A New Song

[GarryO]

I've published a new song "Things To Come" which you can download here: http://www.garryo.org/music.html#things in .ogg and mp3 formats.

It was recorded in Ardour, drums are courtesy of Hydrogen, synths are Yoshimi. Audacity, Jconvolver, Jc_gui and various LADSPA plugins were also used.

Your comments and criticisms would be most welcome.

Cheers, G.

[MattKingUSA]

You're so dang talented man, I really love the music, your vocals are awesome. The guitar work is awesome too. I like all of your music.

[studio32]

Let me think of Pink Floyish music (I hope I'm right cause I never listened to that band much).
Nice song, sounds professional (to me).

Thanks for posting!

[Chipfryer]

Hey Gary.
Very nicely put together indeed. Excellent recording too. Reminds me of 'War of the Worlds' by Jeff Wayne. Ever heard that?

[GarryO]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys!
Nobody got any nit-picking criticisms? Oh well.

@Matt: I don't know about talent, more like 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration!
My apologies for not commenting sooner, but I enjoyed the Halo Blue tracks. I would say your singer (you?) has a lot more off than me. A real asset to your band.
I agree with our pal Chipfryer: "City of Lights" is a particularly strong song. Good luck with the album!

@Studio32: mmm. My thought was that if it was reminiscent of anything it would be Simple Minds in their "sparkle in the rain" or "new gold dream" period. Not that I was trying to sound like that.
Maybe you should listen to more Pink Floyd!

@Chipfryer: Yeah, "war of the worlds" used get a lot of plays here at one time. Favourite track: "forever autumn": I just _love_ Justin Heywood's vocals!

~G.

[MattKingUSA]

Hey thanks Gary, I do sing on City of Lights. There are two of us who sing in the band though. "When I Found You" is a track that I don't sing on. It's also got a rapper featured on the track.

[spm_gl]

It's also got a rapper featured on the track.

Are rappers the new guitar solos? There used to be a solo on every damn song, now there's rappers everywhere.
I still like the song though

[autostatic]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys!
Nobody got any nit-picking criticisms? Oh well.

Hello Garry, no not really, besides that it's totally not my genre To me it sounds pretty well balanced and well taken care of. Maybe the drums are a bit too vibrant, if that's the correct term, but that's a matter of taste also, I like minimal kits. Which Hydrogen kit did you use BTW?

[GarryO]

Thanks for commenting, Autostatic.
The kit used was one built from the ns_kit7 drum sample library, which unfortunately is no longer freely available.
When you say "vibrant" did you mean too much reverb, or did you mean that you prefer a more damped, less ringing tone?

[autostatic]

No, I mean they are a bit too busy for me, too much different toms and cymbals. Oh yeah, the ns_kit, I've searched for it extensively, in vain.

[morko]

Hey. Thought I should share my thoughts aswell.

I really like how you use your guitar. It sounds really good when u just dont underline it all the time. (ok.. hope you understand what I mean. this is gonna be a drunken sobbering with a language that isn't my mothers)
The balance of the mix is also very nice for my ears.

This could really be something, but like autostatic said (if I understand correctly) I think the drums need more work. And I mean like cutting down the work a bit. Those drum patterns could sound ok with a real drummer, but now they ruin the songs a bit in my opinion. I would keep them a bit more simple if u cant get hold of real drummer. Or use recorded drumloops of real drums. Still it is inspiring to hear this kind of stuff made with linux as a linux audio beginner.

[GarryO]

Thanks for your thoughts, Morko.
Listening again with fresh ears, I agree to some extent that in places the drums are too busy. So I have published a new version which is a bit ( but not much! ) more tidy, mostly I have just removed some of the cymbals: http://www.garryo.org/music.html#things

I think this is an improvement. Do you?
You might say that I have not changed it enough, but I really want to avoid simplistic "robot" drums.
And I like bands with "busy" drummers anyway.

Thanks again to everyone who commented, your input is very much appreciated.

~G.