napoleonboot

It sounds good to me. I love your vibrato, I am very lacking in that department myself. I hate that I can't understand a word of it. I like that you made a video. The music I post is normally done in several takes spliced together. I am impressed with what you do in a single take.

You later link (the better mix) is broken.

Hi I listened to "The Unknown". Your other song ("Ancient Instinct") wouldn't play for me, I tried two different browsers. The singing is good, as are the songs. The mix and production needs more work to show it all off better. The vocals are a bit 'thin' in the mix, it sounds to me like the lower frequencies are missing a bit, maybe your recording technique, mic placement or similar. Drums are also too far back I think. I can hear the classic metal influences in there, Metallica, Megadeth etc. good stuff George

Hi Ron try this. It is still marked as demo, the mix isn't final. [EDITED TO REMOVE THE LINK WHICH IS OBSOLETE - SEE OPENING POST FOR LINK TO FINAL VERSION] I now have accounts on loads of file sharing services! George

Try it this way Ron, I uploaded it to a plain file sharing site. [EDITED TO REMOVE THE LINK WHICH IS OBSOLETE - SEE OPENING POST FOR LINK TO FINAL VERSION] I susect that the mp3 player embedded in reverb nation web page is probably incompatible with your browser. Perhaps do a browser ugrade? George

Thanks Ron it was broken for me too - gremlins!. :| that probably explains why I got no feedback I think its' one of my best efforts, even though it contain a short rap (a first for me) I have re-uploaded it and updated the above link to this new on: [EDITED TO REMOVE THE LINK WHICH IS OBSOLETE - SEE OPENING POST FOR LINK TO FINAL VERSION] George

As usual, constructive criticism is welcome It makes a change for me do something which isn't prog rock or just silly (e.g. Lizard men). I find some songs spring into life much easier than others, this fell into place quickly, with end results we are very pleased with. I did all the singing, including harmonies and rap!. George

Thanks for your comments Robert. I have a feeling I maybe singing unhealthily at times, although it doesn't cause me any discomfrot or apparent after-effects. I will take you comments on board and work on it.

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_13589075 As usual, constructive criticism welcome. "Lizard Men" is an original number, created with my friends at www.musicianscollaboration.com This is the first time I have laughed in a song! I am a Brit, but you will notice I pronounced Catacombs in the American way rather than the British way to make it rhyme with "bones". I didn't know it was pronounced differently in America, until our (American) lyricist commented on my first attempt. It's not a word you hear very often in normal conversation ;) George

So... here's one Spinal Tap story from 25 years in my past: I was playing guitar in a rock band, I didn't sing back in those days. We had a big gig coming up in about 3 weeks and our long-term vocalist left the band suddenly, for reasons I cant remember. The bassist volunteered his girlfriend would sing. We were a bit dubious as we played macho rock covers (AC/DC, Rainbow, Rush). She came to practise and unsuprisingly her singing was a bit too feminine for the material. So, we said she should make us a tape of her favourite songs and we would learn them instead. So, the next day we set to learning songs by Judy Tzuke, Kate Bush etc. She could sing not too badly, but her pitch wandered off on long notes. I didn't much enjoy it, but we were between a rock and a hard place. On the night of the gig, we were playing Wuthering Heights, and my guitar string broke. I had a spare guitar off-stage and no solo or anything due in the next 30 seconds, so I rushed off to change guitars. In the meantime the rest of the band thought I had walked off in huff about the singers problems with pitch... so they didn't know what to do, and so gradually ground to a halt. I didnt notice this because I was busy plugging in my other guitar, tuning it etc. Anyway, I walked back on stage hoping to discreetly join back in the song, to arrive just a couple of seconds after the band stopped, and then all eyes in the place (band and audience) looked at me for an explanation of what was happening. I wished for the ground to swallow me up, and then said "let's start again, 2,3,4..". Then the band did start again, some where they had left off and some at the beginning. I cant really remember how it turned out ofter that as I think may brain has managed to block out most of the memory over the years. I do however remember after the gig that a non-muso friend of mine came up to me and said he like the gig, especially Wuthering Heights. I asked why, and he said because it sounded just like Motorhead. It wasnt meant to. I am pretty sure that this, and many other adventures we had, have been a rich source of material for comedy writers in the years since. George

Thanks Ron, I didn't think anyone had noticed my post! I am fairly sure that I was a big influence on Spinal Tap.

Athena http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_13505992 70's style with maybe a hint of Spinal Tap! as always, constructive criticism welcome. George

I love your rendition.

Good stuff guys. If you like the idea of working with others over the internet to make music (it's what I do all the time) join in at www.musicianscollaboration.com

Final mix so now done, so I have updated the link in the opening post and repeated here: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_13480948 This turned out pretty well, although it took me a few attempts to get the harmonies right on the chorus :)

I'm, working on Stargazer for the last couple of weeks. I'll post it when done, but I htink I'll be another week or two before it's serviceable. It's hard! George

I have "Rainbow In The Dark", and from his days with Rainbow I have "Stargazer" and "Man On The Silver Mountain". If you are interested I'll send them to you via sendspace or similar. I already have "Holy Diver" and "Last In Line", but my "Last In Line" backer isnt very convincing, is yours?

Thanks Gordon. Actually the drums were laid down before I tracked the vocals, and so the drummer wasnt sure what where the vocals would go or what style I would adopt . He is thinking of retracking now he has heard it, along the lines of what you suggest. :)

Link in first post now updated with amore recent version. Retracked and harmonies reworked.

I agree with Ron's comments (there's a turn up Ron!) , its too clean for my taste. To my ear this era/style of rock is best left in the vaults. No grit or edge, not just the voice either, the backing is a bit light and synthy. Sorry. It held my attention enough to listen all the way through though :)

Thanks Jugulator I love all Iron Maiden's material, but I haven't heard any of Dickinson's solo work, I'll have to check it out. I'd love to have Dickinson's command of vibrato - I find vibrato doesn't come easily to me. I am more Paul Di'Anno I think. Can you or anyone else here point me to some advice on developing vibrato? George

Constructive Criticism welcome! Tower Of Babble http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_13480948 Working mix (not final). George

Tommy, pmac, Jugulator - thanks guys. Jugulator, it's not old heavy metal, its NEW heavy metal. It just sounds like the old stuff. I think I can hear quite a lot of sibilance, I think I need to look to my recording technique? Can someone confirm/deny what I am hearing and maybe point me ther right way please? I use a large diaphragm condenser mic & sing about 12 cm away from it, with a pop shield (fastened to the mic stand) positioned about half way between me and the mic. I sing loud, apparently - according to my kids who are often in other rooms in the house. I put the mic signal through a pre-amp with the gain set so that I am not getting any clipping anywhere in the signal chain. I am usually peaking on plosives at about 75% of the dynamic range according to the waveform view in my recording s/w.

Keith - thanks. Manowar was never big in UK, so I never listened much back in the day (when my musical bones were forming). I just looked them up on Youtube, I'll get some. I was much more a NWOBHM fan (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) immersed in the music of Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Angelwitch etc. By the way, on the last song I posted you compared me to Neil Diamond. LOL!

"Dogs Of The Gods" is the second in a series of songs inspired by Viking adventures. http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_13096662 Classic Rock/Metal with influences from Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and others. This is a working mix, the song isn't finished yet, for example no guitar solos yet. Constructive criticism gratefully received George