Anyone want to critique my band?

[J-Building]

At the risk of plugging my band here, I just want to see if anyone is interested in my bands music. We're an alternative rock band (we're not really sure what we can call ourselves outside of "rock") that was pretty much your typical garage band. We do this for fun and we're probably not looking to make it big as all of us are interested in finishing college first. We recorded a set of songs last summer, and they're the first six songs on our myspace. These are probably our best songs, since we've built upon what we had recorded and garnered almost two years' worth collective musical knowledge. You can also download it on band camp in a variety of formats, including the (in my opinion) seemingly-useless FLAC. It's all for free as well Leave some feedback here or on the facebook if you don't mind! We spent nearly 1.2k to record these songs, and we're not exactly rich, so kind words are all that keep us going!

Thanks,
Nick

myspace.com/jbuilding
facebook.com/jbuilding
j-building.bandcamp.com

[Secret Journey]

good mix, bass is right up there with guitar. For my taste I would cut a bit of the mid, and add a little more top. thats just my thought. good luck!

[nazroth]

I like it keep it up reel original, dont be afraid to ham it up a bit.

[J-Building]

Thanks for your input. The guy who does our mixes and recording is really smart about what he does, probably since he has his own musical projects going on at the same time. And though it probably doesn't follow the general rhetoric of the forums here, I'd say I probably overplayed a little, since our singer doesn't usually come up with vocals until the end, which kind of limits our creative freedom and gives me one less melody to try to blend with.

[BKBassDude]

I like your playing a lot, reminds me of Nick Harmer from Death Cab, who is one of my favorite players out there when it comes to cool line selection.

That being said, I didn't care for the singer, he seemed just too casual, like he didn't really want to be recorded.

But overall listenable, interesting mixing, solid stuff.

[trayner1]

I like it...real nice. But, I agree with BKBassDude in that the singer is too casual, and with Secret Journey, in that you should all more hi...you would sound a bit like the guy from Dead Meadow.

[agreatheight]

I dig the songwriting, pretty interesting stuff. And overall, I would definitely say nice work!

But you can tell you are a young band, in a few ways. There was a lack of assuredness in the performances, especially the vocals. There was a lack of cohesion in the groove - the drummer wasn't as tight as the songs called for, imo. There was a lack of dynamics, a lack of ebb and flow in the music, push and pull. There was no musical journey, but it was a nice walk.

In terms of what you can do... play more shows, write more songs, keep up the good work! You should consider getting with the drummer and working out to a click - it's your next step in terms of recording, at least.

[J-Building]

We're all kind of on board with you guys about the vocals (I say kind of because our vocalist has a bit of a higher opinion about his ability than the rest of us think). Thanks for the kind words about my playing. I've heard a little Death Cab before, but that was years before I'd started playing bass, and Dead Meadow is pretty cool stuff actually. I could really get into them if I get the time.

It's funny how you mention the lack of tightness in the drums and working to a click, because we actually all had a click track when we recorded. We did try to shoot for better quality this time, but we definitely tried to hurry through our tracking to save as much money as possible. Our drummer isn't the most skilled (actually, that could be said for all of us), but I think the band generally agrees that he is a solid drummer. I'm going to try to listen for more time inconsistencies.

As for the dynamics, I don't know if we exactly factor that into our songs. Do you mean actual dynamics, as in volume of the instruments, or do you mean more like a general flow to the song?

[perfektspace6]

I like the way the bass sits in the mix but not when everything drops out. I also like your playing. Nice flow to your lines that compliment the vibe of the music.