The Kenzy Project

Originally Posted by Raunm

Also, I've got another short sweet song done, Come On, Grow Up.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D2W3FW4V

This is very nice, and I don't usually like acoustic music.

I know you've plenty to do, but I'd like to drop in one more request.

Bob Segar's "Night Moves" is right up your alley. It's a fantastic acoustic song, and you two sound very much alike in singing. The only thing I can think of that would cause any kind of dilemma is the background singing. I suppose you could do overdubs of your own voice?

If you ever get around to doing that, it would be fantastic.

Hey guys.

This place hasn't gotten a lot of traffic lately. I just wanted to come in and explain why I haven't really been updating.
I've been busy with the rest of Kenzy writing and recording an EP. It's all pretty much written, except a few kinks here and there. We have all of it roughly recorded, and we're now doing the best we can given the equipment we have to record a nice sounding EP. I'm really excited about it and hope some of you are too, haha. After this is all release and what not I'll hopefully be able to play more shows and definitely be able to get back to your requests and covers and such.

SUPERNEWS:
So wow. We haven't been doing jack ****. I've been real lazy, but I managed to record a rough new song for you all. It's about those Summer relationships that never last.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B46V31U7

Hope you enjoy it.

Also, I've been thinking about doing a live webcam thing, where I'd just log on to Stickam or something and play covers, original songs, just play around with the guitar. And we could chat it up, all those lovely friendly things. Does anyone like this? Would anyone be interested in that?

Much love; Ian.

I would actually love you if you did a cover of Trivium's Dying In Your Arms, I think it would transfer beautifully to acoustic guitar.

Also, Lovin the sound of the webcam idea

I listened to Summer Said only, so my viewpoint and criticism might be slightly biased towards your musical capabilities and playing.

You do pretty decent vocals and play the guitar relatively well. If I were you, though, I'd incorporate another instrument into your group. Probably bass or drums to fill in the absence of rhythm, so your overall playing doesn't sound as musically numb.

I don't think your playing and vocals are the problem, but the presence of other instruments.

Originally Posted by Lieutenant Lollipop

I listened to Summer Said only, so my viewpoint and criticism might be slightly biased towards your musical capabilities and playing.

You do pretty decent vocals and play the guitar relatively well. If I were you, though, I'd incorporate another instrument into your group. Probably bass or drums to fill in the absence of rhythm, so your overall playing doesn't sound as musically numb.

I don't think your playing and vocals are the problem, but the presence of other instruments.

Yeah, I know. I have a band, with bass and drums, but this is just a demo, cause I write most of the songs first then we all collaborate.

PHOTOS OF THE BAND:



http://img178.imageshack.us/i/dsc0132i.jpg/
http://img269.imageshack.us/i/dsc0136k.jpg/
http://img151.imageshack.us/i/dsc0112o.jpg/
http://img195.imageshack.us/i/dsc0102iau.jpg/

I personally love summer said quite a bit. However, I almost despise Come on Grow Up. For some reason, your voice just bugs me on that song. You sound whiney and somewhat like you're trying too hard. Your voice seems the type that would ultimately sound better if it was a bit more laid back and didn't try as much.

The other three songs are very, very nice though. I listen to them on a regular basis, as seen in my last.fm.

EDIT: I have a webcam, and I'd kill to hear you play sometime. We can do that on Windows Live Messenger, too.

Youtube playlist with the whole performance

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...AD4F3175A13FF2

NEW SONG FRIENDS. This one's called Christmas Song until I think of a cooler title. It's about thinking back on the past during New Year's Eve. So please enjoy.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A2N8JGCM

I loooove it so much. I personally feel it's the best one so far. Good job, and thank you so much. When you finally get an EP together I'd love to be one of your first customers.

So haven't been very active here lately. I'm taking singing classes at college, and need to start working out band arrangements. It looks like I might be going solo pretty soon. I'm not sure. We'll see.

In the meantime I was asked to cover I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab, so I recorded that and the long overdue Good Riddance cover. I tried to be creative with both and add some zest to them both. I hope you like them. Leave comments, please.

I Will Follow You Into The Dark DOWNLOAD.

Good Riddance DOWNLOAD.

Nice! I will most certainly check out in due time. I personally believe your next project should be to record some of that fantastic material you played live at starbucks- specifically Must Be a Jersey Girl. Mmm I love that song and can't wait to hear it in hi-fi.

"I Will Follow You into the Dark" - I don't really listen to Death Cab at all, but I know Ben Gibbard's voice and his style. When I saw that was one of the covers, I wasn't sure how'd it sound. Your voice doesn't always have the same soft melodic sound that an acoustic-styled Gibbard song may require, but I have to say I was really impressed. There were some rough patches, but overall you carried the melody well. So good job on that.

The string arrangements were impressive as well. They kind of crept in there, I kind of did a double-take of sorts, and had to listen close to make sure I wasn't just hearing things. While nice and really effectively used in a lot of places, there were some spots (especially near the end) where they had too sudden of an entrance. There was also the issue of just having the acoustic guitar and the strings there. I'm not sure if that is how it is in the original recording (since I haven't heard it), but in this instance there were times when it felt like something was lacking in the middle. A keyboard part probably would have caused a nice balance perhaps. But again, they really added to the recorded when they first entered.

Overall, good job on this one.

"Good Riddance" - For this one I feel like you maybe went a little bit too soft melodically. If instead of a steady strumming pattern you used a finger picking style it may have suited the melody a bit better. Its trickier to sing while finger picking if your fingers don't have the movement memorized, so its understandable that maybe you didn't want to go there (if you are recording guitar and vox simultaneously, that is). I also think that it kind of got rough vocally towards the end, right before the interlude and right after it. The interlude itself was rather nice, though.

"Good Riddance" is a campfire song, really. You can't really do much when covering it to 'make it your own' so to speak, because there's really not much there. It's an easy song to cover, but it isn't a great cover song, basically. So most covers just come off as being rather nice, but also rather bland.

Keep at it.

Thanks, I really appreciate the thorough feedback. If you don't mind, where were the rough patches vocally in I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Nolan? So I can work on them for when I record it again. I plan to record kind of an EP full of covers. So far I have the Bleeding Love, Good Riddance, and I Will Follow You Into The Dark ones set. I plan to re-record them with some slightly better equipment, but as far as the song's structures go I have them pretty well set out.

Some others I plan to record are Winter Song by Sara Bareilles, Tongue Tied by October Fall, and What the Worlds Need Now is Love. Kind'a nervous about that last one.

Anyone have any other suggestions or any more feedback?

I think 'patches' may be the wrong, its more just brief little spots. It could also just be me and my preferred style of vocals. There's times when you really take a bite out of your consonants, really emphasize them and whatnot. Its not a style I particularly enjoy, and especially for such a gentle sort of song it stands out as being rather jarring. It isn't throughout the whole song or anything, but there's moments of it. Worst is probably right at the end for the last "follow you into the darks." But again, that could just be my preference.

I'd also say that the string entrance on the 'blackest of rooms' part is a bit jarring. They just kind of come in swinging rather than a nice build or crescendo, which that moment really could be.

Also, Ha! October Fall . "What the World Needs Now" is a great tune, but could be pretty tricky. It's one of those songs that really builds and could be tough to do with only one vocal track.

Originally Posted by nolan

I think 'patches' may be the wrong, its more just brief little spots. It could also just be me and my preferred style of vocals. There's times when you really take a bite out of your consonants, really emphasize them and whatnot. Its not a style I particularly enjoy, and especially for such a gentle sort of song it stands out as being rather jarring. It isn't throughout the whole song or anything, but there's moments of it. Worst is probably right at the end for the last "follow you into the darks." But again, that could just be my preference.

I'd also say that the string entrance on the 'blackest of rooms' part is a bit jarring. They just kind of come in swinging rather than a nice build or crescendo, which that moment really could be.

Also, Ha! October Fall . "What the World Needs Now" is a great tune, but could be pretty tricky. It's one of those songs that really builds and could be tough to do with only one vocal track.

Yeah, it might be preference. I know I like accenting certain consonants and syllables and stuff. So maybe I'll lighten that up and use it more for effect than style. I just worry when singing if I'm not accentuating I'm bordering on becoming dull. But I'll work on it.
The strings on "blackest of rooms" was kind of harsh, I agree, I will definitely play with that. But I do like them there.

And yeah, haha, October Fall. I only enjoy one or two tracks from them, and I enjoy playing Tongue Tied, it's fun. What the World Needs Now is a great tune, and I'm nervous about how I'll end up doing on it. But I'm really ambitious for it, hopefully I can pull off an acoustic mellow version. I want to put a lot of work into this cover EP thing too. I want to have friends of mine sing parts and get kind of a choir effect. I might even ask people here on ZU to record themselves and send the clips to me so I can throw the voices together for the choir. But I'm really ambitious and excited.

Raunm, I absolutely love your voice, and that's a really good mic you got going on there. It sounds really good - quality wise. I listened too Bleeding Love first and I like your version better.

Keep it up, dude, that stuff was golden. I haven't watched the videos yet, but I'll make it a point to do just that.

I want more. :3

Originally Posted by raunm

Yeah, it might be preference. I know I like accenting certain consonants and syllables and stuff. So maybe I'll lighten that up and use it more for effect than style. I just worry when singing if I'm not accentuating I'm bordering on becoming dull. But I'll work on it.

Yeah man, don't worry about changing it if thats how you like it done. If you like how it sounds, I'm not going to tell you to change it, its your project and your music. If you try to mellow it out and it doesn't seem right to you, don't bother with it.

The strings on "blackest of rooms" was kind of harsh, I agree, I will definitely play with that. But I do like them there.

Oh, for sure they should stay there, but a more subtle entrance would really help the part achieve its full potential. Like how they first enter is really good.

And yeah, haha, October Fall. I only enjoy one or two tracks from them, and I enjoy playing Tongue Tied, it's fun. What the World Needs Now is a great tune, and I'm nervous about how I'll end up doing on it. But I'm really ambitious for it, hopefully I can pull off an acoustic mellow version. I want to put a lot of work into this cover EP thing too. I want to have friends of mine sing parts and get kind of a choir effect. I might even ask people here on ZU to record themselves and send the clips to me so I can throw the voices together for the choir. But I'm really ambitious and excited.

October Fall are hilariously bad except when they are pure pop genius, which happens like two or three times on their whole record. "Tongue Tied" isn't one of my favourite tracks, but I've never even thought about doing an acoustic arrangement of it, so I'm curious to hear what you come up with.

Best way to be is to be ambitious and excited. So long as you can keep the excitement for the project up and not get discouraged (like I often do when recording myself), it'll just be a blast to do and really satisfying to put out. I look forward to hearing it.

Originally Posted by beejoker

Raunm, I absolutely love your voice, and that's a really good mic you got going on there. It sounds really good - quality wise. I listened too Bleeding Love first and I like your version better.

Keep it up, dude, that stuff was golden. I haven't watched the videos yet, but I'll make it a point to do just that.

I want more. :3

That's awesome! Thank you so much. Does the quality really sound good? I've been recording just using the Macbook's built in mic. That's why I want to re-record stuff, to use my Apogee Duet and Shure 57 mic. But if it already sounds good I'm excited that it'll sound even better.


Okay so this isn't one of the covers I said I'd do, cause I'm a liar and only record on impulse when I really really feel like it. But I have for you all here another original song, called Four Years.

So here, enjoy. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WZ53NLYK

I think you're voice quality is quite nice.

I enjoy this new song very much, I like the very powerful effect you achieve when you sing high and the accordion thing comes in. I think you could overlay your voice a time or two and it would sound even better.

The only thing I see now that needs to happen is you need to start playing around a bit and go for more variety. The sound you've got now is fine and dandy, steel strings, high pitched, full of chords, but I think you should try something else now. Switch to nylon strings and slow it down a bit, concentrate more on single notes instead of full chords, play with some effects, add other sounds (just like the background fuzz noise on 'Sunday Existentialism'), slow it down a bit, play with the structure and timing some, do all of the above or just a few, mix and match. Try to throw some catchy, interesting elements in there to mix it up so it doesn't tire out. Do two or so songs like that and then come back to the style you've developed thus far.

That's my advice, all yours to take or leave it.

Also, thank you for the excellent free music for my library. Seriously man! I Love it!