My music, feedback requested!

[johndowis]

www.johndowis.com

I started recording in November. I have about 12 original songs, with about 4-5 additional songs in various stages of developement, but I only have 3 original songs on the site. I also have a bunch of cover songs on there. Give the site a look and the music a listen, then tell me what you think

My gear:

PC with M-Audio Delta 1010lt soundcard
Sonar software

Sennheiser e835 mic
Fender p-51 mic

Fender Princeton Chorus Amp

A ton of guitars, but mostly an ESP M-300 with custom EMG active pickups, and an Ibanez electric-acoustic

All of my effects, compression, EQ, etc. with the exception of distortion (which was through the amp) came from sonar. A few songs were done direct-in to my sound card with no preamp, which surprisingly worked without bad results, although I think my active pickups may have helped in that.

The quality of the recordings got better and better as I learned how to use all of my new equipment and software. The cover songs show this, since they are listed in reverse order I recorded them (newest is on the top).

 

[johndowis]

One problem I am aware of is the background hum you hear on some songs. This is from my guitar amp, and I can't seem to do anything about it. Even at low volumes, just placing a mic in fornt of it with no guitar plugged in gives the hum. It isn't very audible in person, but the mic gets it enough to be noticeable on recordings. The place where it is most noticeable is where I have layered clean guitar tracks, because there are that many more layers of humming. I either need a new amp or need to do DI, so I am probably going to get a PODXT soon. Distortion on my amp doesn't sound as good as I would like anyway.