Hey everyone. Now's your chance to roast us. Back up your opinions or I'll sick Daniel on you.

Hit by a Bus Official Site

Gio
"...only hope that a mighty rhythm and the right words could save the world." --Allen Ginsberg

....that was said John Belushi style btw

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago our drummer Rob turns me on to Rock Squawk and I get the band setup with a forum (thank you again Rock Squawk dude!) and throughout this whole process I start checking out all the other bands on here.

These are bands that I've heard of several times but I realized the one thing I've done, or not done, is really check out all the other bands in ABQ beyond the one's we've played shows with.

So I start my little self betterment or awareness program and I start downloading tunes from anyone in here that has them. So far I've gone through Edimal Dic Grease (we're playing with them on the 5th at GW), Hey Dandee!, The United, Rage Against Martin Sheen, Go Motor Car and of course Hit By a Bus. I gathered up all the MP3's I collected so far and burned them onto a CD and checked them out on my daily drive to and from work.

So I get to "Sound Check" by you guys, Hit By a Bus, and holy shit! Production quality, music writing, placement, vocals (especially at roughly 2:30 into the song) it was all very very very cool! Luckily my first exposure to the song was in my truck with the volume way up! I immediately started bouncing around in my truck

So anyway, hell of a song! and on a side note, your song inspired me to create my own section on DBD's website highlighting songs I've come across and really dig!(beyond the section where we showcase bands we've played with) This will be about songs of artists specifically on Rock Squawk that I want to share with our fans. I'm going to list "Sound Check" as my very first pick!

Hell of a song guys!

Pez
Dirty Baby Dolls
pez@dirtybabydolls.com
www.dirtybabydolls.com

someone out there likes us...?!

Hey Pez thanks so much for the response! I'm glad you're diggin the song. I myself should take up your example and seek out more local live shows...there's a ton of good music out there of all sorts that needs to be heard. So...thanks for the sweet sweet lovin...talk to you soon.

~g

we're playing at the GoldenWest on the 5th

always happy to dole out the sweet sweet lovin

Pez
Dirty Baby Dolls
pez@dirtybabydolls.com
www.dirtybabydolls.com

I shall wholeheartedly agree with "Pez".

Faithfully submitted,
Douglas C. Neidermeyer

before I turn up the heat, just to be fair because the show I went to and what I heard on the radio wasn't good. But I keep hearing good things so I will try one more time.



"I'm a real smooth character,
I chill to-the-Max!,
I might act crazy but I don't smoke crack."

we're not your type.

At least I don't think so, considering what type of music you've listed.

But thanks for the interest! You know we're always looking for criticism. And we don't get pissed off about it unless it's totally unsupported.

If you do make it to one of our shows, please introduce yourself...I like placing names to faces.

~g

You would be surprised if I told you all of the people that smoke crack.

You are probably right about your band. I like punk. I have a lot of friends who swear you guys are going to be the next big albuquerque band. Since I value their judgment I am trying to see what they see. How did you get a song on the radio by the way?



"I'm a real smooth character,
I chill to-the-Max!,
I might act crazy but I don't smoke crack."

...and you would be surprised at how many people blow smoke from their crack...

..I'm curious about the air play as well. I already know 104.7 is dead to us simply because Jamie doesn't like us but we've been trying to crack 103.3's shell with no success.

Pez
Dirty Baby Dolls
pez@dirtybabydolls.com
www.dirtybabydolls.com

We've got a song on the radio?

I know we used to get airplay during the local show on the Edge after 10pm on Sundays. But they don't do that anymore do they?? Ever since Jamie left that station I haven't heard the local show. I'm confused.

~g

I thought I heard it on the zone but maybe I am thinking of the edge. I wouldn't worry about it too much because it stunk. You shoudln't play that for people. You have potential but you need help producing. If I can download it from somewhere I will pick it aprt for you, if you like.



"I'm a real smooth character,
I chill to-the-Max!,
I might act crazy but I don't smoke crack."

[This message was edited by Crack Smoker on December 10, 2003 at 07:03 PM.]

[This message was edited by Crack Smoker on December 10, 2003 at 07:05 PM.]

I have an employee who works for Clear Channel. From what she told me, there will be no more local music on the EDGE until they find a DJ who is willing to do it. She said that no one wants to do it.

NON-CENTS ROCKS!!!

That is where you will find our music. Or I can make You a CD. Then you can pick away. I wonder if you will bring up any new criticism. I've picked our music apart quite a bit. I hope you can tell me something I don't already know. I'm not sure if you actually heard us though. If we are being played on regular rotation I don't know about it, and I've yet to hear it myself. Was this recent. Also I've yet to get external criticism on production quality. Everyone so far (with spankey crankey as the exception) is saying its top notch. Scott Sohrata from the zone, Chris Chicago from M88, and I've been told second party that Ellen Flaherty (however you spell that) from clearchannel likes it.
The band worked hard on the preproduction because I know from experience that that does a world of difference. But the other thing that really made our recording sing in my opinion is Tim Stroh at Stepbridge. He is astounding in the studio. Crackbaby and anyone else If you ever get the chance to work with him jump on it. He is expensive but worth it. He wasn't nominated for a grammy for nuthin.

Jon

It was not recently. I am always willing to help out so I will listen to your song again and give you my two cents.

As far as Tim Stroh goes, yes he is a great engineer, most of the time. I have know Tim for many years and can tell you that do to his age and his hearing degredation he isn't nearly as good as he was when he was nominated for that grammy. So in my opinion he is overcharging. There comes a point in every sound guys career where they can't do it anymore because they fried their eardrums. He CAN still do a good job but rarely does anymore. If Tim likes you and your band he will make it sound good. If not he will rush you out of the place before you know your wallet is missing. The last time I worked with Tim we got in a fight because these days he wants to put in too much mids due to his hearing degredation not being able to hear mid range as well anymore. You can get near equal or better sound quality from two other studios here in town for less money and one of those studios for a fraction of the cost. Its funny because I can tell people about these other studios but no one wants to risk going with a new hotshot so they get raped on price by Tim. The other thing I don't like about Stepridge is that Tim always wants to produce. This is why I think he wanted to work for himself instead of getting a real job, which he could have done, because in LA or New York the engineer is just that, the guy that moves the sliders while someone else produces. He now gets to play producer in his fantasy world in Santa Fe. He tried that shit with me and after two sessions I paid him his money and finished at another studio. Most bands let him get away with producing because they are star stuck and kiss his ass even though they are paying him. What a great job, people pay to fear you and kiss your ass. My advice for anyone that goes to stepridge don't let Tim produce and if something doesn't sound right you can actually tell him to change it. If you are that taken with anyone its probably not a good idea to give them control because you loose your obejectivity. You always want to fear that it isn't going to sound good that way you pay attention the whole time. I know a few bands that after a year or two started to realize that what they paid for wasn't up to their expectations of Tim. Other bands have received a really bad product from Tim but because they spent 3 grand they will argue to the death on how good a job Tim did that and they always throw that grammy nom in as justification. I have always been critical of Tim but just because he charges so much. Tim is a great guy and someone I call friend so please don't miss take what I am saying.



"I'm a real smooth character,
I chill to-the-Max!,
I might act crazy but I don't smoke crack."

Crackabilly

Thanks for the heads up about Tim. Working with him I see where your coming from on some points. Over all I am very happy with the recording. I'm curious to see what happens if he produces us. He's already told us that he wants to produce us. That doesn't mean I will run head long into it with our next project. I'm actually thinking of sampling other studios. I know that by hearing John Walls recordings that he is very good with vocals but I've also noticed that in his recordings of Non-cents and Coldsnap is that the vocals are too loud thus making everything else sound weak. Tim gave our band a very powerful sound which I like but on the vocal side its a bit weak. That could also be our fault because we didn't work on our vocals in preproduction as much as the rest. I think it might be nice to have John Wall and Tim work together on the next one. Or have a colaboration of some sort.

About the midrange thing I had to tell tim to crank the mids over all actually. Our foot print mix was very bassey and sizzely like an old Metalica recording from their bay area days. But I couldn't have asked for a better finished product. It stands up to modern mainstream bands production quality. Or its in the ball park.
One method that tim uses is he takes recordings of artists that his client likes and uses it as a comparison. I'm sure you've seen him do this. For us he used Chevelle. Not for basis of musical comparison but for production comparison I like the way their newest album sounds. Another thing that it could be is that since compression technology has come so far in the passed ten years recordings can have the midranges pushed to give it a fuller sound without having those irritating mid frequencies so dominant. (Example of irritating mids is Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream) So Ive noticed that alot of modern recordings have more mids. Since thats what we had for comparison thats how it ended up. Here howabout this I work at airborn express. E-mail me a street address and I can have our album delivered there u don't even need to give me your name just give specific directions on where to put it. Or u could come to our show tonight at the golden west and we could hand it to u. I promise I won't tell any one who you are. I like your criticism, its no holds barred but constructive none the less.

jonray@flash.net

Jon