Month: April 2020

Broadjam Artist: Ladee V
Song: You Played Me

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: This song had a lot of promise from the start. The hook is out front and overall the instruments sound balanced. Vocal is appropriate for the song and in pitch.

Constructive Comments: I’m hoping this was a home recording, but the quality is distortion on top of distortion, creating such a muddy mix I couldn’t tell half of what the instruments were playing. That alone caused a massive markdown because the song itself sounded like it has promise. I would 100% re-record and NOT with the meters pegged. If you want to keep it as is, I’d take it completely out of Hard Rock and put it in Lo-Fi so the proper ears could hear it. But even Lo-Fi doesn’t equal distortion.

Broadjam Artist: Hartmut Oberdieck
Song: spark

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Nice funk groove. Very easy listen, and the band was tight. It has the sound you could hear in a TV/film scene background.

Constructive Comments: As a 20+ year drummer, I’m super-sensitive to drum sounds and for me if I were to re-mix this the bass drum is too far back in the mix, with the snare and the panned Strat rhythm guitar about 3db too hot. Otherwise, very nice jam.

Broadjam Artist: Charlie Shock
Song: THE WAY LIFE GOES (192)

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Excellent hook, and a solid foot-tapping song. Very melodic and the rhythm section is tight. I really enjoyed the backing vocals and they were tasteful but not intrusive. A really good, memorable track.

Constructive Comments: If there’s a chance to re-mix this song, one of the guitars is out of tune slightly which is particularly noticeable in the opening 20 seconds. When the lead comes in at 1:59 it caught me off guard by being (my opinion) overly-distorted compared to the super-clean sound that the listener had grown accustomed to for 2 minutes. If those 2 things were fixed I would have rated this much higher.

Broadjam Artist: Uncle Spider & The Electric Dirt Clods
Song: Rock Nox

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: The opening few seconds set a decent tone for a song.

Constructive Comments: Once again, this is an idea of a song not a full song with no depth and a lot of distortion on the recording.

Broadjam Artist: Groove Fondue
Song: Sweet Inspiration

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Really nice song, recorded cleanly with high-quality instrumentation. Very commercial sound and the hook is there in spades. Well done!

Constructive Comments: For me what sounds like keyboard is buried in the mix a bit, and a few of the panned guitar accents too hot, but overall an excellent tune.

Broadjam Artist: Earl.C.Webb
Song: RIGHT NOW

Reviewer: James Hamilton

Positive Comments: I love this song. I love the vocals and the overall arrangement is good. Nice harmony on the chorus. The overall hook is good. Lead vocal did a good job throughout. Melodically the chorus was well done.

Constructive Comments: But…I think you need a prechorus in this song. You hit me right away with the chorus and though it’s good it seemed like it lost it’s surprise so early. Intro a little too short maybe? good job..keep it going.

Broadjam Artist: Sam Cooper
Song: You

Reviewer: James Hamilton

Positive Comments: good drummer…good solo work on the guitar. the overall track was good. I liked the beat of the track ..the tempo was a good blues type feel. Good music chorus

Constructive Comments: While the track was good the overall mix was not. The music leves were too high so I really could not understand the vocal.

Broadjam Artist: Delta Burnett Reed
Song: Little Drummer Boy

Reviewer: James Hamilton

Positive Comments: your intro got my attention. Good arrangement for this standard song. Very nice vocal. it is a very familiar song and I like what you did with it. I’d like to hear your voice in another style. good job!

Constructive Comments: Mix was good. Though I liked the intro as the song kept going the intro was still there. A modulation may have added something to this traditional song. well done

Broadjam Artist: amy abernathy
Song: He is alive

Reviewer: James Hamilton

Positive Comments: I thought the hook was great. The lead vocal was okay. The chords you used were good for this song. I keep singing the hook

Constructive Comments: the vocals need a little work. I hear a decent voice there. Your breathing was kinda off. Let me know what that means…He is Alive. And how do you know He is alive. It needs more lyrics to tell your story. Good idea..keep working on it.

Broadjam Artist: Bob Birthisel
Song: What About My Reward (Stuart Epps Remix)

Reviewer: Kate Carpenter

Positive Comments: Man this track is tight! I was looking for 10 stars option on the instrumentation, but the highest they will let me rate this is 5. This band has it totally together. It’s an interesting story line…3 instances of saving a life and the question in the chorus: What about my reward? Very very catchy chorus. The guitars, the whole band sounds so amazing. Mix & production flawless. Instrumental section tight as can be. Very expressive and fun to listen to guitar parts! Vocals are crystal clear. Rhymes are fresh. Great song all around! Keep the good music coming!

Constructive Comments: I found the story line a bit strange in that…usually when someone saves someone’s life, the last thing they would say is, “What about my reward? What do I get for this?” Usually people humbly say, “Hey, I’m no hero I did what I needed to do.” And step out of the limelight. So that is the only strange thing I reacted to in this song. I would be interested in your thoughts on this. I’ll leave you with a spiritual thought from Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” That’s the reward I’m looking for! Mrs. Kate PS But if this song’s stories are true, I’ll still pat you on the back and say: GOOD JOB!