Please check my first mp3 attempts

[trag-o-caster]

I'm a complete computer idiot, and it's taken me a long time to get to where I can do this, but I finally can get my stuff on the net! Check it out at:

http://listeningroom.lycos.com/fan/b...ster/Band.html

One tune is an instrumental take on "Ode To Billy Joe". It was recorded with a Telecaster, a 34 Martin 0-17 for the rhythm guitar, and my elcheapo $60 bass.

The other tune is my band, the "Tragedy James" band, at our usual Sunday night gig. It's just the guitar solo portion of Guitar Slim's "Things I Used To Do", which clocks in at around 2 minutes. Same Telecaster straight into a 15 watt tube amp, cranked and miked up.

All of this was recorded on a TASCAM 414 four track cassette. Let me know what ya think. Thanks! Trag.

[Royston]

I checked out that lead solo on one of your recordings, sounded pretty good for a live gig with the exception of the tape hiss that is rather prevalent. The guitarist plays very well also, a little fast for my taste but it still sounded good.

[psmith66]

The first cut has a great Roy Buchanon feel - love the tele. I also love Buchanon's stuff.

The second cut obviously evokes SRV.

I also have a Tascam 414 - however it's getting less use these days (I'm fooling with ntrack at the moment).

[drstawl]

Nice playing on both of those. The hiss was bad on both of those, but really out of hand completely only on the second one: the SRV deal.

[Meshuggah]

Listened to Ode to Billy Joe.

Everything but the solo is pretty low in the mix. The bass is a little boomy. The sologuitar is great. Very creative. Liked it a lot.

[trag-o-caster]

Thanks to all for the kind words. I keep forgetting that this is a recording board, not a guitar board. If I tell you exactly what I did to make those mp3's you'd roll your eyes and think I'm a nut.

Firstly, after mixing down from 4 track cassette to minidisc (using a combination of headphones and a boombox), I made cassette copies for some friends using low grade tape. I figured out how to make a wav file using one of the low grade copies and a cheap Walkman cassette player. That's most likely where all the hiss is coming from. Next time I'll know to use the minidisc for making wav files instead of the elcheapo Walkman. I was just in a hurry.

I wanted to find a way to send the mp3's to friends, or post them on discussion boards like this one. I found this Lycos site and gave it a whirl. Now I know how to do this stuff, and next time I'll do it right. I just wanted to see what everyone thought about my first try, however absurd my methods may have been.

My ultimate goals regarding recording is to record my bands first album in low-fi, low-tech fashion, using my minimal gear, to be sold locally. I realize that I'm going to need something better for monitoring when mixing down. Right now I'm stuck with what I got (i.e. I'm broke). Next time I'll try making the wav file from the minidisc and see if that gets rid of some hiss.
Thanks again to all!
BTW that's me on guitar, and I really appreciate the kind comments.
Trag.