David Louis Brown

over 30 days ago to alehouse

Thank you for your fair analysis of It Only Happens In The Movies.

I was particularly chuffed by your 4/5 acceptance of my singing. I too have been writing since the sixties, but have not dared to call myself a singer. I decided to have a go with this song because session singers are just too much of a drain on my finances. Normally I write very rangy songs which I know to be out of my league, in which case I have little option but to dig deeply into my pockets - but I may have just managed with this song.

I do not agree with the "too much staccato" comment. I think that it adds a bit of fun and sparkle and breaks the monotony of the amount legato, which this track has. In my opinion, a little more legato in POP could be a good thing - provided that it is appropriate to the song and proportionate to quantity of any legato present. Although I do not agree, I still thank you for bringing it to my attention in such a constructive, polite manner.

I am a self taught orchestrator, who is getting more involved with orchestral classical music - so any constructive criticism is most welcome and appreciated.

I have listened to some of your music and cannot help noticing how much synthesised sound you use. I have to say that I prefer real instruments - even if they are sampled. Hence I would suggest that you have a go at writing some orchestral music, perhaps starting with some small chamber combinations? I am pretty sure you can do it Alex and I believe that you would gain much satisfaction therefrom- so why not have a go??

Thanks again Alex and good luck with your music - I mean it!

Best wishes from Dave Brown.

2 Replies

 

alehouse

over 30 days ago

Hi David,

Many thanks for these very interesting comments. Although your song may not have been the most commercial track I listened to yesterday, it was certainly the most interesting and original. I agree with you that the staccato effect added to the atmosphere of the song but just felt that it was a little overdone. It would be a boring world if we all agreed on everything. Your singing is much better than mine, although like you, I might have to give it a go. I did win a karaoke competition once but heaven knows how!

I am interested in your comments on orchestration and will listen to more of your tracks in the week ahead. I have actually had a bash ay writing orchestral music as I usually provide the music to the audio-visuals that my wife and I make - we belong to an AV group which exhibits to the public. You can find some of my orchestral music on my YouTube channel 'ashouston1' (Madeira and the Fjords are examples). I am not particularly happy with them and think that I can do better.

I agree with you on my synthesised sounds and commented on another music site that I hide behind my DAW. My daughter, who lives in London, is better at electronic music than I am and wrote "Last Goodbye" which I have put on Broadjam with her permission.

As I said, I will listen to more of your music over the holiday period and get back to you.

Best wishes, Alex

SongwriterTill

over 30 days ago

Hi Alex - thank you for your review.

SYLVIA SEMEL

over 30 days ago to alehouse

Alex, thanks for your nice review of my song YOU DO ME IN. I'm the lyricist, so it was their decision to end the song that way. Thanks again.

1 Replies

 

alehouse

over 30 days ago

Hi Sylvia. It is always a pleasure listening to your songs and "You Do Me In" was no exception. Good luck with it. - Alex

des flynn

over 30 days ago to alehouse

Alex thanks for the review on You Smiley Killer-i appreciate your time and effort as well...

1 Replies

 

alehouse

over 30 days ago

My pleasure, Des. Excellent song. I thought it was one of yours at first but changed my mind halfway through.