Got to these late. Thanks to the folks who have reviewed already.
Berni Armstrong: That guitar sound is super brittle. There's some resonance in the like 10khz region that's a bit painful. The accent on the line "There must be something essential" feels like it should be on "must" rather than "be." Enjoy the progressions throughout, and bringing the harmonies in at the end was a nice touch I was hoping would happen. The little guitar melody at the end is super nice - would love if there were some kind of interplay or countermelody throughout, rather than solo voice carrying all the melodic information. Lovely tune.
The Pannacotta Army: Feels like this could use a bit of record crackle, perhaps tied to a kick with a bit more sustain? This chorus is killer - love the call and response. Ah, there's the record crackle breakbeat! Hell yeah. Love the tambourine - feels like it could use a bit of reverb to place it in a similar space as the rest of the mix. So many cool arrangement details coming in and out - good hammond sound, and love the melodica outro. Good stuff.
Yeslessness: Take a little extra time to trim up and quickfade the heads and tails of your tracks, especially when you have a bunch of vocal tracks coming in at the same time. There's a cumulative effect as you have more and more layers of mouth noise, breath, and hi frequency air. There's a lot of wonderful arrangement and detail that would be much more impactful if you weren't limited to virtual instruments. Would love to hear this with an organic band. Really nice progression. Nice tune!
Bubba & The Ghost of the Kraken: Fun intro. Really nice execution of the octave vocal. This feels like a deep cut off a Gotye album. Piano could maybe sit back a couple db. There's a lot of really smart writing and arranging here that I could spend days analyzing. Chorus is awesome, though I don't know if I love the stabby synth in the left channel. One key change is fun, two is.. indulgent. And boo fade out, boooo. Great work.
chewmeupspitmeout: Wow those guitars really come in. Perhaps a bit early? They seem to be pushing the beat throughout, and it stands out when everything else is programmed right on the grid. There's a charm to the 80's gloomy pop vocal against the 80's out-of-tune guitars, and it all comes together as a cohesive whole, which is hard to do. Fun track.
Stacking Theory: You have a handle on chill-and-groovy that I simply do not possess. That first chorus hits hard as fuck, so well done. I'm hearing all kinds of really smart arrangement decisions that make it so, like holding the bass back until the chorus; but it's not something you immediately notice. The quantity and delivery of the "yeahs" make this feel a little Jemaine Clement. Strong entry once again.
Jeff Walker: Fun sound right out the gate, though I'm not sure about that keyboard patch. Straight rhodes or wurly with some burn would do the job. If I were hired to play on this (keys was my primary call instrument for both live and studio in Texas), I'd insist pretty firmly on hammond. At times the vocal stands a little proud; ri
ding the vocal fader a bit more aggressively would help it sit better. This has a distinctly
Red Dirt feel, and I still feel like you could lean more into the dirtier, less-polished aspect of your voice. Consider that most of those guys grew up not on country, but on grunge. Hell,
Stoney LaRue is basically 90's grunge with some twang. Chorus could start to use some harmony by the second time around. Guitars are wonderful and spot on for the genre. Country is a much more diverse and subdivided genre than most people acknowledge, and this is like,
just adjacent to being my absolute jam, but not for any specific fault or lack of talent or skill. Looking forward to more!
Daniel Sitler: Really nice acoustic sound. The harmonies and the lead are a bit stacked together down in the low register. Adam Neely has a great explainer on
lower interval limit theory that I feel applies here - thankfully we have tricks that we can use in the studio to alleviate the effects of this, particularly panning and eq. Splitting those condensed harmonies out in the stereo field, and scooping out a bunch of lo mids would go a long way in reducing the perceived dissonance coming from your otherwise consonant harmonies. Anyway, loads of beautiful chord work, and lovely instrumentation. Ah, the super reverby breath trick - such a cool atmospheric tool. Great work again.
The Evil Genius formerly known as Timmy: Bouncy bass is fun. Very wet mix, and your vocal is quite dark. Embrace any air that might be present in your vocal tracks. Are you recording with a dynamic mic? There's a lo mid buildup that's pretty characteristic of dynamics and proximity effect. I don't know that the rush in "promise to remember" works. Lots of fun ideas here.
James Young: Would love to hear the tambourine hits on 2 and 3 differentiated just a little - as is, it's a dead giveaway for a virtual instrument. Love the clean guitar tone, and the little bass runs. The saturation and reverb on your vocal is just perfect. Feels like we had a natural ending point after the second chorus, and the third verse doesn't sonically change anything up from the first two. Digital pops during the ringout - trim and crossfade your tails to avoid that. Great stuff again.
The Single Pint of Failure: The fx on the vocal causes occasional hi frequency sharpness that punches through whatever compression you have on the vocal. Use whatever low pass is built into that effect, or set up a send and eq that. It's hard to hear the rest of the mix, but I do love the big grungy guitar when it comes in. I would love to hear this with a modified fx stack on the vocal so I could really appreciate it.
Tunes by LJ: How many times am I going to link Undertale in this competition? This arrangement is ridiculous. The guitar work is super clean, and the chord work is killer - love all the descending lines, the extensions, little augmented movements at the end of a phrase. Kudos for making 5/4 sound so natural in the verses (the measure of 5/8 piano into the chorus?
), and swingy as fuck in the chorus. I gotta ding you for the hammond though - this has the classic sound of someone more used to playing piano. Wurly or Rhodes would be a better patch swap here. Love the ending. Killer work.
Balance Lost: I'm looking at my feedback from last round, and there isn't much I can change. This executes exactly what it's aiming to. Maybe back off the delay level just a hair, and maybe dampen the highs on it? The sibilants on the delay overwhelms the percussion a bit. A couple plosives and there. Boo fadeout, boooo. As with last time, great work!
Hot Pink Halo: Love that old piano sound against the groovy breakbeat. Seems like I can really hear the space you're recording your vocal in - or is that a super-close reverb setting? Feel like we could use some more fundamental support from the bass - you have a killer bridge progression, but it's defined almost entirely by the vocal. Maybe a really simple sine wave bass patch an octave below your current bass track, just riding the fundamental? I don't know. You experiment so much more than I do, so I'm probably trying to "fix" things that don't need to be fixed. Engaging work as always.
Also In Blue: My least favorite genre of music is probably a tie between Christian Contemporary and musical theatre (I know that musical theatre "spans all genres" but there is a style of delivery that is undeniably unique to the medium, much as there is with a lot of Christian/praise music). Anyway, you absolutely have the musical theatre sound in this track, and I
somehow don't hate it. Anyway, what can I say here? Maybe back the hihat off just a hair - it's far louder than the rest of the kit (are you on a v-drum setup? Something about the way the hats build up strikes me that way). Yeah, this is great work as always. Love the ringout.
Jealous Brother: Ah, the
Wicked Games progression. It's a fleeting recall, as you move into fresh territory, complete with minor iv's, which is always lovely. Bass tone is killer, and we get a couple fun runs with it. Fun track!
Phlub: Channeling
Blaze Foley, and I love it. Something about your accent feels put on, though I know you can speak with it naturally. I don't think there's anything wrong with altering or heightening one's accent when performing country, but I think if you compare e.g.
Tyler's speaking voice vs his singing voice, you'll find that you can hear the accent when he sings - but in much the way that brits and americans frequently sound alike when singing - it's smoothed out significantly. Allow a few key vowels to do the work of conveying the accent, and otherwise just be you. Anyway, I love a good working class song full of occupationally-specific jargon that I don't understand specifically, but is still effective in telling the story. The chorus is pitch-perfect for the genre, and is exactly the way someone like Kinky Friedman or John Prine might write it. I think your song might have the most "natural" one-word chorus out of the lot. Good stuff.
Tenmere: I really tried to think of reasons beyond the language to reference
Rammstein. But it seems obvious that you're leaning into it, and I love it. I do think Rammstein is a uniquely well-suited model for this challenge. So many of
their songs are one-
word choruses (those are just from their first two albums,
and don't include repeated-
phrase songs). Can you tell I listened to Rammstein a
lot as a kid? I can still pretty much recite Sensucht front to back, even though I don't know what most of it means. Anyway, you nailed this, and I have no notes. Sounds like you had fun making this, and I had fun listening to it. Tenmere rules.
The Popped Hearts: The guitar in the left definitely feels a bit loud. As does the one doing fills in the right. Bring those each down a few db and I think the mix will be just about right. A bit stumbly at 0:56, which stands out since everything else is pretty solid. When you start stacking the vocal parts at the end, try doing something to separate that third layer when it comes in. As is, it's competing with the first layer. Either move the first layer when that third comes in, or move the third layer over to the left to balance the second layer in the right. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, as I said last round, you execute the genre well. Good work!
Mandibles: Good work with the layering, feels really natural. As someone who grew up LDS, it's hard not to hear "Deseret"
. The jangly 12-string is really nice. The ascending riff during the chorus works well. Feels like some elements could have a little bit of time correction to get everything punching at the same time. Oof, love the vocal ring out, but you gotta trim and crossfade those tails! I can hear a dozen mouseclicks and at least one spacebar. Improvement over last round imo - keep up the good work!
Governing Dynamics: Looking over my notes from last round, there isn't a lot to add - you have well-placed confidence in your style and execution. Here and there the vocal does sound like you're approaching clipping rather than just pushing a tube saturation plugin. Guitar tones throughout are great, and the solo is just right. Feels like we could have ended after the chorus around 2:46, but the coda might grow on me. Great work again.
Cavedwellers: Cool intro riff establishment. Rhodes sound is great. Love hearing the guitar join the riff in the second verse. I don't know if the chorus is strong enough to support as many repetitions as it gets. As someone who sucks really badly at slide, I admire the chops. Definitely feels like this track would be a lot stronger at 2:45 than it is at 4:18. Maybe on the Special Edition of the album you'd have this extended cut, while the single was a <3m version. Solid work again.
thanks, brain: Great job bringing together all the many little details that make
horror punk work. WILLHELM SCREAM
The virtual theremin, the harpsichord, the melotron - everything works. The mix is a bit of a wash, but that's kind of how the genre is supposed to sound. Just killer work here.
JW Hanberry: Crispy-fried, but I feel like you might as well have deep-fried it. You have a charming kooky quality to your voice, and I think you could lean into it another 200%. I'm thinking
Kompressor-level kommitment. Anyway, this is weird and fun and charming. Good work.
‘Buckethat’ Bobby Matheson: Drums sound great. Guitars are a bit subdued - feels that they aren't supporting the rest of the track as well as they could. Would be cool to hear an automated delay or reverb on the chorus - roll up the decay/level as you sustain that note. Fun stuff from you as always.
Brother Baker feat. Father: Interesting contrast between the shit piano and the slick vocals. You're able to build a wall of sound with just your voice in a really satisfying way. I like that you're not afraid of dissonance, and use it to great effect when the resolution comes. The different rhythmic feels in the choruses are a nice way to keep things interesting. Great work again.
Good Niche Gracious: Feel like I'm going crazy listening to this, but I imagine that was your intent
. 26 seconds is a long intro, especially on a 2:17 track. Mix feels improved this round, though we're losing the kit, perhaps due to saturation on the drum bus? The sound is cool, but you might duplicate at least the kick and snare without the saturation, and compress/eq them such that you're still getting a clean smack from them where you need it. Fun track!
Sober: I'll just address comments here: No, singing this doesn't hurt me at all, though it clearly hurts many listeners
. My partner hated it. Guitar is all Strat, which I'm trying to trade for a Tele so I can be a real country boy. Whistle is Eddie Lehwald, who was originally signed up to participate, but has suddenly found himself needing to move to Chicago. Terribly sad to see him go, but grateful to have gotten to know him, and to get him into my little studio for some whistlin'.
The Alleviators: You have a different kick sound in this from last round, and I feel that I prefer last round's kick, despite my comments on it. You could trim your heads and tails a bit closer - we have what sounds like single-coil buzz through the first part of verse two, though no guitar is happening there, and there's a distracting catch breath at ~1:53 - made distracting because it comes from an unexpected place (the right channel), where we might not be distracted by the same breath in the lead vocal. The lead guitar feels a little out of place, and perhaps a bit too aggressive tone-wise. Seems like we could have ended on that sigh at the end of the bridge - that would have been so nice! The solo and fadeout (booooo) don't really add anything to the story for me, and you'd cut about 40 seconds. Lovely work once again from y'all.
Siebass: Super brickwall-sounding. My money says you'll top Seemanski's LUFS ratings this round. Sustained strings are just lovely. Staccato strings are less convincing - perhaps those lines could be done by another instrument. Harmonies are lovely where they pop in. Really full sounding throughout - I'd caution against some of the 3rds and 7ths I'm hearing in the lower registers, as I mentioned in my comments above for Daniel Sitler. I appreciate the effort put into programming the swells and other articulations in the strings. Incredibly vocal sound, great work all around.
Ironbark: This is lovely. The accordion/melodica, the little pizzicato, the lo-fi organ - all terrific and not overdone. Your voice, and the way you write and arrange
remind me of Bret McKenzie, who is
objectively good. Anyway, maybe trim up the tails at the end there, but no other notes. Keep doing this lovely stuff.
Jerkatorium: Not sure how to feel about this. Am I being called out?
Simon Purchase James: You obviously have a terrific voice. I don't know that the
Inkspots-style repetition (albeit in a different language) of the verse adds anything (I'm conversational in spanish, and understood you perfectly well the first time around). You're also giving tons of plosives, particularly during those spoken parts. We've got painful piezo pickups, and are you singing into a dynamic mic? It seems a solid stereo mic setup would serve you incredibly well. Likewise, you'd be well-served by a writing partner to help you cut your songs down. This is your second >6 minute song, and you only have three short verses here. This all sounds very negative, but you could have an absolute banger 3 minute song here. You clearly have tons of raw talent, and with experience I'm confident you'll find the polish needed to really make all this work. Please stick around.
Mandrake (SHADOW): More [urlhttps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp3qiOKuEBM]chiptuney[/url] goodness. I like the drunken tuplet/swing stuff you throw in there, especially against the 10/8 feel.
Daniel Sitler (SHADOW):
Night Sky (SHADOW): This feels quieter, more subdued than last round's track. Some more punch from the drums and bass would help I think. Horns sound killer as always. Slowdown into the bridge is well done, as is the return.
_____
What a round! This may be one of the strongest fields of songs I've heard since I started doing Spintunes. I have to give this to
Tunes by LJ, with special shoutouts to
Tenmere and
Stacking Theory.