Frankie Big Face
This is full of great stuff. Such a full vocal sound and good singing to boot. I especially like the pre-chorus – “And I won’t say no, no I can’t say no….”— perfection. Having said that, the chorus doesn’t pull me in as much as I wanted. It’s just how it hits me. It’s all subjective though. The guitar solo is pretty, and the bass works really nicely. Skilled sequencing of the keyboard with everything else. Forgot to say earlier how well the start of the song works. Opening lines also great. Nice work.
I hear you about the chorus. You're not the first to say it. I'm going to fix that!
Thanks for pointing out the stuff you liked. I was trying to do an Elliott Smith type of vocal at the beginning and read about some recording/mixing techniques he used. That seemed to pay off, especially in that sweet spot you pointed out ("I won't say no, etc."). Appreciate the review!
Frankie Big Face:I can't tell you how happy I am to hear your voice again. Happy Fathers Day to you, good sir!
Well, this is just about the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me! It certainly is cool to see familiar names popping up around here lately. Hope you had a great Father's Day, friend!
Spintown & Company
You took an emotional approach, which is refreshing, and the harmonies here are great. I’m not too sure about how the lyrics flow in with the music – there are times where I wanted things to fit a bit better. I know this is always a challenge for us songwriters. The great thing about this song is your dedication to making little changes to keep the listener interested: no drums sometimes, new arpeggio piano parts, changing the vocal delivery. Good stuff.
Thanks for the review. Joe did a good job of covering up my bad lyrics. ;p
Balls to Monte
1. This really rocks. On my airpods, the treble is a bit too intense.
2. It turns out that "immovable object" is not that easy to fit naturally into lyrics, and you do it here. I like the bounce.
3. I like that little fade thing as the solo guitar comes in. I have a feeling in the future, when I think back on these fights, your "I'm the immovable object, you're the unstoppable force" will be the line that comes back to me.
Carrier Wave
1. Pleasant on the first listen. Not much to say this round...
2. I like the rough tone of the bass.
3. So I think to really tie the music into the speech, this has to go like fucking insane at some point to illustrate what it means for the energy to go somewhere.
Dead Ambassadors
1. Like the guitar sound. Really fills the space. Not sure I hate bureaucrats like you do. HOAs do suck though.
2. Tight and effective arrangement. Wish I had something to be madder about than bureaucrats.
3. Good energy, in and out fast.
Frankie Big Face
1. Great groove right out the gate. The automatic/electrostatic rhymes feel a little ... rote? Cool, maybe perfect, amount of synth. Just enough for flavor.
2. Feel compelled to say the rest of the rhymes feel more natural, and I especially like the buoyancy/flow line.
3. I remember how you love the breathiness of Joe Pernice's vocals. You've got some of that going on in the verses here. Small thing, but a touch of de-essing could smooth out some of the sibilance in that part.
Hostess Mostess
1. A journey song. I like the intimacy of the guitar. It's the first listen, but something's keeping me from really engaging in the way this kind of song wants. I think I'm craving some more dynamics in the vocals. Your intensity on the golden age isn't much more than at the beginning. Nice closing lyric.
2. Noticing the more whispery background vocal in the beginning, which contradicts my previous comment a bit. I think you did a good job with the chord changes in the golden age segment. Definitely makes it feel like the song went somewhere.
3. Good use of the woodwind sounds. The song definitely bears repeat listens.
The Idiot Kings
1. Love the meaty drums. Cool slide guitars. Catchy enough chorus. The semi-buried vocals could be a valid choice, but at least on the first listen, I'm having trouble hanging onto anything to keep me engaged for 4+ minutes. (Something I'm struggling with myself for IO right now.)
2. Did you say "unstoppable forest"? Effective use of the organ -- both when it comes in and drops out.
3. Okay yes, there is an unstoppable forest. Now I need to puzzle out what that means (complimentary). The drum pattern certainly feels unstoppable.
IRC USM
1. I'm not a big theory guy, but it seems like there's an interesting timing thing going on here that could be brought out better in the mix. Maybe beefier bass and louder drums.
2. Bold choice to start a Song Fight song with 40 seconds of ambience. I like the "as you consume" part. Something nice about the sound of the vocals there. In a lot of the rest of the song, it feels like the vocal is holding back.
3. 106. Like 1:06? Is Satan coming at one in the morning? It was feeling a bit thin thematically, then the "all the ____ people" section came in, and I think that rounds out your concept well.
The Mellfire Trifecta
1. Good bass groove. In fact, I like all the little things the bass is doing. Tasteful synth accents.
2. Comparisons to other bands is a low form of critique, but whatever: this reminds me of Field Music, who are great. I really like that high distorted sound that lingers at the end.
3. I like the little supporting instruments that come in here and there. Maybe there could be more. Or maybe not. I probably overdo that kind of thing.
Notable Pups
1. Some fantastic arrangement here. The vocals aren't sitting quite right, and they often seem too loud. That intense part is cool. The lyrics aren't quite my style. I want to say too pretentious, but that's a crappy word and I think it's purely a taste thing.
2. Yeah, I dig the production and instrumentation. Well done on the dynamics.
3. Trying to make my critique of the lyrics better, I'd say it seems like a collection of loosely related lines without a larger concept. Which, I get. I think I've written a lot of Song Fight songs like that because of the time crunch.
Spintown & Company
1. There's a Vedder bellow right near the beginning that is hard for me to deal with. And the prosody on "new game to win" feels off. This kind of modern rock is very much not my "cup of tea", but putting that aside, the arrangement and vocals are very tight.
2. I can't figure out some key words in the chorus. I'm guessing she's not your number one nun? (Yes, I know I could look up the lyrics...)
3. You are a really good singer.
Spintown & Company
1. There's a Vedder bellow right near the beginning that is hard for me to deal with. And the prosody on "new game to win" feels off. This kind of modern rock is very much not my "cup of tea", but putting that aside, the arrangement and vocals are very tight.
2. I can't figure out some key words in the chorus. I'm guessing she's not your number one nun? (Yes, I know I could look up the lyrics...)
3. You are a really good singer.
1. I only did lyrics, and I don't know what a Vedder bellow is. I will mention to Joe that you liked his singing & arrangement.
2. The line in the chorus is, "She's my A number 1 non". Which if I'd have changed to, "She's my number 1 non" if I'd had time to sit with the lyrics & music without a tight deadline. In Nur Ein (yeah, it's a Nur Ein/Song Fight song) I turn in lyrics on day 1 of getting the challenge without having heard any music.
3. Thanks for the review!
Balls to Monte
1. This really rocks. On my airpods, the treble is a bit too intense.
2. It turns out that "immovable object" is not that easy to fit naturally into lyrics, and you do it here. I like the bounce.
3. I like that little fade thing as the solo guitar comes in. I have a feeling in the future, when I think back on these fights, your "I'm the immovable object, you're the unstoppable force" will be the line that comes back to me.
Thanks for the kind words. My mixes tend to be too muddy or too bright. This was definitely the latter.
On a related note, is there a mastering software that anyone can recommend? Thanks in advance.
"...and it ain’t a fit night out for man or beast!”
Great thread, if a little overwhelming. I'll say these days, Youlean is amazing for creating a tangible loudness goal that isn't just as loud as possible. Also, for my part I try to solve most EQ issues track by track with the vocal being the trickiest balance between bright and grating.
Personally I use iZotope Ozone to manage the loudness of the final export and then I use YouLean to check the loudness, and then I tweak the threshold of the limiter till the export is putting out -10LUFS per YouLean.
I put out -14 LUFS but have been going to -13 since so many sound louder than me these days. Reaper has a built in LUFS reader now which is handy, but I still have youlean on the master for periodic checking. I think there was a sale on ozone recently go get a helpful little mastering plugin to test different presets and see if there's something you can emulate or just put on with mild tweaking.
