Song of the day

[j.fco.morales]

Ghost Town is a smash!

[Snipes3000]

Finally SHM, was about time, even though half of the people who knew about their reunion have already forgotten (so perhaps they are still too late?). I heard the song, this has no chance at billboard I expect. I'm not impressed at all, but I like the rhythm of the BD. Hopefully the next release "gets better".

[melodicmoonlight]

This entire album is just flawless. <3

Might be my favorite song from this album. Just listened to it in its entirety the other day and I'm always staggered by how fresh and pristine it holds up. The production is perfect; pop with a dark clubby edge. His best album IMO

[j.fco.morales]

Written by Jacqueline Young, Mike Caren, Sean Davidson, Andre Davidson, F.D. Ballard, Alida Garpestad & Noa Kirel.
Produced by Monarch.

Love the use of the sample and the production and topline.

[cheironlover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwg3GB9UHEs We could be more than just amazing

[melodicmoonlight]

produced by Caroline and Danny L Harle, who's worked with Charli XCX. Video came out today too which is fun.

[j.fco.morales]

Skrillex is working with Latin artists.

[j.fco.morales]

I co wrote and co produced this one

[Snipes3000]

Definitely song of the day if it is produced by one of our community members! How were you involved in the process of songwriting and producing? Perhaps you could say something about how both those processes went, and are you responsible for the arrangmennt?

[j.fco.morales]

Oh guys, I appreciate your interest!

Well, we've been friends with the artist for a while and we decided to give it a go and start writing together. He said to me one time that he wanted to try some hyperpop stuff and other friends showed me the music from a 15 year old producer from Concepción, Chile. As a kid, I always wanted to talk about music with someone and sometimes receive some advice, so I try to do that with my fellow colleagues and young producers all the time, and this time happened this way. I have NO IDEA about hyperpop, so this young kid started showing me his beats and I liked one specifically. I showed the track to my artist friend and he said "I LOVE IT, CAN WE WRITE A SONG OVER IT?". We called the young kid, explained the situation, offered an amount of money and a 33% of writing. The first draft had a different structure and we changed it in order to make it as poppier as possible. We both loved a sound in the chorus that sounded like a toy and decided to use that as a non explicit part of the song, a sexual innuendo. We came with the concept first: a neighbour. You have a crush on a neighbour and if you want to f*ck, I'm down for it too. The translated lyrics in the chorus would be something like "a new guy is in the neighbourhood, he only wants to f*ck f*ck with me, I don't care if we remains friends, I only want to f*ck f*ck with you".

I wanted to feel a contrast between the different parts of the structure and Rey is BIG AUTOTUNE STAN, so we fought a lot about the vocal production. So I said: if you want over the top tuned vocals, we need other part with naturals vocals. He agreed. Also, he's a big fan of Sailor Moon and we had that imagery to build the bridge and the "robot" vocal in the climax of the song, before the last chorus. I'm proud of that and I love that's so over the top.
The lyrics are a total joke, the production is over the top and we wrote the song in two sessions, because we were in quarantine when we wrote the song, back in May 2021. It tooks us maybe, 1 hour? The vocal production was very hard and the mixing required many changes but the engineer totally understood what we wanted to do.

I'm so happy, it's my first release this year. I'm executive producing the whole project and producing most the songs for the next project.

Hope you guys like it!

[Snipes3000]

Comments on production:
-Final mix (spectral and level mix): I think the final mix has a lot of potential to improve. The division of elements over certain frequencies is really out of balance in this song. I'm sure that with the mix assistance of Neutron 3 that problem could be solved. Aside from the spectral mix, I also think the level mix could improve (can be done with Neutron 3 as well). It's really gonna improve this song by 20% in my view.
-Sound design: Add some instrument(s) that plays a chord progression and get rid of that bass in the intro and bring in the chord progression. The choice of sounds could improve and the high frequencies at 2:15 are clashing with each other. You either separate them through panning or by letting them both dominate in a different frequency or mute one of the two.
-Vocal production: The chorus is not wide. 1 vocal in mono 1 hard panned left 1 hard panned right. Try that as a start. But in the chorus the mix does not become wider and does not become much louder and that are two things that have to happen.
-Overall: there is still a long way to go, but don't be discouraged by my comments because we learn the most by failing and realise that we are actually not arrived at top level.

Songwriting:
-The riff is simply not good. Get rid of it and find a different one.
-The toy sound is disturbing the melody and not necessary in the verse 1.
-Overall: There are more comments on songwriting but it will be easier to tell once the final mix is balanced. Don't be discouraged but it was a difficult job from the start if u took the kid's beat and were not willing to radically change it (I think that was the case). It's obvious that the kid is still a primitive writer so there is no other way than to radically change his work. It would sound logical to me if you completely changed his sound design decisions and to emphasise transitions from one section to the other (for example by giving the chord progression a clear ending at the end of the verse). Well, hope this helps and really hope my feedback doesn't discourage you but instead gives you motivation to learn from wrong decisions made in this production.

[j.fco.morales]

Well, I think it's a matter of taste as well. I had a hard time with the vocals and with the mix engineering: at first we couldn't find someone who knew about the references. The first mix with other engineer was trash. TRASH. We had to look for other engineers we could afford and get the vibe of the song.

Sometimes it feels like you never finish the songs: you listen and think "oh this could have been better" so I see songs as pictures, a memory.

Thank you for your feedback though. I'm still looking for mixing engineers I could afford and people who understand what I'm trying to do sound wise. I'm working on my mixing skills as well but it's not something I particularly like or enjoy. I would love to talk to you about mixing

[Snipes3000]

-If you are looking for a mixer, use the AI of Neutron 3. It delivers very good results and you can adjust settings. Put Ozone 9 on the master, use the AI and you are really close to a top notch mastered song. The current mix is also trash, believe me.
-I'm listening again so let me give some more comments.
Intro: get rid of the fitering in and/or of the bass. The intro is turn off to me.
-The section frmo 0:44ff leave it like that. It is simple, accesible and mellow.
-I would change the kick for a more common one and also consider making the 0:58ff section the kick more rhythmic instead of 4 on the beat.
-The pre chorus at 1:13 i also find it funny somehow, so for now I would say leave it like that.
-After the pre chorus something weird happens. That's where I expect a second verse but there is a totally new section coming. Now the song is too difficult to follow for my simple mind so I lose interest in the song.
-Last tip: try to listen to a lot of instrumentals of Max and Luke from 2004 and further. And compare Teenage Dream to American Girl and see if you can see why the american girl chorus isn't as impactful as teenage dream chorus so compare all 3 or 4 chorus sections of the song with each other. It will open your eyes arrangmentwise. Don't be discouraged at all because I've been making these flaws as well.

[j.fco.morales]

Very A. G. Cook. I like it! Adding it to my playlist for the month. Congrats on the song!

Thank you! <3

[smadaleinad]

Hey everyone! Not sure if I’ve ever posted on here, but I’ve been lurking for years and years now haha. My friend just released a song that I co-wrote and produced and I’d love to hear your thoughts! It’s a mildly trap-influenced dance-pop song called Love Language. I’ve been super inspired by Max and Luke and the whole Cheiron/MXM/Wolf Cousins gang for literally as long as I can remember, and you might be able to hear their influence in my writing and production. Also, fun fact - my publisher is the guy who signed N’Sync in the US and has told me so many cool stories from his work back in the 90s and his working with Dennis Pop, which blew my mind when I first met him and we started talking haha.
ANYWAY, I’d love to hear what you all think of this track!