Any Musicians Here?

[macheteman]

Basically, I think it would be fun to know if there are any serious, cd producing/gig playing/earning money musicians in our midst? (what casual musicians we have would be fun to know also). if you have websites or cd's, links would be cool.

Personally, i make no money being a musician, but i've been working on a lot of stuff lately, and i'm trying to record a collection of lovesongs called: The Saint Valentine Project. i'm primarily a lyricist, but i play guitar just well enough to put some basic chords to my words and sing them. i'm also not a very good vocalist, but seeing as i'm the only man in the band right now, i do what i can. i'm just recording sketches of the songs, to get an idea of what the album will sound like, then come back later and record them more professionally, and with better musicians. my bandcamp page is AmberEyes.bandcamp.com but i only have one "sketch" posted so far. i'm going to try to record some more on saturday, and post the results when i get them mixed.

if you listen to it, please forgive the roughness, i'm not very good at this yet, and its just the very first "rough draft" if you will.

feedback is always welcome, especially about the lyrics, and i'd love to hear about anything other members are working on.

[Anautikus]

What's up mm! Didn't know you played that's awesome.

I guess on topic with your, well, topic, I played trumpet a few years back and now just compose instrumental pieces when I can just for fun. I'll look around see if I have a recording anywhere lol.

[rubbercarp]

Sort of...

I'm an actor. And I do quite a bit of musical theater. So while I make part of my living as a singer/musician =)

[macheteman]

Whats up Anautikus? always good to see you around!

The trumpet, and other wind instruments, are all pretty amazing to me, because i have no idea how to play them. If you could find a recording of something you've composed, that would rock!

@rubbercarp: that's cool that you do theater! i have a lot of friends who are involved with local theater in my area, and they definitely have to be musical. they've put on some really good productions too.

[dethwish07]

Well, I lurk here, so I guess I'm qualified to answer this. I'm a musician. Not professional, but rather as a hobby. Though at one time, I had aims of being a professional of some sort. I play guitar, bass, and sing. I used to actually do some performing but I'm a full-time student these days, so my goals are leaning more towards academia rather than any kind of performance arts. I don't consider myself to be all that great overall, though I will say, I'm pretty good on a six-string. Here is one of the more recent videos I made. Still over 2 years old, so. Oh, and yes, that is a Lotrtcg Isildur's Bane shirt ;P I don't really post videos anymore because I don't usually care for the way I sound recorded.

I listened to your sketch, btw. The lyrics are great. The archaic and mythological references are great within the imagery your lyrics create, depicting a sort of extra-planar weather and cosmological event that appears to be a blissful dream-state induced by one's love of another.

To the technical aspects: Your guitar work is good. Love the picking pattern. Very relaxing and fits the lyrical mood. The percussion seems slightly off timing-wise. I know that is a really difficult thing to do sometimes. Its why any of my recordings only ever contain one instrument. Lastly, your vocals. The first thing that jumped out at me was your range versus the key of the song. I tried to sing along myself and found the key to be to low to comfortably sing with my range. Have you considered useing a capo and moving your chord progression up a fret or two and then seeing if you are more comfortable with that key/pitch versus the one recorded in the sketch?

Overall, good stuff. If you post more, I will listen, hehe. Good luck, my friend.

[macheteman]

Thanks for sharing your video! good stuff! what kind and brand of guitar do you play?

And thank you for the very constructive criticism, its always appreciated. I'm glad you enjoyed the lyrics, that is where the bulk of my energies go when it comes to songwriting.

as for the percussion, i know i should really start recording with a metronome, i just haven't gotten the practice yet, to feel comfortable with it. i also messed up a few times while drumming and shaking. but i figured the main point was to get an idea of what it would sound like, not to make it perfect. the whole thing took me only 3 hours to record, mix and upload.

as for the vocals, I honestly have a hard time knowing is i'm on key, or even singing the tune. i'm working on it, and i'll experiment with your advice and try playing it up a few steps. i really like the tone of it where its at, it sounds nice and cheerful while retaining some of the deeper notes and without being too plinky. but i will certainly try to hone in on what i can do to make my vocals sound better

I really appreciate the feedback, and i'm working on another sketch which is a lot more upbeat, and a lot of fun. still rough with the percussion and vocals, but when i finally record everything and mix it, i'll post it.

thanks again, it was really helpful!

-mm

[leokula]

The kind of slack vocals reminded me of a few Pavement songs there. I found you to be out of key sometimes, but somehow I ultimately liked it. If you didn't wanna sound slack, then you might think this is a bad thing, but I liked it

[macheteman]

One of my favorite bands is "mewithoutYou" and they have this signature style of basically talking or yelling or sortof singing their lyrics. a lot of people don't like them because they don't really sing on key, but i've always liked the emotion they pack into their songs.

so i've definitely toyed with the idea of exploring that slack vocal style, but i think the problems in my recording are due to the fact, that i haven't really made up my mind, and on top of that, i'm not a very good singer.

so i guess i have a lot more exploring to do before i figure out what i'm aiming for.

glad you liked it.

[leokula]

Songwriting is just awesome, take it slow, record it a hundred times, try everything. And on top of it, do something your proud of and makes you happy about it, even if nobody gives a #$&*@!.

I'm playing in an instrumental band, lots of distortion, nonsense... my girl hates it, she even laughs at it sometimes, but the beauty in it is I couldn't care less as I'm so happy about the result. I can show it to all my friends and they'll say it sucks, I'll still be proud of it

So go on and do it in your own style, it's priceless to do something just your own way. I think in life we have very few opportunities to do something just as we like it, without making any compromises.

[macheteman]

good advice!

[jdizzy001]

i teach trumpet lessons. Not quite the same, but I earned some game money doing it