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Hey you guys.. This is my band's debut video. I hope you like it. I know the mix sounds really live but that's how I wanted it. I'm very "f**k rock being perfect."

Anyway yeah I hope you guys enjoy. I'm the frontman/one of the guitarists :)

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Comments

audiokid Tue, 06/17/2014 - 14:31

Love you guys. Great mix, you are excellent but it sounds pretty squashed to me (which isn't a bad thing for the times we live in) but still excellent. I noticed a center issue @ 1:16 (I'm guessing it was intended?) What was that?
@2:00 the guitars friken ROCK! Nice shots. You are giving Nickelback something to be concerned about lol. But with an English twist. ;)

top end on the cymbals are a bit edgy but who cares. love the snare. solid ending. (y)

Kudo's.

Voiceofallanger Tue, 06/17/2014 - 14:52

Cool! Thanks for the feedback audiokid, yeah I wanted it to sound like.. ya know.. NOT perfect. Yes the centre issue was intended :3 As for the cymbals.. I actually LIKE that but I guess everyone has their preference and its nice of you to highlight it. Maybe it's something that won't be to everyone's taste that I should look at. I really appreciate you commenting and listening man <3

DogsoverLava Sun, 06/29/2014 - 16:03

I thought this was awesome - you had my attention all the way through. My only criticism here is vocals -- and not because they are bad because they are great - what I wanted was a more regional UK and less generic American accent. There's a couple of times where you catch the UK accent and go - oh wow - brits! But for most of the song that lovely accent is sort of washed away and gets "prettied". This loses the flavour for me some.

I describe colour and voice this way to guys sometimes when I compare David Lee Roth to Sammy Hagar. Sammy is in many ways the better singer -- the problem - he's Tutti-fruiti tropical fruit punch all the time ----- Red Cream soda party rock -- Where Dave could be lime green, or burnt orange, or black licorice.... timbres falvours and textures that Sammy could never represent -- ergo Dave trumps Sammy.

Without question you guys actually have lots of texture in the band but I think the vocal itself (through sound and diction) has been homogenized. I'd like to hear the UK cut of this (if there is such a thing). Did you get pressure to Americanize the sound from your label or production team?

I'd definitely put this on my playlist and I'd be interested in hearing more from you for sure. What gear did you use to record this on? I'd love to hear more about the guitar sounds and how you got those.

Voiceofallanger Mon, 06/30/2014 - 00:32

Thanks a lot for the feedback mate! I really appreciate you listening. The whole "american" thing that comes out in my vocal is me dropping diction to hits notes. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you've identified I'm not exactly a gifted singer so I sometimes get a little bit sloppy. I think a key feature of american vocal in rock is the diction slips sometimes. Maybe that's something I have to work on ! Cool cool. I'll try to focus a little more on maintaining my normal speaking voice in my singing because I do think it's very important for a vocal to be disctinctive and not just fall in with the rest. We don't have any pressure from anyone as we are a brand new band just trying to start out :)

As for the other side of things I used my joyous Presonus 16.4.2 setup with basic mics that can be found in my profile. Nothing fancy. I am very simple in the way I record in that I like everything to be right at the source and I don't really do heaps to anything. The guitars are just a BUGERA 6260 into an SM57 off axis. Then You got a high pass at 100 and that's about it! If there's any particular aspect of the mix you'd like to know about then feel free to ask.

I'm really grateful for your comments and I'll definitely take them on board. Seems I listened to too much Linkin Park growing up! :)

DogsoverLava Mon, 06/30/2014 - 07:49

It was really good - the performance had some real emotion and energy behind it and it totally sustained my interest - played straight through with anticipation building as opposed to a "yup - ok I get it - next!" kind of thing that seems to happen with me these days --- I'm way too fast on the skip forward button even for my liking. For me as a future fan - what I wonder is Does this band have something to say? and Can they sustain my interest over an album or live-set's worth of songs? As you guys build out your repertoire I think back to my own days when I lived in the UK (1994) and how many bands were still very single's oriented and how showcases were often just 2 to 4 song sets. Does a band like yours need an albums worth of material? or can you build your momentum one song at a time? (assuming you stay in the UK). Is there a danger that recognition can come too early or does putting out a song and video like this become like a calling card -- if it hits then you go forward? How's that work right now?

Voiceofallanger Mon, 06/30/2014 - 08:26

We are quite literally just going to write and arrange as we feel is "right for us". We are all subliminally focused on being a little different and each member of the band certainly brings a little bit of edge. Hopefully that'll be something that will continue to show. I can tell you as much as "Now I Know" is in fact probably our most "boring" song so we have set it as a benchmark considering it's had such a good response and we are aiming to work on everything and just be better. I'm very fortunate in that my band don't have any ego and we are 100% willing to listen to advice from other people and strengthen our weaknesses and take advantage of what we think we can maintain well! Our plan long term is to release a string of singles but at the same time make sure that none of our songs categorically COULDN'T cut it as a single. In a nutshell we want every song to be interesting and catchy and not follow a "theme" other than it being played by us. The only real question is if we can do it or not but I'll tell you as much as.. We aren't really "focused" on pleasing labels. We want our music to capture people and hopefully that will become a selling point in itself. I think genuine relation is severely lacking in modern music and I personally have no interest in being like other bands. Who knows where we will end up ? We are just going to try our best, take advice and help that we can get, and work really hard to achieve whatever we are capable of! I can definitely tell you that one song to the next is not going to be "ok I get it" though. We'll make sure of that ;) But at the end of it all, if one guy comes up to me and says "your song stopped my day from being a shit one" then that'll be good enough for me. Anything else is a bonus!

DogsoverLava Mon, 06/30/2014 - 08:52

I'm definitely seeing a trend with bands where building momentum through recording and releasing singles (or EP's) as the way forward. Very project oriented where each song is a project unto itself. Is gigging necessary for you guys? Where's that fit?

The Video: I liked your drummer - the contrast of him with his black shirt and tie reminded me of Charlie Watts vs the Stones -- very Rock and Roll. But it also reminded me of my grade 10 (jr high) graduation. My friends and I all made an agreement beforehand - no monkey clothes - t-shirts and jeans only. So I show up with my parents in my C-Fox radio station baseball style t-shirt and jeans, and there's all my friends (with their parents) wearing dress shoes and slacks and shirts and ties. I was so pissed off. In my mind I imagine that your drummer was working his mojo on the girl in the video (as drummers do) looking all suave and cool, and the rest of you guys were like "I knew he was going to do that!".

Guitars sound really good and the playing is top! Thanks again for sharing this I really enjoyed it.

Voiceofallanger Tue, 07/01/2014 - 00:52

Gigging is necessary in the sense that it helps build a fanbase but isn't nearly as effective as a strong online presence. The main reason it's necessary though is because personally.. in our band, that's the bit we really love and it's very motivational to get out and meet new people in a world that seems to be run behind keyboards. And no, thank you for listening to us and being kind enough to give us honest feedback! :)

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