Seeking rock hard critique of my newest cover song

Thought I'd toss in my 2 cents if you're still open to some feedback :)

First of all let me say I thought your performance was amazing! You have a killer voice that packs both resonance and finesse, and a great sense of harmony. The timing on those harmonies is spot on, coming in at just the right times to add impact and taking a back seat to make the performance more intimate, I think you've demonstrated a real knack for when to and when not to harmonize a vocal arrangement.

If I had any criticisms it would be, as Sin and Glyte already mentioned, about the long-winded ending, as I think that by making it almost a minute long you run the risk of having the viewer lose interest and click on another video or something before you have the chance of making your point. Nothing necessarily wrong with the way it was presented, it could've just used a little fat-trimming in my eyes. Also I can't help but feel you're lead vocals lacked a little weight. Not in the sense of your performance (which, again, I loved) but the way it was mixed. It seems as if a lot of the lows and low mids were cut from the lead vocal (or were not in the recording to begin with) but remained present in the backing vocals and the strings, making the lead vocal sound a bit brittle sonically, and also causing them to get kinda buried under the harmonies and the strings when they come in. I don't know if that was an intentional stylistic choice, but it was something that caught my ear.

Keep in mind, though, that these were all just minor nitpicks, something to pad out the message with :) Like I said, I think you knocked it out of the park with your performance and I hope you keep doing what your doing. Best of luck in growing your channel! :thumbsup2:
 
Dig said:
Thought I'd toss in my 2 cents if you're still open to some feedback :)

First of all let me say I thought your performance was amazing! You have a killer voice that packs both resonance and finesse, and a great sense of harmony. The timing on those harmonies is spot on, coming in at just the right times to add impact and taking a back seat to make the performance more intimate, I think you've demonstrated a real knack for when to and when not to harmonize a vocal arrangement.

If I had any criticisms it would be, as Sin and Glyte already mentioned, about the long-winded ending, as I think that by making it almost a minute long you run the risk of having the viewer lose interest and click on another video or something before you have the chance of making your point. Nothing necessarily wrong with the way it was presented, it could've just used a little fat-trimming in my eyes. Also I can't help but feel you're lead vocals lacked a little weight. Not in the sense of your performance (which, again, I loved) but the way it was mixed. It seems as if a lot of the lows and low mids were cut from the lead vocal (or were not in the recording to begin with) but remained present in the backing vocals and the strings, making the lead vocal sound a bit brittle sonically, and also causing them to get kinda buried under the harmonies and the strings when they come in. I don't know if that was an intentional stylistic choice, but it was something that caught my ear.

Keep in mind, though, that these were all just minor nitpicks, something to pad out the message with :) Like I said, I think you knocked it out of the park with your performance and I hope you keep doing what your doing. Best of luck in growing your channel! :thumbsup2:
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Wow, thank you so much for this! I highly appreciate how you 'dive' into thorough descriptions of your observations and opinions!
I am really glad that you all like my singing, and thank you so much for complimenting on my vocal arrangement! I try to take that part really seriously when I do my thing :-)

I will definitley try to cut down on the end talking part on future uploads - both by leaving out slightly irrelevant information, and by speaking a bit faster or do a tiny bit of cutting. Thanks for the suggestion!

You are probably right about the mixing and EQ'ing of the vocals contra the music. I only know what I taught myself about mixing - and that has all been learned through experimentation, so I actually have no idea if I follow any kinds of traditional mixing patterns. I know that I do in some areas, but I could definitley be a lot better at it overall if I took some time off to learn some basic mixing stuff... Which I probably will do. One thing I also think had an impact on the overall sound though, would probably be the fact that I worked with my talented buddy Maarij from America on it - meaning our panning, mixing and volume settings were made independently from each other, and were not 'joined' before the final mix was made. This could have resulted in some inaccuracies in our indivudual visions of the final mix of the track, ending up with a mix of the two. Which most likely happened as well... So yeah, some overall improvement in my basic mixing skills would definitley be in it's place!

Within the next two weeks I will be uploading my biggest, most nuanced piece of work so far - an acapella arrangement of my own creation for my entry to the "Peter Hollens' December Song cover contest" that I will be participating in. I have spent a sh*t load of time perfecting the mix as good as I could with my limited knowledge, so I really hope that you guys will like the final result - be sure to check it out when it airs! :-D

Anyway, thanks a lot for the comments - both to you and to Sin and Glyte. Criticism is what makes us improve and strive to do better, and this lovely feedback definitley motivates me to aim even higher! So yeah, thanks a lot, let me know if you guys ever need anything reviewed on your channels! :-D
 
Jonatan Moser said:
Wow, thank you so much for this! I highly appreciate how you 'dive' into thorough descriptions of your observations and opinions!
I am really glad that you all like my singing, and thank you so much for complimenting on my vocal arrangement! I try to take that part really seriously when I do my thing :)

I will definitley try to cut down on the end talking part on future uploads - both by leaving out slightly irrelevant information, and by speaking a bit faster or do a tiny bit of cutting. Thanks for the suggestion!

You are probably right about the mixing and EQ'ing of the vocals contra the music. I only know what I taught myself about mixing - and that has all been learned through experimentation, so I actually have no idea if I follow any kinds of traditional mixing patterns. I know that I do in some areas, but I could definitley be a lot better at it overall if I took some time off to learn some basic mixing stuff... Which I probably will do. One thing I also think had an impact on the overall sound though, would probably be the fact that I worked with my talented buddy Maarij from America on it - meaning our panning, mixing and volume settings were made independently from each other, and were not 'joined' before the final mix was made. This could have resulted in some inaccuracies in our indivudual visions of the final mix of the track, ending up with a mix of the two. Which most likely happened as well... So yeah, some overall improvement in my basic mixing skills would definitley be in it's place!

Within the next two weeks I will be uploading my biggest, most nuanced piece of work so far - an acapella arrangement of my own creation for my entry to the "Peter Hollens' December Song cover contest" that I will be participating in. I have spent a sh*t load of time perfecting the mix as good as I could with my limited knowledge, so I really hope that you guys will like the final result - be sure to check it out when it airs! :-D

Anyway, thanks a lot for the comments - both to you and to Sin and Glyte. Criticism is what makes us improve and strive to do better, and this lovely feedback definitley motivates me to aim even higher! So yeah, thanks a lot, let me know if you guys ever need anything reviewed on your channels! :-D
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Hey, no problem man, glad we could help! :) I think you've got a real good thing going on with your channel and I'd love to see it grow and refine itself and live up to its full potential. And if in some small way I can help it get there, then I'm down with that! ;)

Mixing-wise, yeah, it could be as you said, the dissonance between two pairs of hands on the same arrangement, the mix could have benefited from one global pass-through, someone taking the whole picture into consideration. But I think I should stress it's certainly not a deal-breaker, the track sounds good overall, and you shouldn't really stress over "traditional mixing patterns" etc. You're doing a helluva job, just keep at it and make it ever so slightly more awesome each time around ;)

As for your offer, I do in fact have my own thread here in Reviews & Feedback, I'd truly appreciate it if you felt interested in checking it out! I'd love to hear another musician's perspective, although I'd understand if it's not really your cup of tea :) Here's the link, if you're feeling adventurous

Best of luck going forward, I truly mean it! I'll be waiting to hear your December Song cover, so don't let me down hahaha :laugh2:
 
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