Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, Theguy Withnoeye 
<theguywithnoeye@y...> wrote:
>  Hi every body, on sunday night I uploaded my first
> recording a song called released(released.mp3), it's
> on the files section, but BEWARE!, I mostly suck!! :P
> 
> I would define my overall playing as sloppy, the drums
> have to be re-recorded, that's urgent, I know I'm
> still new to drums, but a little hi-hat closing once
> in a while and some fills would not hurt at all.
> 
> I had not played my guitar for a long time, and the
> bass, oh, the bass had an uniform layer of dust, after
> spending about 12 hours recording listening,
> re-recording, playing singing(it should be illegal for
> me to sing BTW), I got tired, and didn't finish
> editing.
> 
> I'm a lead guitar ignorant.
> 
> and editing and track recording, are things I'm
> totally new at, so please forgive me for hurtin' your
> ears.
> 
> I hope those of you who have heard many bands out
> there, at least have heard someone worse. :P
> 
> Still I'm proud of it, had never done this, but hope
> to get better at it.
> 
> Regards and please let me know how bad I am, and any
> recommendations you may have for me.

Hey Pedro,

I just had a listen. Give yourself some credit, but if you can't, 
I'll be happy to do it. First of all, as a firm believer in the 
inextricability of form and content, I am reluctant to critique 
someone else's work on purely artistic grounds; the assumption should 
be that what somebody did is what they meant to do. But that still 
leaves some room for third-party commentary in the matter of 
technique, since certain correctible technical limitations might have 
influenced the final product.

Just for the sake of reference, the song reminds me of what people 
did back in the early punk days of the late 70s, or even the early 
psychedelic days of the mid-60s, except for the length. I don't know 
what recording equipment you used, but the Yamaha sub/sat system on 
my computer sounded bottom-heavy, and I don't crank the bass. I'd re-
mix with a little more top end to get a slap from the snare and a 
shimmer from the cymbals. I take it that you were playing the hi hat. 
I agree with you about variation; a closed hat on the verse and a 
ride on the refrain might have worked well, using more delay on each. 
Trying various re-mixes in general is not a bad idea. I tend to agree 
with something Leon Russell said with respect to his singing voice: 
If you don't like your singing, don't hang back; sing (and record) as 
though you love it, and everybody else just might, too (cases in 
point, Russell, Dylan, Waits, et al.). I don't agree that fills are 
necessary. I belong to the school of simple being better, unless you 
have a good reason not to play simply. I didn't miss anything in the 
drumming at all. I liked the directness of the kick figure, though I 
might have mixed it down slightly so that it melded better with the 
bass pattern. 

I'd be proud of what you've accomplished. A little re-mixing and 
editing for length might give it more of an impact.

Ed