Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

ive been reading this forum for a while and see that there are some good musical opinions on here. ive been working on this project for a bit with a good friend of mine and we think we may be on to something. would love for some opinions. please check out my page and let me know what you think!

From what I can hear on this thing, you have some pretty good ideas, & can express them well.

It reminds me of the new wave stuff back in the '80's, but it's obviously an updated version. I like it, for the most part. I do have a couple of suggestions for the new guy.

Vocals need to be more up front, & it may be a touch over-produced, imho. Some of the keys' tones are too similar, but panning them farther apart might fix that, or simple EQ tweaking. There is a lot of stuff going on there, & it could be stripped down a touch without losing the feel of the pieces. You could emphasize the dymanics a bit more by dropping things out entirely in one or two places. It could use a bit more of an edge in spots, too, but that's all up to you, of course. I would love to produce your music.

Good vocals & harmonies. Interesting arrangements. Quite listenable & enjoyable.

I think you'd have a pretty specialized audience for your music, but that doesn't make it any better or worse. Thanks for posting it. You definitely have something going on. Keep it up. I'll be watching for more.

Welcome new guy. I am not going to dis your music, just let me say it aint my thang. No disrespect intended to you either. I kinda like my music raw. You keep doing it if it makes you happy. And for sure let us know when you put up other stuff and I'll be back for a listen.

Hmmm I listened to this earlier today and refrained from leaving comments for the sole sake of experimenting. Let's see now if I can remember your tunes.
I don't remember them specifically, but I do remember the good harmony and the light tones. One thing I remember is that it lacked a good build-up. Oh and you sounded nothing like your influences (Incubus?) Not necessarily a bad thing.
Well done, new guy.

Wow! I don't quite know what to say but I'm sitting here with my jaw hanging down, which is a good sign. Let me see if I can collect my thoughts.
First, I agree with what Pokeymon said about the vocals being more up front. Aside from that, these cuts have so much going for them it's hard to find anything to not like. The overall concepts are great, the musicianship is first class, the arrangements are well structured, the production is 98% flawless, the breaks are fresh and original. It's definitely cookin' - just a couple of bumps in an otherwise fantastic ride. If this is the result of a collaboration between just you and a friend, I'd stick with the guy.

Theres too much going on for me. I just cant seem to find the essence of the song. I liked the days when people didnt have so many tracks to play with. You had to put down what you really thought mattered in songs.

Maybe if you strip back some of the sounds.

For some reason Pink Floyd comes to mind when I listened.

Good Luck

thanks everyone for the comments. It's terribly hard producing something thats new so every comment is a big help in refining the songs. these demos are very (VERY) rough. the cd is progressing nicely, when you mentioned special market philbymon, we are actually targeting the surround sound listeners with this stuff. we have been working on doing mixes in stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 surround, and the results so far are very exciting. Next up is to find a label to set up a distribution deal with and put a band together and start doing this stuff live! fun times.

thanks for all the words guys

Hey newguy,

I liked what I heard. You got a lot going on, and yes, like some others have said, the arrangements/direction are a bit quirky, but you have a hell of a solid grasp on things in my opinion, just needs some refining.

Funny you should mention the surround thing. I'm personally a bit of a 5.1 enthusiast and have wondered when they will go digital on guitars (usb / firewire out) into (yet to be designed?) 5.1 chorus / effects.

Stereo effects already give me a literal boner... I sometimes put my stereo FX into my yamaha 5.1 system (line out from mixer) and use the Yamaha built in 5-channel stereo function and it sounds freeking amazing...

Anyways... sorry went into a ramble there.. Good stuff, thumbs up!

Wow!!! I usually don't critique stuff here but I'm lovin' it! If you need me to put some intricate lead tracks on your stuff feel free to contact me at kcc83@optonline.net We're practically next door neighbors!

Kramerguy wrote:Hey newguy,

I liked what I heard. You got a lot going on, and yes, like some others have said, the arrangements/direction are a bit quirky, but you have a hell of a solid grasp on things in my opinion, just needs some refining.

Funny you should mention the surround thing. I'm personally a bit of a 5.1 enthusiast and have wondered when they will go digital on guitars (usb / firewire out) into (yet to be designed?) 5.1 chorus / effects.

Stereo effects already give me a literal boner... I sometimes put my stereo FX into my yamaha 5.1 system (line out from mixer) and use the Yamaha built in 5-channel stereo function and it sounds freeking amazing...

Anyways... sorry went into a ramble there.. Good stuff, thumbs up!

hahah thanks man. actually, let me tell you about how you can do the 5.1 surround effects. It can be done, it is a bit pricey if you don't have the equipment. I have logic software for my macbook pro, and withthat comes the supplemental mainstage software. i run a usb midi floorboard into the macbook, set up the effects (using all of the recording processors from the logic software). You then have two options from here... you can either wire the signal from the computer through the effects loop of the amp, or to use the same live setup as i do, run the macbook into an external audio driver, like an mbox or omega box something like that, and then send the signal from the mic'd amp into the box, into the computer, and out to a second guitar amp dedicated for strictly effects. This setup cost me a lot of money and was kind of a royal pain to set up, but now that i've got it running it gives me more options than i ever thought i had. it really is the future of guitar.

thenewguy wrote:
hahah thanks man. actually, let me tell you about how you can do the 5.1 surround effects. It can be done, it is a bit pricey if you don't have the equipment. I have logic software for my macbook pro, and withthat comes the supplemental mainstage software. i run a usb midi floorboard into the macbook, set up the effects (using all of the recording processors from the logic software). You then have two options from here... you can either wire the signal from the computer through the effects loop of the amp, or to use the same live setup as i do, run the macbook into an external audio driver, like an mbox or omega box something like that, and then send the signal from the mic'd amp into the box, into the computer, and out to a second guitar amp dedicated for strictly effects. This setup cost me a lot of money and was kind of a royal pain to set up, but now that i've got it running it gives me more options than i ever thought i had. it really is the future of guitar.

That does sound a bit over the top for me. For now I can make do with what I have. I do usually bi-amp at practice, which is a totally different sound than just a mono amp, so I feel I'm ahead of the curve. I've considered bringing in my surround system as an actual amp, but I'm sure I would blow it up fairly quick, we play LOUD lol.

Kramer if you are recording lay down a guitar on one side of the stereo field then double it on the other side 10-20ms behind the first track. It will thicken up the guitar. ANother trick I do is use 2 mics on my cab sm57 shoved right in the grill and a second condenser mic 10-20 ft away then pan them hard left and right. Its a cheap stereo guitar trick without haveing to run a bunch of amps. Live if you play loud all that stereo crap just dissapears. I just found it wasnt worth lugging all the extra gear around. For me its better just to have a good crunchy guitar sound going. I believe in the keep it simple logic.

when I play live, I use a second 50watt fender combo, it's fairly small, even for a 50w and very lightweight. It serves as a monitor for the drummer, as well as a bi-amp for my stereo effects. We do play really loud, but I notice a major difference, certainly enough to justify making one extra trip to the car for that extra amp

And now, back to our show . . .

just posted some updates on my profile. will give you an idea of the direction things have been going. i've picked up some label interest and i am working on releasing a 5 song lp soon. hope to get it going. any feedback is appreciated.

thanks,
scott