Some solo stuff I've worked on
 

http://www.myspace.com/andrewpennermusic
be as truthful as possible, i would like to get some constructive criticism here

thanks guys

Penner, I like your drive, but you're wasting time posting here. I don't post any of my team's work here. All this place gets is my hypotheticals, one of which had enough promise for me to expand at a later date. TPWW doesn't do constructive anything. Keep on keeping on.

I see what youre saying.

I guess I should stop.

Most of the people in your previous thread gave you honest, albeit blunt opinions of your music. Yeah a couple people acted like dicks, but if you can't handle a few assholes now and then, you should probably stop making music.

I never said anything. I actually posted another thread. Who's complaining?

If you were being sarcastic about agreeing with kalyx, it didn't translate to text very well.

Also, you said you don't respect anyone's opinion on here.

I don't respect anyone's opinion here.

Why bother with any of this then?

Why not?

Gotta just repeat what Fignuts said here...

..why bother with any of it then? The music even. People here aren't any different than anyone else who would listen to your music. In fact, this board represents a pretty broad range of people, with tastes just as varied.

The fact that some people here are dickheads doesn't change the fact that there could be just as many people who like your music and are dickheads too. Do you not give a shit even when people like your music?

Just don't see the point in making music or having a band that plays live shows if you don't care whether people like your music.

I'll put it this way:

I've had writing professors, script writing professors, hip-hop music producers, and stage play organizers tell me I'm a good writer with great concepts (albeit overly technical and heavy handed). While I fully recognize the fallacy of living in a 'bubble' and accepting criticism from your inner circle (people predetermined to supporting you), why is it that TPWW - almost universally - pans anybody who puts forward creative work? There's a difference between constructive critique and being a dick, and TPWW misses the mark consistently.

I find much more educational to share ideas and 'talk shop' with peers of your particular media, especially people who 'know the game'. Sometimes this forum surprises me; a thread about a ridiculous rock/paper/scissors videogame garnered serious responses from most replies, but I guess the assholes ran out of material. And I understand using TPWW as a 'test the waters, gain exposure' sort of deal, but this place has too many documented cases of posturing for that to work. You literally could do better playing your gigs and holding Q and A sessions with the crowd.

TPWW is not the place to grow creatively, at worst it aims to discourage creativity. If genuinely critical posters don't want that kind of rap maybe they should reevaluate how they react to people open enough to share their ideas here.

Nobody was giving HIM shit about his music. (Some were.. but come on.. the people that were do it over just about anything, and are they worth crying over?) They were saying his vocalist was horrible. He responded in just as dickheaded of a manner, and has several times.

In fact, I don't think anyone has even bothered to critique his solo music, because he's too busy being a cock and second-guessing everyone. Saying "Here, listen to this" AFTER you've told everyone you don't give a shit about their opinion is a pretty lousy way to get exposure to your music. Or to get any kind of un-biased opinion. Because if I think you're a cock going into this, then I'm not going to give a shit about what you've posted.

Guarantee if someone came here and posted some badass song they made, people would be just as happy to chime in with "That's fucking badass mate". People are quick to criticize here for things they don't like, but if something is posted that people DO like, they tend to let that sentiment be heard. Even in the last thread, there were still people saying the music was tight even though the singer sucked.

Glad to know you don't care that people like your music, Penner. :y:

:roll:

There are some people that I can see know a bit about music. On the majority, most people do not.

Keep it up.

It's good to get the opinion of those who don't know about the inner workings of music theory as well, as they make up the majority of people who listen to your music.

This applies to any band. Just because they don't have a deep understanding of music doesn't mean their opinion is worthless. They know what they like, and they know what they don't like. That's all that matters, as they are your core audience.

Also, you don't need a deep understanding of music to tell when someone is a shitty singer. FYI

True.

IT'S THE FINAL COUNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Pretty solid, but I personally don't care for the vocal tone/style, but will admit that it suits the song "Sevens" pretty well. :y:

To be fair, this isn't exclusive to TPWW. But you may be right in that a forum specifically for music or writing or whatever would be less apt to put something down outright.

your pitch is good, but your voice lacks the punch necessary to make it gel with, rather than sit on top of, the instrumentation. it's a little repetitive, but that's okay since you're still starting out, solo wise. some of the harmony work is really nice. the screams in 'delusions of grandeur' are sporadic enough that they don't offensively over-step their role or anything but at the same time, they might be a little too sporadic, and essentially could be removed entirely without impacting the song, which you don't really want either.

you're struggling with the high notes on that jatka cover. maybe try a lower octave or sing a harmonic melody line in place of it. better to powerfully hit the right notes than weakly hit ones you're aiming for.

if you're going to make more than the three or four songs you've got there, probably work on some slightly more intricate drum patterns too. the double kick/half-time ride works well for the genre but there's only so much of it i can stand.

i think i like 'sevens' the best. your vocals are a bit low in the mix; not sure if that's intentional or not. and you're a bit flat in the chorus. but otherwise, it's probably the song with the most potential of the ones on your myspace.

Thanks mitch. I love you. You should add me to msn again penner_rocks@hotmail.com so we can talk some serious music.

Sevens I've been recording with my band. I can show you a live recording if you want.

The problem with my solo work is that I do it in front of my computer in a house full of roommates so I do not use the full potential of my voice. I would love to do it at my drummer's house as a full band (which I will do eventually).

The JATKA cover is actually my old band (Johnny and the kickass) and the singer who used to do it actually has a really odd voice that I had a hard time mimicing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhUClkrAp0 - Check that out if youre interested

Plus the drums I mostly wrote myself, and they're through a drum program, and I'm not a drummer.

I know these are a bunch of excuses, but they are definitely something I'm lacking and I would like to work on in the future. Thanks bro.

Fuck these fuckers. Who does your drums? I have some solo shit on myspace as well, but I need to purchase a MIDI keyboard and put some drums in the mix

he said the drums are through a drum machine

Sounds good. :y:

I write all my tunes out in guitar pro, write the drums for them there, put them through a drum program and then play guitar to the drums

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Give me more details about these drums. I gotta know. I've been looking for a way to put drums to my music for a couple of years now.

I have to write out the full song in guitar pro. Guitars, bass, everything. From there I write drums. You can write midi drums in guitar pro if you know how. After this I export only the drums as midi, import them into cubase and set midi output to EZDrummer using their plugin Drumkit From Hell.

It's complicated, but if you can manage to write your tunes in guitar pro I can show you what I do.

Not exactly a cheap program is it. And what do you mean by write the full song? Do you mean write like actual music notes or record? And when you write the drums, do you have to have a midi keyboard?

TPWW does do constructive criticism. I've gotten it. Fuck, Penner's gotten it. You've gotten it, it's just that you get butthurt when someone doesn't like your ideas. Shit, even I've given you constructive criticism in the past. When you brush that off, you're going to stop getting it. Which brings me to:

So why post asking for criticism? Either you do respect opinions of some people here, or you're freaking retarded.

Kal, buddy, pal....

What is liked by your teachers and the like won't necessarily play out with the public. On top of there being a lot of artists here, one of the reasons you make this stuff public is to get feedback from the people who will buy/listen to/go to shows of your prospective materials.

In fact, someone with some talent (Penner) gets praised on here, even by people who aren't necessarily fans of his style of music. The fact that you're bawwwwing about how discouraging TPWW is might be indicative of something else. I mean, you and Clox and others always seem to pull the "But my mom says I'm cool" card as an excuse for why TPWW is wrong, but others get positive results.

funny that, eh?

I use Rhythm Rascal, which is like a 30 dollar program. You input notes "piano roll" style, and can add your own drum tones, which is rare enough in the cheap seats. You're only doing the drums though, but I can output it into Cubase, which came free with my recording itnerface.

Look at KK sucking again.

Let's just say I didn't pay for it.

I write the full song, the full tab in guitar pro. When I write the drums in guitar pro I just write them by hand. No need for a midi keyboard.

Download Guitar Pro and then find any guitar pro file (try ultimate-guitar.com) to see how to write drums

Your stuff is pretty cool. Now I feel like giving you a guys a link to my sounds. Dunno who cares though,

Thanks guys.

Might as well. You may be criticized by some numb nuts on here that wouldn't know the first thing about creating something artistic. But Fuck 'em.

Put up a new tune if anyone is interested.

http://www.myspace.com/andrewpennermusic

Your guitar playing is beautiful.

thanks bro :)