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The Music... The Magic... The Madness... [Musicians Thread]
Mr Bubbles
David Koresh SuperstarRegistered User regular
David Koresh SuperstarRegistered User regular
On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.
Music.
Music slithers inside you, lives in your memory and soundtracks moments from your life that come crashing back when you hear it. It moves you, drives you and never truly dies. Music is not objective. Just because you don't like BrokenCYDE, doesn't mean that someone else has been deeply effected by it.
This is a thread for musicians and various musical projects that they're involved in, from beginners looking for advice to seasoned veterans looking for opinions on their latest work. All genres are welcome from grimy, whiskey drenched blues, to hyper electronic freakouts and everything inbetween.
I'll also do my best to keep a list of links to various bands and the like in this OP to those who want things kept organised.
So, over to you, your music, your stories, your advice....
RESOURCES:
Khavalls Music Theory Blog
Knobs Guitar Theory for Assholes and Pederasts
PA MUSIC:
Mblackwell - Rejected Applications
Khavall - Havoc Jack
Vegemyte - Joe-Head-Joe
Keith Barabant
bikkibikkibo - Atomic Cab Co.
jimb213 - Amid The Crash
Mr Bubbles - Lost Morals
Mr Bubbles on
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Anyway, despite some anxiety I'm going to ask for opinions on this track. It will hopefully be my band's latest recorded release (we try to post up a new song every few months at least) and I'm actually pretty nervous. I've spent now close to 2 months on recording and production and it turned out fairly different than I expected, mostly in the area of vocals; it took an ungodly amount of takes before settling on the style in this MP3.
Note that the style is probably best described as 90's alternative rock (although I really have no idea), so if you may not want to listen if you hate anything from the early/mid 90's.
Rejected Applications - Outside Voice
So I guess what I'm looking for are both opinions on the song itself (since I've been working on it so long it's hard to be anything other than nervous and critical), and on the production. At this point not much if anything will probably change, but as I'm self taught it would be nice to get advice on areas to improve in the future (and how to do it). Hopefully someone will be able to give it a serious listen.
Everything was recorded using simple dynamic mics through an SB Live Drive on to a Linux box using Ardour. The effects chain is all digital (except the guitar distortion) using LADSPA plugins.
I study music theory on my own and am interested in understanding many different genres. Nearly anything. I'm interested in learning a variety of instruments as well as styles. Classical, all kinds of folk, metal, blues... Gypsy jazz, reggae, dark ambient. I don't think I'm ready to write my own music.
I've been playing guitar for a little over two years but not learning really fast. I guess it's because I'm not focusing practice in any one direction but I'm good with that.
Khavalls Music Theory Blog
Knobs Guitar Theory for Assholes and Pederasts
How's Laura Lost going, Bubbles?
Also, want:
And don't be afraid to play music that you don't like. I was in a Zappa cover band for a bit as one of the guitarists even though I never listen to (and don't really even particularly like) Zappa. But the style of the music/playing was outside of my comfort zones enough that it became useful for picking up new techniques and becoming more skillful.
Oh lord.
We recorded in a great studio. We went to France, on the promise of doing something good. Everything went wrong. We came back 3 months later, disheartened and without Laura, before deciding to quit altogether. Got some great stories though, and a massive scar on my left leg.
Now we're trying something new and it seems to be going alright, more of a jittery sixties sound than we had in Laura Lost. Here, have a listen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPWzO5hn2bY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyPb25Qgf2M
Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to get to my paradigm examples more... I've just been unreasonably busy recently, and when I do get home and have free time more music isn't exactly something I want to do.
Also, I've started recording my practicing sessions... I think I may post some sessions to get any Jazzers feedback on my style in the mean time soon
Probably safe to assume it was stolen. My mother had a roommate a couple years ago whose guitar was stolen sometime in the 80's. He found the guy and broke all his fingers.
Does anyone have any good microphone recommendations for vocals?
I'd like something under $100 bucks. I'm not even sure where to start. I've played piano and jazz guitar but really enjoy singing more. My brothers all play various classical instruments like violin, cello and piano and we have been getting together to jam.
Recently we started recording on a new multi-track recorder that we just got and I'm doing the vocals for some covers and original stuff we created. I really need a mic so I can be heard when we're all playing together.
edit: also, how are vocals usually mixed for both live performance and recording. Do they get put through a separate amp or just run through a mixer and then through the same amp as the guitar?
I usually have vocals going through a separate PA if I can help it. If you're putting everything through a mixer put the vocals on their own channel so you can change levels around them, and also isolate and EQ them.
Edit: Also the biggest mistake you can make during a live performance, assuming you're playing for people (and a lot of sounds guys at bars/clubs do this unfortunately), is to turn everything that can't be heard up. After your initial sound checks start moving the faders down and changing EQs until you get a good balance (assuming you have someone that can do it while you're playing), and then start turning the master up if your db level isn't high enough. Otherwise it will be like one of those shows where you have to go outside for a cigarette* in order to listen to the band.
*MB does not endorse smoking.
I use an AKG Perception 200, which is a large diaphragm condenser mic, and is really nice for vocals. Most large diaphragm condenser mics will sound good for vocals, though, so you can take your pick based on what's in your budget (new or used). You will probably want a preamp for the mic that's separate from the mixer, unless you have separate phantom power control per mic on the mixer. You can get an ART preamp for pretty cheap, though. You'll also probably want a pop screen, either one you buy or one you make yourself. People often make them out of a metal coat hanger and pantyhose.
From what I've read you generally want different mics for recording vocals vs. performing vocals live, mostly so you reduce the bleed from other mics and avoid feedback. Lots of bands use dynamic mics for live performance.
For hearing yourself, a lot of vocalists get their voice routed back to headphones (sometimes with a little reverb) so they hear themselves clearly. As for output, you can output it however you want. Start cheap and with what you have before you spend any money there. For recording, I strongly suggest having a pair of studio monitor speakers so you can get a flat, clear response while mixing, but for general PA that's not necessary.
Hey all! I'm sorta new, 'nd this is my band! We are the only band in the Darwin area with more albums than total number of gigs played, I think (3 albums to 1 gig last December). We recorded our first one, "Cannibal Horse Smackdown" in a few days, and our last one, "LUST FOR GOLF" in one night at uni. Our manager (CaPPPtain CaPPPs) is pretty woeful at getting gigs, even when he sells us like an STD. Would you like more? Perhaps a free album? Perhaps 3 free albums? We try to make this a thing.
We don't have a drummer. We're all classical musicians who are bored playing Beethoven so we started doing covers of songs that we like with the instruments we've got.
Currently we have a piano, violin, guitar and cello.
We'd love to get a drummer though, some of the songs just don't sound right without one.
I play double bass (for the people from older threads, add "still"); my teacher has me working through natural minor chords now and splitting my time between classical solo pieces and jazz fundamentals. So that means I'm working on a Handel piece along with a Koussevitsky piece, then switching over to "So What" and practicing both walking basslines along with bass soloing.
This weekend is my birthday and I'm performing Happy Birthday for my friends ;D I decided it's prettier to play it up on the G string, rather than going down an octave. One friend who's attending said he wants to play whatever with me, so we'll probably play some blues progressions since I'm turning 30.
This past weekend I had a couple friends over, one of which wrote a book and for promotion he wanted to record a rap song, so I busted out some mics and recorded them. I have to comp their vocal takes still, and then have pretty much free reign for the beat and other parts, which should be fun.
http://www.facebook.com/keith.brabant
http://www.myspace.com/keithbrabant
Keith was a fantastic musician and human being. I regret not sharing his stuff with more people when he was around. Hope you guys like it.
I just spent yesterday evening putting on some new skins and tunin them bitches up!
This is my kit:
And someone else who has the same kit, who took a picture outside:
I have some music recorded live, with a less than optimal static camera angle with a less than spectacular camera.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j872QFnwKYk
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytLljx3TOB4
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxfqCq9YYK4
I just recently purchased this pretty amazing DVD by Hudson Music Featuring Tommy Igoe (Tommy is great).
Onward fellow musicians!
Edit*
Maybe have a few different catagories of resources, eg., Drums, Guitar, Bass, Brass, Strings, etc.
For some drumming resources I'd recommend Vic Firth Education Center
Edit Edit*
Sorry for your loss, Yall.
Even just the single SM58 for your vocals should do wonders.
Thanks. We're gonna miss him. Dude was super creative and in the last few years really became more dedicated to his craft, which you'll see if you check out any of the tunes.
One of my favorites is the one (I think it's on the facebook link - I can't check either from work) is "The Scientist Fly". It contains some licks that he and I used to play together from another song he wrote called "Ugly Cereal Hand Puppet".
Yeah I can't exactly check them out at work either. If I remember i'll give it a listen.
On a lighter note, I just bought an 8" for my kit for $150 bucks. I felt like I stole it.
+1 SM57.
Also, might as well throw these up:
http://www.ueak.net/crash/Music/LostInAPark.mp3
http://www.ueak.net/crash/Music/NightAtTheCarnival-BattleAtSea.mp3
Those two tracks are the set my buddies did for a battle of the bands. They ended up taking first place. Recording was a quick and dirty job, so they had a copy of the tracks.
The songs are guitarist and drummer only. The guitarist plays the bass parts classical guitar style with his thumb.
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
I don't play bass, but I know a lot of people who started learning by picking up some tabs your interested in and learning them.
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
I was leaning towards the Alesis SR-16. It seems to come up alot from what I've seen. I also like the fact that it has midi in/out so I could always just use it as a controller for my PC. I like programming n a drum machine than step editing in a program like FL Studio.
So any recommendations?
I hate drum machines, programming them, etc. but I think this is because I'm just a horrible drummer. Never been able to get them to do what I hear in my head.
Have you considered something software based? I'm a bit ignorant as to what is out on the market these days...
What about an E-kit?
I have been using some software based ones, but I just feel like they aren't as fluid or creative for me as actually hitting some buttons to play out the beat.
I started recording my practicing, and today I converted and uploaded the session for one friend who's been helping me on jazz. I'm practicing to play in a combo, so imagine there's a bass/guitar/drummer all along with me, and it's like 15 minutes long and some of the charts I was completely clueless and sightreading entirely, but if any Jazz cats have the time to listen to this and give me some pointers I would offer so many e-blowjobs or something.
Thanks guys.
EDIT:Not working for some reason, let me try again
EDIT 2.... not sure if it works now. It owrks for me in FF but not in opera.... let me know if it's working or not
EDIT 3: Ok, it pretty much works fine if you do "download track", except in Chrome it sounds funny.
You want to anticipate with your comping, but you never want to be late. One thing I noticed was that you comped a lot on the and of beat one - you want to shift that over to the and of four. On the 3/4 tunes you should try to play less straight 1-2-3 quarter note rhythms and more charlston figures. Also try to comp less on the downbeats.
The same goes for the melodies. In particular I noticed on Alice in Wonderland you really stuck to the melody as it's written. You need to interpret that melody more to make it swing (use more eighth-based rhythms - cop the Bill Evans version if you have to). For Green Dolphin Street you don't need to alternate between latin and swing for the solos, only on the head, so just pick one groove and stick with it (usually swing). Well, unless the band plays it that way but IMO that would be pretty stupid and I can't imagine why they would want to. Also for the latin tunes you might want to work on some bossa or samba rhythms.
I would double-check the second chord of The Shadow of Your Smile...this is one of those tunes that I learned and then forgot but if I'm remembering the changes correctly your second chord one was wrong.
I think the most important thing for you would be to clean up the comping because as a chord axe that's going to be your main job in the band. However for your soloing you should try to outline the harmony more with your lines (in Four when you played longer lines it sounded like you lost the changes). In addition, I'd try to anticipate the changes more - sometimes you would wait for the key change before you started your line, where really it should be the other way around.
Those are my thoughts. Sorry if I told you anything you already knew.
You are a rhythm player, so you should own a metronome and play with it. You should be able to keep the beat at 40bpm (you playing eighth notes) as well as 160 bpm and everywhere in between. You should know how to play 3/4 time and 4/4 time equally. You should know how to play straight as well as swing.
Sometimes you'll be playing and you'll just play root notes and it'll be boring, but you NEED to be on time. People diss the bass but if the bass fucks up everyone hears it first because it stands out that much more. It's a catch-22 -- if you're doing it right, many people won't notice you.
As for tips, it depends on what your goals are. If you're not interested in playing jazz I'm not going to suggest picking up a real book, for example, and learning all your major scales, minor scales, and modes isn't going to help you as much if you're just looking to play rock songs.
I agree, although I assumed that when the groove fell apart it was just due to sight-reading.
The only thing I really knew was that Shadow of your smile was off... that was one of the ones where I opened to it and was completely sightreading(in fact, that was one where I thought "I'll play this" and then as soon as I started to hit the melody thought "Wait what am I doing". I knew my comping was off, in fact that was one of the specific comments I got from my last audition I just... well I wasn't entirely sure how to fix them... I listened to tapes, and one thing they mentioned was a long sustained LH comping as sort of a standard with play from there, but I've been entirely unsure where to go from there. I'll work on anticipation more than reaction, and see about more and of 4 syncopation.
The only problem I have with the melodies is I was told that I played around too much with the rhythms on one mel in my last audition, so I've been trying to reign in my playing too much with the melodies.
L.H. cleaning has been a note to myself forever, but even in rock I really just don't spend that much time with L.H. chording instead of L.H. bass or Classical, so any specific L.H. tips I'm more than happy to take.
Additionally the Bass is not a guitar. It has a meatier sound to it and can be used for melodies (and even be lead in some cases), but your job isn't to wank around while a guitar or other lead instrument is. Your job is to hit all of the accents and add to anything the lead is doing if possible, and at the same time match the drum accents so that you bring out the entire low end. So like Eggy said timing is absolutely everything, you can't be off at all, and you have to cover for everyone else being off. If the drummer and guitarist are slightly off of each other and you notice, a few well timed bass hits can cover up their flaws completely.
Bass is a sucky instrument to play because in a full band most people don't notice it until it's gone.
Also, this is a terrible quality recording, but here's a really old jam from one of my band practices. I post it as an example only because the bass isn't doing anything more than pedaling various notes around the key of F, but without it the "song" would sound completely empty. And you can hear the bass player (barely, sorry again for the quality), when he's not completely sure of the changes, wisely dropped out for a beat rather than playing and possibly causing everything else to sound off.
You're going to spend a lot of time "holding down the groove".