I just posted some new tracks I recorded on Garage band.

I'd like to know what you guys think about the songs, structure, **** you hate/like. I'm trying to find a new direction but I'm stuck in a rut.

[url]www.myspace.com/surrendertotherevolution[/url]

"inquisitional sensational" I recorded a few days ago in about 5 minutes. one track of me singing and playing guitar and two tracks of harmonies. plus you get to hear me coughing my lungs out from this ****ing pneumonia i have.

Hey Schming, what has your experience as a musician been? Are you still in the Futurists? How far did you get with that band? Did you have much success selling your CDs? Did you get signed or was it all DIY?

You don't have to respond if you don't want to, but as a fourth-year music university student I'm just curious is all.

Hey Tracer

maybe not the answer you want, but how have you been trying to make a living with your stuff? I found that the business side of music is pretty prolific. so is education.

Well, nothing yet. I am in my final year of school, so I havenèt had to earn a living. Iève taught lessons and such for years, but $20-$30 per hour with very little job security isnèt that great (and I donèt want to do the exact same thing for the next thirty years).

Overall it was pretty good, better than some of the indie stuff I listen to.

Personally, I think it needs more overlapping vocals or straight clear vocals. The clear will work better for inquisitional sensational song.

The second song Hotsummer Nights definitely needs clear one track vocals and darker sound on the lyrics, at least in the chorus. I mean, try to go for a "Grow up and blow away" from Metric feel. Also, you should drag out the coda at the end, where there was a lot of energy.

Also consider variations in the song. The guitar sounds almost the same in all the songs.

Isolationist needs a feel of backup vocals on some parts and others clean. The mixing near the end needs a little work, it's a little loud. Maybe quiet down the shouting part to be more subtle.

In summery, get a little more creative and don't be afraid to experiment with range. You don't want all those songs sounding the same. I know it's just guitar and vocals, but there's so many combinations you can do with it right there. Use variety, and use the moods from your lyrics to your advantage.

I would suggest adding drums, maybe its just me, but after three or four acoustic only songs, unless they're acoustic versions of full songs, I start to lose interest.

Maybe not just add drums, but just MORE sound, and change it up. Sorry I'm so vague, but for your style, you sound great. Sucks about the pneumonia man, get over that **** quick, its the worst.

The unfortunate part is that my laptop crashed a few days ago after I was trying to mount a DOS emulator program so I could play SimCity2000 and I think I ****ed up the start-up disk... so I lost the original recording files and all I have are the mp3s so I can't edit any of these songs anymore.

These are just meant to be acoustic demos for songs, I've got studio time booked for November so hopefully I'll be able to flesh things out. I don't plan on having acoustic guitar in any of these songs if I record them for real.

Latis, the reason I double most of the vocal tracks and have reverb on everything is because that's just my preference for recording my voice. I'm trying to make it sound dirty and kind of like alt country on Hot Summer Nights for sure. I do agree with you that I should drag out the coda and not have it go soft towards the end. If I get around to re-recording it then I'll definitely do it that way.

As I said, I'm stuck in a rut songwriting so most of the songs do sound the same. I'm very melancholy these days so I think my songwriting is suffering and becoming all drab and dull because of it.

With Isolationist, I'm definitely re-recording that one and probably going to put Isolationist and Tourniquet together as one song. I've just got to change a few chords around. Again, unfortunately I wrote both of those back to back and they did turn out sounding way too similar.

See when I write a song, I usually come up with the chords, record the guitar and then just ad-lib the vocals and write the lyrics as I'm recording the vocals. The entire process usually takes under 30 minutes.

Drums are a bit harder because I'd be stuck using Apple loops or recording tracks with a keyboard which is a pain in the ***. I'll try to put up some songs that have drums and keys so you can hear them and let me know what you think about doing fake drums on these demos.

Tracer, The Futurists broke up last December because my bass player was a ****** and didn't want to go on a national tour because his girlfriend is a controlling *****. He told us 2 weeks out from when we were supposed to leave and I was just tired of trying to hold the band together when everyone wanted to go in different directions. We're all still friends and there's a possibility of us getting back together but I'm a lot happier writing non-pop psych rock songs right now. We were never signed. We were talking to labels and getting a lot of attention but then the interpersonal problems of the band started growing and like I said, everything ended rather quickly when I was tired of dealing with them.

Krefft, I'll try to get some songs done with more than just acoustic guitar and the occasional electric so you can hear what I'm capable of....

But as for my experience as a musician... I've learned that the business side of it is all bull**** and none of the labels have a clue as to what to do now that the market has changed. DIY is definitely the way to go as long as you can.

Basically, I'm just writing and playing for myself and have no desire to try to do things like SXSW or tour again or play big shows anymore. I just want to have a band to have fun with and maybe maybe maybe have another go after I finish my International Affairs degree in May.

I uploaded another song "Red" that has some keys and fake drums and ****. It's kind of more in the psych pop vein that The Futurists were heading towards at the end.

I guess I should mention that the keys were played by my old guitarist Matt and he also programmed the drum loops which I don't think change at all in the song which kind of sucks.

The drums really make it sound more full, like a fully realized song. Personally, I like the effects on the voice. It's not exactly my favorite style of music, but you get props because its done well.

Actually, you seem like a really motivated guy, I have tons of solo stuff that needs vocals/guitar. I don't know if you're into Electronic/Ambient, but maybe we could try a collaberation. My page for that is here. I'm looking to change my style a bit by adding guitar, and I'm not a good singer, as you'll hear, so maybe we could make something work. That is, if you're interested.

Still needs more range/variety.

Krefft, send me any tracks you have that you want me to experiment with. I'd be happy to do something like that. Your voice sounds decent, you really just need to relax and focus on breath support. You've got a good tone that you just need to coax out.

I primarily use Garage Band to record in but I also have Logic. Not sure which software you are using.

Awesome. I'll have something for you within a few days. Whats your email address?