Need discography help!!. Please listen!!

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stray411

stray411

New member
I'm trying to get my discography out to a couple labels but I'm a few tracks short. I have some older material that may work but I want to get some views on it if possible. This is my solo EP from 10/99.

The material was all produced on the Boss DR-5 Rhythm Section ($400 machine). The tracks were recorded in a local studio.

Take a listen to Unorthodox and/or More Than Words. Let me what you think. Thanks in advance.


Stray

http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/The_Stray_Cat/
 
Firstly, I don't know why you had 2 ask about Unorthadox - that's a tight track. I'd definately put it on.

Secondly - More Than Words "cannot be found":rolleyes:
 
Abyss,

Thanks for the listen and replies. The reason I'm asking about these songs is because they are old (to me anyway I recorded them 3 years ago) and I'm at a different level musically now. I got some great reviews on the tracks back in 99 but I just want to make sure they stand the test of time and sound okay in 2002.

I was pretty much planning on using Unorthodox, but I am definitely unsure about More Than Words. I'm not sure what's wrong with IUMA but check the track out at my Peoplesound site.

http://music.peoplesound.com/artists/artisthome.asp?country=en&artistID=1375746

Let me know what you think on that one.

Stray
 
More Than Words sounds a bit too "pop" I can see why you're not sure - i don't think it'll go in with your other tracks.

Are you using Draft Pick? If not, I'd choose that because that is a hot track.
 
Abyss,

You took the words right out of my mouth. And yes, that is why I wasn't sure about More Than Words. Thanks for the comments on Draft Pick, I always liked the track I just wasnt pleased with how the singing parts came out. Any thoughts on Destination Unknown?

Stray
 
I'd just use em all. None are bad songs. Just make sure you got those dates beside all of em.

Draft Pick got to be annoying as hell though. That singing/moaning. Just thought i'd let ya know.

Good luck. Peace.
 
Destination Unknown is a good track, too, though it's just missing one little thing that doesn't say "buy me" like most of your other work does.

To sum it up: -

Draft Pick: Definately

Unorthadox: Definately

More Than Words: Unlikely

Destination Unknown: Not bad, but not as good as your others

That's pretty much all my opinions.

(Can't get "Draft Pick" outt my head now:rolleyes: )
 
Lazi,

I hear you on the annoying vocals in Draft Pick. That was my only reservation in using it. Thanks for pointing that out that is what I want to hear.

Abyss,

You're too damn good to me man. Thanks for checking out all the tracks and giving me the breakdown. It definitely will help in deciding what I will include. I hear you on Destination Unknown. It is a concept song and kind of hard to follow unless you have the lyrics in front of you, definitely far from a radio single.

If it's not too much to ask I'm looking for maybe 1 or 2 more reviews if possible. This an important decision I have to make and I want/need as much info as I can get.

Thanks again fellas,

Stray

PS. What do you think of the quality of the beats? Again they were made on a $400 drum machine, no PC, no multitrack recorder. Are you suprised at the quality or are you overlooking it because I mentioned it? Let me know on that as well.
 
stray411 said:
PS. What do you think of the quality of the beats? Again they were made on a $400 drum machine, no PC, no multitrack recorder. Are you suprised at the quality or are you overlooking it because I mentioned it? Let me know on that as well.
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I'm not the one 2 ask that as I don't know shit about owt like that, I just know how 2 rap, use a P.C. and "think" of beats.

One point though:

You may wanna change the name of Draft Pick before some wanker comes along and changes Draft Pick to Daft Prick

Just a little note. How about just callin' it Drafted - just an idea I thought you might want 2 know and/or not be shocked by, etc.
 
Abyss, I'll take that into consideration, although I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean by it. Is that supposed to be a joke?

Stray
 
Stray,

Unorthodox is very tight. The rapping is fucking virtuoso!

Sorry, I’m listening with headphones, so I can’t say anything about levels and EQ. But, here’s my take on some other things.

The intro up to the point before the woman laughs needs work. The synths sound cheap and the singing is a bit too sloppy. I understand the effect she’s going for, but it’s too much, especially in contrast to the very tight rhymes. The baritone horn line is excellent. I really hear where you’re at with that, but once again I think the sound is weak. This song would benefit tremendously if you could reproduce that horn line with some full sounding real horn samples.

I like the panned rap accompaniment, but it sounds too much the "same" as the center track. It’s the same voice, probably through the same microphone, and very similar EQ. Ideally another rapper’s voice would really bring this effect alive. Short of that, I would EQ the side tracks differently and maybe give them a little extra compression to help differentiate the sound. Also, all the rap vocals need de-essed.

But like I said, my main issues are that the synths sound cheap and the female singer needs to tighten up. Other than that, this is a great song!!!

I’ll get back to you on the other songs when I get time.

Great work Stray. :cool:

barefoot
 
Barefoot,

I much appreciate the listen and constructive criticism. I'm not sure if you read the initial post but this material is from '99 and is definitely what I would consider lo-fi. I produced all of the tracks with a Boss DR-5 Drum Machine. I feel that all the sounds are cheesy, but the recording quality is okay as it was done in a commercial studio.

The reason I posted is because I need to get my discography out and I'm a couple tracks short. I'd rather not include any of these songs honestly, but I need more tracks so I'm digging.

I'm not making excuses because I'm proud of this work for what it is and when it was done, but it is nowhere near the quality I'm coming with now. If you got a minute check out my mp3 site and listen to "This Is Life" or "All Love", those are the types of songs I'm doing now.

Barefoot, again I appreciate the comments and it will definitely help in determining what to include in the discography.

Thanks,

Stray

www.mp3.com/PerpetualProductio
 
Barefoot,

BTW, I saw some of your speaker designs and damn I'm impressed, I mean really impressed. You have a set of towers with dual woofers and the box is cylindrical that are just the baddest monitors I have ever seen.

I want me a pair of those, I'll be saving up because I know those aren't gonna be cheap. I read in another thread that you're working on some new designs. I'm anxious to see what those look like as well.

Let me know when you have some pics available.

Thanks,

Stray
 
stray411 said:
Abyss, I'll take that into consideration, although I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean by it. Is that supposed to be a joke?

Stray
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I don't know what I mean by it either, I just thought you might wanna know.......

Don't get me wrong, I ain't dissin' the track 'coz it's good and would make a valuable addition.

I know what you mean about "This Is Life", etc. being way above it's league. But even though you may not be too pleased with the beat - the lyrics are great:)
 
stray411 said:
If you got a minute check out my mp3 site and listen to "This Is Life" or "All Love", those are the types of songs I'm doing now. www.mp3.com/PerpetualProductio
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The only time I have during the week to get online is at work.;) But, I’m behind a firewall here, so I can’t stream audio, only download. I’ll try and listen to these over the weekend at home - lo-fi with my dial-up connection.
BTW, I saw some of your speaker designs and damn I'm impressed, I mean really impressed. You have a set of towers with dual woofers and the box is cylindrical that are just the baddest monitors I have ever seen.

I want me a pair of those, I'll be saving up because I know those aren't gonna be cheap. I read in another thread that you're working on some new designs. I'm anxious to see what those look like as well.
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Thanks for the compliments Stray. Those speakers were designed as mastering monitors for a friend of mine who owns a classical music recording company. My woodworking facilities are far more limited since I moved to SF and don’t have an official speaker business. I could build you something along those lines, but with a more "industrial" look. No pics yet because the designs are fresh off the drawing board. Think synthetic black granite and rubber. Seriously, they’re going to look fucking badass urban. Proprietary new inner workings as well. Dynaudio and followers, step aside. :cool:

barefoot
 
Abyyss,

I wasn't offended by your post I just didn't understand it, I still don't, but that's okay. I will definitely keep everyone on the board here up to date on any callbacks I get.

Barefoot,

Let me know if you get a chance to listen. The industrial designs you're talking about sound interesting. You gonna do any floor standing tower designs?

Also, please don't stop posting here. People who are into electronica/techno on this board are few and far between, but we are here. Hip-hop and electronica are completely different animals, but some of us can appreciate and get into various types of music. Others can't, which isn't a bad thing, but on the same token shouldn't make someone like yourself feel unwelcomed. Like I say, I'm looking forward to hearing more of your work.

PS, thank you to everyone for the feedback here. I'm going to be including "Unorthodox" on the discography and the rest will stay in the archive. I'll post more tracks from the discography over the next few weeks.

Thanks,

Stray

www.mp3.com/PerpetualProductio
 
stray411 said:
Let me know if you get a chance to listen.
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Stray,

I listened to your new tracks. I also tried streaming the hi-fi versions over my dial-up but just got brief snippets of sound... good enough though to at least hear that the production on these is a lot better than your earlier stuff.

Stylistically, I have to say I like the direction you were going with Unorthodox and now Hottie1 much better than the other tracks. I dig the more stark, synthetic style of these. And as with Orthodox I wouldn't change the basic types of sounds in Hottie 1, but I do think the sounds need a little more character and richness.

Those "all in one" orchestral sounds of This Is Life, All Love, New Beat 4 and the others, I just don't like so much. Personally I would steer far clear of the glockenspiel/strings and piano/strings type patches you get from many workstations. They sound very "corporate video" to my ears, if you know what I mean. If I was going to do an orchestral type of arrangement, I would come up with several different sounding patches for each part, maybe from a few different synths, and track them all separately with slightly tweaked timings, EQs and effects. This gives things a much bigger, richer and more organic feel than "all in one" patches.

To sum it up, this is some very high quality work. From what I can discern with my dial-up, the production is real tight and something you could easily send out as a demo. As a matter of personal taste, I prefer the styles of Unorthodox and Hottie 1. And I would suggest reorchestrating the other tracks to give them less of a straight out of the workstation sound.
The industrial designs you're talking about sound interesting. You gonna do any floor standing tower designs?
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Damn, someone who actually prefers towers! I build systems of various sizes, but man I'm usually in there trying to change people's opinions and convince them to go with bigger cabinets. Bigger cabinets give a much tighter more accurate bass response than smaller cabinets despite what any marketing department or paid off reviewer says. Nah, nobody needs to twist my arm to build towers.:D
Also, please don't stop posting here....I'm looking forward to hearing more of your work.
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Hey, I truly appreciate your words my friend. And I get the impression from your posts that you're a straight up individual who knows how to join into a community like this and give and take opinions in a dignified manner. :cool:

Peace,

barefoot
 
Barefoot,

I really appreciate the detail of your review. This is the type of criticism that is truly helpful. The only problem I have with that is this. I don't have a central workstation. All my string sounds come from several modules and are generally detuned and panned separate from each other. I guess I'm not using my modules properly. I never really tried adding any sort of delay or different EQing though. I'm gonna give what you're talking about a try.

Again, thanks for your time and detail of your review. I will put your advice to good use.

Thanks,

Stray

www.mp3.com/PerpetualProductio
 
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