Workshop #229: The Easy Life by The Velvet Chameleon
tuts workshop

Workshop #229: The Easy Life by The Velvet Chameleon

on Mar 18th 2012 with 2 comments

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

Description of the track:

This is a track off of my Fall EP, “Dandruff”. Each of my seasonal EP’s focus on a particular mood or genre. This EP focused on acoustic instruments and really peaks with this track, “The Easy Life”.

I really tried to hone in on the natural sounds of the instruments. An acoustic guitar and vocal duet is greeted by a lingering piano. After which, layers of other instruments fall in, such as acoustic drums, hand percussion, clean guitars, and backup vocals. Over-driven Guitars come into play to accentuate climactic moments.

Overall, this song plays on the simple chords and building on instrumental layers and sounds to drive dynamics. I’ve spent a great deal of time one it, and was the first track I recorded, mixed, and mastered myself from scratch. A huge leap given where I was only months earlier. But I’m always looking for great feedback and chances to learn more!

Artist’s website: www.thevelvetchameleon.com

Terms of Use: All of my releases are free to download (a business model I want to keep going for as long as possible).

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section.

  • Do you enjoy the song or track itself? Does it have potential?
  • Can the arrangement be improved?
  • How did you find the mix? What would you do differently?
  • What do you enjoy about the rhythm track? What can be done to improve it?
  • Is the choice of instruments relevant and effective for the style/song?
  • Are the lyrics (if any) effective? Does the style, arrangement and genre of the song suit them?
  • Can you suggest any specific techniques that might improve the track?
  • Do you have any other constructive feedback?

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.

 
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Adrian is writer and editor for Audiotuts+ and Envato Notes. He has been playing keys and acoustic guitar for three decades, and has six kids. Follow him on Twitter at @envatoaudio.  

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  • basic

    ok, after listening to it a couple of times, i decided to disregard answering the above questions, as this song is above them, so, here we go:

    - the wibe and atmosphere of the song is GREAT, reminds me of some of the songs from ed harcourt’s “here be monsters” album.

    - performance, recording, arrangement, instrumentation – all appear to be very good, if not excellent, from both technical and artistical point of view. lyrics are aptly backed by the music and vice versa. soundscape a bit dry, but compliment the song quite nicely and help to hear each instrument in more detail. maybe some strings could have given a nice shimmering colour to some parts. nice touch with an electric guitar coming in at the second chorusy part (somewhat like in radiohead’s “creap”).

    - mix a bit too wide for my liking, acoustic guitars a tad too upfront and have a bit too much low end for my liking; both a matter of taste and style, really. shakers a tad too upfront. generally, a mix to make a man proud of himself, regardless of these few (utterly minor) issues that i’ve mentioned.

    - my main consideration is regarding the structure and composition: it seems that there is no musical “hook” to this song; i lost count of the song parts (intro, verses, three different bridges / choruses (can’t quite decide which is which) and then the count goes on…). generally, i feel like i’ve been led down a path, and for a while it was fine. somewhere around verses 3 and 4, definitely upon bridge/chorus no. 2, the song lost me, so to speak. maybe, just maybe, a more simple structure could make the song tighter and firmer and give it more defined shape. more repetition and variation, less parts of the song, that’s what i’m trying to say; that might work a bit better. on the other hand, maybe i’m not a part of an audience this song addresses. although i’d like to be.

    - do not be discouraged by these last few sentences. there is a HUUUUUUUUGE talent imprint all over this song, keep on writing music, keep on singing (great voice, i must add), keep on experimenting, don’t be put off by anything. enjoy each step of the way, always. i’d be very happy if i got a chance to listen to your future albums.

    i hope i wasn’t too harsh, as this is a good song, nicely technically crafted (with a few nice changes in harmony, i forgot to mention it earlier), very well delivered. just wanted to share my thoughts on it.

    ofcourse, feel free to contact me via email if you’d like to discuss this futher.

    • http://www.thevelvetchameleon.com Adarsh

      Great feedback! I wasn’t put-off/discouraged at all. I was more inspired if anything!

      The length/wandering-path feel to the song was definitely one of my biggest concerns. But I didn’t know whether it was just me or a true concern, so I thought I’d unleash it and see what happens. Definitely some mixed feelings as some like the “adventure”, while other like some closure sooner. More experimenting with live shows are needed i think;)

      Strings? Why didn’t I think of that!? I’m putting in some really interesting organ/string tracks into my soon-to-be-released EP, and it’s doing wonders. Definitely have to come back to this idea when I re-mix/master it for the double LP release!

      And as for the wide mix. I think I got a little carried away. A side-effect of spending too much time with the track to the point of it getting boring to me, and overcompensating. But then again, I consider panning an instrument unto itself.

      Thanks for the honest feedback and inspiring praise. Looking forward to further improve and impress ;)