itsadequate
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New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
I'd be extremely grateful for any feedback/advice on this demo. Its a funky rock/acoustic rock track, about my experience of hypermobility type Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It's about the unpredictability of the disability - it changes from day to day and hour to hour, and my desire to get on with being productive 'while I still can'. I'm singing and playing guitar, my wife Kathryn Thomas is playing flute, and Mark Gatland is the bassist. It's all home recorded in Sonar, other than the vocals, which I do in a studio to avoid annoying the neighbours. http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/15005123 Best wishes, Malcolm
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evadianepug
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/30 16:37:57
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Interesting tune. "I can fly till I hit the ground" is a great line. The farther I got into the song the more I liked it. Really got me moving. Man, your wife can kick it on that flute. You all sound great. Really a top notch tune! I don't know what the disease is but my prayers will be that you keep on keeping on and putting out music like this.
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itsadequate
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/30 20:48:39
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Thanks very much for your kind comments. Very much appreciated. Best wishes, Malcolm
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The Band19 
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/30 20:55:41
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Hey Malcolm, I like it, and that flute sounds great. I'm not a fan of that bass... It has a slappy percussive treble effect that doesn't seem to fit the song, it seems like it moves a bit too much from me (as a bass player) and the time seems to float a bit (Cardinal sin as a bass player). He should simplify the grove, warm the tone, and lock it in with the drums. Sorry, I did like the song, and your performance, and your wife's flute is awesome. In fairness, I'm listening on ear buds, but they are good ones (Klipsch) However, you'll get many opinions... Please take mine in stride.
post edited by The Band19 - 2012/10/30 22:16:19
Sittin downtown in a railway station one toke over the line.
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MetalTeK
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/30 21:37:56
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I like the all the music. Great bass and flute lines. Nice guitar work.
But seems like there isn't much bottom end.
I would beef up the Bass Drum a little.
And I like the slappy bass sound. It just needs more low end in my opinion.
Instead of screwing around with the bass sound you already have. I would rec another bass track and make it all low end.
Then just fade it in till you get the nice low end and it blends with the slappy bass sound you already have.
Just my opinion. Nice Job.
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Old55
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/30 21:59:30
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What a cool tune! It has the vibe of late 60's (Quicksilver Messenger Service or early Jefferson Airplane) will still having a modern feel, too. Well done.
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Marcus Curtis
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 01:20:46
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As A whole this is a great song. The flute is excellent. The guitar solos rip and sound great. and the composition as a whole is good. has a Jethro Tull feel and i like it.
The only problem for me is the bass. It is distracting from what the song is doing. The bass itself is not bad and the bass line is ok. There seems to be a percussive feel to the bass that conflicts with the snare drum. It makes the whole song sound off beat in sections. It took a few times to listen through to pinpoint the problem
There is some fundamental frequency that the bass is sharing with the snare drum and causing a conflict. I would check and redo EQ on both the snare and the bass. That should fix it. Add some more bottom end to the bass and you should be good to go.
http://www.marcuscurtismusic.com/ Windows 10 ultimate, Sonar Platinum, AMD Phenom 2 x6 1075T processor 3.00 GHz, (6 cores) 8 gigs of Ram, Audio interfaces=VS-100, Pod X3 live pro, Boss GT-100, Boss GP10 Midi Controllers=Edirol PCR 800, roland GR-55. Ozone 7, Podfarm, Th2 Full Version, Melda, True Pianos Full Version, and a whole bunch of free VST plugins which can be found through my site.
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Cactus Music
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 13:11:39
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I agree with Warren, The bass (played with a pick? ) washes out a lot of the details from the guitar and even overpowers the kick. Let the guitar carry the pick attack. They are fighting each other.
It's a good bass line but re play it with fingers.
Drums are too laid back, bring them out and fatten the kick. I couldn't hear it at all.
Bring the guitar out on the solo, fatter?
I think there needs to be a more low end energy.
But overall it's a great tune and kicks along. Having the flute is 100% cool! loved it.
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Lynn
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 13:14:27
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Malcolm, I would love to hear your song, but all songs on Reverbnation have not been loading for me and time out before they're done. This just started about a week ago or so. This applies to other submissions from that site. I see others are not having that problem, so it may be on my end, but it doesn't work with Chrome nor Firefox. I guess I'll try Explorer next. I'm glad to see that you're getting good reviews. No surprise.
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Starise
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 13:27:18
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Loved this song. The guitar flute and singing chops are all there. I agree about the bass. I would remove the bass track entirely and put in another one. The percussive attacks on bass are taking away from an otherwise great tune.
The level might need some playing with as well. I understand it's a demo so I am guessing you will play with that later.
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itsadequate
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 19:28:08
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Thanks very much for all your helpful feedback.
The responsibility for the clicky bass sound is mine, not the bass guitarist's. He played striaight into my Tricapture USB audio interface (just bass guitar without any effects or amp), and I added the amp simulation. I'd been mixing on headphones so far, and will have another go at the bass amp simulation settings listening on speakers.
I'm very grateful for all the the time you've taken to listen and provide feedback.
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Scottytunes
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/10/31 20:16:12
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I agree with everyone else on this one. Keep on trackin'!
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Cactus Music
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/11/01 11:01:08
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I will also back up what Lynn said about Reverbination not working very well. I find it very slow to play the songs. The more I use it the more I like Soundcloud. Seems to go right to your song and plays smooth without pause. Only feature I have not found that I would like.. is to change song order. I posted an album but it scrambled the order and sometimes the song order is important. Hopefully you can change that bass sound to something smoother. I would first try NOT using any amp sim's and just use a plain compressor. All my Bass tracks are straight up Via active Boss DI box into a xlr input on the interface and only vst compression added. Amp sims have always made guitar and bass tracks sound worse to me. Too Grainy.
post edited by Cactus Music - 2012/11/01 11:05:08
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itsadequate
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/11/06 12:36:26
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Thanks very much for all your helpful feedback. I appreciate it greatly.
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Lynn
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Re:New song - While I Still Can - feedback greatly appreciated
2012/11/06 12:50:40
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Hi, Malcolm, I finally got to hear this song and others from Reverbhnation. This song has a real sense of urgency to it, no doubt, accentuated by your physical condition. To me, it makes the song feel genuine and gutsy. The performances are terrific, and I like the mix. I'm OK with the bass sound as is, though I can hear a few variations, soundwise. Since I'm a little behind, I'll listen to this song a few more times, but for enjoyment only. I hope you can keep it up for a long time.
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