PhonoBrainer

Love it. Should be fun. Works best for me when it was more minimal, as opposed to the built-up sections. Still a toe tapper. cheers, -Tom

Yeah my first thought was "vocals please!" For your budget equipment, its really good. Mix is nice and clear on all the instruments. Nothing really masks anything else. As for choice of instruments, I liked everything except for that dipping and diving brassy lead synth patch. You know the one. That I didn't dig at all. What is Van Halen's "Jump" patch doing in this cool reggae song? To paraphrase The Dude . . . but, that's like, just my opinion, man. I think you have a good one here. cheers, -Tom

Mark Knopfler in style, what a great compliment that is! How about a combo of Paul Simon and Randy Newman on the vocals? But that's overcomparing. I liked the video and the choices you made there. Pretty mellow all the way through. The mix was bright but didn't think too much so. Don't need drum n bass for this one. Most everything about it is understated, which works. Your guitar fill work in the vocal gaps fits well. nice job! -Tom

Great tune. These ballad type deals are really where vocalists can show their chops. Such a slow pace, with no where to hide. You do a decent job of it, actually. Do you know of any killer vocalists who might like to dig into this excellent tune? I'd agree on the comments advising you to thicken. You have so many sustains in the vocal, you might shorten them? I dunno. Your vocal has a charm to it as it is. Kind of depends on what you want to do with this tune. The ending kind of bailed out on me. MAybe a fade out or something? No matter what, nice tune. cheers, -Tom

Mix is great for me. Creative arrangement, it held my interest. Guitar work is a stand out. Question, what kind of mic did the vocalist use? The pre-chorus sounds pretty good, the bigger chorus vocals come through nicely! but the verses sound a bit thin and it's not the vocals, which are quite good, I think it's the mic or the mix. Kind of muffled? Is the top-end eq'd away? Any way to push that vocal up or thicken just the top end? Might be worth a try, and again, just in the verses. super cool tune, dude. cheers, -Tom

Got any lyrics occasionally in the chorus? This is intensely creative. Love the video, and the editing. Maybe could use more that repeated shots in the second half chorus. That chorus/break with the guitar is genius. Really cool. I didn't mind the vocal distance/reverb but I thought the bass guit could come up a bit, and that snare/tambourine hit could get some treatment to make it sit better. I really liked the lyrics which didn't spell it out for you. cheers, -Tom

I didn't think the mix was too bad at all. For me, it is clear up top, and has enough "power" in the right places. But, this isn't my home-turf genre, so the true metalheads might see it differently. So, if you want, fight the power. Meanwhile, the video - that's a good effort there! Appreciate the live shots and stuff. The musicians seem to convey the message, although it's not super subtle. My observation for improvement? The lead singer needs a better camera to equal that of the other musician's. Looks like he's shot with the back-up camera on a Ford Explorer, but the rest of them look crisp, HD, with a green screen to boot. If you are going to all this trouble (and it does look good) get the lead singer something more than a webcam, if possible. Of all of your stuff that I've heard so far, I like this one the best I think. Nice job to all. -Tom

Ok, even this departure from your normal is good. A raw song and a good one. Mix-wise, I'd recommend vocal down, drums up as a start. Probably guitar down a bit, too. cheers, -Tom

I used to play her on a jazz radio show in the late 90's and it always killed. Her version of Autumn leaves, none better.

That's a beautiful tune, it meanders through maj/min and has that wonderful return out of the chorus. Nice voice she has for sure. Her pipes are amazing when it modulates up. Sheesh! loved it. I could hear this in a musical. -Tom

Two chords but it was absolutely fantastic all the way through. That is Houdini stuff. OK, the ending has two more chords. This grooves so hard and every element flows. Nothing gets boring because there is a change coming in 8 measures tops. Fantastic! Only critique is perhaps cut the intro some, get to that groove sooner? cheers, -Tom

yup. tone for days. I believe even I could learn how to play drums to this! -Tom

a pleasure to listen to. -Tom

Great country feel, with your great country vocal chops. Honestly there isn't much separating your tunes from the Nashville sound. Give this one to Porter Waggoner or such. Toby Keith even. But your vocal totally works. Mix-wise, it's pretty loud from the get-go. First thing, I turned the volume down. Distorted? Guitars? Violins? I dunno, you could back those out and go for traditional piano or something. Are you in love with that distorted lead? Does it fit the song? Just wondering. Cool job, bro, I like your stuff. -Tom

Love the wobbly detune thing this has. It's 1980, and its early Level 42! Or maybe Incognito. Really fun stuff. If you posted the chord changes, it would kind of ruin the listening experience! cheers, -Tom

Nice one here! Guitars are clean and crisp. Well played, too! I like the rhythm/chugged thing panned wide? Great. Play a verse. Listen at the same time for the snare and your vocal. Which is louder? For me, the snare. So as to experiment, bring the vocal up half a db, the snare down half a db. Might be interesting. Might also control the wacky bright hi hat, left side, 2:21 ish. That's a catchy number! cheers, -Tom

If you love something, release it, and if it comes back to you, and only three other people in the world hear it, then that's modern music for you.

I likes me a Daryl tune. If you have Kontakt, there's some nice pizzicato strings in 8dio's Adagietto. cheers, -Tom

I agree, fun. The voice you chose works and is interesting. That hi-hat panned right seems to be off the beat, ahead of the beat, occasionally, kind of distracting. It's an unusual mix of elements, and for a visual mix I think you did pretty darn well! cheers, -Tom

Hi Jesse or whomever, Nice to see you here. Very creative as usual. I didn't hear anything else like this today. Thank You! That was one funky breakdown at the end, bro. cheers, -Tom

uh, really really good. Appreciate the live video performance! cheers, -Tom

Any thoughts on the Weiss compressor? $199? I heard it was used on that huge Adele smash album a couple of years ago. Sounded like pretty good music. Yes, Adele Weiss.

Listened to both, I really like your touch, and better, your choices, particularly on "Rain in Florence" which I guess is the newer one? Great tone on that piano or vsti! cheers, -Tom

Very interesting tune! Vocally, you've got a flanger or microtune on it? Maybe? One danger of that kind of processing is that it can leave things thin. Can you EQ some mids back in? Particularly on the chorus? Do you have a "tape" simulator? A good one of these can add a nice weight to things. Other than that, I like the mix and the instrumental performances. And the vocals are just fine - (were they mic'd with a condenser-type mic?) . . . but it does feel like the vocals are struggling to keep up with the weight of the instruments, which are mixed well. Double-tracking the vocal with a different mic that adds more weight (like a good dynamic mic) might be a help! Interested to see where you take it. cheers, -Tom