Love is on the Line - Cary Timmons
I will review my own single first to get things started.
Song = 4. This is a well written song with a simple melody that draws you in quickly and gets your attention. The lyrics are simple and easily understood without requiring much thinking on the listener’s part and are memorable and easy to sing along with after just a couple of listens. The theme of this song is actually a welcome change from the normal “getting over you” theme in that it attempts to save love not drowned a lost relationship with pity or self revolution.
Performance = 4. The lead vocal has good dynamics throughout, a fair display of dynamic range, an abundance of feeling in the verses, but a lack of enthusiasm in the chorus because of minimal movement and style in the notes. My idea was to tame my voice into making the song singable by anyone, but in doing so I really did make the song sound like it could have been recorded by anyone and the performance ended up lackluster. The best part of the lead vocal was probably just the vocal timbre and dynamics of my voice. The instrumentation is dominated by piano in the verses and drums and electric guitars in the chorus and solo. The drums are solid throughout and have an uncanny sense of dynamics compared to today’s music. The grand piano presents a beautiful melody, but has minimal dynamics and almost plays too much in the first verse especially. The electric guitars are subtle in presence until the chorus and provide a dark feeling to the subdued verses that builds into a more driving, brighter chorus. The guitar solo is top notch, full of dynamic, creative moves over a very difficult chord progression. The backing vocals are simple and not too overbearing. Overall, the performance is adequate although lacking creativity in some key areas.
Production = 3. I went into this production with the idea of keeping it simple enough for any 4 or 5 piece band to reproduce on stage and the result was a sound stage that was empty at times and needing life. I needed more acoustic guitar in the first verse, more electric guitar in the chorus (possible more distorted), more piano in the chorus, and a more creative backing vocals part. The mix is very centered with only drums and acoustic guitar taking their place on the extreme right or left of the sound stage. All instruments have sufficient clarity and definition, but some get masked in the mix at times (piano and backing vocal on the right). The piano could have used a boost in the 8 KHz and above range but overall the frequency balance is very pleasing to the ear like a symphony. The vocal phone booth trick adds some interest before the last chorus and then again at the end when it is equalized from the phone booth to right in your face. The way the solo guitar and lead vocal switch places on the sound stage by a creative panning method is something I have never heard done before so I can say I was probably the first to try it--others will follow I am sure. Ultimately, the overall sound level of this mix does not compete with other commercial singles of today and therefore really inhibits the marketability of this single on radio. My plan was to retain all of the dynamics of the performance by not over compressing the mix and it resulted in a very alive, dynamic mix that sounds great on its own, but sounds inferior when played alongside a louder commercial single of today.
Overall = 3.67