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Signals Without Sound - Music

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polycounter lvl 18
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JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
Hey all, inspired by Rhinokey's post on his new band Battery Dog (http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=56462) I thought I would post something I've been working on.

http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.mu/

So basically "Signals Without Sound" has been a solo project I've been working on and off for about 2 years now (ever since I left my older band)... and it has only been recently that I've completed a full song... and thanks to MightyPea for letting us know about BandCamp, I decided to give it a try and upload my new mix.

It's a little more poppier then I usually do, but meh... at least it is somewhat full. I do vocals guitar, bass etc. and use a drum program (Beatcraft) to create the initial beat, and edit it heavily in Acid, so hopefully the basic beats don't bother you too much (next instrument to pick up is drums).

Seems like a lot of polycounters are musicians as well, so maybe we can get some more posts up, always great to hear what you guys and girls come up with :)

Thanks again for checking it out :P

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  • Zephir62
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    Zephir62 polycounter lvl 12
    Great stuff, love to hear other people chasing their music dream.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks man, this is more of side project though... 3d has taken the front burner... but It would be awesome to pick up music again with a band later on in the years.
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    nice track, in my opinion the melody was a little strange to follow as some parts lept from sentence to sentence while others had a much more measured fit to the sentence being sung. this could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you originally wanted to create I guess. Ive also been writing songs for a few years.
  • Michael Knubben
    Hey, that's pretty nice-sounding. A bit too polished and coldplay-like for my likings, but that's just my taste.
    Nice vocals, as well :)

    Glad to see you liking Bandcamp. It's great, isn't it? The link I posted in the Battery Dog thread was my stuff, although it's all just bits and pieces I came up with on the first go, nothing finished or even planned.
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    cool >> cosome << awesome
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    cool stuff i think you may have over reverbed it a bit..(i do that also) but sounds good what are you recording with?

    i'll put my set up list and photos in my page
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Hey man, I have like the most minimilst setup...

    I use an akg mic (wide diaphragm) to record my interments and vocals, and use the creative fidelity premium sound card for input... really simple and inexpensive, but I think it works fairly well.

    I see no point in getting a mixer just yet because I only record 1 thing at a time (using only 1 mic) hopefully once I get drums in the later years, I can start building a mini studio.
  • Parnell
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    Parnell polycounter lvl 18
    Hey thanks for not sucking.
    I listened to this and dug it.
    The mix was a little rough but I liked that. Didn't feel too clean or overworked.
    Keep em coming.
    B
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    HA ha ha well thanks man :)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    So instead of making a new thread, I will bring this one back to life!

    Just recorded a pretty rough take on a new song "Ghosts" - you can check it out here - http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/

    This one came out of nowhere, and those are usually my favourite kind. I was sitting down working on another song, and while I was setting up my equipment, I just started playing this little rhythm (the very starting progression) and it just turned into this.

    I do apologize for the nassstyyy ass huming going on, I've recently looked into getting a Pod 2.0 which will hopefully kill some of that noise, still have to figure out how to make my mic not hum as much.

    I also recently bought the new cd from Tragically Hip (love these guys) and the lead singers vocals / melodies have seriously inspired me to no ends. If anyone is a fan of the Hip, or... well enjoy good music, you should check out their new CD... I suggest giving "Coffee Girl" a listen, one of the sickest choruses I've heard in awhile.

    And if you want to check out another sick band for melodies... Idiot Pilot, crazy talented young guys, and some of their music just blows me away.

    Hope you enjoy :)
  • Ben Apuna
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    wicked man, just listed to all 3 songs and they are all pretty dope. only thing i didnt really like was the "thwipp" kinda rewind noise in ghosts, was distracting and outta place, but thats just me. its nice to hear an indie project with some decent vocals instead of some whiney emo teen trying to be hardcore so good on you for that too :)

    only other thing i could realy thing of is maybe boost the vocals track 10-15% as sometimes it gets a bit lost. keep it coming man and ill be throwin my manties on the stage for you at some point.
  • fast1
    nice, thanks for the share!clear.gif
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks Pixel, yuh... I reversed the drumtrack for some of the sections, wanted to see how it sounded, and you're right :P Maybe I can do it for the last bit instead of the middle, just kinda liked how the crash reverses into the other crash hit.

    I'll boost the vocals as well, still need to re-record vocals as well, as well as tighten some other things up. Good that I don't sound too much like a whiny teen, would love to get some cool rasp shit going, but meh... my voice isn't really built for that :(

    Thanks all :)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Howdy doody good people.

    So I haven't posted any new music in awhile, but I finally finished up an ok copy of my new song I've been working on, and would love to hear what you think.

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/who-am-i-to-you

    I still need to work on vocals, my range sucks (had to record numerous takes, and it still didn't work to well) as well as mix some more, but overall... I'm really happy on how this turned out. Slowly I am getting to the point where what I hear in my head, I can start to actually produce... still have such a long way to go though.

    Hope you all like it :)
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    nice work man, i could chill out to this. sounds like real pro quality music ;)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Muh... muuuhhh... muuuzzakk!

    I just put this new recording up, covering one of my all time favourite musicians, mr Matthew Good. The song is called Apparitions, from either Underdogs (full band version) or In Coma (acoustic version).

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/apparitions-matthew-good-cover

    Was really excited to record this one :)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Ha ha, don't know if anyone really follows this thread anymore, BUUUUTT... i am stubborn so I must keep on updating!

    I just put up a very rough mix of a new song I'm very exicted about called "Broken Bones" you can listen to it here -

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/broken-bones-very-rough-version

    Let me know what yaaaalll think :)

    And where the furk is the other music people!?
  • Jaco
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    Jaco polycounter lvl 17
    Awesome, I really enjoyed that cover, great job on the vocals. The new track's sounding great too, really gets me inspired to work on my own stuff, if only I could get as far as actually finishing something.
  • Scott_W
    Jason, dude, fucking awesome work man. "Broken Bones" is on my iPod now.

    The *only* thing I would say is that maybe you could look into adding a bit more low end to the vocal track as it easily cuts through the rest of the mix. That may be your intention, but I personally enjoy vocals that sort of feed into the bass end a little bit more.

    I LOVE the opening riff in which you let it die off for a few beats before bringing it back. Not too many people let songs go silent like that and I think it really gives that riff some bite because it comes out of silence a couple of times instead of being connected with 8th note palm mutes or something.

    Lots of good stuff man, I'm listening to the rest now.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks guys :)

    Thanks for the advice on the vocals, you are defiantly right. The vocals are temp right now, I'm still messing with frequencies as well so i'll defiantly put in some more bass. I think right now I have the EQ setup so it makes it more "tinny" cause it does cut through the other instruments (sometimes) but I will re-work this big time in the coming weeks.

    Yuh Jaco, just record whatever you can... you'll get something going and then thats when the real fun begins.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Shenanigans...

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/in-your-company

    New acoustic song I recorded this morning, really missed playing with an acoustic guitar. Don't have to really worry about all the filler (lack of band doesn't help this either).

    It's pretty cheesy, but fack it... acoustics bring out the love in me :P
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Cool stuff Jason, I'm liking it.
    On "Broken Bones", the whole track seems a little more tipped towards the right channel for some reason (although maybe my speakers sweet spot is off a bit, will have to mess around with the setup).
    It also seems to be lacking some low end in general, not just the vocals, but the guitar, drums, everything really. I know it's a WIP so I assume it's just not been mastered/tweaked very much yet.

    BTW, do you listen to The Dear Hunter? You should check out their new album, Act III - Life And Death, I think you'd like it. Lovely music in there. If you haven't listened to them before then get Act I - The Lake North, The River South and Act II - The Meaning Of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading because they're superb albums.

    Also the new-ish Porcupine Tree album, The Incident, is really great for inspiration IMHO.
  • System
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    System admin
    Wow, nice songs and playing and really pleasant to listen to.
    You know you could easily get a record deal with this, go man go!!!
    Edit: you have a great voice too :D
  • firestarter
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    firestarter polycounter lvl 18
    Surprisingly good!
    Like has been said already, you need some reverb discipline. Mix sounds harsh and tinny which conflicts with the music and adds to the reverb swooshiness.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Hey thanks all :)

    MOP - I haven't heard of The Dear Hunter before... I don't think, I'll give them a listen shortly. And sadly I don't really have the space anymore to record those songs (moved) :( So I can't really edit / fix Broken Bones (which sucks cause its my fav song so far). Most of the stuff that will come out of me will be acoustic for now... Me and my sis (fantastic guitar player / singer) are actually talking about writing some songs together... maybe get something out there.

    Porcupine Tree absolutely rocks, and I love the new albums sound, more radio friendly songs mixed with some heavy stuff, love it!

    GCMP - Hahaha, thanks you good sir.

    That idea right now isn't my focus... but I do think about it a lot, more so in the future though. We'll see what happens. I would at least like to get an EP out one day and see how that goes.

    Firestarter - Couldn't agree with you more, for some reason I have this obsession with reverb as it seems to fatten up the sound (to me anyways) but as you and Mop have said, my sound in general is tiny... I've been trying to learn proper mixing, so hopefully it'll get better as I go along.

    Thanks again all :)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Oh nice... these guys have a Thrice / Finch kinda sound to them, some great melodies and range :)

    Thanks Mop!

    EDIT: Alright Mop, if you haven't listened to Finch's "Say hello To Sunshine" then you need to man, I think The Dear Hunter and Finch's sound go hand in hand (very expressive singer, fantastic instruments).

    Let me know if you have listened to them before, if not I can send you some songies.
  • slipsius
    jason, why do you suck at everything you do? seriously... lawls

    i joke, good stuff man. new song is pretty good! if i hear you bitchin we dont have time for homework, imma smack you silly
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    we don't have time for homework...

    and music is more important!

    GET BACK TO WORK!
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Will give it a shot Jason, I've heard of Finch but don't really know any of their stuff. I really like Thrice though (although I hate a lot of their lyrics, heh).
  • Rens
    "You have the voice of an angel."

    step_brothers92.jpg
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    make sure its "Say hell to sunshine" though (the album). Still is my favourite album of all time, its just PERFECT!
  • ae.
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    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    JASON!!!!! FUCK your shit rocks! been listening to it al day while i work on my unearthly challenge is there a way i could buy a CD?
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Haha... you guys!!

    AE, send me a msg later on msn and I can just zip you what I have so far. If you can just spread that link around thats all the "payment" i need you know :)

    One day I would like to work on an EP though, but right now its not the time.

    Thanks again buddy!
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    Awesome voice, and awesome melodies there.
    Quite enjoyable. Peaceful.


    The cover needs some greentooth though.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Hey all... long time no MUZAAKKK

    I've been itching to get back into more of my "roots"... so I started working on a new "full band" song today entitled Echoes

    You can check out Echoes here - http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/echoes-instrumental-vocals-coming

    Currently its just instrumental, but the vocals are being worked on as we speak... and then I'll start properly mixing this mofo into hopefully one of my better songs to date.

    Overall I'm pretty happy with the arrangement, I'm thinking this is probably one of the more catchier songs I wrote (has a couple hooks in there which I think may stick)... so yuh.

    I wanted to post at least SOMETHING i've been working on since 3D seems to have taken the backburner these couple of weeks :P

    I would love to know what you all sexy polycounters think.

    Thanks!
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Cool stuff Jason, sounds like the sort of thing I enjoy recording and listening to as well :)

    I'm on a laptop with crappy internal speakers here so I don't really think I can comment on this very well, but the cymbals sounded too high in the mix to me. That might just be these speakers cutting the mid and bass ranges, though. I'll give it a proper listen on some real speakers when I get home in a couple of days.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Nah man you nailed it, cymbals are too high (more so on the left side (if you are facing the speakers) I will fix that in the mix, although I'm not great at mixing drums in general, I tend to listen to other bands and try and replicate their mixes... still don't fully "understand" it though :P
  • Rens
  • Snipergen
    Huh I love this? I really like "Who I am (to you)" Let me know when you finish a CD!
    I mean I can hear that this isn't recorded like pros, but you should put money in this tbh. You sing damn good too.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Its not like I don't WANT too... its just I don't have the time :( I'm in the stage of my life where now I need to get on top of this career thing :P and currently that career is in the game industry, once I have some moneyz coming in... and get settled into somewhere... than we will see.

    I'd like nothing more than to get a band together and play some shows though, I really miss that aspect of music.

    Re...Rens?
  • Pedro Amorim
    i wished i had some sort of talent :(
    you make me sad jason :(
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Oh and Mop, if you know any way to help push my mixing into the right direction, let me know :) I feel as though my stuff is always lacking low range, and either the high's are too prominate, or the mid's muddy everything up.
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Well, I only just started learning more about mixing recently too and haven't had much time to mess around. First rule I really learned is EQ everything - slap a parametric EQ filter on all your instruments and channels in your mixer, so you have absolute control. Dunno if you're doing this already, I never used to, but I see the light now (and it's painfully obvious, I think I was just lazy before).

    Also you might want to read up on "shelving", where you tweak the EQs for each instrument and part so that you don't have much noise mixing together, it can help separate out each part nicely. Every instrument or part gets its own frequency range to sit in, and other stuff tries not to interfere with it, I think it results in a cleaner and broader sound and definitely helps get away from muddy mids like you say.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Good to know Mop... I defiantly have read up on shelving, and I've tried it before... but the results weren't great... just because i still don't fully understand what each frequency represents... I have the base idea, just need to put it into practice more.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Alritghy all... update to the song... big update (got most of the vocals layed out... still rough mix though).

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/echoes-vocal-rough-mix

    I have had the house to myself for a week now... and Its finally given me the ability to truly "sing"... as in not worrying if Im gonna bother the roomies... and this is what I got. I haven't been able to sing this freely in a long ass time... and man, I think it had payed off.

    Let me know what you think so far, still have to work on bridge, harmonies as well as overall mixing.
  • Rens
    Jason? You excited?
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Boner inducing excited... yus rens.... :P
  • Rens
  • SideEffect
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    SideEffect polycounter lvl 19
    Awesome man.
    Are you micing your amp or doing DI? If you're micing what kind of audio interface are you using?
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