General Music Chat

I put up some new tunes, I wrote these and played all the instruments except for the bass on Funky Bee and King Of The Hill. The Well is new also.

There is a thread on here about drinking/drugs and how they effect your playing. Well Funky Bee is a song that I can certify that no tracks were done sober and I'll leave it at that, other than to say there are timing problems in a couple of sections that I didnt fix.

The Well is about substance abuse, and King Of The Hill is on a motorcycle video out there somewhere. Im told they sold a couple of thousand of them so it might pop up somewhere in the pipeline. KOTH was a very rushed song, I think it was written, recorded and mixed in 4 hours.

Anyway slice and dice them and please DONT BE NICE. I would rather hear specifics than Nice Tune Dude.

J.W.
Good playing all around , but I gotta tell ya, "Funky Bee" is a hit! (is that a jawharp I hear?) . You may have beat out Neanderpaul at his own game with that one. Your voice reminds me of Bozzio singing with Zappa. I'm gonna give the other tunes a closer listen later. Gotta go back to %^*K to work tomorrow, so gotta get some sleep. later....
John

John,

I have a real soft spot for Zappa. I dont listen to his stuff any more, but this song is inspired by that kind of song. I actually have a sister song to Funky Bee, thats also a lot like Zappas story type songs. These 2 songs were composed and recorded over a drunken weekend. I will eventually get it on here.

I went ahead and got the paid membership on here and it gives you huge amounts of space for songs so I may fill it up over the next few monthes. I wish I was in your area, I used to be in a Doors tribute band and I see that you are into that. It would be cool to play some of that stuff again.

JW

Whoa John, cooool: I'm not the one to slice and dice your stuff. But:
Cyber Outlaw: The lryics made me laugh, I guess it was the irony of listening to it on the net. I would up the tempo a bit, Its kinda got that Alice Cooper strung out feel as it is. Not meaning its bad, Just think it would go over better a little faster. The Day That Jesus Died: This one sounds like something my band would do, although you are light years ahead of me on the lead guitar. I'd like to try to do a cover on this one sometime, (With your consent of course.) I'll have to get back with ya on the rest please dont take them down just yet. I,m rushed today.
Question, I notice a lot of our (as in most everyone on this site) recordings lack good level on the drums. The cymbals come out like crystal. But I have to listen real close to hear the drum line. Is this intentional, am expecting too much drum level?

JW,

"Funky Bee" is very well done instrument wise, but the vocal style drives me nuts.... The vocals remind me of something from the early rap days like Run DMC and stuff... I just do not like it vocal wise. *Shrug*

"King Of The Hill Theme Song" is well done, I like this song, great heavy guitar riffs and nice solo work.

"The Well," the vocals on this is like a cross between Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell, which is very fascinating. The guitar playing reminds me of Aerosmith, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and some kind of early 90's grunge tone. As for the guitar tones, I like the heavy bridge before the solo, it has a strong impact. And is that a harmonizer I hear at the end of the solo?

By the way, I do not like the very end of the song where the lead singer is singing the lyrics and has the backing vocalist repeating him "My Well is dry," it sounds scratchy.

---------------

Well that is as honest as I can get, lol. All and all those songs are not my cup of tea, but I stand by my opinions above.

Hope this helps somewhat...

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Thanks for the replys,

GA The Well is in drop C, which I never use and kind of gets my voice in a real weird space. I dont use a harmonizer, I play it live. There are 3 guitar tracks there. The main line down the middle and then I spread harmony lines wide left and right.

Honestly a lot of times I record vocals and I warp my voice. I dont think I could do any of this stuff live cause I would blow my voice out.

KOTH is in drop D, I figure you would like the dropped stuff. Thats ussually the stuff my son likes, hes a little younger than you.

Funky Bee is what it is. Just a weird weekend and thats a song that came out of it. If I hadnt thrown that one down when I did it would never have seen the light of day.

GA, I need to dig out some of the really heavy stuff I used to do with the wild guitar stuff. A lot of that is on tapes and I would have to transfer them to a digital media.

Sans, I have 2 cds of Christian Rock stuff. If you wanted to use some of my stuff I would be honored for you to use it. I probably never will. Some of it is acoustic in nature. But I think I have about 5 more heavy style rock songs that might interest you. Just get in touch.

Good advice on Cyber, It needs to be faster. I dont know if I will ever rerecord it, but if I do I will definitely speed it up 10-20bpm.

JW, yeah, I am into the really heavy stuff, so I do like the drop tunings. I am hoping to get some of my stuff up here and share it with everyone someday, lol. I need to still get the amp and a good mic' to record with, and maybe a drum machine (Or how about a band with a real drummer... Gee, that's a concept? ).

Well, good luck with your stuff man. Keep letting us know when you upload stuff, I look forward to hearing more (Especially if you can find the heavy stuff you have from your "wild guitar" days).

Peace, GuitarAnatomy.

Sans,

Question, I notice a lot of our (as in most everyone on this site) recordings lack good level on the drums. The cymbals come out like crystal. But I have to listen real close to hear the drum line. Is this intentional, am expecting too much drum level?

I cant speak for anyone else, but my drums are all done with a digital drum machine. Most of the time I lay a click track with my songs and I just start layering instruments. For me drums are an afterthought. I use 4 tracks, I record the kick, snare and toms on 2 tracks and spread them left and right. I record them manually with my fingers on the little pads. Then I put the cymbals on 2 more track s spread right and left in the mix. I record them seperate from the other drums. I used to just use drum programs but they dont sound live to me. I believe in having a few mistakes in my tracks. Digital cymbals to me are very tinny sounding. I also try to record mystuff fast while I have an emotional attachment to it. I will keep in mind the drum levels on future stuff, thanks for the comment. Im ussually more concerned with guitar tones than anything.

I'll send you my contact info thanks: Ray does a lot of acoustic stuff as does our bass player. we are considering doing some for small groups or venues as our full band is NOISY. I had been thinking about the drum thing, this has been a sticking spot for me on getting my band recorded.

all in all it sounds ok to me...the guitars and vocals sound great but the one thing that drags everthing down is the drums...they trip over themselves and make it all sound very messy indeed....
i see you play the drum machine pads with your hands.....??????
it will never be metranome timing if your doing it by hand and its alot easier and it will sound 10 times better if you program the beats and then record over a loop....ive tried it both ways and programed beats never work unless they are metronome perfect...just like a real drummer it has to be spot on or it will make everything else sound out of whack....the songs are all there but you gotta get a real drummer or learn to program beats...its not very hard to do and it will make everything sound alot better...

goodluck with it

I gotta agree with HowlinJ, "Funky Bee" is the best tune for my money. I like songs that stand out and this one definitely did! BTW I have remixed and remastered my original acoustic stuff, it's on my player. Rock on!

IA, Great advice, I need to work on my drum parts. It seems everytime I play to a programmed drum track I mimic the drums. I was originally a bass player and always reacted to what the drummer did and this happens in all my songs. My old drum machine is a pain to program so I may need to upgrade to something else to make it a little easier.

If anyone knows of a simple drum machine with good sounds let me know.

Thanks for all the feedback.

AaaWwww,their you go tryin to take my job! Huh, drum machine?(whats that)OOOOH, that's that thing that play's in time -tic-toc-tic-toc.lol

Sorry JW, i know of none or i would help ya out..

I thought your tunes where good, but they do need a good solid back beat..That would completly change everything. Keep it up man.

As far as dan'ol dan'ol king of the hill well that dan'ol dan'ol song dan'ol dan'ol good i said.

Needle, KOTH has a live drummer on it. Some of my stuff is live drums some isnt. I tend to get in too big a hurry sometimes. When the moon is full and the mood strikes I tend to lay songs down with whatever I have available.

I have been thinking about going thru my song catalog and pull out 12-15 and redo them with all live players and make a cd to have. Just havent made the leap yet. I have two buddies with pro tools based garage studios. Maybe I should give them a call.

Man i compleatly understand, when you writeing song's all the time,it's hard to find people to be there when ya need them.And then you have to convince them to what kind of a feel your going for in the song. So i was just razzin ya about the drum machine bit..

If i was wrighting all the time i think it would help very much to have one just to keep some kind of a structor flowing, then when put the real thing to it all hell breaks lose. I listen to you songs i felt timeing issues here and there but "over all you have talent "I say keep it up an before you know it you will have some thing to be "very" proud of.

Haystack out!