Conference napalm::guitar

    re .-1
    
    so what the hell do you want? this wasn't a "look at what I can do
    with a 4-track" tape.
    
    - Dave

          
    

	geez Dave,so what was the purpose of the tape? Personally I'd 
prefer to have someone criticize my music,my mixing and my 4 track 
technique. I'd also prefer the no holds barred approach rather than your 
typical "that sounds nice" reaction you typically see in Notes. If all I ever 
hear is how good and great things sound,instead of reality what do I gauge
myself by? It would be nice to be more detail oriented perhaps.....
	When I first read Brians R's Review I kinda went whoa!!!! and then
when I read it again I went,Ok yeah thats cool,constructive and probably 
right..... and more importantly his opinion.....
	Now who's doing Guitar Notes 3 so I can get blown away  :^) 


							Rick

    
     "This was not a 'look what I can do with a 4-track' tape"
    
       I disagree. Poorly recorded music can detract in a big way from 
     an otherwise interesting tune. 
    
       I heard Tape 1 (haven't got Tape 2 yet). What stuck out on Tape 1 was
     that some of the recordings were not well done. Those that were done
     well were a pleasure to listen to even if I didn't like the musical style.
    
       Personally if I were to release a tape for public airing I would
    make sure to cover all the bases in my presentation. Perhaps someone 
    who heard a rush job tape would be uninterested in giving subsequent
    material a listen. 
    
       Brian - It took guts to call it as you saw it. Sometimes I think it
    gets to be too much of a 'mutual admiration society' in here.
    
    
        - Bob

    'scuse me. I'd like to second Rick's last, even though I have yet to
    submit material. Perhaps next time I'll be able to and when I do I'd
    really like to know what you all think of my work rather than just an
    atta-boy. As for opposition to a critical critique, Dave you gotta
    remember that not only is it an opinion, but its one that applies to
    the work critiqued *only* and not your level of talent, your personal
    being, the way you or your sister looks, your mamma or anything/anyone
    else. In my business, technical communication, I had to realize that
    early on.
    
    "sakman"
    
    

    I dunno, maybe it's the factthat I've listened to bootleg Dead tapes
    for so many years, but I'd rather listen to a poor-quality version
    of an interesting song than a studio-perfect version of a boring
    song. I thought the slick stuff on the last tape was pretty boring,
    and the weird stuff was interesting. I'll withold any further comments
    until I actually get to listen to this tape. (Which is on its way,
    yes?)
    
    - Dave

    I also appreciate the feedback.
    
    But, what I'd like to know is how the heck can I get away
    from cliche lyrics.  I have a hard enough time writing the guitar
    parts.  The lyrical content of my stuff is usually an after thought.
    :)  :)
    
    Thanks,
    jc

    
    Yeah, I guess I agree that you should tell it like you see it.
    
    But I also think that Mr. Rost saw it from a pompous point of view,
    that wasn't entirely constructive.
    
    "sounded like it was recorded in a closet" is not very constructive, in
    my opinion.  Thats an insult.
    
    Dave

    I agree with honest opinions and constructive criticism.  Those of you
    criticizing Brian, try and remember that he is probably used to the
    reviewing style used in Commusic, which is (IMO) rather brutal. 
    Knowing him, I sincerely doubt that any insult at all was intended.

>    "sounded like it was recorded in a closet" is not very constructive, in
>    my opinion.  Thats an insult.

    Umm...  well Dave (Russo), having heard the recording in question (I
    heard a couple of these which were sent to me before Tom volunteered to
    compile volume II) I'd have to say that Brian probably tempered his
    response to this level.  The recording quality was pretty poor.  

    I mean this as no insult to RJ, but it sounded like it was recorded
    using a cheap boom box in the back of a busy bar, the noise level is
    really high.  In any case, I'm sure RJ didn't submit this to
    demonstrate his prowess in recording and production, but to show us
    what his playing sounds like.  

    I am in favor of this kind of submission.  I really could care less
    what your skill level in recording is, I'm interested in hearing your
    playing style.  A recording doesn't need to be CD quality to
    demonstrate this to me.  I frequently trade comparably low quality 
    practice tapes and club recordings with my friends who play (I know,
    Jerry, I know...I'm about four behind) and I really enjoy listening to
    them and hearing the progress they and their bands are making.  Sure I
    also like to listen to high quality demos, but my primary interest is
    in hearing my friends play, the recording quality is secondary.

    Now I wouldn't personally submit one of them to one of these
    compilation tapes (note the absence of any material from me on them so
    far), but that's a personal call and if that doesn't bother someone
    else, I'm not going to fault them for doing it.

    From another perspective, many times a live recording will capture a
    particular energy that a demo concerned with very high quality output
    won't.  I thought this was particularly true of Kevin's submission of
    "Goin' Down" from Volume I.  The recording quality wasn't the best and
    I personally thought that the mix was poor, but it conveyed incredible
    energy and showed me the essence of one facet of Kevin's tone and
    playing style.  I love listening to this for that reason alone, I don't
    need more reasons.

    Just as a side comment for you Brian; try to keep in mind that in
    Commusic much of what people are trying to demonstrate with their tape 
    submissions *is* the quality of their recording equipment and their
    skill at using it effectively.  I think you will find this *much* less
    predominant in this notesfile.  You may want to bias your responses
    based on your knowledge of your audience.  An example: I would guess
    that there isn't a single one of the regular noters here that owns
    their own 8-track recorder, though I believe there are several in
    Commusic.  Not a slam on you or anything, just an observation which
    might be helpful.

    Greg

    Keep in mind ... I haven't heard it yet, BUT ...
    
    I know of a few folks in our community that haven't submitted anything
    because "they didn't think they were good enough", or "they didn't have
    a killer studio", etc.  And it's folks like Brian that keep 'em down. 
    Granted, we're all entitled to our opinion, but there's no need for
    brutality.  Kinda glad I didn't submit anything to this volume now, I
    mean, all I had was some stuff recorded on video that I was going to
    dub an audio tape from - talk about low tech !   8^)
    
    I can appreciate the almost DDD recordings some of your guys can turn
    out, and I applaud you - but with the same passion, I encourage you
    guys (like me ..) who havenb't joined the 4-8-16K track club to do
    *something*.  I recently got a tape from Alan Starr that was a
    collection of practice material along with some DECjam tunes - for the
    most part a mickey-mouse recording job, but (IMHO) a *very* enjoyable
    tape to listen too.  I guess a lot has to do with your expectations of
    these submissions.  I just wanna hear some music to put with the notes
    header ... I can "compensate" in my mind for less than digital
    recording gear.  But that's me .... might not be you ...
    
    Scary (garage band slut ...)

    
    re: -1 "enjoyable to listen to"
    
    	Thanks! Since I'm on that tape that Alan sent, it's good to
    know we're not *total* hacks. :-)
    
    
    re: Criticism
    
    	We should be honest about our criticism of each other's material,
    but not brutally harsh. I've read some of the early COMMUSIC tape
    reviews and they were *so* critical that I suspect that some
    submittors never submitted anything further. We don't want to
    alienate any of our fellow noters.
    
    	I do feel that the reviews should be as thoughtful and detailed
    as possible. Don't make a general statement and leave it be. Try
    to elaborate your thoughts. In the long run, it will be better for
    the artist and will tend to cause less hard feelings. 
    
    	As far as recording quality goes, it *is* an issue, to some degree.
    If it's a poor recording, how am I going to hear all the good chops
    going on? I'm also likely to fast forward thru a bad recording, thereby
    not hearing *anything*. This doesn't mean that the tapes have to be
    CD quality, but good enough to really pick out all the instruments/
    vocals. You don't need a mega-studio to do this. I've gotten decent
    recordings with a radio shack $40 mixer and a stereo cassette deck.
    
    	The real question the last paragraph begs, is whether we should
    criticize the recording quality and I guess I say no. Try to listen
    to the music and comment on that. If the recording is really bad,
    maybe it would be better to just not comment. 
    
    

>    I know of a few folks in our community that haven't submitted anything
>    because "they didn't think they were good enough", or "they didn't have
>    a killer studio", etc. 
    
    I know you weren't talking about me, but that's how I feel too.  Being
    somewhat of a perfectionist, I refuse to embarass myself that way ;-)
    I was impressed with the talent level on Vol. 1 and will hold off on my
    own submissions until I feel "ready".
    
    Mike

re: An example: I would guess
    that there isn't a single one of the regular noters here that owns
    their own 8-track recorder, though I believe there are several in
    Commusic. 

Well I do own an 8 track...but that's not the  point. I proved way back 
on Commusic I that a 4  track can be a very serious machine in terms of
both sound quality and feasability in making tapes. You don't "need"
an 8 track to make a good recording, but probably lust after one just the 
same. Let's not confuse hardware with music guys. 

A constructive critique of recoding quality might cover things like:

over all noise level
clearity of individual instruments
overall mix (ie: bass not tto loud, drums not loud enough)
use or under/overuser of effects

analogies comparing a recording to duck farts (for example) might not always
be recieved in the spirit they were intended. I've found that notes is a 
very often misunderstood medium since we have none of you facial expressions
or other body language to help us interpret the words.

For what it's worth I welcome comments that deal with: 

performance, sound quality, mix, and composition skills

an if you have a better way to phrase a line of lyrics, let's hear it! One of
my frustrations with Commusic tape reviews has been things like:

them: Well the middle 8 was a little lame.

me: Ok What would you do different?

.....silence....

so have at it guys! 

FWIW 

dbii

    That's right, I forgot about you having an 8-track Dave.  But my point
    still stands, I still believe that the overall level of recording
    technology in this notefile is well below the average level in Commusic
    and I don't think that we should judge people here by their standards.  
    
    Greg

    ...So let's wait for our tapes and see what happens...
    
    J/

    I knew this would happen - it happened in the COMMUSIC notesfile.
    
    There's nothing I hate worse than someone "oh that was great" when they
    hated it.  There's nothing I value more than good honest criticism.
    I don't think anyone in here is given to slagging other people's
    music.
    
    The worse reviews of my stuff in COMMUSIC have always come from ME!
    Therefore whatever anyone else says usually seems mild in comparison.
    The things they point out are often things I've questioned myself.
    
    If we can't say things like "I really didn't like this" or "the
    recording quality was pretty bad" we might as well not review things
    because there's no credibility.
    
    I've had lots of people say "hey that was great" or whatever but the
    honest truth is that the people whose opinions I seek are ALL people
    who have DEMONSTRATED that they are ABLE to say "Dave, I didn't like
    that".
    
    Also, when you shoot back at someone who gave you an honest but
    negative review, all that tells them (and others) is "don't be
    honest with this guy".
    
    I make a point of THANKING people who make negative criticisms.  I go
    out of my way to make sure they know that I want honesty above all else
    and that it's not going to hurt them or me to be honest.

Hmmmm,,,,  Lots of diversed stuff going on in here..

Makes on ewonder......
We've (Myself/my brotherinlaw) got an 8 track setup at home
and are currently working on a number of projects

I've got a potential submission, that will be ready very soon.  I'd
like to consider entering in this colaberation..

Should I ?

Is there a Deadline ?

What *are* the contest rules ?  (since I've never done this before,,
educate this 'po-boy,)


					/ray

Ah, I was waiting for the perfectly articulated response of Dave B.
(no sarcasm intended there Dave)

    I'll be the first to admit that my recording technique is somewhat
    shabby. I have no problem with that critique. (Anyone want to exchange
    recording tips for classical guitar lessons?)

However, I do like to hear music "raw" and "live". I'm definitely
not an audiophile. I agree with someone who mentioned Kevin M.'s "goin down" 
on the 1st tape. That recording sucked but the expression and feeling of 
his guitar came ripping through. 

I didn't get real critical on the first tape review because I find it 
difficult to put musical criticism into words. For instance, I could tell 
the Greve-unit (sorry to pick on you) to make his tapes more interesting 
by varying the rhythm guitar parts more but how do you write in words how 
to use half chords, different chord voicings, snatches of melodies, 
altered turnarounds, etc. to spice up a rhythm part. I could demonstrate 
this stuff quickly with a guitar, but writing it... And does it do any 
good for me to tell him to do those things without telling him how?

Also, I am a bit leery of the validity of criticism in a public forum like 
this. We've got a wide mix of interests and abilities. So, let's not
take this too, too seriously. The point of these tapes is so we can hear
each other's music.

FWIW,
Bob
    
    RE: - 1
    
    Ray,
    You just missed volume 2. It's being "released" now.
    There will be a volume 3 if someone who
    has dubbing equipment comes forward and volunteers to put it together.
    
    Look at note 1665 for details of what already happened.

 << Ray,
 <<   You just missed volume 2. It's being "released" now.
 <<   There will be a volume 3 if someone who
 <<   has dubbing equipment comes forward and volunteers to put it together.
 <<   
 <<   Look at note 1665 for details of what already happened.


Thanks for the answer Bob..

    Well,
    
       Thanks for the tape Tom, just recieved it yesterday.
    
    Here's my thoughts on the tape: 
    
       There's quite a diverse section of music on this tape, it's great
    to hear what's out there.
    
      For Mr. Cooper - I'm still laughing at your good sense of humor
    on your submission!
    
       I enjoyed Public Service Announcement and MIDI Rack Puke Rap.
    It seems you know how to use the technology that you have available.
    
      Given your note in the Liner notes, like you had mentioned; CJ's 
    Vox could have come up quite a bit. Also on King Kong imitation,
    (smile intended) I thought was quite overloaded on the recording -
    Your needles must have been pegged! My speakers were distorting...! 8*)
    
       Oh, I played your P.S.M. backwards on my 4-track, My curiosity
    was killing me. It's good that you give credit where credit is due - Cool.
    
    Hippies Tune -  Dave Russo
    
      I didn't quite think it was recorded in a closet. I did think
    however, that the song (as it felt to me) was drawn out too long.
    I did notice that there seemed to be a lacking of a "front-melody".
    Possibly a 6-string instead of a double-tracked 12-string. That 
    would keep an interest in the song - more to keep your attention
    on during the tune.
      I thought it was easy to lose my interest because of this.
    The 3 Many Daves had lines to maintain interest in the melody.
    
    
       RJ's band did their covers really well. Sounds like they tried to
    keep it as close to the originals as possible.
    
    
    Unknown Idiots - Paul Cummings
    
       I now know of this as the 3rd variation of this tune. This must 
    be the "free" version. One thing I thought though, was that the bass
    seemed a little weak as far as keeping the bottom end going, ie; it 
    was a little difficult to do groove with it.
       I'll probably expect an obsene cone fall from you now! Or a smashed
    Gibson over my head...
    
    
    Bob Conroy - ' Raibow, and ' Johnnie '.
    
       I really liked these pieces. My favorite was 'Johnnie' . Those
    dissonant chords make total sense to me. Oh... on the humorous side:
    Who's that heavy breather (humming those chords out) in the background?
    
    
       Well...I better go now, I have to work; so I can pay for those 
    Musical habits...
    
    Regards,
    
      John
    

    Well,
    
    First I guess I should apoligize for getting overheated when Brian
    posted his review. That was a mega-bad day (impending war and $110
    speeding ticket and aggravating in-laws visiting). So anyways, ...
    
    MIDI Rack Puke Rap! I can relate! Bitchin' wife, Coop! :-) :-)
    
    Andy Leclaire, thought you could sneak Ave Maria into "Bad Dog" without
    anybody noticing, eh? My wife does this on keys and/or violin at
    weddings. I'll have her give you and Pete a call. That would be 
    unique :-)  From a critical standpoint, it needs a MUCH better balance
    between instruments. Also, there was really no low end. Pete sounds
    like he's drumming on coffee cans.
    
    Bob Conroy, more good stuff. I don't mind the recording quality.
    It's not as noticeable with just 1 or 2 acoustic guitars.
    
    RJ Pelletier, good vocals (something a lot of these songs need work
    on); lots of room for improvement on recording quality.
    
    Alan Starr/Tom Gallo: Good ideas in the songs. Could use harmony
    vocals. Also, I thought the bass was mixed too low; I couldn't hear
    it in some places. But I just listened to all of this throught a
    Walkman; maybe the bass will be there through my home speakers.
    
    Paul/Rick - Cool stuff. I thought the mixing here was the best of
    any of the songs; it had 'energy'.
    
    Dave Bottom - good blues. Put in a real slow one on the next tape so
    we can hear some extended wailing. Maybe add a little digital reverb
    to the mix is the only critique I can give to the recording technique.
    
    - Dave

    
    re: harmony vocals
    
    I agree and I suspect Alan does too. If anyone wants to step forward
    and sing those harmonies for us, we'd be glad to have you join us. 
    
    -T

	I'll state my biases up front - I'm less interested in
	effects, performance skills, equipment, accurate covers etc.
	than I am in hearing good original music (or original approaches
	to covers), and depending on the style, raw energy or subtle
	expression. That being said...

    Jeff Cooper
	Public Service Message
	    I took some electronic music in college, and of course
	    everybody played around with backwards voices. Sorry, but I
	    didn't find this one very interesting. Maybe I needed to hear
	    it backwards:-).
	Take A Chance
	    Not my taste, but it sounds like a good performance. The
	    recording is really good. I don't know why you say
	    you're no singer, I'd be happy to sound as good.
	MIDI Rack Puke Rap
	    A little distorted in places, but this was great fun. My wife
	    and I are just joining the MIDI world, I'm sure she'll love
	    this one too.
    Dave Bottom
	Don't Forget to Shut the Door
	    I liked this one, particularly the rhythm guitar. Good
	    recording, everything mixed at the appropriate level.
	Breakdown and Cry
	    Another good bluesy tune, more Thorogood-ish. Solid
	    performance, decent recording.
    Alan Starr & Tom Gallo
	Sarah Lovely
	    The song itself isn't to my taste. I hear more Winger than
	    Smithereens in this (I like the Smithereens better:-).
	    On my headphones, the vocal seemed overly trebly. The
	    guitar and drums sounded good, but I couldn't hear the bass too
	    well.
	Wait For You
	    Award for Best Original in the Pop category. Very hummable
	    melody that sticks with you. The recording is fair - I find the
	    bass a little punchy for a light song like this, it's
	    distracting.
	Tori, Sweet Tori
	    This is a good one too. A little thin, it does need
	    fleshing out, but the basics of a really good song are here.
	    The rhythm part needs more variation (particularly behind the
	    "Tori Sweet Tori" part for contrast).
    Alan Starr
	While My Guitar Gently Weeps
	    Sorry, I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about
	    this recording that grates on me. I think it may be the bass
	    and drum part - it sounds too sketchy or something.
    Dave Russo
	Hippie's Tune
	    I disagree with the previous complaint about the lack of a
	    "front melody", not everything has to have a clear distinct
	    melody. This reminded me a lot of John Fahey's stuff -
	    repetitious patterns, just good enough to avoid falling into
	    the "New Age" category. Some of it reminded me a bit of Jorma
	    Kaukonen's less bluesy acoustic stuff as well. The transition
	    from the arpeggiated stuff to the strumming didn't work for me,
	    I think it calls for a pause. Some other approach is needed
	    there, anyway.
	The Lost Porpoise
	    Nice enough, but not especially interesting.
    Dave Clark, Dave Russo
	Roumanian Boogie
	    I really like this, an excellent example of contrasting
	    different guitar sounds. I like the acoustic solo, where it
	    repeats the simple two-chord pattern against the changes (just
	    the sort of thing I like to do, on those rare occasions I
	    attempt a solo:-).
    3 Many Daves
	It's OK
	    A decent tune, fair recording. Only specific comment is that
	    the solo doesn't seem to go anywhere.
    Andy Leclaire & Pete Cook
	Bad Dog
	    I'm sure the guitar work was technically proficient (what I
	    could hear of it, anyway). But this sort of stuff doesn't
	    interest me.
    Andrew Leclaire
	Sor Etude in C Major
	    All right performance and recording, not much else to say.
    Paul Cummings
	Just For Kicks
	    This was a fun tune. The bass was a little low in the mix (at
	    least in the early going), otherwise a good recording. The
	    individual riffs that make up the melody might have stood
	    a little less repetition. I particularly like the descending
	    guitar riff. The ending sounded like it faded out before it was
	    quite done.
	Mr. Gone
	    I never liked the song much. The lack of an ending doesn't help
	    any. Sorry, the performance does not transcend the song,
	    although the recording is one of the best on the tape - every
	    part is clear and distinct.
	Unknown Idiots
	    I disagree with the previous note, I really like the way
	    the bass plays variations without straying very far
	    from the basic bass line, it sounds very similar to a
	    song I recently wrote (well, the bass does anyway:-).
    RJ Pelletier
	Born to Run
	Is This Love
	    Like I stated up front, I'm not much interested in
	    note-for-note covers. That plus the inability to hear any
	    detail made these, well, less than worthwhile for me.
    Bob Conroy
	Somewhere Over the Rainbow
	When Johnny Comes Marching Home
	    I really liked the arrangement and performance of Somewhere
	    Over the Rainbow, I think you did about all that can be done
	    with the song (which I'm not fond of). I'm not fond of Johnny
	    either, and I'm afraid the performance and arrangement doesn't
	    make up for it - it does drag, and I don't think those
	    dissonances really fit.

	General comments:

	People's voices are better than they seem to think (consider
	yourselves lucky, the only thing I can pretend to sing is
	Fred Schneider's part on Dance This Mess Around:-).

	I was expecting more in terms of recording quality. Many of the
	recordings didn't sound a whole lot better to me than a
	couple of songs we recorded in our living room with two
	mikes plugged into a bottom-of-the-line Realistic cassette deck
	(and a couple were worse). Although, going back and listening
	to ours they aren't as good as I remembered, so maybe my biases are
	at work:-).

	The lyrics generally seemed weak to me. Not that I generally pay
	that much attention, I'm more interested in music, but I didn't
	hear anything that made me say "now there's a good line" (which
	about the most you can ask from a pop/rock song).

	I liked the pop and instrumental stuff better than the rock stuff
	on this tape. Probably a matter of my current tastes, these days I
	listen mostly to "alternative" and punk bands, while the rock
	submissions here were more along the lines of classic and hard rock
	styles. Guess I'll have to rectify that on the next collection:-).

	Mike

    I should probably state my slight political motivation I had when 
    making Public Service Message:
    
    See, I'm a really big fan of Judas Priest, and I'm more than slightly
    appalled by that ridiculous law suit.  I also like Stained Class (the
    album) and especially like Beyond The Realms Of Death (the song - my
    fave on the album).  This is my way of saying that because something is
    recorded backwards doesn't mean it's bad. 
    
    I also know the crew here pretty well, and I *knew* that some *would*
    play it backwards...The ones that did found a quote from Revelations,
    Chapt. 13. with a little reversed reverb ( I wonder what reversed
    reverb sounds like backwards ???  ;)
    
    I was also trying to introduce a little humor.  
    
    At anyrate, thanks for the review - I thought it was excellent.  I just
    felt the need to explain my motivation.
    
    PS -
    >	MIDI Rack Puke Rap
    >	    A little distorted in places, but this was great fun. My wife
    >	    and I are just joining the MIDI world, I'm sure she'll love
    >	    this one too.
    
    A word of warning in the form of a question:
    
    Do you have a hutch in your dining room yet ??   :)  :)  :)
      
    jc

>    Do you have a hutch in your dining room yet ??   :)  :)  :)

	First things first, we're picking up a used sequencer next week, and
	I ordered her a little mail-order surprise, and of course
	a four-track recorder and mixer need to make their way
	in somehow, not to mention the Ibanez bass I've been
	wanting to buy...

	The massive leak I discovered in the garage roof last night
	might dampen things, though:-(

	Mike

	Oh, I did see what you were trying to do with Public Service
	Message, it's just that it's kind of like making jokes about
	Dan Quayle (too easy to be worthwhile, and too scary if you
	really start to think about it:-).

	Mike

I decided upon a different format to distinguish things a little so that
nobody would be offended.  

Jeff Cooper
-----------
Songs: I know "Public Service Message" and "MIDI Rack Puke Rap" were done
       in jest so the only comment I have here is the MRP Rap cracks me up
       everytime I hear it ;-)  Is "Take A Chance" a cover?  I really liked
       it, good effort.  I'm even more impressed if it is original.
Recording:  Sounds like you put the mic up to your mouth on everything you
            do (i.e., slurring of S's and distortion when yelling).  I'd
            try to back off a little and/or EQ the high-end more.  Maybe
            even a better vocal mic.

Dave Bottom
-----------
Songs:  I have a weakness for good blues and I really enjoyed your playing
        on both songs.  This type of material is popular in clubs so you
        guys must tear up Augusta :-)
Recording: Nice balanced mix on both entries, but you have an 8 track ;-).
           The overall volume could be a little higher though, maybe too
           many duplications is to blame?

Alan Starr & Tom Gallo
----------------------
Songs:  Nice job at something we don't hear too much of: original lyrics.
        Others either don't have the lyrical talent or feel more
        comfortable with their musical compositions.  "Sarah Lovely" sounds
        like just a good ole rock tune.  "Wait for You" does sound like
        early Eagles!  
Recording: The cymbals on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" sound real tinny
           at the beginning.  The rest of the song sounds fine except
           there's a guitar lost in the background.  It's real noticeable
           in the outro.  All the other songs sound fine.

Dave Russo
----------
Songs:  Beautiful 12 string sound on a nice melody (Hippie's Tune)!  It is
        a 12 isn't it or effects?   Lost Porpoise is also a nice sounding
        song.
Recording:  Nice and clean.  Really brings out the instrument!

Dave Clark, Dave Russo
----------------------
Songs:  I love the contrasts in "Roumanian Boogie"!  The rhythm is so happy
        and bright with the dark, sad lead over it.  Sounds great!
Recording:  Sounded fine to me.  

3 Many Daves
------------
Songs:  Is "It's OK" an original?  I liked it too.  Nice contrast here too
        with the electric and acoustic guitars.
Recording:  Sounded okay, except some of the percussion was too much in
            the background.

Andy Leclaire & Pete Cook
-------------------------
Songs:  This is too easy to rag on since Andy left DEC a couple of months
        ago, but I'll be honest.  "Bad Dog" sounds like an aimless,
        wandering jam.  Putting some sort of melody around the guitar
        gymnastics might have improved things a bit.  You redeemed yourself
        on "Sor Etude in C Major" though.  
Recording: A drummer's mix!  Any guitarist shouldn't take that from a
           drummer ;-)  Seriously, the guitar should be more pronounced or
           mixed evenly with the drums.  The drums drown everything out.
           "Sor Etude..." is a much better improvement, but you only had
           one instrument to record ;-)

Paul Cummings
-------------
Songs:  I'm not into much jazz.  Carlton is probably the jazziest I get.
        Your playing on "Just for Kicks" sounds kinda fun though.  Sorry if
        you didn't intend it to sound jazzy, but I thought it did.  I know
        "Mr. Gone" is a jazz tune ;-)  The guitar work on "Unknown Idiots"
        is really interesting.
Recording: The cymbals/percussion sounds tinny on "Just for Kicks",
           especially in the intro.  Sounds like chains ;-).  The others
           are okay though.

RJ Pelletier
------------
Songs: "Born to Run" is probably one of the few Springsteen songs that I
       like.  "Is This Love" is the Whitesnake song right?  You did well on
       both, but should've added a little more originality to the covers to
       stamp your own signature on them.
Recording: The mix seemed well balanced enough, but it was at a VERY low
       volume.  

Bob Conroy
----------
Songs:  Ah, another weakness of mine!  I just love tastefully done acoustic
        guitar work!  I'd love to see your tab version of "...Rainbow" (my
        kids love the song ;-))  Your songs here and on volume 1 are excellent!
Recording: It's okay, but seems slightly muffled at times.  A nice rich
           recording of these pieces would've been stunning.

Bottomline: those of you that feel you have hearing problems, you may be
over-compensating on your EQs during the mix.  Try letting others you trust
critique your mix.

Hopefully I'll get on one of these volumes if I'm around long enough.  Then
everyone can blast me ;-)

Mike