Carnivala! Is go.... feedback and stuff please?

[Dave Vader]

Ok, so after months of wrangling, the girl who's backing group I have been in for the last year (Maz Totterdell) decided she didn't want to be a solo artist anymore, so she made us into a real band, called it Carnivala! And went for a whole new swinging gypsy sound. Ironically she then decided to put up a cover as the first track to introduce us to the public. She must still be in charge then.
here's the first track we're giving up from the 3 track demo we just finished making (at Valvetastic Studios in Exeter, in case you're interested)
Thoughts?

[url="https://soundcloud.com/carnivala/tetris/"]https://soundcloud.c...rnivala/tetris/[/url]

Edited February 25, 2013 by Dave Vader

[Dave Vader]

And here's the first original track to be released off of it.

[url="https://soundcloud.com/carnivala/cage-a-lion"]https://soundcloud.com/carnivala/cage-a-lion[/url]

Btw, if you do like it, please actually click the like button on the soundcloud page, as we are also using it to try and get a fairly great slot ot Sunrise festival in the summer.
Obviously if you don't, then don't.

[discreet]

I'll listen to these later, when young master discreet is asleep... is Valvetastic an analogue studio?

Edit: No. Got off my ass and answered my own question.

Edited February 25, 2013 by discreet

[Dave Vader]

Misleading name isn't it?
Does have a lot of valves about the place though.

[Skol303]

Excellent stuff Dave, I really like both of these. One of them is obviously familiar to me (having unsuccessfully messed around with it) and the other compliments it well - 'tis a very danceable instrumental indeed.

Superb vocal on Cage A Lion. Nice basslines on both - in fact the whole band plays very well.

I think you could be on to something very good here mate! I'd certainly want to see you play live.

Keep us posted...

[Dave Vader]

Thanks Paul, and thanks once again for your damn near successful fiddling with Cage a lion. Now I've bounced them down to mp3 there's very little difference.

Hopefully we'll have some live dates soon, festival season is coming...

[discreet]

[size=4][color=#282828][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Just listened on Soundcloud - really great tunes. Love the live-sounding recording and the quality is really exceptional. Excellent playing and great arrangements. I bet you play up a storm live! Reminds me just a little of Penguin Caf[/font][/color][font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"]é[/font][color=#282828][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif] Orchestra (but with giant gonads).[/font][/color] [/size][color=#282828][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]Very professional-sounding and an absolutely perfect band for festivals, I would have thought... oh yeah... hence the name. D'oh. [/size][/font][/color]

Edited February 28, 2013 by discreet

[Dave Vader]

cheers mark.

[oggiesnr]

Listened to both tracks and enjoyed them. Live sound could be fun, you need to make sure that the sound man knows what it (and the instruments) are meant to sound like because it's the balance between them that makes it work (recently saw half a Bellowhead gig ruined by the drums being turned up to "rock" levels and masking the acoustic instruments).

Good luck on the circuit and hope to catch up with you sometime.

Steve

[Dave Vader]

Thanks Steve, I am no stranger to buying pints for soundmen and having a sly word about levels, I used to be one myself, and I am aware that if nobody tells you what they want, how the heck are you supposed to know what they want.

Hope we manage to get oop norf at some point as well

[lurksalot]

really enjoyed them both Dave , I think you would be well worth seeing live , very entertaining stuff which gets you involved , I think the girls vocal is a perfect modern fit into the 'gypsy folk ' style.
Critique wise , the two tracks have different feel to them , Cage a lion seems a little bottom light compared to tetris, I like both , but for presentation , I guess they should be of a similar mix .
I am only learning the technical listening skills , and I am sure in the real world it matters not , but it is something for you to consider ( even if you tell me to f**k off )

[Dave Vader]

Cheers Lurksalot, and the endless mixing process on the demo was cut short by me saying "for f&^%s sake, it's only a demo, we'll worry about it when we record the album proper in the summer".
Which saved everyone a lot of time.

Wait til we put out the 3rd track, that's different again....

[Beer of the Bass]

Good stuff - should be a fun festival band!

[Dave Vader]

Thanks BOTB. That's the plan

[cheddatom]

Just listened to Cage A Lion. What a gorgeous bass sound! And a great song. Nice one

If you want opinions on the mix... I would have a little more low end in the kick drum, The BVs could be wider - not sure if they're doubled? But I would have doubled them and panned them wide. Other than that very, very nice.

[Pinball]

Good stuff! the sort of stuff I love to listen to live due to the infectious rhythm. The recordings do a great job at carrying over that atmosphere.

GL with your adventure.

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1363200522' post='2009752']
Just listened to Cage A Lion. What a gorgeous bass sound! And a great song. Nice one

If you want opinions on the mix... I would have a little more low end in the kick drum, The BVs could be wider - not sure if they're doubled? But I would have doubled them and panned them wide. Other than that very, very nice.
[/quote]

Cheers Tom, the kick sound was actually my work-around for the extreme bassiness of the bass sound, we were in a bit of a hurry, so I pretty much ordered Joe (the engineer) to dial out the low in the kick and add it to the bass. BVs weren't doubles, again, cos we were in a hurry. And yeah, when we get to the proper album recordings we'll hopefully be double-tracking them.

And thanks Pinball, we might be playing in Bath for 15 minutes in April, will keep you all posted.

[cheddatom]

It's a shame you're so far away, I'd love a crack at recording this sort of stuff!

How did you get the bass sound by the way? amp/pedal/plug-in?

[Dave Vader]

My EUB into an Eden amp and Di-ed straight out the back as far as I know. Joe has a load of valvey compressory real things and plugins that he sticks on everything. It makes stuff sound nice.
Come to Devon Tom... record us.....

[The Bass Doc]

Listened to the first track this morning and it really cheered me up.

Congratulations to whichever member of your talented team wrote the lyrics.........and they actually rhyme.......OI!

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='The Bass Doc' timestamp='1363254963' post='2010403']
Listened to the first track this morning and it really cheered me up.

Congratulations to whichever member of your talented team wrote the lyrics.........and they actually rhyme.......OI!
[/quote]



Took ages to decide between that and hey.....

[cheddatom]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1363254519' post='2010394']
My EUB into an Eden amp and Di-ed straight out the back as far as I know. Joe has a load of valvey compressory real things and plugins that he sticks on everything. It makes stuff sound nice.
Come to Devon Tom... record us.....
[/quote]

Hah, it's a little too far, although would make for an excellent holiday!