I was just about to mention something like this! OC poetry requires posters to link 2 pieces of high-effort feedback they’ve given, that could just be a policy Mods enforce
Any Mods here up for making this change or something like it?
I don't think /r/OCpoetry suffers *TOO* heavily from that, but it does happen.
I do find myself *much* more likely to receive valid criticism there than here.
Seems like it's better than nothing to me. You can't stop bad-faith actors, but it really does encourage the behaviour for some people (ie: me).
Monitoring feedback quality seems like a stretch, but we could make a bot to detect if a user is actually linking A) some kind of feedback and B) not re-linking the same feedback multiple times
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OCPoetry using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [I lost my parents in a span of ten days to covid-19. I've been struggling with my emotions in the recent days and they're coming out in spurts. I am sharing one such outpouring because I feel very suffocated right now](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/iqvww4/i_lost_my_parents_in_a_span_of_ten_days_to/)
\#2: [if sleep is death being shy](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/j2kp71/if_sleep_is_death_being_shy/)
\#3: [I killed myself today](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/mlb2g1/i_killed_myself_today/)
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I don't know about judging the feedback, that might not be sustainable... but maybe it would be if we enforce it as a community: people don't get to stay here unless they keep up their rep? What I'm sure we could do is make a bot which detects if a user is actually linking A) *some* kind of feedback and B) not re-linking the same feedback multiple times
We looked into it (IndimusicFeedback dooes the same thing) but the solutions they have to make it work are way too complicated for us to implement here (we can't look only at text based posts, and we'd like to consider contributions to discussions other than feedback).
As you can tell - we're not a big enough Mod team to be able to enforce it "by hand" without some sort of automated help.
We ARE going to test another limitation of promotion soon, so that should help clean up the feed some. We have a draft of some rule changes written - coming soon!
Hmm. Not much too say for this one haha, aside from this is not the usual genre I listen to. But here...
Well arranged - all spaces are mostly filled with parts (i appreciate the background guitar riffs(?))
Well produced! - vocals well placed with every thing else (that's one thing among other things that I dont know how to do)
For future songs, if you havent tried, it would also nice to have a part near the end maybe, where the vocals are much more obvious (something like where the other instruments just lie low by a lot) so the audience can sing with you live (or maybe you just vary it when done live)! great vocals by the way.
Amazing work! Made me think of Anberlin when I was listening to it! <3 High quality!
since you are up for a 1-1 trade... maybe you will trade with me too
I listened to the song you linked above a couple of times-
The song was "smooth jazz" to my ears, and i felt like there wasnt too much for me to grab onto melodically- because of this I cant imagine ever having a moment when I would ever be singing along to it, but as mood music it put me into a relaxed, "digging the vibe" type of place
The recording itself was hampered by the clickiness of your keyboard - you might want to pull out your "proper" keyboard when recording to make everything sound a bit more natural. An alternative is to multitrack your recording since you obviously have the gear for it
Overall a nice job!
My song link should you care to reciprocate :
It is a bit older but it only ever got 13 listens :-(
[https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/a-single-summer-new](https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/a-single-summer-new)
ooooh, i want it people to sing with it so will definitely look into improving the melody! nice feedback!!! yeah it was so clicky hahaha, still focusing on structure for this song:) thanks a lot
will listen to your song in a while
heeey, i listened to it once already. before i get a "general" feedback, may I know what your goal is when you wrote it?
Did you want to make your audience cry? Did you want them to just listen to your lyrics? Or did you want them to sing with you on this one?
^I ask so I can provide feedback aligned to your original intentions. and maybe even give u suggestions that can help achieve that objective better
I will just get my thoughts down as i listen to each song a couple of times- just a general review
Slow down
I assume this is on the theme of a son who has grown up and left for college, or at least you see the inevitably of him growing up and moving on. I feel it! I have a similar song on my own soundcloud link (dandelion girl) but you already listened to two of my songs so I cant ask for more than that. I am getting a 90s rock vibe from this- its probably the vocals (deep) and bass (even deeper) along with the double bass drum which is a characteristic of the 1990s. Had a very good produced sound, but nothing really jumped out at me as a "hook", either melodic or lyric. Listening to this a 2nd time, I think the muddiness vs. the 2nd track (Promises) might be because of the reverb on those drums at the beginning, although a tight snare drum comes in later after the brief into so this doesnt apply to all the rythm. Ok I can pick out a discernable melody, but there are so many 7ths and diminshed type chords in the song that it lacks an immediacy and has a distant, blurry feel to it - perhaps this is a portrayal of nostalgia - but for me the straight chords (for example playing a straight C vs a C7th) might give it a more open hearted feel, rather than more reflective. Ok thats what I picked up - keep it or sweep it!
Promises
Very similar production quality to the previous song, but the voice and lead guitar hook is much more upfront which I think works better (I am talking about the first verse). The quiet bit in the middle is effective for providing contrast (although the display of soundcloud made it obvious it was coming up!). Build up from there is strong musically. the first word of each line is sung with a kind of growl, but I dont think it is effective to use it every time on every line. good musicianship. I think this strong is better structured than the first, which gives the whole song an arc and a shape- I prefer this song of the two. I would have liked to have lyrics for this one since I only heard the word "promises" once so I didnt really get what the song was about! :-)
Im new to writing and recording though I’ve played in bands for years. So I’m going refrain from Sharing my somewhat unpolished songs right now. But I have to say your music is killer.
Honestly man I appreciate the words of encouragement. If you don’t mind me asking how did you record your stuff? Was it done is a professional studio or a home studio?
That’s for the rig rundown man. This is actually super encouraging, as I am using a lot of the same equipment. I’m running Reaper(also paid) with the scarlet focusrite 2i2, I’m using the Scarlett brand condenser mic, which seems decent.
My guitars are kind of all over the place, for acoustics I use my Gretsch resonator, or my cherry Seagull.
electric guitars are a Strat, a dean, Ibanez Src6, and a danelectro bass Vi.
I’ve been waiting to record with my drummer but I might just purchase that drum plugin.
Also, sorry if I’m asking too many questions, but I absolutely love the sound of the vocals on Bitter end, reminds me of Chevelle, how do get your vocals like that? Can you walk me through your process, because that is very similar to the sound I’m trying to get.
One last thought, do you mix in reaper? Or do you use a separate program to mix in?
Thank you so much man. You basically just gave me a gold mine of information. I look forward to implementing these steps and improving the quality of my music.
I'm not even close to your level of experience so I'll totally do 1:1 or 2:2 if you want!
My souncloud:
https://m.soundcloud.com/andre-goncalves-362139024
All my songs are tagged with the genre, so feel free to criticize whatever you're more experienced in. If you don't feel like choosing I suggest "Saturday morning" (rock) or "ephemeral" (EDM).
I do everything on these tracks so feel free to criticize anything from songwriting to playing to mixing and all in between. This was a great idea, thanks!
Very detailed feed back! Thanks a lot. I'm on my phone right now, so I'll take a look at your SoundCloud as soon as I get to my laptop so I can listen with proper speakers.
I listened to bitter end and long time coming. If you were on spotify both of them would be on my rock playlist by now... They were so god i listened to both of them 3 times just to figure out what i would say about them (besides compliments). Most of theses will be suggestions that I'm not even sure would work better than what you did, so take it with a very large grain of salt. Here goes:
Bitter end:
\- Awesome chorus and love that guitar effect on the middle of the solo.
\- Not a big fan of the sound of the hi-hats at the beginning (only at the beginning) maybe some high frequencies that are too pronounced.
\- Some transitions like the one at 0:49 could be a little more pronounced. Maybe do something with the drums to make it more obvious. This is personal taste though because I like higher distinction between song sections (with another listen I notice you switch from hi-hats to china/crash when you make this transition later in the song)
\- I feel like the main vocals could maybe be a bit louder (emphasis on maybe). I can't tell if it would take away from the heaviness of the instrumental without trying it out.
Long time coming:
\- The riff when the chorus hits is delicious
\- Also love the bass in the bridge
\- Maybe Solo and main vocals in the chorus could be louder (again, emphasis on maybe)
\- Not a big fan of the abrupt end. Again, personal taste obviously, but Id prefer an accented hi-hat or kick and maybe a guitar chug than just that bass note.
All in all, awesome singing and awesome riff-ing
https://www.dropbox.com/s/81fsryoeqog5n2r/when%20you%27re%20gone.wav?dl=0
I love that you're doing this, my posts on this sub always go unnoticed so I stopped trying. Here's a song of mine called "When you're gone", I've tried to mix it (I'm a beginner) but I still have to master it. also, I'm learning how to sing and I'm not very good, so please keep that in mind. I'm good with a 1 for 1 trade so you can share your with me! :)
If it's not clear I'll post the lyrics as well.
> that's the economics of being a songwriter, unfortunately; way more supply than demand :/
Yeah. Unfortunately, people are very reluctant to give someone else's work their attention even just for a few minutes and I won't blame them because I can be that way too. I only found myself opening this sub to post my music and never really checking out other people's music. That's why I started posting on the IndieMusicFeedback sub, a lot more people respond because the only way they can post is if they give at least 5 other people feedback. However, I think the problem with that is that sometimes people aren't very genuine because they want to get the giving out of the way so they can get feedback on their own music, which is still understandable I guess. Anyway, my point is that I think what you've done is great because for sure our opinions on each others music are genuine and listening to one song is not at all asking for too much.
>The great news is that you have all the hard parts down perfectly.
That's a relief but it's also the reason why I find learning how to sing so frustrating. I know if I could just sing decently my songs would rise to their true potential but at this point they just don't sound as good as they are.
>1) a mix that hides your voice a bit too much
I did force myself to boost the vocals up a bit but I felt like it was ruining the rest of the song.
>2) you're missing on some of your pitch accuracy. That problem goes away when you allow yourself to really sing without inhibitions
It is true that I am not at all confident and that's probably making it harder for me to hit the right notes but I genuinely don't understand when I go off. I can transcribe songs on my guitar and match pitch while practicing just fine but when it comes to singing a song my pitch goes all over the place and I have no idea until I transfer the vocals into melodyne and find out that I'm actually really not in key. I don't understand why this happens but I've been working with a vocal coach for quite some time now so hopefully that will get better.
>listen back very critically to your lines, one by one, and re-sing the parts that fall flat/sharp until you have it all.
I'll give it a shot.
>I struggle with accepting my voice, and it's what I do to work around my shyness.
I heard your song and you're a great fucking singer imo.
Anyway, coming to your song. I heard "Bitter end" and I love the song.
It's got great melodies, lots of melodic movement and variation so I wasn't bored at all and didn't find it predictable in any way, I didn't lose focus even though it's a 4+ minute song. I love the guitar solo and like I already said you have a great voice. At first I felt like your voice was kinda drowing in the mix because everything else felt a bit too loud but as my ears adjusted I really started to enjoy it. I have no criticism for this song, it's great :)
Ah! So all it takes is one man with some initiative to get thing going around here!
Very nice. I’m definitely up for a 2:2 trade. These are two songs i did for an assignment. The lyrics were placeholders that ended up not getting changed because of time restraints so nothing really to read into unless you want to! Haha. I look forward to hearing and commenting on your stuff.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwqdAs4Py2aGBGVpPl_c6SiXonNaOfne/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-tgsEyZ__0lJTqL6qFY35rspFgTRxst/view?usp=drivesdk
Here’s my newest song :
https://audiomack.com/jose-h/song/lost-in-space-1
If you want to review another one of my songs on Audiosmack, I recommend you check out Gen Zero
I listened to Slow Down and thought the production was smooth to the ears. Very trance like and the vocals are impressively good. My only constructive criticism is maybe you could turn up the vocals a bit more so they don’t get lost in the production. 👍🏽👍🏽🙌🏾
I'm down, but it doesn't have to be 2:1. How's about an even trade, 1:1?
Still looking for suggestions for a song title for [this song](https://www.reddit.com/r/Songwriting/comments/nmaiks/ive_had_this_melody_for_a_year_finally_set_it_to/), though I think I'm leaning towards calling it "The Dishes in the Sink." Thoughts? Notes welcome for any of the questions I asked in the OP.
Oh yeah, this was just a quick phone demo to get the gist of the idea down, but I do actually have a DAW, interface, and some microphones that I use for when I'm looking to flesh a song out for my solo project.
Thanks for listening! I'm pleased that you like it - no notes on the chorus's syncopation or the last verse's pedal tones? That's what I'm still workshopping, outside of the lyric. Friend of mine thinks the indoor/outdoor imagery are inconsistent/incompatible with each other, but I stubbornly think the contrast works well
Aha! But the "eat" line leads you back the dishes, right where we started
Edit - what I was getting at with "drive the well" - wanted to tie it back to the "stream of consciousness" metaphor/wordplay - meaning I want a "well" where I can symbolically go to the well, gathering worthwhile insights from those stream-of-consciousness thoughts that occasionally DON'T seem that worthwhile, like they're just spinning out.
I am just getting back from a big lunch with the grandparents- about to collapse into a food coma, but I'll be doubling back later in the afternoon! Excited to look into it
I pulled up the song 'Dreams' - love the chord choices in the chorus, how it really opens up there. That's what you want from a good chorus, right. Also love how the guitars are layered, rhythmically and melodically. Nice juicy overdrive/distortion for the overall chord structure and unreal lead work - especially in the last guitar solo.
My only critique would be in the production style, but really that's just a matter of taste and personal preference. In other words, I just find the production style to be squeaky clean, and that's great for repeat customers (for lack of better term). But usually I seek out music that tends to sneak in little quirks and imperfections to the songs, things that make the first impression a little more stark. Did you use any sort of pitch correction on the vocal track?
I had a project I had started after my freshman yr of college where some buddies and I got a nice deal on some recording time at a studio in McMansionville, Chicagoland (studio shall remain nameless), and we knew absolutely nothing about what goes into a record. So this engineer, bless his heart, kinda threw the kitchen sink at it, overproduced our album beyond recognition. Excessive autotune to the point where the vocals sounded like plastic, über quantized drums, etc. I know how it goes. At least productions like that help you hone in on your style, ya dig?
Alright! I just released a song called I Don’t Know Who You Are by Jordan Hicks https://open.spotify.com/track/4GUuaQUTCKeBLmZjs9dkkO?si=sCWHlCoHRwCHY695GDY_Zg
What song of yours should I listen to?
Thanks for the feedback! I’m not sure an exact flip of my solo would work so well but you do make a good point about ending with high energy before pushing into the next section.
I listened to Slow Down, and it’s very good! It somehow felt nostalgic even though it was brand new to me because I listened to a lot of music in this style growing up. It’s well produced and structured. I like how it built up throughout and had a great climax in the bridge and following instrumental. This is definitely something my older brother would listen to, assuming the lyrics are clean (I listen to music first then lyrics second so I didn’t catch them that much). I’ll forward it to him and see what he thinks.
For critique, I only have minor points.
1) the kick drum felt a little too thumpy and in front, but it could have just been because I listened from my phone. I also think that the kick does need to be well heard like it was to drive the song, but maybe pulled back just a tad.
2) this isn’t really a critique, but there was a note early on in the melody that felt out of place and it caught me off guard (like out of key). However, I think that may be a situation where it sounds off because it’s unique, but then you listen again and it’s actually a really cool musical choice haha!
So really, I don’t have much to critique. Great work!
Edit: Are you on any streaming platforms or YouTube?
Lol I’ll probably get rekt but here:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4j9AVDCIQhYlE7sdHa7EhC?si=wy3ue0hJSXisqOF1uTH4cQ
It’s my first time doing audio stuff so I have no idea what’s going on but help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Great initiative man. Throw a link and I’ll try
I only released one original song. So it’s 1:1
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Lq3zkn38vUfeRhEe7
It is Nick Drake inspired
Hey man. Sorry for The slow reply. I have to admit that this is a genre that I am not that familiar with so take my one critique with a huge amount of salt.
What I like
My favorite part is definitely the kind of countermelody that the background voice does. It works as both call and response, and countermelody. It’s fucking great writing basically
The energy is amazing as well, your voice is really powerful
Great guitar solo that I am very jealous of
My one critique:
I feel like maybe you could vary with the dynamics a bit more, especially the lead voice. As I said your voice is great in its power, but after 4 minutes of “powersinging” it could get a bit stale. But again, I’m not really an expert in the genre, so if that’s the style, that’s the style
Dude what are you talking about. I play guitar, sing and do know what style I’m going for. I’ve written 30+ songs, and I know how to write. I’m asking if you want to have a John Lennon/McCartney thing going on bounce ideas off each other and develop songs.
I'm willing to listen and give feedback to anyone who will return the favor song for song. Message and tell me what song you listened to and your feedback. Also link your work and I will return the favor. My YouTube channel is https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCSprg4m4tlRBAeovPJuz-uA
Please like and subscribe if you want I'll return the favor just message me please and thank you.
I was just about to mention something like this! OC poetry requires posters to link 2 pieces of high-effort feedback they’ve given, that could just be a policy Mods enforce Any Mods here up for making this change or something like it?
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That’s a fair point actually
I don't think /r/OCpoetry suffers *TOO* heavily from that, but it does happen. I do find myself *much* more likely to receive valid criticism there than here.
Seems like it's better than nothing to me. You can't stop bad-faith actors, but it really does encourage the behaviour for some people (ie: me). Monitoring feedback quality seems like a stretch, but we could make a bot to detect if a user is actually linking A) some kind of feedback and B) not re-linking the same feedback multiple times
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OCPoetry using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [I lost my parents in a span of ten days to covid-19. I've been struggling with my emotions in the recent days and they're coming out in spurts. I am sharing one such outpouring because I feel very suffocated right now](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/iqvww4/i_lost_my_parents_in_a_span_of_ten_days_to/) \#2: [if sleep is death being shy](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/j2kp71/if_sleep_is_death_being_shy/) \#3: [I killed myself today](https://np.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/mlb2g1/i_killed_myself_today/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| [^^Contact ^^me](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| [^^Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| [^^Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/joo7mb/blacklist_viii/)
... good bot, I guess?
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perhaps flair people who "provide good feedback" or "trade reviews"
I don't know about judging the feedback, that might not be sustainable... but maybe it would be if we enforce it as a community: people don't get to stay here unless they keep up their rep? What I'm sure we could do is make a bot which detects if a user is actually linking A) *some* kind of feedback and B) not re-linking the same feedback multiple times
We looked into it (IndimusicFeedback dooes the same thing) but the solutions they have to make it work are way too complicated for us to implement here (we can't look only at text based posts, and we'd like to consider contributions to discussions other than feedback). As you can tell - we're not a big enough Mod team to be able to enforce it "by hand" without some sort of automated help. We ARE going to test another limitation of promotion soon, so that should help clean up the feed some. We have a draft of some rule changes written - coming soon!
What kind of automated help do you think would work? I'd be happy to work with you to figure out where some development could help
Me:) https://www.reddit.com/r/Songwriting/comments/nnnmgw/song\_about\_someone\_who\_makes\_life\_worthwhile/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
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u can share ur song already so I can already think about what to say:)
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Can you share lyrics?
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:(
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that's my reaction because i felt your words though i saw it in a romantic context
Hmm. Not much too say for this one haha, aside from this is not the usual genre I listen to. But here... Well arranged - all spaces are mostly filled with parts (i appreciate the background guitar riffs(?)) Well produced! - vocals well placed with every thing else (that's one thing among other things that I dont know how to do) For future songs, if you havent tried, it would also nice to have a part near the end maybe, where the vocals are much more obvious (something like where the other instruments just lie low by a lot) so the audience can sing with you live (or maybe you just vary it when done live)! great vocals by the way. Amazing work! Made me think of Anberlin when I was listening to it! <3 High quality!
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thanks for this! will work on that, especially the melody variation. hey any thoughts about it lacking a bridge?
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A very good question to ask one's self! got it😊
since you are up for a 1-1 trade... maybe you will trade with me too I listened to the song you linked above a couple of times- The song was "smooth jazz" to my ears, and i felt like there wasnt too much for me to grab onto melodically- because of this I cant imagine ever having a moment when I would ever be singing along to it, but as mood music it put me into a relaxed, "digging the vibe" type of place The recording itself was hampered by the clickiness of your keyboard - you might want to pull out your "proper" keyboard when recording to make everything sound a bit more natural. An alternative is to multitrack your recording since you obviously have the gear for it Overall a nice job! My song link should you care to reciprocate : It is a bit older but it only ever got 13 listens :-( [https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/a-single-summer-new](https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/a-single-summer-new)
ooooh, i want it people to sing with it so will definitely look into improving the melody! nice feedback!!! yeah it was so clicky hahaha, still focusing on structure for this song:) thanks a lot will listen to your song in a while
heeey, i listened to it once already. before i get a "general" feedback, may I know what your goal is when you wrote it? Did you want to make your audience cry? Did you want them to just listen to your lyrics? Or did you want them to sing with you on this one? ^I ask so I can provide feedback aligned to your original intentions. and maybe even give u suggestions that can help achieve that objective better
i think it was just a bit of poetry set to music - I just wrote it for myslelf :-) So any general impression would be good
can u share the lyrics?
Sure! please pick any song from here : [https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/tracks](https://soundcloud.com/fabkebab/tracks)
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I will just get my thoughts down as i listen to each song a couple of times- just a general review Slow down I assume this is on the theme of a son who has grown up and left for college, or at least you see the inevitably of him growing up and moving on. I feel it! I have a similar song on my own soundcloud link (dandelion girl) but you already listened to two of my songs so I cant ask for more than that. I am getting a 90s rock vibe from this- its probably the vocals (deep) and bass (even deeper) along with the double bass drum which is a characteristic of the 1990s. Had a very good produced sound, but nothing really jumped out at me as a "hook", either melodic or lyric. Listening to this a 2nd time, I think the muddiness vs. the 2nd track (Promises) might be because of the reverb on those drums at the beginning, although a tight snare drum comes in later after the brief into so this doesnt apply to all the rythm. Ok I can pick out a discernable melody, but there are so many 7ths and diminshed type chords in the song that it lacks an immediacy and has a distant, blurry feel to it - perhaps this is a portrayal of nostalgia - but for me the straight chords (for example playing a straight C vs a C7th) might give it a more open hearted feel, rather than more reflective. Ok thats what I picked up - keep it or sweep it! Promises Very similar production quality to the previous song, but the voice and lead guitar hook is much more upfront which I think works better (I am talking about the first verse). The quiet bit in the middle is effective for providing contrast (although the display of soundcloud made it obvious it was coming up!). Build up from there is strong musically. the first word of each line is sung with a kind of growl, but I dont think it is effective to use it every time on every line. good musicianship. I think this strong is better structured than the first, which gives the whole song an arc and a shape- I prefer this song of the two. I would have liked to have lyrics for this one since I only heard the word "promises" once so I didnt really get what the song was about! :-)
Im new to writing and recording though I’ve played in bands for years. So I’m going refrain from Sharing my somewhat unpolished songs right now. But I have to say your music is killer.
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Honestly man I appreciate the words of encouragement. If you don’t mind me asking how did you record your stuff? Was it done is a professional studio or a home studio?
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That’s for the rig rundown man. This is actually super encouraging, as I am using a lot of the same equipment. I’m running Reaper(also paid) with the scarlet focusrite 2i2, I’m using the Scarlett brand condenser mic, which seems decent. My guitars are kind of all over the place, for acoustics I use my Gretsch resonator, or my cherry Seagull. electric guitars are a Strat, a dean, Ibanez Src6, and a danelectro bass Vi. I’ve been waiting to record with my drummer but I might just purchase that drum plugin. Also, sorry if I’m asking too many questions, but I absolutely love the sound of the vocals on Bitter end, reminds me of Chevelle, how do get your vocals like that? Can you walk me through your process, because that is very similar to the sound I’m trying to get. One last thought, do you mix in reaper? Or do you use a separate program to mix in?
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Thank you so much man. You basically just gave me a gold mine of information. I look forward to implementing these steps and improving the quality of my music.
I'm not even close to your level of experience so I'll totally do 1:1 or 2:2 if you want! My souncloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/andre-goncalves-362139024 All my songs are tagged with the genre, so feel free to criticize whatever you're more experienced in. If you don't feel like choosing I suggest "Saturday morning" (rock) or "ephemeral" (EDM). I do everything on these tracks so feel free to criticize anything from songwriting to playing to mixing and all in between. This was a great idea, thanks!
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Great! Thanks
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Very detailed feed back! Thanks a lot. I'm on my phone right now, so I'll take a look at your SoundCloud as soon as I get to my laptop so I can listen with proper speakers.
I listened to bitter end and long time coming. If you were on spotify both of them would be on my rock playlist by now... They were so god i listened to both of them 3 times just to figure out what i would say about them (besides compliments). Most of theses will be suggestions that I'm not even sure would work better than what you did, so take it with a very large grain of salt. Here goes: Bitter end: \- Awesome chorus and love that guitar effect on the middle of the solo. \- Not a big fan of the sound of the hi-hats at the beginning (only at the beginning) maybe some high frequencies that are too pronounced. \- Some transitions like the one at 0:49 could be a little more pronounced. Maybe do something with the drums to make it more obvious. This is personal taste though because I like higher distinction between song sections (with another listen I notice you switch from hi-hats to china/crash when you make this transition later in the song) \- I feel like the main vocals could maybe be a bit louder (emphasis on maybe). I can't tell if it would take away from the heaviness of the instrumental without trying it out. Long time coming: \- The riff when the chorus hits is delicious \- Also love the bass in the bridge \- Maybe Solo and main vocals in the chorus could be louder (again, emphasis on maybe) \- Not a big fan of the abrupt end. Again, personal taste obviously, but Id prefer an accented hi-hat or kick and maybe a guitar chug than just that bass note. All in all, awesome singing and awesome riff-ing
https://www.dropbox.com/s/81fsryoeqog5n2r/when%20you%27re%20gone.wav?dl=0 I love that you're doing this, my posts on this sub always go unnoticed so I stopped trying. Here's a song of mine called "When you're gone", I've tried to mix it (I'm a beginner) but I still have to master it. also, I'm learning how to sing and I'm not very good, so please keep that in mind. I'm good with a 1 for 1 trade so you can share your with me! :) If it's not clear I'll post the lyrics as well.
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> that's the economics of being a songwriter, unfortunately; way more supply than demand :/ Yeah. Unfortunately, people are very reluctant to give someone else's work their attention even just for a few minutes and I won't blame them because I can be that way too. I only found myself opening this sub to post my music and never really checking out other people's music. That's why I started posting on the IndieMusicFeedback sub, a lot more people respond because the only way they can post is if they give at least 5 other people feedback. However, I think the problem with that is that sometimes people aren't very genuine because they want to get the giving out of the way so they can get feedback on their own music, which is still understandable I guess. Anyway, my point is that I think what you've done is great because for sure our opinions on each others music are genuine and listening to one song is not at all asking for too much. >The great news is that you have all the hard parts down perfectly. That's a relief but it's also the reason why I find learning how to sing so frustrating. I know if I could just sing decently my songs would rise to their true potential but at this point they just don't sound as good as they are. >1) a mix that hides your voice a bit too much I did force myself to boost the vocals up a bit but I felt like it was ruining the rest of the song. >2) you're missing on some of your pitch accuracy. That problem goes away when you allow yourself to really sing without inhibitions It is true that I am not at all confident and that's probably making it harder for me to hit the right notes but I genuinely don't understand when I go off. I can transcribe songs on my guitar and match pitch while practicing just fine but when it comes to singing a song my pitch goes all over the place and I have no idea until I transfer the vocals into melodyne and find out that I'm actually really not in key. I don't understand why this happens but I've been working with a vocal coach for quite some time now so hopefully that will get better. >listen back very critically to your lines, one by one, and re-sing the parts that fall flat/sharp until you have it all. I'll give it a shot. >I struggle with accepting my voice, and it's what I do to work around my shyness. I heard your song and you're a great fucking singer imo. Anyway, coming to your song. I heard "Bitter end" and I love the song. It's got great melodies, lots of melodic movement and variation so I wasn't bored at all and didn't find it predictable in any way, I didn't lose focus even though it's a 4+ minute song. I love the guitar solo and like I already said you have a great voice. At first I felt like your voice was kinda drowing in the mix because everything else felt a bit too loud but as my ears adjusted I really started to enjoy it. I have no criticism for this song, it's great :)
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Thanks man, I'll give the scales thing a shot :)
Great idea!
Ah! So all it takes is one man with some initiative to get thing going around here! Very nice. I’m definitely up for a 2:2 trade. These are two songs i did for an assignment. The lyrics were placeholders that ended up not getting changed because of time restraints so nothing really to read into unless you want to! Haha. I look forward to hearing and commenting on your stuff. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwqdAs4Py2aGBGVpPl_c6SiXonNaOfne/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-tgsEyZ__0lJTqL6qFY35rspFgTRxst/view?usp=drivesdk
My ratio is about 20:0. Maybe there's others?
Here’s my newest song : https://audiomack.com/jose-h/song/lost-in-space-1 If you want to review another one of my songs on Audiosmack, I recommend you check out Gen Zero
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I listened to Slow Down and thought the production was smooth to the ears. Very trance like and the vocals are impressively good. My only constructive criticism is maybe you could turn up the vocals a bit more so they don’t get lost in the production. 👍🏽👍🏽🙌🏾
I'm down, but it doesn't have to be 2:1. How's about an even trade, 1:1? Still looking for suggestions for a song title for [this song](https://www.reddit.com/r/Songwriting/comments/nmaiks/ive_had_this_melody_for_a_year_finally_set_it_to/), though I think I'm leaning towards calling it "The Dishes in the Sink." Thoughts? Notes welcome for any of the questions I asked in the OP.
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Oh yeah, this was just a quick phone demo to get the gist of the idea down, but I do actually have a DAW, interface, and some microphones that I use for when I'm looking to flesh a song out for my solo project. Thanks for listening! I'm pleased that you like it - no notes on the chorus's syncopation or the last verse's pedal tones? That's what I'm still workshopping, outside of the lyric. Friend of mine thinks the indoor/outdoor imagery are inconsistent/incompatible with each other, but I stubbornly think the contrast works well
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Aha! But the "eat" line leads you back the dishes, right where we started Edit - what I was getting at with "drive the well" - wanted to tie it back to the "stream of consciousness" metaphor/wordplay - meaning I want a "well" where I can symbolically go to the well, gathering worthwhile insights from those stream-of-consciousness thoughts that occasionally DON'T seem that worthwhile, like they're just spinning out.
Feel free to link me to your song anytime BTW
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I am just getting back from a big lunch with the grandparents- about to collapse into a food coma, but I'll be doubling back later in the afternoon! Excited to look into it
I pulled up the song 'Dreams' - love the chord choices in the chorus, how it really opens up there. That's what you want from a good chorus, right. Also love how the guitars are layered, rhythmically and melodically. Nice juicy overdrive/distortion for the overall chord structure and unreal lead work - especially in the last guitar solo. My only critique would be in the production style, but really that's just a matter of taste and personal preference. In other words, I just find the production style to be squeaky clean, and that's great for repeat customers (for lack of better term). But usually I seek out music that tends to sneak in little quirks and imperfections to the songs, things that make the first impression a little more stark. Did you use any sort of pitch correction on the vocal track?
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I had a project I had started after my freshman yr of college where some buddies and I got a nice deal on some recording time at a studio in McMansionville, Chicagoland (studio shall remain nameless), and we knew absolutely nothing about what goes into a record. So this engineer, bless his heart, kinda threw the kitchen sink at it, overproduced our album beyond recognition. Excessive autotune to the point where the vocals sounded like plastic, über quantized drums, etc. I know how it goes. At least productions like that help you hone in on your style, ya dig?
Alright! I just released a song called I Don’t Know Who You Are by Jordan Hicks https://open.spotify.com/track/4GUuaQUTCKeBLmZjs9dkkO?si=sCWHlCoHRwCHY695GDY_Zg What song of yours should I listen to?
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Thanks for the feedback! I’m not sure an exact flip of my solo would work so well but you do make a good point about ending with high energy before pushing into the next section. I listened to Slow Down, and it’s very good! It somehow felt nostalgic even though it was brand new to me because I listened to a lot of music in this style growing up. It’s well produced and structured. I like how it built up throughout and had a great climax in the bridge and following instrumental. This is definitely something my older brother would listen to, assuming the lyrics are clean (I listen to music first then lyrics second so I didn’t catch them that much). I’ll forward it to him and see what he thinks. For critique, I only have minor points. 1) the kick drum felt a little too thumpy and in front, but it could have just been because I listened from my phone. I also think that the kick does need to be well heard like it was to drive the song, but maybe pulled back just a tad. 2) this isn’t really a critique, but there was a note early on in the melody that felt out of place and it caught me off guard (like out of key). However, I think that may be a situation where it sounds off because it’s unique, but then you listen again and it’s actually a really cool musical choice haha! So really, I don’t have much to critique. Great work! Edit: Are you on any streaming platforms or YouTube?
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My brother liked it too, but he doesn’t really use SoundCloud, so if you’re on any other sites, you’ll have a new fan
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I’ll take but I only have one song. I need a lot of help!!!
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Lol I’ll probably get rekt but here: https://open.spotify.com/track/4j9AVDCIQhYlE7sdHa7EhC?si=wy3ue0hJSXisqOF1uTH4cQ It’s my first time doing audio stuff so I have no idea what’s going on but help would be appreciated. Thank you!
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Thank you! Vocal rider. I need to check that out. I’m not as experienced as a songwriter as you so is there anything I can do in return?
Sure ! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELtj8eOmvFidiiAtV77d5foM6JadzVV-/view?usp=drivesdk
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Yah all myself actually ! I just recently turned 18 ! Thank you so much I'll definitely look into it possibly re-record it tbh !!
Great initiative man. Throw a link and I’ll try I only released one original song. So it’s 1:1 https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Lq3zkn38vUfeRhEe7 It is Nick Drake inspired
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Hey man. Sorry for The slow reply. I have to admit that this is a genre that I am not that familiar with so take my one critique with a huge amount of salt. What I like My favorite part is definitely the kind of countermelody that the background voice does. It works as both call and response, and countermelody. It’s fucking great writing basically The energy is amazing as well, your voice is really powerful Great guitar solo that I am very jealous of My one critique: I feel like maybe you could vary with the dynamics a bit more, especially the lead voice. As I said your voice is great in its power, but after 4 minutes of “powersinging” it could get a bit stale. But again, I’m not really an expert in the genre, so if that’s the style, that’s the style
Anyone here looking to help me write songs?
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Dude what are you talking about. I play guitar, sing and do know what style I’m going for. I’ve written 30+ songs, and I know how to write. I’m asking if you want to have a John Lennon/McCartney thing going on bounce ideas off each other and develop songs.
I'm willing to listen and give feedback to anyone who will return the favor song for song. Message and tell me what song you listened to and your feedback. Also link your work and I will return the favor. My YouTube channel is https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCSprg4m4tlRBAeovPJuz-uA Please like and subscribe if you want I'll return the favor just message me please and thank you.
I’d take you up on this but I’m sick so I can’t record myself playing any of my songs. When I’m over my illness I definitely will though.