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sodanation needs your help :-D sodanation are just about to start recording our second CD, and what we would like is some constructive criticism or impartial reviews of our first CD. Be honest and tell us what you REALLY think of our songs and our sound.
Orgnote me with your address and we will mail you an actual CD to "review", or alternately you can listen to all the songs from the CD at this address: http://www.publicrevoluti...26&sid=467 Thanks everyone! 
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Which one are you?
I Got My Speakers: Probably my least favorite of the bunch. Wouldn't be my pic as the album opener. My Man: Serious vibe here. I dig the chorus a lot, but something about the verse sounds forced. I Know: Slinky. I like it. Honey Love Machine: Slammin Dance Track. Good Production work. Perhaps the better pic for the album opener, maybe. Fly: Strong track. Love the introduction. Your guitarist has a great ear for rhythm. I'm sure you know that. Waiting: Sweet ballad. Strong delivery. Awesome vocal work. Better: Probably my favorite track of the bunch. I think it's the synth sound used. Meltinyolove: Great pic for the album closer. Sexy! Makes you want to listen to the album all over again. Your album is incredible! Strong vocals, delivery and awesome musicianship. Like your site says, there's something for everyone here. My suggestion would be to perhaps stick with the live instruments on the next one and use little to no programming. Sounds like you have a band that CAN DO IT. Also perhaps the next grouping of songs could be "themed focused". All Rights Reserved. |
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Where did the name come from? VERY catchy. I love it. You Austrailians are kickin butt in the groove department around here. All Rights Reserved. |
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yamomma said: Where did the name come from? VERY catchy. I love it. You Austrailians are kickin butt in the groove department around here.
Thanks so much for your review yamomma - much appreciated  this is great feedback and all your advice noted.
I am not in the band myself, it's my husband's project, though I am in charge of the visual side of things (photography, design, web)
And believe it or not, the band name was thought of by conroz of the org - I made a special band name ideas thread in GD and this name was the coolest! Thanks again 
Anyone else? | |
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!. I Got My Speakers - Too cheezy, sounds like something in Oingo Boingos Closet...
2. My Man - I dig this one alot, cept the vocals, the surrounding music is dark and melodic, and the vocals are bright and loud, it doesn't quite match for me, could use an atmospheric and dark touch, that could be me though... 3. I know- This sounds like a mesh of Jazz Classic rock and Funk, the bassline doesn't really grove with the rest of everything at sometimes, but when the song gets going its sort of grooves well, i like it 4. Hony Love Machine - to cheezy for me, but i think its because of my personal prejudices, you got a sorta Thompson Twins thing going in here... 5. Fly - Funky i like it 6. Waiting - you should of lft this strictly a Piano and Voice song, it would of been the perfect yang to the albums ying! But i like it 7. Better - sounds like a Funky P-funk Track, all you need is geoorge clinton lending his musky vocals lol 8. MeltinyofLove - kinda cliche but grooving!, nice mix of funk and rock i dig it Overall... Its not my type of music, but i think you guys rock, we'll probably be seeing the band in the future, rocking the charts. I don't wan't too make too many critiques, because most of them are based on the bands personal style, and i don't want to hinder that. One notion though sometimes Minamalism is better than alot of instruments. It might be wise to strip some songs down, to hear the Real Goove within... my  [Edited 6/30/06 11:50am] I am a Rail Road, Track Abandoned
With the Sunset forgetting, i ever Happened http://www.myspace.com/stolenmorning | |
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EmbattledWarrior said: !. I Got My Speakers - Too cheezy, sounds like something in Oingo Boingos Closet...
2. My Man - I dig this one alot, cept the vocals, the surrounding music is dark and melodic, and the vocals are bright and loud, it doesn't quite match for me, could use an atmospheric and dark touch, that could be me though... 3. I know- This sounds like a mesh of Jazz Classic rock and Funk, the bassline doesn't really grove with the rest of everything at sometimes, but when the song gets going its sort of grooves well, i like it 4. Hony Love Machine - to cheezy for me, but i think its because of my personal prejudices, you got a sorta Thompson Twins thing going in here... 5. Fly - Funky i like it 6. Waiting - you should of lft this strictly a Piano and Voice song, it would of been the perfect yang to the albums ying! But i like it 7. Better - sounds like a Funky P-funk Track, all you need is geoorge clinton lending his musky vocals lol 8. MeltinyofLove - kinda cliche but grooving!, nice mix of funk and rock i dig it Overall... Its not my type of music, but i think you guys rock, we'll probably be seeing the band in the future, rocking the charts. I don't wan't too make too many critiques, because most of them are based on the bands personal style, and i don't want to hinder that. One notion though sometimes Minamalism is better than alot of instruments. It might be wise to strip some songs down, to hear the Real Goove within... my
[Edited 6/30/06 11:50am] Thank you so much  REALLY appreciate - all valid points and we will definitely think about all the things you said when recording our next album. | |
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 good luck  | |
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Dewrede said: good luck you can give us a review too  | |
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Well, I can only hear the short clips, but maybe they'll give some idea. I hope the stream is enough similar with the actual product, because sometimes the mixing can sound a lot different on a low-quality stream and my comments would be sort of futile in that case. The recording quality is mostly of quite high standards though.
1. Definitely not the kind of song I typically like listening to In overall, I'd say that all of the tracks suffer from maybe a bit wrong type of a reverb utilized on the vocals (or is it just actual room reflection?). B52's-ish music, so maybe this song could be even more peppy and kitschy.
2. Problems with the piano and the chorus guitar being too loud in the mix, could be solved rather with creative EQ and panning than bluntly dragging down the volume levels if that's not what you want to do. I think a lot of people would love this track however. 3. Bass sound and drums work together nicely to my ears, altough the rim shot snare has again the wrong kind of reverb for a pop song. Guitar playing is nice too. 4. Fun, but the mix is pretty damn weird at parts (Seriously, what's up with that synth?). This is my favourite of the bunch though, because it's all over the place. 5. The stream fades too early to tell too much, but from what I can tell it seems to work. Again, the guitar is about +2db too loud in the mix. 6. Well it's a piano-heavy ballad.... too little on the stream to say anything definitive. 7. I have always hated that electric piano sound with passion, but otherwise the rhythmic elements here show more originality than on the other tracks. 8. Too much low-end in the verse, it will most likely cause unexpected trouble on some stereo systems. Yet more problems with the mixing, I think the band would benefit from hiring somebody else to do the mixing on the next project. Maybe in overall a bit too 90s sound all throughout, definitely material that will work live. But I think Sodanation is a band that would be at its own element at playing i.e. student parties and festivals rather than stadiums or being a radio band. Mostly because of the music's inescapable band approach and because the lead singer doesn't quite have the type of voice that most radios (around the world) would be keen to play. The singing technique is partly the reason why the music sounds early 90s to me - call me nuts but I think your band could actually benefit from using more frequently the "two female lead singers"-approach as on track number 8. Also I'd rather not hear your lead vocalist attempt to sing with such a "strong" tone all the time, but settle for singing with her natural, unforced voice and use double-tracking in the most melodic parts (choruses, bridges and so on). So what these songs lack (like 90% of demos submitted to record companies) are proper vocal arrangements that would enhance the quality of the actual songwriting - and hence the songs end up sounfing mostly like a live band performing their gig set in the recording studio. Pop music listeners want something else. I think the band can have great fun together making this music, but as you're pushing it more and more to the professional levels the fun will always dissipate from it at some point - which I think is also one of the reasons why we never really hear "good time" bands on the radio anymore. For music like this it's all about playing live and gigging a whole lot and then selling some CDs to that very same audience. | |
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Novabreaker said: Well, I can only hear the short clips, but maybe they'll give some idea. I hope the stream is enough similar with the actual product, because sometimes the mixing can sound a lot different on a low-quality stream and my comments would be sort of futile in that case. The recording quality is mostly of quite high standards though.
1. Definitely not the kind of song I typically like listening to In overall, I'd say that all of the tracks suffer from maybe a bit wrong type of a reverb utilized on the vocals (or is it just actual room reflection?). B52's-ish music, so maybe this song could be even more peppy and kitschy.
2. Problems with the piano and the chorus guitar being too loud in the mix, could be solved rather with creative EQ and panning than bluntly dragging down the volume levels if that's not what you want to do. I think a lot of people would love this track however. 3. Bass sound and drums work together nicely to my ears, altough the rim shot snare has again the wrong kind of reverb for a pop song. Guitar playing is nice too. 4. Fun, but the mix is pretty damn weird at parts (Seriously, what's up with that synth?). This is my favourite of the bunch though, because it's all over the place. 5. The stream fades too early to tell too much, but from what I can tell it seems to work. Again, the guitar is about +2db too loud in the mix. 6. Well it's a piano-heavy ballad.... too little on the stream to say anything definitive. 7. I have always hated that electric piano sound with passion, but otherwise the rhythmic elements here show more originality than on the other tracks. 8. Too much low-end in the verse, it will most likely cause unexpected trouble on some stereo systems. Yet more problems with the mixing, I think the band would benefit from hiring somebody else to do the mixing on the next project. Maybe in overall a bit too 90s sound all throughout, definitely material that will work live. But I think Sodanation is a band that would be at its own element at playing i.e. student parties and festivals rather than stadiums or being a radio band. Mostly because of the music's inescapable band approach and because the lead singer doesn't quite have the type of voice that most radios (around the world) would be keen to play. The singing technique is partly the reason why the music sounds early 90s to me - call me nuts but I think your band could actually benefit from using more frequently the "two female lead singers"-approach as on track number 8. Also I'd rather not hear your lead vocalist attempt to sing with such a "strong" tone all the time, but settle for singing with her natural, unforced voice and use double-tracking in the most melodic parts (choruses, bridges and so on). So what these songs lack (like 90% of demos submitted to record companies) are proper vocal arrangements that would enhance the quality of the actual songwriting - and hence the songs end up sounfing mostly like a live band performing their gig set in the recording studio. Pop music listeners want something else. I think the band can have great fun together making this music, but as you're pushing it more and more to the professional levels the fun will always dissipate from it at some point - which I think is also one of the reasons why we never really hear "good time" bands on the radio anymore. For music like this it's all about playing live and gigging a whole lot and then selling some CDs to that very same audience. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, this is really good feedback THANK YOU!!!! | |
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Hey!!
I've listened to all the songs and enjoyed it. There's not so much for me to add,cuz the musicianship and singing is so good.Music is so personal,but what I'd maybe do if it were my music is roughen it up a little. You know push the edges a little bit. Recordlables always said to us in "Da Silva" that they wanted us to move in directions of what's on the radio and that don't make any sense at all for me.I mean,why strive for something that's already there? So we just said up yours baby,and put it out ourselves
That energy we recieved from each other when we decided that we would'nt compromise to any other than ourselves was unbelievable
Of course you have your own influences, and the music is always the best when coming straight from the heart and with no concern it's gonna be played to please as wide audience as possible.If it sounds good in your head,then there's always other that'll hear your passion. It sounds like "Sodanation" got a lot of different influences, but the production is a bit to nice at times I think and if it were me I'd push it a little more in order to stand out from the crowd,the mainstream If it's rockoriented,push it a little more. If it's funky,then freak out
If it's soulful,put your whole heart in the performance. Let the audience feel your passion!!!Let it bleed(to quote the Rolling Stones) 
But the most important is,stay true to your soul and what you're really love to do.Keep it personal! I'm a little shy when it comes to give suggestions like this to friends cuz I got the biggest admiration and respect to all the great fellow musicians in here,so I hope you realize that I truly dig what y'all do! /peace Manki | |
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manki said: Hey!!
I've listened to all the songs and enjoyed it. There's not so much for me to add,cuz the musicianship and singing is so good.Music is so personal,but what I'd maybe do if it were my music is roughen it up a little. You know push the edges a little bit. Recordlables always said to us in "Da Silva" that they wanted us to move in directions of what's on the radio and that don't make any sense at all for me.I mean,why strive for something that's already there? So we just said up yours baby,and put it out ourselves
That energy we recieved from each other when we decided that we would'nt compromise to any other than ourselves was unbelievable
Of course you have your own influences, and the music is always the best when coming straight from the heart and with no concern it's gonna be played to please as wide audience as possible.If it sounds good in your head,then there's always other that'll hear your passion. It sounds like "Sodanation" got a lot of different influences, but the production is a bit to nice at times I think and if it were me I'd push it a little more in order to stand out from the crowd,the mainstream If it's rockoriented,push it a little more. If it's funky,then freak out
If it's soulful,put your whole heart in the performance. Let the audience feel your passion!!!Let it bleed(to quote the Rolling Stones)
But the most important is,stay true to your soul and what you're really love to do.Keep it personal! I'm a little shy when it comes to give suggestions like this to friends cuz I got the biggest admiration and respect to all the great fellow musicians in here,so I hope you realize that I truly dig what y'all do! /peace Manki Thank you Manki great advice! | |
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I thought I couldn’t review an album . Now I know it 
Anyway here are some thoughts: I GOT MY SPEAKERS - An obvious single. Perfect pop. I have a problem with that cheesy synth line though. Sounds like made for children.  I like the melody but I think making it sound a little harder would help a lot.
Love that guitar bridge 
MY MAN – One of the strongest in the album. Though on first listening suffers a little from being right after the sunnier Speakers it grows on repeated listenings. Great vocals too
I KNOW – Too serious. I think this is one of those songs that must work better live than on record
HONEY LOVE MACHINE – Pump up the volume and dance!  LOOOOOVE IT! This one HAS to be a hit. Superbly produced
FLY - Another strong track . Fabulous intro. I think this one would work well as album opener. That guitar... 
WAITING – A powerful ballad. Probably my favourite track. Maybe because of the contrast, I know, but it’s a song that would work here and in any other possible configuration. The vocals give me goose flesh
BETTER – This is another one of the darker tracks on first listening that grows on you. Love the multi vocal chorus effect. This is a thing I’ve noticed all over the album, how songs improve when vocals are overdubbed
MELTINYOLOVE. Weird decision to go heavy on the last track of a pop album. Not my cup of tea. Sorry
Overall I think it’s a very good pop album, well played, good vocals, nicely produced and quite well balanced between the catchiest songs (1, 4) and the more serious stuff. Though maybe another sunny-pop ditty would help towards the end of the album. I buy it  And definitely I'll be interested in hearing your future sounds Don't give up
Un abrazo para Leo y la banda.
Un beso para Charlotte  | |
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PANDURITO said: I thought I couldn’t review an album . Now I know it
Anyway here are some thoughts: I GOT MY SPEAKERS - An obvious single. Perfect pop. I have a problem with that cheesy synth line though. Sounds like made for children. I like the melody but I think making it sound a little harder would help a lot.
Love that guitar bridge
MY MAN – One of the strongest in the album. Though on first listening suffers a little from being right after the sunnier Speakers it grows on repeated listenings. Great vocals too
I KNOW – Too serious. I think this is one of those songs that must work better live than on record
HONEY LOVE MACHINE – Pump up the volume and dance! LOOOOOVE IT! This one HAS to be a hit. Superbly produced
FLY - Another strong track . Fabulous intro. I think this one would work well as album opener. That guitar...
WAITING – A powerful ballad. Probably my favourite track. Maybe because of the contrast, I know, but it’s a song that would work here and in any other possible configuration. The vocals give me goose flesh
BETTER – This is another one of the darker tracks on first listening that grows on you. Love the multi vocal chorus effect. This is a thing I’ve noticed all over the album, how songs improve when vocals are overdubbed
MELTINYOLOVE. Weird decision to go heavy on the last track of a pop album. Not my cup of tea. Sorry
Overall I think it’s a very good pop album, well played, good vocals, nicely produced and quite well balanced between the catchiest songs (1, 4) and the more serious stuff. Though maybe another sunny-pop ditty would help towards the end of the album. I buy it And definitely I'll be interested in hearing your future sounds Don't give up
Un abrazo para Leo y la banda.
Un beso para Charlotte Thanks Pandy! you are too kind! | |
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really simple...
I seriously wanted what is on the cover.... snap crackle and pop.... Cornflakes is o.k. way too serious for me.... Wheres the chocolate milkshake thats cruchy..... ???? | |
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groovyiau said: really simple...
I seriously wanted what is on the cover.... snap crackle and pop.... Cornflakes is o.k. way too serious for me.... Wheres the chocolate milkshake thats cruchy..... ???? many have said the same
Thank you | |
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I Got My Speakers I thought the song got better when the biginning synth stoped.....and then they started again. lol It's a catchy song, but would've prefered without the synth on it.
My Man I liked the sound of this one much better. I Know Didn't mind this one but thought a guy might be better singing this one. Honey Love Machine Loved the way the crowed was put into this one. The syth bass could've been deeper and harder on this one to make it a real dance track. Fly One of my favourites Waiting Would've like this to be striped down and left more of a piano track. Nice song. BetterI loved the production on this one. Great sound and use of instruments. Meltinolove Well.....here's the guitars I was wanting. lol It's a very poppy album. It will be interesting to hear what direction they take with the next album. I'd like to hear more of a back to basics and rawer sound. I keep thinking something along the lines of the australian band Rebecca's Empire. They manged to incoperate pop with hard rock really well. | |
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althom said: I Got My Speakers I thought the song got better when the biginning synth stoped.....and then they started again. lol It's a catchy song, but would've prefered without the synth on it.
My Man I liked the sound of this one much better. I Know Didn't mind this one but thought a guy might be better singing this one. Honey Love Machine Loved the way the crowed was put into this one. The syth bass could've been deeper and harder on this one to make it a real dance track. Fly One of my favourites Waiting Would've like this to be striped down and left more of a piano track. Nice song. BetterI loved the production on this one. Great sound and use of instruments. Meltinolove Well.....here's the guitars I was wanting. lol It's a very poppy album. It will be interesting to hear what direction they take with the next album. I'd like to hear more of a back to basics and rawer sound. I keep thinking something along the lines of the australian band Rebecca's Empire. They manged to incoperate pop with hard rock really well. Thanks althom!! | |
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Hey, I didn't know you were a musician! I can't listen to this right now, but I will soon.
Now go read The Golden Compass (but don't tell me if you don't like it) My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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the influences....
I got most of the M People collection and to this day... I cant tell ya who does what in this band.... I just know I like what they "all" do together.... Can I ask who wrote the lyrics to "honey love machine" This is what I hear your telling me lyrically - you wanna set me up... get me up never let me go... and then ya tell me I aint never gonna get it...
Now I know interpretation can take you to so many places... but I have to ask "where am I really?" in the story board of this type of song... and to cont..the music's got me there already... yet, your telling me I'm not gonna get there... funny....
Whitmans Cadbury Hershey Lindt | |
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