General Music Chat

Hey everybody,

I posted 5 new songs in my profile... Same deal as last time: recorded with an old karaoke machine.. bad sound quality.. can't hear what I'm recording so timing is a little off in places.. trying to make use out of only a guitar, keyboard, and tambourine.. Of course no vocals either..

Just wondering what you think of my musical 'ideas'...

Thanks

Hey Seth,
A few of the riffs in Phoenix are pretty much taken by old classic rock bands, but I heard a lot of good strong riffs and rhythms in the other songs that were pretty damn good. I even like the crappy recording quality, makes me feel like it's 1967 and all groovy and stuff.

A few suggestions-
Find a way to add vocals
Save up a few hundred bucks and buy a really basic crappy recorder and drum machine, maybe even a cheap yamaha keyboard, and really try to add some of today into your stuff, I know your profile says you want to be timeless and not stick to passing phases, but what you end up with is a sound that is stuck in the past. If you can find a way to bridge the gap, I'd bet you potentially nurture a new and refreshing sound.

You nave a good goal. Your musicianship isn't great, but by the same token it isn't bad at all. You have a good sense of rhythm & your rhythm playing is good. I don't like the bass lines, myself, but I'm a bass player.

Your guitar tones remind me of the cheesy ones that Cake used & made famous. LOL I see nothing wrong with trying it & making it work for you, Seth.

I'd suggest you get yourself to a few open mics, sit in with some ppl & get what you want going. It's worked for many of us in here.

Being limited as you are by your lack of vox & leads & such, your recordings aren't gonna really grab anyone by the doo-dahs enough to get their attention. You need to get with ppl in a live setting, imo.

Best of luck to ya. I'd like to hear the tunes you write with the sound filled out by the missing parts.

I love your art school, could have been in rushmore, thin old school, nerdy in beautiful way sound. I'm impressed. you are a hipster to me.

... and, that comment was after listening to just phoenix. Now I listened to untitled f and I could see myself working with you. I have about 8 trax to lay vox for (several collabs with people from here) but if you want to shoot me a wav through sendspace.com I'd like to work with untitled F. You can see SOME of what I do here.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8EcvH3rKYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naA8_6a_KG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0jguZIFS4

Cool, hopefully we will get to hear another NP special.
(he says, rubbing hands together)

Everybody,

Thanks for the replies! I'll respond to each post but before I do I just wanted to let you know I put some different songs in my profile. I realized a lot of the songs I had up were kinda slow and maybe therefore especially boring so I deleted three of them, including "Phoenix", and left "Untitled F" and "What Can I Do...". Please check out the new songs I posted and see what you think! Still they just sound like rough ideas since I haven't made any professional recordings with vocals...

Kramerguy,

Yeah you're right about "Phoenix", it isn't very original. I was listening to the Flying Burrito Brothers' album Gilded Palace Of Sin a lot so the melody and chord progressions are inspired by the song "Christine's Tune" and the lyrics are inspired by "Sin City"...

Totally agree too that the sound sort of is stuck in the past.. I definitely need to find a way to make it modern without annoying myself haha.. I appreciate the comments and thanks for taking the time to listen to the tracks!

Philbymon,

Completely agree about the musicianship heard in the songs.. Half of the reason it is so bad is because in order for what I'm recording to be loud enough on cassette I have to turn the amp waaay up.. So when I dub a new track over it I can't hear what I'm playing along with. And I'm certain the basslines are bad haha.. I'm not a bassist so I had to kind of guess how the basslines would go.

I'll have to hear Cake to see what you mean about guitar tones haha.. I can only slightly remember a couple singles they had back in the '90s. And I'm definitely gonna try some open mics and actually play with people.. I haven't been in an actual band for a few years now..

Thanks for the comments I appreciate your suggestions.

Neanderpaul,

Thanks for the comments! I enjoyed the stuff on YouTube! I'd definitely be interested in hearing what you'll do with "Untitled F".. Where can I email it to you?

Thanks everybody!

I like your stuff. I hear a huge Beatles influence and that can never be a bad thing. Do you write lyrics?

Hey Stix n Floyd,

I write lyrics and also sing but I'm having a hard time recording vocals using the equipment I have to work with. Some of them don't have lyrics yet though.. like the untitled songs..

I love the song on your profile! Great blues guitars, harmonica, ..everything really.. Wishy Washy Woman - good song!

Use sendspace.com so you can upload a big uncompressed .wav and send an email with a link to thepleased@gmail.com. Thanks and good luck!

Will do!