Tom Birbeck - Mistakes that Make Us

Tom Birbeck

Mistakes that Make Us
self-released; 2014

3.0 out of 5

Bt Jamie Funk

Tom Birbeck is an artist from South East Kent in England but is currently attending university for popular music in Falmouth, Cornwall. I didn’t know you could even study popular music in the first place. He recently released Mistakes that Make Us, which is a five-song EP.

The biggest issue we have with the EP is the quality of the recording. Birbeck isn’t a great singer as he often slurs his words together and is sometimes off key but there is nothing done to treat this problem in post-production. A major problem is the dynamics. He vocals go from being way too loud to being barely audible and both happen in the same song. 

Just take a listen to the last song “Mistakes That Make Us” to know what I’m talking about. Using a compressor in this situation is more than necessary. On that same track I barely even noticed the drumming, which is so low in the mix I was honestly baffled. That is just the beginning of the problems that come from the quality of the music. Birbeck is either going to have to get more experience an as engineer or work with someone who know what they are doing. 

Birbeck makes a variation of metal that feels like a mix between old Spinal Tap and ‘80s metal. It revolves around a distorted guitar that is usually playing power chords with marginal lead work. There is some talent that shines through on certain songs such as “Savior” and “World On Fire” but it was almost impossible for me to get past the bad production value. There really isn’t a whole lot that needs to be said about this release. 

If Birbeck hopes to have a career in playing music for a living there is going to have to be a number dramatic changes that need to happen. Hopefully he has some good teachers to lead him in the right direction and if you’re an engineer in the area you might want to reach out to him if you think he has potential.

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