Broadjam Artist: Tom Ballister
Song: You Never Know
Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Doug Diamond (Music Supervisor, Engineer, Producer, Composer )
Pro General Comments: Hi Tom -Thanks for bringing this song and yourself to my attention. "You Never Know" is really an excellent song and I really enjoyed listening to it multiple times while reviewing it.The songwriting itself is very strong. I can tell you've been at this many years I can hear your experience in the recording and the writing both. Lyrically, it's excellent and I don't really have any suggestions there. The vocal is very pure and '60s sounding in my opinion (which is good). It puts me in-mind of some of the great Folk music from that era.Instrumentally, again... excellent. The finger-picked guitar has a nice gentle touch that fits this song perfectly and the string arrangement is really great as well. The only thing I might suggest, and I know this wouldn't be cheap... is to use a real string section instead of the synth strings. Now, *what* the strings are playing is really great, but to me it's a little too synthy sounding to be convincing - only for that reason - but the arrangement is really great and fits the song very well.Coming from an engineer's perspective, I really can't find anything to mention other than it's been recorded and mixed very well, so your technical chops certainly get the job done and fits this style of song too.Overall, it's a really simple yet very beautiful song that I'm sure you're very proud of. It's very pure-sounding and has an innocence about it that I really like.
Quote From Pro: "You Never Know" is a beautiful song that has a unique, simple sound and feel to it reminiscent of 1960's or early 1970's Folk music. The craftsmanship of this song is nearly perfect in every way, with it's purity of heart and simple, yet effective lyrics and vocals, it makes it very enjoyable to listen to. Overall, an excellent song with really good synch-appeal for period-piece films, documentaries, and television shows.