The song is pretty good.

As far as her comment that it doesn't sound like the stuff on the radio..... she's right. Now... the question is WHY doesn't it sound like she thinks it should?


Listening on computer speakers: Then I switched to my cans.

The lead vocal is too far back in the mix in some places. Without the lyrics, it would be hard to understand the message in the song. Cans made it a bit easier to hear the lyrics. Use envelopes to bring her vocal up in the places where she's not belting it out.

There's a heavy lo/mid presence in the EQ curve on this song.... lots of bass and mids. Makes it kind of thick sounding... It has a sonic oppressiveness to it for me.

It also sounds like the compressors are working really hard on this. What level of compression are you using because this sounds really compressed to me. Back off, lower the levels and let this breathe. Let it have dynamics.

All of those are the easy fixes. Now to discuss the harder stuff to fix and get right.

So did you kind of sit down with her before you started and ask her to describe or play you some examples of modern christian music to let you know what she was envisioning for the song's style? Modern christian music has a really wide range of styles as you know. If she was thinking it should have been more "indy" sounding or contemporary and you give her a groove like you did, it won't even be close to what she was hearing in her head so of course she won't like it. PG has a ton of styles but there's no way they can emulate all of the styles and keep up with what's new out there.

So if that's the case.... you would probably need to work with some live musicians who are tuned in to the newer styles being played in the churches these days. You can still use BB tracks, but get a live guitar player and especially a drummer because I haven't heard any BB/RT that nail the modern church praise group styles on these instruments..... not like some of the bands I've heard. Sometimes you gotta think outside of the box.... in a literal manner.

All that said, I think the song is good, perhaps in need of some edits.... but essentially a good song. I would eliminate the chorus outtro there at the end. It seemed, to me, out of character with the song. I would also trim the prechorus in half.... 2 lines and hit the chorus.

BTW:..... the lady sings well. Very good voice. Is she on the PW team at her church?

Yep, you have a good song..... figure out what needs to be fixed and how to make it happen. I could hear this being played in churches and on the radio....

So, that's my thoughts on this... get it right.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
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