Hi all!
As some of you know, I have been hard at work (over the last couple of years) writing songs for what I hope to be my debut album. Anyway, I have just uploaded four of the songs that I THINK will be finished and end up on said album to my Myspace Music page, and wanted some feedback from you all.
Now, these are all early versions of unfinished songs, so they will all change, some only a little, and others quite a bit. They will each also feature vocals... I just haven't been able to do them yet.
I hope that you like what I have thus far! Enjoy, and remember to leave feedback if you listen, please. :)
Click here: link
You have some nice work in progress there Dan, but without lyrics it is difficult to judge the song as a whole.
So far I would say that you have some nice demos but you need to loosen up a little, they sound a little tight, I think adding real drums will add a lot.
The recording is good but a little too like a demo to be final I would say.
I hope you get into a recording studio with other musicains sometime, other people always add a lot to a song and somehow give it balance that an individual cannot.
If it's taking you 'years' then I would say don't over do the work, you can sometimes lose the freshness. don't get too wrapped up in it before working with others, if you find the right people they will add a lot and in my experience very few can do it all themselves.
Keep going and all the best.
Though I would rather be in a band, and have the input of other musicians, I barely know any. I have, however, been looking into studio time, and have actually found a place that is relatively cheap, yet has good equipment and session musicians.
The drums have always bothered me on all of my songs. Nothing compares to the real thing, and my computer simply is not it. I have, however, recently met a couple of guitarist whom I hope to play with soon. MY instrument of choice is the piano, and the guitar is yet another of the many that I can't play.
I look forward to more comments from you all, my fellow Zoners!
And yes Munchsack, speakers would help. ;)
Dan, have you ever thought about using a sampled drum loop, instead of keying them in yourself? While I have gotten pretty good with my left hand on the keyboard (Roland Midi version), they're much more realistic (and editable). Check out the Roland SPD-S. It's real groovy.
If you can get together with some guys you might like to try to do some of them live at some point, that way you get a pretty good idea of how they might go down.
Friends will never give you feedback without trying to be positive, and there is nothing like playing live to make the blood flow fast to the heart.
Once you have some finished stuff, send them out to record companies and see what you get back, but remember even the Beatles got turned down.
BTW if you do send them out make a copy of the material, seal it in an envelope and post it to yourself, make sure the date of posting is clearly visable and the seal remains unbroken, then lock it away.
If you ever have copywrite problems you can prove in a court when you wrote the songs.
A better way is to send them to a solicitor, however they charge a fair bit unless you have a tame one.
Either way anything you send out, you must be able to prove when you wrote it and the sealed envelope is as good as any. enlcose all music and lyrics in the file.
Good luck
Technically it sounds quite promising! I guess you plan to add lyrics/melodies to it, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. Finishing the background music first is a good idea.
To me, the lyrics are the hardest part. A great source of inspiration are Brian Wilson's DVDs "Pet Sounds" and "Smile" live.