Score: 8

"MY NICHE! YOU'RE SPREADING INTO MY NICHE!!!"

submission: My Cats Sleep in the Nude

date: November 28, 2004

There's just something about the way you speed up the tunes, that makes them hilarious.....

The best part is that imaginary line when it stops being about pets, and starts being about vagina.

Its almost as if I'd been doing Liberate the Cheese for 10 years and mastered it.....

FUCKER!!! THAT'S MY NICHE!!!!! I'M LESS ORIGINAL AND TALENTED NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME!!!!!

Meh, at least I play mandolin.

Score: 6

"Sweet, you can play it!"

submission: Stairway To Heavan Intro

date: November 28, 2004

It's awesome that you learned how to play that, but you've got some serious hum issues with your mike, and heavey strumming seems to create really bad clipping. You might want to adjust your recording levels, and the distance between your guitar and mike. You should also consider buying a nice mic if you can afford it.

Production is a bitch, aint it?

Score: 8

"Jam patterns rule...."

submission: The Nameless

date: November 25, 2004

Nice use of a jam holding pattern to give your guitar player a platform. Try moving your tom riffs over to your high-hat. Trust me. It'll give you a better groove, and your left foot will add a third demention. Also try "touch" rolls or "bouncing" rolls in this kind of thing. A nice soft jazz style bounce roll is a great rift for smooth groovy music. It lets you play fast, without making what you're playing heavier. Straight 8 or 4 rolls are a little too straight.

12112122<= a great off set roll pattern

Score: 8

"Bass drum>toms"

submission: Running with the wood

date: November 25, 2004

I noticed you apparently mic the toms instead of the bass drum..... Not a good choice. The snare and bass drum are WAY more important than mere toms, which have more in common with cymbals than with the major parts of the beat. You only use toms on riffs, really. It's the bass and snare that hold down the up and down beats.

Also, there's too much high end (in the EQ) on the guitar. If you don't have enough low end, the guitar loses all of it's balls. It's pretty cool that you used an acoustic with the electric, though. That's always a nice synergy.

I use a Shure Beta 52 in my bass drum 8P. Also, try "stereo-ing out" your instruments (ie, pan the lead guitar left, the backup guitar right, and fan the drum mics left to right). It helps the individual instruments stand out more, and helps reduce apparent phase cancellations.

Score: 6

"Computer mic, huh?"

submission: poopshingles

date: November 25, 2004

Your signal's clipping like a bitch. You're also a bit out of tune. The actual playing is the best thing on the track, which is something to be proud of.

1 Get a better mic (a Shure SM57 is a good choice)
2 Buy and electric tuner. You won't regret it
3 Ignore 1 and 2. I'm a big fat audiophile who spends WAY too much money on equipment.

Score: 9

"Good for a first try"

submission: V8 Splash

date: November 25, 2004

Put a pillow in your bass drum. It'll take a lot of that rattle out of it. Other than that, good sound quality.

The drum solo falls apart a little, but then, most drum solos do.

As for the guitars and bass, it's a nice simple chord progression, with a very rhythmic guitar part. I'd like the bass to work harder, but hey, in classic style rock the bass doesn't work very hard.

This is ok for a band, and GREAT for an Audio Portal submission. CONGRATULATIONS!

Score: 7

"Quality increase, anyone?"

submission: Koto Dreams

date: November 22, 2004

I noticed a significant quality increase in this one compared to your other submissions. Did you take any of my miking advice, or did you find a better technique on your own? I *may* submit some of my new MABA stuff tonight, if you wanna compare notes.

Score: 9

"Heh, better than the two more recent ones!"

submission: Untitled Composition 1

date: November 13, 2004

OMG! TEH ARPEGGIOS!!! This one has the worst audio quality, but the best playing so far. I always like everything faster, with more strings being played. After all, minimalism is for bitches, right?

Score: 8

"No drone? :("

submission: Scotish Pentatonic

date: November 13, 2004

Damn, I was expecting a drone with something scottish. More fuzz in this one though. Blah blah source volume blah blah signal to noise ration blah blah rf rejection, balanced line cable, m3h A-p3n0r R 13373|2>J00.

omg! c0mpr3ss0r+g4t3+EQ=PWN!!!

(contact me if you didn't understand any of that, but keep in mind that everything I'm talking about costs money. Audiophilia is a damn expensive hobby)

Score: 8

"Nice sustain on that acoustic"

submission: Kokinjoshi Scribbling

date: November 13, 2004

Sounds like you're using a crappy mic, though. Sorry, I'm a Shure mic freak. It's pretty cool when you try to emulate the quarter tones (that's in pitch, not in time). That's the crazy thing about eastern music. Nice choice of styles, by the way.