What we need more of is (Scientific 7 reviews)

[blue]

[j$]

Wow, Blue, you haven't aged a day! And neither has Burt Reynolds!

[JakeDeLorey]

C'mon, I'm itchin' to review!! Also Itching for a new title. The wife and kid are out for the evening and I can record in peace. Lets have at 'er

[foobar93]

Foobar

This is me. The optional challenge almost scared me off altogether, but I did my best to ignore and just write something I'd like as a standalone song.

Hip Hop Anonymous

Bonus points for being clever. I always assume Nerdcore is an automatic frontrunner at Song Fight. This is solid, although I feel like it sounds extremely familiar. I'll try and think of what specific track it's conjuring if I can. I like the chorus a lot more than the verses, esp 1875. Sometimes the echoed word works well for me, but sometimes it's distracting. The last 20 seconds or so kind of drag for me, I wish it had more of an exciting musical finish. But overall the production quality is great and the vocals sound good.

Hortus Ortus

I like the suspense that builds in the first 0:20. LOL at "toothpaste tainted orange juice." I like the guitar tone, but sometimes it goes sour to my ears. I can't tell if that's an intentional effect or not. It keeps distracting me, especially during the guitar solo. Overall I think the track is too slow. I kept waiting for it to hit another gear. The ending is just the opposite, which I didn't like so much. Also, I'm obviously overthinking things, but I wanted more details about the robots. Why are they here? What do they look like? How do they fight? I kept thinking of Robot Santa from Futurama, whose standards were accidentally set too high. Anyway, I think this a funny take on the title but I wanted more.

Inflatable Vegetables

I was way too overwhelmed by the optional challenge, so kudos for actually taking it on. Lots of funny bits here, esp "not very useful" which made me laugh. I like how all of the segments end in futility. Nice closing guitar solo, too.

sonofsupercar

Guitar sounds sour to me. Maybe it's just me, you're not the only one today. Good vocal tone, although maybe 30% of the time it dips out and I can't make out the words. By 2:40, I'm finding this very fatiguing on my ears. Just too much dissonance with no breaks. And I just don't know what the song is about. I wish I had something more constructive to say. I have tried listening a few times but I can't make any sense out of the lyrics.

TRJones@Alien Circuitry Studios

I like the first 0:15. The processed effect on the vocals blends well with the synth. It goes a little awry for me at the chorus, but the backing sounds keep it interesting anyway. I like the message of the song and the bittersweet emotion that comes through. I don't get the God-given suffering part, but the rest is clear. I think the vocal issues are really the major problem, lots of little distractions. I like the musical parts a lot. I think it's right around 2:20 that it gets a little repetitive for me. I'd like some more contrast and maybe some more details in the lyrics. Who are the scientific 7? What are they doing? But overall I like your synth part much better than mine this week, so that's something I look forward to learning from.

[Hortus Ortus]

."

I like the guitar tone, but sometimes it goes sour to my ears.

Thanks for the review. I am definitely interested in improving my guitar tone, I wasn't totally happy with it, but what do you mean by "sour"?

[foobar93]

Thanks for the review. I am definitely interested in improving my guitar tone, I wasn't totally happy with it, but what do you mean by "sour". Also you say it "goes" sour. The tone was the same throughout the song. Not sure what you meant by that.

I know, I hate using imprecise language like that. I'm just not educated about how to describe what I'm hearing. The best I can offer is that some of the guitar hits sound right and some sound almost a little bit dissonant with the rest of the track. I'm listening right now, because I thought maybe I could detect some pattern to it, but it's not anything I can pick up. In case this is useful to you, here's the sequence I hear right at the beginning:

0:21 - sour
0:24 - clean
0:26 - clean
0:29 - clean
0:31 - sour
0:33 - sour
0:36 - clean
0:38 - clean

Maybe you'll be able to tell what I mean from that. And if the effect is intentional and I just don't get it, feel free to ignore.

[Hortus Ortus]

Foobar
The beginning sounds very much like the Bloodhound Gang's Discovery Channel song. I like the lyrics and phrasing. (repeating words...cool) I like this song all in all, the only real negative thing might be the vocals. A tad pitchy and a tad too high in the mix for me.

Hip Hop Anonymous
Nice production. Nice job on all those lyrics. This might be better if it had more well-defined chorus and verse. Something bigger differences in the music or something.

Hortus Ortus
It's us. I decided to not do the optional workout video challenge thingy.

Inflatable Vegetables Very clever. I like the different rhythms and textures, very creative. I'm guessing you took the optional challenge to go with the video. The production is not at a very high standard. There are a few plosives on the mic (just being picky) The beginning melody kinda sounds like Pinball Wizard by The Who.


sonofsupercar
Loving that twangy guitar. The background sounds are cool. The first repeating phrase was catchy, but then it just seems to lack a good melody. Kind of a rap almost. I like the spacey feel of the whole thing. I think a better melody would make this great.

TRJones@Alien Circuitry Studios
Starting out great....vocals....cool. Love the keyboard licks and tone. Nice melody. Vocals are a bit pitchy. Great hooks in this. Nice job!

[blindmime]

The Hortus Ortus song is my favorite. I like the guitar tone quite a lot.The vocal melody in the bridge lifts things up another notch. Cool guitar solo too. The guitar tone sounds a bit like an old Roland practice amp I have. I'm not exactly sure, but foobar may be hearing intonation issues. Maybe check out http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Your-Guitar's-Intonation .

[Billy's Little Trip]

."

I like the guitar tone, but sometimes it goes sour to my ears.

Thanks for the review. I am definitely interested in improving my guitar tone, I wasn't totally happy with it, but what do you mean by "sour"?

I think he meant slightly behind the beat or just not tight when he said sour spots, because you didn't hit any sour notes or anything. I think the guitar sounds good, so stick with what you did. Just nail the down beat tighter and your golden. Also, in the mix the guitar could stand to roll off at the very bottom on the EQ, around 150hz down. It'll let the bass breathe better.

Tip: Take this song and record a new guitar track exactly like the one you have and pan one out hard left and the other hard right. In other words, double track the rhythm guitar. I don't mean copy the guitar track you have, I mean re-record a new track identical to the one you have. By hard panning I mean around 47% - 56% range left and right. You'll be amazed at how fat that guitar will be. Also remember that when you double track you are creating a natural reverb (pre/post delay), so back off the reverb setting and season to taste.

You're making good music, so stay the course.

[Hortus Ortus]

Billy's Little Tip, Blindmine, Foobar.....Thank you for the tips. I really appreciate it and BLT, I am gonna try that!

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy's Little Tip

Oh, you and your puns.


...and it's not that little.

[Bolio]

I haven't reviewed in 8-9 years so I'm out of practice. Maybe I should have waited for a bigger fight....

Foobar – Transitions between parts aren’t smooth & the band starts to speed ahead of the drums (which are too quiet in the mix.) Is this the singer from Squirrel Damage?

TRJones@Alien Circuitry Studios – I don’t like low-effort techno backgrounds but your voice is ok outside of a little pitchy-ness & reminds me of Boz Scaggs at times.

Sonofsupercar – Some parts of this song are OK. ‘Scientific 7 second thrill’ line gets old immediately and the song runs on 2:00 longer than it has to. Sounds like ‘let’s-use-special-effects’ was prioritized over ‘let’s-write-a-good-song.’

Inflatable Vegetables – Starts off slow & never goes anywhere.

Hortus Ortus – After a couple listens this is growing on me. Guitar timber is way too muddy and it’s sloppy on the chorus & causes the vocal to not quite match up. Nice progression, but the song suffers from an identity crisis and I don’t know what this song is supposed to be, the grunge that the guitar brings or the pop that the polished vocals bring?

Hip-Hop Anonymous – The most complete song in this fight. Even though Hip-Hop is my least favorite style, this is the most listenable song. After a few listens it gets really old though, would need a few more new vocal hooks to stay interesting.

[Hortus Ortus]

Billy's Little Tip

Oh, you and your puns.


...and it's not that little.

OOPS! Sorry bout dat!!

[mc3p0]

Foobar - Lovely piano. This is demanding more guitar! It's a well-structured, complete song starting the fight..

Hip Hop Anonymous - Quantifiable cleverness lyrically. I like the rolling bass. Very rhythmic vocals and a very catchy chorus.

Hortus Ortus - It's an epic doom! Nobody expects to survive raging robotic ridicule without medieval weaponry. I imagine vocal processing could add even more to the story. Well done.

Inflatable Vegetables - This should be blasted inside Abercrombe & Fitch just to watch them leave "1, 2, 3, 4" at a time.:] I think that this piece is the most obviously timed to the exercises.

Son Of Supercar - Interesting variation on the title. What did you add to your coffee? I like the different tones of guitar around 2:30ish, they are well-recorded. That high-end is, uh, quite high.:]

TRJones - Ooh, nice intro.. I like this, but it kind of lacks a booty. While the purposeful detuning is cool, there are too many lyrics in your cool vocals, imo. This is another well-structured complete song.