Opportunity to send music to Universal A&R rep please help quickly!

P

punkrocker

New member
Hi everyone. So long story short, I am going to be able to send my stuff to Universal Records from a friend of a friend. And I'm not sure which order to put the songs in. In other words: Which songs do you think would stand out to them the most? I want to put the best songs first so its the first thing they hear. Need to pass this off in the next few days so I would really appreciate your input. FYI, these are rough mixes. We were in the middle of recording when this happened. Thanks!

http://www.soundclick.com/sadfasdfsdfsdsdfs


EDIT - Reuploaded new versions to soundclick with shorter intros on Heaven, Crowd Control, and Crash and Burn.
 
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Crowd control was the only one that would work for me. Maybe post on soundclick or something. If your hoping for something from universal, I may not be posting tunes on a website like this in case something did happen, they may not like the fact it's out already.

As for crowd control, I liked it. I think you could take some of the fat off of it especially on the intro. The mix was more than good enough to show a rep

Good Luck!
 
Yeah...this stuff sounds real good. You must have a good producer and studio at your disposal.

Good stuff my friend. As far as the order goes...I think that song with the pinch harmonics all over the place would be a good starter to get some attention. Then, maybe drop in Crash and Burn, then Crowd Control, then city lights, then Heaven. So...

1) Disease
2) Crash and Burn
3) Crowd Control
4) City Lights
5) Heaven

Someone told me that A&R reps typically won't listen past about 30 seconds. Or, they want the vocals to start around :30 in. I think that would be a good song to start off with...good chorus hook.

You definitely have kind a Blink/Sum 41/My Chemical Romance sound.
 
Hey thanks for the reply. We produced and record all our own stuff with...less than stellar equipment (can you say $80 vocal booth? lol:D). Does anyone else have any opinions?
 
Ok thanks guys. Ill definitely put Disease first then. I'm surprised that most of you thought Heaven should be last though. I would have pegged that to be place earlier because of the ballad, general appeal type thats a simple 10 sec intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/end chorus structure. I would have thought that that song, while certainly not the most exciting of the 5, would the one that they would think "this would be easy to sell". Just curious to see what your thinking is behind that. To generic I'm guessing?
 
Heaven - the vocals are perfect for this era in music. The music is slightly reminiscent of Green Day and the host of other modern songwriters. In other words - good stuff. I think the arrangement is good - not sure I'd change anything - maybe more sections with the raunchy guitar (towards the second half). I can hear why you have this opportunity - well done - best of luck!

:cool::cool::cool::cool:
 
Thanks ido1957. Thats what I was thinking to. To me it seems that Heaven would be the most "Sell-able" song that I have, which I know is what they are looking for. Thats funny about the Green Day comment some else just told me that on another forum. The weird thing is nobody in the band ever listens to green day.
 
Green Day - that slowish acoustic song on the radio (I have no albums). Just a comparison that comes to mind when listening. Your song has more going on though....
 
Oh yeah you mean 21 guns? Yeah we wrote this song like a year before 21 guns came out and then that started playing on the radio we were like, oh crap that new green day song is in the same key and has basically the same structure as this one. Hate it when that happens lol.
 
I have just reuploaded the songs to soundclick with shorter intros. The only ones I changed are Heaven, Crowd Control, and Crash And Burn. I think the intro for Disease is cool and I figure Ill just put City Lights near the end so if they get that far it means they are interested and won't be so tempted to skip the long intro. I did try to cut the City Lights intro down but it just totally messed up the build. What do you guys think about the new files? So far I'm thinking:



1. Disease or Heaven

2. Whichever of the above two isnt chosen for first

3. Crowd Control

4. Crash And Burn

5. City Lights



What do you think?

Thanks again for everyone's help!
 
Hey thanks jeffmaher. The only thing I'm struggling with at this point is whether to put Disease or Heaven first. I'm just not sure which one would impact them more.
 
Perhaps offtopic, but good gravy, what do you (or anyone else, for that matter) need a record label for?
 
Perhaps offtopic, but good gravy, what do you (or anyone else, for that matter) need a record label for?

How much money does Punker have to hire a professional studio, engineer, CD manufacturer, and promotion and distribution companies....who get paid up-front... to groom and sell his very nice music? [with no guarantee of a return on his investment??] A couple hundred thou?
 
Llarion said:
Perhaps offtopic, but good gravy, what do you (or anyone else, for that matter) need a record label for?
Click to expand...

Perhaps:

better promotion

Ability to tour in support of bigger artists through the record companies connections

Radio play due to the record companies connections

Better to only get $1.00 for each CD and sell a few million, then get 100% of the profit and only sell 500.

Just my 2 cents.
 
I'm just not sure which one would impact them more.

Your first tune is your best tune. Keep it there.

The following tunes are FM YOR-worthy; but I think they'll be hearing a potential Top 100 /pop release in the first. There are a few tunes on the charts right now that this one could contend with comfortably. I think it's your money-maker. But it needs to be professionally re-recorded, and prettied-up by a learned producer's ear. Like a professional trainer gets a boxer ready for a fight, y'know?

BTW..getting a contract is the beginning, not the end. The game belongs to the bands who can slog through the first couple tough years of touring, and little money....without getting discouraged.

I sincerely think you got a shot. Stay focused...and be ready for some serious hard work.

ps...your voice and word-smithing are impressive.
 
Perhaps:

better promotion

Ability to tour in support of bigger artists through the record companies connections

Radio play due to the record companies connections

Better to only get $1.00 for each CD and sell a few million, then get 100% of the profit and only sell 500.

Just my 2 cents.

You deserve rep power! DONE!
 
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