Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

After much trial and error, I now have 4 of our tunes up in MP3 format.

My apologies to those of you that tried to listen to us before, unsuccessfully.

I hope you all enjoy at least some of our music... Thanks!

www.bandmix.com/wickedbrother

Great tunes and vocals, guitar could use a little more bottom end. Some lead fills here and there would be nice.The tonal quality of the lead singer reminds me of Micheal Shenkers last singer. Is that you singing? Very nice.

J-HALEY wrote:Great tunes and vocals, guitar could use a little more bottom end. Some lead fills here and there would be nice.The tonal quality of the lead singer reminds me of Micheal Shenkers last singer. Is that you singing? Very nice.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Actually, the one you see in the main photo, my brother, is the lead singer, and obviously, guitar player. I think you have noticed the dreaded "three piece hollow spot" that you hear about from time to time. We wanted to go three piece to cut down on drama, and keep the band together. We also wanted to record the songs just like we play them on-stage. We have accomplished that, but possibly at the cost of sounding a little thin. I do throw in a ton of bass leads, and fill it up as much as I can.

Ironically, we did lose our regular drummer due to a third d.u.i. so, we did not escape the "drama" anyway!

Thanks again for your thoughts, it's much appreciated.

Good rock.
I like the idea of sounding the same on stage as recording as well.
Wonder what amp is being used by the guitarist?
Thin ... yes ... perhaps tinny too.
If your pushing plenty of low from the guitarist amp it should come across on the recording.
Sounds like the difference between my practice amp ( Peavey solid state ) and my live amp. ( Carvin Nomad tube )

No disrespect intended ... sounds good.

Guitar just needs more guts IMO.

Thanks for posting some jam man.

sanshouheil wrote:Good rock.
I like the idea of sounding the same on stage as recording as well.
Wonder what amp is being used by the guitarist?
Thin ... yes ... perhaps tinny too.
If your pushing plenty of low from the guitarist amp it should come across on the recording.
Sounds like the difference between my practice amp ( Peavey solid state ) and my live amp. ( Carvin Nomad tube )

No disrespect intended ... sounds good.

Guitar just needs more guts IMO.

Thanks for posting some jam man.

No, I don't mind telling you what he uses at all. It's a Line 6 Spider combo, the one with the twin speakers and rated at 150 watts. He has recently (it's not on the recording) gotten a neck through ESP with active EMG pick-ups. This has improved his sound immensly. You know, now that it's been mentioned, I'm kind of surprised he is okay with his guitar sound too. He used to play through (and he still owns it) a 70's vintage 100 watt full Marshall stack. So, he knows what he could sound like.

The other thing that could be going on here, is the recording studio we used. We were not as happy with the finished product as we might have been, and, I don't think we are going back.

J-Haley! Checked out your profile page, and all the music on it. Great stuff. I love the originals, especially "Consuela". Good stuff. You are a great guitarist. Too bad we don't live in the same state, we could jam.

Thanks WickedBrother Those originals were my first attempt at doing everything myself on my home studio. I keep getting invloved in the coverband thing and that seems to consume all of my time. I have a ton of ideas I just don't have the time to record them, someday maybe.

Sounds pretty good.

Im listening on a computor so the whole mix sounds thin to me. Songs are average, I didnt hear anything that just reaches out and grabs me, plus each song kinda sounds like the last one. The guitarist sounds spastic. Too busy for my taste. Im sure thats what he was after but its like hes trying to throw every lick he knows into each solo.

The guitar tone is thin, and the bass is not even there to my ears, But then again thats probably the speakers Im listening thru.

Vocally I didnt hear anything that really excited me, but they sound in pitch and to the point.

All in all pretty good. I would say keep writing and keep recording.

I would add that when you record, dont be afraid to layer some more stuff on there to thicken it up. I mean its fine to sound just like you do live, but 20 yrs from now when you maybe are no longer playing live and you sit down to listen to your music, you may feel different. In my case when I go way back I felt the same way you do. Its gotta sound just like live. I wish I had gone back and done some serious overdubbing on some of my stuff to beef it up. Not just guitars but layer vocals as well.

Good Luck in you Music and Thanks for taking the time to share!

Welcome to the forum, WB.

Yeah, don't fear the recording arts. Some things sound best stripped down, & others don't. The artist knows the dif.

I didn't care for the axe tones, but I"m hoping the transition to MP2 caused at least some of it, cuz as JW said, the whole of it sounds thin.

Good playing, though.

The Line6 Spider ( II me thinks ) is what Ray ( our front ) uses.
It's not a bad sounding little amp. And some cool effects to throw in opposite my straight distortion.
My amp makes up the difference in the low end and depth of sound for the overall mix I feel.
Seems to be a viable combination for what were doing.

Look forward to hearing more.

jw123 wrote:Sounds pretty good.

Im listening on a computor so the whole mix sounds thin to me. Songs are average, I didnt hear anything that just reaches out and grabs me, plus each song kinda sounds like the last one. The guitarist sounds spastic. Too busy for my taste. Im sure thats what he was after but its like hes trying to throw every lick he knows into each solo.

The guitar tone is thin, and the bass is not even there to my ears, But then again thats probably the speakers Im listening thru.

Vocally I didnt hear anything that really excited me, but they sound in pitch and to the point.

All in all pretty good. I would say keep writing and keep recording.

I would add that when you record, dont be afraid to layer some more stuff on there to thicken it up. I mean its fine to sound just like you do live, but 20 yrs from now when you maybe are no longer playing live and you sit down to listen to your music, you may feel different. In my case when I go way back I felt the same way you do. Its gotta sound just like live. I wish I had gone back and done some serious overdubbing on some of my stuff to beef it up. Not just guitars but layer vocals as well.

Good Luck in you Music and Thanks for taking the time to share!

Thanks for the feedback, it is appreciated, and listened to. I thought it sounded very thin on the computer, also. I jacked in my studio phones and the sound was like 500% better. Don't know if you want to subject yourself to our stuff again, but if you do, try some phones.... it seems to help a bit. Thanks again for the advise, and we are going to keep "at it". We did that recording in May of 2009. We have like 42 songs now with alot more variety.

Sentient Paradox wrote:Hey WB. I may have been a little over critical in the other thread you posted. A lot of my comments were taste oriented.

It's pretty obvious you're having a great time writing and playing. Your musicianship and singing is far better than my own. It does sound great. I do stand by my opinions stated over there, but they are just my opinions.

Just not quite my cup of tea, but as I said I like pretty odd stuff more so than mainstream.

I know a lot of folks have a WTF reaction to my stuff, but it's whether we're lovin' it that matters. You obviously do, and you are damned good at what you do.

BTW: I agree the low end needs to come up. Not enough punch!

There was no offense taken, trust me. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I know what I do and write isn't everybody's cup of tea, and that's the unvarnished truth. Thank you for the compliments on our musicianship. By the way, I listened to some of your stuff and found it entertaining. I listen to everything from New Age, to Classical to Country, back to Rock of all eras. It's just when I write and play, that's what comes out of me.

We are definitely going to different studio next time. You get what you pay for.