Month: September 2016

Broadjam Artist: Kate Carpenter
Song: Painted Bunting

Reviewer: Bob Higgs

Positive Comments: Love the opening with bongoes and fiddle. Song then becomes pretty folk tune. I don’t think it’s that commercial except for children’s tv.

Constructive Comments: It’s fine as it is.

Broadjam Artist: 80s
Song: My City Ft. BoosMontana

Reviewer: The Rap Ghandi

Positive Comments: Beat is aight.

Constructive Comments: Doubles were off and distracting. Mix wasn’t energetic enough

Broadjam Artist: Aryz Kahlid
Song: Microphone Master

Reviewer: The Rap Ghandi

Positive Comments: Bassline is aight

Constructive Comments: Study great rappers

Broadjam Artist: John Hazlett
Song: Eerie Nights

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: So dark and brooding! This is music as sound design if ever I’ve heard it. There’s just something deeply uncomfortable about this piece and I can definitely imagine that there are people who will love it! You have a nice touch for the use of dissonance at times. Good work.

Constructive Comments: Ok, the scream at the end is a little twee, but hey, could totally work. This would be a great piece for people to use in a haunted house at Halloween! Personally I think this is great and useable as is, but could also really shine in a remix with higher quality instrument samples. I would also play with the tempo, I think there’s room to speed it up and really amp up the energy, or to slow it all the way down and just wallow in some of those textures for a while. Great work.

Broadjam Artist: Till
Song: When all is said and done!

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Love the haunted piano room vibe. This is a very atmospheric piece and I think it is very sellable. There are plenty of scenes out there that would be made better by this piece.

Constructive Comments: I’m not sure, but it felt to me like the track was right on the edge of clipping the whole time? That could just be my speakers though, but definitely check out what other people are saying on that front. I think in general that the mix might be just a little too bright and direct. You could afford to add a little atmospheric ‘distance’ and reverb to the bass etc in the mix.

Broadjam Artist: Uncle Spider & The Electric Dirt Clods
Song: The Ride Home

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Great piece and arrangement. There’s a sensitivity to the way that you slowly evolve over the duration.

Constructive Comments: Unfortunately I think that the quality of the instrumentation is letting you down. There’s a ‘cheapness’ particularly in the drum part that drags down the overall effect. I think that the piano and bass could be fine and I quite like that panning effect sound you have, but it just needs that extra little bit of polish before I think you could market this one.

Broadjam Artist: Sandra Ada
Song: Simple Dreams

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Very cinematic. Definitely a trailer piece. Some very un-nerving sounds, but in a very good and still quite musical way. I do really love what you’ve done here and I’m sure a lot of film directors will too. I especially love how patient you are at building the textures up. That adds a real sense of tension to everything. Well done!

Constructive Comments: I really don’t have much to add, other than I think you could probably easily extend this out to 6-8 minutes worth of this texture, which might work for some of the film directors or game designers that are looking for this sort of music. I can definitely hear this piece behind extended suspense scenes!

Broadjam Artist: Ian Graham
Song: Firechaser

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Wow, that’s certainly a distinctive sound. Love the energy! Has a great retro synth quality!

Constructive Comments: I’m not quite sure where to go with this. Normally I’d expect there to be a more professional “realistic” sample sound, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what you’re going for here, and that’s absolutely fine! This has a retro game soundtrack sound, and I do love that about it. I do think its worth trying to expand the piece out. I think there’s about 3-4 minutes worth of ideas here, but you’ve pushed it all into one minute! Take your time, build up some of those ideas more naturally and I think you’ll have quite a big piece of quite sellable music. Good job!

Broadjam Artist: Warren Hein
Song: No More Worries ‘Bout Me (writer’s vocal)

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Right off the bat, great piano performance. Nothing more to say there. I quite like the vocal as well. There’s an earthy vulnerability to it that really works for this song. There’s a real Randy Newman quality to the whole thing!

Constructive Comments: I think I’d probably go for a re-mix if you have the chance. I’m finding the vocal to be a little close in the mix, or perhaps the piano is a bit far away. I’m just feeling like you’re right in my ear, and whilst that’s quite intimate, I’m also finding it slightly unnerving! I did also feel like the vocal ran out of power at the end of some of the phrases, while stylistically this has some benefits, it did affect some of the diction. This is just nitpicking though. Overall, really great track, great work!

Broadjam Artist: Billy Pilgrim
Song: Second Street

Reviewer: Tristan Kane

Positive Comments: Great keys performance. I can’t quite think of what it is, but something here is giving me a bit of a Billy Joel vibe, even though I can’t quite place anything specific that it’s reminding me of. What I do like is that it has a thoroughly American sound (I’m Australian, so that’s very much an outsider opinion on that). I think this definitely has potential for use.

Constructive Comments: The piano is great, but I think it’s let down a bit by the rest of the instrumentation. The arrangement all seems very sound, but they just sound so muted, I’m even struggling to work out what’s there. Is it some vocals? Just a synth? And definitely some soft strings, but nothing really cutting through.