scumble on 22/8/2007 at 13:35
Quote Posted by Fingernail
Yeah. The only thing is the drummer likes drumming as a change from playing guitar, but I'll certainly discuss it.
Well he's not bad considering it isn't his main instrument, but I suppose it takes quite an experienced player to keep even time, which seems to be the main problem.
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Well - he is a bass voice after all (as am I) - it's just I tend to write in more of a baritone/tenor range most of the time.
Right. When he goes a bit out of his range he loses impact. On the other hand, perhaps the writing just has to adapt to his style and range a bit more. Yes, with "Tomorrow" he's doing pretty well, and more practice would nail the melody pretty well.
Now I've got back to "Rick's House" (The neighbour's a cunt!) and I reckon it's weaker in the "conversational" bits where he's talking on a note effectively, I think this sort of thing works better with a rougher voice, or a bit more variation in emphasis as there isn't a strong melody. Similarly, in "Days of Uncertaintly", the "shut up and listen" bit seems more of vague plea than a demand ;) Seems like there should be something else in the performance to grab the listener.
While I'm on "Days of Uncertainty", I should say that the backing harmonies really helped in the chorus - that's something he can really do well, an ensemble of himself if you like.
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As for lyrics, they range in my opinion from pretty good to pretty inconsequential. It's probably my weakest point thus far. For instance, whilst Youth has an "idea" behind it, something like Mid-day is more a musical idea turned into a song, and it just sort of meanders harmlessly along in the lyrics. Call it Off is a pile of absolute bollocks lyrically speaking, with the exception of the "inbetween places" I think. It just varies - somtimes I write a song about something, sometimes I write a song around something. On the other hand, there's nothing approaching "I order the foie gras and eat it with complete disdain" as Bloc Party were recently heard to whine.
There appears to be a fine line between banal and pretentious. To be honest, you can even get away with a load of bollocks if it at least sounds interesting. Like anything creative, I suppose it just needs refinement over time. That said, I think it's good to get something out, finished and move on (something I should probably do myself in fact) rather than fiddling about for too long.
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This would be interesting - someone else has already had a go remixing and mastering Rick's House - they made a much clearer, more live sound, less reverb (which is good and bad - sadly we didn't have time to make sure every bar of drumming stands up to close scrutiny).
I might even be interested in doing a remix, but the complication of sending multiple tracks of audio may be much hassle.
If you want to send me a wav file you could probably upload to one of my computers via ftp. Would probably be easiest as it'll have to be uploaded somewhere. If you can get to a fast upstream connection it shouldn't take too long - I have 8meg DSL and ftp uploads have run at above 400K/s for me from work. Send Jason & co over if you fancy having another go at it.
Fingernail on 17/9/2007 at 23:42
shameless bump but basically I remixed and mastered the whole bunch following various pieces of advice. In general, the bass is "fixed" - a lot of it was out of phase due to stupid stereo widening regardless of frequency - the drums are up, the vocals are down and the mix is more stereo-conscious (I was frankly appalled at what I hadn't done on some songs). The voice is more natural, less harmonic excitation and EQ. The whole thing is quieter, less compressed and as a result sounds better. Just turn it up a notch. This isn't the Killers.
It was all a learning experience.
It probably won't change a whole lot for those of you who didn't like it first time round, but for a few who thought the voice was too loud - check it out. I think the whole thing sounds a good deal better now. At least, I get a great deal of enjoyment out of listening to it!
Just so you know your criticisms didn't just fly off into the ether. Not all of them, anyway.
You can hear them on the stupid little custom player at (
www.myspace.com/thedebtoffensive) (scroll down) , or if you like you can download a new archive of vbr mp3s of a high quality at (
www.thedebtoffensive.com/the%20debt%20offensive.zip)
End of story as far as these recordings go.
Variant on 18/9/2007 at 11:18
Sounds good, I actually like the songs quite a bit.
I don't have a single problem with any of it so far, the slightly unpolished feel, the singer, everything about it is what makes it great. Opinions will differ of course, it's up to you and your band to decide who you want to appeal to, yourselves, someone else, or nobody.
It's nice to hear someone just having fun with music instead of being all uptight about it.
Fingernail on 18/9/2007 at 15:22
thanks a lot! In the end, this is the sound of the band at the moment, for better or worse. It's nice that you appreciate that without wanting it to be something we don't want it to be.
vurt on 18/9/2007 at 22:54
Nothing wrong with the vocals really... I guess you people dont listen to bands like Neutral Milk Hotel if you find these vocals bad :cheeky: It fits great with the music/style i think. The vocals does seem a bit dry, there's so much you can do with a hint of distortion or chorus, delay and/or doubling.. It's not a must though, it totaly depends what you're going for i guess, the dry "nakedness" of a "unpolished" singer is kind of cool perhaps, it takes courage.. I would've added some warmth to it (but i'm a total freak when it comes to adding effects to everything :P )
Thx for sharing. Cant say much about the music otherwise, i must listen to the songs many times before i could comment on that + how good/bad music sounds depends totaly on my mood hehe
Fingernail on 19/9/2007 at 16:21
Thanks a lot. It's funny the difference twiddling a few knobs can make - many more people are much more positive about these than the earlier mixes. I think so much criticism was aimed at the singing because it was often so loud it didn't sound like it was part of the music at all.
twiddling a few knobs. heh.
