It is a deeply humbling experience going through reviews of your work, specially when the listeners are not in the context of when the song (and why it) was created. Mind you that the song is reviewed as if released in 2014 with the current market status quo as a reference.
Note that I, in a weird way, actually can relate to each one, but again, one must contextualize and thus I do here. I've included the bad reviews too, for the sake of transparency and to let you know what one has to hear in this line of business. Use them to gain strenght, and strenght you should gain for every critic as within itself at least a hint of truth.
So, fire the song above and fly through 20 different reviews, and enjoy my reactions to them, in the non-italics text:
The Good
"This is a futuristic track. It can be a good dance track with a nice beat and arrangement. Its easy to follow. I like the style of the vocal. I find myself dancing in my seat. Its easy to rock to and follow the melody. The piano keys are great. Its really cool to hear the rap part. It was unexpected. I really like this track."
Thank you. That was the aim.
"this song very inviting and quite refreshing . it has unique feel to it . very futuristic in ways . the effects are wonderfully played as if playing those to make something valuable show . the melody of the song is very impressive . great tuning has a nice special feel to it and and not the typical stuff you hear these days . this piece can be appreciated in a urban movie scene . also charisma on their performance . the lyrics of the song are clear and easily heard . the meaning of this piece i did not completely understand though ."
It actually has no meaning, the vocals were licensed from a well known library and the tune built around them.
"The song had a really cool beat and gave off an interesting vibe with all the electronics and robotic voices. I enjoying the music and felt it provided a strong beat that people could easily dance to. Personally, I wasn't too keen on the rap in the middle and would cut it out if it were my call. I could see this song being popular in clubs and becoming dance floor hit over time."
The rap part acted as a filler, to keep the flow going. A music is like a tonge in cheek play in the cliches that existed by the time it was made. A lot of my material is artistically humorous and sarcastic, as if not taking myself too seriously (which I don't), not all get it but there was a lot of love and dedication producing this song within the preset boundaries (which was to solely use samples from a well know soundpool, which I've licensed).
"Nice beginning. I like the wind noise. Nice transitions. Never got too boring. Kept a nice steady beat. Vocals matched the instrumentals well. Never kept one beat going for so long as to be boring. Nice small rap part."
It was a challenge keeping it progressing given that I was limited to samples from one library in particular (and also to the production software) and using it to go through what were the styles being used and abused back then.
"Very unique introduction with unusual synthesized instrumentals. I like the crazy combination of techno and rap. Also thought I heard a hint of Cameo flavor from the 80's. In short, I liked the unexpected mix of different sounds and genres."
I'm glad someone got right what I was depticing. :-)
"Very catchy tune. Wasn't sure at first if i'd like it or not, but the vocals and melody really drew me in once they started. It grew on me the more I listened to it. I'm personal not very into any type of techno sounding music, but this was a nice mixture."
Again right on the money. It was a parody, not exactly aimed at techno, but at the formulas abused at the time. But an atractive parody, putted together by a producer with classical education.
"Starts out in a nice slow electronic instrumental. Helps build up the aniticaption. I can hear the robotic voice a little bit, but mostly beeps for an intro. I really like the actual singer's voice, it should be used more. The small amount of lyrics that are used are very good. Especially the rap, I like the message."
The vocals were from a public library, which anyone can license for commercial purposes, like I did.
Those were the only vocals from that particular singer (whom I don't know). I just limited myself to'em and tryed to build a tune around it, again, using samples from that same library and a particular program aimed at home users (I did not use my DAW of choice at the time, which was Nuendo, neither any of my own custom-built sounds).
"Great sounding song. I love all of the sounds and the beeping type of sound. This makes you want to get up and dance. Parts of this song sounds familiar to me, I just can't place it. Awesome sound regardless. EDM and anything that falls into that type of category is right up my alley. Love the vocals that are in this song. I think this was made really well."
They may (and actually should) sound familiar since it's built from samples from a well known home market soundpool library. It was done to demo you can get professional results with having to sell the house or know a single music note (although I do, and I have, just not for this song in particular).
"i like the opening . it makes me think of the beach. i like the melody a lot. it is very interesting and engaging. the sound effects are cool. they remind me of electro swing a lot and i like the melody against the rhythm. this would make a great instrumental club track. i would definitely listen to this a lot and pay for the track. i like the electronic effects and the beats and melody together. it creates a cool effect and mood that i enjoy a lot and i would like to hear more. i like the rap as well, since its unexpected."
As stated above, it's a medley of all the formula cliches used in the industry at that time, and done intentionally with limited resources. But never losing site of getting an actractive, commercial and professional result.
"Early 80s sound with the electronics. Mr. Robotic vocals open. When male vocals open into lyrics, I swear I heard Billy Squire. Maybe this song traps me in the 80s. The rap rhyme is fast paced and appropriate in the transitions. This song has a lot going on and many transitions. All were done perfect and leads to a great sound. The squiggly sound is catchy. Excellent vocals, beat and exciting new sound. Lyrics are fun. Possible showcase appearance."
It did squashed a lot of cliche elements in very little time, doing it in a kind of a radio edit way just added to the challenge, in the context it was produced.
" The beginning sounds like a thunderstorm. This is a tech song with a lot of noises, sounds and vibrations. The tune is catchy and the lyrics are fun. The singer adds to the song with the upbeat tempo. The song is lively and full of spirit. You could dance or exercise to this song.""
Job done. :-)
" The introduction to this song is very cool. The sounds created by the instruments are very unique and pleasant sounding. It kind of reminds me of a video game soundtrack, or even something I would hear in space or in an alien-ish or horror movie. The robot voice is kind of cool and a good use of auto-tune. The singer's voice is a little quiet when he finally does start singing, but I kind of like that fact because he is like background noise to the music which is being showcased. This is extremely awesome and sick music! I would definitely recommend this song to friends and family and pretty much anyone. I could imagine hearing this on the radio and it being a popular hit. My friends would totally dig this! Love the beat and the totally cool sounds that are created."
I can't vouge for the auto-tune thing since I've used the sample as it was (some I added spatial effects, but again, I was intentionally limited to just one music production software intended for the home market). Just trying to prove that talent is not limited by technology, although sound may be.
The Bad
"I liked the alien and sort of technological part of this song. That part defnitley made the song instead of breaking it. I would suggest adding in more vocals in the song though just to add to more of an effect."
The production was made under a premise, using one particular sound-library and one particular program and make it sound good. Given the choice of samples I had, this was what I could come up with. Again, I underline I've plave much love in the production and being limited just took it a stop further in the appreciation one can make of it.
"Thought the song was fun. I think it would be fun to dance to but not something I would want to hear on an hourly or daily basis. Was a good song just not doing it for me. Good beat and like the speed of it."
Fun, that word describes what I was having producing it.
"The opening of this tune sounds like there is a thunder storm outside. The sounds effects are outstanding, even though I don't really like the electronic sound. There is too much in and out of the volume in the beat of the song. The tempo, though, is good. The lyrics are going by too fast and I am not able to understand them all. I think it would help to bring the volume of the keyboard down. The lead vocal does a good job fitting right in with this genre."
As for the volume, even the mixdown was confined to the technology within the home oriented package used to produce it. The lyrics are not mine, confinement also spread to using those particular samples instead of producing my own. It was a challenge I've enjoyed and, I have to say, it was a challenge also to transcribe the lyrics when I published to song.
The Ugly
"This beat is very thin. Sometimes less is more, but this isn't one of those cases. This instrumental sounds entirely too amateur and elementary. I sense that they were going for an 80's synth pop sound, but they did not pull it off. Unfortunately this beat is lacking far too many elements to be seen as interesting. The only thing worse than the beat would be the rapper. There is nothing exciting about his voice, he is not rapping with enough energy, and his lyrics are paper thin. In my opinion this track is absolutely terrible and unless these guys put some more time into their craft they should probably just hang it up."Although I would not go as far as amateur (the sample library sounds quite pro), I would not disagree on the elementary. The whole monochordic approach on the song and it's progression is an artistic parody, albeit atractive (or so I've tried) on music industry formulas. As for putting more time into my craft, one feels seriously tented to advise the same investment in getting to know the "guys" better before jumping to conclusions. Temper, temper...
"I like the clear digitized feel to the song in the beginning. But of course, and voices kind of ruin the whole song. The dinner is singing about dancing but will I can think of is video games and the 90`s. Then all of a sudden it sounds like I am listening to real or something. My boyfriend said it sounds like a super Mario brothers soundtrack that is on something. Too much inconsistency."
Actually, I'll take that last Mario Brothers part as a serious complement.
"The techno is very weird at the start. Cheap sound effects used. I think I could make this with a free program. The singing is lame at the start. Its not too bad though. He sounds like a hipster though or indie singer. Towards the middle the song gets better. Sounds sortve catchy but wont become a trending song. I dont think it will go far in the music business. Its not a premium song you would want at a music store."
I wasn't made with a free program, although I've used the free version just up to the stage of mixdown, which limited me to 8 tracks and a lot of creative bouncing. But the aim was to promote that way of working as being something that can make a musician grow and achieve very good results without knowing instruments and music theory (although I do). The singer's track is sample based, and was the foundation of the song. I didn't write the lyrics nor the melody they sing, just produced the whole song around it, again, using just one particular public sound library. The result was mostly considered so unbeliavably good I was told I should risk publishing it.
"Not to be mean or anything but I didn't like this song that much. The beats are very interesting and never heard before. It is just that how the transitions were a little bit choppy in my opinion possibly can be improved from improving transitioning. The techno beats are really great but just a bit choppy."
I limited myself to the radio edit formula, which gave me very litte time for transitions. Again, an artistic parody, with a lot of love putted into it. The software intentionally used to produce it (the aim was to promote it), at the time, had no sidechaining abilities, so I could not push and beef up the beat up as much as it's done today.
"The intro instantly lost me. Can you even classify this as music? It sounds like some 15 year old got a hold of Fruity Loops and had his way with a beat on his new MacBook. I'm very disappointed in this song, the vocalist sounds god awful and I can honestly say I hated every song I was forced to listen to this horrible song."
It was not a MacBook, but the software used was very similar to the one that nowadays they bloat in the specs. And place about a decade markup on the age. In a very selfish condemnable pleasing way, given the lack of plausible arguments, I'm actually amused you were subjected to such a hateful experience. :-D
"very robotic sounding instrumentals. lots of beeping and booping. the beat was very constant and rhythmic. i could imagine doing the robot to this song. people started rapping in the song. i think others were not so it kind of changed styles. I'm not sure how i feel about this. techno isn't really like rap so it definitely is a cross genre song. creative song but could use work refining what exactly it's trying to be."
It's just trying to be fun and not take itself too seriously.
And a lot of fun I indeed had...
Epilogue
So there you go, I do read the critics with a constructive approach, but judging a hot hatchback againt full blown Porsches will probably result in fairly biased results unfairly slaughtering the former.
Having said that, unless you have Porsches or better, you won't make it in the music business.
That doesn't stop you however, of having wonderful super fun underrated toys in your garage, and "Feel" says you can. And you should.
Hugs and Kisses,
AMR
http://www.alvaromrocha.com
