Constructive criticism wanted

[pluginbaby]

Heyheyhey everyone.......just finished first studio recording with my band, and i'm just after some constructive criticism, and general feedback (blatant slagging off will not be appreciated, but is expected all the same). Its online at

www.mp3.com/currentlyunnamedband

Any comments would be appreciated, cheers dudes

[joeinthebox1980]

i'm listening to it right now...

what sort of gear are you using?

it's a tad long at 5 minutes, but whatever, it rocks and you switch it up enough to keep it interesting.

basically, i think it rocks really hard! do you guys have a web site? planning for any albums?

[Crash]

It sounds pretty good, the music is great. The one thing I will say is that the vocals get a little nasally at some points,not sure if that's the right word, kinda like singing with a cold. I'm not a very good singer though so I'm sure about any advice that could be given there. The vocals did seem (atleast to my ear) to fit a little better and be a little less nasaly when he started singing harder part way through, when his voice got a little edge to it. All in all though that's a pretty minor thing, for all I know he could have had a bit of a cold when he sang it.

Sounds good though, the music is very good, my only suggestion like I said would be to play around with the singing a bit, maybe try to get a bit more emotion in there and a bit less nasal. Otherwise good luck.

[UGB]

Nice tune!

On a personal mixing thing, I wish the rhythm guitars were further apart, the middle sounds a bit crowded to me. I'm listening w/headphones to try and get the best 'spectrum' info I can. The guitar tones are very nice, the bass and drums sound great. The vox sound a bit unconnected to the piece in recording. I'm not saying the vox are bad, I'm not saying they don't work, it just sounds like they were recorded differently from the rest of the song and sit rather oddly in the mix. Maybe muted is the word?

Ok, I'm listening for a 2nd time, this time w/speakers. The opening vox line is good. I wish the bass drum had more 'thump', it's not really working my sub woofer that much. Ok, this mix is guitar heavy overall, the vox are too buried. I would pull the guitars back a tad and let it go at that, I wouldn't try to boost the vox.

The vox to me are in need of some processing to 'thicken' them. I like the song and the recording really captures the energy. There's some interesting time changes, and the chiming guitar in the left that starts at 3:45 is WAY too loud. It's a cool effect, but at that level is annoying.

Very nice work, the structure is solid. So many bands today are concerned about a deal that they wouldn't wait almost 60 seconds before starting a vocal 'cause that's a death nail for a demo, but I think that kind of 'locked in' structure kills creativity.

[Clayton38]

Yeah bro, great song. I love the fact that you aren't influenced by the current trends in America... probably because your'e in the UK. Keep up the good tunes bro, it really does sound good. You should list the gear that your'e using, how long youv'e been playing etc. I'd love to hear more about you guys.

[Greyskull]

Cool stuff.

Vocals are kind of Blur-y/Corgan-y.
Lots o' energy. Good job.
Way to go. Keep it up and you're onthe way !

[TravisE]

All in all this is a really cool tune. Some things that I noticed (keep in mind that this is one person's opinion) are...

1. The timing is off pretty bad. Your drummer may wanna attempt playing with a metronome.

2. The guitar octaves on the bridge (I'm guessing that's what it is) could be better thought out. They sounded kinda "spur of the moment" and missed the key a few times.

3. I really like the harmonies on the second verse.

4. I'm not sure how long your singer has been at it, but I can tell there is a voice in there somewhere. He needs to open up more. Also, it's pretty obvious that he draws alot of influence from Billy Corgan. Working the melody more so that the influence isn't quite as obvious may be a good idea. It's great to draw from influences, but it needs to be incorporated rather than directly applied...if that makes sense.

5. The song is a bit long and I honestly don't think that the break-down part (I don't know what else to call it) is necessary. It's doesn't fit as smoothly as the other parts of the song and seemed to change my mood as I listened to it. Remember, people are basically stupid. You should try writing as if all of your listeners are A.D.D.. People's attention spans are pretty short, so adding parts that throw off the groove will cause you to loose the attention of your listener.

6. Dig a little deeper for your lyrics. I tried to pick up on what this song is about. Basically all I found was a bunch of cliche words and lines that meant nothing. These things can work both ways, either you're trying too hard or not hard enough. Draw from personal feelings and experience. Experience is best if you're in a poor state of mind lately. I don't know about you personally, but I don't ever want all of my lyrics to talk about how much life sucks. That's a drag. Staind does that in nearly every song. Get over it already! Try smiling! :D

Keep up the good work. You have the beginnings of a very powerful song.