Hi! I almost "made it" a few times a long time ago as a songwriter/musician. ;-). Then life happened. I've since been writing songs, collecting plugins, and reviewing audio stuff (search my name . . . quite a lot of reviews on KVR and Gearslutz). It's time for my comeback! Before I start working on the new material I would really like to salvage a couple tracks from the past, but . . .

• Which tracks are worthy? Not the production or recording, but the essence of the song and potential.
• What should I do to breathe life into them?

Note-1: The production of this demo album is a bit bland and dated — crappy, pre-plugin, barebones home recording, and I used generic MIDI bass and drums sequences with the intention of replacing them with live players. But word quickly spread about my project, and it was signed before completed. Lucky me . . . I thought at the time. Then tragedy stuck! ;-( Long story.

Note-2: I'm a singer, but I did not sing lead on this collection. I met an Irish Celtic Singer with an amazingly haunting voice and went with her (literally and figuratively).

Any advice, criticism, feedback or suggestions are appreciated.

HELP ME REALIZE MY DREAM. Don't let me waste away any longer as an "almost been," which IMO is worse than a "has been." At least those bums have a gold record on the wall and enough money to drink themselves into a drunken bliss. ;-) I'm not looking to get rich . . . just hoping for enough success to justify all the years and tears. It'd be sweet to release something into the world that people dig.

SWALLOWED BY THE SEA























Here are a couple outtakes, which are not originals. I'm posting for anyone who is curious or wants to hear more of the singer's voice.



https://soundcloud.com/tommy-zai/13...=tommy-zai/sets/swallowed-by-the-sea-outtakes

This next song is my final recording of singer. In truth, I cannot listen to it. From what I remember, it was extremely haunting . . . probably more so today.

https://soundcloud.com/tommy-zai/wa...=tommy-zai/sets/swallowed-by-the-sea-outtakes

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2017

Hey man! To me it's obvious, here are your starlets:

- Tunnel of Luvvv
- Let me go
- Voodoo Doll
- She's Perfect (could be 100% awesome as a hipster chic track with a modern arrangement, as relevant today as ever)
- Edge of Tears
- Tea and Crumpets + Swalled by the Sea (kinda cute for "b-side" materials building that album up, again with updated modern arrangemnt/mix)

Might have to dump the others mercilessly for now, they were stepping stones.

You have great stuff here, and actually your oldschool instruments could be used as-is by a good mixer who's creative enough to put the magic on them so they sound modern-retro. It doesn't have to be redone, it could actually be "your sound".

The sound needs a lot of work yeah, but great songs!

It doesn't matter that you're better than what you hear on the radio and never did. Being on there is not about quality recognition. These commercial structures are not your friend, nor are they your schoolteacher who can give you an A or a B+. Got to really internalize that, the "starving artist" who is starving to be recognized attitude will hold you back big time. I'm not talking about you being greedy, talking about you being needy. You would do a whole lot better for yourself breaking on the scene with your magic, exuberant and full of ideas that you "cannot seem to hold back". Allows you to be a force majeur, so at least some of the time you get to bend the commercial structure over and fuck it in the ass, make it pay. That's the correct artist-industry relationship, if you ask me.

I especially like "Voodoo Doll", that's your breakout single in my mind. Do you have the separate stems for it still? Let's work on it, polish the mix and overall sound so you can hear what things can be when they come together, and gain your confidence back.

Where's the singress now, did you break up and she hates your guts? That might spell copyright doom in case your work bears fruit.

 

Last edited: Nov 23, 2017

Thank you so much, Satai. I'm very grateful that you took the time to listen, list, comment, and give me hope. When I wrote the song She's Perfect I thought of it as a quirky little filler, but maybe you might be right . . . it's time has come. There aren't too many songs about a girl admiring a girl. As far as THE girl . . . very sad story there. ;-(

Unfortunately, there are no stems of any kind. I had them all on DAT, but they were stolen. In fact, whoever broke in came for those! I half hoped the criminal would have at least helped with distribution. ;-)

 

Last edited: Nov 25, 2017

> I am heartbroken that a girl with such a haunting voice lost her way. ;-(

Don't be too heartbroken over that, cuz they all lose their way especially when they find heroin.

So there aren't any stems. Care to send me Voodoo Doll in the best quality you have available? (weTransfer.com)

 

Sure! I'm thrilled that you are willing to help. I sent a message to your profile. I'll get to it first thing tomorrow. Continued thanks!

 

I could not agree more.
Voodoo Doll is hit material, no doubt about it.

I hear something big, bright, open, undulating with very intimate moods. Big orchestral arrangement, but synths, electronic foundation. Imagine a hybrid between Air - Sex Born Poison and Django Django - Waveforms. Plus the Banjo. That would be hipster's nerd walhalla (although beards&banjos are already yesterdays hype).
You have incredible stuff there @tommyzai and it gets me on the edge of my seat, wanting to get started right away
I'm really sorry for your singer, and for you on that behalf!
I think you have two options here: sell the songs, you have great demos and every publisher worth his salt will hear what we hear.
Or: re-record the stuff.
Where are you located?

 

Wow, this is too much for me to process, really great vocal and sound

 

Thank you, fraifikmushi. I woke up early, excited about Satai's comments . . . filled with hope. Seeing that you agree made losing sleep worth it. ;-) Seeking guidance on here is turning out to be great. So far, the songs that are getting attention are ones I thought about tossing. Good thing I posted. Sometimes it's really hard to know what to do when you're so close to the material . . . even many years later. Back then there was a big question about the song order on the album/CD. The input on this thread shines new light on that debate!!

The hipster references are ironic . . . moved from Portland to Tucson last year. I'm packing as I type . . . going back home to New York for the holidays and then looking for a new place to live with my wee little Chinese bride and 3-year old wild man, who is an animal on drums.

I'd be happy to choose from the two options you listed. I was worried there was a third. 3. Hey Gramps, give it up. LOL

 

I really like tunel of love and voodoo doll. Theese two really got my attention after ~5 seconds listening. Hit material.

 

The choice of instruments and the way you get it dressed are not convincing me that you will achieve enough success in today's years. Maybe do improvisation on the musical background with research and reference that close to your style of your writing, like Post-Malone, Khalid, Noah Cyrus and alike. Unless you didn't mean for success at that level, works on mixing and mastering should get your tracks alright.

 

Futurewine, much appreciation for your thoughts on this collection. I should explain . . . When I put these tracks together I intentionally used the most standard instruments possible. I tried to avoid producing them in a way that could be easily identified as 80s, 90s, 00s, etc. My goal was to create a haunting mood, highlighting the songs and the singer's voice. My hope was to attract the attention of a producer and let him/her color the palette. Unfortunately, it never happened, and this demo is all that remains. On one hand, I'd love to hear some of these songs with a modern twist. On the other, I would hate for them to become painfully dated like the Top Gun soundtrack.

I've always been an indie/underground sort of cat. Do I go that route and try for a cult following or go mainstream????

At present, Swallowed by the Sea is admittedly generic. I hope it can become much more than that! I will certainly re-read your words and consider your suggestions. Thank you!!!

 

We tried to liven up the only existing recording of Voodoo Doll, here's the "mastered" result. Posting it for everyone by Tommyzai's request.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2017

Wow! Very smooth. I'm honored. Thank you.

 

You're very welcome!