there's gotta be something better than 'listen to my band' !

IMHO...

The good: your playing and tone are very solid, and you seem to lockw ith the drummer well. You guys lay down excellent feel throughout.

The bad: I know what you're going for, but the guitar is incredibly sloppy throughout. Also, what happened to the mix on 'Chestnut Strut'? It sounds like the levels got out of control and hit the limiter pretty hard, as though I'm listening to the track back at my old college radio station through the $20 compressors we used. It sounds all smooshy.

I applaud your work, you've obviosuly put a lot of effort into it and I hear very good stuff in there, but the guitarist makes me not want to finish the songs.

 

I like them all! Good stuff.






I disagree with the guy above me though. I like the guitar how it is. Any mistakes that are there only improved the song I think.

 

Great work! I get a real '60s rock vibe off of this - sort of a Who/Led Zeppelin/Doors thing, maybe even some later Beatles. Is that what you are after?

The arrangements are good, there are some unexpected chord changes in there that I like a lot. Your playing seems to be very contained and tight, just right for this style.

Constructive points:

• I tend to prefer the drums a little more up front, although I certainly could recognize how your mix choices might [accurately] relate to the musical era you are addressing in your music.
• Your singer has good intonation but his voice is not really strong when he holds notes longer than a few beats. IMO he would advance greatly by using a vocal coach or finding another one if he has one now. He's got the DNA but some polish would benefit him.
• "Beat The Press" is a 6/8 feel, and those are tough to groove without sounding ponderous on the first and fourth eighth notes. You and the drummer aren't quite escaping that pitfall.

So, where are you with this band now, and what do you hope this recording will do for you guys?

 

I Love it!

If i where the one to mix the songs, i would pan the instruments like this:
Guitar - left 10-15
Bass - right 10-15
Drums - middle 0

 

I really like the room sound of the drum kit

I think an area you could work on is tightening up the guitar and vocal lines to be a bit more decisive, and for the vocal lines to be a more melodic

for an early effort its great

 

+1. Our stuff sounds horrible on myspace too. They obviously downsample; I wonder to what bitrate. My sense is that it is less than 128, perhaps 96.

 

For me it sounds like he falls off the tempo a lot, almost like he can't remember where he's at in the song. Now don't get me wrong, I dig the raw guitar feel (and love stuff like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), but it just sounded like he was making mistakes. No, I'm not saying it should be all pristine and surgical, either as I dislike that approach.

 

A 5 minute song sampled at 128 kpbs would generally be smaller than 6MB (closer to 4, probably). 128 isn't great, but it's good enough for people to buy, and it sounds much better than what myspace seems to use. My guess is that 6MB is the upload maximum, but they sample it down once they get it.

I guess the way to find out would be to download a track from someone's site who allows it, then see what my MP3 player says it is.

 

You guys have a cool vibe. It comes through despite the limitations of the recording (mp3 compression and all), and I'm tapping my foot here listening.

As far as critique -- just keep jamming. There's no other way to tighten a band than to continue to play them until you puke them.

 

BTW; I'm now on the last song and stylistically you are very much sounding like you just stepped out of Austin Powers' cryo-freeze. There's nothing wrong with that at all. I like the sound and the loose feel of the music.