Ok, well, I'm starting to take music fairly seriously. I've gotten a small handful of local gigs with other bands, but seriously, local music doesn't have a very high bar set around South Jersey.

I was wondering if you guys could give me some feedback on my newest song, "Buried", please? Reply and vote if you have the time.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLy4_0zirMU

It's good!  I probably would bring the guitar in at a higher level around 1:00 in. 
Sounds like some autotune used, correct?
I'd probably bring the percussion and guitars back at the end and repeat chorus an octave higher and loud :D

Otherwise, good stuff! :)

Gosh, I hate criticizing production (even if I'm criticizing it in a positive way, which, I hope you will agree, I am trying to do here..!)

I agree with Midas, a lovely little verse melody at the beginning. The guitar (referenced by Midas from 1:00) does sound slightly crackly and could do with bringing up in level, but the separation between the two instruments is beautiful. The instrument at 1:18 probably needs to be parallel with the bass, on the other side of the mix, to create a more "balanced" feel, which it doesn't entirely sound as though it is on these speakers.

The percussion in the bridge (from 1:52, especially 1:54, onwards) is very intriguing, but the melody line in the bridge needs to be brought forward slightly, because you have a very beautiful line there, which needs to be heard.

I love the breakdown at 2:29, though again I would love it if the instrument was brought forward to complement the vocal.

And the end, bringing the bass in, is just a beautiful touch. The vocals are perfectly clear and distinct - much different from quite a lot of the same music of the same variety where it sounds like the lead vocalist has a bad cold.

And, like Midas says, there's nothing wrong with repeating everything at twice the volume at the end!

^ Bobo knows music production better than me.  Good advise! :)

^ Bobo knows music production better than me.  Good advise! :)

That's what comes from studying it relentlessly for fifteen months..!

It's good!  I probably would bring the guitar in at a higher level around 1:00 in.  
Sounds like some autotune used, correct?
I'd probably bring the percussion and guitars back at the end and repeat chorus an octave higher and loud :D

Otherwise, good stuff! :)



Thank you, Midas. You're were right about the auto-tune, but I tried not to over-use it. And I agree, the octave idea would have actually added a great piece to the song, I'm sorry I didn't think about it.


Gosh, I hate criticizing production (even if I'm criticizing it in a positive way, which, I hope you will agree, I am trying to do here..!)

I agree with Midas, a lovely little verse melody at the beginning. The guitar (referenced by Midas from 1:00) does sound slightly crackly and could do with bringing up in level, but the separation between the two instruments is beautiful. The instrument at 1:18 probably needs to be parallel with the bass, on the other side of the mix, to create a more "balanced" feel, which it doesn't entirely sound as though it is on these speakers.

The percussion in the bridge (from 1:52, especially 1:54, onwards) is very intriguing, but the melody line in the bridge needs to be brought forward slightly, because you have a very beautiful line there, which needs to be heard.

I love the breakdown at 2:29, though again I would love it if the instrument was brought forward to complement the vocal.

And the end, bringing the bass in, is just a beautiful touch. The vocals are perfectly clear and distinct - much different from quite a lot of the same music of the same variety where it sounds like the lead vocalist has a bad cold.

And, like Midas says, there's nothing wrong with repeating everything at twice the volume at the end!


Now THIS is the kind of criticism that I love. Very detailed, and it shows that you actually tried to dissect the song and listen to it. I fully accept your criticism, Bobo. The guitar at 1:00 was meant to be softer, reverberated, and towards the background. This was to keep the song mostly soft. Didn't want the guitars to rattle too hard.

Also, this was the first song I recorded and mixed listening to it through both my speakers and headphones, because sometimes a song will sound better with headphones than on speakers, and vice-versa.

The bass was the driving point of the song. I usually use synthesized bass, as I do powerpop/synthpop music, so using regular sounding bass was a pretty big change.

I agree that I should have made the melody line a bit louder, but I was sort of afraid because on ym first run through of the song with headphones, it sounded a little bit distorted. Nothing can ruin a soft song more than too much vocal distortion, and trust me, it's happened to me before.



In addition to the slight auto-tune, I added chorus to my voice. Dunno why I liked it, but I did, so I kept it.

Again, I thank you for this criticism, because, good or bad, it'll help me in the long run.

If you want to hear some of my other music, I'm at www.myspace.com/51redstar - and almost all of my songs can be downloaded for free at www.soundclick.com/51redstar