Check out my band?

[rsherid]

http://www.myspace.com/gossipculture

Influences: Prefab Sprout (duh), Orange Juice, The Beach Boys, The Blow Monkeys, DFA Records, Everything But the Girl, Hail Social, Interpol, Junior Boys, Kings of Convenience, Marvin Gaye, New Order, Paul McCartney & Wings, Pet Shop Boys, The Radio Dept., Röyksopp, Saint Etienne, The Smiths, Swing Out Sister, Tahiti 80, Tears for Fears, Todd Rundgren

It's yet to be finished, but any comment or critique would be welcome.

[utah]

Cool song. I definitely get what you're going for on this tune. It has a cool 80's vibe to it, without sounding too retro.

I get the sense that you've put this together yourself by overdubbing and playing all the instruments yourself. I'm not sure if you're using loops for your drums. I like the splashy cymbal intro....that moves into the lone kick drum. The rest of the beat sounds good. I like the hi-hat change about 1:20 into the song, that switches back around the 2 minute mark. A few cymbal splashes and fills wouldn't hurt maybe, to punch the song up a bit. But nothing to radical. The simple rhythm works good with this song.

There's some timing issues that you need to work on, as musically....the playing is not quite as tight as it could be. But, timing issues aside, I think the overall arrangement is pretty good. I like the punctuated and slightly-muted guitar notes that drive the rhythm. The lead runs are tasty and the piano sounds good.

I would suggest that you spend a little time experimenting with some of the instrument panning. Listening to the mix, the guitar and piano seem to be sitting right on top of the vocal, in the C position. If that piano patch is in stereo, maybe you can adjust the panning to a far right / far left setting. If it's mono, maybe pan it 5-10 degrees off centre, so that it doesn't sit right on the vocals. Same thing with the guitar. Move it off centre as well. Maybe opposite to where the piano is panned. Moving the guitar and piano more off-centre, will allow your vocal to come thru better in the mix,

Vocals are pitchy in parts, but I like what you're doing with the vocal arrangement. The digital delay works well, where you're using it. Maybe play with the reverb a bit. The vocal is pretty wet sounding.

All that said....I like the tune. You've got a good groove going on for sure!

And, I like the name of the band.

Nice job.

[rsherid]

Thanks so much for all the great tips.

I was wondering, though, when you say to mess with the vocal reverb -- do you mean more or less? There's already a lot. Also, what does wet sounding mean?

Lastly, I've listened to the song so much on repeat myself, I've lost the ability to hear whether it's out of time. If it is, are you mostly referring to the hooky electric piano that kicks in it at :20 seconds?

Thanks again!

[utah]

Dry means little or no effect(s). Wet, means effect(s) has been added. You said that you've already used a lot of reverb on the vocal track, and I thought it sounded a bit too wet....in otherwords a bit too much reverb in the vocal mix.

A general rule of thumb is to apply the reverb on the vocals until the effect becomes noticeable. Then back the reverb off a bit, so that it's not quite as pronounced. That will bring your vocal a little more forward and up-front in the mix. The reverb will give the vocal a nice lively feel, but you don't want to sound like you're singing in a cave.

You can also see if you can tweak the parameters (like delay, reflection, etc) of your reverb effect. Try adjusting those as well, to try and find a optimum reverb setting, that works well with the song and your voice.

I think it's a catchy tune, and worth working on, to get it sounding really good.

As for the timing. There's a few spots where everything isn't quite tight to the beat and one might be that piano part you mentioned. It's probably time to give your ears a rest. I know what it's like to over-listen to a tune that you're recording to the point where you lose your objectivity and points of reference. So, sometimes it's good to park a song for a while, and then come back too it with fresh ears.

[rsherid]

I see what you mean. I was kind of trying to get this vocal reverb sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB30ZXGdenw

(And yes, that is a rendition of New Order's "Confusion")

[utah]

Ok, I checked out the video and I get what you're going for now in the vocal. To replicate the vocal on the video, I would still back off some on the reverb. You might also want to adjust the release time for the effect. Shorten it up. For example, if the release time is 100ms, try 50ms. That will cut the effect sooner so that your voice doesn't continue to echo. Remember, you're also using some digital delay as well on the vocal, and you don't want that competing with the reverb effect.

Also, you might want to try adjusting the reflection setting in your reverb if you can. Maybe try something with an early reflection setting.

Keep tweaking the settings. You know the sound you want, and now you have to dial it in. You're close....but, you're overdoing it ( in my opinion ) compared to what's on the youtube video.

Along the way you might want to invest into some pitch correction software for your vocals. I'm not saying that you can't carry a tune. You can for sure and I like the tonal quality in your vocal. But, being off pitch stands out in a recording....much more so than when performing live...and you did hit some pitchy spots along the way.

But keep on at it. Like I posted before it's a cool tune, with a nice retro vibe that reminds me a lot of China Crisis actually. That's a compliment, because many 20 year old China Crisis songs still sound great today.

Good luck with your music, and have fun!

[rsherid]

So, the song is pretty much done and I'm about to ship it off to the blogosphere. I'm just stuck writing the press release. What are some good examples of a press release? I want to keep it simple, but, like the music, have one catchy thing that sticks out and makes the reviewer put down the press release and actually check out the music.

utah, I think back to your first post in which you used "80s" and "retro." Since this board is one of the few places to have heard the demo, what sort of press release, based on the music, would pique your editorial interest?

Rough demo still available here: http://makeoutmusic.knoxware.org/random/Th...cal%20Demo).mp3

[rsherid]

Let's say for a second you weren't all Prefab/Sophisti-pop fans...would this press release interest you at all?

Tales of science fiction, suburban isolation and love lie at the heart of Gossip Culture's music, surrounded by guitar reverb, warm electric pianos and disco beats. With an admiration for 1980s Sophisti-pop, Post-punk and R&B, Gossip Culture, a.k.a. multi-instrumentalist Ryan Sheridan, combines these disparate influences to create a catchy, glossy sound - fitting neatly between DFA Records’ Holy Ghost! and Hail Social (now known as Memory Tapes).

[Kev Tinsley]

Sounds good, and apt - I like catchy rather than melodic - but I don't know anything about the reference points in the last sentence - needs something more well known? But that may be just me - I'm hardly in the pop loop these days.

[qmbcole]

+1 to Kev's thoughts

[rsherid]

So I'm finally in the last phases of getting the word out. The press release, MySpace, and first song are all done, but I'm coming up short on who to send everything to. There's The Vinyl District blog, which has covered Prefab, but there's gotta be more, right?

Any suggestions welcome.

[Kev Tinsley]

BBC 6?