Hey guys! My band just released a demo, which we recorded by ourselves on a rehearsal. What do you guys think about it? http://www.facebook.com/morbidilluson/app_178091127385

No clue since you didn't bother to link us to it

Sorry, I edited it.

OKay, well honestly you shouldn't have released this as a demo.

The vocals are way too loud, the guitar is thin, should at least be double tracked with the guitar... there is zero bass or if there is I don't hear it, the drum machine is too ridgid, you should've at least used some samples that were natural sounding. The guitar playing is kinda sloppy at times and not in a good way. Overall the songs themselves are alright, lot of repeating of some very tired sounding riffs. Like the first song could've been cut to half the length and been better.

go back, practice more, take my advice above and try again.

We have a drummer, it's an electric drum set. We recorded it by ourselves and I know the sound sucks. We are heading to the studio next week and were just wondering if you had some tips about things we could do better before we record them more professional. I don't agree with you about the songs though. But thanks for the tips!

double track the guitars, have some bass.

use different samples next time you use an electric kit.

tighten up your playing.

Okay! Thanks!

You are welcome!

Taste is fun. Some people have actually said that they really like the sound. That it's raw and low-fi.

I do low-fi and raw. I never said one word about your guitar tone.

I said it needed to be doubled.

Low-Fi and Raw doesn't mean drum machine clicky treble tin cans as drums. it means raw natural thick sounding drums. it's kinda obvious that those people haven't listened to much lowfi and raw death metal.

Also I said the vocals were too loud in the mix. Didn't say change them or the tone, but lower them because they dominate everything as in cancelling it out completely.

The only thing I said that had to do with my subjective taste is that I thought your songs went on for too long with tired sounding riffs.



look if you can't take critism on your work without having to bring up mythical or real people who don't even post here or haven't posted here in defense of the sound of your demo then don't bother posting it at all. This board and esp not me are going to give you a verbal blowjob cause you made your first demo.

Oh you are 14. no wonder you got defensive. Seems to be that around that age that anyone who posts their stuff up here get upset that they aren't immediately coddled.

I did not get upset at all. I mean, I don't do music for others sake. I would not stop even if nobody liked it. I asked for opinions. That's what i got.

Exactly. so there was no need for you to add in "Taste is fun. Some people have actually said that they really like the sound" who cares outside of you and your band? Esp when it's no one from the board here that offered that up. Sounded more like you were being defensive than anything else.

No need to tell me about about not doing music for other's sake. Most of us here are the exact same way.

And if i really could not handle bad response, (which your wasn't) I would not have put it up here in the first place.

I'll second what ShaolinLambKiller said about the production. The drums and vocals need to be turned down, the guitar doubled...

Though I think I did hear a bass guitar, but it seemed to be panned entirely to the left? A very odd, and I think poor sounding choice. Bass should generally be in the middle, not panned to one side. Also, what little I could pick up of the bass just sounded like ass. I couldn't really pick out any distinct bass lines, just a mess of low end tone.

And I actually don't mind the sound of the electric drums that much. I think if turned down in the mix, and with a bit of tweaking of their sound they will be quite fine.

As for the songwriting, I'd say not bad at all, especially for a first effort. Most of the riffs aren't very original sounding, but they're still decent. I think if you fix the production issues and tighten up the playing you will have a decent demo put together.

Sounds alright, but the tones are awful. The drums would probably sound a lot better if the guitar tone was thicker, you should layer it (at least double the tracks). What amp are you using?

I'm not too big a fan on having many guitar layers ala Randy Rhoads, but as everyone has said the guitars really do sound really tiny. And if your drummer is very used to playing on an electric kit, I'd suggest lots more practice before heading into a studio to record drums. Don't take this the wrong way, but if someone handed me that track as a drummer audition I wouldn't even consider it. Just to get an idea of how much tighter things have to be. I'm sure you don't want to make a mess of the recording and end up having to edit the hell out of everything(keep in mind that even this may not solve all the problems) and having the result of things sounding super-fake and processed.

So, we have three "rehearsal rooms", and the one we recorded in is called "the quiet rehearsal" where you plug your instruments into some kind of machine, and everyone hears himself and the others in headphones.

Since people on our facebook wanted us to upload something, we thought that we could just record something there. We all knew it would not sound good and so on.

So we plugged in the machine into the computer and recorded while we were playing. We havn't released this anywhere else except facebook.
We did not do anything to change the quality.
We are going to record in a studio tomorrow. Those 2 songs and one more.
The reason I uploaded it here was to hear opinions about the MUSIC, not the sound. We knew it sounded like shit.

And ofcourse the bass is not supposed to only be on the left. We did not make it like that, it was like that from the beginning.

But thanks for the respone, even though it wasn't really what I was hoping for.

And he is not used to play with an electric kit. Let me link the songs when they are recorded with better sound..

Sounds like you guys need to read up a fair bit on recording and mixing techniques. Just because you record AT a proper studio does not mean you are going to get a good sound. Also, try not to ignore everyone's advice on playing tightness, something very much overlooked by bands nowadays, in my experience.

We will not mix it ourselves. The people who works there will mix it with us, we are 14 years old, we don't know stuff like that. And I am not ignoring those things. I will just ignore complains about the sound, since I already knew it did not sound good. I wanted some tips before we went to the studio. I have got that now.

i actually think this is a really cool start. i would have to second/third/whatever all the production-related tips, but since you're not going to be handling this yourselves for the actual demo i'd say they're moot for now. though not all of the riffs are totally groundbreaking (are anyone's nowadays?), i can see this going cool places if you continue it. tighten up the graphics, write a bunch more songs, and keep going! if you are actually 14 as has been said, then i am jealous. i WISH i was playing in a band like this when i was 14...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9gSk8I7Oio&feature=plcp Here it is. We did not really have time to master it enough. I mean, we 14 years old, we don't have money for many days in the studio, but to be honest am I happy with the result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgFqIF5Q ... ontext-cha, Our latest song.

Well "Screams of the Asylum" sounds the same from what I listened to and retains the problems others have pointed out all ready but "Retribution Of The Dead" sounds slightly better at the start, but not in a substantial way. Still, I am impressed at the output given your age, very precocious. Keep at it! If you can do this much at your young age there is no reason you couldn't also learn about mixing and production.

My thoughts on the first upload: I think this is one of those times that I can't make an honest judgement of the music based on the poor recording quality. I mean, if this were totally transformed into super awesome recording quality, it might actually be pretty cool. I think the vocals should be a little higher register though--it sounds like it's a little under the vocalist's normal "range".

Thoughts on the youtube video: Much better recording, but as it was said already, the mix needs to be sorted out. The drums sound pretty good, but could use a good EQ tweaking. I still hold my opinion on the vocals though. Maybe even mixing it up with some higher screams...idk. Maybe it's just the fact that I can't stand Cannibal Corpse sounding vocals. Seems like pretty good musicianship though.

I only listened to the two songs on the facebook page.

Honestly, I know it's only a simple recording and all that. I kind of liked it. Yeah, it's true -- stuff should be tightened up, maybe a little more variation put into some of the riffing, etc. The guitar tone needs work. I know all about the realities of trying to get good sound on a limited budget and without great equipment, believe me.

Really, though, I've heard much worse. I actually listened all the way through, which usually I don't do .

Keep plugging away at it. Cheers.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it! A guy we now did just ask if we wanted him to master our songs. He is a death metal musician himself. So it will be better!

In response to the YouTube tracks, I was gonna post recommendations on how to master it better, but seeing as you already have that covered now, I'll leave it.

However, in terms of songwriting, I'd advise the drummer to vary the double kick and fills more, and also learn to blast (although that may be way out of his comfort zone).
The songwriting itself is pretty mundane, but it's tight, so that's all that matters at this point.

He can blast? He is blasting the whole intro?

My bad, I completely missed that part.

Yeah

I think your songs sound really good. It's really good death metal. The riffs are good and you're not completely in sync with each others playing all of the time. I think that is cool. This is good as a demo, but it could definitely be improved. This is how I would change things up.

1. Quadruple track those guitars, turn them up, and pan two to left and two to right in stereo
2. Apply a slight amount of reverb to your vocals and snare drum. slight
3. Turn the bass guitar and kick drums up a touch
4. Write more songs in this style and release them on cdr/tape cassette

I think you're doing very well, especially for your ages. Keep playing, you're doing well and I'd like to hear more of your music, definitely.

Thank you very much! Those tips will definitely not be forgotten!

And you will hear more of us sooner or later!

What are you playing, by the way?

I play bass!