Cast of Shadows

[Cast of Shadows]

Alright, I'm Vince and I'm a serious newbie here. I have no idea what kind of response this is going to get, but I must say I'm looking for some serious responses as to the quality of the music, performances, etc.

My band, Cast of Shadows, is from Phoenix, AZ, and we're a hard rock / heavy metal band. We're kinda a mix between the Disturbed/Sevendust new-school heavy metal and the Dream Theater/Pantera/Megadeth old-school metal. Hopefully some of you will like it, dig it, and we'll get some good feedback and some new fans. If you think it sucks, that's cool too, but you damn well better have a good reason .

Anyway, on to the music. Please check out our site:

http://www.castofshadows.com

In the Audio/MP3 tab of the site, there are 5 songs for download. "She Cries" is the only ballad, the rest are heavier tunes. My personal recommendation if you're only listening to 1 song is "STEP INTO THE GAME."

The music was recorded on a PIII 1Ghz computer, with a Delta 10/10 input device, using Cool Edit Pro and Vegas Pro, along with a ton of great TC Electronics stuff. Only drawback to the recordings from my own perspective is that 4 songs are with a drum machine. Let me know if the drum machine sucks the life out of the songs, or if it even matters to ya.

Anyway, I hope you guys/gals like the music. Can't wait for the feedback

~Vince

Guitarist / Songwriter
http://www.castofshadows.com
metal@castofshadows.com

 

[Lt. Bob]

She cries is pretty cool; although the singer's voice sounds too much like he's trying to sing for a musical or something....too many affectations for me. The song, however, is nice and the recording's ok too....I would like to hear the guitar better during the verses. Nice little short ride....would've liked more of that.

Step Into the Game.....first, let me say that I've gotten bored with metal of any sort unless it has something really new or creative. So I'm gonna be hard to win over by anything that doesn't really stand out from the pack. This, to me, doesn't manage to do that. It's recorded pretty well and the performances are good too. But it sounds, to me, like just another metal song and doesn't jump out at me at all. Not saying it's bad, mind you, just didn't push my buttons. A metal-head would probably feel differently.

Welcome to the board BTW

 

[WATYF]

Listened to "She Cries".

Your drummer is behind the beat... consistently. That's a bad thing. And your vocalist sings as if he's trying out for "West Side Story". His style totally does not fit the "rough and gritty" genre that you're trying for. It's not as bad in the faster ones, but really shows on She Cries.

I listened to the other stuff but didn't get more than a few seconds into 'em before going on to the next song. Like Lt Bob said,... just nothing to "grab" you. (BTW,.. any particular reason why you used real drums on "She Cries" but used canned drums on the other ones?)


Now,.. on to the positive stuff. The recording quality is fairly decent across the board. The guitar performances are pretty stable and solid.


That's aboot it.


P.S. This isn't a self-promotion forum. It's a mixing clinic. Don't come here looking for new "fans". (just some advice.. people tend to frown on that around here.)




[edit]oops.. I just saw your remark aboot using a drum machine. Well,.. yeah.. I would say it's noticeable,... but I wouldn't necessarily say that it "sucks the life oat of em". It just kinda detracts from the song a bit.[/edit]



WATYF

 

[Kramer]

I listened to parts of all 4 tunes.The only one that held my attention all the way through was "Seeking Seven".The others were songs that I would have passed right by if they were on the radio dial.

Seeking Seven is a cool tune.Ive listened to it 3 times now.

The others just didnt grab me at all.


p.s. post around in some of the various forums and get to know the guys around here.The more familiar they are with you,the more likely they are to respond to your posts here in the clinic.Posting exclusively in the mp3 clinic for promotion or for hits at your website is shunned by most here...they'll let a thread like this drop right off the face of the planet without responding if the only post you have are the ones from posting your own material.

Check out some of the other guys tunes and post some comments about their tunes.

 

[W.I.S.C.]

Step into the Game-Great recording!Drums are cool.Needs more bass guitar in the mix.Nice and tight and decent singer ,too.Remind me of heave-eed up Queensryche for some reason,just high maybe.Cool harmony!Yea this is cool...you've earned a second listen.

Seeking Seven-Megadeth all the way.Cool riff anyway.Cool dual guitar attack.Huh?.....Double snare hits????Sounds f*cked up,a little.Dudes vox is decent.Nice work.Good mix ,again.Good guitars stuff.Texured nicely.

 

[Cast of Shadows]

Hey, first off, thanks guys for the responses. I'm really happy to hear the feedback. I'm going to try to address the issues one by one...

Lt. Bob said:

"She cries is pretty cool; although the singer's voice sounds too much like he's trying to sing for a musical or something....too many affectations for me"

I'm working with him. We're trying to get him to sing more in the rock style and with less vibrato. What I love about his vocals is his power and his emotion he conveys.

Lt Bob also said:

"Step Into the Game...I'm gonna be hard to win over by anything that doesn't really stand out from the pack. This, to me, doesn't manage to do that."

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I can understand. Where our music stands out is the subtlety (sp?). This is a radio edit of a song originally clocking 6:46, so there are parts missing. When you do a radio edit, you make it sound more like a common radio song than what it was originally meant to be. Where I think we stand out in the radio edit is the layering of instruments in the chorus and the vocal harmonies from the bridge until the end of the song. The drums and bass are playing one rhythm in the chorus that's completely separate from the guitar riff, there's a high guitar barely audible that gives a little extra feel in there, and the vocals rip right through it. At least, that's the thought I was trying to convey with the songwriting and mix on this tune.

---

WATYF said:

Listened to "She Cries".

"Your drummer is behind the beat... consistently. That's a bad thing." "any particular reason why you used real drums on "She Cries" but used canned drums on the other ones?"

As for the drums, I used what I had available. Right now our "band" is only 2 people, myself and the singer. I have a pretty decent drum machine, the Boss DR 770, and I used that for the heavier tunes. For the ballad, I was not happy at all with the drum machine and thought it would detract from the song. I had an old recording on my computer of my old drummer from 2 years ago playing the same song, and I time tested it. He stayed right on the click the entire time. So I decided to use his part (with his permission of course), and I actually really like the feel he used. Yes, it's a little behind the beat, and you might not like it, but it was intentional and kind of a jazz aspect I wanted to use in that song.

---

Kramer said:

"Seeking Seven is a cool tune.Ive listened to it 3 times now"

Glad you liked it. I'm actually really suprised NO ONE has commented on the 7-string guitar used on 3 of the 5 songs. Seeking Seven is all in Low B. Other than it being a good song, is there anything that stood out in the mix? Anything that sucks that I should change, mix-wise?

---

W.I.S.C. said:

"Step into the Game-Great recording!...Needs more bass guitar in the mix....Remind me of heave-eed up Queensryche for some reason,just high maybe. Cool harmony! Yea this is cool...you've earned a second listen."

"Seeking Seven-Megadeth all the way.Cool riff anyway.Cool dual guitar attack.Huh?.....Double snare hits????Sounds f*cked up,a little.Dudes vox is decent.Nice work.Good mix ,again.Good guitars stuff.Texured nicely."

I'm glad you liked the songs, thanks for the advice on the bass guitar, I've been constantly experimenting with the bass guitar sound on the entire recording. I'm also happy to see you picked up on the harmony in the end of SitG. As for Seeking 7 and the double snare hits, I'm a big Faith No More fan, and I've always been into using flams on the snare when there's open space enough to use them in the mix. Thanks for the input!!

Thanks to everyone on their input, I really appreciate it. As for posting on other forums, yeah, I want to become more of a member here. I'm a newbie and I posted this stuff so that you guys could check me out, get to know me, my music, and my mixing, as a basis for discussion on all topics. Thanks for taking the time to listen and write back about my music, the positive and negative are both appreciated greatly as they both promote growth.

~Vince

Guitarist / Songwriter
http://www.castofshadows.com
metal@castofshadows.com

 

[Jamal Bucket]

seeking seven

man the overall sound is killer..im not a fan of all the vibrato in the singer's voice but thats a personal thing..not that i dont like him as a person.....lmao....
weird double flam thing on the drums around 1:20.....sticks out
man this guy can sing i wish he would scream !!!!!
guitar work is sweet throughout......
way better than what i can do you sound pretty polished to me.
i would sit and watch ..no problem!



cool

jamal

 

[pipelineaudio]

Here is the UNtriumphant return of pipelineaudio to this bbs.

I have recorded these guys' new drummer and vince will be taking the drums home to finish the other parts of the recording and mix.

It will be worht the listen if for no other reason than that the drummer is ON TOP OF HIS SHIT

No ambiguous fills, no flim flam turkey gobble crap, no dribble foot. Hits it like he MEANS it. This guy is GOOD! You dont hear me praising drummers often! This guy is the shit, and only 17, I want to meet his teacher

 

[studioviols]

My personal experience on the board indicates that newbies who post multiple tunes to review at one time have no intention of 'participating' on this board.

YOU will only learn to mix your band better by reviewing other's work and submitting to that process.

We look forward to YOUR reviews of OUR stuff, and maybe like ... you could be our fan ?

No ... that's not the way it works either.

Welcome to the board.