I have 3 songs I would like for EVERYONE to come listen to,.. thanx! PLease?!?

Guitar-MJ

New member
Hey everyone,

I have compiled my 2nd cd, and just uploaded the first 3 tracks off of it. There are more, but I am limited on upload space.

I'm sure you are wondering, "ARE YOUR TUNES ACTUALLY WORTH LISTENING TO??" Well, my answer is simply that ALL of my listeners have showed enjoyment to any song I have ever put on cd. But that's not for me to say, because I only write and play the music, I can't listen to it the same way as you can.
I have played my cd in public, on the radio, at music stores, etc. And without saying a word to anyone, I usually get responses from people like; "who is that?, is that you?, can I get a copy of that?, where do you play out?" and many other remarks that I don't feel like writting. I'm very self consious about making sure I don't have too much pride of the work I do. I simply like to see people have a good time listening to music, not to make me feel good about writting it.

Let me tell you alittle bit about my style.
Well, my influences are derived from many different artists. In order from start to finish in my whole music career I would probably have to say;
"SRV, Hendrix, Van Halen, G 'n R, Alice In Chains, Metallica, Fuel, Nickelback, Creed, and so on" Over the past few years, I have taken more time to blend my own style together as my own musician. I spend a large part of my existance trying to write music, and playing any instrument I can. I work very hard to compose the music, and get every little part right. Sometimes I am happy with the results instantly, sometimes I need to work on a song for months to get that "perfect sound".

I have been living partially off of my music, and my cds have been able to sell instantly the moment people first hear my cd. (I'm not saying this with pride, but more as from the viewpoint of recognition that people are beginning to enjoy my music on their own)

I have a great appreciation for all music and all artists, and I especially love to teach music to beginners. (I used to be a guitar and bass instructor) I don't look down on any musicians in any way, beginners or professionals. I appreciate ANYONE's music as an artform. Music is the greatest part of my life, without it I would probably be nowhere.

So here is where I ask you the question that will either turn your head or win your vote; I'm asking anyone and everyone to take some time to listen to any of the 3 songs I have posted online. On the address at the bottom of this message.
Whether you are an experienced listener, easy listener, experienced engineer, or an experienced musician, I am asking you to listen to my tunes. You may have any reason to, or any response to the music. Whether you want to critique the songs from a professional point of view (as an engineer), or just want to download songs from another artist for listening, that is fine with me. Whatever reason you may have to listen to these songs, please let me know what you think or feel of the music.
ALL OF YOUR OPINIONS mean greatly to me!

And I would be more than willing to help anyone out that ever has a problem or question I can help them out with!

here is the page where these songs sit at:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1610&alid=145
 
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d#$!@m good sounds dude!

please! you have got to tell me how you got those snare and kick drum sounds! tell me what... compressor you used,what pre-amps,what mics,where did you put the mics,what kind of snare,what dampening (in the kick drum) and what eq!!!!!

sorry for all those q's but i just love those drums!!!!


zeke
 
Hey Zeke,
like the drums eh? lol (i guess so)

It's actually kind of embarassing what I did to get the sounds like that. lol

All I can say is, use sm57's on EVERY drum. Keep all the mics REALLY close, and record it all with the DRYEST sound you can possibly get. Then do reverbs after the mix.
Use more compression for the snare than any other drum,
and it takes good multiband compression to get the drums to have that "studio" sound.

Good luck! let me know how you progress!
 
Let me start by saying the music is very well written and performed! :) You've got a great style in my opinion.

Now, I'll move on to my 'engineering' point of view. There are a few things that bother me. First off, there is way too much compression overall. You may be going for that 'loud' commercial sound, but in the process you've taken all the dynamics out of very dynamic music. Your music is losing feeling due to it being in your face all the time. I'd like to hear it as dynamic as it is written and performed. On to specifics. The guitars (especially the distorted ones) are a bit to midrangy sounding for me...seem somewhat nasally sounding. In the future you may want to back off in the 1-2khz area. I'd like to hear a little more umph from the kick drum, and less hi hat and cymbals. The snare is missing the impact sound, and all I hear are the resonances of the drum. I guess I'd like to hear a little more bottom end on the bass as well.

Overall, it's pretty good, and I'm being nit picky...But that's what you wanted right. Please take my comments as constuctive, as intended. :)

Tell you what, I'd love a chance at mixing one of these songs myself to see what I could do with it. Just for fun. If this is something you'd be willing to let try, let me know...

Again, love the writting and performances! You've got a great talent...Keep it up! :cool:
 
Sounds pretty good. Needs some vocals 'cause it gets a bit monotonous. I liked the drum sounds except the snare and the guitars were allright....a bit middy as Looney said earlier. I would have preferred a tighter more present bass sound and I could have lived without all the references to the awesome reaction of your many fans.
all in all......reasonably nice stuff.
 
compressed to death, but cool..

nice guitar playing.. I listened to all three tunes and maybe would have liked some different tones or sounds to keep it interesting..

After reading about your fans I expected a lot, and it was pretty cool..

I'm sure this would sound much better if the life wasn't compressed out of it..

late
sam
 
These are some great songs and good guitar work.

in general, I think you could do much better with the lead guitar sound, dial back the gain a little and let the guitar through and roll off the highs.

Track1: Nice guitar riff at the intro. I think that you could exploit it more throughout the song, - make it dominate, push it up front to carry the tune. On the mix, I don't think I like the snare sound..

Somethingnew: Good tune, except that snare sound is killing me. It's the dominant drum sound and really the kick should be holding it together, but its not...

Remember the future: this one is a keeper

Great work.

dmm
 
Track1: I agree aboot the compression.. and aboat the high hat being too pronounced, while the bass drum was almost non-existant... And (from a drummer) the drums were sloppy, which detracted from the song a bit.. (especially the bass doublets at the 2:50's). It was pretty decent though,.. good mix over-all and mostly well executed guitar riffs. As for the song itself,.. I liked this one... it was actually somewhat captivating.

Something New: Didn't like this one as much. Didn't really appeal to me. Seemed as if it was just one, long repetitive minor riff. (whadyaknow.... it was.. :p ) Drum playing was worse than the first one... (really bad in some points) which detracted from it even more... I would suggest that as the most needed improvement. I'm not sure which is worse, sucky drum samples that are perfectly quantized, or nice sounding real drums that are played off-beat... :D But,... the mix was good. The solo at 2:08 seemed a little buried, but over-all nothing really stood out too much or seemed like it was too out-of-place. I do respect your mixing abilities, even if don't respect your drumming. :D

Remember the Future: Once again,.. the drumming. (though not as bad as the second one) The git panned to the right at 0:30 is a little too hot (kinda grated on me when it first kicked in) Again, this song didn't appeal to me much. Nothing real "catchy" or memorable aboot it. Guitar work is good for the most part. Again good mix.

Overall I'd say the mixes are great. Little tweaks needed here and there, but nothing really detracted from the recording. The guitar playing is very good, though if I wanted to be picky I could say some of the riffs need "tightening".... The drumming blew chucks.. but hey.. you're a guitarist. :) As for the songs themselves.. Track1 was really the only song I'd want to listen to again... the others just held no appeal at all for me.

Just so you know.. usually I'm not nearly this scutinizing... there are a host of people around here who's mixes aren't nearly as nice as yours (myself included), but I don't feel the need to pick apart their stuff as much as I could... but... I made an exception in your case... :p mainly because you went on and on aboot your many "fans" and how you're not arrogant... (no.... of course not :rolleyes: ) so I felt it was necessary to be as meticulous as I could.

There is some serious, serious talent aroond here that really needs to be discovered,... People who are putting out songs that deserve to be on the radio more than most of the crap that's already on the radio... and yet you're the first person (since I've been here) to ever come along and repeatedly prattle on aboot your "fan base", and continually cite quotes from adulating listeners, as if we should just "accept" that your stuff is great and not bothering saying otherwise, "cause everybody else likes it"... and that's just not cool man...

The only humble way to get an honest opinion is to tell people absolutely nothing and let the music speak for itself.

WATYF

P.S. Gross self-promotion isn't taken to very kindly aroond here,.. in case you hadn't noticed. :D
 
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Mamma always told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say............."

I must thank WATYF for saying what I wanted to (minus the drum critique). I'd tell you what you did good but, you already told me what you did good. I'd tell you what you did bad but, your "fan base" would tune me out.

happy evolution dude,

Theron.
 
ruh-roh... :eek:

I hope I didn't cause any dissension in the ranks.. :p

just speakin' my mind man.. in all honesty... no harm intended.

WATYF
 
No WATYF......you're right. That was the first thing that struck me. You put your songs up and see what people think. But when you preface it with a long diatribe about your "fans" and how they all tell you how awesome you are, that's the same thing as just saying "Hey, listen to these great songs of mine and tell me how terrific I am." They were ok but not great and that's all there is to it. There's certainly talent and promise there, but if you're gonna tell people in advance how good your songs are, then you'd better have some really good stuff.
 
Hey everyone! I guess I was right. The fan thing was bogus.
My ASSHOLE cousin told me that nobody will listen to my shitty tunes unless I say something good about them.

I can deal with tough critisism. I've delt with it my whole life, nothing new. THANX!!

anway, I am a guitarist (not a drummer etc.) and I did the drums on my keyboard with soundfonts. I can't use a real drumset around here (due to the noise problems)

So I use a shitty little pod through a behringer 1604a mixer, and a shitty little computer with a EWX 2496 soundcard.

Yes my music DOES suck. My guitar abilities are shitty. But that's ok. It's meant to be that way. I just moved 300 miles away from my old band and this is my first attempt to try to make up for not having my band around. So now that I'm bandless, I thought I would try learning how to record all the instruments together and mix them on my own.
I'm glad you guys let me have it, now I realized my guitar skills have fallen to the fuckin floor and brought to have no value.
That's not your fault for all this shit..
I am still thanking you guys, cuz at least you're nice enough to be honest with a guy like me! THANX!!!
 
Holy Lord dude... :eek: don't go throwin' the baby oat with the bathwater...

Your guitar skills are faaaaar from "sh#tty" and the mixes were fine... if you had quantized the drums a little, that would have helped, but there's no need to take a dump on yourself over it... :p Constructive criticism is for "improvement".. not for beatin' yourself over the head with... ;)

And the best thing to do around here is just be yourself.. we got all kinds of characters, so I assure you, you'll fit in just fine.. :p

Just don't hide behind all the fluff next time.

WATYF
 
What sort of freak ass turn around drug are you on? Please spare me the theatrics of attitude rainbow and it will all be good.

your git chops are fine. I dig on your progressions. They're solid and worth building around. From what I recall, your mixes are quite decent but, I can bring myself to listen again just yet.

I'm not the best for advice on the forum and I've never partaken in such comments before but, hang out and hold onto a degree of stability and we could get something productive done.

Peace and hope,

Theron.


P.S. Mxmkr, what did that mean?
 
Guitar-MJ said:
Hey everyone! I guess I was right. The fan thing was bogus.
My ASSHOLE cousin told me that nobody will listen to my shitty tunes unless I say something good about them.

I can deal with tough critisism. I've delt with it my whole life, nothing new. THANX!!

anway, I am a guitarist (not a drummer etc.) and I did the drums on my keyboard with soundfonts. I can't use a real drumset around here (due to the noise problems)

So I use a shitty little pod through a behringer 1604a mixer, and a shitty little computer with a EWX 2496 soundcard.

Yes my music DOES suck. My guitar abilities are shitty. But that's ok. It's meant to be that way. I just moved 300 miles away from my old band and this is my first attempt to try to make up for not having my band around. So now that I'm bandless, I thought I would try learning how to record all the instruments together and mix them on my own.
I'm glad you guys let me have it, now I realized my guitar skills have fallen to the fuckin floor and brought to have no value.
That's not your fault for all this shit..
I am still thanking you guys, cuz at least you're nice enough to be honest with a guy like me! THANX!!!
Well here's the ole $.02 from the local Christian wacko 70's style geetar relic. I think ya did a fine job doing this yerself. Your geetar work is very good. The mix is much better than we can do with our measley skills and our Tascam 4 Track Cassettes.

The snare in your lap sound has NEVER impressed me ever since it became commercially the "norm" with Freakin disco in the 70's. I know I'm an old fashioned relic but I happen to like a l'il rough edge in music and with all the compression, some potentially very good to great tunes have turned in commercial canned music.

Write some lyrics, Bro, and tell your well meaning cousin to take a flyin leap in the Green Lagoon. I was bout to ask ya if you had a humble bone in your body until you clearified yourself.

Overall, very well recorded IMHO.

Oh, and BTW, Don't knock your Behringer MX1604A mixer. I use a MX2004A and love it. But what do I know? I'm just a 70's relic Christian Geetar player doin some Rock N Blues in hillbilly land. ;)

BHS;

CR
 
Hey WATYF,

I'm just alittle stressed about music making in general. I love playing guitar, but not having a band to back me up is tough. So I thought I would pick up new skills. I sit and record in my basement all the time. I read stuff about mixing and am trying to see if I can go anywhere with it. I am on a VERY tight budget, so getting better equipment to get good recordings is really hard.
I wish I would get out of the basement and try to get out and see what people actually think about the tunes I work on down here. Right now, I have NO CLUE what my tunes mean out there, because I have 0% source of anyone to listen to anything I play or record. Just thought that by posting a "REALLY DESPERATE" thread on here, "SOMEONE" would hear my stuff for the first time considering that I actually dont' know what people think of my stuff.
I didn't know that so many people would actually look at this thread. I am REALLY suprised!
YOU GUYS IMPRESS ME!! GOOD WORK!!

I am still glad you guys gave me some good critiques here. Now I know what I have to go back and work on, maybe I can do a better job next time. But for now, I wish I could get the opinion of knowing if "anyone out there" thinks it's worth going to the next step of trying to improve this stuff.

Maybe I had no clue anyone even touches this forum, lol. Sorry about that. 102 views in one day!?? that's kill.
I thought it would take weeks for anyone to hear this stuff.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS!!

AND THANK YOU TRUELY FOR THE TRUTH!! (hey, the truth hurts sometimes, but it just makes me try harder)

BTW, I've listened to some of your guys's mixes.. and i am "IMPRESSED" in many ways! keep on playin! you guys will go somewhere someday.

cheers,

~Mike~
 
Guitar-MJ said:
I'm just alittle stressed about music making in general. I love playing guitar, but not having a band to back me up is tough. So I thought I would pick up new skills. I sit and record in my basement all the time. I read stuff about mixing and am trying to see if I can go anywhere with it. I am on a VERY tight budget, so getting better equipment to get good recordings is really hard.
Hey man.. that's the story of my life.. and the life of just aboot everyone else aroond here... :p Just chill... live and learn,... and don't pet the sweaty things... (or is it "don't sweat the petty things"???... something like that... ) :p

Since it turns out that your mixes aren't final production for a CD, and since it also turns out that you're a recently "bandless" guitarist who's just learning aboot home recording, I'd say you're doing just fine...

just lay off the melodrama a little, eh? :D

WATYF
 
So.....You're saying you dont really have any fans?LMAO!I didnt think anyone could be that egotistical.LOL:)Your stunt did get you some feedback though eh?
 
Lol, you guys are pretty cool.
Thanx for all! Like I said, I'm impressed. Now I really have the insentive to go back and remix everything.
I guess my next question is.
Would you recommend rerecording everything? or anything?
or just try to remaster things up alittle.
Yes vocals are very big concern to me, if you notice, I wrote my songs to have room for all the lyrics to be put in. I know that song "something new" seems to sound monotonous through the whole song, but i REALLY hope that when lyrics are put in, it can give alittle better sound than the borring "same old song on and on" sound. I would have lyrics recorded on those tracks, but I have no hope at all with my lousy singing abilities. ;)

I'm gonna get some rest for now, but I'll check back in the meantime. Take care everyone,... ttyl
 
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