First song, first post.......

  • Thread starter Thread starter psmith66
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No comments at all? That bad? If anyone bothered to listen, I'd really be interested in hearing suggestions for improvement (mainly from a sound quality and mixing perspective - but I'll accept any feedback at this point).

Thanks

(If the link doesn't work, please enlighten me).
 
I'll D/L it now and post back.

...........

Man, it's lo or hi stream... I'll try lo-fi, even that is quite a challenge for my modem though.
 
That's a no go.. sorry. Lo-Fi doesn't stream, Hi-Fi does but with .5 sec of music, and then a one second gap it's impossible to listen. You should get your stuff on a site that allows downloads, www.javamusic.com or www.nowhereradio.com


btw, are you sure your email address is correct on your site?
 
Thanks for the effort - and you're right about my email address. I was in such a rush to get something posted last night that I hit the n instead of the m when registering. Got it fixed now.

In any case, it doesn't seem like artistlaunch is conducive to soliciting feedback. I'm going to check out javamusic.

Thanks again.
 
Hey P

I tried earlier to get your stuff but it wasn't happening on artist launch. I'm glad I decided to come back to check. I got Java to work and checked out your tune.

I thought it was gonna be electronica when I heard the intro. I was glad to hear a bass and later a guitar come into the picture. The arrangement was a little strange because the singing came so late in the intro but, it wasn't something that bothered me or sounded bad, just unusual. I like the minor blues vibe as a rule and really enjoyed the guitar playing in this song. Excellent work. If I had to critique, there are a few things I could nit pick about. In the intro, when the guitar come in, strumming the chords with the bass, I thought the guitar was coming in maybe a fraction of a count late. In other words, it could have been tighter. I know this is not always easy when you recording alone, happens to me all of the time, especially if I don't have a busy enough metronome. But this is not a big deal, I don't really know what made me notice it, because it's very slight. Vocal wise, you have a good voice, I would have liked to have heard a little different phrasing or inflection or something in this song, I can't quite put my finger on or explain exactly what I mean, but your voice itself is pretty good and sounds capable.

Basically, I thought the tune was pretty good and I liked the reverse guitar at the end and as I mentioned, the guitar work was really very good. Best I could tell, the recording sounded good also.

Nice work

Ray J
 
I could've sworn that I wouldn't have got the whole song, the connection terminated while I was in the process, but seemingly the whole song got through!

I'm not the best person to give advice on mixing etc, all I can say is that it sounded fine. I agree with what Ray J said and I liked the song. If I were to criticise I'd say that the intro could be shortened a bit without losing too much in terms of content and perhaps some variation could be added either in the vocal melody (maybe some harmony?) or the guitars. But again, the guitar work was good (I didn't notice the delay Ray J spoke of). Is that your first song or do you have others?

Jags
 
Thanks for taking the time guys. This was the absolute first thing that I "finished" (let alone posted) and I dearly appeciate the comments. I've got about five other songs in process (style seems to be all over the place) - they all have more variety and dynamics than this one. Your collective comments are not surprising. It basically only has one theme running through it - it just sounded appropriate at the time (and I'm no vocal gymnast). As for the intro, it certainly could be cut by at least 50% - my goal was to make the listener think it was something, and then have it turn into something else - seemed to have worked. Probably too much lead guitar on it - just had to get it out of my system - both the Strat and the LP leads were one take improvising (suits this type of song I think).

RayJ, tightness is certainly a factor that I have to work on. Hopefully experience will improve results.

BTW, there are four guitar tracks (1 LP; 3 Strat) all recorded straight in via POD using different settings (micing wasn't even an option as I typically record between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am). "Drums" were Friuty Loops. Bass went via POD. "Vocals" were via SM57 into a Tascam 414 (I need $$$).

Again, thanks for listening. Means a lot as I've heard stuff from each of you and really like it.
 
Listened lo-fi as the download file was rather large.

Great guitar playing! Got that style nailed, very soulful. Interesting combo of key's and guitar.

Observations: Drum machines can't play.

Reiteration: Great guitar playing, your a natural.

Good job.
 
Emeric said:
Observations: Drum machines can't play.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but neither can I!!!! Seriously, you won't get an argument from me - but Fruity and my DR660 are my only options until I get in cahoots with a good drummer (then I can have him/her record drum tracks off site).

Thanks for listening Emeric. Glad you liked the playing.
 
It sounds like the rythym guitar competes a little too much with the rythym guitar. Great guitar playing your fingers have soul.
 
VirtualSamana

Thanks for listening. Do you mean the lead and rhythym are at odds? Or the two rhythym tracks (the part was doubled and panned around 9:00 and 3:00 respectively)? I did spend a bit of time deciding on the relative placement and volume of the guitars - it would seem ok and then the next day it would seem all wrong - had to jump off somewhere.

Geez. I'm flattered that you think that my fingers have soul - that's pretty much what I try for. Unfortunately it seems to be a hit or miss thing with me.

Again, thanks for taking the time. You got any stuff posted?
 
Great guitar playing! The intro and outro, very cool. Love the backwards guitar bits at the end. All good, but you've got to get a real drummer!!. Or even just take the drum machine off, and have no drums!! :D The funny thing about drum machines is their "perfect" time sometimes makes it seem like your music is a little off time, but I think if you were playing with a drummer, the timing changing slightly would seem way better.

Great job.

Macle
 
Thanks Macle.

It doesn't help drum machines/software when you don't really know how to use them! I just try and get a kick, hh, and snare for a basic beat and go from there. I'm too lazy to deal them even if a decent sound was obtainable. I'm basically a guitar player and that's it - I'd prefer not to have to deal with drums, key's, vocals, ..... - rather have human beings. But such is life....

As for the backward guitar, I first heard it on "Are You Experienced" (a looong time ago). I didn't know it was backward guitar at the time - thought he was manipulating feedback or something. Anyway, I had to find somewhere to use it - just to get it out of my system. Thought you guys would roast me for doing that.

As for the timing, it's probably my "monitoring" system (or lack thereof).

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Robin Trower(SP?) came to mind while listening to this. I like the mood of the track a lot, I'm not going to nit-pick, it's pretty much been said. The guitar playing was really soulful...you used your fingers to pick some of this and the pick at diffrent parts? Nice blues tone you got with that pod too. I'll have to check out your other stuff, good work on this...
 
David,

I do go pickless sometimes, but not on this (not consciously anyway). However, I do have a tendency of making contact with the flesh in combination with the pick. Something like what you'd normally do to get Roy Buchanon type harmonics - except I'm not doing it for the harmonics - I started doing it without realizing it, but it does do something to the sound. As for Trower, I love his playing but have never really been deeply into his stuff. Certainly loved Bridge of Sighs - especially the whole mood.

Thanks for listening man. Appreciate your comments.
 
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