listen to my stuff plz - New Lord Only music

**john turner** · #1 05-22-2009, 09:45 AM

hey guys.

i could wax poetic for 10 pages now about this stuff, and the shear hell it's been putting it together, but i'd prefer to just ask you guys to give it a listen and tell me if you think - honestly - this stuff is worth even bothering about.

the bare minimum - the 4 tracks i'd like you guys to listen to are the first 4 on our myspace, all prefaced with "dante's cafe". they are all part of the same big piece, sort of a classic prog rock concept piece loosely based on the divine comedy. part 1 is a brief intro, part 2 is loosely based on inferno, talking about the nature of institutional evil, part 3 is loosely based on purgatorio, talking about the nature of dreams and sacrifice for them, and part 4 is loosely based on paradiso, and is about (secular/humanist) faith (in others, oneself, goodness, etc).

these are extremely rough mixes - the drums are dead-sounding and too quiet, there is no post-processing/compression on any of the instruments, and the last track is actually missing a few lyrics and some small vocal effects that i wish to add. very raw, and to my ears barely listenable, mixes, but they convey the idea. listen more aesthetically than technically, if you guys can.

so yeah, first 4 tracks on my myspace, listen to them please, give me your impressions. be prepared, they are prog songs. if you don't like 70's era yes, rush, tull, etc, or long instrumental passages trying to paint pictures, or 15 part vocal harmonies, or yada yada, you'll probably not dig em, and that's ok. lemme know anyway.

thanks.

http://www.myspace.com/lordonly

ghiadub · #2 05-22-2009, 11:32 AM

On song II; Mix is good, good bass sound, drums sound muffled but that is probably the mp3 compression. Lead vocals are hard to hear when he sings low. Nice progressions. Harmonies are really cool. All in all; really good stuff and I was trying hard to find something to criticize.

**john turner** · #3 05-22-2009, 11:57 AM

thanks

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WalterBush · #4 05-22-2009, 12:05 PM

It's rough sounding, but I liked the ideas. I like your bass tone right out of the box, too.

With some spit-and-polish on the mix, it's something I'd like to hear more of.

**john turner** · #5 05-22-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WalterBush

I like your bass tone right out of the box, too.

thanks. that's my doubleneck conklin - i had that instrument made in large part to play this piece. i go back and forth between fretted and fretless all over these 4 songs.

Steve · #6 05-22-2009, 12:53 PM

I'd be more than a little hesitant to critique the mix due to the frequently weird stuff that mp3 compression then re-compression by the likes of myspace and youtube can do to unmastered music, I damn sure wouldn't toss it out.

It's a very intriguing blend of influences.

bassteban · #7 05-22-2009, 12:59 PM

Not my cup of tea, but very impressive in it's vastness(compositionally). I'll also vote for some refinement- the vocals specifically need a touch of reverb & EQ.

neptoon · #8 05-22-2009, 01:04 PM

are these to follow up the fear and trembling stuff?

**john turner** · #9 05-22-2009, 04:36 PM

yep, these 4 tunes are about half of the 2nd cd, ecstatic discharge.

**john turner** · #10 05-22-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassteban

Not my cup of tea, but very impressive in it's vastness(compositionally). I'll also vote for some refinement- the vocals specifically need a touch of reverb & EQ.

yeah, the vocal mixes fluctuate and all that. i sorta liked the fact that they were "earthy" in that there's nothing there. they are naked vocals, just me and the two guitarists - you can really hear it at the end of the last song,the acapella thing.

but yeah a little bit of aftermarket processing (some eq and a bit of compression) would really pop the vox to another level, i think.

the reason why i phrased it like i did is that the first cd we (the four of us) splurged a bit, spent money we didn't have to get a real pro guy to mix the cd (neil kernon, suggested to us by terry brown, who was interested but previously committed at the time we needed the mix done) and while he did a good job on what he did, we could not afford to get him to do it the ideal manner (i.e. not rushed). as it was it cost 10 grand out of our pockets to get only about 2/3 of the first cd mixed. even split 4 ways, that's serious dough, and that didn't even finish it.

now there's only 3 of us, and popping that kind of dough on getting this thing mixed (along with the 5 other songs on the cd) is really not realistic (especially considering i've been unemployed for a while and have zero dollars and zero cents to spend on a mix).

so my original question - is it worth it? -shrug-.

thanks for listening guys.

IconBasser · #11 05-22-2009, 11:53 PM

sounded like a hybrid of Symphony X and Rush.

interesting concepts.

**john turner** · #12 05-23-2009, 07:17 AM

interesting comparison. thanks

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neptoon · #13 05-23-2009, 08:55 AM

i'll have to give it a listen today - i really loved the first cd...i kinda know what you're going through with the mixing, now that i'm experiencing it first hand (even though the guitarist/writer/producer - now a syndicated critic...retired navy guy...is spending his own money, i still have to wait - waiting sucks)...it seems like after my band went through a couple of people coming back seriously broke and dissatisfied, we're using ben rosen (marilyn manson) from australia, ben grosse (love shack, roam), and sam hofstedt (who's a good friend of the band from seattle who's done pearl jam, nirvana, alice in chains, others) to all do one song, and i think we're going to go with the guy that does the best one...it's an aggravating and slow process...feel your pain, man

phxlbrmpf · #14 05-23-2009, 09:13 AM

A concept album based on the Divine Comedy? Cool beans! Will commence listening now!

BadB · #15 05-23-2009, 09:13 AM

The bass sounds great and you're a great player. I am digging all of it. Your influences are very apparent. In a good way. The name Hal Chaisson rings a bell. I seem to remember that name from the early 80's. Maybe a couple of brothers, or something???

James Hart · #16 05-23-2009, 09:59 AM

very nice John! It's about time you've got some new stuff coming together... let me know when you start taking pre orders.

I'll reserve any real opinions other than... I found it very listenable and enjoyable from both a fan of music AND from a musician point of view.

Great tone and chops as always

**john turner** · #17 05-23-2009, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neptoon

i'll have to give it a listen today - i really loved the first cd...i kinda know what you're going through with the mixing, now that i'm experiencing it first hand (even though the guitarist/writer/producer - now a syndicated critic...retired navy guy...is spending his own money, i still have to wait - waiting sucks)...it seems like after my band went through a couple of people coming back seriously broke and dissatisfied, we're using ben rosen (marilyn manson) from australia, ben grosse (love shack, roam), and sam hofstedt (who's a good friend of the band from seattle who's done pearl jam, nirvana, alice in chains, others) to all do one song, and i think we're going to go with the guy that does the best one...it's an aggravating and slow process...feel your pain, man

for us, picking the right guy was the (relatively) fun part. getting someone who said they could do the whole cd in 4 days, and then after we've committed and spent the dough, realizing that we're going to walk away from the process with only 2/3 of the cd mixed...not so fun. to be honest, that was the beginning of the end of that particular incarnation of the band.

**john turner** · #18 05-23-2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phxlbrmpf

A concept album based on the Divine Comedy? Cool beans! Will commence listening now!

cool, let me know what you think. (and that's only half the album, tbh. sorta like 2112 - there's another "side" with 5 unrelated songs).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadB

The bass sounds great and you're a great player. I am digging all of it. Your influences are very apparent. In a good way. The name Hal Chaisson rings a bell. I seem to remember that name from the early 80's. Maybe a couple of brothers, or something???

thanks a lot.

i don't know who you could be thinking about regarding hal - i don't think he was doing much of anything in the 80s yet, but i could be mistaken. i started playing with him in 1990.

**john turner** · #19 05-23-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Hart

very nice John! It's about time you've got some new stuff coming together... let me know when you start taking pre orders.

I'll reserve any real opinions other than... I found it very listenable and enjoyable from both a fan of music AND from a musician point of view.

Great tone and chops as always

thanks james

probably not going to start doing anything commercial with the stuff until it's at least mastered. we went all out in a big way on the first cd and it cost a lot of dough. we're going to have to pace ourselves with this 2nd one, and we're also writting material for a 3rd - hal's got 2 songs and i have the equivalent of 3 or 4 in sequenced riffs. gonna do both simultaneously.

**john turner** · #20 05-23-2009, 11:04 AM

the 4th track has some interesting things i was experimenting with - the beginning riff (after the organ) is multi-time sig - the drums and the bass are playing in 5/4, while the acoustic guitar is in 4/4, and the keyboard solo (using the "welcome to the machine" patch heh) alternates with its accents to occasionally line up with the bass/drums and occasionally line up with the acoustic guitar.

been doing a lot of that kind of thing lately in my composition. sorta weird sounding sometimes, but ends up sounding cool and unique. not quite danceable, heh but ... different. heh.