My Band Released an EP this Week

[Rick05]

Hi Everyone,

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]My band BearWolves released an EP this last week and I wanted to share it here. It is free to download and we would really love to hear any feedback on the songs, as its the only way to get better and see what works and doesn't. I would also be interested in any constructive criticism on my bass playing, to help me improve.[/font][/size]

A bit of background, we are a female fronted, London based band, with influences such as Audioslave, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, Incubus and Deftones.

The link to the EP is at [url="https://bearwolves.bandcamp.com/album/bearwolves"]https://bearwolves.b...lbum/bearwolves[/url]

and our website is www.bearwolves.com

Thanks so much for looking,

Cheers,

Rick

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Rick05' timestamp='1499190862' post='3329869']...[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]we would really love to hear any feedback on the songs...[/font]
[/quote]

Be careful what you wish for..?
Just a rapid run-through, so not an in-depth critique, but there's a general trend, to me. Firstly, congratulations on getting all of that down in the first place; a lot of work has gone into the composition and arrangement of those tracks. No, that's not the end of the Good News; the bass playing is absolutely fine throughout (or, at least, all the parts I listened to...), so no worries there. I'd say the same of the drumming, but that brings me to the harder part: the mix. Guitar-heavy, with a very uneven treatment of the vocals, which, although in the vein of the music, varied from low, almost inaudible to raw squealy aggression. Probably fine in the context of a 'live' presence, but difficult to listen to, I found. Muddy, hidden-away drums, with little 'sparkle'; a shame as he's playing 'em well.
I think you'd have trouble doing these 'live', unless the singer happens to be a good guitarist too (maybe the case..?). There, that's enough for now, but I'll repeat that you're all to be applauded for the fine effort, and regret that, to me, it doesn't do itself justice in the recording/mixing/mastering department. Good, then, could do better. Bravo.

Edit: I've removed your redundant topic, as requested.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Dad3353

[Rick05]

Hi,

Thanks so much for the feedback and sorry for the late reply. Live the songs actually sound a bit different as I pad out the bass with a few pedals, leaving the guitar to focus on solos and riffs a bit more.

Thanks again for the great comments about the music, the recording was done quite quickly, so maybe in future we can focus a bit more on that, but overall we are really proud of it. Something to improve in future.

[bazzbass]

Hi Rick

great sounding release. The instruments sound fantastic, your bass really punches through the mix.

What gear did you use?

Guitars and drums also sound great.

The songs are pretty good, I can get easily bored but I listened to them all, albeit on crappy speakers.

Now, the vocals. On some songs , during some passages the vocals can barely be heard then they are in your face in others. I think it is the singer's lack of technique or the engineer mixed it too far down. I also think the vocalist needs some delay on her track, or maybe double track it. Her voice is OK, but it needs a bit of help to match the quality of the rest of the band.

I'd say this is an impressive debut and best of luck to the band.

The more you record the better you will all get, not that you need any improving, it will naturally get more polished.

Without knowing your relationship with the engineer, I'd try offering the masters to a different person to re mix it.Mainly the vocals. But if it puts noses out of joint or if they did it for the experience and no charge then let it slide, I dunno.


If it were me, I'd be damn proud of it as it is

[Rick05]

Awesome, thanks so much for the comments, really glad you liked it.

I used a fender jaguar and Vt sans amp going straight into the desk and for some of the reverb/delay areas I used a Earthquaker, dispatch master.

Thanks for the tips on mixing, as you say it's just more experience and just always trying to get better.