Please critique my band (positive constructive advice)

close2u

@Danny1969

Thanks for clarifying. We have had trouble on the transition away from and back to One Way as the tempos are slightly but not markedly different. And I may be responsible for a bit of that at the start as my opening intro riffing on One Way sets the tempo. 

John_P

I suspect some of the things people have commented on, like not looking relaxed could be down to being filmed at a rehearsal - if you aren't used to that, then it's hard to avoid being self conscious - at a gig I would hope everyone looks more relaxed - it did look like you're enjoying it though.

Yes there are a few dodgy drum fills but I wouldn't stress a huge amount - just get out in public and throw a few gentle comments about overplaying at him - if he's watched the vid's then it'll be obvious to him.

close2u

This is one we only learned the other week ... Cher - Believe

http://youtu.be/KN5a8mYuEf8

close2u

John_P said:

- if it did look like you're enjoying it though.

Yeah!

Hence the 'dad dancing'

lloyd

I agree with a lot of the comments, it's not perfect, there's some tightening up to do but that will come with a few gigs.

I'm a big advocate of just going out there and doing it, you learn so much more in 10 minutes of a gig than you would in a week of practices.

pmg

Keep practising and you'll iron out the creases and enjoy it even more.  I would focus on the tempos and timing to make the songs sound energising.  Keep up the good work.

RocknRollDave

I haven't had chance to watch in full, so apologies if I'm wrong, but there don't appear to be any backing vocals?

Now, maybe you three guys aren't the greatest singers in the world, but if you can hold a tune to any reasonable degree, I'd urge you to get over any nerves and stick a mic in front of yourself and give it a go. Backing vocals make a huge difference to how professional a band comes across, and can fill the sound out in a one-guitar band way more pleasingly than any amount of overplaying or over-egging the FX will.

Takes a bit of work at first, and you need to take the time to get a monitor mix where everyone who sings can hear themselves clearly enough to pitch accurately, but it pays dividends.

Maynehead

close2u said:

I made a flub in the chorus here, and let the song come back to me.... here's another

Yeah and as soon as you did it she was on to you like hawk! Gotta make sure she doesn't make a habit of it.

The drums I thought was ok, certainly not the main cause of any concern.

I agree the singer needs to relax and really feel the song, and sing it like she means it. She is the front woman, all eyes will be on her and your band will be judged largely on her ability to engage the audience.

close2u

@pmg thanks for the positive encouragement

@RocknRollDave bass & drummer are singing backing ... but it came across very quietly in this mix ... we definitely need to address that at our next try out on Tuesday. And we need to get the monitor mix right. We bought them the day before (for a mega cheap bargain price) and the volume knob is missing so that has required a fix this week, hopefully with better results).

I'm the one looking like I'm providing a lot of backing vocals - but without a mic. I can sing along & play no problem. But painfully out of tune. I would need the world's best auto-tune device to put that right! lol

serious question - can a  machine make my backing vocals sound even half-way decent?

PolarityMan

I can kinda see the thing with the drums, he speeds up for fills and then sort of pauses and waits for beat 1 to drop but it's prob only noticeable to musicians I think working on the vocals is a higher priority. The high level in the mix really exposes the pitch issues, so I'd be inclined to start with to bring the vocals down a bit a bit, get some reverb and stuff on there to sort of blend it into the instrumentation a bit more.

Someone else's suggestion of bringing the bass and guitar up might have a similar effect, as would backing vocals.

close2u

@PolarityMan ... thanks for the further analysis on the drums

The mixer we have is a Yamaha MG 412cx with

Hall Reverb 1

Hall Reverb 2

Room Reverb 1

Room Reverb 2

Stage Reverb 1

Stage Reverb 2

Plate Reverb

Karaoke Echo

Vocal Echo

Chorus 1

Chorus 2

I hear the vocals are very very 'dry' in the mix. Apparently there were some fx - reverb - on them.

Any suggestions for more / better?

PolarityMan

Def a bit more reverb but dont go too far the other way and totally smother it, bring it down a bit in the FOH mix but make sure she has plenty in her monitor (maybe ask her if she could hear herself ok at the gig too).

Don't know which'll sound best on that mixer I'm guessing either the hall or room but you;ll prob need to experiment. 

monquixote

First up I'd say if you are at a pre gig stage then you are doing pretty well. I've certainly heard worse from more experienced bands and I think you will go down fine at the Dog and Duck.

I wouldn't yet be looking at functions as I think you will need to take it up a level before you are ready for that type of work.

Room for improvement I would say comes in three flavours performance, technique and arrangement

Performance

You all look a bit awkward which is understandable if you haven't done it before. 

You are moving about which is a start so ramp that up and go further.

The bass player is stood at the back and not moving so that needs to be sorted.

The singer looks very self conscious and is standing with her feet together.

All this will come as you get more used to it, you just need to be aware that movements need to be exaggerated to come across to the audience. 

Also bin the music stand (pet hate of mine)

Technique

General tightness could be better, but this will improve with time.

The drummer I would say is the most cause for concern. As Danny mentions he is fluctuating in tempo, but that's not the end of the world. As with a lot of drummers he is suffering from fill-itis the uncontrollable urge to play a big drum fill every few bars regardless of musical context. Drum fills should signify something like punctuating a change or syncopation or introducing a new section of the song. Playing them all over the shop makes it sound messy and he is also having an issue lots of drummers have with fills where he is quite often speeding up into the fill and then the band have to readjust as he comes back off the fill out of time. This is the most critical thing to get sorted because if you don't have a strong steady pulse the music will always sound messy and lack space and it also discourages people from dancing.

Personal preference, but I'd prefer the snare to bit a bit tighter and more dry sounding.

Arrangement

The other thing that will stand in your favour is thinking about the arrangement a bit more and trying to do more with less. 

I'm learning Proud Mary at the moment so that's the only one I'm especially familiar with and I'll use as an example (I'm assuming you are doing the Tina version)

Proud Mary has a shit load of brass in it, but there is no reason you can't cover some of that with your guitar to make your part a bit more interesting. For example there is a brass intro riff that comes in when it gets to the more energetic bit (2:36) which you can play.

Also the brass repeats the notes of "Rolling on a river" after Tina sings it which you can also play on guitar and handily as it's in D you can pedal on the D string while you do it (11 9 7 on the G string) so it won't sound empty. If you listen to the Credence version they actually do this as well so you can rip that bit straight from there. 

Other stuff would be when you come in to the energetic bit it's not clear to me why you initially come in with guitar rather than all coming in together (also an example of a spurious drum fill). 

At the "I left a good job" (2:45 in the YT vid) bit in the up tempo section there is a punctuation where you should all hit a C on the word "I" and back to "D" on "left". 

Where the turnaround is at about the 3:20 mark the drummer needs to come off the main beat and punctuate the G-F-F-F-G-G syncopation so that you get the full impact. 

It's all those little bits that really bring a song to life and lift a performance above the average so listen to the source track and pick up as many subtleties as you can. 

Anyway hope that helps a bit.

close2u

@Monquixote holy schmoly that's an analysis and a half ... terrific, lots to think on, thank you

close2u

Okay - this is the last one I'll post from this week's session.

Didn't work very well at all I reckon.

So fire away ... I'm ready.

Crocodile Rock

http://youtu.be/Vhe_QAedjoo

EricTheWeary

In the lounge with la famille Weary so watched a bit with no volume on. Someone said drums and vocals too prominent in the mix but they are on most camcorder clips so I'm guessing that's the case. The singist was moving about quite a bit on what I watched which is a good thing. However, if she really needs that music stand/ lyric sheet it needs to end up somewhere far less prominent. Same issue with the bassist ( and probably less excuse). It's a rock covers band not a youth jazz orchestra.

viz

close2u said:

serious question - can a  machine make my backing vocals sound even half-way decent?

If it's a combine harvester, maybe. Only kidding, I'm sure they're fine

close2u

You've all been very kind to me so far ... apart from @bigjon lol - who I have heard dances like Travolta!

So either I ain't all that bad, or you're holding out on me.

Don't try to spare my blushes.

It's cool if you critique me. I'm amazed at how easy a ride I've had so far.

jd0272

Well, I still can't access the first one, as for Crocodile, all good, except (if you're the 6 stringer?) get a proper amp with some fckn ooomph, and ooomph it, and get her in a bikini.

Job done.

From experience, that's the bother with recording 'from the crowd', always sounds toppy.

Bikini.  

Catthan

First of all I must say thanks, as a member here, for being interested in my/ our opinion and major props for being brave enough to share.

I personally think the most noticeable lack of tightness comes from the vox. The singer, although she has correct pitch and a powerful voice, is spreading her lines a bit. They need to be sharp groovey; no need to do "nananananaaaaaah",  "nanananaah" is better if you get what I mean. That's should be an easy one to fix.  

Sound levels-wise, well,, you won't have much control over this and you'll hope whoever works on the FOH will nail it. Even if it's one of yous. 

Iirc it's recently that you guys started and you've got quite a long set list and you are ready to gig. So from me, it's a big BRAVO!!!

I wouldn't personally lose any sleep about the drummer slipping unless you don't lock in well enough after a few gigs. And whatever the drummer does or doesn't, it's everybody's duty to be mindful of time and the groove; Think of it as if you are all percussionists. 

Re your playing, you seem and sound in control and know your parts which is very nice too.

So, yeah, I think you got more to be proud of than you got to worry about. 

By playing more you'll soon start to figure out what can be improved and so should everybody else. Have fun