ghost

Duly added to my EQ sheet - thanks!

[[I'm assuming this is the title of the CDR - just says Demos 2003 on my copy]] Saint Maybe - Demos 2003 Arthur Starts by making you wonder if your headphones are broken as only the left channel is audible - nice lofi way to attract interest in the song! This develops into a rather catchy stop/start instrumental which really can only be described as Sonic Youth's interpretation of the Knight Rider theme tune. It builds quite a lot towards the end and you expect it to erupt into fuzz death but instead... Swimming Upstream ...you're presented with this Smog-esque gem of a song, evoking memories of campfire tales, childhood adventures and endless summer nights. Vocal doubling is very effective and mimics Bill Calaghan circa Rain On Lens. Traces of Mum in the guitar layering and the organic drum machine. For such a minimalist song, the impact is astounding. Interzone A slow, dark instrumental track, again I expect Calaghan's dulcet tones to slide in over this track - it deserves some vocals actually! Without them, the track ambles along without really going anywhere, then surprises at the very last. The Trick Of The Slo-mo A loose track with ascending dry piano a welcome addition to the Saint Maybe sound. A chorus Enon would be proud of, Dave's distorted vocals add a layer of sleaze, whispering dirt into your ear. This is the kind of track that deserves a lofi headfuck video. Barricade Storming Song Chugging riff reminiscent of Negative Creep but, at 19 seconds, doesn't have time to make an impact. Plug In Yeah! "Plug in my friends" invites Dave you with the air of a friendly neighbourhood shopkeeper and, before you know it, you've been chained up in the basement to spend the rest of your natural life making shoes from the skin of small dogs. The dirty distorted riffs and meaty bass are more than a touch hypnotic. Some cracking changes in this song too, but it's a touch slow to get the kidz moshing. Space Rock An acoustic instrumental number that could be a Siamese Dream outtake, this short track is crying out to be expanded into a full song. I Saw The Plans Overtly computerised drum beat accompanied by organic hand claps form a guard of honour for this laid back track. Lyrics are repetitive but effective due to slight changes from line to line. It's a simplistic, hypnotic ode to MI5... isn't it? Green + Gold Really does remind me of Mum here circa Finally We Are No One. Layers of nursery-rhyme keyboards and synthetic beats create a lovely upbeat mood. The deconstruction of the song towards the end and the introduction of screaming harmonic guitar(?) very low in the mix is very listenable. Returning Nodes Overdriven moody instrumental in which the guitar drowns out the drums. Quite interesting to begin with but doesn't progress. Cuckoo Similar pace and inventiveness as in Green + Gold, but a darker, more industrial setting. Takes a few listens to get into, but it's one of the better instrumentals on this CD. Gunpowder Plot Spiky, nervous instrumental which develops into a searing chorus, reminds me of Sonic Youth's NYC Ghosts & Flowers. Gets the feet tapping every time I listen. I'd love to hear some vocals laid over this track - shows definite promise. Shades of Pearl Jam's Spin The Black Circle in the outro riff... Rainy Day Saving We're back into Smog meets Sebadoh territory here. There is a lot of space in this song created by panning the bass and guitar to opposite sides of the stereo field. Stream of consciousness lyrics about saving loose change for a rainy day. Occasional timing skips but it could be my CD. I really like this track, a pity it cuts out so sharply. Ceramic Rahm Weird instrumental segue with high pitched hyper screaming lead guitar. Take it or leave it. The Blackout Club Starting like a jam in a smoke-filled jazz club for sonic terrorists, The Blackout Club is smooth, sultry and subdued. Dave's vocals are so low in the mix it's like he's leaning across your shoulder and whispering into your ear. I also love the lofi ending tape click. Milky Milky Iggy Pop/Mark E Smith-esque vocals about being or stalking a milkman - I'm not 100% sure which - maybe it's both! What I do know for certain is that this track absolutely kicks ass. One of the best tracks on the CD - wagons roll! Lets Get Drunk Spacey treble heavy downbeat suggestion to go out and get pissed. Shades of Arab Strap in subject matter (it's what they're best at) and Smog in delivery. The guitar EQ hurts your head like the mother of all hangovers though... Clipped A similar arrangement to the previous track, this track is a bit too rough to be more than a demo. It sounds promising though and has an good upbeat break towards the end of the song. Angel Wings Snippet A spaced-out acoustic segment of a Sidca song. Instructs you to 'write a letter home'... and then is gone. There are a lot of great tracks on here, there are probably an equal number of unfinished tracks or segues that you'll listen to once, then skip forever more. However, don't let that put you off - tracks such as Swimming Upstream, The Trick of the Slo-mo, Green + Gold, Gunpowder Plot, Rainy Day Saving and Milky Milky are more than worth the effort of sifting through the others. Hassle them for a copy at www.saintmaybe.fsnet.co.uk ...

I don't exist.

Good tip - think I'm definitely guilty of making a few CA tracks too bright. When I'm mixing with Cool Edit I usually max out the frequency range so I can hear where it is making the difference and then take it back to 0.5db. Surely you're a fountain of good EQ tips Mr Christie, or do you intend to keep it a dark art?

Glad to pass this on - just in time for your recording eh so you can confuse Capt. Tom with technical jargon....

I kind of agree, in most cases the labels step in when the band/artist is likely to make them cash. Still, if they didn't listen to demos, they'd miss an awful lot of good acts.... ahnowigeddit...

Thanks Chris - I'll load up Cubase again and give it a go - will need to get my head around it for the MIDI course at the Foyer anyway! Much appreciated...

Graham, you can also get them on eBay for about a tenner new. They are v. useful!

Hi, picked this up off the net a few years ago - it's VERY useful. Print it off and stick it on the wall next to your mixer or PC. Anyone got any extra tips to add? -- Recommended Equalisation Frequencies By Robert Dennis Administrator, Recording Institute Of Detroit As published in Recording Engineers Quarterly at http://www.recordingeq.com Original document: http://www.pcmusic.co.za/archive/2002/august/eq/index4.php 50Hz 1. Increase to add more fullness to lowest frequency instruments like foot, floor tom, and the bass. 2. Reduce to decrease to "boom" of the bass and will increase overtones and the recognition of bass line in the mix. This is most often used on loud bass lines like rock. 100Hz 1. Increase to add a harder bass sound to lowest frequency instruments. 2. Increase to add fullness to guitars, snare. 3. Increase to add warmth to piano and horns. 4. Reduce to remove boom on guitars & increase clarity. 200Hz 1. Increase to add fullness to vocals. 2. Increase to add fullness to snare and guitar (harder sound). 3. Reduce to decrease muddiness of vocals or mid-range instruments. 4. Reduce to decrease gong sound of cymbals. 400Hz 1. Increase to add clarity to bass lines especially when speakers are at low volume. 2. Reduce to decrease "cardboard" sound of lower drums (foot and toms). 3. Reduce to decrease ambiance on cymbals. 800Hz 1. Increase for clarity and "punch" of bass. 2. Reduce to remove "cheap" sound of guitars. 1.5kHz 1. Increase for "clarity" and "pluck" of bass. 2. Reduce to remove dullness of guitars. 3kHz 1. Increase for more "pluck" of bass. 2. Increase for more attack of electric / acoustic guitar. 3. Increase for more attack on low piano parts. 4. Increase for more clarity / hardness on voice. 5. Reduce to increase breathy, soft sound on background vocals. 6. Reduce to disguise out-of-tune vocals / guitars. 5kHz 1. Increase for vocal presence. 2. Increase low frequency drum attack (foot / toms) 3. Increase for more "finger sound" on bass. 4. Increase attack of piano, acoustic guitar and brightness on guitars (especially rock guitars). 5. Reduce to make background parts more distant. 6. Reduce to soften "thin" guitar. 7kHz 1. Increase to add attack on low frequency drums (more metallic sound). 2. Increase to add attack to percussion instruments. 3. Increase on dull singer. 4. Increase for more "finger sound" on acoustic bass. 5. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers. 6. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitar and piano. 10kHz 1. Increase to brighten vocals. 2. Increase for "light brightness" in acoustic guitar and piano. 3. Increase for hardness on cymbals. 4. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers. 15kHz 1. Increase to brighten vocals (breath sound). 2. Increase to brighten cymbals, string instruments and flutes. 3. Increase to make sampled synthesizer sound more real. --

Simon T Munro - The Carousel I didn't go looking for this CD. I was in One Up Records to collect the Noise Pollution EP and spotted this self-released single in the local band section for a measly 50p. Could I resist? Of course not. Gentle downbeat acoustic ballad with strong burred vocals. Reminds of The Reindeer Section, Red House Painters. Lyrics paint a nice picture but brings nothing new to the table. It would have been nice to hear harmonies, sparse bass, even a touch of percussion in this to keep the listener rapt and there's no excuse for not fading in and out the background noise at the track bookends. The remix attempts to spice things up with broken electro beats and harmonic synths but rough synchronisation ends up stifling the song further when improvement seemed easier. Still, it's not a bad introduction to Mr Munro at a very tempting price.

.. possibly listened to some demos - i'm sure that's a sackable offence in A&R circles...

PRIORY. They'll be sobbing into their argyle jumpers in no time...

How long is the delay/loop? Would love something that I could use to build up layers ala Coffee And Ideas...

Hmm, its the hardware problems with Cubase/Cakewalk and the like that puts me off moving up to a midi-compatible software package. With Cool Edit, you just start the app and it sets everything up for you (as you'd expect). With Cubase you pick the soundcard, load the sample tune and... you hear nothing! I'd expect that with a obscure card but not a SB Live... any tips on how to get set up in Cubase Chris?

Suvara - Demo 2 ( most songs are available from http://www.soundclick.com/suvara ) Hard on the heels of my review of Suvara's first demo, this 3-tracker was recorded at approximately the same time as the first. This time around Suvara's sound bring to mind a much different collection of bands... Club Rules After the abundance of festival-ready tunes on the first demo I wasn't surprised to hear another bouncy track, but the mood generated here is much darker. The mix is closer, tighter, and as a result makes everything sound muddier - especially the vocals - which are lost a bit behind the electric guitar and drums. No harmonies in this one and I'm rather surprised especially as its crying out for one in the outro. Points off for reminding me of Elastica with the guitar riff too. Oh my. She Is This track has MUCH more space and I like the light reverb on the guitar. The mood is wistful and it brings to mind a Fairground Attraction song which for the life of me I can't remember the name of. The repetitiveness and high compression of the guitar parts tire the ears after a few spins - definitely something to watch out for with high treble guitar patches, overcompression! You can tell this is a live recording as there are a few timing issues between the guitars, and the bass could do with being a bit higher in the mix, but once the niggles are sorted out you'll have a nice head-nodding love song to win you starry-eyed groupies... Mobile Hey, I get that sea-shanty vibe again with this one - the electro-mandolin is a strange sound and it really cuts through the other instruments - good to get the attention but might need a bit of restraining to allow the listener to focus on the vocals . The chorus is crashing with "run down the miles" raising the neck hairs - easily the best moment on the CD and firmly grounds the track in the head of the listener. I love the harmonies in this one too. The heavily distorted break is a bit weak to be honest, but that's the EQ/limiting issue again. Nice track to finish live sets/CDs with and would be a nice companion for Treasure Island on the Mike Harding CD. I'll be bringing the lighter on the 28th... Overall, I think the first demo contains the stronger songs - Club Rules just doesn't stick in my head and She Is is let down by messy recording. Mobile however is on a par with the tracks from the first CD and is by far the best track of the three. I'll be interested to hear how their sound has developed once their latest recording session is ready for consumption.

Use a different studio? Seriously though - worth just taking the individual tracks away with you and mixing in Cool Edit.

URL doesn't seem to work...

I've got space in my diary for May 2007? Will that do? Oh yeah - details ok for the 28th? You got the email? Was I right by the way - where did you record the demos? Did you overlay the vox & drums later with a different engineer?

get yer tickets on eBay...

that could also benefit the bands with amps etc to shift home at the end of the night...

they come for the beer, obviously... they're from london - it's 17 a pint there isn't it?

exactly the same process as it is with the postcard/image idea.

Grab free postcards or evocative images off the internet. Carry them around and jot down phrases inspired by looking at the pics. Eventually you'll have enough to build a little story - write it and then break it down into lines that scan. Easy? Take a look at the lyrics page at www.lofimusic.co.uk/iansimpson/lyrics.html for examples (I Stop, Why I Ran In Fear Of My Life, Happiness. Shared., etc.)

actually - YES. charge them double for beer and then the bands can split the profits - making fools of the industry blaggers and getting paid for the privaledge. where was my shitty hand drawn cover btw?

How young is young?