Month: August 2016

Broadjam Artist: Marc S. Pate
Song: Take Me (duet)

Reviewer: Erin Krebs

Positive Comments: I liked the keyboard solo and the guitar work is really good. The vocal harmonies are nice, in tune, and blend well together! I like the hits the band does between the vocal parts. Nice chords and harmonic progressions as well! It’s kind of a pop sounding song, but with jazz influences.

Constructive Comments: The vocals could maybe be more out front. Especially when the female vocalist sings alone it’s hard to hear the detail of what she’s doing, and if she was brought out in the mix more on those parts it would be better. I had a hard time coming up with the title of the song… I listened to it a few times and couldn’t think of what it might be because I didn’t hear a hook that might give it away.

Broadjam Artist: RICARDO ALONSO
Song: Dos Epocas (Two Epoques)

Reviewer: Kevin Winkel

Positive Comments: I thought the whole thing was great! The eclectic beginning has great potential for film/TV/advertising. The second section was very well written and transformed to a more contemporary celebration to me. Again great potential for use. You showed very good musicianship!

Constructive Comments: This could easily be two separate songs. Everything else was very good I thought.

Broadjam Artist: Billy Pilgrim
Song: About Time

Reviewer: Kevin Winkel

Positive Comments: Loved it! The piano hook carries through the song just right and instrumentation varied just enough. Musicianship is excellent! Loved the clock tick that showed up but didn’t overwhelm.

Constructive Comments: Very little to help you with. When a song gets busy it sometimes helps to spread the mix more to separate the elements. This can be done by more panning and more advanced stereo tools. That’s all I have!

Broadjam Artist: Junior Murrell
Song: Flight

Reviewer: Erin Krebs

Positive Comments: The guitar solo was interesting and very good. The music is smooth- reminds me of something you might hear at a mall or something, so maybe it would work to market it to that type of licensing. It’s perfect for that type of setting- a low key, smooth type of song that people can groove to as they are doing something.

Constructive Comments: The hook was somewhat repetitive, which can be good if it doesn’t go on for too long. The guitar solo should be longer, and the intro/outro (hook) could be cut down. Or maybe have another instrumental solo in addition to the guitar solo? Also, you can tell that the instruments sound electronic, real brass/wind sound really good- so maybe try that.

Broadjam Artist: FRED GROSS
Song: 7th

Reviewer: Kevin Winkel

Positive Comments: Your musicianship is very good! Both guitar and bass parts sounded great. I could hear this riff in a commercial or film scene.

Constructive Comments: The mix of the song is probably the main item holding this song back. The bottom end of the guitar competes with the bass and causes a muddiness to the mix. Try starting with rolling off the bottom of the guitar with a highpass filter to about 250Hz and see what that does to the mix. Scroll the filter up and down from 100 to 400 to find the cleanest sound. Remember this is on the guitar only in this song. Great job!

Broadjam Artist: Tristyn Leach
Song: Take All The Lovin ( solo version )

Reviewer: Kevin Winkel

Positive Comments: I loved it! A great bluesy eclectic song that had my interest from beginning to end. The vocal was great and in tune. Lyrics were just enough. Mix of song was good and arrangement was great!

Constructive Comments: I have no constructive criticism of writing, performing, or arranging. Maybe I would have preferred a smoother string bass sound but I’m a bass player so I’m biased.

Broadjam Artist: FRED GROSS
Song: Moondusk

Reviewer: Kevin Winkel

Positive Comments: Musicianship was very good in this song. I enjoyed the saxophone playing a lot. The bridge section at 0:32 was interesting and kept my attention. I actually went back and listened to that section a second time.

Constructive Comments: The best constructive comments I could give have to do with mixing the song. The guitar was a bit overpowering compared to the other instrumentation. This was mostly due to excess bottom end on the guitar that competed with the kick drum and bass. This has nothing to do with musicianship. This is a technical issue that just requires experience. Try rolling off the bottom end of the guitar and see what that does to the mix.

Broadjam Artist: Laurence Watkins
Song: Laurence’s Lullabye

Reviewer: Bob Higgs

Positive Comments: Paul Simon vibe- lyrics not quite as good as that.

Constructive Comments: Guitar a little bit pedestrian and the refrain doesn’t establish much. Paul Simon vibe great.

Broadjam Artist: Jeff Ashbaker
Song: Like the Love in I Love You

Reviewer: Bob Higgs

Positive Comments: Sort of Merle Haggard meets Mark Knopfler- GREAT guitar!

Constructive Comments: Can’t improve this much, it’s great music though the lyric is not very inspiring x

Broadjam Artist: Brenda Craven
Song: This Side of Heaven

Reviewer: CAEDMON’S DREAM

Positive Comments: * nice performance on acoustic piano * instrumentation and sound effects lush* a great lyric could be put on top of this track * production A+

Constructive Comments: + could add another melodic instrument for variation+ melody line can be doubled to bring it out stronger+ rhythm track is nice and flows easily think of short “breaks” of half-time feel or other beats to not let it get old + didn’t hear a bass track that would be a good addition in this genre (Easy-Jazz)