I haven't reviewed in a while. Many of you guys I don't think I've listened to before. Hi! If all those numbers don't make sense, have a look at my signature. I'm a fairly critical listener... if I don't have a lot to complain about in your song, that's a big compliment from me.
Also some scores might be higher than the text of the review would have made you think... that means I can't put my finger on what makes your song good, or it was something very straightforward. Sorry if that's not too helpful. If you want more details, just ask.
Berkeley Social Scene: Hey, a BSS arrangement that I actually like (minus the slightly sloppy playing in some places). Melody in the chorus feels like it doesn't go anywhere, though... and the vocals get a bit weak there. Background vocals don't fit themselves into the mix very well. Perhaps try reducing the highs a bit. Very nice solo sound. This isn't going to become one of my favourite songs, but everything fits together well and it just needs a bit more love in the performance department.
C:3 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/15
bgm: The style sounds pretty generic but the slightly unusual major-minor progressions nicely make up for that. Great arrangement/development, rounded off with a great mix. I have two complaints, though (surprise!). Number one: the melody isn't very exciting and there is no chorus to distract me from that. Number two: it's fairly hard to stay engaged in a song that is pretty much whispered all the way through. More contrast please! By the way, this is by far the most expansive treatment of "he only thought he knew" I've listened to so far (note that I'm not listening to songs in the order listed here). Nice.
C:2 L:3 F:2 P:2 M:3 Total: 12/15
Billy & The Psychotics: Well thanks for delivering the rockness I expected. You might want to boost the softer (dare I say weaker) parts of the vocals in the mix. In the chorus, the guitars totally overshadow the vocals. Needs more mix magic. Pitch is a little bit unstable in the verses. Nice song with weaknesses in the execution.
C:3 L:3 F:3 P:2 M:2 Total: 13/15
c.layne: Not sure if I like the slight high-end distortions on the drum kit that go all the way through. I definitely don't like the composition, but that's just me. I was just about to complain about the sparse arrangement and then you go and fix it by adding rhythm guitar. Nice. Aww, and it's gone again. The whistly synth gets a bit annoying after a while. I want to find more to complain about but there isn't anything. Curses! I do like the more noticeable distortions later on, by the way, just so we're clear.
C:3 L:* F:2 P:3 M:3 Total: 13/15
Dejected Motives: Horribly out of tune, and even your pitch fixing plugin doesn't fix the wobbliness of the vocals. Arrangement is a bit sparse for my taste. Suddenly vocals are way up front, what the eff? Fix your levels! The out-of-tune thing makes this very hard to listen to for me. Bailed out at 1:30.
C:2 L:* F:1 P:1 M:2 Total: 8/15
Dirge: Please don't bury your vocals like this (especially in the beginning). Even if they suck... but now they're buried so much that I'm having a hard time telling whether they do. Well, I guess there are some sour notes. And the lyrics... either I'm just too dense for them, or they are pretty stupid. The distorted part comes out of left field and the vocals in that part are, frankly, pretty bad. Sorry, this didn't appeal to me at all.
C:2 L:1 F:2 P:2 M:2 Total: 9/15
DJ Ranger Den: A little bit of compression on the vocals, please? You can't switch back and forth between connected and unconnected vocals and hope that dynamics will somehow work out by themselves. There is such a thing as too much dynamics. I'm just gonna guess that the performance was pretty good, and that only leaves me to say that I don't think just because you're writing a G&G song you have to make the composition this repetitive.
I do like a few variations along the way to keep things interesting.
C:2 L:3 F:2 P:3 M:2 Total: 12/15
Emperor Gum: Might wanna tune your instruments relative to each other a bit better. Or perhaps you're just not a violin god yet? Props for trying this, though. Vocals stick out like a sore thumb, probably mostly due to mic/room. Might be possible to fix some of this with EQ; especially by reducing some of the highs. I think you could have made the intro a bit shorter... the arrangement is very decent but not so compelling that it can stand on its own for very long. Protip: open your mouth (that includes separating tongue/palate) before you start recording. Not a great song but a great experiment, and keep on doing that!
C:3 L:* F:2 P:2 M:2 Total: 11/15
Future Boy: I thought you already had me in the bag with that piano... but then those lead vocals with that crappy room sound. Aww. It's okay in the louder part, but there's still way too much unconnected vocals in this song. Excellent ambient stuff. Interesting composition. That's a fairly literal lyrical take on the title, but well done. If not for the vocals, this would be an easy win for you. This way it's just an ordinary vote.
C:3 L:3 F:2 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/15
Hip Hop Anonymous: Congrats, you've discovered reverby piano. Still left to discover: cohesive-sounding mix (in general, bathing the backing in reverb and keeping the lead comparably dry doesn't help with that). Delivery sounds a bit ridiculous. I guess I can stand that once, but probably not going to listen to that again. Thanks for making the backing track quite a bit less boring than many others trying the rap thing here.
C:3 L:* F:2 P:3 M:2 Total: 12/15
Klownhole: Guitar performance seems pretty sloppy. Vocals are pretty mumbly. Composition gets pretty boring/tiresome after a while. Harmonies are pretty weird. Note that despite my using the word "pretty" a lot, that word doesn't accurately represent my personal verdict. At least it sounds authentic. And the mix is good enough.
C:2 L:* F:2 P:2 M:3 Total: 11/15
Life in Decibels: When the drums and the instrument thingy start, it's a weird departure from the intro. Kind of arbitrary. Vocals are somewhat buried in the mix behind that synthy thing that does the octaves. The whole mix sounds a bit distant. Wimpy vocals... give 'em a bit more juice! Man, that octave-jumping gets boring. I'm missing chords. I think there's a very, very subtle pad in the background of some parts that does chords, but for my taste that's not enough. In short, the mix and arrangement (and, to some extent, the development) don't blend together all too well. The core of the song isn't bad, but it kind of loses a lot in execution.
C:2 L:* F:2 P:2 M:2 Total: 10/15
Mom&Data: Wow that's a boring bass line. And then you go and draw extra attention to it by making it go against the organ. Not terribly smart IMO. I don't like the composition for its complete lack of resolution. I don't like the whispery vocals all the way through, either. I do like the arrangement, and the development is perfect (except the whole thing could have stood to be a bit shorter or have some extra section). The snare is a bit extreme sometimes. Pretty mixed bag for me, but mostly well executed.
C:2 L:* F:2 P:3 M:3 Total: 12/15
Paco del Stinko: Wow, this is harsh... in a good way. I think I would have backed it up quite a bit after a few measures, though. Also it almost obstructs your vocals (that it doesn't completely is a sign you're actually pretty good at mixing). Signature Paco composition. With less harshness (or, perhaps, more 'flexible') this would have been a definite vote. Great ending.
C:3 L:3 F:1 P:3 M:2 Total: 12/15
Pigfarmer Jr: Are you
trying to make this annoying? Because you definitely succeeded. Between the monotonous speaking and the extremely aggressive kick, the chorus doesn't do enough stuff to make up for that. Clipping is not a good thing, by the way. This song feels way longer than it is. Not a good thing in this case.
C:1 L:2 F:1 P:1 M:2 Total: 7/15
Ripping Hammer: Pity point for double .mp3 extension (not included in totals). I find the strings a bit... loopy. That is to say, the looping is quite audible in the sample. Not a huge fan of that. Pretty great mix and arrangement. Not a huge fan of the vocals, either (not sure if it's because of the effects or because of the performance itself), also you might wanna bring them up a bit more in the mix because they're a bit hard to make out. Appropriately short. Overall, nicely done.
C:3 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/15
sonofsupercar: Hey, if you put speaking in the background, at least make it intelligible. I have no real complaints here, except the mix sounds a bit dull and the song never stops being very in-your-face plus the whole melody is pretty much just a single note. I would have wished for a bit of a change somewhere. Something to keep things interesting. The way it is, it makes the solos hard to stomach, even though on its own I guess it's pretty damn cool.
C:2 L:* F:2 P:3 M:3 Total: 12/15
Sportswriters: I agree with those who preferred the drumless version. I think you could have made it work with drums, perhaps with a different kit, mixed differently. In my ears the snare drum is too present. I might have chosen one with less "crack". Also some of the snare build-ups have a bit of a laggy feeling. Vocals are a bit too polished for my taste, at least for this kind of song. Sounds like you never really "sing out". I think some of that would have added a whole new level of depth. All in all, however, that's a pretty great song. In particular, excellent storytelling.
C:3 L:3 F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 14/15
T.C.Elliott: The mix is pretty uncohesive... the vocals stick out like a sore thumb (less so during the part that has some reverb). Some sharp notes in the vocals, and the timing isn't quite as tight as I think it should be. I find the guitar/drums pretty boring. Nice subtle use of delay on the guitar. Good structure overall, nice lyrics.
C:2 L:3 F:2 P:2 M:2 Total: 11/15
Wicked Cripple feat. dont reply: For me to like a hyperactive song, it has to be extremely great. Your song isn't. It's
boring. And stupid. Even if your delivery is fairly good (though perhaps overdoing it), that's not enough to save you.
C:1 L:* F:1 P:2 M:3 Total: 9/15
Oh Horrors!!! My raw voice exposed!!!