Chock full of calcium (Bag of Bones reviews)

[Daring Front]

Dear Public Porking, how's your face?

Thank you for the thoughtful review. I think I speak for a few people when I say that I cannot wait to hear your Songfight debut.

- Daring Front

[Billy's Little Trip]

Thanks BLT. I had fun and I really like the song. I hope you and Glenny aren't offended. It's about as far as I can get without more dry tracks.

really? Are you trying to contain me? I'd fire you.
Ok, you riffed in, cool. It got bigger towards the end.
I'll listen tomorrow after coffee. That;s when I'm clickin;.

[jast]

jan krueger
is this really going to go on for 5 minutes?

No. I've written only one song that's that long, and I had the good sense not to publish it.

[nyjm]

i plan to be as honest as possible.
<snip>
noah mclaughlin
grandma please make it stop.

That may be honest, but it's not very constructive. What didn't you like?

[JonPorobil]

Dear Public Porking, how's your face?

Thank you for the thoughtful review. I think I speak for a few people when I say that I cannot wait to hear your Songfight debut.

- Daring Front

Boy howdy, you ain't lying.

[BBABM]

fitzroy you are not papa roach, nor should you wish to be.

I agree... But is papa roach really what you got from that? They don't even scream in their songs, and do a white boy rap thing to a nu-metal band. I assume that this is the only heavy band you know the name of, and are just using them as a space filler for some other band name you couldn't think of. I think it sounds more like snot vs. nirvana, personally. Thanks for reviewing.

[eggnogadam]

Still an epic thread! Wow. Great lunch time material!

[Manhattan Glutton]

I think if I were to start a Song Fight band... I'd make BLT the songwriter and Glenny the lead guitarist. Of course, they'd never agree to such an abomination, and even if they did, we'd break up after a week when I tune BLT's vocals and cut out half of Glenny's solos.

[Billy's Little Trip]

My out of tune vocals are my niche.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Wait. How'd Glennny get the gig? I thought I was the man, man!?!

[Billy's Little Trip]

Wait. How'd Glennny get the gig? I thought I was the man, man!?!

You've been busy dominating Nur Ein!!!!!!

[Manhattan Glutton]

Paco, you need to spend all your time becoming Nur Ein champion! You don't have time for trivial mortal affairs, particularly because you can't lean on Melvin to carry you through.

[lalabrookie]

BLT, I'll back you up. Autotune is for people who either can't do it right or are afriad of not looking perfect (sorry to all who use it) but I think it takes away from being a musician.

And in general, I have to say that someone called "Public Porking" probably shouldn't have to try to find courage for anything. And PP, as I am going to call you, and I hope the nickname sticks, I don't see how you can say I botched the Bag of Bones. If everyone did a song about the exact same concept such as a literal bag of bones, it might get a little old. Capiche? I also very much look forward to your first submission. And I wasn't slapping my knees.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I'd like to be public porking. Not the member here, the activity.

@ Brookie. I agree. People that use autotune use it as a crutch and will never improve. Being in punk bands half my life and screaming my nads off, pitch was never an issue. It was all about energy and delivery. I do re-do a part if I get horribly off pitch, but I'm not OCD about it. I'm more into natural flow.

[Stubby Phillips]

Hoglan & Wages: I like the feel of this. Nice playing and decent singing. The tension/release is subtle, and seems to be in each verse and refrain -- but I don't get tired of it. Nice job. vote

Young muscle: I can see this playing at the aerobics room at the gym -- think of the royalties! WAY too many silly rhymes for my taste. Genre bias. Good meter and articulation, tho.

Jan Krueger: Intro is kinda interesting. Good performance/mix/production/sound. End of refrain needs finality -- some drama at least. Like the B sec w/ harmonies. I think your voice needs a subtle mod / delay / doubling.

BLT et. al.: This is cool. Good performance / capture / mix. Sounds like you sucked the mids out of this or something -- needs to be more up front. And the level change at the intro... This song has more energy than anything so far. Good vocals/guitar/drums/everything. First time I remember hearing an e-bow on SF. Nice job. vote

TOSHIRO: This is funny. I got a little worried at the start, but it all comes together with the right amount of changes, details, etc. Great lyric. Good mechanicals -- perf/mix/prod. Very cool. vote

Fitzroy: This needs some work. You sing well. After about 1:45 it's just jamming... but before that there are some good hooks/riffs to explore. I checked my cables; it's you. Use a pop filter/low cut on the vox next time. And build a recording studio.

EggNogAdam: Today I'm listening on good headphones -- that low end is brutal. I can't EQ it, so I can't listen as loud as I'd like. Besides that, it's cool. Needs a change here and there for interest. I'd dump/reduce the filter on the vox -- but it works. Not bad.

Manzfield: OK, these are the wrong headphones for listening on the computer. Ouch. That intro totally had me fooled -- I was thinking zzzzzzz... when it hit me. Fuck. I don't listen to stuff like this; I think it's because I can't play it. Of course if I did, then I might... nope. This is a nice rollercoaster ride through a suburb of Hell. Alice In Chains meets Forced Entry. vote

After further review, I'm also voting for Daring Front, BSS, lalabrookie, Noah M, and King Aurthur.

[Manhattan Glutton]

Autotune is for people who either can't do it right or are afriad of not looking perfect (sorry to all who use it) but I think it takes away from being a musician.

I disagree completely. Pitch correction is for people who are too lazy to re-do something enough times to get it right. Sometimes it's OK to be lazy if it's going to take a thousand tries. Sometimes it's not. It's the end result that matters. If you tried your best, double-tracked, and still can't hit the pitch, go ahead and rub some polish on it. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

That's not to say a few imperfections make something bad, but if you're singing like a tone deaf wooly mammoth, please spare everyone. It's the people that don't notice they're that off, or don't care, that scare me.

And Brooke, it's easy for you to pass judgement since you have a perfect voice.

[lalabrookie]

MG, I'll give you that point...I have had times where I recorded over and over and over and probably would have killed for autotune! But I am too lazy to find it/get it, much less figure out how to use it, plus I will stand by my silly unproductive principles to the end.

And thanks, your comments always give me a happy little glow that it usually takes a couple of beers to accomplish )

[Stubby Phillips]

jeez... get a room, you guys. You're getting this thread all sticky...

[Manhattan Glutton]

Yeah, all this public porking...

[wages]

Pitch correction is for people who are too lazy to re-do something enough times to get it right.

I resemble that remark

[publicporking]

@daring front
my face is hideous! i will be skewered!

@jast
ok on second listen it's a decent song, well recorded, with interesting movements. maybe it was the line about "surviving with style" sung in english with a european accent that caught me as so atrocious the first time through.

@nyjm
you're right. i owe you much more than that. while i didn't like the song, part of that is i don't like the style or the genre. i can appreciate the music bed. the bass is probably my favorite. on second listen there is good stuff in there.

but!

the melody does not match the music. it sounds like you are singing a different song than you are playing. and i think your vocal style sounds affected i.e. not genuine. worst is around 2:50 where you are hitting random notes.

@bbabm
i don't listen to a lot of heavy music, at least nowadays, and it was what struck me. doesn't really sound like papa roach. sounds like trying to sound angry.

@lalabrookie
i don't know. maybe if the "sad" wasn't in that line to throw off the beat, i would have been praising it. but i just assume you wrote the song elsewhere, wanted to submit it for songfight, so you added a token bag of bones line. if you were inspired by the title and wrote the song around it that would be ok, but i didn't feel like that was the case on first listen. what are you slapping btw? the guitar?

@manhattan glutton
agreed and well said.

[lalabrookie]

PP, I had a bit of the song running through my head in the week or so before this fight - mostly just the strumming pattern and a few words. It wasn't a song yet and as you will see on the rules/guidelines, it's OK to use an idea you've had, but not a finished song. I did not modify an already existing song for this fight. And the "slapping" you heard was hand claps.