Month: July 2016

Broadjam Artist: The Skylift
Song: Raindrops

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Jonathan Weiss (Music Supervisor, A&R)

Pro General Comments: Very pretty melody overall and uplifting type of a central melodic theme. The track builds towards the end and then comes down in dynamics, which gives it a nice tension and release type feel. Most of the keyboard sounds and acoustic piano samples sound pretty authentic and organic. I would try and always update the synth string sounds whenever possible in general and in particular for this song, the lower cello sample and the higher end violin sound, both of which sound a bit synthetic and synth sounding. The cue overall has a positive and uplifting feel that makes it a nice calling card for any type of music scoring opportunities that you may have a chance to bid for.

Quote From Pro: Solid orchestrated arrangement that gives the listener a positive and uplifting feeling.

Broadjam Artist: Eva King
Song: Instrument Of Pleasure

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Shawn McKenzie (Producer, Artist)

Pro General Comments: Thanks Eva, for submitting this song. I apologize for the lateness of this review.You have a great song on your hands. It has a dramatic essence. Dramatic, inspiring, sensual song that makes you want to listen on repeat! Truly enjoyable.If I had to nitpick I would say lose the rapper its not necessary and does not help the song. The song has so much presence and body on its own. It does not help the vibe of the song.What you wrote is a great piece of work and it stands alone without the rapper, in face the rapper takes away from the vibe. You had me at the beginning and you lost me at the rapper. The song is a little lengthy, i would bring it down to maximum 4:20 and that's pushing it.I could see plenty of movie opportunities for this song. Or a dramatic opening for a commercial launching a new product. Reminds of when Apple launch their first product, has a total drama vibe. There was no choice from drama when making the selection of vibe of song. My choice would be dramatic/passion. I had to choose Loveable/Engaging as my closest choice.

Quote From Pro: Dramatic, inspiring, sensual song that makes you want to listen on repeat! Truly enjoyable.

Broadjam Artist: Eva King
Song: Instrument Of Pleasure

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Shawn McKenzie (Producer, Artist)

Pro General Comments: Thanks Eva, for submitting this song. I apologize for the lateness of this review.You have a great song on your hands. It has a dramatic essence. Dramatic, inspiring, sensual song that makes you want to listen on repeat! Truly enjoyable.If I had to nitpick I would say lose the rapper its not necessary and does not help the song. The song has so much presence and body on its own. It does not help the vibe of the song.What you wrote is a great piece of work and it stands alone without the rapper, in face the rapper takes away from the vibe. You had me at the beginning and you lost me at the rapper. The song is a little lengthy, i would bring it down to maximum 4:20 and that's pushing it.I could see plenty of movie opportunities for this song. Or a dramatic opening for a commercial launching a new product. Reminds of when Apple launch their first product, has a total drama vibe. There was no choice from drama when making the selection of vibe of song. My choice would be dramatic/passion. I had to choose Loveable/Engaging as my closest choice.

Quote From Pro: Dramatic, inspiring, sensual song that makes you want to listen on repeat! Truly enjoyable.

Broadjam Artist: J.P. Grelet
Song: It Came Like Starlings

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Brian Rasner (Music Supervisor)

Pro General Comments: Thank you for a second submission, I can further understand your musical voice. I immediately gravitated more to this song 'It came Like Starlings' Great title! I immediately knew I could expect a spacey beautiful composition that could easily be placed in a contemplative celestial scene. I can see it in a montage where we see character setting out to accomplish or change directions. Again your Melody is the standout. The strings work great too. I would experiment more with your percussion. The intro drums are a bit aggressive and fast. What if you half timed them? what if you used the pretty strings to slowly build into melody?

Quote From Pro: Instant transformation and mood changer here! Prepare to be taken on a voyage...

Broadjam Artist: J.P. Grelet
Song: It Came Like Starlings

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Brian Rasner (Music Supervisor)

Pro General Comments: Thank you for a second submission, I can further understand your musical voice. I immediately gravitated more to this song 'It came Like Starlings' Great title! I immediately knew I could expect a spacey beautiful composition that could easily be placed in a contemplative celestial scene. I can see it in a montage where we see character setting out to accomplish or change directions. Again your Melody is the standout. The strings work great too. I would experiment more with your percussion. The intro drums are a bit aggressive and fast. What if you half timed them? what if you used the pretty strings to slowly build into melody?

Quote From Pro: Instant transformation and mood changer here! Prepare to be taken on a voyage...

Broadjam Artist: J.P. Grelet
Song: Takin to Corners

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Brian Rasner (Music Supervisor)

Pro General Comments: Thank you for your submission. Overall I really like what you did there. Your guitar parts and melody really stood out and are excellent, especially the guitar phrasing and leading, teasing into hook and melody. Since there are no vocals I would suggest careful name choices..really let the name stand for your emotion you are capturing. This will help with music supervisor browsing and meta data.It seems to be like you are contemplating, looking ahead, searching, new frontiers etc

Quote From Pro: Introspective Melodies and engaging Guitars that immediately has you pondering your existence and otherwise..I look forward to whats next

Broadjam Artist: J.P. Grelet
Song: Takin to Corners

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Brian Rasner (Music Supervisor)

Pro General Comments: Thank you for your submission. Overall I really like what you did there. Your guitar parts and melody really stood out and are excellent, especially the guitar phrasing and leading, teasing into hook and melody. Since there are no vocals I would suggest careful name choices..really let the name stand for your emotion you are capturing. This will help with music supervisor browsing and meta data.It seems to be like you are contemplating, looking ahead, searching, new frontiers etc

Quote From Pro: Introspective Melodies and engaging Guitars that immediately has you pondering your existence and otherwise..I look forward to whats next

Broadjam Artist: Tim Sharp
Song: Jose Cuervo on the way

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Tirk Wilder (Songwriter, Performer)

Pro General Comments: Tim,I don't think your "Jose Cuervo" reference is limiting at all. Anybody who's ever had a shot of tequila know what you're talking about.However, there is a big time producer here in Nashville who says if he hears another beach/tequila song, he will throw the CD like a frisbee through the drywall in his office. After "Five 'O Clock Somewhere", and "Some Beach", and many others, Music Row has been inundated with submissions along those lines. And, Tim, I'm talking literally tens of thousands of them. Having said that, I have to refer you to what I said about "I Call Her Fred" re marketability.But this time, you asked me about the writing, and this time, I'm going to address that.First of all, I would suggest you be very wary of saying anything like "everyone loves the song. Many folks tell me it's the favorite one they listen to over and over".There is only one person that it matters whether or not the song effects them in a positive way. I call him TCL, which stands for "The Casual Listener".You have never met this person. He/she has no idea who you are. The only contact they have with you is the 3 minutes they give you to listen to your song. They are predisposed NOT to like it, because they hear a lot of other music, and they already think they know what they like.If you can turn THEIR heads, you've got something.It's very easy to allow yourself to be seduced by the compliments to your stuff that your friends, family, and everybody who you are face-to-face with is going to lay on you. Each one may be worth 99 cents.But if you can get TCL to like your song, be he a publisher, a producer, a music supervisor, what-have-you, THAT can put a significant piece of change in your pocket while it also puts you on a worldwide musical map.When I hear someone say, "Everybody loves this song", I cringe. I don't give a rat's patootie what "everybody" loves. I have heard some of the most horrible crap played for me after that little line has been uttered. Just sayin'.In this song, I have to say that it shows talent way above the usual tripe I have to listen to as part of what I do. You have potential to write a million dollar song, no question. But there are some tools, RULES, if you will, that I might suggest you consider.For instance:You DO use imagery, and you use it well. Your lyric puts me in the spot I want to be, because you SHOW me pictures of it instead of telling me. This is excellent work. You would be amazed at how many people do NOT get this. That one is already in your toolbox, which puts you way ahead.But then you go and stick your hook in the last line of your VERSE.This really takes the punch out of the hook. The only spot it should be in, in this song particularly, is in the CHORUS. You have it there, but it's already lost its steam because of its appearance as the last phrase of the verse.(Continued in "Question" section)

Quote From Pro: Tim Sharp is ON KEY!

Broadjam Artist: Tim Sharp
Song: Jose Cuervo on the way

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Tirk Wilder (Songwriter, Performer)

Pro General Comments: Tim,I don't think your "Jose Cuervo" reference is limiting at all. Anybody who's ever had a shot of tequila know what you're talking about.However, there is a big time producer here in Nashville who says if he hears another beach/tequila song, he will throw the CD like a frisbee through the drywall in his office. After "Five 'O Clock Somewhere", and "Some Beach", and many others, Music Row has been inundated with submissions along those lines. And, Tim, I'm talking literally tens of thousands of them. Having said that, I have to refer you to what I said about "I Call Her Fred" re marketability.But this time, you asked me about the writing, and this time, I'm going to address that.First of all, I would suggest you be very wary of saying anything like "everyone loves the song. Many folks tell me it's the favorite one they listen to over and over".There is only one person that it matters whether or not the song effects them in a positive way. I call him TCL, which stands for "The Casual Listener".You have never met this person. He/she has no idea who you are. The only contact they have with you is the 3 minutes they give you to listen to your song. They are predisposed NOT to like it, because they hear a lot of other music, and they already think they know what they like.If you can turn THEIR heads, you've got something.It's very easy to allow yourself to be seduced by the compliments to your stuff that your friends, family, and everybody who you are face-to-face with is going to lay on you. Each one may be worth 99 cents.But if you can get TCL to like your song, be he a publisher, a producer, a music supervisor, what-have-you, THAT can put a significant piece of change in your pocket while it also puts you on a worldwide musical map.When I hear someone say, "Everybody loves this song", I cringe. I don't give a rat's patootie what "everybody" loves. I have heard some of the most horrible crap played for me after that little line has been uttered. Just sayin'.In this song, I have to say that it shows talent way above the usual tripe I have to listen to as part of what I do. You have potential to write a million dollar song, no question. But there are some tools, RULES, if you will, that I might suggest you consider.For instance:You DO use imagery, and you use it well. Your lyric puts me in the spot I want to be, because you SHOW me pictures of it instead of telling me. This is excellent work. You would be amazed at how many people do NOT get this. That one is already in your toolbox, which puts you way ahead.But then you go and stick your hook in the last line of your VERSE.This really takes the punch out of the hook. The only spot it should be in, in this song particularly, is in the CHORUS. You have it there, but it's already lost its steam because of its appearance as the last phrase of the verse.(Continued in "Question" section)

Quote From Pro: Tim Sharp is ON KEY!

Broadjam Artist: Tim Sharp
Song: I Call Her Fred

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Tirk Wilder (Songwriter, Performer)

Pro General Comments: This is good work. My only objection, and in this case it's small, is that I can't in good conscience give you a critique on your writing. The reason is that you have already gotten this thing produced, and if I said that, for instance, you needed to rethink your arrangement, it's too late. It's already produced, and you're not going to change that.I recommend to all my kids that they send me a guitar/voice demo that is a work tape. Then I can tear apart what they have, and show them tips how to make it more commercially viable.But this song, to coin a phrase, is what it is. And that really ain't too bad, my friend.

Quote From Pro: Tim's music will bring a toothy smile to your lovely face!