A couple of my songs...

[Simon Beck]

Hi! I'm new here, but I've been home-recording since 1985, originally with a Fostex X-15, then a Fostex XR-3, a PC running Audacity, and most recently a Fostex MR8.

Music, lyrics, arrangements, all instruments and vocals by myself.

This song is called "Genie" - it's a satirical look at modern technology. Wurly and organ are from a Nord Electro 3, brass is a Casio WK-3000, bass is a Stagg electric upright, drums were programmed in HammerHead 1.0, arranged in Audacity and ported to my Fostex MR8. All audio tracks were recorded on the MR8, and edited and mixed to mono in Audacity. Vocal was recorded using the MR8's internal mic.



The next one is a song called "Don't Step On the Baby!". I wrote it about 10 years ago when my kids were little, but only recorded it this year. Guitar is a 1958 Framus archtop acoustic, bass is the Stagg electric upright again, trumpet and trombone are Casio WK-3000. Percussion was programmed in HammerHead and arranged in Audacity again. All other details are the same as "Genie".

 

[Pinky]

Genie: the keys (piano, synth horns) are too center. A little spread/stereo pan would help allow the bass and vocals to sit better in that middle region. Cute song. Ends too soon!(?)

Don't Let the Hippy Eat Your Baby: This might be recorded too hot, I hear some subtle distortion. Another song that could use some stereo separation.

There are tools you can use to create stereo pans from mono tracks (as may be the case with the Casio?). The songs are lo fi, which is fine, but it still needs to follow some basic rules about letting instruments sit in their own space in the sound field. Too much is crammed in the middle here.