Two Songs

Opinions wanted

So here is the story: My son, Shea, is waiting at bus-stop when he overhears these guys (who turn out to be named Daveed and Thomas) talking about some song lyrics that they are working on. Shea strikes up a conversation, and Shea, who is always ready to record a piece of music, invites them to give it a try together. I’ve put two of the songs that they recorded

Here.

(well actually you are a couple of clicks away). Shea arranged and performed all of the instrumental parts. They worked together on the melodies, and all lyrics are from Daveed and Thomas. You will see that Daveed and Thomas have a message to deliver. Neither of them have much more than the shirt on their backs, and I have come to admire their attitude as they endure.


Anyway I’m interested in your opinions concerning both the songs and the recording. If their is any interest, there are more songs to come.

Tim

The musical style is very contemporary. The recordings sound pretty full, although I just listened on earphones. I like the sax parts and guitar parts and the jazzy feel to them. Was Shea using an external sequencer or a vsti for the beats?? Overall these are very good recordings.

Thanks so much for the feedback. It is hard to be objective about music that you are involved in, and until you get feedback it is really hard to improve. Shea and I have this really great father-son thing going with recording. We each try to bring perspective to what the other one is doing, and we have a lot or respect for the others opinion. But we both find it hard to get useful opinions from other folks. They are either afraid to say something critical (or we think that they are) or they can’t answer the kinds of questions that we are trying to address…
So your comments are highly appreciated.

By the way, Shea programmed the beats in Fruity loops running as a VSTi.

tspringer

your son has major talent. i listened to all the songs and coming from a more acoustic background i liked :halleluiah: the best. there’s a depth of passion in his lyrics and his delivery of them in his voice that kept me tuning in.

im not certain about the mainstream genre production itself but the mainstream production typically has them very bass heavy doesnt it especially with sub-bass? either way…i like the songs…he definitely needs to keep making music.
he could easily be well supported by a good indie label that will back his shows.

keep it up

chimusician - Thanks for taking time to respond. The only way that you could keep Shea from making music would be to break his arms and choke him. He will definitely stay with it.

Just for clarification… did you mean to say that the recordings were bass heavy, or did you mean that there wasn’t enough by the standards of the genre? Sorry if I’m being a bit dense.

Anyway thanks again for the feedback.

Tim

Quote (tspringer @ May 09 2006,22:30)
chimusician - Thanks for taking time to respond. The only way that you could keep Shea from making music would be to break his arms and choke him. He will definitely stay with it.

Just for clarification... did you mean to say that the recordings were bass heavy, or did you mean that there wasn't enough by the standards of the genre? Sorry if I'm being a bit dense.

Anyway thanks again for the feedback.

Tim

"or did you mean that there wasn't enough by the standards of the genre?"
----

This one. Not to suggest his recordings HAVE to be this way. Not everyone mixes towards commercial appeal and they dont need to...im not sure if his genre requires it in the mainstream.

i wasnt sure how to articulate that well..so no you werent being dense :D

The genre of this music is new to both Shea and myself. Shea comes from an alternative rock, electronica, and classical background. Most of my own music probably leans toward folk-rock. So when you are moving to a new genre or there is some fusion between genres, I suppose that it is really important to pick which features you want to emphasize or retain. So your question is really pertinent, and I’m not sure that we have really made a concious decision about whether we SHOULD move the songs to a heavy hip-hop bass sound or whether we want to experiment with moving away from that toward a more standard rock/alternative bass sound. Food for thought…

T I’ve been avoiding listening to it. It was a mental thing. Associated hearing your son with some kind of “kid can play guitar the band sounds okay in a garage” type of thing.

I just listened to each track and played for the wife and it is absolutely exceptional.

The main lead in voice in What is Going On, is not as appealing as the rap portion. There is too much contrast between the two voices. The rap portion is very very good but the ragae voice seems a little forced and mimicked (vocally over done, over enunciated) and the reverb really puts the magnifying glass on it. Whoever is signing this portion should tone it down a bit. Other than that one aspect it is very very very well done.

Thanks StuH. Means a lot coming from you as I have read enough of your notes in the forum to know that you are a straight shooter. I’ll see what Shea can do about getting a re-record of the lead vocal. The guy (Daveed) is hard to get hold of though. He’s essentially homeless. Very odd situation, but you can tell from the music, the guy is more concerned for others than he is for himself. You’re right about the reverb too. We’ll back it off on the next version.