There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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AJOwens
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by AJOwens »

As usual, I don't often pick up on lyrics. If I do, it's because they reached out somehow and got my attention, and then held it.

Architects of Desire -- comfortable groove, distantly sad to match the lyrics. Lyrics unfold well, holding interest. Arrangement is open and clear. Feels like it's going to end around 3:20; fadeout could be shorter. Still, candidate for a vote.

Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvah -- Curious contrast in textures between the clean instruments and the distorted voice. The acoustic guitars and harmonies are so dry they feel like home recordings; subtle reverb or some compressive thickening might help. Needs bass -- but then, I'm a bass player. Anyway, needs a broader spectrum of sound, or more dynamic change through the song, to help maintain interest.

Berkeley Social Scene -- The bass feedback is cool, but a bit high in the mix. Good recording, but sometimes too much going on (1:50 or so); the ear loses focus. The country-western licks are unexpected fun. Great over-the-top vocals at around 4:00, nice texture change at around 4:40. Enough happens that this gets away with the 5-minute length.

Flvxxvm Florvm -- A fine low-down sound, atmospheric vocals, good solo work. A sloppy ending could work here, but this particular one doesn't for some reason. All in all, quite enjoyable. I could vote for this.

The HATE Noise -- I don't know a lot about the genre, so take my comments accordingly. The vocal delivery is good, but feels slightly dragged out in places, as though the tempo could be faster. The lyrics are strong, with interesting phrases and images. The musical accompaniment is OK, but the various textures feel oddly disconnected.

The Jack Mehoff Solo Project -- Lively, appealing rhythm. The unusual phrasings in the melodies add interest. The melodies themselves don't stray far, which along with the unchanging tone confines the song.

Manhatton Glutton -- Solid production. Intro is just a bit long. Good instrumental and vocal work, interesting changes within a consistent metal atmosphere. The only weak point for me are the vocals that appear around 2:40. What's a nice voice like that doing in a place like this? And at 4:30 it starts to feel long. Deserves a vote.

Monotone Max and His Long Band Name -- By 0:51 I'm wondering if this is going to go on for five minutes. The breakup at 1:18 or so helps; the quickening pace and additional treatments after that work very well. But by 2:24 I'm looking again for justification. By 3:00 I'm warming to the cacophony. By 4:00 I'm about ready to move on, and nothing new is happening. Everything after 4:50 is gratuitous. Were there lyrics back there? Some kind of renaissance vocal seemed to be going on, but I didn't catch any words. An impressionistic review. I like this sort of stuff, I have some Subotnick recordings, and I used to listen to Tangerine Dream when in the proper state of mind. Mostly I enjoyed this, but the prolonged swishy synths got off on the wrong foot -- made me think of the opening to a seventies supergroup concert.

The Noodle Minions -- I started to write a review and then had to start all over again. You need a better mic, or a parametric EQ to eliminate the tanky sound, or you have a parametric EQ and you need to turn it off. Was that a subway train going by? By 3:50 you're totally losing focus. Then the Super Mario sounds kick in and go on too long. Weird. Art or trash? History will decide, but at the very least this piece could use some ruthless editing.

Rycehat -- A bright and energetic song. Good solo, with a well-chosen timbre, but at the end it goes all thumbs for some reason. The vocals are basically strong -- on pitch, well-delivered -- but somewhat nasal. A fun tune. The one-ear opening needs fixing.

The Semolina Pilchards -- Very smooth sound. The music does unexpected and interesting things. You've put some thought into the arrangement, and it pays off. Very nice solo work. The vocals are underplayed somehow; hard to put my finger on, but they seem to need more brightness. A candidate for a vote.

Todd McHatton -- Engaging sound, nice harmonies, changes, arrangement, tidy ending. Good production, good performance. Definitely a vote, and my candidate to win the fight.

unexpected bowtie -- Weirdly reminiscent of BBABM's opening. This has a thin, reedy quality that with the right production and performance could be exquisitely delicate. It's a hard target to hit though. The composition certainly is delicate, and about the right length.
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Manhattan Glutton
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

ElaineDiMasi wrote:Manhattan Glutton - I wanted it to say "I'll get in my car and go FARRRRRR" ... got to say, I like the attitude here and guitars. "Just hit the fucking road" works for me. Now where is my A Perfect Circle CD ...
It's in my car. I'll pick you up.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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thenoodleminions
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by thenoodleminions »

I want to thank the people who reviewed my very half-assed song.
I hope it wasn't too unbearable.
Thanks for the compliments, I'm glad some good was found in all the bad.
I kinda just had the idea to have an acoustic song that breaks into techno.
Then i spent all of 30 minutes writing it. Most of that time went into the intro-riff.
My recording setup is nothing special at all. It's a laptop mic and Audacity.

I hope no one wasted a vote on my half-assery.
Thanks to those who took the time to review it!
Taylor Quenneville - The Noodle Minions
http://thenoodleminions.bandcamp.com
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Ryan
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by Ryan »

I just lost all of the reviews i just typed cuz it made me log in again for some reason. so annoying, I spent over an hour on reviews for each and every song. so frustrating. I'm too pissed off to rewrite them now.

I'll just take credit for writing and singing the "wrapped up in my jacket" line, and give creadit to Octopus' Garden for my inspiration in the bridge.
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BBABM
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by BBABM »

AJOwens wrote: Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvah - The acoustic guitars and harmonies are so dry they feel like home recordings. Needs bass -- but then, I'm a bass player.
it unfortunately is a home recording, i do it all myself in my apartment through a pitiful excuse for a condenser mic into the free software that came with the mic. great setup, i know. i am still learning about recording and mixing. i could not agree with you more about the bass, i NEED one. i am in the process of getting one, i just havent gotten around to it yet, plus i would need to buy a new interface/amp for it as well. either way i agree, and am on it.
AJOwens wrote: The Jack Mehoff Solo Project -- Lively, appealing rhythm. The unusual phrasings in the melodies add interest. The melodies themselves don't stray far, which along with the unchanging tone confines the song.
i agree about the tone/melody travel. this is one reason i kept it under 2:00. its a punk rock song, disguised as an acoustic tune. i would actually like it to be even shorter, or faster. real drums would help too.
thanks for the help, i am trying to find a way to thicken up the sound with the program i use. i use compression on just about everything, and usually for the guitar a second "bass" track where i don't play the high strings in a desperate attempt to give it more umph. obviously not quite enough. need to mess with the eq some more... and get a bass.
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AJOwens
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by AJOwens »

BBABM wrote:
thanks for the help, i am trying to find a way to thicken up the sound with the program i use. i use compression on just about everything, and usually for the guitar a second "bass" track where i don't play the high strings in a desperate attempt to give it more umph. obviously not quite enough. need to mess with the eq some more... and get a bass.
I played with an octave coupler pedal once (back in the sixties!) It sounded almost as good as a bass, and it cost less.
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BBABM
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by BBABM »

I have heard people use this instead of using a bass, the band "local h" comes to mind. Problem is I record the acoustic through a usb mic, not a pickup, so I doubt an octave pedal would have the same effect, or If i would even be able to attach it. I highly doubt there is an option to do this within my software. Not something I had thought of before though. At least worth seeing if it would be an option. Thanks.
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bdog5778
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by bdog5778 »

Manhattan Glutton,

I thought I'd take a moment to make suggestions for various aspects of your mix. The more rock, the merrier as far as I'm concerned. :twisted: [Disclaimer: I've only had the opportunity to listen to your tune on headphones -so take this with a grain of salt.]

1) The kick drum needs help. On headphones, it's almost non-existent. Totally unacceptable for a rockin' tune of this nature. Two things: more "slap" (4-6 kHz) and punch. Both of these issues can be fixed by Dominion by digitalfishphones. It's a transient modulator that allows you kick to still punch through the mix even after you've compressed the master bus. It has the added bonus of being able to tweak the high frequencies. You can also use this on the snare as well. Quite useful in maintaining the "crack" of the snare.

2) This tune needs some stereo widening. I highly recommend GMulti. Opens everything up and gets a big sound. Be careful not to widen the lowest band very much -washes out the mix. I should note that I don't even use the multi-band compression it provides. There are better tools for that.

3) Put the guitar and bass on the same bus (which will be fed to the master bus). Then, apply compression via Endorphin (also available via digitalfishphones). Since the bass is following the guitar so closely, you want them to sound like one big unit. At present, they sound like two very distinct entities. Compression can flatten or fatten your mix. Go the fatty route.

4) The bass might need some upper midrange "grunt" around 1 kHz. Accentuating here -while simultaneously scooping these frequencies on the guitars- gives you the much-needed "pushed" feel.

5) After adjusting the instruments, pull them back a dB or three in the mix so that the drums can come forward.

6) Speaking of the drums, you need a different beat underneath your main riff. Not enough interlocking between the kick drum and the bass. For a bunch of different MIDI grooves, I've been using Groovemonkee beats. Not free -unlike everything else I've mentioned here- but definitely speeds up the process of drum track construction. You can almost always find just the right beat, too.

7) As an aside, I also recommend Voxengo Tube Amp. Warms up guitars (and bass) quite nicely. It's very subtle, but you can hear it making a difference when you toggle between on and off.

This is my unsolicited advice. May it serve you well.
"In Heavy Metal... Precision is ALL. ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN AT ALL TIMES.... HAHAHA. Yes indeedy." --Slipperman

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BBABM
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by BBABM »

congrats todd! i think i am going to give up on hoping i win, and i am going to go for the longest run of never winning.
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dirgetheband
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Re: There Will Be Hovercraft (Future on the Road Reviews)

Post by dirgetheband »

Wow. Our local independent radio station, KDHX, just played this Todd McHatton track over the air. Three cheers for SongFight, eh?
DT
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