PhonoBrainer

I like it. Your mix has a wide quality, lots of panning choices and movement. I found the bass guitar one big low sustained fill, rather than a "part" - but for this western style son g, that's what you want and need! Did you actively pan the B3 around a bit? Did it move from right side, occassionally to the left? If so, that might be an unnatural movement of a hulking big organ - would we have expected to hear it scraping across the stage? Perhaps I just imagined this. Cool vocals and mix. Have no idea what they are saying, care to share? I didn't love the snare, I thought it a bit overtoney but most likely that's what the lad brought in . . . It works ok. Guitars towards the end just a hair jangly/out of tune? 2:14 they are clashing a bit. These are the nits. It's a lively little number, and well done all. cheers, -Tom

Very original, nice concept, and enjoyable vid. Nice clean mix as well! cheers, -Tom

Sounds good. There is a percussive "tick-tick" and I don't know what that is. Overall a good start to the procedings. Piano is clear, maybe a little more high end eq bump for some "air" on that. Everything else fit nicely. cheers, -Tom

this is primo for the right movie. Very enjoyable journey. What is your brass patch? Occasionally the trombones hit a little to hard (for me) and you get a stab where you might want a swell? Early on in the piece, particularly. Easy to edit that down with midi velocity. Beyond that, I feel this is a real "composition" that tells a story. cheers, -Tom

Smoke This!!! Give Reece an English accent, and voila! Where's my ashtray??? cheers, -Tom

Primus meets Bowie. I'd pay to see that live. If you ever got signed and had professionals do your bidding, you'd be scary good. I like the bass but would like it a bit clearer. For example, I don't know if you want to high pass filter the low end off the elec piano, and maybe some lows off the vocals? Would the bass guitar pop a bit more? It's like telling van gogh "more blue" so, nevermind. cheers, -Tom

I have not heard the original, so I have no idea. The whole thing is pretty narrow and shallow in the stereo field, like you put a mic up to a gaming console speaker. My guess is, you are dealing with some "original file" limitations . . . ? Did this come from a tape or cassette originally? The parts are nicely played / programmed and arranged, particularly the drums. The mix just sounds way far away in the distance. cheers, -Tom

for a loose mix demo, it's got potential I'd say. I like the off-kilter meter of it. cheers, -Tom

You retired bastards. Great tune, maybe just dip the moist pointy cymbal hits just a bit. thanks for the fun, Bjorn! I can only give you an appropriate estimation of your song once I retire . . . see you in six years. Maybe ten. the phone taking pics of your right ear - that's a good one. cheers, Tom

That rhythm guitar riff is so well played and mixed. I'd say the bass knows its place very well on this one. Your vocals and guitars and drums really shine. Nice slowdown adventure in the middle! cheers, -Tom

It's a nice listen. Maybe the bass elements could come up a bit in the mix? The balance of the mix leans a bit to the upper eq side. A nice composition, a very calming listen, and easily has cinema potential I think - kind of 1970's in a way. cheers, -Tom

I suspect part of the issue might be some Bandlab downsampling in the uploading / streaming of it. I dunno, the hi hats have a flangey quality that I associate with lo-res mp3. Or were you shooting for a 1959 recording homage? I have not experienced the Bandlab ecosystem so I dunno. The toms have a limited, crunched feel to them at times. OK, good stuff? Vocals are great! The whole arrangement swings properly. The audience sways left and right to this one! And you dug up a nifty early Beatles classic for a renaissance . .. nice choice. And, the lead guitar, fabulous retro phasey tone, very well played! cheers, -Tom

For 14th of May: really dug the arrangement and those awesome chords, and it all serves up some amazing guitar parts. Kudos! -Tom

Very pleasant, very well recorded guitar and vocal. A great song and I like this a lot. cheers, -Tom

I got more than a little of the Elvis Costello vibe from this! Maybe not what you were aiming at? Your voice is good and with an English accent, might pass for E.C. . .. Mix-wise, I listened on decent headphones, and in the verses, your voice is just about as loud as the bass. Particularly in the first verse/intro. LAter, your vocal mixing seems louder and it works much better. You might drop thebass a bit in the first part . . . Nice powerful singing at the end! Maybe bgv up a little? The other thing to work out is perhaps that lead guitar patch, it's thin sounding, like you just went with a DI track from an Ovation. Did you gird it with an amp sim? Got a beefier patch? Overall, the song holds together quite well, and I think this is one of your better ones. Well done! cheers, -Tom

Jeeze. That is a crapton of songwriting power and cool cool guitars. And drums. Here's a nit - around :55 type area, the drums (toms?) are pretty much just as loud as the vocal. I think your mix generally has the pounding of the toms? almost as equally loud as the vocal. For me, I'd drop toms a hair, push the vocal up a hair. You clearly have panned stuff to help this, and generally, I'd say the panning you have done is pretty stellar. For me, there isn't enough clear center for the vocals to push through and dominate. Pretty close, though. That is one hell of a vocal performance. Just a few tweaks perhaps. This would be an extremely challenging song to mix! Very well done. Apart from the mix? What about the songwriting? KILLER!!!! cheers, -Tom

So the leads and the riffing are all very cool! I'd give the drums a little more oomph in the mix. The constant bass sustains just fill up the mix, and eat some of the high-end energy I think you want for the guitars. You might take some out of the low to give to the treble. Towards the very end, I'm hearing some clipping? crackles, you are pushing the low end too hard perhaps. Did you mix this on headphones maybe? The leads kick a$$ . . . Great performances and concept. cheers, -Tom

I'd vote for the bass guitar up, quite a bit. Particularly in the intro. I like the "out there" quality, even without chemical inducements. That four-bar blues riff that snuck in at the end - great choice, very funny indeed! cheers, -Tom

Fun song! Freddy welcome back, if you ever left! You have clearly slapbacked the crap out of guitars and vocals, and I'd say it works. So it's a period piece, welcome to 1959. Very cool that way! I hear the early Beatles ripping this one up. I'd say stellar period-correct guitar work, and thank you for tuning them first. Occasionally, in the back end of the chorus, you have simultaneous slapback going, on vocals, bgv multiples, and guitars. It kind of collapses the frequency spectrum into something narrow-sounding. Do you hear that? Is that "overload" what you are aiming for? Maybe so! The verses are clean, clear, and fun. I think this is one of your better tunes, and you have totally nailed the time machine here. Well done! cheers, -Tom

Your version of this is just great. I think it all hangs on the vocal, and your voice is quite good! Just some opinions from random internet guy: 1) Get to the piano/drums a verse earlier. It's very powerful when they come in, why make people wait? 2) There is an autofocus thing going on with your camera, it's not timed to the beat, and it's distracting and detracts 3) Your visual presentation is great! ( knit cap, glasses, darklit in studio - it looks good!) but the video over the course of its run time is too static. What about some cutaways with some slow dissolve transitions to some nice clips that support the mood? River flowing, a clock tower, dolphins in space - any video or even motion images that support your mood? Seriously, probably not dolphins in space. Your voice is I think perfect for this stripped down version, and tonally how you've captured the guitar is very pro sounding to my ears. The other instruments are great as well. Just take the video itself to version 2.0 . . . I really liked it. cheers, -Tom

Love that main riff. I'd vote for the middle funk kit, only because that snare in the "rock" kit is kind of 2-D and samey. Might be improved with some different processing. I think that "funk" snare is good to go. cheers, -Tom

This is a really cool song! The girl's bgv could come up a little. Can hardly hear it. The strumming guitars down just a bit. Your vocals, yes, up a tad. I like the chords, the piano parts, both elec and acoustic. I like the lyrics a ton. Has a really "up" feel. There are spots where you intentionally break out of the "British Dance Hall" stomp rhythm, and shift for a measure into a traditional 4/4 . I think this breaks the magic you are creating . . . hard to describe . . . 1:37 is an example . . .. could just be one listener's experience. I don't think Landr crushed anything, but hard to know without hearing the "before" picture. If you are happy with the raised noise floor on your bass instruments, lower guitar notes, and bass notes on the piano, then good to go. I'd like to hear your next mix update! cheers, -Tom

I liked the experiment and call it a success. The part two thirds in felt like it could even crossover into hip hop. That said, 8:30 felt a tad lengthy for what was on offer, nice though it was. Blame my short attention span then! cheers, -Tom

Hey Bjorn, nice one! If you didn't mention Scotland, I would have put this in the American West. So I reckon, there's overlap there. Very cool melodies throughout. At :21, I think your guitar wants to change that chord? I dunno. I like how they all go away, and come back! cheers, -Tom

I don't see the link either. Will check back.