[Michael]

Well, here's my contribution to the Blueprint challenge (and my first song to put up for review here... yay )

And quite a challenge it was: Making a song of someone else's lyrics turned out to be harder than I initially thought, I had to make some minor alterations to the provided lyrics to match the rhythm and meter, nothing too dramatic though I hope.

If you happen to find some off-key notes in the vocals, that's of course only due to the crappy mic and has nothing whatsoever to do with my lack of singing skill (I don't usually do vocals for my songs myself, but I really wanted to take part in the challenge, so bear with me...)

Anyway, here it goes:

http://soundcloud.com/michaelheider/my-copper-coated-heart

I'm not really happy with the mix yet, I might put some more work into the song if I find the time. It usually takes me a lot longer than the couple of weeks we had for this to "finish" a song.

Any advice or critique on the song would be much appreciated !

Oh, and a big thanks to SONGSTHATCRY for providing the lyrics and to HABITAT for setting up the challenge, it was a lot of fun and definitely a new experience

[habiTat]

Bloody hell Michael this is fecking EXCELLENT!!!!!!

I can't believe how different it is to mine. This is just making me smile cos i know the words so well, but the tune is so different. I really wouldn't change a thing on this, it's absolutely excellent, I'm not just being nice. I'm honestly blown away 

(btw, the vocal is really good and suits the song perfectly)

[man of simple pleasures]

wow this is tremdos thought is was gonna be some euro dance version when it started but then the guitars kicked it, love the temp and melody! the play your games bit is mega! the whole song is pretty mega what you done with it like! send it to the killers to do a version like this, it sounds like sumit what they would do the outro reminded me of them!

[seriousfun]

Wow this is awesome Michael. Lovely production, the intro just blew me away. Your vision has really given these lyrics a great home.

[andy5544]

Really nice michael , like the megaphone bits . did think it was going to be the ibiza club version at first

but then it came good , nice !!!!

[Dutchbeat]

aaaahhhh, great, man. How you build that tension in the beginning...nice arrangment...cool popsong


another jewel

a bit of new order in that guitar and drum sound (i mean that as a compliment)
good chorus

I loved it

[tone]

Wow! Only the second one I've listened to, and so different to Habitat's, but just as good in its own way.

Reminds me of Green era REM, only more interesting. College rock with a heart; I'm a fan. Some great details in the arrangement too - I agree the mix could use a little more separation, but it's minor details I think.

Great melody for this song. Hats off to Songsthatcry as well - it's great to see you all collaborating.

[Paul]

Hi Michael,

This is great.  I always think that it is difficult to write music to a set of lyrics that have already been written.  When you write both, it's easy to shape the lyrics to fit your musical ideas exactly.  You've done an excellent job here.  The music and lyrics appear to match effortlessly.  You done a cracking job here.  This has a great deal of character.  Excellent!

[James Nighthawk]

The intro guitar riff is mad! Push it up in the mix!!

I am enjoying this. The run down sections and the chorus stand out

Some harmonies and/or call responses in the Chorus would be mega at the right balance

Great playing.

This kind of song bears repeat listenings. Lots of layers to pull me in a few times.

The wibbly wibbly synth at 3.40 is great and unexpected.

Layers galore here!

And again the guitars at the end are catchy but my ear is searching too much for them...

Great song!

[mihkay]

Excellent.
I wasn't sure at first. The intro left me expecting a completely different song but when the guitar kicked in I was right on on board. Great driving tune.
I understand the time constraints, but I think your 90% there already.

Great stuff. 

[nooms]

Micheal
crackin intro, unexpected after all them previous guitar songs, spaceman cometh..
and really moves along well
great the way it goes into the chorus line,very effective
builds lovely and great outro
fine work

[S.T.C]

Super stuff.... great production...song did n`t dip for me at any moment...bit of cure in there esp at the end..
amazing skills being shown..if your voice matched your abilities,you would be a force to be reckoned with!!

[Michael]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great reviews and advice on the song and production aspects, this forum really rocks !

@man of simple pleasures:
The Killers? Wow, awesome !  Their debut album is probably one of my biggest musical influences

@Dutchbeat:

a bit of new order in that guitar and drum sound (i mean that as a compliment)

Don't see how this could be seen in a negative way, thanks a lot

@James Nighthawk:
Do you mean the electric guitar, somewhere in the left part of the mix? Been meaning to have that more noticeable, but it kind of disappeared in the final mix, I'll try and boost it a little.

@songsthatcry:

if your voice matched your abilities

Yeah I know, I'd much rather have someone else sing my songs, but beggars can't be choosers, so I just had to go along with who was available (=me) 
Awesome lyrics you wrote btw.

[habiTat]

As I'm the one collecting votes, and I can't really message myself, just to let you know Michael, my vote goes to your interpretation. I really enjoyed listening and have listened to it a few times cos it's so good.

I look forward to hearing more of your stuff

[Kafla]

Brilliant Michael - you are an excellent arranger and producer

Brilliant intro and great mixing - my kind of music