I got Nothin' (Nothing Day Reviews)

[Denyer]

MC Paul Denyer. slightly surprised that both King Of The Hill and WWF can be seen in England.

Not only can WWF be seen in jolly old England, but we get the show mentioned in the song before it airs in your country!

[c hack]

your money, wasted: hey, sounds great. Really like the chord changes on the piano. Getting a lot of pops in the beginning. Lyrics are a little whiny. Vocal quality is whiny too. Uh oh, wanker solo. I thought we left those behind in the 90's But all in all, great job. Make yourself a pop filter -- wire hanger and pantyhose. Does wonders. CONTENDER

@eclectic spoons: started out cool, but the talk-singing is annoying. And now at halfway through, it's starting to get boring. Well-produced, but not my bag.

quesadilla explosion: wow, great fight so far. This is a good song in just about every respect. No complaints. Except that it sounds like something I might hear on the radio. And not a college station, I'm talking Clear Channel. CONTENDER

MC Paul Denyer: Boy, even Denyer's getting good. Okay, I totally dug that. CONTENDER

augswhatevergermanshit: Damn, this is great. I wish it went somewhere else harmonically, like to a different chord once in a while. Also, the vocals are a little nasal, but it's mostly hidden by the reverb. Hell if it's not my favorite one so far. CONTENDER

wally harbinger: A little loud -- ease up on the master limiter. Diggin it though. Not sure what to say about it.

flvxxvflormfdsaqzdfaxvbn: man, is this fight full of stupid names. Whoh, ease up on the bass. Voice is reeeeeally annoying. I mean, I can't stand listening to it. Also, the production makes it just not fun to listen to. You should A/B it with a Pumpkins song. The song shows a lot of promise, but it's gotta be done right to deliver. Like the chord changes, and I like the guitar bits between the verses.

jacob lynn: something weird about the guitar intro, but I'm not sure if I can articulate it. Definitely kicks into gear when the drums come in. Except for the guitars, I really like it. I think if you replace the guitars with a synth, it'd be totally solid.

questzalcoatlus: not doing anything for me.

hoblit: a bit of a sonic relief after the last one. Nothing to complain about, but nothing that's making me get up and dance either.

wages: I get the feeling this sounded a lot better in your head than it does here. the guitar and drums are totally uninspired. This might be good if you went back to the drawing board on it.

shload of dolphins: oh man I can't stand the whiny indie-rock skinny boy voice. I guess that's not your fault though. Lyrics are really annoying. Very well-constructed. Nice hook too. It'd be a great song if I was into that genre. I can get into Elliott Smith, but there's a big divide between him and you, and I'm not sure if I can articulate it.

finding nemoy: what is it with all the whining in this fight? Starts out great, but it's not really going anywhere. Okay, 3/4 through I can't stand it anymore. Moving on.

sandcastle forgery: This'd be a lot better if you recorded it with a mic better than the one built into your laptop. Hmm, bad rap checklist: bragging about sexual prowess? Check. Rapping about Rapping? Check. Rapping about guns and drugs? Check. Mumbling? Check. Also, the way you do a medley of Zeppelin makes you the bad-rap version of that movie Moulin Rouge.

Nano: Who are you knobs, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis? Take off, hosers.

c hack: Should be louder. I mean, I should've sang louder and turned down the gain. But it was in the morning and I didn't want to annoy my roommates. Yeah, I spent all the time writing the song and didn't have any left over for worrying about the production. Lame. Also, re: my guitar. Stupid thing, if the high E's in tune for the E chord, it's out of tune for the D, and vice-versa. I know, it's no excuse. Might be time for a new guitar.

doscientos: Alright, this is making me bounce in my chair. love the snowed-in imagery. I really wish the production was better. CONTENDER

Kill Me Sarah: EQ out the bass of the guitar part. Not really digging the doubled vocals. Getting kinda bored halfway through. Appreciate the effort, though.

Steve Durand: Nice. Kind of a Belle and Sebastion feel, maybe? Liking it but not loving it.

Tomdg: Oh crap, I shoud've stopped at Steve Durand's song. Nice length though.


CONCLUSION:
Your Money Wasted is too whiny. Quesadilla is too Clear Channel. That leaves Denyer, Doscientos, and the German freaks. Doscientos, besides needing better production, needs a bridge. It's the same bit repeated. Ausgeqwhatever has the same problem, but the production is better. But now, on 2nd listen, I'm getting bored with it. And now it's turning into new-age fairy shit. So they're out. Lemme give Quesadilla and Your Money another listen. Quesadilla without a doubt has the best craftsmanship. Really nice understated solo too. But yeah, sorry, just too radio-friendly. Can't get into it. Yeah, Your Money is just too over-dramatic. I can't support any lyrics that include "in my isolation." But really well done.

Welp, looks like my two favorite songs in this fight are Denyer's and Doscientos's. I really wish Doscientos's had a bridge. I mean reeeeally. They both have the same production deficiencies. Denyer's reminds me of Beck's "Satan Gave me a Taco," which I love. I also love the last line "and that's the real deal holyfield." Ties it together perfectly. But I'm going with Doscientos on this one.

Winner: Doscientos. Great fight everyone (well, mostly everyone).

[Your Money Wasted]

ausgequetschte zitrone:
i don't give a ten out of ten unless a song brings a tear to my eye. 10/10

c hack:
as much as i appreciate your review and suggestion on how to make a homemade pop filter, i'm going to have to take out some points on this song for lack of originality. 4/10

doscientos:
i love a fun tune. this is quite grand. i'd like it just a bit more if the instruments were panned off in separate directions, but maybe the mono sound has a certain value to it. 7/10

eclectic spoons:
ooooh. this reminds me of a clockwork orange. this really paints a picture. i like the quiet choir in the background. this is extremely weird and awesome. 9/10

finding money:
trippy tune. keep practicing your vocals, and try turning down the input level on your mic and getting closer to it. 7/10

flvxxvm florvm:
it's off time and it sounds like it's being played in a stereo in the other room. good effort, though. 5/10

hoblit, the:
this is okay. needs new lyrics. i like the confidence in your vocals. needs a bit more variation as well. 6/10

jacob lynn:
i was skeptical until the rapid-fire drums came in. YES. this is awesome. i like how everything is progressively buried under more things. song ended a bit too soon, i think. 8/10

kill me sarah:
good vocals and pretty good production. i recommend trying some bar chords on the guitar, and mixing it with more treble on the guitar track, though the mic sounds like it would introduce a lot of noise. might get a better mic, then. solid song. 7/10

mc paul denyer:
that was good. smackdown and king of the hill. 6/10

nano and hefty squad:
aaaahahaha. 3/10

quesadilla explosion, the:
rock! i'm liking this a lot already. excellent production. it's got a really pleasant, smooth rock sound. backing vocals are a nice touch. you might experiment with adding some more treble to the guitars. 9/10

quetzalcoatlus:
i can't hear the vocals under the synth at times. the lyrics seem a bit too down-to-earth for the kind of music. pretty good otherwise. 6/10

sandcastle forgery:
this made me laugh a lot. good beatboxing. whole lotta looovve. 4/10

shitload of dolphins:
hooray for internets. i dig the backing vocals, and i kinda wish there were some on the end chorus. also i can't shake the off-timedness of the part right before that one. good song. 7/10

steve durand:
a pleasant tune. the entire thing seems really humble though. timing's kinda off too. the harmonies are nice, but at times they sound like a computer. give it a bit of confidence and personality! 4/10

tomdg:
i really don't know what to make of this. 3/10

wages:
you're a great vocalist. i suggest getting some guitar distortion plugins and learning how to use fruityloops and soundfonts so you don't have to do it the ultra-ultra-cheap way. also work on your timing! 5/10

wally harbinger:
i dig it. i feel like there's a gun in my jacket when i'm listening to this song. the piano is a good addition. i'd appreciate just a bit more variation in the song though.. maybe a bit more confidence behind the vocals too. 7/10


thanks for writing your reviews, everyone. i'm readin' all of them. :)

[Kill Me Sarah]

Kill Me Sarah: EQ out the bass of the guitar part.

Forgive the noobiness, but what does that mean exactly?

good vocals and pretty good production. i recommend trying some bar chords on the guitar, and mixing it with more treble on the guitar track, though the mic sounds like it would introduce a lot of noise. might get a better mic, then. solid song. 7/10

Wow, thank you very much. And thanks for the tips as well. The mic's actually a decent audio-technica (not top of the line by any means) so if the vocal mix is high, that's probably just deficient mixing by me.

[Wages]

amy song... thanks all. I will have to not use hammerhead again. Dammit..and it's so easy. I did set the drums up <i>before</i> I did the guitar and vocals. Unfortunately, they just suck. I can't tell....it's hard to tell after you've been listening to the same drums for hours.

I knew the drums weren't quite right, but I couldn't figure out how. I appreciate all the reviews. I hope I don't piss anyone off by being blunt...

ausgequetschtezitrone (Theresa Herbrig)
Very nice mellow groove. I'll keep it.

C Hack
okay song. I would say to give a little more umph to the voice in some areas. If it had some more flavor, I'd be interested.

Doscientos
I don't like this style, but reviewing it as what it is, the overall sound is good, but I think your vox needs to be brought up a bit. Otherwise, okay, but not me.

)(!#&(*&)#$)*&#$Eclectic SPUUNS (spelling?)
I think it might be good if you could get away from the midi...maybe

Finding Nemoy
I like this song. I just want a better recording. I'll go check emule.... In the meantime I'll keep it.

Flvxxvm Florvm
Everyone in the room says "Turn it down!" "It's hurting my head!" "You must make it stop!" "STOP!" "It' lowered my sperm count by 80%!" (all actual quotes from actual two people besides me). I couldn't actually tell due to the all screaming it generated!

Hoblit
pretty generic sound. Sorry.

Jacob Lynn
de de dedede de de dedede I like the instrumental part but the melody is annoying.

Kill Me Sarah
It's got a very dull sound. It needs some umph

MC Paul Denyer
I like part of the music, but somethings amiss about the rap.

Nano & Hefty Squad - Student
It's like Napoleon Dynamite rapping, but not really. This is weird shit.

The Quesadilla Explosion
I like the voice at the chorus, but there verse voice is not working. The music is good.

Quetzalcoatlus
Sounds like King Missile at points. THe voice needs to come up and parts of the music down.

Sandcastle Forgery
This is crazy...but somehow I love it! I'll keep it!

Shitload of Dolphins
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! otherwise, it really is absolutely wonderful! It's oddly sappy, and I'll keep it.

Steve Durand
Mums the word. That is, mumph

Tom Di Giovanni
I agree, I'm just glad it's only 24 seconds long.

Wally Harbinger
I really like it. My friend says there's a high piercing sound somewhere in there that's dreadful.. didn't bother me. Keeping it.

Young Money Wasted
By the chorus I'm really feeling it...please don't fail me.... oh yes..yes...yes! I really like the solo too (EDIT: might I add, "A guitar solo. An actual guitar solo. And it's GOOD!"). Nice job. I do believe you've got my vote. Thank you!

------------
To review (pun intended), the following songs were good: ausgequetschtezitrone, Finding Nemoy, Sandcastle Forgery, Shitload of Dolphins, Wally Harbinger, and the winner in my book: Your Money Wasted.

[c hack]

Kill Me Sarah: EQ out the bass of the guitar part.

Forgive the noobiness, but what does that mean exactly?

I was just thinking it would sound better if you put an EQ on the guitar part that cut out the bass freqencies. A lot of times, I think that cutting frequencies out of my guitar parts ruins the track, but then I listen to a professional recording and see that they've been cut to hell, mostly to make room for the bass guitar. Which makes sense when you think about it. It's kind of about being able to kill your darlings.

[Hoblit]

Kill Me Sarah: EQ out the bass of the guitar part.

Forgive the noobiness, but what does that mean exactly?

A lot of times, I think that cutting frequencies out of my guitar parts ruins the track, but then I listen to a professional recording and see that they've been cut to hell,

Careful though..you don't want to sound too professional though..someone might accuse you of sounding too 'clearchannel' or something.

[c hack]

Kill Me Sarah: EQ out the bass of the guitar part.

Forgive the noobiness, but what does that mean exactly?

A lot of times, I think that cutting frequencies out of my guitar parts ruins the track, but then I listen to a professional recording and see that they've been cut to hell,

Careful though..you don't want to sound too professional though..someone might accuse you of sounding too 'clearchannel' or something.

Hee hee... there's a difference between "professional" and "crack whore."

[boltoph]

cutting [low] frequencies out of my guitar parts....to make room for the bass guitar. Which makes sense when you think about it.

This idea just inspired some thoughts...pardon....

Makes even more sense when one listens to it...each instrument has a frequency signature. Some take up the whole damn thing (like an acoustic guitar or piano, organ, etc). others are, or could be kinda tight, like a bass or a clean electric guitar, a violin, a glockenspiel...etc...depending on the instrument's function, in the song...

If the acoustic guitar is alone, no other instruments with it, don't cut its lows. if you have a bass drum and a bass guitar, and all sorts of other stuff booming at that 60-400 hz range, might want to cut certain things....esp. depending on how one places mics...perhapss

[Hoblit]

Have we hit Indie Rock Bottom?

[Kill Me Sarah]

if you have a bass drum and a bass guitar, and all sorts of other stuff booming at that 60-400 hz range, might want to cut certain things

This board has been the first place I've read about musical sounds being measured in hz. I understand the basical principal that this is a frequency range, but how are these measured, esp. by the layman like myself? As in, how would I know what range my acoustic guitar is "booming at"?

[Hoblit]

if you have a bass drum and a bass guitar, and all sorts of other stuff booming at that 60-400 hz range, might want to cut certain things

This board has been the first place I've read about musical sounds being measured in hz. I understand the basical principal that this is a frequency range, but how are these measured, esp. by the layman like myself? As in, how would I know what range my acoustic guitar is "booming at"?

trial and error.

record it... utilize software to analyze your recording. It's usually best to use a mixing board or some for of EQ before the sound you are recording hits the inputs of your sound card. This way you can take out SOME of the stuff you don't want...a small roll off. Don't over due it though...you might want some of that. You can always take more out once it's on your harddrive with your favorite wav editor. Woot.

[fluffy]

This board has been the first place I've read about musical sounds being measured in hz. I understand the basical principal that this is a frequency range, but how are these measured, esp. by the layman like myself?

Middle A on a keyboard (the A below middle C) is 440 Hz. You go an octave up by doubling the frequency. You go an octave down by halving the frequency. You go a semitone up by multiplying the frequency by approximately 1.05946309, or up a fifth from the root key in a scale's tempering by multiplying it by 1.5 (or 1.49830708 in an equal-tempered scale); on a keyboard tempered to A, an E will be 660Hz, on an equal-tempered keyboard, an E will be 659.26Hz.

When tuning an instrument, you can tell exactly how many Hz apart they are by playing the same note on two strings and listening to the throbbing between them (called "beats"). One beat per second means they're off from each other by 1Hz. (If you have a graphing calculator, plot the curves sin(440*x), sin(441*x), and sin(440*x)+sin(441*x) to see why this is.) This is also why a slightly-out-of-tune (or badly-intoned) guitar sounds "wobbly" when a chord is played on it.

All physical instruments don't generate single-frequency notes. They instead generate certain characteristic waveforms which are built up of the fundamental wave and various harmonics, reflections, resonances, and so on. If you record an instrument playing an A at 440Hz and look at it in a spectrum analyzer you'll notice it also puts out plenty of sound at 110, 220, 440, 880, 1760, and so on. Different instruments will have different characteristic "fingerprints" both in the distribution of the frequencies and in how they interact with each other and feed off of themselves and so on. Even a single plucked string in isolation puts out several distinct frequencies (typically the fundamental waveform and the two or three harmonics of it) though a single plucked string in isolation also has nothing to resonate with and so the energy will just kinda radiate out and do nothing spectacular. Instruments get their sound either by amplifying it (such as in an electric guitar) or by resonating it (such as in pretty much everything else), though even amplified instruments have plenty of resonance as well between the different strings and the instrument's body.

A=440 is a fairly modern convention when it comes to tuning. Historically, the frequency of A has slowly drifted upwards (in the Baroque period it was typically closer to 430, which sounds extremely flat by today's standards), though in this modern world of digital tuners and people who are exactingly picky about doing things because it's what everyone else does, it's unlikely that tunings will change much, at least not until the revolution comes.

There is nothing inherently natural about a 12-tone scale, and nothing inherent about a scale which requires the tuning to be an equal tempering with steps of 2^(1/n) between each of n notes. The Greeks had an 8-note equally-tempered scale (which sounds very strange by today's standards but mathematically it's extremely pure), though just as in number bases it's actually pretty handy to be able to approximately get a lot of chords rather than being able to exactly get just a handful. (Thirds sound absolutely dreadful in the Greek scale.) The white keys on a keyboard are the closest matches to the Greek scale, in any case. Unless you're playing a harpsichord, in which case it'll be the black keys.

Some scale systems have even more divisions than just 12. The sitar traditionally uses a 24-tone scale, and several modern composers (notably Wendy Carlos) have experimented with microtonal and atonal music. Classical and fretless stringed instruments let you experiment with such tunings more readily than fretted, keyboard, and woodwind/brass instruments (aside from the trombone), though on a guitar you can use a slide to achieve that too.

The frequency range which can be encoded in a recording is referred to as the bandwidth. CDs have a bandwidth of 22KHz, though towards the upper range it gets much less accurate. MP3s are closer to 17KHz (they taper off in the extreme treble and sub-bass). The useful range you care about is from about 30Hz to 15KHz. To maximize the loudness of a signal you want to equalize things such that your frequency usage is close to level throughout the range, though you don't want to waste a lot of your bandwidth on the parts you can't hear. So you want to equalize things so that your overall spectrum curve peaks from about 20Hz to 12KHz, tapers off a bit between 12 and 15 KHz, and then tapers off to nothing from 15KHz to 19KHz. A good multiband compressor will take care of this for you, though be careful not to overuse that because more important than sonic maximization is maintaining dynamics. A constantly-maximally-loud sound will start to turn to mush after a little while because the ear gets tired of it (and used to it). If you keep most of the song's overall sound power level (SPL) at 5-10dB below peak and then have the accents go up to the upper SPL range, it'll make much more of an impact.

Note that there are two ways of measuring loudness; there is the relative type (where 0dB means full-strength, less than 0 means you have headroom, greater than 0 means you're clipping) and the absolute type (which is some really hoary conversion factor between decibels, which are logarithmic, and wattage, which is linear). The ear responds to things logarithmically, so although a signal at -3dB is about half as powerful as one at 0dB and a signal at -6dB is about half as powerful as one at -3dB, the relative perceived loudness difference between the two sets will be the same. Also, the ear pretty quickly adjusts to the overall sound level accordingly, which is why if you're driving on the highway and then turn up your car stereo, then turn it off, then later when it's quiet you turn it back on again, it'll sound much louder. This is also dynamics at work.

Two things competing for the same range of bandwidth will both suffer (like having red text on a red background). EQing things so that they take up different parts of the spectrum makes them both that much more apparent. And, just like in color theory, a great way to make something stand out is by having everything else tend towards "gray" (an even frequency distribution across the spectrum) while the thing you want to bring attention to being very localized within a certain frequency range (like green). Alternatively, you can go the other way around, and have a wide-bandwidth thing in the foreground on top of a localized-bandwidth background (like white text on a green background) but that's just kinda clashy (like white text on a green background).

[Spud]

fluffy. he just wants to know which button to push.

[fluffy]

Give a man a fire, he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

[c hack]

There is nothing inherently natural about a 12-tone scale,

If there's nothing natural about it, how come if someone plays, on a piano, CDEFGAB, you feel the urge to go over and press the C key and finish it off?

Two things competing for the same range of bandwidth will both suffer (like having red text on a red background).

Great analogy!

I dunno, I listened to it again and it doesn't sound that bad, it's just that I do reviews on a stream-of-consciousness basis, and that's the first thing that came to mind. I think a much better way to improve the song would be to take out one of the vocal tracks (probably the lower one) and of course, practice singing more. But we ALL could use that.

[a bebop a rebop]

If there's nothing natural about it, how come if someone plays, on a piano, CDEFGAB, you feel the urge to go over and press the C key and finish it off?

Cultural context, I think.

[Kill Me Sarah]

fluffy. he just wants to know which button to push.

Somewhere in between actually. It was a fascinating read (the parts I understood). I'm basically wondering if when EQ'ing out those frequencies, if that's something you measure by ear, or if there's something that tells you which things are operating at the same frequency...other than the obvious electronic gadgetry such as a spectograph or whatever the heck it was called.

[fluffy]

There is nothing inherently natural about a 12-tone scale,

If there's nothing natural about it, how come if someone plays, on a piano, CDEFGAB, you feel the urge to go over and press the C key and finish it off?

You misunderstand. Octaves are natural. But the spacing of notes in between aren't.

[Leaf]

I would disagree. The spacing of notes, in the major scale, ARE a natural thing. The harmonic overtone series (google will provide more details) shows that each sound has a fundemental pitch (like an A (440) on a piano) but the blend of the overtones determines the tone we hear...thus a piano on a "A" sounds different from a guitar.

Furthermore, the overtone series works in a way where you have your fundemental pitch (let's use A again) and in the series, the next strongest harmonic is the dominant (E, the fifth, in this case) followed by the subdominant (D, the fourth) the mediant (c#, the major third) the submediant,( F#, the major 6th) , the ... damn... I'm doing this from memory.. and I'm at work, so I don't have my Mergel text book handy... anyway the seventh is called the leading tone..

Point is, the major scale, and the 1, iv, V relationship in chords, the strength that the fifth gives a root note...all these things are physical, natural elements of sound.



And ... I had no idea what you guys were actually talking about... I just read Fluffy's response..so now I gotta back track and make sure I'm in context here...



and yes...

C Hack...the reason you want to hit that C is because the leading tone leads you there...by the PHYSICAL nature of how sound works.

[Nigel (spOOn) Clements]

eclectic spoons:
ooooh. this reminds me of a clockwork orange. this really paints a picture. i like the quiet choir in the background. this is extremely weird and awesome. 9/10

Holy f*ck!! cheers mate!!

[Wally Harbinger]

the major scale is based on naturally occuring harmonic relationships. the equal-tempered chromatic scale, however, does not contain any intervals that are true harmonic intervals -- except the octave. it's a mathematical compromise adopted in order to make modulation more listenable. the fifth is pretty close though. i think this is what fluffy was getting at.

as for the leading tone, i'm going to have to side with bebop and cry "cultural context"; tonic-dominant relationships have certainly been important in western music for the last four hundred years or so. but there are many musical traditions that don't revolve around the ii-V-I. south indian music, for example, has hundreds of scale modes (or ragas), and how a given scale degree resolves depends on which mode you're in.