Month: December 2016

Broadjam Artist: Edgar Sounds
Song: Blue Purple

Reviewer: Jeff Maguire

Positive Comments: Soundtrack potential for sure, bluesy jam for late night wandering.

Constructive Comments: Melodic themes are very nice, arrangement is solid , performance lacks fluidity in general, most likely due to sequenced backing instruments. Personally, I’d work on that, but the theme itself sounds quite usable.

Broadjam Artist: LaQuinn
Song: Dem Jeffersons

Reviewer: Black Diamonds

Positive Comments: This was fire. I liked the fade into the beat. It felt super commercial the song was edgy and easy to follow. The message was provocative, and the artist was spitting some realness. The combinaction of a classic, and even old school beat with, a modern vocal style, made it easy to focus on the raw lyrics and catch some of that realness from the artist. Like I said, this was fire.

Constructive Comments: I really don’t have much criticism. This song was fire. I’d like to hear more from this artist. One thing I would say is no matter how fire an artist is, your potential fan base is important. I want to hear more to see how this artist handles other issues. Rap in the hands of a talented, intelligent, and influential person can uplift or put down the very culture that created it. Raw, and I love it. I’m expecting a lot from this artist, now. This song felt like a wake up slap to a lot of people, and I was like, “I’m down, that was called for.” Now though, if the next song is talking about some cliche wack ish, I’m gonna think, waste of talent. Song was fire.

Broadjam Artist: Signal 30
Song: Beyond This Life

Reviewer: Floyd Kelly

Positive Comments: I hit the play button and I was transported to an unknown place, somewhere out there with this unique contemporary instrumental featuring a pianist, background choir/pad and string section. While listening I feel as if I’m on an unknown terrain in a scene from a game like “Final Fantasy” or similar.

Constructive Comments: This part is the part I don’t like about reviews. Because I know how much work goes into making music some pieces make take a short while to put together and some take a long time. I liked this piece and at the same time has major problems in my musical opinion. I think, mostly, it’s the in the EQ/Mixing stage which needs work to bring out the instruments and presence. I was not captivated when listening, but easily could have been if the instrumentation mixing improved. The introductory notes are jarring and I would have lowered the velocities on the first few notes to set the environment for the listener. The choir sounds flat as well as the oboe. Those two, the choir/pad and the oboe/flute, with the right EQ would fill up a beautiful spatial field if work was done on the reverb and stereo enhancement. The string section could use a cut in the upper-mids to rid of the “sickly” sound of the strings. And again, reverb and stereo enhancement on the strings would bring this piece up to a whole new level. I listened to this twice to make sure I am saying the correct things to help.

Broadjam Artist: Bill Dake
Song: Little Journey

Reviewer: Floyd Kelly

Positive Comments: So yeah, there’s the guy ya know, I’m picturing him at the Improv with the spotlight on and he’s singing to you about … well … how it happened. You’ll get the whole story in the musical piece. From what I can gather, this is how it happened in jazz musical form.

Constructive Comments: When the music first started I was disappointed, but then the vocals came in and the story began…I then forgot about the disappointing intro and tried to follow the jazzy man telling me how it happened. It’s a nice piece however, I think more work is needed for a hook and little more repetitive nature somewhere in the piece to make it blend together better. A discernable break between the verses allowing some jazz instrument players to come through would have been nice.

Broadjam Artist: Steve Taylor
Song: Evening Rain

Reviewer: Floyd Kelly

Positive Comments: It’s a Saturday afternoon, and it’s time to chill out and just relax – so this musical piece would be perfect in the background as I read, draw, write – you get the idea 🙂 I enjoyed this piece for it’s classical nature and the skilled solo guitarist.

Constructive Comments: My only suggestion is that the sound of the thunder and rain and the volume of the guitar don’t match as good as they could. Overall, I think just a slight level adjustment for the guitar would be nice or bring up the thunder and rain somewhere in the piece for a tad more drama. As usual, when I review music I listen twice – as in the case here – to make sure I’m saying the right thing to help. I think a few pauses in the piece would have added more harmonics and emotions to come through and be felt by the listener and would enhance parts of the phrasing and cadence.

Broadjam Artist: FRED GROSS
Song: Into Thin Air

Reviewer: Floyd Kelly

Positive Comments: OK, it’s time to wakey wakey! This contemporary instrumental music is perfect for that morning wake-up music – you know, that gets you out of bed, into the shower, you feed your pet, swipe breakfast and get out the door to work kind of music. This musical composition has a happy feel. The introduction reminds me of a sitcom like “Friends” intro music.

Constructive Comments: Small thoughts on the production quality. On the guitar, I think a cut in the upper frequency to bring down the harshness of the guitar, not by much, just a slight off the edge ? I think a combination of the instruments with upper frequencies could be adjusted for more harmonics. Still a nice listen.

Broadjam Artist: RICARDO ALONSO
Song: Pleyades

Reviewer: Floyd Kelly

Positive Comments: This is a very evocative New Age instrumental that will evoke emotions of longing within your heart. It has a contemporary feel. The beautiful arrangements of instruments will capture you in these few moments. Thank you for creating this – it is very nice. I played this twice 🙂

Constructive Comments: Just a few notes. The intro seemed a tad long but that is okay because it sets the tone. I do think some work on EQ, reverb and stereo enhancement could bring out parts of this piece. Some of the instruments seem thin and need to fill out the spatial field. The piano could have more presence, once again in the EQ. When all those instruments are coming together later in the piece I should be feeling some bass and depth.

Broadjam Artist: Greg Lambert
Song: Tap City

Reviewer: Jeff Maguire

Positive Comments: Intro reminds me a little of China Grove by the Doobies, solid blues rick and roll.

Constructive Comments: Took me about half way through the tune to get figure out the word was ” tap ” city, only figured it out from context, and even now I’m not quite certain. Guitar tone might be a little buzzy for this style, nice energetic performances though.

Broadjam Artist: Floyd Kelly
Song: Hope for More

Reviewer: HarryBudini

Positive Comments: It’s a pleasant instrumental, between baroque and new age, with a good arrangement.

Constructive Comments: The composition and the arrangement are good. In need of a crispier recording or mixing to be more sellable.

Broadjam Artist: The Sugar Pups
Song: So It Goes

Reviewer: Jeff Maguire

Positive Comments: A healthy dose of early Pink Floyd and a dash of Argent, very enjoyably little romp through the psychedelic landscape of a windswept tuna.

Constructive Comments: Enjoyed the tune quite a bit , recording is a little rough, vocals could stand some added character .. tune and vibe is great.