Month: July 2020

Broadjam Artist: Nigel Barrett
Song: Charlie

Reviewer: Neutrino Pulse

Positive Comments: nice saxes, sounds like a sax orchestra, nice panning, good guitar, relaxed music, a bit long though

Constructive Comments: Drums need more swing

Broadjam Artist: Empty Atlas
Song: Birthday

Reviewer: MGB

Positive Comments: Good soulful piece with very pleasing lyrics and really good arrangement and instrumentation.

Constructive Comments: Really good work.

Broadjam Artist: Bob Nesom
Song: I’m Sorry

Reviewer: MGB

Positive Comments: Nicely arranged and instrumented piece with a nice melody.

Constructive Comments: Good tune.

Broadjam Artist: Greg Lambert
Song: Killing Time (Instrumental)

Reviewer: Mike Nicholson

Positive Comments: Cool driving rock thing. Stellar guitar tones. Those are outta the park. Slashing and searing white hot rhythm parts and then the skronky solo bit are spot. Nice melody figure. All the parts resolve nicely. A vocal would sit well in this track but then again the guitar shredding should take a backseat no other element.

Constructive Comments: Not much to fuss about here. The drums could stand to be a little more present in the mix. The bass feels a little tubby, and I could be wrong but there may be some lower notes played on a 5 string? As an engineer I don’t like hearing anything below 40hz (Low E). Let’s hear more. To get the five stars let me tell you about my dogs…

Broadjam Artist: Delta Burnett Reed
Song: Mary How Could You Have Known?

Reviewer: Nadia Vaeh

Positive Comments: The song has a beautiful hook and has strong hints of broadway song. Think Notre Dame de Paris for inspiration. The song has a beautiful flow and is a unique angle for a song, focusing on Mary.I suspect the title is Mary, How Could You Have Known, speaking to Mary in the song. This is a great idea and innovativeTHe instrumentation is nice and smooth and the recording works for this genre.It is basically very beautiful song with hints is Celtic, broadway.

Constructive Comments: The voice is difficult to hear, and the specific lyrics get lost due to the recording volume.I would elevate the volume of the voice. It is a beautiful voice.. we need to hear it. The song is great and it could benefit with more violin in background to add mood… possibly cello.I hope to hear it again someday with minor changes.

Broadjam Artist: Bob Birthisel
Song: I Wish You Love For Christmas

Reviewer: Nadia Vaeh

Positive Comments: Very relaxing and mellow religious song. It is a definite niche song for christian radio stations. It has definite country vibe, more so than a religious xmas song. This will help it.It may be just slightly long, but this is not a critical issue.The lyrics are simple and forward, but good and inoffensive.

Constructive Comments: It is a niche song for a christian audience. This may turn some off, and turn others on. I would never recommend making it less ‘christian’ or ‘jesus’, so don’t!I like the pace of the song as it is slow and mellow, but not boring in any way.Maybe add story line to the song would help, but this may not be the purpose of the song.Keep it up!

Broadjam Artist: John van Wicklen
Song: New Day

Reviewer: Neutrino Pulse

Positive Comments: nice beat, good bongos, nice vocals, acoustic guitar, smooth, easy listening, nice arrangement, well recorded,

Constructive Comments: Add some sax

Broadjam Artist: Kate Carpenter
Song: When Mama Says No

Reviewer: Phil Bouldry

Positive Comments: Nice intro. Short. Nice harp lick and chimes to get us into the song. Nice use of kids voices. GREAT SUBJECT! Well constructed lyric. What parent hasn’t experienced this? Great use of the harp throughout. I like mommy’s growl on the word “understand”. Likewise on mommy and daddy singing together on the bridge part.Great instrumentation and mix. I listened four times and heard something new each time.I love the line “no means no all over the land”.

Constructive Comments: Ummmm …..I got nothing.

Broadjam Artist: HarryBudini
Song: Nightmare

Reviewer: Mike Nicholson

Positive Comments: This has a nice chamber pop feel to it. XTC, 10cc, Martin Newell, Robyn Hitchcock, Lennon, etc. Frenetic melody, cool lyrics and an evocative vocal make this a treat. I dig the guitar flourishes and the whole pacing and arrangement of the various parts of the song. This is a little left field gem. Will def. check the rest of your stuff.

Constructive Comments: I harp on this about a lot of the stuff I hear on Broadjam, but a home demo does not need to sound like one. LoFi is cool when done with some retro flavoring but this is very digital sounding. The drums are too indistinct and the hard panning is offputting. If you can use real drums, do it. Also the vocals are way too far out front. A really great idiosyncratic tune that suffers from a bad mix. Lots of talent though.

Broadjam Artist: MGB
Song: ANSWER MAN

Reviewer: Mike Nicholson

Positive Comments: Big Joe Walsh feel in the vocal. Nice nasal quality to the vocals. Good hook. Guitar tones are jolly good as well. Thick and creamy. Nice playing throughout. Nice melodic solo section that almost gets prog-rocky with the syncopated bits. The final modulation drives it home. The counterpoint vocal at the end is also a really great touch.

Constructive Comments: Like a lot of things that are home recordings, this suffers in the mix. The vocals are way out front and not sitting in the mix the way I feel they should. There’s a wide range of where it could sit, but to my ears these vocals need to come down about 4db. And I realize it’s not within the scope of a lot of people, but a real drummer would add a lot. The canned drums provide and ample groove but they lack imagination and the parts of the song need to be set up with fills and accents. Still, a good song. Rock!