amanti

Hey Aberdeen Music we (LENIN DEATH MASK) recorded a NEW demo. Have a listen it's just over 2 minutes

http://soundcloud.com/lenin-death-mask/breakfast-of-champions

Yeah but, is it really a tour or is it just some gigs in a row? Also, are you headlining or just playing last? 

 

© copyright ab-music circa 2004

 

Seriously though, cool poster.

We thought about this ourselves after playing 3 consecutive shows earlier in the year in which the poster said 'tour', which we thought didn't really apply. We called it a jaunt. 

So we think this is either a mini tour or extended jaunt.

Hey! We're hitting the road again at the end of this month with our buddies in Star Rover. We've had some really lovely feedback on this forum and thought some of you might want to make it along to a date.

The event page for the Aberdeen gig:

https://www.facebook.com/events/429942043806799/?ref=22

it's with Everythingwesayisfact and Black International!

Our fb is here: www.facebook.com/lenindeathmask

and our soundcloud is here:

www.soundcloud.com/lenin-death-mask/american-irony

Hopefully see some of you there!

You guys suck!

Fergus Tiernan was listed as born in Nigeria in match-day programs. I always found this strange.

I liked this.

I also liked the spoken word in 'Scene Wars - Hinckley Remix'. It didn't detract or distract from the music which was cool, although it got a bit murky in the louder outro but that might be down to the audio file being a rip or whatnot.

Totally, totally awesome for demos.

I can't argue with their stories about Miss Lucid having not been there, I can however contest your opinion about Ewan as I know him IRL.

Well, saying that our bands music and recordings didn't impress you would be fine normally if you hadn't offered to mix/master the exact same song on FB when we put it up, mentioning twice how much you liked it. Makes you seem a bitty two faced or if not that, indecisive. For example.

I thought our recordings were great.

I think everyone needs to just chill out, take a breather and just remember what this is all about...slagging bands we don't like, okay?

If that makes me an arsehole, then I guess I'm an arsehole.

Sounds like clipping to me, just compressed; even if it's technically not, what Joda Serk said - the distortion sounds bad.

Like I said earlier we appreciate that you've taken some time out to listen to the song because we are writing music because we love music, as cliched as it sounds. 

I think everything here got blown out of proportion.

We love the loud brash guitars though, so we won't be changing that.

But it does sound really rough, it's a demo. You didn't take it on board, you wrote an essay dictating why he was wrong (which incidentally he isn't, it's an opinion).

 

I didn't say it didn't warrant a response, I said it didn't warrant the response it got.

Okay, I understand what you are getting at now. I explained the process of the recording and why the guitars may have sounded distorted or clipped, but they weren't.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here.

All he said was that they were rough and he thought there was a guitar clipping (is it really a big deal if it is/isn't?), it really didn't warrant the response it got especially seen as though there was a lot of praise in there as well.

He gave feedback on the track and I explained why I thought what he said was wrong. He said it was "reaaaaalllllllyyyyy rouuughhhh" and explained why he thought it was. Then I took on board what he said and detailed the process I went through in the recording and why what he said wasn't entirely correct. 

I don't understand how it didn't warrant a response?

It was the underlying attitude and dismissive nature of his response.

 

Also, I've never responded like that when someone has criticised my work when discussing the Needleman recordings so I completely disagree.

 

For what it's worth I don't mind the recordings and they're good for what they are but they are definitely missing something, need some work and aren't mixed to my tastes. What they do get across though are the songs, which once again aren't to my tastes, but certainly don't do them a disservice.

I didn't intend to have a dismissive tone if it came across that way. Just that for a demo recording it served its purpose well and that I didn't agree with a lot of what he was saying, because it was untrue.

I like the sound of the drums. It's surprising there's only one mic there. Everything sounds relatively clear on the kit. Clear enough for a demo anyway, and they have a 'clunky' endearment about them.

 

The guitar sounds quite maxed out and compressed. Maybe it isn't actually clipping, but it has a tone which often sounds like it is. But again, I kinda dig that. It's quite a Husker Du sounding guitar tone.

 

Really though, judging the recording quality of a demo - which hasn't even been properly released, and is simply a stream for people to gauge a bit of interest - is hugely redundant. It's a demo innit. If it had been put out on a CD for people to buy, then it becomes fair game to be critical of the recording. But it's a demo. It's not some hugely distorted mobile phone recording either. It's clear enough to be able to hear what the band are trying to do, which is all that matters with these tracks.

Yeah, I wanted the recording to sound big, and as authentic to the live sound as possible. So because of this the guitars are loud to fill in more space in the mix. They're panned too, which may give a loud feel to the whole thing.

It's great there's a wee debate going on about this now.

I think at the very least, you should put more than one microphone on the drums.

Yeah, I would have liked to but it was just me recording Tam at the time, and we only had one condenser mic. But yeah, ideally I'd like to have more mics but for the purposes of the demo I think it worked.

You're probably going to have to learn to be a little less touchy about when people give feedback on your work.

I wouldn't necessarily say I was being touchy, I gave a detailed explanation as to why the recording was the way it was. 

I've had another listen (or 3) to American Irony; when I first heard it I wrote it off as generic indie, but it's more endearing after giving it a chance. On the one hand, it is reaaaaaaallllllllyyyyyyyyyyy rough: there's a searing clip on the guitars and Nefarious Barney Plough (forgot who's singing on this one) sounds like he's simultaneously gargling whisky at a few points. But the sunny harmonies give it a pleasant incongruousness and catchy-ness that set it apart. The ooh-oohs are particularly nice, reminds me strongly of another track I used to like but cant recall (think it's Jesse Malin's The Heat, not sure...) right now. 

I appreciate that you've taken the time to listen to the recording and understand fully that this is a forum for feedback, but I'm pretty sure it was stated before that this was a demo recorded with 2 mics. The drum kit was miced using one mic and I think it does well to capture a true balance between each part of the drumkit. You can hear the kicks, the snare, the toms, the hi-hats, the cymbals, without any of them being over powering or quiet. In that respect being the person who recorded everything I think we did well with the limited resources we had.

The guitars aren't at any point clipping. The guitars are EQ'd such that they drop out some of the lower frequencies so that the bass can be heard, rather than to muddy it up. I stuck a limiter on the guitars and vocals so that they didn't clip also. I wanted to create a good, professional recording with the limited resources we had and I think we did a pretty good job.

You've obviously got your own opinion, which is great, and this forum is for feedback and we appreciate that, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on everything apart from the song being great.

Are you not in the band?

What...no...

...but yes...

I think the softer vocal is very clever. Very unique to have falsetto in what is essentially a punk band.

Bravo guys, very good work.

Wow, the drummer sounds so sexy and I'm getting the feeling that he is probably the best human being in the band.

You've given yourself away, Stretch!

A NEW SONG APPEARS

Tom sings on this one, mainly. I hope you are all as colourful in describing his voice as you were mine.

https://soundcloud.com/lenin-death-mask/ive-won-the-war-but-why-does

This guy has a beautiful voice. 

I like it

 

it's not my thing/style to listen to, but really dig the vibe you have going. I could almost imagine the vocals with distortion. 

 

Do you have a bassist?

Yeah, I'm the bassist.