Great, fun, catchy tune!
The lyrics are also very inspiring and relatable. Particularly the whole bit on how everyone has their own perspective they preach, but you mustn't lose track of yours.
Very endearing and a delight to listen to!
Reviews for "Don't Mean a Thing"
LunacyEcho responds:
tyty other luny !!! relatability sells man
I was destroyed by the bridge. gg
LunacyEcho responds:
boom bb
I like the rich quality of the vocals at the beginning and the conversational tone inherent in the lyrics. The guitar sample sounds a bit cheesy, though, and I thought the kick was very heavy and sub-bassy for a piece like this. The content of the lyrics is really clever, and I like the cutesy mallet instrument at :50 during the more mellow refrain. I’m not sure to what extent this piece describes your real life (I’d imagine your Dad doesn’t have a union job, and I’m also not sure you have siblings either), but the down-to-earth tone of the piece and the passionate vocals makes the entire thing very believable. Almost sounds like you plucked this song out of a quirky off-broadway production. The refrain at 1:32 with the high-register pads and fuller texture is great, and there’s also a great comedic quality to the spoken work vocals at 2:00 and the teacher’s “advice for girls.” Once you get to the banjo line, I’m straight-up laughing my ass off. The production quality is excellent here, btw. Overall, this is a super fun and catchy piece with a great message. At the end of the day, my main concern is probably the lack of originality in aspects of the harmonic framework and arrangement, but that honestly doesn’t even actively bother me that much. Seriously, LunacyEcho, save some good pieces for the other competitors! :P
Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.75/10
LunacyEcho responds:
you're definitely right that all the content in here was just made up haha, i don't have a brother and i just thought it had a nice campfire-y folksy vibe. and thanks for all the kind words <3 i'm 99% sure this song was a fluke so i'm hoping that i can pull off another fluke for this next round. cheers!
Love this so much.
Such a fun song.
I'm going to let this critique follow the flow of the song for this unofficial NGADM review, typing in stream-of-consciousness format:
You have quite a bit of bass in your voice. These frequencies are competing with the guitar right off the bat, so I'd recommend scooping some of that out of the guitar, especially in the 100-500hz range.
The esses are harsh in the vocals (and a bit in the guitar, too). A de-esser would make it easier to listen to this at slightly higher volumes.
The first guitar would benefit from either a stereo delay to separate it into the left and right channel, or a somewhat hard-pan that could be balanced by other instruments in the other channel. It's fighting with the vocals for space, and I'd love for your voice to have more room to shine.
The warmth of the string plucks would sound very nice on their own, but they're adding even more competition to the low-mid range. Attention to EQ would again be handy.
Enter another low-mid competitor: The bass! It's fighting with the kick, too, so it ended up getting turned up crazy high just to be properly audible in the mix. We end up with a boomy sound without a lot of clarity.
Really great composition and progression so far. The break at 0:38 is wonderful, although the kick comes in a bit loud. This kick sounds like it would work with EDM or 80s music more than this folksy tune, since it's very sharp and full. A little humanization would go a long way, too. Nobody stomps the pedal exactly the same every time.
The guitar sound doesn't really need to be humanized at this spot. It sounds like it's being played by a keyboard, so it works just fine. It occupies the mid range nicely, being one of few instruments that isn't fighting for space.
LOVE the banjo. You're right to think it could be humanized, but it's charming enough for that not to matter. The bells are great, too, but quite loud.
Not a huge fan of the choice of double-time execution at 2:57, but it's charming when you do it, and the comedic aspect makes up for my opinion of the compositional choice.
There is a ton of reverb in this track, creating even more competition for space, and adding more boom.
There isn't much to criticize in terms of composition. Although the double-time was a bit rough, and nothing particularly new, riveting, or out-of-the box was employed, this was a delightful song with a positive message and a giddy style. Great work!
The sound design was fairly consistent (folk meets synth pop), but it just barely held together. I would have loved some more quirky sounds to give extra life to the track. Percussion, in particular, would have benefited. It also sounds like you used a lot of stock sounds, then added compression and reverb. Still, loved it.
You received a high score in creativity and replay value for obvious reasons - this is very catchy and unique. Still, playing around a bit more and taking some extra risks could have bolstered creativity in particular.
My apologies for not being able to get together a more structured review!
Work on that mix and continue pumping out the charm, and you'll do great.
Composition: 8.25/10
Production: 4.75/10
Sound Design: 7.5/10
Creativity: 8.75/10
Replay/Application Value: 9.5/10
Overall: 7.75/10
NG score bolstered because Judge Jacob is about one star harsher than User Jacob.