do you like piano rock? please critique!

[HabitualG]

hey everybody.

i posted this last week with only one response:

please give a listen to my band and tell me what you think, both about our recording/mixing job and about the quality of the songwriting. we have 2 songs up on mp3.com here:

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/636/marty_sedek_band.html

thank you very much. i play bass, if you want to personalize any comments. i/we will not be offended by anything you say, we only want to improve. thank you so much!

 

[Phyl]

Can't speak for others, but the reason I didn't listen is that the site hosting your music requires people to "register" in order to hear the music.

Try posting your music on NoWhereRadio as well as that Mp3 place; you'll get more participation from the folks around here that way.

 

[Wireneck]

another suggestion

If you want more specific mix details and such, its better if you focus on one song per post. That always seems to work better than saying hears where all my songs are, now give me some feedback.

 

[groucho]

Guys, YOU DON'T HAVE TO REGISTER AT MP3.com
I see this said over and over and it's just not true. In the time it takes to fill out the "choose player" form at nowhere, you can just enter "fuck you@fuckyou.com" in mp3.com's fields. You can enter anything you want in those fields and it speeds you right along to the song.

I agree that nowhere's a million times better, but it ain't cause of the registration thing.

Anyway, on to the song. I listened to "a new song". Great tune, great vibe, great energy, everything. I like it a lot. The mix sounds kind of muffled and "phasey". I'm not sure if it's bad mp3 encoding or what, but it definitely has that "under a blanket" sound to it.

Maybe if you could detail the recording chain/process we could take some guesses at where you could improve things.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[HabitualG]

recording method

i used 2 otkava 319s as overheads and 2 sm58s (one snare, one bass) for the drums, which i mixed through a behringer into my zoom mrs-1044 as a stereo track. piano was next, yamaha electric piano (a piano substitute kinda, sounds and looks like the real thing but all electronic) straight in as a stereo pair. bass was DI with the zoom's "picked bass" preset and a little eq, tambourine was just the oktava, guitar was direct through the wah wah under the clean preset on the zoom i think, and vox were last, all through the oktava. "ba ya ya ooh ooh" vocals first, then scratch lead, then harmony in the choruses, then real lead. any advice based on that process and equipment?

 

[groucho]

Well, listening again, it seems to me that things sound reasonably well-recorded - they're just not blending together. The bass and the kick are fighting for space and the singer is kind of in a much different space than the rest of the band.

This song has great energy so it's fun to listen to, but it has a very "raw" unmixed quality. I don't know what kind of processing you did to the tracks after recording them but it sounds to me like you need to maybe do some eq work around the low end to get things to sit togther better. Especially around the bass, which kind of comes and goes and could be a lot better defined.

Oh: and I'd probably avoid using any of the Zoom's eq preset type thingies and just go for getting a nice clean track, but that's just cause I know how shitty the eq is on those things.

Again: cool song!

Chris

 

[DustyJack]

I like the song well enough. Not first track material. Harmonies are good. The dah,dah,dah, dah on the keys are very noticeable.
I think V V V V V V V V V ery noticeable. Good intro with the drums. Good break at 3:00

This could be a punk song, done w/ a doo wap feel


Vocals stand out too much in the mix. Too far forward....almost like there's a band on the stage and you and I are in the crowd and you are singing directly at me...does that make sense....


I do like the Song....It's fun....now let's enjoy our beer and watch the band



DustyJack

 

[TripleM]

I listened to "A New Song."

Nice enough song. Good feel to it.

Some pitch issues in the vocals, especially in the intro. But other spots too.

It lacked a few mids overall which gave it a little muffled sound.

Little tempo rush at about 1:00. Not the best drum fill at about 1:25. Again at about 1:50. Other places too.

The transition at about 3:00 was a little rough. I thought the part didn't really sit well with the rest of the song. Personal opinion of course.

 

[Pedullist]

Guys, YOU DON'T HAVE TO REGISTER AT MP3.com
I see this said over and over and it's just not true. In the time it takes to fill out the "choose player" form at nowhere, you can just enter "fuckyou@fuckyou.com"in mp3.com's fields.

Damn you, Groucho! That's MY mail address!

Always wondered why I got so much spam...

Anyway, Groucho....if you want to apologize, you can mail me at fuckyou@fuckyou.com






LOL

 

[Pinky]

Need to smooth the kick drum a tad (little too punchy). Roll-off the lowest frequencies and allow a little more at 150hz+ to come up.

Bass needs a little more "mid" sound, it doesn't come through as clearly as it could. Try a few more bass-runs here and there, funkify that mofo! With only three peeps you'll need to be a very active bassist to fill in the gaps.

The keys need to be brought more upfront as that's your primary melody instrument. Keyboardist needs to step it up a tad, he seems to be holding back.

Vocals are okay, miss a few notes here and there... but you/they have a good voice and more rehearsals will fix that.

A lot of potential here. Good lounge music, hope you guys find some liberal spots to play the material locally (practice makes perfect). Reminds me a little of some laid back Phish.