Welcome to the new BlahBlahCafe!

Having trouble registering? You can contact us at the "Contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

Demos Of My First Ever (concept) Album


Post Posted Mon Jul 01, 2019 11:00 pm
docklands88


Posts: 125
Location: Caerleon, South Wales

Okay so I'm really nervous doing this however I feel I'm at the point of sharing my own music for the first time. Over the past year I've been laying down demos for a concept album I've wanted to record for a very long time. Finally I have around 34 mins of material I'd like you to listen to and give honest feedback.

The playlist I've shared contains my demo tracks and experimentation for my first (concept) album, NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE. The story of the album revolves around a single night in a major city from sunset to sunrise as the character explores their surroundings of urban decay/decent, paranoia, desperation, isolation, solitude, beauty, inspiration and desolation.

These tracks are very rough around the edges and in a few cases are little more than chord progressions/rhythm hooks designed to evoke an atmosphere/mood. They are all unfinished and in many cases are quite short. Some I feel are not so good however they've all been included as they were part of the project/concept.

As I've mentioned, I'm really, REALLY nervous and frightened about sharing my own compositions/music for the first time publicly (I have a severe fear that people will laugh at me and call me a joke with no talent etc...) so if, for example, you don't like what you hear then please be kind and let me down gently whilst providing honest feedback. I'm really HYPER SELF-CRITICAL (I end up hating myself and everything I do and get really dissatisfied with my creative work, resulting in beating myself up and over exaggerating over the smallest of things which destroys my confidence/self esteem)

That's all I want is some good, old fashioned honest feedback regarding my first attempt at recording an album of my own music. I'd really appreciate it.

Here is a link to the playlist of the album on Soundcloud. PLEASE LISTEN TO THE SONGS WITH HEADPHONES and in order as the recording/mix isn't that good and in order to hear it properly I strongly suggest listening to it with a good set of headphones!

https://soundcloud.com/peter-john-varga ... se/s-FEOGo

Enjoy! (hopefully haha, I'll set up my defensive barricades just in case though :shock: )

Let me know what you all think.
Concerts Attended :

Tour 2010: Cardiff CIA 06/10/10
Electronica World Tour: Cardiff CIA 04/10/16

Favorite Concert: Destination Docklands 1988
Post Posted Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:21 pm
shadow


User avatar
Posts: 1511
Likes received  : 35

I can't sit down for the entire thing right now, but the first two tracks are nice. Personally I would raise the piano on the second track, it gets rather swallowed by the bass. I'll listen to the rest when I have some time any of these days, I like the start!
27-11-10: Ahoy Rotterdam
22-11-16: Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam
Post Posted Wed Jul 03, 2019 8:32 pm
Dr_Jones


User avatar
Posts: 3729
Location: Leiden, Netherlands
Likes given: 194
Likes received  : 402

It sounds a bit John Carpenter-ish. Which is a good thing obviously!
Post Posted Sat Jul 06, 2019 12:22 am
docklands88


Posts: 125
Location: Caerleon, South Wales

Wow, thank you for the positive comments and feedback so far everyone! I've been hiding away for the past few days as it's never easy sharing your creative output (especially for the first time ever) and particularly because it's music, something that I love beyond anything else and have been afraid of writing/sharing in case what I created wasn't any good. Does that make sense? Music means everything to me.

As for the John Carpenter comment, I'm so relieved as that was the main inspiration for this work. The album is supposed to be about a single night experienced in a major city by an outsider (I've always assumed L.A.) so the main idea was to fuse a kind of Assault On Precinct 13 vibe with hip-hop, RnB, JMJ and even Trent Reznor's Social Network score. I'm pleased that's come across.

I hope to gather enough support and equipment to seriously record the album as it's all been done in Garageband, I don't even have a USB keyboard. It's all been done with musical typing, programming notes individually and it's been a serious struggle at times. However the limitations I'm working with are largely responsible for the sound of the demo's.

I'll appreciate any more feedback my fellow JMJ/music fans/musicians/songwriters have for me, it all helps me develop.

Thanks again!
Pete.
Concerts Attended :

Tour 2010: Cardiff CIA 06/10/10
Electronica World Tour: Cardiff CIA 04/10/16

Favorite Concert: Destination Docklands 1988
Post Posted Sun Jul 21, 2019 3:36 am
Armandox


User avatar
Posts: 40
Location: Schijndel - Netherlands
Likes received  : 1

Hi Pete,

Thanks for sharing your music. I'm slowly and surely listening through the tracks you shared, and I really like what you do! I understand your nervousness in sharing your music and getting criticism in the progress. In that respect you have nothing to be afraid of. I know myself it's hard to stand up against a crowd that endorses JMJ's music and compositions, so yeah... it's a tall order to stand up to that. However, JMJ is just JMJ, and you are you with your own style and vibe, and I like what I hear, so I truly encourage you to go on and pursue to making your first album. You got some great tracks lined up and you really have no reason to be ashamed of any of them really!

Personally I'd mix the ending of 'Viewing The Basin at Sunset' with 'The Urban Decay'. Melt them together if you know what I mean? Well you're doing a concept-album, so you probably know what I'm talking about? I'd more compile all the tracks you have so far into each other and make them part of each other and follow up so one song is not just one song, but part of the whole concept (if that makes sense?). Nonetheless I like how you already have a whole synopsis for your concept-album (a background story if you will). This is what makes your album work and speak. It's not just single tunes, but rather a whole story told through various songs.

Really enjoyable music, soothing, not agressively grabbing attention and very nicely mixed. This works, and I encourage you to officially release this at some point. Keep on writing! I added you on Soundcloud and looking forward to new tracks.

Best regards, be obstinate and true to yourself, keep on making, writing good music!
Post Posted Thu Oct 01, 2020 11:27 pm
docklands88


Posts: 125
Location: Caerleon, South Wales

Armandox wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 3:36 am Hi Pete,

Thanks for sharing your music. I'm slowly and surely listening through the tracks you shared, and I really like what you do! I understand your nervousness in sharing your music and getting criticism in the progress. In that respect you have nothing to be afraid of. I know myself it's hard to stand up against a crowd that endorses JMJ's music and compositions, so yeah... it's a tall order to stand up to that. However, JMJ is just JMJ, and you are you with your own style and vibe, and I like what I hear, so I truly encourage you to go on and pursue to making your first album. You got some great tracks lined up and you really have no reason to be ashamed of any of them really!

Personally I'd mix the ending of 'Viewing The Basin at Sunset' with 'The Urban Decay'. Melt them together if you know what I mean? Well you're doing a concept-album, so you probably know what I'm talking about? I'd more compile all the tracks you have so far into each other and make them part of each other and follow up so one song is not just one song, but part of the whole concept (if that makes sense?). Nonetheless I like how you already have a whole synopsis for your concept-album (a background story if you will). This is what makes your album work and speak. It's not just single tunes, but rather a whole story told through various songs.

Really enjoyable music, soothing, not agressively grabbing attention and very nicely mixed. This works, and I encourage you to officially release this at some point. Keep on writing! I added you on Soundcloud and looking forward to new tracks.

Best regards, be obstinate and true to yourself, keep on making, writing good music!
Sorry for the late reply and digging up my old thread but thank you for the honest feedback. Unfortunately my Mac died and all of my tracks are stuck on a SSD, I'll need to pay to have everything recovered. I'll only be able to work on them when I can afford a new Mac (which will be years considering I'm unemployed at the moment. I was unfairly dismissed and don't have the money to fight it). It sucks as I cannot work on new music at all unless it's through my old iPhone, which isn't the best. It's annoying as I was making really good progress with the album and had amazing feedback on the rewrites/remixes.
Concerts Attended :

Tour 2010: Cardiff CIA 06/10/10
Electronica World Tour: Cardiff CIA 04/10/16

Favorite Concert: Destination Docklands 1988
Post Posted Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:46 am
Dr_Jones


User avatar
Posts: 3729
Location: Leiden, Netherlands
Likes given: 194
Likes received  : 402

A fast and cheap solution would be an external usb harddisk adapter. You can get the ssd hd out of your broken computer and use it as an external hdd and copy everything off to a new computer







  • 2020 Zoolook.nl
    Powered by phpBB forum software