Month: August 2020

Broadjam Artist: Randall Mark
Song: Wonder Boy (alternate)

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
David Arkenstone (Performer, Composer, Producer)

Pro General Comments: Sweet, sweet song. Makes you feel happy, even with the 'searching' lyrics. The light hearted vocal style is very appealing. Also liked the flute melodies, it gives the break moments a nice buoyant feeling. And by the way, the lead vocal is so strong and convincing, I question whether the guy should be there at all? Might be superfluous. Don't want to hurt any feelings, but, just sayin'. It's from the girls POV, and maybe that's enough. Obviously, this is only my opinion! But you asked...Maybe bring in some light percussion at 2nd chorus.Liked the muted guitar propulsion at the intro, but then it seems to tack a backseat to the piano. Maybe experiment with the mix, and put that guitar on the right side, away from the piano.Maybe in the choruses find an additional element to make it special. Muted bass playing with the guitar, doubling the guitar strumming. Or bring a sparse, high piano in doing something fun.Piano is too strong is some places for me, it kind of grounds the song. I would experiment and radically change the mix around. Start with the vocal and guitar thumping. I wouldn't bring the piano until the first chorus.Overall, it's a catchy, sweet song, I could see it in a sync situation easily.I would also clean up some of the hiccups here and there in the timing of the vox and piano. And at :03 in the opening guitar needs tightening. Also not completely sold on that string sound in 2nd chorus. Sounds like a Mellotron?Sorry, for the late review, things have been quite crazy in the world!~David

Quote From Pro: Sweet sentiment illustrating a universal subject matter.

Broadjam Artist: The Haunted North
Song: Without a Dawn

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Todd Herfindal (Songwriter, Musician, Producer, Engineer, Indie Record Label)

Pro General Comments: A solid, hard rock ensemble styled brooding ballad featuring some of the signature sounds, overall vibe, tones, feel of the grunge era heyday. The lead vocal has some nice, intense emotion and a strong performance and delivery. Arrangement wise the song's structure resembles a kind of verse/lift/chorus approach, which works fairly well here. No bridge here except for the chorus lift or pre-chorus, if you will. The guitar solo after 2nd chorus works effectively to provide some sectional contrast and momentum. Cool "wah-wah" action in that guitar solo BTW!The verse melody starts in a lower range and has a pretty dark vibe, then nicely modulates up an octave the 2nd time around. The pre-chorus lifts in a way that isn't expected, then releasing nicely into the longer-held notes of the chorus melody.No lyrics were included for my reference, but I can tell you the lyrics generally serve the loneliness, sorrow and darker emotional themes of this track. I will say that it took several listens to really hear the many of the lyrics. This may suggest that the lead vocals are mixed a little too low, which is pretty common. In this case the singer is strong so from where I'm sitting, it seems appropriate to turn the volume up on those lead vocals. Musically the signature riff that opens the track serves as a strong underpinning to the verse melodies that come later. I will say that the nearly 30 second intro feels a bit long. If editing were an option, I might consider trimming it in half. This would help get the song under 4 mins, which could be useful to you depending on your goals for the song.

Quote From Pro: A solid, hard rock ensemble styled brooding ballad featuring some of the signature sounds, overall vibe, tones, feel of the grunge era heyday.

Broadjam Artist: GABRIEL THE MIRACLE
Song: BURST

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Robert Dellaposta (Writer, A&R, Publisher)

Pro General Comments: very impressive...you grabbed my attention from the downbeat and kept me interested...This is rock/with a rap influence...loved it...It's difficult to select one word that fits the subject matter or the mood of this song...The message is confident, aggressive, determined, confrontational and powerful. It is positive and shows the singer knows where he is going and what he wants to do and no one or nothing will stand in his way. the rap and singing style was very spot on...great performance.Very powerful and entertaining.The track is killer in my opinion. The instrumentation and arrangement were very contemporary and up to date with today's recordings.This instrumental track without the vocal is also very movie, television and commercial friendly. Pitch them both to a music supervisor when submitting. There are a lot of non-exclusive music libraries and placement companies out there that would love to have this song in their catalog. My advice is go non-exclusive and keep the publishing and master rights unless some one makes you a deal you can't refuse.

Quote From Pro: Gabriel the Miracle is a force to be taken seriously. He's a street poet and a great rapper/singer and musician. I will not be surprised to hear his songs in movies and TV in the near future.

Broadjam Artist: Bob Birthisel
Song: Walkin'

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Chris Keaton (Music Publisher, Artist Manager, Song Plugger)

Pro General Comments: From the call to arms of the bass drum and handclaps at the top of this song the listener is drawn in. It's an infectious little groove and the message is simple, elegant and right in point. It makes me want to stand up, shout and fall in line with the other "fifty million people walking to the beat of the lord."Your references to the New Orleans style (Allen Toussaint and The Night Tripper), Little Feat and Elton John (Honky Chateau) are evident and the respect you obviously have for your predecessors. Bravo!Obviously the player are real sharp professionals. The interplay between the players is sensational. They all intuitively know when NOT to play. I refer to this as musicians being sympathetic to one another. (Real pros know what to leave in and what to leave out- and these guys know)!!On a second listen I get even more excited by the song. The directness of the lyric is really well done. It's like the singer is singing directly to each listener individually.Needles to say I am very impressed with every aspect of this song, the writing, the selection of musicians, the performance, the recording. Bob, you have really created something very special here and I look forward to hearing many more great songs from you.

Quote From Pro: I am very impressed with every aspect of this song, the writing, the selection of musicians, the performance, the recording.

Broadjam Artist: Daniel
Song: Here with You

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Jonathan Stone (Publisher)

Pro General Comments: Hey Daniel thanks for your submission. Sorry for the delay in reviewing but been busy during this crazy time. Right? Overall I really like what you have done here. The production is very good as is the recording quality. These are very important factors in today's market, production and quality of the recording as I have spoken about many times in reviewing material here. There are 5 primary elements these days to a record. melody, lyric, production, arrangement and recording quality. You really need to check all the boxes if you're going to try and have a career in the music business. These days the most important of those 5 elements is production quality and arrangement. Melody and lyric really have become somewhat secondary to these three. In other words as long as you have a great track and concept you may be able to get away with a lesser lyric and melody but it does not work the other way around. A poor production will get you nowhere. In the case of " "Here With You" you have all of these elements covered but feel the lyric and title could be a little further developed.

Quote From Pro: Check out Daniels "Here With You" If you are looking for a high quality dance track for your next project. Or just crank it up for your own listening pleasure!

Broadjam Artist: Randall Mark
Song: Wonder Boy (alternate)

Broadjam Pro Reviewer:
Todd Herfindal (Songwriter, Musician, Producer, Engineer, Indie Record Label)

Pro General Comments: A nice, almost duet styled acoustic-based folky singer-songwriter vibe with a real warm-hearted spirit in the music, melody, vocals and overall approach. The female lead vocal has a nice tone, and comes across with the kind of pureness/ innocence that a song like this needs. Structurally, the song's arrangement resembles a kind of verse /lift (PC)/ chorus approach, which works pretty well. The chorus melody is nicely differentiated from the verse and PC melodies and feels pretty natural. I'll say that perhaps the song might benefit from a sung bridge to help round out the lyrics a bit more. The track in it's current state is 3:16. Adding a short sung 30 second bridge means you could still be in a good place as far as the running time, which might land you around 3:45. One other observation: In chorus2 the pause between the 1st and second half comes across like a little flat tire where some momentum is lost. I might skip the pause and just roll into 2nd half. Lyrically, one thing I'm noticing is that each chorus lyric seems to be a little different from the next. Sometimes this can make it more challenging for the listener to get or grasp the chorus as each chorus is lyrically varied. Once idea might be to create one uniform chorus lyric that only gets changed or alternated when the last chorus arrives. That way the listener's got the chorus lyrics in their heads and can potentially hear the lyrical change from a basis point of knowing how the chorus is supposed to sound like. Lastly, watch out for mood deviations in lyrics that can be distracting while going somewhat against the theme like "If you looked deep in my eyes, would you find a true love or just a pocket of lies." It's really the "pocket of lies" line that feels mismatched to the mood/vibe/message. Last lyrical observation is that the 3rd verse lyrics take a bit of a U turn with the protagonist losing faith in herself and then her "wonder boy" . . "But I'm too shy to talk to you, not even a word, not even a few And I don't dare walk up to you, I don't have the nerve to make my big move So I guess I'll look for another boy, I'll keep on searching for my wonder boy." So. . in essence you're telling the listener (paraphrasing of course) "I'm too shy, so I'll look for another guy." This shyness turning to lack of faith in the guy somewhat undermines the rest of the song, and what it's saying. If I were co-writing this with you, I'd suggest staying in the infatuation zone rather than the doubt zone. Lyrical deviations like this which leave the established character/mood of the song can be distracting for the listener, who now may not at all believe in your "wonder boy" which may not be the goal. Overall this is a strong demo/recordings and a promising song that might benefit from any or all of the suggestions I've made above. I appreciate you letting me hear the song and chime in on your creative process. Best of luck!!

Quote From Pro: A nice almost duet styled acoustic-based folky singer-songwriter vibe with a real warm-hearted spirit in the music, melody, vocals and overall approach.