Give it to me straight, I can take it

[Lost on side]

Check these MP3's out, and tell me what you think. They are both self- produced 8-track, 1/2" analog recordings. I know what I don't like about 'em, but need some objective input.Thanks

http://www.myspace.com/beamout

[JWL]

I listened to Time Eraser. Great song, great arrangement, great performances....wow. Seriously.

Though I think you overdid the tape saturation just a bit. Sounds a bit *too* muddy from that to my ear.... A bit muddy in the midbass overall. Not sure if the saturation I'm hearing is an effect or the real deal... if you can cut that back I would.

Other than that, it sounds great, everything has its own space, and the mix enhances rather than detracts from the song/arrangements/performances. Very cool!

[Lost on side]

thanks, useful information. The basic tracks (gt,bass,drums,synth) were recorded on a 4track and transferred to the 8track, so I think it muddied up the lower mids. you think mastering can help that?

[madtho]

Awesome.

-mad

[hammertime]

I just listened to Time Eraser. The song has some really good ideas, and could be made into something really good. But the recording just isn't that great. Honestly, I think four tracks are good for "lo -fi," but you've got a song with a sort of hi-fi theme, and alot of pretty interesting synth stuff going on ("prosody"). I personally think you'd be better off with a digital recording, or a better analog one. Aside from the chorus, I can't really understand the lyrics very well, and I think it's because the recording is just distorted and sounds smeared in a way I don't think mastering is going to help. The second problem is in the arrangement of contrast between the song sections. Of the 2 most common problems in songwriting, I've heard it tell that 1. lacking prosody, and 2. lacking contrast between the sections, are the 2 most common problems. You've basically got the same bass and chords going for the first 2 minutes of the song, and then you finally get a break. I was thinking you could, just drop out the music, and do a whiteboy rap in the verse, and then bring in those chords and the bass in the chorus? or change the chords/bass in one of the sections. Also, some of the more interesting musical stuff in Time Eraser is that trippy instrumentation you bring in toward the end. I'd recommend putting some of that up front. And I'd take the "Da Da Da" stuff, which would be a good break, and put it towards the end of the song. Some of the instrumentation is a bit sloppy and slightly out of tune in parts as well -- the ideas are good, the performance just needs to be cleaned up. I really think that, with more work, that could be turned into a pretty catchy song.

[hammertime]

Come to think of it, you might want to listen to "Burning down the House" by the Talking heads, since they use basically the same chord progression (I to flat VII, I think that's what you're doing). I think your verses would be pretty cool if you played the chords sort of like they do (coming in just on the first beat of the measure), and then came in with what you're playing on the choruses. Do the "Da da da" thing towards the end of the song, kind of like a trumpet solo. Speaking of prosody, it might be kind of cool to have the chorus repeat and slowly fadeout, like it's being erased. Each repeat of "time eraser" gets more distant. Maybe use an echo on the repeats to put in the distance. And then bring in those cool trippy sounds you're using at the end in each chorus. I don't mean to knock the recording. But I can't really hear understand the vocals. You could probably boost in the upper mids, but it's a noisy recording to begin with, and it would probably make it sound worse.

[I'm Painting Again]

great songs!

I like the distorto-grungey-muddyness of the recordings..I think it sounds cool that way..more low end and a clearer low end would be nice though..

[joeysimms]

These songs have a very haunting familiarity to them..

[Lost on side]

These songs have a very haunting familiarity to them..

Yes, I think you know my ghost.

It's nice to have some in-depth criticism, most of which kinda reinforce my own judgements. Working to get a better low end, and I no longer use the 4-track for they basic tracks, these were kind of an anomaly. Thanks for listening.

[themagicmanmdt]

they had way too much low end, at least I thought so. i agree with the saturation too - a little more clarity would be better.