Unorthodox song review, please.

[sfxman]

Hi there, guys.

Haven't been here in a while, but am glad to get back and hear some tracks. Such a cool site. I've been playing with this song for the last two days and really just wanted to get some opinoins on the song itself, as I still need to work out the mix properly...vocals are way too out front in the verses and a few milliseconds ahead, piano needs a little more velocity tweaking, etc. I'm really curious as to how you feel about the rather unorthodox nature of the song itself, as it doesn't follow strict guidelines, but I love the melodies and harmonies the singer did. Open to any suggestions arrangement-wise. Thanks.

Note: Just fixed everything and think this is finalized now.

EWQSL piano and strings
direct GTR with Amplitube
diect Fender bass with Amplitube
drums are Stylus RMX

[rtlane28]

Change "appletree" to something else and it's pretty much perfect in my opinion......Really good song. Not even the kind of song I would normally like but I really liked it.

[garagegear]

this is a realy cool song. It reminds me of something off of the verve's fist album. The vocals sounded alot better than what you usualy hear posted. The only part that I didn't particularly enjoy was at the end were the vocalist was singing "awww" repetedly. Up until then the whole song was interesting, I could imagine hearing it on the radio. As far as mixing and engeneering are conserned I am not very knowledgable yet, so I don't realy have any advice. The performance and songwriting were both realy great. Thanks for posting it.

[urexecutioner51x3]

very interesting song.some of your parts took me back quite a few years.vocals were very good...compared to mine.haha. it sounds real good the way it is and cant wait to hear the completed version.

[MetalDave]

I think it is a really good song. I don't think I would change a thing. I hope it is done now. I am afraid if you change anything... it wouldn't improve it. Quit while you are ahead. I thought at first what? when I heard the snare stereo reverb. It is cool after a few seconds into the song. I am totally not afraid to Bash any song but I can't seem to find anything I don't like. I would even keep apple tree. It is unorthodox, Thats what is good about it! I do think it should end more like what I have posted. Just listen to the end I haven't changed anything in the song just faded the song out at the end it just felt better to me... Just an opinion. Check it.

Note: I see you have faded the end now, I like it...

[sfxman]

Thank you for the opinions, guys. I knew I really liked it because I kept listening again and again....just not sure how others would react to the meandering style. The singer tends to write songs that don't have a normal structure and use melodies instead of words for hooks. Weird, but interesting. I agree about the fade out as well. One intresting note which blows me away is that this kid didn't have a clue what harmonies he was gonna sing. Then he just belts out these gorgeous harmonies, most of which were first take. Blew my friggin' mind while tracking.

-S

[Necromancer]

From the 3rd note, I could tell I'd be blown away.
Incredible song. Structure wise, i wouldn't change a thing.
The vocalist is amazing. Melody up the ying yang.
Use this as a sticky for a melody how-to.
Easily the best thing I've heard on here vocal wise and maybe even production wise.
You could easily slide this right into the top 40, with very little engineering tweaks.

Only thing I'm not sure about is the bell keyboard sound. Will either make or break this song but I can't tell you which.

Leave the ending the way it is (sorry Dave).

[rtlane28]

Yeah, the bell sounded a little Casio-ish. And the delay on the snare seems to get out of time. I've listened to this song about ten times since you first posted it. I still really, really like it. Except for "apple tree".....(maybe I just have something against apple trees that I wasn't aware of) . By the way, meandering was the exact word that came to mind when I first heard this song.

[sfxman]

Ha. You guys are hilarious. Yeah, the bells were my own fault. I liked the melody, but maybe its a bit much. I'm a fan of bells for no reason whatsoever. This is totally a work-in-progress as the singer basically came in to play the MIDI piano part and do vox. Then I added all the other crap. So its totally malleable. There are lots of timing issues as well...the vox are about 30 milliseconds ahead due to a plug-in fiasco. I'll work some more on the mix. Just glad people are hip to the tune, which was my initial concern. Didn't know if it would go over. Thanks for the input, everyone.

[rsadasiv]

Great song, nice job on the production. I thought it was more Coldplay than Verve, but he's definitely working in a recognizable genre. I thought the vocals were a little much - definitely good, but too much of a good thing at certain points. I would have preferred a little less of the multitracked harmonies and a little more of the distorted guitar.