Here’s 3 of my original songs that I’m thinking of entering into a contest. I’m trying to get a general idea of which song you like the most.
The contest I’m entering is asking everyone to include 3 originals but they want the entrants to choose their best song, so that the contest holder can focus on that particular song (I assume).
These songs were recorded 5 or 6 years ago. The contest entry deadline is 11:59 pm tomorrow, Sunday April 23, 2017. There’s no time to re-record them for this contest, so I’m much more interested in hearing which song you find the most appealing and less concerned about the production at this point, but I don’t mind getting advice on improving the recordings also.
I agree with a lot of what @skua mentioned. I would put them in the same order even.
Darkness & Wither held my attention and felt the best to me.
Not Very Zen took me to the hair metal days and I don’t mind that one bit in this case.
Not Your Clown. There’s a bit of this mismatch with the drums and the rest of the band. I don’t think it’s a mix thing as much as it feels like 2 different styles forced together, to me anyway.
Each song has strengths and weaknesses, as you would expect. I actually like Not Your Clown quite a bit, and perhaps on the positive side it’s the shortest one and maybe fits the “radio friendly format” thing better. At least it held my attention the most. Sure it’s a bit repetitive but many songs of that format do, radio listeners gravitate to that many times and it’s easier to listen to on a casual/subconscious level when the brain learns what to expect. The track has a Stoner Rock (reminiscent of Black Sabbath) vibe, and I think the quirky instrumental asides actually make it interesting and intriguing. The downside of that one is at least a few timing glitches in the tempo/beat. It may have been Soundcloud playback skipping (really bad at times), but I listened twice and thought I heard the same glitches in the same places.
Darkness and Wither is pretty epic, a really good song, but quite long. Also kind of dark and brooding. I’m just wondering how many people’s taste buds will be able to savor it for such a contest?
Not Very Zen is okay, pretty good in some ways. It kind of sounded like a Weird Al Yankovic song, at least the vocals. Fun to listen to but maybe not first pick for a contest.
It’s definitely the most “musically busy” of the 3 tracks and it’s more intricate but I wonder if the judges will find it too long. I always wonder if shorter is better when it comes to these contests.
Thanks skua!
I really appreciate your help!
Thanks for your help Holster! Very much appreciated!
Interesting to that see you and skua have similar opinions.
Yeah, the length of the instrumental parts concerns me the most. It takes almost a minute for the singing to begin and the song is 6 minutes and 36 seconds long. Also like you mentioned, there’s a darkness about it that they might want to avoid especially being that it’s a radio station running the contest. But then I think, “This station also plays some darker music from bands like, Alice In Chains, Black Sabbath, The Deftones, Nirvana, etc…along with lots of uplifting, happy music, of course”. I guess it’s really a crap shoot entering these contests but you guys are really helping me with making an educated guess.
Yeah, I like the contrast during the instrumental too, even though I understand that some people might find it kind of odd to put that in a hard rock song. I’ve found that change in the song makes people smile…It’s almost like “this is so goofy and unexpected for this style of music,…but kind of cool too”. Of course others will have the exact opposite reaction and think, “What the hell did he put this part in the song for”? "That’s not metal enough !"
Haha…I totally can understand either reaction.
Hahaha, I purposely was going for that Weird Al vibe.
Sometimes I feel the vocals in that song are a little “soft” sounding. I like the vocal melody but I would rather have recorded it with a bit of a rasp and more aggression.
Thanks for the in-depth analysis Stan !
I really appreciate the time and effort that you put into helping me!
Not very Zen stands out i.m.o.
The composition is relatively simple but catchy (helps in competitions). I like the bass and guitar sounds and the way they work together.
And the title’s good too
Yeah, full points for Not very Zen.
Edit:
I finished the post only to start reading the other comments; I really hadn’t read Skua’s identical description of this song!
I think you’re probably right about the simplicity and catchiness being a good thing in these kind of competitions. My biggest hesitation about “Not Very Zen” is that it doesn’t sound aggressive enough and maybe it’s a little too “pop” sounding, though I do like it quite a bit.
It’s really interesting to hear the point of view that you guys have. I can see where everyone is coming from. Stan sort of deviated a little bit from the main consensus but I totally agree with him too…, except the “Weird Al” comment, hahaha.
You and Stan were the only ones to choose that song…but I was kind of leaning towards choosing that song also because it’s a little more aggressive and has more of a “street” attitude, and I like the feel of it. Also it doesn’t take long too get to the chorus, unlike Darkness & Wither, even though I think Darkness & Wither is a “classier, deeper and bigger song” (for lack of better words).
Hi I listened to these before, but couldn’t make up my mind. You have a great sound. I liked Darkness the best I guess. The intro is awesome!! I would have liked to hear some vocals come in before the one minute mark tho. Your guitar tones are so great. Are you playing a guitar on this, or is this a midi thangy? I have a PRS and Gibson ES 335 and I can’t get anything to sound anywhere near that good. Congrats, you got it goin bud
I recorded all the electric guitar parts with a Phantom Warlock (I don’t think they make them anymore). I don’t even think Phantom exists anymore and probably hasn’t for a long time. It’s been a few years since I recorded all those songs but I think I recorded the clean parts on Darkness & Wither with a Norman B15 acoustic and doubled the same part with a cheap Yamaha F-310 acoustic guitar. I used a Sansamp GT2 for most or all of the over-driven guitar…, if I recall correctly…
I’m sure you would be able to get great sounds out of a PRS and a Gibson ES-335…those are probably way better than the crap I use, haha. You probably just need to find the right amp, pedal or emulator and tweak the settings a bit.
One of Paul’s rules is “the song must be previously unreleased”. What does previously unreleased mean, especially in this context? I don’t know. It’s probably something that needs definition and clarification.
I took the link down a day after I entered the songs in the contest because I was trying to see how many times the radio station/ contest holders would listen to the songs. If I would have kept the link active for others I wouldn’t be able to discern if the plays were coming from people on here or from them.
