Care to critique these two songs?

[Busker]

Thanks for all the replies.

[Busker]

Anyone? No country fans here?

[gotmule?]

Sounds good man, I actually like the tone. But I do agree that the bass needs to be brought up more in the mix.

[2x4strgkramers]

It is very Pop Country. Good stuff it will sell well in the market. Not my taste and turn the bass up in the mix. If not just unplug.

[Ric5]

I'm not a country fan ... but that is good stuff ...

[Steve]

I'm a huge country fan.

I dig it. But...I thought the bass lines sounded a little too staccato for my ears.

I don't know as I would quote that Fabulous Thunderbirds guitar riff that strongly. It's been done.

[dmusic148]

Tell ya what--that sort of thing is generally not my thing, but it sounds great. I'd be happy to have that gig. 'Redneck by Trainwreck' need some sort of bridge to break it up-gets a little boring. But overall, sounds like a real band to me. Nice work.

[Busker]

Generally positive comments. Thanks all, I'm encouraged.

Originally Posted by Steve

I'm a huge country fan.

I dig it. But...I thought the bass lines sounded a little too staccato for my ears.

I don't know as I would quote that Fabulous Thunderbirds guitar riff that strongly. It's been done.

Staccato? You mean on the first song? I'll take that into consideration. I had never heard a recording of either song, until the playback on these. They told me what they wanted, but I had no recordings to go by. The notes are pretty much what they want, but maybe I can experiment with the "feel" of it.

FWIW, these songs are pretty basic, as far as chords and bass lines. We do some stuff that is a little more involved, musically, than these.

Can you point out the Fabulous Thunderbirds riff? I mean, I like Jimmie Vaughan, I'm just not too familiar with the songs of the F.T. past "Tough Enough" (or is that "Tuff Enuff"?). I used to have a F.T. cassette tape back in the day, but it was destroyed in the summer heat inside my car before I really got the chance to listen to it.

[Busker]

Originally Posted by dmusic148

Tell ya what--that sort of thing is generally not my thing, but it sounds great. I'd be happy to have that gig. 'Redneck by Trainwreck' need some sort of bridge to break it up-gets a little boring. But overall, sounds like a real band to me. Nice work.

Yeah, I know what you mean about a bridge. I'll mention it, but he won't want to change it now.

[Mikropxichk]

I like it- very catchy and would play great at any country venue- kinda reminds me of the Charlie Daniels Band, especially the second one. Still has it's own sound to it...but agree with the others- a little more bass please! Best of luck!

[Steve]

By staccato I mean generally there's too much space between the notes making the line sound less smooth and flowing than it should. Note duration is everything in country music.

IMHO But, that's just my opinion. There's nothing "wrong" with what's there.

I think, and it has happened to me, that the peculiarities of playing live where things can get muddy a lot of time you get in the habit of playing that way to project the notes a little better. When you get in the studio you loose the room effect that causes the note to last a little longer and the effect is a note thats a hair shorter than anticipated.

It's subtle. No biggie.

The song is Tough Enough by The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Thats just what sprang to mind when I listened to the stuff.
Bass is a hair choppy...Somebody is channeling TFT.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

[kevbassman]

I'm not a country fan.....and I do hear the T-Birds "Are you Tough E'Nuff" riff on the second song. Not bad.
The one thing I hear allot of, is compression. Especially on the kick drum & the bass intro on the second song. Compression is a good tool, just like reverb, when used wisely. IMHO, the second track is too much compressed. The bass really isn't lost in the mix, it's over compressed. Bass reminded me alittle bit of Bon Jovi's "Livin' n a Prayer". The vocals, guitars, didn't sound over compressed to my ear, but the drums & bass surely were.
Overall, a solid effort. I think you guys should be proud of your efforts!

[Tumeni Notes]

I really do not listen to country music, but I try not to miss an opportunity to listen to what my fellow TB's are doing.

I really liked the first song. The singer has that country-singing voice that I hear on the radio.

I think your band has alot of potential and I wish you and your bandmates good fortune. Perhaps you can backup Shania Twain someday (If our band could do that, I would play country all the time).

[Busker]

Originally Posted by kevbassman

I'm not a country fan.....and I do hear the T-Birds "Are you Tough E'Nuff" riff on the second song. Not bad.
The one thing I hear allot of, is compression. Especially on the kick drum & the bass intro on the second song. Compression is a good tool, just like reverb, when used wisely. IMHO, the second track is too much compressed. The bass really isn't lost in the mix, it's over compressed. Bass reminded me alittle bit of Bon Jovi's "Livin' n a Prayer". The vocals, guitars, didn't sound over compressed to my ear, but the drums & bass surely were.
Overall, a solid effort. I think you guys should be proud of your efforts!

That was all engineering then. I was basically going straight to board. He had me plugged into some kind of processing equipment, and then to board. No amp/ speaker cabinet setup like I'm used to. The guitarist, OTOH, got to use a mic'd up guitar amp.

Also, these were not "finished product" yet (perhaps I put them on myspace prematurely, but dang, I wanted something on there). I think a lot of problems, like the bass volume, and maybe even some eq, can be fixed when the final mix is done.

Thanks for the kudos.