The Song Fight Bulletin Board

In review, I need to expand my review vocabulary. I have a great love for fun things.

Agony Sauce: Love the arrangement and rhythmic syncopation. Super catchy melody the whole way through. The diverse instrumentation keeps grabbing my attention, I’m really enjoying this.

Amby Moho: This is such a groove. Is that real whistling? It sounds so nice, I love the textures you paint with. Love the vocals. This one really hits right.

Berkeley Social Scene: I’m loving the feel immediately. I love your voice. Reminds me a lot of Mark Hoppus, but better at actually singing. I’m always a sucker for that descending bass line, love the direction of the bridge and solo. Catchy melody, I’m into this one.

Brother Baker: I definitely struggled on the mix this time around. I think the acoustic guitars aren’t synchronized enough, and I left too many fx unconfigured.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: Excellent use of the title in your lyrics, probably my favorite. Love the guitar harmonies. I want to hear more drumset, I think the guitars wash it out a little too much.

Duncan Martin: Love the melody and the lyrics. Very charming. This is a really nice, laid back tune. The mix is a little quiet among the other entries.

FireBear: My kinda music. Love the way the vocal lines and guitar play with each other in the chorus. I hear that whistling shoehorned in there, adds a nice spooky element. Really love the vocal harmonies in the bridge.

Glennny: I like the idea of the off beat rhythm, but I wasn’t sold until that “after basking” chorus. You hit such a good grove here, I’m into all the syncopation, all the sounds!

The Gross Tones: Cool. Funky.

Jeff DeSantis: Love the guitar chords under the chorus. And the vibe of the whole song. This is really a nice listen. Mmmm, yeah, enjoying those strings too. I think the vocals are a little loud in the mix. Other than that, I’m on board. I’d listen to this album.

Lichen Throat: You are a better singer than you had previously characterized yourself to be. Loved the stories in the lyrics and the use of the title. Don’t be afraid of the cymbals in your drum parts! A crash cymbal at the start of a new section is a great way to mark it’s beginning and give it some oomph. I like your arrangement and melodies working together, and I think a little more percussive variation would help elevate them. It works well for you in the bridge.
Just read your comment about Friday. Your lyrics are awesome!

Lunkhead: Hell yeah. I’m on board from the first note. This is fun and good and I don’t know what else to say. Love the chorus. Great punk song.

Night Sky: Ugh, I always love your saxophoning. Great arrangement with the instruments, love the way the song grows in the beginning. And that bass, I’m really loving the sound of the verses. And thank you for whistling. I almost forgot that was the challenge going through these.

Robyn Mackenzie: Great rock song, really awesome chorus. Great hook. Wasn’t sure if this one would be for me or not at first, but I’m completely sold by the end. Super fun!

Sly Eli: I was on the edge of my seat that whole first minute to see where you were going, and it was a nice payoff. Love the atmosphere you build, then when those electronic drums come in, it hits so good. Really cool song man, I like what you’re doing.

Sumner Sloane: This is so fun. I love it. Are you single-micing a drumset? I’m getting too much cymbals and hihat for the mix, and really missing the bass drum. For a sophomore mix, it’s really not bad! Your biggest issue is those cymbals kinda dominating it. I really like the song and performance a lot, keep it up!

SunLite: Ooh, I could get lost in those dissonant guitar chords and your voice. Oh yeah, I really like your style. I think the vocals are a touch loud in the mix. I really, really love the sound you achieve in your verses. Those distant guitars are beautiful. I’m never one to ask for less rock, but I think I wanted less rock. The chorus is good and I love the vocal harmony at the end, but I wonder where else the song could have gone after 2:00 instead. One of my top this week, either way.

Tim Hinkle: This is the most impressive whistling I’ve heard. You’re talented. Really interesting texture, especially when that reverb guitar comes in. I think you perfectly captured the mood of your lyrics in the music here. It’s creative and I like it.

Vom Vorton: Your lyrics are so conversational and relatable. Nice, that whistle bridge comes at the perfect moment. You're tied with Tim for best whistle. Great song, it’s a really fun and enjoyable listen.

Here, Atticus wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:05 pm

Lichen Throat: You are a better singer than you had previously characterized yourself to be. Loved the stories in the lyrics and the use of the title. Don’t be afraid of the cymbals in your drum parts! A crash cymbal at the start of a new section is a great way to mark it’s beginning and give it some oomph. I like your arrangement and melodies working together, and I think a little more percussive variation would help elevate them. It works well for you in the bridge.
Just read your comment about Friday. Your lyrics are awesome!

Yes, I am afraid of the cymbals, especially anything other than the ride cymbals. I think your advice is good, though; I'll try to work on that. And thanks for the kind words about everything else.

Some quick thoughts. I've been drinking a bit, so excuse any typos or dumb comments.

Agony Sauce - great performances from all of the instruments. Don't have too much to say. This works for me the whole way through.

Amby Moho - This is cool. I'm probably way off, but I was thinking this was like a Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd crossed with Depeche Mode.

BSS - The like the lead guitar sound. You are hitting those high notes. That's tough to make that sound good. You did.

Brother Baker - Wow. Really powerful vocals. Well done. I know it was part of the optional challenge, but I'd replace the whistling with a keyboard or something else.

BW and BW - Love the fuzzy guitar. The whistling works for me on this one.

Duncan Martin - This was cool. I liked the harmonica. I like the lyrics. I'd love to hear this harmonized with a female voice.

FireBear - This one rocks. I wish it was a little longer. It seems to end before I could really get a true sense of it.

Glenny - Loved the guitar solo. Nice track.

Gross Tones - There is some really nice guitar work in this fight. Another good example. This sounds like this was fun to record.

Jeff Desantis - Nice vocal. Nice strings. It seems to cut off abruptly at the end. Let that last chord ring out.

Lichen Throat - The music is really strong here. I agree with some of the other reviews - maybe try some in a higher vocal range.

Lunkhead - Another song with some good guitar. I love the "screaming" at the end. I say go even heavier there.

Night Sky - Whistling/Sax combo was perfect. I liked the bass line. Loved the outro solo.

Robin Mackenzie - My favorite "chorus" of the fight. Guitar rocked. Nice song.

Sly Eli - Nice vocals. I don't have that much to say about this one - I just liked it.

Sumner Sloane - This was indeed recorded with just one mic which is probably why the cymbals are so distracting and the kick is missing. My next song has two drum mics but it is not that much of an improvement. The bigger issue is that I am not a drummer.

SunLite - I like this. I like how it builds with more drums and vocals. Another nice guitar solo.

Tim Hinkle - I also like the whistling. You sound like Billy Bragg.

Vom Vorton - Like the harmony. This is my second favorite "chorus" of the fight. Like how it mellows out a bit after the whistling.

Agony Sauce: straight in with the guitarmonies! This is full of interesting stuff, although some of it seems a little messy rhythmically at times, particularly when the crunchy guitar and mandolin (?) are playing at the same time. It is my personal opinion that no song ever written has needed two guitar solos, but they are melodic and well-played. Otherwise I enjoyed this a lot.

Amby Moho: I love the whistling melody in this, I can't tell if it's real whistling + FX or a synth whistle, but either way it is lovely. The buried vocals work but I think they could stand out a little more without throwing the vibe off. Great mix of unusual sounds, one of my favourites.

Berkeley Social Scene: this didn't make much impression on me first listen but it has grown on me quite a bit over a few listens. I like the switch between the moody verses and the classic rock 'n' roll chorus although said chorus is screaming out for some backing vocals, I want a whole bunch of harmonised oohs in there! The extra stuff layered in the last chorus is really pretty. But those oohs would be even better!

Brother Baker: really fun, catchy whistling melody. I feel like it needs to back off a little when the vox come in though because this gets really busy and while I like all of the individual elements it feels a bit like an assault on the senses when everything is going on at once. The layered vocals are really well done but I wish they had a bit more mix-space to play around in, I guess.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: nicely fuzzy guitar tone, the layered vocals feel distracting though, I wish they were more in sync. I like the penny whistle breakdown very much but the song as a whole didn't quite grab me.

Duncan Martin: your low-key vocals and jazzy chords remind me a little of Jim O'Rourke. This is nicely laid back but I wish it had just a little more... energy to it, I guess. It's easy for it to get lost in the pack. But I enjoyed listening.

FireBear: very kinda washy mix, I wish the guitar had a little more definition, I feel like it's taking up all the space in the mix. The vocal layering is interesting, in places it sounds great and in others I'm struggling to get my head around it.

Glennny: aha, there's some guitar with a nice crunch. I like the sound of this for the most part, the extra percussion is really well done and the keyboards are nice subtle addition (until the end when they have a bit of psych freakout which is fun). Vox sound a bit muffled, not sure if there's some saturation on there or something but I think they could use a bit of a high-end boost or something.

The Gross Tones: doubled vocal sounds a bit messy and phasey, but I like the jammy energy that this song starts with. No idea what you're trying to do with the interlude sections but I'm not a fan, ruins a decent song for me.

Jeff DeSantis: this is gentle and sad and I like it a lot. Vocal is very loud and up-close, I think the mix would sound good with a little more roominess to it. But I really enjoyed this one.

Lichen Throat: I like the guitar riff and your vocal timing is solid, drums sound good too. One of the best LT songs I've heard in a while.

Lunkhead: opening chords / riff very much remind me of The Hives! Excellent execution and mix as usual, really good energy too.

Night Sky: very rigid timing on the drum and guitar tracks, I wish this had a bit more of a swing to it. Bassline is nice, sax sounds good as usual.

Robyn Mackenzie: ahhhhh what does the "that much is true" bit remind me of? I agree with the other reviews that the lead vocal is a little high in the mix (or a little too clean to sit right) but this is another really good song and I LOVE the solo, which hopefully comes as high praise because I hardly ever love solos, but this one rules.

Sly Eli: your chorus melody has a distinctly sort of 80s pop melody to it, but the crunchy guitars and rhythm track feel like they each come from a different decade. It's an interesting effect, and another track I'm pretty into.

Sumner Sloane: this is charming although the extremely lo-fi recording sucks the life out of it a bit. It has a nice bounce to it and a catchy melody.

SunLite: this is nicely composed and performed. The finger noise doesn't bother me although I also wasn't a fan of the ocean / commotion rhyme. I like the space in the mix and the way you introduce new elements throughout the song.

Tim Hinkle: first-rate whistling. Extremely flattered by the review from Here, Atticus that said I was tied with you for best whistle, because that's clearly not true - you're in a different league. Good song too, and your brand of spacy folk is a great match for the whistled intro and outro.

Vom Vorton: I had a lot of fun with this one, the bouncy bassline was super enjoyable to play. Agreed with the comments on the vox needing to sit a bit better in the mix, I'm using a (mostly) new set of plugins after a full recent reinstall and I need to work on that a bit I think. Really happy with this one on the whole though, one of my favourite solo SF submissions I think.

lichenthroat wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:39 pm

Yes, I am afraid of the cymbals, especially anything other than the ride cymbals. I think your advice is good, though; I'll try to work on that. And thanks for the kind words about everything else.

You're very welcome! I remember you saying somewhere that you started composing with zero musical background, and that's really impressive!
Cymbals are definitely dangerous elements, but super effective when used right. I remember the plight of learning to program midi drums years ago with no drumming background, it's tedious unto itself. If you ever have questions about it, feel free to message me here or on the discord!(I'm JaBaker) I love talking about this stuff and sharing the little tricks that have helped me over the years.

We've also had many threads over the years about drum programming in the Help and How To section of the forum.

EDIT: I guess it's been a while, but this one has tons of info: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9448&hilit=drum+programming

Robyn Mackenzie wins! Nice work!

Congratulations Robyn!

Congrats Robyn!

Congratz!!

Congratulations! It's a banger.

Thanks everyone! I had a lot of fun with it.

Congrats Robyn!

superb effort Robyn.