Live Demo of my Band

Heady Jam Fan · April 10, 2014, 01:00:45 PM

Hey guys,

Here is the first demo of my new band - we've been together about 2 months and decided to toss some mics on all the instruments, record during our practice, and see what happens.

https://soundcloud.com/houdinispsychictheatre/wake-up

Jkendrick · April 11, 2014, 10:15:41 PM

Sounds great! I don't know if you're looking for feedback but if so I'd be happy to provide. In fact, I was thinking a hot or not sort of thread could be productive for all of us if the criticism was constructive.

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Heady Jam Fan · April 12, 2014, 10:46:22 AM

Thanks man!

Definitely interested in feedback! I know there is a LOT we can improve on and its not a finished product: just a single-take live recording in a cement basement, so there is a lot of bleed through between tracks and noise, my speaker wasn't broken in, I'd like to be more deliberate in the phrasing in the solo, we want to add a keyboard solo, etc. Our goal was to get something that sounded a little better than just setting up a Zoom recorder, so we bet that goal. However, we're a pretty new band, but we'd like to move toward getting some more 'polished' finished products and any suggestions that can help us are appreciated. On that note, the other guitarist wrote this tune and he isn't sure if he wants to keep playing it, or just scrap it - we have a handful of other songs that are more complex rhythmically and as far as changes within the song that we might focus on instead.

We will be posting another tune we recorded the same day as this one (also a single live take with a Western feel), just figured we would get more specific feedback if we posted one at a time.

Since we might scrap this tune, we mostly talked about how we want to improve our recording process.
- We want to isolate instruments better: maybe put up mattresses or plexiglass, especially for the kick drum and its mic.
- We want to adjust the bass EQ: it wasn't his amp and the mids were turned way up which just sounds stuffy rather than punchy.
- I think the other guitarist is realizing his extremely scooped EQ isn't ideal (he has his bass and treble the whole way up on his Mesa Mini Recto).
- I need to get better with recording techniques and mastering, probably eqing for better instrument separation.
- Our timing/rhythm has much room for improvement

We were thinking about using these live recordings as 'dummy' track and re-recording each instrument in isolation playing along with the dummy track to avoid bleed through if physical barriers don't do the trick, but we don't want to sacrifice the feel of playing together at the same time.

Buffered · April 13, 2014, 11:33:44 AM

I also liked it. What are the chord changes during the solo section? If I need to add more "flow" or phrasing ideas I play to them and it works out (unless I need to practice.) To be honest I though the recording process sounded really professional. For the record though, the little portable recorders sound pretty good I use a Zoom H4ne set 120 degrees to record our practices, it sounds pretty good for what it is!

On a totally unrelated note, how transparent would you say a RAT is? I'm thinking of adding an ARC woodcutter to my rig to boost the ODS when I need higher gain sounds.

Heady Jam Fan · April 13, 2014, 04:52:02 PM

Quote from: Buffered on April 13, 2014, 11:33:44 AM
I also liked it. What are the chord changes during the solo section? If I need to add more "flow" or phrasing ideas I play to them and it works out (unless I need to practice.) To be honest I though the recording process sounded really professional. For the record though, the little portable recorders sound pretty good I use a Zoom H4ne set 120 degrees to record our practices, it sounds pretty good for what it is!

On a totally unrelated note, how transparent would you say a RAT is? I'm thinking of adding an ARC woodcutter to my rig to boost the ODS when I need higher gain sounds.

Thanks man! Much appreciated!

The solo section is the same as the verse>chorus. The verse is Am C G, the chorus is Am C G D. I've read the interview with Trey where he said he has several small recording devices in different places and any time he gets an idea for a solo, he sings into them so he doesn't forget it. Its a great idea - Trey can get away with it, but I'd get locked up in a Psychiatric Hospital I think

. I might try playing along with a recording and see if I end up writing something more melodic as long as it doesn't feel contrived when I record it.

We have an older version of some of our tunes recorded with a Zoom and it does sound great, but we figured we'd try stepping it up a notch so we could set levels etc. We might stash our money from upcoming gigs and buy some studio time - our drummer knows a lot of the local studio owners because he's played in a ton of bands and his dad's a well respected jazz guitarist in the area, so hopefully he can get a decent price. The toughest part of recording was the bleeding through, especially the bass guitar on the kick drum mic. I used a multi-band compressor and adjusting the attack and release really helped separate the bass guitar bleed through from the kick because the completely unmastered version sounded pretty muddy (actually not much better than the Zoom).

The Rat is more transparent than a TS9 I'd say and cleans up better, but it really depends where you put the Filter knob. The filter has a huge impact on the amount of treble and bite - I keep mine very low or off (less treble) a-la Scofield and it definitely has more bass than a TS, so a somewhat thicker sound. If you crank the treble, it might even end up a bit scooped in the midrange and can sound very heavy/aggressive. I like it most set for a mild crunch (or Sco melody) and goose it with a TS9 for heavier stuff (the TS sucks up some bass so it cuts through better). If you can find a used one at a good price, I'd definitely suggest checking it out.

webephishin · April 13, 2014, 06:32:24 PM

Sounds pretty good man, I'm interested to hear more! My band just finished recording our tracks for our first album. Some of the guitar tracks were amp simulations from software, but we recorded live guitar on a handful of songs as well. It's exciting to hear the songs take shape and sound better. If your curious, you can take a listen on our soundcloud below- almost all of them are recordings of our live shows. They sound pretty good IMO. We record, mix, and master everything by ourselves.

https://soundcloud.com/stereo-frontier

Heady Jam Fan · April 14, 2014, 06:48:02 PM

Quote from: webephishin on April 13, 2014, 06:32:24 PMSounds pretty good man, I'm interested to hear more! My band just finished recording our tracks for our first album. Some of the guitar tracks were amp simulations from software, but we recorded live guitar on a handful of songs as well. It's exciting to hear the songs take shape and sound better. If your curious, you can take a listen on our soundcloud below- almost all of them are recordings of our live shows. They sound pretty good IMO. We record, mix, and master everything by ourselves.

https://soundcloud.com/stereo-frontier

Cool stuff man, I dig the style. I hear some prog-rock, like Umphrey's and Ecstasy-(hippie)Dancy, maybe more like P-Groove, style. I like how your tunes flow from spacy to melodic - nice build up of energy. Occasionally my current band will just jam for a good 10-20 minutes and get into some more jam-band territory, but the other guys aren't jam or Phish fans really, so I gotta keep working on influencing their style

webephishin · April 14, 2014, 08:18:01 PM

Quote from: Heady Jam Fan on April 14, 2014, 06:48:02 PM
Quote from: webephishin on April 13, 2014, 06:32:24 PM
Sounds pretty good man, I'm interested to hear more! My band just finished recording our tracks for our first album. Some of the guitar tracks were amp simulations from software, but we recorded live guitar on a handful of songs as well. It's exciting to hear the songs take shape and sound better. If your curious, you can take a listen on our soundcloud below- almost all of them are recordings of our live shows. They sound pretty good IMO. We record, mix, and master everything by ourselves.

https://soundcloud.com/stereo-frontier

Cool stuff man, I dig the style. I hear some prog-rock, like Umphrey's and Ecstasy-(hippie)Dancy, maybe more like P-Groove, style. I like how your tunes flow from spacy to melodic - nice build up of energy. Occasionally my current band will just jam for a good 10-20 minutes and get into some more jam-band territory, but the other guys are jam or Phish fans really, so I gotta keep working on influencing their style

For sure! There is definitely some Umphrey's influence going on in our band. Our drummer loves STS9, our bassists likes Phish but he listens to a lot of hip hop, and the other guitarist in the band absolutely hates Phish...it's pretty funny, but shitty at the same time.

Heady Jam Fan · April 17, 2014, 12:13:23 PM

http://soundcloud.com/houdinispsychictheatre/wichita

Jkendrick · April 18, 2014, 11:25:16 AM

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. I like the song. I don't think you guys should ditch it but I do think it could use some tweaks. The riff is cool, but the song is pretty repetitive. I'd add a bridge. Bridges can be overused but here I think it's warranted. Also having backup singing on the chorus could help to make it stand out more from the verse.

Your solo is very nice. I like that it's reserved and given room to breathe, but just as it starts to build, it kind of kind of peters out. I'd overdub one dramatic closing riff if possible.

Overall I think it's solid and the recording sounds great to me. Definitely good enough for a demo. Nice job!

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Heady Jam Fan · April 18, 2014, 01:50:35 PM

Quote from: Jkendrick on April 18, 2014, 11:25:16 AM
Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. I like the song. I don't think you guys should ditch it but I do think it could use some tweaks. The riff is cool, but the song is pretty repetitive. I'd add a bridge. Bridges can be overused but here I think it's warranted. Also having backup singing on the chorus could help to make it stand out more from the verse.

Your solo is very nice. I like that it's reserved and given room to breathe, but just as it starts to build, it kind of kind of peters out. I'd overdub one dramatic closing riff if possible.

Overall I think it's solid and the recording sounds great to me. Definitely good enough for a demo. Nice job!

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Oh no worries about taking time for feedback! I really appreciate it!

I agree with your suggestions. I like the tune too and I agree it's a bit repetitive. I've noticed the guys in my band like to write choruses in the same key with only a small change in the chord progression, which can be monotonous (changing keys would also help differentiate the chorus from the verse, like your suggestion of adding harmony, which we tried, but switched to unison for the sake of ease). We are consciously paying attention to that. Whether we make the chorus more distinct or add a bridge with a key change, the song would have more movement. Not too mention, a bridge would add some length to the song.

I'll definitely think about a more powerful way to end the solo.

We are probably gonna save the money from our summer gigs and hit up a studio. Before then, we'll do a few more recordings with more complex songs and slightly different recording techniques.