but the melody doesn't pull me in much.

Mandibles - I remember the guitar on one of your tracks over on spintunes reminding me of Radiohead, the guitar intro here immediately made me think of "Let Down" from OK Computer - not a bad thing from my pov - I'm a huge fan of them. This is a track where I'm more into the music than the vocals - even though they are quite good performance wise, they're just in a style that I don't really connect to. mostly a genre bias thing. the instrumental is really cool regardless. possible vote. may grow on me with more listens.

Lichen Throat - instrumentally I hear quite a bit of progress from your previous songs, this one has some neat rhythms. vocals are improving too.

Glennny - Another favorite of this fight, really interesting musically - and while I'm not 100% loving the vocals I think they mostly work alright for this song. Cool mix/production. I think the verse is my favorite bit. I already like it, but it's the type of song I can imagine growing on me even more with further listens. Definite vote.

Paco Del Stinko - Good as always, could be a grower. Love the instrumental breaks a lot. Vocal parts are good too. Possible vote.

___

Third Cat - I wrote this - and originally intended to record it - on acoustic guitar but ended up doing this more synthy /electric piano thing because I was having trouble getting the guitar to sound right in the mix. I think it probably ended up more interesting like that anyway. overall one of my favorites I've done for SongFight so far, it has less parts that I hate than usual (although I think the vocals worked much better on the chorus than the verse)
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by starfinger »

thirdcat wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:03 pm
whether the the piano and uh ... horn? are samples?
It’s a sampled piano from kontakt. The horn is a kaossilator!
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Cybronica »

Lichen Throat: Don’t listen to the others! I love the mellow feel of the drums. Snare would have spoiled the sound, I think. I really like this song: the lyrics tell a good story, the instrumentals are excellent (I LOVE the instrumental break). Even the melody sounds great, but the vocals are, as always, giving me great pause. It’s especially frustrating because you have such a good instrument- a full, rich, instrument, with a pleasant tone, but no control. It feels breathless and like you’re thinking about what is coming up as opposed to what you’re doing to create the sound. I think deeper breaths and singing it a few times through so you don’t have to think about what comes next – it just happens – would do you wonders. These lyrics are tragic. It nearly brought me to tears.

Pig Farmer Jr.: I like the chorus to this a lot. It feels like the 11th hour song at a concert that brings everyone in and gets super intimate before the big finish, or maybe the last song on the album. Your vocals are growing on me the more I listen to them. Simple, elegant, feels like a classic.

Paco del Stinko: Again, a great chorus. I like the solo too. Good vocals, but they get lost in the mix, I think. Has a bit of a beatles-turn-dark feel to it.

BSS: Sounds like something I’d hear on the radio. Vocals are a bit exposed, though. Otherwise, I like the music. The instrumentals blend well, and the bridge definitely feels more integrated between vocals and instruments than the rest did. I would have liked a second vocal.

heine: I like this song quite a bit. The vocals are excellent, the instrumentals are well played, and I like the solo chorus. The instrument breaks do a lot to add to the song; they give add another dimension. The play out is fantastic; where’s my lighter….. (though if my German lieder class taught me anything, its that a heine poem will always have a turn towards darkness towards the end… where’s the darkness? ;) ).

Fractal Elves: Grows on me every time I hear it. I love the clarinet; I love the old timey pitch bending; I like the spoken text. This song is unnerving, but in a good way. It’s 5 drinks in and still enjoying the party. Maybe I’m just in the right head space for it right now, but this is very well crafted. Everything is put together well; I particularly like how you layered in the old-recording instruments with the percussion and synth into the Twilight Zone vocals. I wish you had posted the lyrics because sometimes I have trouble understanding them.

Third Cat: Cool synths, and a nice enough song. I really like your voice; it has a great timbre to it, and the way you enunciate is delightful. The vocals might be a little too much for the balance, but who am I to say that?

Vom Vorton: I think you win for best integration of “A Doom with a View.” I love the synth bass line, and I like the 80’s drums. The piano in the post chorus is a really nice touch. As always, very well sung, though if you wanted a criticism (which I’m sure you don’t), it does get a little pitchy at times; I think that would be the next step for improvement, since all other elements sound so good (and so does your singing; we’re at the ‘this is really good so lets get a little nit-picky’ stage).

Glenny: That bass line at the very beginning is GREAT, and the layered playing is so good. I love your voice, I’ve mentioned that before; I especially love the oos after the chorus – sooooo berlin trilogy Bowie. The lyrics tell a story with an arc; I always like that. I especially like how the chorus is like “What the hell is he talking about” until you get to the last verse. That’s a really nice reveal.

Foobar: Glad we got to hear this! I love the lyrics; I can never get enough political commentary, especially when I can interpret it to align with my own views. “Come on in the cemetery’s fine” is one of my favorite songfight lines ever. Piano and the laid back drums create suck a good atmosphere to display the message of the song. It is really well sung, and you have a beautiful voice, but you lose your sense of line in the first part of the chorus. It just ends up sounding choppy, I think, until the aforementioned favorite line. Too many glottal stop, but that might be my own preference.

Mandibles: This song almost didn’t happen because the deadline snuck up on us. It was originally going to be truth on the vocals and have a real bridge, but at 8am the day of, we had a third of a song recorded that was mostly demo. I ended up to the vocals instead, and arranged the beautiful instrumental tracks that truth laid down in such a way that made it sound like it was supposed to be that way. The bridge is just the post chorusx2 with me improvising the melody over it. I also put in the backing vocals to fill out the sound, and to give it that creepy edge I felt it needed.
vowlvom wrote:
Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:29 am
…although towards the end the [vocals] sound like they've been recorded a bit "hot" and there's some slight distortion that is a little grating.
That was on purpose! I was trying to make it more and more unsettling the deeper in the the final double verse. I was going for the overblown mic sound from Muse.
And thanks for all the links in the reviews, glennny and heine! I especially like Hölderlin.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

BSS - Just to add to what glennny said about this already, we also had a section session where I did the main vocal and final chorus harmonies and Ken and I did the gang vocals and keys. I am just listening to this all the way through again for the first time in a couple weeks and noticing that the main vocal in the final chorus is like 2x a loud as it was in the whole rest of the song for no apaprent reason. Oops!

Foobar - Nice song, has a theatrical feel to me. With only the drums, piano, and vocal, it would really help for the vocal to be more solid and on pitch. It's very sparse and that puts a lot of pressure on the vocal to carry the weight of the song.

Fractal Elves - Good to hear you fighting again! I like how grungy and screechy this gets. The chorus gets slightly more conventional and melodic and catchy in a way that I think is a good balance to the more experimental ambient vibe of the rest of the song. I think you could have layered in some more stuff in the final chorus, like some heavy chugging guitar or something. Now that I imagine guitar mixed in the chorus is reminding me of NIN.

glennny - You've got kind of a Talking Heads thing going in your pre-chorus vocals sometimes I think. I'm not sure rhythmically that the different rhythms in drums, bass, guitar, and voice in the verses all all complementing each other well, sounds a little chaotic and crowded to me. I'm not a huge fan of when all the instruments play in rhythm with the drum fills. I like the bridge vocals. Nice little a cappella moment snuck in there.

heine - Ooh, 12-string, nice. Is the other acoustic is playing the chords along with the 12-string or something? As Vom mentioned there is a something a little phasey sounding about the main guitar(s). Overall though fine parts and changes. I like the outro. More flute!

Lichen Throat - Your vocal phrasing tbh sounds pretty awkward to me. My tastes personally lean toward phrasing that sounds natural and close to the way the lyrics would be spoken in terms of what syllables are long/short and stressed/not-stressed. I think in this case I mostly notice you're rushing syllables in a way that just sounds off to me. I wonder if having the music in 6/4 in the verse instead of 4/4 is robbing you of beats that you could have used to have more space for phrasing the words with less rushing? On the other hand, the vocal seems to get out of synch with the meter of the music so I don't really quite understand what is happening there. The first note of the first verse line starts on the 1, the second is on the 3, the third is on the 5. Are you actually singing over it as if it were in 4/4? Is it an intentional polyrhythm/gamelan? Also I having a hard time hearing the connection between the notes in your vocal melodies and the notes in your music. Production wise this is all pretty muddy. There's too much low end. Do you put a hi-pass/lo-cut filter on your vocals? (That's a type of EQ that cuts the volume of frequencies below a threshold frequency.) Sounds like you need to do some more EQ-ing to give each instrument its own space. Also some panning would probably help, like you could pan the fake guitar off to the side. I think you're maybe using too much reverb on too many/all of the tracks too. I think the breakdown after the second chorus is my favorite part, there is some cool stuff going on there in the fake guitar and bass. I also like that you're telling a story. I wonder if you could maybe just skip the speak-singing and do spoken word instead, and maybe that would support the storytelling aspect of the lyrics better.

Mandibles - I don't know what is up with folks not using panning. You're going to greatly help yourself out with the clarity of the instruments/vocals in your mixes if you pan anything away from the center. Leave the center for the vocals and bass please! If you're worried about things sounding out of balance just use light panning, like, 25%-50%. You'll be surprised how much that will help with the clarity of everything and space for the vocals. Anyway. Really good guitar playing. The guitar could maybe use a touch of reverb on it and could stand to be panned a bit. Actually if you're interested, I would enjoy taking a stab at remixing this if you want to send me the stems. Good singing in the main vocal but I think it could use a little more compression and reverb. The backup vocal is strong too and the parts are good but I think it could also stand to be separate in the stereo field and lower in the mix and given more ambience so it feels more like a supporting part rather than a competing second main vocal. Also the drums are way too quiet, and they sound bad. Might be better to just skip them. I like the song although I think the vocal melody in the verses kind of gets repetitive before the last chorus. I think it maybe relies on one or two notes too much and then maybe I'm wrong and it's over compressed or something, as it sounds like it's at maximum volume consistently for a lot of the time, which gets a little fatiguing. Very good vocal performance though.

Paco del Stinko - Is there some keyboard in there? More keyboard! ;) Nice mixing of time signatures. Nice playing of all the instruments per usual, particularly the guitar of course. Your main vocal sounds a little muffled and bassy, maybe it was recorded very close to the mic or something? I'd like to hear the backing vocals in the choruses more I think. Tight song though, good stuff.

Pigfarmer Jr - Guitar sounds nice. There is some weird digital buzzing/clicking noise somewhere that's a bit distracting. Solid singing in that intro. Feels a little loose at first when the drums and bass come in but then tightens up, but I'm glad you brought in "the band". This is another case where I wish something was panned, like, move the acoustic off to the left a little and the electric off to the right a bit or something, anything. Pretty good mix overall though, in spite of the lack of panning, things don't sound super crowded or mushy, and the vocal sits really well and is clear without sounding too loud. I like the song too, it's nice and simple but solid. I think this one is a cut above some of your other entries, nice work!

Third Cat - Your synthy electronic sound is very refreshing after so much guitar oriented music! I really like your palette of synths and drums and percussion. I'm really wondering what your voice would sound like with a more natural treatment and less processing. Ooh, there's some guitar, but it's just a nice little touch. I love the synth swells in the second verse. I'm digging the chorus, good beat and melody and I like the upbeat singing about impending doom. The outro vocal is maybe a touch too loud and up front. I would (normally, except, this time I did the exact opposite) have an outro like that be a group of vocals spread across the stereo field and all a bit lit lower in the mix and with more reverb.

Vom Vorton - Is that fake guitar in there a la Lichen Throat? It's probably real but the forcefully struck individual notes did remind me of LT's guitar. I like the gated snare. Good beat in the intro/verse. I like the instrumentation changes a lot. Nice playing of everything too. This has a cool 80s new-wave feel that I appreciate. I kind of wish the vocal had a more detached rhythmic quality to it, more soulless and robotic, or, different idea, that it had more of a Dave Gahan style. Anyway, good one!

Good solid fight! Nice work everybody.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Heine »

Thanks to everyone for the kind reviews! Good to be back.
Lunkhead wrote:
Sun Feb 03, 2019 12:30 pm
heine - Ooh, 12-string, nice. Is the other acoustic is playing the chords along with the 12-string or something? As Vom mentioned there is a something a little phasey sounding about the main guitar(s).
I had to take a look at Cubase, again: There are only 2 guitars recorded. The 12-string (which sounds a bit phasey in itself) is recorded with sure SM57 for clearer high strings and also via pick-up/line to add more body. But no effects! Nothing! The spanish guitar has got a little compression and reverb (the nylon strings gave a nice feeling to play the melodies).
Cybronica wrote:
Sun Feb 03, 2019 11:10 am
And thanks for all the links in the reviews, glennny and heine! I especially like Hölderlin.
I also like to thank glenny for that Pentangle link. What a great band I never have heard of until this fight! Thanks!
A band that's not that far away is Renaissance with their fantastic vocalist Annie Haslam. Symphonic folk prog...? I don't know, but very great musicians, compositions, records. Maybe try them live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B578LuXbPI I simply love them!
www.heine-musik.de - Stark autark! - Keller Kollektiv - Vince Link - "Paragon of Teutonic Gloominess" - Elaine DiMasi
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Heine wrote:
Sun Feb 03, 2019 1:20 pm
The 12-string (which sounds a bit phasey in itself) is recorded with sure SM57 for clearer high strings and also via pick-up/line to add more body. But no effects! Nothing!
Ah, it actually could be because of the 12-string being recorded those two different ways and both tracks being in the mix, especially if they're not panned separately.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

Typically line in and microphone won't cause phase effects, will it? At least I've never had the issue. As opposed to using two mics. Then I've had issues before.
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Re: A Room With Some New Unused (A Doom With A View Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

I think you can still have issues, sounds like due to the potentially different recording latency? I haven't read this whole thing yet so I'm not sure.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/match ... of-mic-di/
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