Help! - what do I say about this??

MilanPan!c

www.reverbnation.com/theunsungsuperheroes

The singer and songwriter in this band is a friend, a close friend, of my wife.

He's bugging me to feedback on his new song, "Living this Lie (final)".

Can you guys help me think of some nice things to say?

Maybe, it's just me?

Do you guys think this good?

Oh man, I'm really stumped... it seems all over the place.

seannash

MilanPan!c wrote: »

www.reverbnation.com/theunsungsuperheroes

The singer and songwriter in this band is a friend, a close friend, of my wife.

He's bugging me to feedback on his new song, "Living this Lie (final)".

Can you guys help me think of some nice things to say?

Maybe, it's just me?

Do you guys think this good?

Oh man, I'm really stumped... it seems all over the place.

tell him the truth.he'll appreciate it far more than lying to him and telling him he's onto a winner.

more than likely though youll be met with the old"its just a rough mix" line anyway

MilanPan!c

seannash wrote: »

tell him the truth.he'll appreciate it far more than lying to him and telling him he's onto a winner.

more than likely though youll be met with the old"its just a rough mix" line anyway

Unfortunately... this is the email:

Please listen to this track. 95% finished but ready for listening. Will appreciate your feedback. Please let others know and let them know you can DOWNLOAD both our tracks at http://www.reverbnation.com/theunsungsuperheroes

Note: livin this lie (final) not demo

THERE IS A LOT OF BASS ON "livin this lie" SO LISTEN WITH EARPHONES OR GOOD SPEAKER........

I don't really want to be brutally honest, more constructively positive.

I want to support his effort really.... and avoid trouble.

Did you listen to it?

Neurojazz

Use the hamburger angle...

Start with a positive, point out some little nuggets of goodness. (fluffy bap)

Then tear it to shreads honestly. (the meat)

End on high note with reiteration of the positives. (fluffy bap)

MilanPan!c

Neurojazz wrote: »

Use the hamburger angle...

Start with a positive, point out some little nuggets of goodness. (fluffy bap)

Then tear it to shreads honestly. (the meat)

End on high note with reiteration of the positives. (fluffy bap)

hmm... Can I say "do it again" in a nice way?

thanks for the advice!

Neurojazz

Ok, how about this.

Intro = awesome... loads of atmosphere - liking the detail work in the programming, keep this up.

The guitar line is way too loud in the mix and doesn't do the flow any justice when the main singer starts.

I'd probably steal the best parts of this track and make a very cool shorter radio edit.

There are some parts which sound really suited for radio - keep at it - a great start to this new project mate.

Epicness

I actually think its pretty good (as far as all that autotune RnB shizz goes!) Though my I'm no expert at music production at all, so I'm not coming from that angle. Did they produce it themselves so? My ears say its a bit iffy at times for a finished product. But it seems like the perfect thing to get on youtube and show to usher or something haha

MilanPan!c

Neurojazz wrote: »

Ok, how about this.

Intro = awesome... loads of atmosphere - liking the detail work in the programming, keep this up.

The guitar line is way too loud in the mix and doesn't do the flow any justice when the main singer starts.

I'd probably steal the best parts of this track and make a very cool shorter radio edit.

There are some parts which sound really suited for radio - keep at it - a great start to this new project mate.

Epicness wrote: »

I actually think its pretty good (as far as all that autotune RnB shizz goes!) Though my I'm no expert at music production at all, so I'm not coming from that angle. Did they produce it themselves so? My ears say its a bit iffy at times for a finished product. But it seems like the perfect thing to get on youtube and show to usher or something haha

Awesome Stuff!

I will steal this all post-haste!

Thanks guys!

judas101

When you use autotune and still cant hit a note youre in trouble

MilanPan!c

judas101 wrote: »

When you use autotune and still cant hit a note youre in trouble

It's a bit way over the top, huh?

judas101

better than some of the crap you hear in the charts but is a bit all over the gaf.

the fact that it says "FINAL MIX!!1!" is the curious part.

if you have the software, why not ask if you can do a quick mix for him?

JonathanAnon

Well the whole RnB Rap thing wouldn be my cup of tea either but here's what I would think:
1. it sound at parts of the song that he has one of those MIDI special effects soundfonts, where you press the A key it's a fire engine, A# is a telephone, B is a helicopter... particularly at 2:09.. over use of these types of effects.
2. "I'm say I'm ready but I dont wanna to let her go" .. This section is badly sung and needs to be redone.
3. The AutoTune effect is WAAAYYYY over used.. It should be used discretely like Cher did.
4. Guitar solo sounds like somebody is practicing Pentatonic scales. Should be just pulled.

Not the worst thing I have ever heard, dont think I'll find myself singing it. Maybe with work you could make a decent song out of it, but as it is, the song will remain unsung :-) I think the vocals need to be redone and try to define some verse/chorus structure.. Very hard to follow the song.

PaulBrewer

MilanPan!c wrote: »

www.reverbnation.com/theunsungsuperheroes

The singer and songwriter in this band is a friend, a close friend, of my wife.

He's bugging me to feedback on his new song, "Living this Lie (final)".

Can you guys help me think of some nice things to say?

Maybe, it's just me?

Do you guys think this good?

Oh man, I'm really stumped... it seems all over the place.

Shocking Shyt I'm afraid ..... Say nothing, lads like that can't be told.

Savman

Just reply with a link to this thread, job done.

MilanPan!c

Savman wrote: »

Just reply with a link to this thread, job done.

hahahaha

PMI

I would say nothing as they arnt gonna do anything anyway, but let um have their fun, there's loadsa guys like that about

I will say it again....

Anyone with a PC now thinks they are a producer, just let um off and concentrate on the Pharrel's and Timberlands and Stargates of this world

JonathanAnon

You know Milan, if the guy is planning on pumping a lot of money into independently releasing this song, you might be better off telling him rather than having him wasting his money. I write a few songs, and I think some of them are okay, but you have to be honest enough with yourself that if enough people tell you that it's rubbish, then it probably IS rubbish. The words "final mix" kind of alludes to the fact that it is "ready for release" or something. Has he told you what he intends to do with it?

I mean we already have one Marcus Henry Fearon. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but somebody needed to say stop before his backer put a million into his music.

MilanPan!c

JonathanAnon wrote: »

You know Milan, if the guy is planning on pumping a lot of money into independently releasing this song, you might be better off telling him rather than having him wasting his money. I write a few songs, and I think some of them are okay, but you have to be honest enough with yourself that if enough people tell you that it's rubbish, then it probably IS rubbish. The words "final mix" kind of alludes to the fact that it is "ready for release" or something. Has he told you what he intends to do with it?

I mean we already have one Marcus Henry Fearon. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but somebody needed to say stop before his backer put a million into his music.

This is more the reality.

And kind of why I started all of this.

I want to encourage him and he's taking some personal risk in the process so I want to kind of protect his interests as well...

PaulBrewer

You're in this band Milan aren't you ?

I'd guess that's you on guitar ....

MilanPan!c

PaulBrewer wrote: »

You're in this band Milan aren't you ?

I'd guess that's you on guitar ....

I wish!

dav nagle

Why Milan you are posting this I really don't get it, clearly this is garbage of the highest order that needs to be incinerated into the windows desktop it was created on.


The reality is that you should say to him straight!

'Have you had a reality check recently?'

ANSWER

'No, why what's your beef?'

You

'Your 'production' is out of time, out of tune, and most of all, out of date, so there's the manual, read it next time!


In my honest opinion it would be a challenge to produce such a high level of trash.

My freeking cat could shreek better than that,.


Tell them if they want a record deal they should jump on the bandwagon of fake assed record companies that are coming out of the wood work.

JJV

Nice one Dav. Your posts always cheer me up.

www.jjvernon.com

JonathanAnon

Any update on this M!lan, did you go Simon Cowell all over his ass or were you more Cheryl Cole.

Sham Squire

I actually think that song is workable. You'd have to redo the whole thing, obviously, but I think there's a tune in there. Just do up a new backing track, get the guy to send you the vocals done a hundred different times completely untreated and get a comp together, treat it, and it could work. I teach groups of teenagers and compared to the **** they listen to the bare bones of this song aren't bad at all. Has anybody heard that ****ing fireflies song?

MilanPan!c

I will update this thread...

So, Your man actually found this thread and was extremely cool about it.

In fact, he was actually only a bit aggravated that I didn't tell him directly what I thought about it...

Like I said a pretty sound guy.

In fact, he has recorded two more new songs, one of which has a ridiculously killer riff in it...

So, in my mind, even though this song had a lot of issues and even though he read a lot of REALLY negative stuff about it, he didn't give up...

That's a good sign in my book!

So there's your update.

:P

Thanks again for all the advice!

alan kelly

Shocking Shyt I'm afraid ..... Say nothing, lads like that can't be told.



Mr brewer has hit the nail on the head.....:D.......

madtheory

alan kelly wrote: »

Shocking Shyt I'm afraid ..... Say nothing, lads like that can't be told.



Mr brewer has hit the nail on the head.....:D.......

Yes, but always read the whole thread or you might...

MilanPan!c

madtheory wrote: »

Yes, but always read the whole thread or you might...

hahaha..

I totally did a double take.

ICN

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I will update this thread...

So, Your man actually found this thread and was extremely cool about it.

In fact, he was actually only a bit aggravated that I didn't tell him directly what I thought about it...

I'm not surprised he found out about it.

I read the first few posts of this a while back & was surprised by how naive & indiscrete the whole thing was.. in that it was a tad insensitive starting the thread & inviting all this constructive criticism, given the personal relationship, and the original request for 121 feedback & also attaching correspondence without permission.. etc..

Didnt even listen to it myself.. but, Poor Band / Guy - whatever.

I'd say it hurt twice.


But hey - thats just me.

MilanPan!c

ICN wrote: »

I'm not surprised he found out about it.

I read the first few posts of this a while back & was surprised by how naive & indiscrete the whole thing was.. in that it was a tad insensitive starting the thread & inviting all this constructive criticism, given the personal relationship, and the original request for 121 feedback & also attaching correspondence without permission.. etc..

Didnt even listen to it myself.. but, Poor Band / Guy - whatever.

I'd say it hurt twice.


But hey - thats just me.

I wouldn't say it was a brilliant move on my part. If you read my posts though I hope you see I wasn't being mean. I was actually trying to help the guy... He's my friend.

Luckily, he understood all of this and I still an trying to help him.

So in the end, it worked out.

JonathanAnon

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I wouldn't say it was a brilliant move on my part.

boards.ie can be dangerous if you use a URL or any sort of link, as if you cite the URL in a thread, it shows up in Google searches.. Good that he saw it though.. I think if people are honest enough with themselves, they would be better off just posting on an anonymous forum, and see what people (including the trolls) think..