Samicide mp3's

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BigPapaFly

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You are really getting the most out of the 788. Please tell me you're not using the 788 effects for the guitars, because if you are, I need to know what you're doing- what you're using (parameters?).

Oddly enough, "Earwig" reminded me of Rush (circa "Farewell To Kings")....then it got a little more agressive...then the time sig changed and it reminded me of Rush again. In modern terms I was thinking the closest thing I've heard, style-wise, is 911. Sorry, I can tell by the musical aptitude of your band that you probably hate that (911 sucks)...

Are you aware that NOT ONE WORD IS understandable? Considering the passionate sound of the music, I would think you'd like people to hear what you're SAYING. Absolutely not possible, though. Pretty cool effect and performance on the vocal tip, but I sure wish I knew what the hell you were saying.

I enjoy hearing guitar ala Alex Lifeson. If you're too young to know who that is, turn your guitar player on to him: a real subtle inovator. The guitar could hold back a bit more (notes-wise) and still be very powerful.

I like the intro to "Splitting Headache." Simple things like an interesting intro can hold a listener for longer than they might normally stick around. You accomplish that in the intro of this song-- good production ideas. But again: where the hell are the lyrics? Actually, I'm not a big lyrical person, in general. I don't care if the words make sense at all, but I feel a little left out when I don't ubnderstand them. I felt left out of both of these songs...I didn't feel included in the experience.

Kurt Cobain is one of my all-time favorites. He's one of the most notorious when it comes to singing stuff you can't possibly understand. BUT, he always laid back a little on the vocal performance--focussed on emotion--so that even though you don't know what he's saying, you can feel him-- you can FEEL what he's saying.

The singer in these songs, to me (at least), seems to have a really strong voice. If his voice is as strong as I think it is, it would sure be nice to feel what he's feeling, even if I can't understand the words.

As far as 788 recording techniques are concerned...did you hire an engineer? Because even though I'm disappointed by the lack of lyrical clarity, it's recorded and mixed damn near perfect. The lack of ability to hear the words is more a performnce and attitude thing than it is a recording thing. Really good job engineering and recording.

Anyway...I've speant plenty of time in clubs where people freaked out to music where they had no idea what the guy was saying. The most powerful was Nirvana, though, back in '91 in a small tavern in Pioneer Square, Seattle. Same thing, no one knew what he was saying, but we were moved. Aforementioned comments are probably just the againg ears of a grunge burn-out (hehehe).

I look forward to reading other people's thoughts on your work. You'll find a lot of different ages and angles in here. No holds barred. Just honesty. No blowing smoke--- no being rude.

Please take the time to listen to the other artists posted thus far...don't expect them to sound like you...they don't. That's good. You can see by the length of this response that if you'll take the time to try and be critical and helpful, it will come back to you.

Good work...where's the lyric sheet? (hehehe)
 
thanks for checkin' em out BPF. each song was approached differently. I dont use the 788 effects for guitar. each song was done a bit different. i do all the singing except for the tunes where it says someone else. all those tunes were either done alone by me, or with one of my friends. If you want to know
any specifics about what was used on what tune or what part,
let me know and ill tell you. otherwise i'll spare the ugly details unless someone wants to know. i dont have any expensive equipment.
As a matter of fact, the 788 is one of the single most expensive things used. where are your tunes BPF? I CANT FIND EM.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


WWW.MP3.COM/SAMICIDE
 
I have only one mp3 posted on the net. It's a great little alt/pop song (humility?)....but my vocals are just sickening bad (ah...there's the humility)...and the mix is aweful and muddy. No point in checking it out even.
 
B.SABBATH
Just listened to all your tunes. Very well put together and recorded and mixed, I liked Busiest Graveyard and The Darkend Skies the best.

Yeah, it is a little hard to understand the lyrics. Here's what I think is going on; the mp3 conversion process doesn't like your music. Because there's a lot going on production wise it's having a hard time finding ways to compress, it's looking for invisible things in the backround across the whole spectrum to toss out and when it can't find much, things get thinner. If it were just recordings of a guitar and vocal there's no problem, but all the space gets filled something has to give.

Here's what you might try; in the stereo mix, make a separate mix for an mp3 as opposed to a 16bit stereo mix for a CD/R. Eliminate everything below 60hz and everything above 15Khz, mp3's can't hear it anyway and it's therefore useless information. This gives it less to compress and will make what's left sound much better. If you're normalizing, normalize to no more than 95% of peak before converting to mp3 (it pushes up the volume a hair). There's lots you can do in the mix, but this is a start.

Again, great work!
 
THANKS GUYS!

I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond. Thanks for starting that thread BPF! The tips I got so far have got me thinking. I think I understand what your saying philboyd, is it similar to the data compression from my old sony minidisc?
I'm still new to the mp3 concept. I have about 17 more songs that I haven't converted yet, some of them are straight ahead classical, and others are quite heavy, I'll have a chance to try out your eq tips after i print them out and try and absorb it all. I am still digesting BPF'S responce. You guys are seriously schooled in this so I look forward to what i can learn. Im going to look for your tunes right now philboyd. Have you heard the song that BPF has? I would really like to hear it. Ill post a response to your tunes on the other thread. Or should i post it here? I'm not sure about the protocal yet, but somehow i think i'll be here enough to find out.
thanks again and happy holidays all!
 
B.SABBATH
Don't sell yourself short, I think you know what you're doing.

Yeah, you'd pretty eq a minddisk the same as an mp3. Wish I knew that when I was making them. I use them for accopaniment for live work (bass and drums). Too much to go back and do it all again.

BPF's song was called 'Crack' and was good.
 
B.SABBATH
Another thing, I really like your guitar playing, very inventive. So here's the deal. My live work is solo new age/classical/flamenco on an acoustic but for new year's eve I'm lead guitar in a band and don't want to embarass myself as much as last year. Can you teach me how to play like that between now and then?
 
JOHN MALCOLM PENN

I was not ready for what i just heard.....I couldnt believe it. After seeing your name, I thought you were going to be hard rock or something, "PHILBOYD" sounded metal to me, dont ask me why,

I have "Coffin Eddie" playing right now. I almost cant accept that your someone who records at home with a 788, and not on the radio....Are you on the radio? Are you someone totally famous just messing with the little guys? "Coffin Eddie", "Dj blues",
even if I had construcive criticism, I wouldn't express it here,
Its too good. "Sasquatch" is my favorite so far, but that might change when my buddys kids get here and were boppin' around to "bugs!"

My guitar playing is smoke and mirrors, your the real deal!
 
Hey Sabbath:


My sentiments exactly with regard to Penn. It's kind of frustrating, isn't it? My music isn't like Philboyd's, but when I heard it I loved it. It is of such a high quality that no matter what you're into you've got to appreciate it, and probably really like it.

It's frustrating because if this guy's not on the radio, I never will be.

John told me DJ Blues was originally "Disco Blues." Listen it to it with that in mind and it's even better.
 
Thanks a lot guys, it means a lot. I don't sing much in my live work and when I do, it's covers.

I'll be changing that page with other material soon but mp3.com is pretty much closed up for the holidays and I bailed on the premium artist thing, so it'll take awhile to post. Maybe there's somewhere else, I hear ampcast is pretty good. Of the 14 cd's done so far 12 are set to go as far as having copyright registrations in order, so I can pull material off of them for mp3 play.

I've getting a little airplay at a small public radio station in southern Illinois that reaches towards Louisville. They liked 'Alaska Bound' for the morning commute, and gave me a whole hour once. They even played 'Legend of San Jacinto' which is over seven minutes long. It was great when there were lots of stations that did that.

So, B.Sabbath, it's smoke and mirrors? How much smoke, and what mirrors should I use? I'll be running a Gibson jazzer or Strat through a Peavey classic chorus I just picked up and I'm stuck with it's effects. Any ideas besides stay home?
 
SMOKE and MIRRORS

hey philboyd, as far as the mirrors go, I use a whole lot of different little toys, you said something about, flamingo/new age
type tunes that you'll be doing and asking what I think might be helpful with the guitar sound. I'm not even sure what flamingo/new age means. (lol) If you were doing some distortion orientated tunes I probably would have a lot to say, but for the style your doing, I'm out of my element. I have a few acoustic tunes I did though that ill put up after the holidays, and I can't wait to hear what everyones take is on them. If your refering to any particular song or part of mine, just ask and i'll tell you exactly what was used and where. I used something different in almost every song.

That was the mirrors, and now for the smoke,

LEGALIZE IT!...............thats all ill say about that. (lol)


peace
 
BS,

listened to the Busiest Graveyard... it is really a superb sounding mix you are getting, sounds great even on mp3! Was this remastered for you or is this all home recording? Everything is crystal clear in the mix, it is just excellent. The drums sound fantastic. I think the vocals are muffled only as an artifact of mp3. Also a very cool song, will listen to more soon.

Cheers
Rich ;)
 
Thanks for taking the time DR,

Yeah, this was all done at home. That particular tune, "The Busiest Graveyard", was mixed and recorded before I had monitors.
Now I have these fresh EVENT 20/20's, $299 (the passive ones)
hooked up to a $150 reciever, and its a world of difference.
I definetly have a problem with vocals, but I'm working on it.
Philboyd, BPF, are both some smart people, and I posted these songs in a few other places, and got similar response about vocals, but not as detailed and smart sounding as the gentlemen here.

I probably won't remix that song, because the new stuff is taking priority, but I hope the new stuff will show improvement, and I'll let the older stuff just retire and reflect how miserable I was when I did them. I played everything and sang everything on that one so theres no one else to blame. Those drum sounds were an ALESIS DM-5 $279 hooked up to some cheap pads,

If there's something good about this mix, thats cool, because I only remixed it, a thousand times, But now that i have monitors,
I can cut that down by at least half. Sometimes you get so used to hearing a certain mix, you figure, "screw it, I'll just make a new song and do better."

So far, I haven't.


peace.

www.mp3.com/samicide
 
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