do i have a good thing going?

[kylosius]

www.nowhereradio.com/emopunker/singles the song is called sinfully lovely.

i recorded this last night, it sounds pretty good for how little time i put into it (although some or all of you may disagree).
equipment used
acoustic guitar
sm58 (guitar and vocals)
dean bass (direct input)
yamaha mt 400 4 track (as a mixer)
cool edit pro 2.0 for recording mixing and "mastering"

 

[nickjc]

well, the recording is MUCH better than the other songs - eg. come on. your vocals still need work, but I know you know that . . .

other than that, I didn't think the song was as good as your other ones - it's kind of bland. there's no real hook to the song, it just kind of goes along without really GOING anywhere, and sometimes the words don't seem to quite fit the music, particularly in the chorus. I th8ink maybe a rethnk of the song itself, but the recording is improving, so you're growing - wicked

 

[kylosius]

i should mention that the guitar and vocals were done live (except for back ups). bass was done afterwards. i was wondering on the mix. i think the vocals should've been pushed more towrd the front.

 

[chrisharris]

i was wondering on the mix. i think the vocals should've been pushed more towrd the front.

Yeah, they could come up a little. The song could be cool, but there's some weird stuff happening b/w the bass and guitar (musically) that's not necessarily good in spots - and honestly, the vocal's not really up to par, even for a quicky. Some stuff you can get away with on scratch recordings (like volume peaks and sibilance), but the pitch really needs to be there or it's just distracting.

Chris

p.s. - I'm a hack, so take what I said with that in mind.

 

[bsanfordnyc]

i agree with what's already been said...

the bass is weird...maybe you could smooth it out with some compression and tighten up the attack as well. Not to mention it's too loud

the vocals are too buried, and sloppy, tunewise

 

[FIRESOLE]

Whew! Man o man. Your shit is painful man.
Sinfully...I thought the recording of it was fine.
F U Stacey...Kinda sounds like an Elvis Costello song......when he was 5 !....pan the vocal from r to l in the section that goes way down in volume.
Listen man,...get a keyboard of any kind...start playing all white keys from C to C, each note 1 by 1...As you do this....match the pitch you hear with your voice...sing each note of the scale as you go. RECORD THAT. Listen back....critique...try again...until you get confident you can sing the pitch w/o the keyboard!! jeez!! Whatever you do...don't let azzhole remarks like mine get you down. Stick with the program kyl. YOU should always be your worst critic.

 

[mawtangent]

percussion and vocal

There seems to be a "vision" behind this music, but it is just out of focus...taming your timing and pitch will improve it 100 percent...

unless you are going for some kind of "no-drum" concept I suggest (if money is tight) that you find a Casio keyboard or a guitar pedal (there are $70 pedals that have built-in drum patterns) that will furnish you a consistant beat with which to play...a repeating drum pattern can sound monotonous but keeping it back (lower) in the mix will help prevent that...if you ethically can't allow an electronic drum pattern in your song prehaps you can listen to a drum pattern (or metronome) in your headphones or on a scratch track until the song is finished and then ditch the drum track...it seems that the quitar and bass are not anchored down, a drum beat would force them to be diciplined and "honest"...you could more easily hear which instruments are "out" and get the music into a healthy rythmic feel...

as far as singing: I believe vocal ability consists of hardware and software, some people have great tone (hardware) but have lousy timing (software), other people can mentally hear what notes they need to hit (software) but when they try to hit those notes their vocal chords (hardware) just don't cooperate...the problem with this vocal seems to be "software" related, that is, the tone of the voice is acceptable, but it seems to go out of pitch and makes for some bad moments in the song...the keyboard exercise mentioned in another post might help this problem...If you know someone who is generally believed to be a good singer you might have that person listen to you sing each line, have the (teacher) vocalist sing the line correctly, and then repeat the line back to the teacher, etc (I'm just brain-storming here)...my point is:keep trying to fix the software, keep practicing, listen to good singers, listen closely to recordings of your own singing and be open to advice from others, do not be stubborn and just conclude that it is the rest of the world that is wrong (as you might conclude, I have issues when it comes to this subject)...it may take years...but you will either get better or conclude that you lack in the singing department.

 

[chrisharris]

as far as singing: I believe vocal ability consists of hardware and software

That's a great analogy. I've never heard it stated quite like that.

 

[kylosius]

i'm pretty sure a 5 year old elvis costello could write better stuff than most people nowadays write at 30 . hmm, i haven't been made fun of this much since i posted my first recording. let me clear some stuff up, these are just demos, i don't plan on being lead singer for any band, so i record my own shit this way i don't forget and/or figure out what i want to do with the song. the only person i know that can sing sings nothing but emo crap and is an uppity motherfucker when it comes to singing. i can do back ups just fine (its easier to stay in key with someone else) but i know i suck at lead. as for the no drum thing - i'd like to see myself explaining to my first sergeant why i insist on banging drums in the dorm, and as for keyboards, you'd be extremely surprised how hard it is to come across a cheap casio in anchorage.

 

[FIRESOLE]

LMFAO man. Very funny. Thanks for the laugh. Surely Anchorage MUST have a cheap casio somewhere! Shit...just ask in the forums...someone will probably donate one to you if you pay for shipping!