I covered an eighties classic

[Shawn Lutz]

I remember the video had a bunch of hotties in lingerie

[Jayster]

Blazer,

Hell I liked this song in the eighties and I like it now(it reminds me of a different time with old friends). Not a bad job at all, it might not be the best fit for your vocal style though. This is a tough crowd here.

[Shawn Lutz]

Its good practice Blazer to record everything. I don't agree with it harder to play by yourself than it is to others...there is no difference in that regard other than having to wear headphones imho.

Its good to hone your recording skills regardless of what type of song you choose. I could live without your vocals but I'm guessing your not a vocalist

I remember when I first got a Fostex 4-tracker in the 80's. The first thing I did was original improvs over progressions and then covers tunes that had layers and harmony (Trooper etc) and played all guitar and bass parts myself....good practice

[fullmetalguitar]

Keep at it. The more you record, the better you will probably get. I got a Tascam 4-track when I was 16 years old. My first recordings were not good (they sucked!). Everything sounded terrible from the guitar tones to my attempts at singing. But the more I did it, the better everything sounded. I eventually upgraded to an 8-track and that's when I really started making pro sounding demos. You can hear some of those 8-track demos by clicking on my myspace page below.

[Newc]

Same here - I got myself a recorder and did my own.

However, I didn't post everything I did, no matter how much I may have liked it or how pleased with myself I was. I can listen to my own stuff and know what's working and what's not from both a musical/compositional standpoint and when something just isn't "good enough" to be distributed. That's why I didn't post anything I've sang on except War Pigs. There's tons of songs I know the words to and sing along with, but no one but me will ever hear me sing them. I know what I sound like.

I didn't click your link. I'm not a fan of 80s stuff that tried to pass itself off as good and have worked hard over the years to forget some very shitty songs, and simply do not wish to be reminded of them, so the link goes unclicked.
However, as I said, it's always best to know your limitations, and to not show those limitations publicly.

One of the things my old band wanted to do was have a rehearsal in a live setting (for the "vibe") with a handful of people in the audience. I argued against it saying that no one outside the band should be allowed to see how much work it takes. We have to present it to them in a finalized form that makes it look easy, otherwise you'll have someone out in the crowd saying "man, it took them 4 hours to nail that song in rehearsal".
The singer wanted us to do stuff with a lot of backup vocals - like I'm not busy enough with the guitar, now I gotta focus on singing in a key I don't sing in and try to harmonize with a guy that is rarely consistent with how he delivers a chorus. So after 4 hours of practicing "Midnight Rider", we took it live, and completely trashed it. I stepped away from my mic and turned it off.


So again, have fun with your home recording stuff, but unless it's flawless, I don't recommend posting it for review anywhere, unless you want someone to American Idol it.

[jgcable]

Let me put it this way, playing with others is easy, you can start a band and once the chemistry gets going you can go out and perform.

Playing everything yourself and making it sound tight is the hard part here, that's why I record cover songs like that, to hone my studio working skills, I know that I have a lot of ground to cover before I can call myself good. Recording stuff like this (which is a job that takes in many exhausting hours) and then getting such a reply of "gay song" (Err, no homosexual content whatsoever in the original song and certainly not in the video that came with it, so what makes it "Gay?") and "You should use this song to torture people with" is offensive. Compare it to a wiseguy who says that a building which workers have put in many hundreds of hours to build should be demolished because he doesn't like the way it looks. I'm sure those workers would stuff his ass into a concrete mixer and then turn it on.

For the last couple of weeks my own band Slavantas has been busy recording our debut album and I learned a LOT while being in that studio. I am learning how to apply those lessons and it's a process that takes a lot of trial and error, there are no other guys there to help me out, if I fuck up, I have to erase the whole track and start over.

Your band is about to make it big from what I understood, congratulations, I wish you guys the best. But don't forget that putting your noses to the grindstone is the only way to really hone your craft as a musician. that's what I'm doing with these covers I'm recording and with what I'm doing with Slavantas, we're about to embark on a tour through south Europe: France, Italy, Spain. So like your band, my band is also very hard at work making a name for ourselves. But we all realize that it doesn't come from out of nowhere, we are not sponsered by a record company, we don't have endorsements with musical companies, we have to work our asses off just to get noticed. I'm sure you'll understand that part don't you?

So with this I'll end my statement, as one musician to another, not as two kids in the play yard bickering about GI Joe dolls and why one is better than the other.

Rock on.
Wouter Jaegers "Blazer"

From one musician to another... if you are looking to go on tour and to make a name for yourself and you are busy recording your debut album and all that hard work you are talking about.... I would suggest to you to only post quality shit. You are a representative of your band and if I was your bandmate and I heard that gay unprofessional dribble that you recorded and then posted for everybody to listen to I would kick your ass. Serious bro. Tough love here.
If you want to represent.. well.. represent. Its about attitude and perception bro. BTW... I like GI Joe. I also liked Major Matt Mason. He was popular around 1971. Thats right.. I am an old fuck.

[Shawn Lutz]

the GI Joes with hair, beards and king fu grip ruled!!!!!!!!

[VitaminG]

they're not dolls, they're action figures

[Matt_B]

I would suggest to you to only post quality shit.

JG may seem callous but he is right.

In the days before the Internet, one would play a tape like this for their friends and even if the response was the same, it would seem "nicer" because it would be done in person by people you know. But now, when you post it on-line, you have to prepared for a more impersonal review.

I know you put your heart and soul into it and spent hours recording all the parts. I know doing that took a lot of time and patience but in the end it is what it is. If you really want to progress as an artist, you need to detach yourself from your work and view it as objectively as possible. You have every right to be proud of your hard work but in the end, it's the final product that counts.

To be blunt, the first thing that caught my attention (in the recording) was the main rhythm guitar part was out of tune. If you didn't notice that well I guess you should work on your ears. If you did notice it and didn't care then I can't tell you how to fix that because that's an attitude issue and not a behavioral one.

[pebber]

I covered an eighties classic

yes, but consider taking it back offline and keep this quality of recordings for yourself .. otherwise perception will be 0 talent - especially on a forum with a lot of good musicians -

[Blazer]

yes, but consider taking it back offline and keep this quality of recordings for yourself .. otherwise perception will be 0 talent - especially on a forum with a lot of good musicians -

You're right, I have removed it.

[jgcable]

I am still a fan Blazer. Musician to musician... keep it real bro. Keep working hard and it will pay off. Good luck with the debut album and the tour too. Peace bro.

[Evol]

"gay unprofessional dribble" Fuck, really? Jesus, your ego will eat you alive one day man. Anyway, here we go again, same old shit, different person on another day...

Blazer, my advice about this whole mess is to say "fuck you" to these holier than thou, judgmental assholes that cut you down on here for doing something YOU were proud of. You removed it because someone on an internet message board says THEIR perception will be 0 talent.

FUCK their perception. Don't play for people like that, do your own thing man. If you play music to impress other musicians then it most likely won't ever be satisfying. Unfortunately alot of (especially) "internet guitar players" think their shit don't stink, and are more than happy to cut others down if they think they suck for whatever reason.

This is supposed to be a community of musicians, not a cock bragging contest. All this shit of calling peoples music "gay, 0 talent, I would kick your ass" etc. does is discourage them and this is exactly what happened. To those of you who did this, shame the fuck on you!

Blazer, do what you want man, and don't feel one bit bad about it, those that want to help you (if you are looking for it) will offer you constructive criticism and be genuine, the haters have their own issues that I would just ignore, don't let them get to you and make you feel like you have to remove anything for their benefit.

[Shawn Lutz]

This thread is a good example why people rarely post shit. I mean you dont have to like it and you can provide constructive criticism without being an asshat...

[jgcable]

"gay unprofessional dribble" Fuck, really? Jesus, your ego will eat you alive one day man. Anyway, here we go again, same old shit, different person on another day...

Blazer, my advice about this whole mess is to say "fuck you" to these holier than thou, judgmental assholes that cut you down on here for doing something YOU were proud of. You removed it because someone on an internet message board says THEIR perception will be 0 talent.

FUCK their perception. Don't play for people like that, do your own thing man. If you play music to impress other musicians then it most likely won't ever be satisfying. Unfortunately alot of (especially) "internet guitar players" think their shit don't stink, and are more than happy to cut others down if they think they suck for whatever reason.

This is supposed to be a community of musicians, not a cock bragging contest. All this shit of calling peoples music "gay, 0 talent, I would kick your ass" etc. does is discourage them and this is exactly what happened. To those of you who did this, shame the fuck on you!

Blazer, do what you want man, and don't feel one bit bad about it, those that want to help you (if you are looking for it) will offer you constructive criticism and be genuine, the haters have their own issues that I would just ignore, don't let them get to you and make you feel like you have to remove anything for their benefit.

You are a funny dude but I give you props for exposing me. You do know that Blazer is in a METAL band don't you?? He isn't in the England Dan and John Ford Coley tribute troupe. If Blazer was a beginner and posted that I would have never have even responded. The fact is that Blazer is in a METAL BAND who are currently recording their debut METAL ALBUM and are about to embarke on a European METAL TOUR playing METAL MUSIC.
His bandmates have killer METAL stage names, they dress METAL, they play METAL, they come off as being pro's and they are catering to a METAL audience. Do you see the common theme here??? METAL METAL METAL METAL METAL METAL. Did you listen to what he posted. To my ears.... he posted a goof... something to laugh at. It was out of tune, out of time, poorly recorded, the singing was god aweful. The only thing correct was he did get all the parts down. I am sure it took a long time. Let me tell you something that you might already know. The music business is tough, real tough. It demands perfection. It takes just as long to record dribble as it does to record a masterpiece. Take Black Sabbath's first album. I read that they recorded it in 8 hours. What about The Beatles?? They barely had multitrack recording and look what they came out with. There is no excuse for putting out substandard material if you are serious about this business and I thought that Blazer was very serious. That is why I assumed that he posted this as a joke.
If he was a beginning player that would be different but he isn't. He is a pro. Did you think that was a pro recording or performance?
You say " FUCK their perception. Don't play for people like that, do your own thing man." Thats the attitude and work ethic that will get you NOWHERE in this business. Fellow musicians and the music audience's perception of you is SOLELY based on your recorded material. If your recorded material sucks or if it is very poorly recorded or performed..you might as well start working on flipping hush puppies at Long John Silvers.
Let me clarify one thing... that original song sucked. The only thing that would have made it good is if the school girls in the video were naked and having lesbian sex on the desks. Blazer.. you can ask Bill (Horns) this question. What is it to be in a METAL BAND. There are alot of other METAL players on the JCF. There are many guitarists here that can make me eat large cans of crow. There are bands here that should have been signed already and probably will be. You need to be a pro in every respect of your business. Evol.. are you a hippie?, because you certainly type like one.
I forgot to mention Evol... I take offense to your remarks about me. Not cool bro. I thought Blazer's post was a joke. I treated it as a joke and responded to it as if it was a joke. I apologized when I found out it wasn't. Others responded saying he should take the song down if he doesn't want to hurt the perception of his METAL BAND. He took it down which shows good judgement. You see.. Evol.. Blazer wants to make it in this business. You only want to be politically correct and have the community of mainly METAL players on the JCF to just get along.
It don't work that way bro. Metal players look out for each other and aren't afraid of confrontation. I have never been afraid of looking somebody in the eye and telling them what I think. I appreciate it when it happens to me and believe me.. it has happened alot throughout 30 years of playing in a metal band. I think I am finally starting to figure this difficult business out and you come along and tell me that I have no right to speak my opinion.
In closing.. Blazer.. if you want to have a successful tour and if you want to sell lots of your debut album make sure in the future that whatever you put out on the internet you get the ok from your bandmates and your record label (if you have one). Make sure its quality because anything that shows an amateur ability will reflect poorly on your band.
Trust me on this. I have been there and done that back in the 80's. It was aweful and cost me a great band that I was in and a world tour that I possibly could have been on.