So I guess you've all been wondering what my band sounds like.

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by sargebaker

Hey *temporary hijack* you must like Planet X right?

Never heard of them. Should I have?

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by SMASH

Your bass is totally audible and is very well-suited to the style.

IMO the writing shows enough promise that it's a shame the band is deliberately (I presume it's not by accident) sounding like others in the style. Especially since that style is saturated and, IMO, dying. Mostly I'm reminded of Tool/APC but there are many others.

It sounds negative, but I mean that as a compliment. I feel the writing is good enough that the band deserves its own sound. On the one hand it's excellent modern FM-like production, and on the other hand that sound has been overdone and personally gives me hearing fatique with that artifically BIG yet actually compressed kinda sound a-la "modern FM".

Our biggest FM rock station somehow makes all bands sound that way, even if the original tracks did not. Makes it so you can't tell Offspring from Nickelback from Tool and after 15 minutes my ears are begging for something organic.

JMHO ! Take it as a form of respect and encouragement I'm being honest. There's great talent there which I feel is being buried in a generic sound/style.

Not at all! Matter of fact, this is exactly how I feel about the band. It is a bit generic, and I hope to push it in a direction that is not so derivative. The band is completely in it's infancy, and I joined it knowing that it has a long way to go to develop it's own sound. Paul (the guys who wrote all the stuff), is pretty talented, but I don't think he has the ear to get too strange. He does want to add some weirdness into the mix, which is one of the reasons why he brought me into the band. Give us a year or two, and hopefully we won't sound so much like APC/Tool.

By the way, I'm the only person in the band so far that doesn't cite APC/Tool/NIN as a major influence. It's going to be an uphill climb to get out of that rut, methinks.

[troll]

A man after my own heart. For years I've used a fretless in some similiar bands. I haven't worked it into my new project much, but theres a few I will probably. Mostly the mellower tunes, but it is great to have that dynamic. I don't want to use it all the time like I have in the past.

I prefer to run it honky on the bridge and make it well known that it's a fretless

Sitting back into a 'traditional' bass role is actually quite enjoyable if you still have the ability to add a layer rather than just follow, and to shove the drummer around a bit if you don't like the rhythm they are doing, have input and all that, if you want to play something different. Helps having skilled and smart, and especially patient musicians around, that and I love only having one guitarist. Not sure what you have going here? Is that one or two? (I think I hear two, but it could be layered). The bass sounds good. I'd like to hear a bit more highs from it for coloring on the slides, but that's just me I guess...

And surprised noone mentioned it... what I hear in that first track. Cold.

Troll

[Dynna]

This stuff, while self-admittedly radio-rock, actually sounds cohesive. The band has a good sound. It sounds better than most of the new bands that get mainstream attention.

You guys must have a great producer, good players, or a bassist that knows the difference on board.