Updated Demos on Facebook

Not to abandon the blog, but I've found it more practical (and bandwidth friendly) to upload the updated demos to the Facebook page lately, rather than posting them here, so if you haven't checked it out, now would be a good time.

To the casual listeners, there is barely anything different when comparing the new demos to the ones I put up a few months ago. Even to the people that have been helping me out by really living with these tracks and giving constant feedback, there is still virtually nothing noticeable. However, I assure you, the mixes are really night and day if you are a musician or sound engineer; I levled out the bass, pumped up the vocals (whether or not that's a good idea is debatable), and generally tightened up the tracks and timing. There was a brief period (over Spring break?) when I was trying to get as much material out as possible. Now I'm cleaning up after myself after I invited you all into my messy musical home.

I've reposted "Dotted Lines and Whispers," "Sleight of Hand," and "Blink." Look for a fairly different "Event Horizon" in the next few days, along with a brand new track in progress.

In seemingly unrelated news, West Gate just released their first full length album, Daylight. It is in your best interest to investigate. They have a couple tasty tracks up on their brand new site.

Pit Stains

Here's a new one. I used some of the same sounds (piano blended with electric piano and a velocity sensitive synth) from "Dotted Lines and Whispers" since I thought they really went well together. This one moves. Tonight I really dig some of the offbeat snare hits, but we'll see how I feel about them tomorrow.

Instrumentally, it's pretty dark; we'll see if lyrics will change that or not. Overall, for getting this all done in one day ( a day after standardized testing, none-the-less), I'm very happy with it. Also, it has probably the worst working title for a decent song I've ever had, but it's been quite hot lately and... well, what else can I say?

Here's Pit Stains.

Also, since I've been getting a lot of positive feedback on Dotted Lines and Whispers, here is an updated version. The most drastic change is the way the vocals were mixed. They are no longer drowning in reverb and are much more in your face. I think I also pumped up some of the backing harmonies on the bridge.

Dotted Lines and Whispers

I'm going to get over myself and start posting songs with vocals. As I may or may not have mentioned, these are demos, and there are going to be vocal issues, particularly with rhythm and pitch. If I feel the inevitable mistakes don't get in the way of giving you a decent impression of where the song COULD go, I'm not going to kill myself trying to get the perfect take.

What was "Hundred Year Nap" is now Dotted Lines and Whispers.

The picture seemed appropriate, seeing as it's my spring break and it's been snowing.

I think I'm going to try to get some vocals on an old one, "Sunday After Frank," that I wrote long before I started the blog. It's one that I've always felt had something worth uncovering in it. We'll see.