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Neumonic
Sep 25, 2003

This is my serious face.




https://malachimullinax.bandcamp.com/album/tries-to-get-laid

Malachi Mullinax
Tries To Get Laid

This is my first album. It's weird and has at least one great dick joke.

Please criticize--

Is it too lo-fi? Like, can I legitimately get away with using Ableton drums until some drummer takes pity on me?

How do I find an audience for this sort of thing? I'm looking at open mics around Phoenix and a lot of them don't seem like they would appreciate my juvenile antics and raucous performance style.

What should I work on so the next album is better?

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Cardboard Box
Jul 14, 2009

yeah, it might be a liiittle too lo-fi. it kinda sounds like the vocals are warbling between both the left and right channels sometimes ("a great day to be nude" and "one bedroom apartment"). the mixing seems all over the place--sometimes the guitars are too quiet ("one bedroom apartment") or too piercingly loud ("coal" and the guitar solo in "kicked in the face at the gbh"), and the synthetic drums are a bit obvious and a little distracting. i like your vocals and some of your compositions though, the acoustic tracks in particular have a very ajj or defiance ohio feel that i'm into and some of the instrumentals are interesting. not bad for a first effort! but yeah, definitely try to up your production game just a smidge :)

Neumonic
Sep 25, 2003

This is my serious face.

Cardboard Box posted:

yeah, it might be a liiittle too lo-fi. it kinda sounds like the vocals are warbling between both the left and right channels sometimes ("a great day to be nude" and "one bedroom apartment"). the mixing seems all over the place--sometimes the guitars are too quiet ("one bedroom apartment") or too piercingly loud ("coal" and the guitar solo in "kicked in the face at the gbh"), and the synthetic drums are a bit obvious and a little distracting. i like your vocals and some of your compositions though, the acoustic tracks in particular have a very ajj or defiance ohio feel that i'm into and some of the instrumentals are interesting. not bad for a first effort! but yeah, definitely try to up your production game just a smidge :)

Thanks!

I've heard similar things from friends where some tracks are a lot louder than others or the vocals are phasing out. Can anyone recommend a decently priced mastering software?

Also, how do I learn to compose drums? So far I've just been using some variation of D-beat or simple syncopated lines like NOFX but I feel like it's my weak point in composition.

Danyull
Jan 16, 2011

I think you've got something good here, but I agree with the other poster about the mixing needing some work. A lo-fi sound isn't a bad thing, but things like making sure the volume of instruments throughout tracks is consistent can really go a long way in gluing your album/tape/whatever together. The good news is that your actual musicianship is great, and this is the type of thing I would definitely be willing to pay for once your production is a little more cohesive. I haven't really messed with mastering myself yet, I mostly just do my best to get it right in each individual track, but I've heard iZotope's Ozone is pretty good (and a little expensive at $250).

As for getting your drums to sound less synthetic, you really just need to pay attention to how real drummers sound and do your best to think like they do when you're making the track. Assuming you're working with MIDI, varying the note velocity and nudging a few notes slightly off of the beat are good ways to start (Logic has a built in function to randomize like this, whatever you're using might have something similar). I did notice, or at least think, a couple of the songs I listened to had one repeating drum loop throughout the entire song, it never hurts to change things up through different sections of the song (i.e. hi-hat during verse, ride during chorus, some fills here and there).

Overall I really enjoyed the listen, though. I'd definitely like to see you do some more :)

Danyull fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Apr 10, 2017

20 Blunts
Jan 21, 2017
Dude you wrote a dozen original songs and recorded them! Unheard of a century ago!

Do you like John Cale? Halfway through your album I noticed you do these little conversational-sounding bits at the end verses, cramming a bunch of words in.... that is totally out of his playbook. I like that.

I think in general you should relax your voice a little bit. Start lower and take a more "talking blues" approach. But then again you kind of capture the folk-punk sound with your voice so I guess you're at liberty to play into that as much as you think is beneficial. The instrumentals don't do much for me, I'm sorry.


I think Waking Up with Strangers is catchy but a throwaway. Maybe transplant the chorus? Who knows how a crowd will receive a song about cumming. Do you play live often? Try that one on 'em for the real scoop.

A Great Day to be Nude might benefit from if you sing it lower.

The Burban has another great chorus and I know you are limited by your recording set up but that would really come to life with some other musicians.

Dogwater needs a live band too, man.

Kicked in the face at GBH is good but too short! I like the straight 4/4 kick drum that breaks up the song rhythmically.

One Bedroom Apartment....this is the one song I'll go out of my way to say I don't like.

Billy Joe needs work.

Hangover Day is my favorite. "Local Man Decomposes" haha great line.



Throw She Left Me for a Soccer Player into the garbage forever. Don't end any song talking about how some dude had a big cock unless he used it on Margaret Thatcher.

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