Gimme your opinions, NICO

[Gold Digger]

I have been working with a guitarist buddy of mine (the one coming back to the US with me this summer) on some original material for the last year and a half or so, and finally got time to record drum tracks for the demo.

I'd like to get your honest opinions or feedback on what you think. Keep in mind, this is a rough mix and hasn't been touched since the recording day, so some of the levels may be a bit off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW7lCwztfZ4

I used Windows Movie Maker and just put in some pics of my kids and such.

Lemme know.

[IanS]

I dig it. Could use some vocals to tie it together, and some proper mixing, but otherwise it sounds great. You guys got some skills.

I have a close friend who does pro recording/mixing/mastering. He runs Logic, and has autotune. If you want to drag your butts up to MN for a day or two while you are in the states Im sure we could work out a true demo disc with studio quality audio. I might even be able to talk him into doing it pro-bono (sp?).

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Great stuff man. Agreed with Ian, if you can get some lyrics in there it would definitely be complete. It sounds like you're more into just doing the instrumental side of things which is still very cool.

[es.biggs]

Sounds really good bud. I really like it...the guitars sound great, tone and everything. I could not hear the bass much in my crappy laptop speakers but the song has some SERIOUS rhythm going on, it sounds amazing. You guys have talent that's for sure.

I have played the drums for the past 7 years been in a couple bands that didn't really go anywhere, because my heart is set on other things than music; it's more of a hobby.

That said, I would like to offer some constructive advice to the man (or woman) rocking the drum set. I had a horrible habit, for probably the first 5 years of playing, and I never even realized it until I played with a different set of musicians who set me straight...I would rush through every fill, even if it was a simple snare roll or a big huge showy fill with every drum/cymbal in my kit, I would always end up just a HAIR ahead of myself tempo-wise. It seems like whoever is playing the drums here is doing the same kind of thing...not to a point where it makes a big impact on the song but just enough to notice. At least to my ears...I guess being a drummer myself I get super analytical. Maybe I'm just being anal I dunno haha but hey I thought I would just offer up some friendly advice to ya. I'm still working on kicking that habit too...it's a tough cookie to get rid of.

[Jesda]

Okay, this is REALLY GOOD. Something about it is rich and satisfying. Love the pics too!

I'd pay to see this performed live.

[nissangirl74]

I like it a lot. Congrats on the mad percussion skills!

It sounds a bit repetitive in the beginning though, like you are playing a chorus over and over. The music is top notch, I'd just throw in a little something extra to kick it up to the next level.

(I am auditioning for a concert band at one of the local colleges this fall, wish me luck!)

[RCA]

Kornmanz can you mess with this a little??

I liked it but in the right hands this can be superb. As of now, I give it a 7.2 out of 10 on my "Professional Musician" scale, and a 9.7 on my "Hobbiest Musician" scale.

It's pretty awesome!

[sx moneypit]

I dig it !Clean it up a little but not too much,i like the raw sound of it.

[Gold Digger]

I dig it. Could use some vocals to tie it together, and some proper mixing, but otherwise it sounds great. You guys got some skills.

I have a close friend who does pro recording/mixing/mastering. He runs Logic, and has autotune. If you want to drag your butts up to MN for a day or two while you are in the states Im sure we could work out a true demo disc with studio quality audio. I might even be able to talk him into doing it pro-bono (sp?).

Vocals have been written, but we ran out of time in the studio, although I hope my lyrics don't sound to cheesey...lol

I have a friend who was a recording engineer/sound mixer at a studio in Tennessee for a few years. He mixed the Kings X CD "Ogre Tones", so it's not like I don't have someone who can do it for me. Thank you for the offer, though. It is greatly appreciated.

Once I get time to get over to his place and record the vocals for it, then he'll start mixing it and smoothing everything out.

Great stuff man. Agreed with Ian, if you can get some lyrics in there it would definitely be complete. It sounds like you're more into just doing the instrumental side of things which is still very cool.

Thanks.

As I mentioned earlier, we ran outta time to record the vocals, as we had one other song that was priority to get finished. We did get vocals done for one other song, but only drum tracks for the others.

Sounds really good bud. I really like it...the guitars sound great, tone and everything. I could not hear the bass much in my crappy laptop speakers but the song has some SERIOUS rhythm going on, it sounds amazing. You guys have talent that's for sure.

I have played the drums for the past 7 years been in a couple bands that didn't really go anywhere, because my heart is set on other things than music; it's more of a hobby.

That said, I would like to offer some constructive advice to the man (or woman) rocking the drum set. I had a horrible habit, for probably the first 5 years of playing, and I never even realized it until I played with a different set of musicians who set me straight...I would rush through every fill, even if it was a simple snare roll or a big huge showy fill with every drum/cymbal in my kit, I would always end up just a HAIR ahead of myself tempo-wise. It seems like whoever is playing the drums here is doing the same kind of thing...not to a point where it makes a big impact on the song but just enough to notice. At least to my ears...I guess being a drummer myself I get super analytical. Maybe I'm just being anal I dunno haha but hey I thought I would just offer up some friendly advice to ya. I'm still working on kicking that habit too...it's a tough cookie to get rid of.

If you want to hear the bass really well, plug in a set of headphones. It completely changes it. The bass line has a nice little grove going in the opening melody that continues through the choruses.

As for the drummer, well, he's kinda good. Been playing a drums set since he was in high school and he's 34 years old now. Although, there was a period of about 10 years he didn't play much, but has been playing pretty regularly since he moved to Japan in 2004. That guy...IS ME! LOL.

Yeah, I know all about rushing the fills and what not. I also understand what your are saying about wanting to hit every drum and every cymbal when you are playing. I went into the studio with plans for just some basic easy beats, and I think I did that pretty well. Not every transition having a cymbal crash or tom fill.
When I recorded the drums for that song, the guitars and bass tracks were already finished and I played along to those tracks and a click track for tempo. But the tempo was kinda slow and it was really hard for me to get into that pocket of a nice slow tempo, so I must have fought that song for an hour. Ended up taking a break from it and working another song and came back to this one a couple hours later and finally got something done.

Your insight is noted though...thanks!

Okay, this is REALLY GOOD. Something about it is rich and satisfying. Love the pics too!

I'd pay to see this performed live.

Jesda, if you're coming to the BBQ in August, we are playing a gig the night before with some of my friends...you might actually get to see/hear it...just saying. Not 100%, but it's not a 0% either.

I like it a lot. Congrats on the mad percussion skills!

It sounds a bit repetitive in the beginning though, like you are playing a chorus over and over. The music is top notch, I'd just throw in a little something extra to kick it up to the next level.

(I am auditioning for a concert band at one of the local colleges this fall, wish me luck!)

Thanks, Bex. The chorus of the song had me kinda frustrated for a bit cause I couldn't think of anything unique to throw in there without sounding to overbearing. Came up with the idea of using the hi-hats as a kind of special effect crash in there, then throwing in some china crash hits off-beat to change it up a bit.

Not sure if it could be done, but maybe something of a breakdown with a completely different melody, but it would increase the song length, and we aren't looking to do really epic length songs.

Good luck with your audition!!

Kornmanz can you mess with this a little??

I liked it but in the right hands this can be superb. As of now, I give it a 7.2 out of 10 on my "Professional Musician" scale, and a 9.7 on my "Hobbiest Musician" scale.

It's pretty awesome!

I'd really prefer that no one else mess with this song yet. It still hasn't been fully mixed. Like it's said, it's just a rough demo at the moment.

Thanks for the high rankings, though! Really sets it home that we could actually be taken seriously should we ever decide to actually cut an independent release.

I dig it !Clean it up a little but not too much,i like the raw sound of it.

Will do once vocals are added to it. The guitars have a nice raw crunch that I really dig myself.



Now, to give everyone a little more insight on this song. There are only two musicians doing all the music.
My guitarist buddy is doing all the rhythms and lead guitars, and I am doing drums, bass and vocals for the time being.

We are trying to put together an actual band, but our area of Japan is a little rural compared to Tokyo and there aren't many musicians up here that could cut it on the originality side of things. I want to focus strictly on drumming again, but we still are trying to put things together. We have one guy who might be a singer for us, but we also want to do songs in English as well as Japanese, so if we have a Japanese singer, I would like to make sure his speaking skills are pretty good so it doesn't sound stereotypically "Japanese singing Enrish" if ya know what I mean.

We have three other songs, one that has been mixed about as well as ProTools can do, vox and all, and another one that has vox but hasn't been mixed. The only issue is, I sang on the demos, but if/when we get a singer, we'll have to re-record the vocals with his/her voice instead of mine. I don't like how my voice sounds on our demos, but hey, what ya gonna do???

Again, thanks everyone for your honesty. It's nice to see that the last year and a half of trying to get stuff together hasn't been all for naught.

[King Ranzo]

Purty good. I like it.

[Bwana]

I like it a lot. Kind of reminds me of Chickenfoot, which is a good thing. I think it could definitely benefit from an slight alternate melody for portions of it. Also, vocals will be huge but you have a great start.

[es.biggs]

If you want to hear the bass really well, plug in a set of headphones. It completely changes it. The bass line has a nice little grove going in the opening melody that continues through the choruses.

As for the drummer, well, he's kinda good. Been playing a drums set since he was in high school and he's 34 years old now. Although, there was a period of about 10 years he didn't play much, but has been playing pretty regularly since he moved to Japan in 2004. That guy...IS ME! LOL.

Yeah, I know all about rushing the fills and what not. I also understand what your are saying about wanting to hit every drum and every cymbal when you are playing. I went into the studio with plans for just some basic easy beats, and I think I did that pretty well. Not every transition having a cymbal crash or tom fill.
When I recorded the drums for that song, the guitars and bass tracks were already finished and I played along to those tracks and a click track for tempo. But the tempo was kinda slow and it was really hard for me to get into that pocket of a nice slow tempo, so I must have fought that song for an hour. Ended up taking a break from it and working another song and came back to this one a couple hours later and finally got something done.

Your insight is noted though...thanks!

Awesome man! Finally found another drummer on NICO. I need to be taking advice from YOU my friend slow tempos are hard for me as well...I think you found the groove in this one really good though

I love the snare tone too btw it sounds great