Month: October 2020

Broadjam Artist: Kevin Winkel
Song: Morning Rain

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: perfect in every way. loved it, the progression of adding instruments and complexity works very nice, been reviewing songs all morning here and this is the first “REAL” piece of music I listened to yet. Lots of emotion packed into that melody too, great work.

Constructive Comments: Don’t dare change a thing…

Broadjam Artist: Nectarine/Indefatigable
Song: Who’s Sorry Now

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: I can see and hear what your after , its a good song and has lots of potential, Good voices and lyrics..

Constructive Comments: But the recording needs help, or the mix, sounds like parts are there but, the vocals are buried by all the other instruments, bring the vocals up in the mix, and the violins down and the drum high hats down. . In mY opinion, if your going to call something classic R&B you should have real drums but, with that aside if your gunna use the box you gotta change it up a bit, starts and stops , add / remove sounds, create some variations, otherwise it just sounds way too stagnant. I think you have the makings of a good song here but need to rethink the instrumentation and the mix

Broadjam Artist: Nigel Barrett
Song: Tamara

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: liked very much, Good performances and projecting some good emotions, has some human vibe to it.

Constructive Comments: The recording space does sound a bit sterile and digital, not sure what theist solution to that is for you, I use a combination of room mic instrumentation and reverbs and such myself and hopefully create a space that doesn’t sound like a kinda VOID digital space, anyway, the “Space” that the instruments are living in sounds kinda weird , like a NON-SPACE, thats my only criticism, other than that I think the playing is fantastic and the song itself is quite nice.

Broadjam Artist: Margie & Art Corey
Song: Things Have Changed Coreys Buck Swade

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: Great song and performances. Great chorus hook very catchy I think people often get tripped up on where to place their songs, I usually thin of smooth jazz as a p[lace for instrumental pieces, I heard a smooth jazz version of Yesterday by the Beatles on the radio the other day. But the actual song Yesterday by the Beatles is a “POP” song. Songs that have vocals and melodies and stories, even if they have a Jazzy substructure, can often go further in Pop, rock, and R&B categories. I could easily see this song in an “Indie Pop ” band catalogue, could be an arctic monkeys song or any one of a dozen other indie pop bands.

Constructive Comments: The one sound that bothered me was the rhythm guitar. had a very digital super chorus sound, Just seemed kinda cheesy to me. I would take off the chorus and some fo the reverb and just let it be a guitar. and turn up the drums in the mix just about 2-4% not much, just a bit

Broadjam Artist: Bob Birthisel
Song: Blues Conversation

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: great, I loved everything about this tune, recording was fantastic, story was fun and the performances were right tight, just really impressed with the quality here, FANTASTIC!

Constructive Comments: nothing, I loved it just like it is, Loved all the guitar breaks and solos, very appropriate, Maybe the only thing I would have done is to put just a little more Verb on the female backing vocals, push em back just a touch in space not volume but space, thats pretty minor.

Broadjam Artist: Patrick E. Muth/Catnip Pat
Song: SUNQUEEN

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: great song, I love the wha and the lyrics are good, good performances and vibe through out But

Constructive Comments: The recording has got to be better, sound like it was recorded live? just go back and multitrack it, its not hard, if you can play it live you can multitrack it, All the sound id in mono up the middle and just stacked up with no space, got to be better than this or it won’t go anywhere. Just imagine how awesome you could make it if you just multitrack it, and gave every sound its own little piece of turf and frequency,

Broadjam Artist: Jeff Ashbaker
Song: Slow Burn

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: great song, and performance , love the western vibe.

Constructive Comments: Have you listened to this in headphones? sounds like it was recorded in MONO all sound is right up the middle just stacked up with no pans used at all. sounds really weird and crowded, Wowwould this song sound awesome if you actually recorded used the stereo functions of PAN and moved things around the spacial field a bit.

Broadjam Artist: Kate Carpenter
Song: Preacher’s Wife Blues

Reviewer: Barry Osbourn

Positive Comments: interesting song, A bit bluesy but really more of a folk song from my opinion, . Its strength I think comes from the story told. feels authentic. Its performed well and the recording is pretty good.

Constructive Comments: Maybe the only thing That would make it stronger is if it had a musical break somewhere, add a little contrast, and even if was just 2 acoustic tracks , but of course other instruments would be nice too.

Broadjam Artist: Simpson-Mancine Band
Song: Prison

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Pretty sure I recognize this band – super-high quality across the board, and it’s got a unique chord progression that really stands out. I’m hearing Pure Prairie League, Gregg Allman and other retro influences, but still very current sounding. Excellent!

Constructive Comments: Like a previous cut which was also amazing, I think the “hook” could be improved on to make it memorable. But the song itself – just outstanding.

Broadjam Artist: Hartmut Oberdieck
Song: 1316 (2007)

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Nice funk rock groove with some excellent playing. This is well-balanced and could easily be used in a film/tv scenario for the right project. Some dynamic changes as well. An enjoyable listen from start to finish.

Constructive Comments: Man this needs LIVE DRUMS to take it to the next level. It’s really good as-is, but the artificial drum sound is a detractor.