Month: March 2022

Broadjam Artist: SKY HIGH MUSIC LABS
Song: Save It For Me

Reviewer: Tony Tersmette

Positive Comments: Nice ‘n funky. Great horn. A short piece here, no doubt only a foretaste of what surely lies ahead.

Constructive Comments: Certainly an engaging vamp. — One might, however, expect some harmonic variation/development in an extended version. But a pleasing effort nonetheless!

Broadjam Artist: Oliver Keynes Lafaye
Song: Dramatic

Reviewer: ALPH

Positive Comments: Good sense of atmosphere and drama, perfect for a score.

Constructive Comments: Feels as though it is 3 very short themes overused in their sections. Need to be expanded on rather than the amount of short repartitions that there are.

Broadjam Artist: Jeff Ashbaker
Song: Bobby, Why’d You Do It

Reviewer: ALPH

Positive Comments: Perfectly constructed song.

Constructive Comments: Original but not unique in content. Good flowing narrative that could possibly take a twist at the end.

Broadjam Artist: Bill Dake
Song: Mostly Blue

Reviewer: Tony Tersmette

Positive Comments: Wow. Very strong song and performance. This clearly ain’t this fellow’s first rodeo. Ample harmonic, melodic and lyrical beauty and sophistication in evidence to disarm the toughest (fair-minded) critic. A compelling smooth jazz/bluesy rock mix that works very well indeed. Check it out!

Constructive Comments: …………………………………….. 🙂

Broadjam Artist: Nigel Barrett
Song: Tamara

Reviewer: Tony Tersmette

Positive Comments: A smooth, tight four part synth construction, keyboard and guitar sounds flow very nicely over solid bass and drums. A thoughtful, pleasing composition for sure. Would be pleased to hear more…

Constructive Comments: One thought: maybe a small adjustment to account for level change at 2:05+ ? Maybe nitpicking here, apologies. Artist certainly has a good thing going on…

Broadjam Artist: Nathan Totten
Song: We Finally See Beyond

Reviewer: George Michael John

Positive Comments: Interesting intro, has kind of an eastern vibe. Nice that it reoccurs thru the tune. Great production and vocals.

Constructive Comments: Got nothing here.

Broadjam Artist: Hartmut Oberdieck
Song: admission blues

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Great tone on the lead guitar and some nice use of subtle echo. The walking bass line fits the song well too.

Constructive Comments: Personal taste, I don’t get the inconsistent snare, sometimes there, sometimes not. It loses the pocket without it (beat on the hi-hat not nearly as effective)

Broadjam Artist: Nigel Barrett
Song: Sorry

Reviewer: Peter Boynton

Positive Comments: -I like the groove-The story is relatable-It has a bit of a Howard Jones retro feel to it.

Constructive Comments: -Maybe get right to the 1st verse at @13 seconds in. The verse doesn’t start until @30 seconds now, and no one has the attention span anymore to wait that long.-Nice ABAB rhyme scheme set up in vs 1. Maybe make the lyric more conversational here and less poetic: ‘mass confusion’ and ‘darkness surrounds’ could be stated more simply. Changing one of the ending words ‘you’ in line 2 or 4 would keep the rhyme, but without repeating the same word. -pre-chorus1: Maybe find a better word than ‘unkind’. It completes the rhyme, but is an old-fashioned word and not conversational.-chorus1: line 3 – maybe change the ‘I think’ to a simple ‘and’. The last line is wordy – maybe just: ‘If you told me we’re through and you found another man.’-verse 2: it would be nice if you could get the form more consistent with verse 1. Go back to a 4-line simple ABAB pattern.-I don’t know who Ms Scheindlin is, and am immediately confused in the story. If you’re referring to the love interest in the earlier part of the song, maybe just go to ‘YOU are in town’. If it’s a NEW character, lose her! There would now be one too many people in the story.-‘digging UP dirt ABOUT’ might be a better way to phrase this thought…-‘in court…’ through to ‘…the other half of me’ is more of the same earlier confusion I mentioned. Are the ‘court’ and ‘jury’ metaphors or literal? I couldn’t tell…-Those are a lot of specific, actionable, thoughts for you, which I spent time on because I like the song! It just needs a lyric tightening/clarifying, and at 4:09 is way too long for radio play, a SYNC submission, an artist pitch etc. If it’s for your own singer-songwriter-artist track, all that is fine! If it’s not for your own use, lose the instrumental and get the song to 3:00 max, preferably 2:30.-Good luck with this!

Broadjam Artist: Hartmut Oberdieck
Song: memories

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Man, guitar tone for DAYS from the opening lick. Really smooth and elegant. Rhythm guitar almost finds a reggae groove at times. I enjoyed this a lot and the band is tight and well-mixed.

Constructive Comments: In studio headphones I detect a slight overdrive distortion on a couple of accented guitar notes, maybe just recorded slightly too hot? Otherwise my only critique would be that natural horns vs. keyboard horns would add a ton. But I realize that’s costly.

Broadjam Artist: SKY HIGH MUSIC LABS
Song: Cheating Is Your Latest Fashion. Kaye Winston

Reviewer: Bob Birthisel

Positive Comments: Absolutely brilliant voice that mesmerizes, despite some pitfalls in the mix. I could listen to this vocalist all day and the band sounds tight.

Constructive Comments: The hook could use some work because recognizing a title or chorus is tough, even though the songwriting is exquisite. For me, the band mix is way off. I’m a drummer but the hi-hat is too hot, and while the other instruments all play well I’m not getting a blend to tighten it all together. I’d love 30 minutes in the studio with this song to give it a backdrop to drive it forward.