Lockmotive - My Personal Project

Discussion
1

Well I’ve been posting on this forum for maybe over a year or two and have been lurking for much longer so I figured I’d show you guys my music. I trust the general music opinions far more than on any other forum I post on right now anyways and hope you guys can give some constructive criticism. Overall, the other music projects on this forum have turned out to be very impressive and very inspirational (The Corrugation definitely comes to mind.)

Anyways, I started making music the summer of 2008 and have been slowly building a project called Lockmotive. Since then I’ve been basically trying to develop a sound and think I’m getting somewhere.

Here’s a link for the MySpace page
www.myspace.com/jhatzia

All the tracks on the MySpace are instrumental. I’ve just recorded some vocals two weeks ago for “Some Things Stay The Same” which is the next step as far as making the music. Otherwise I’m currently being very involved with the Audio Recording program at my university.

Any thoughts?

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Somethings Stay the Same;

I think vocals would really work with this song. It needs vocals. I sort of like it in itself though.

It reminds me a lot of Front 242, that sort of stuff… well, not exactly, not as dark. For some reason, I’m thinking of cars when I hear this.

New(er) ideas;

Reminds me a bit of the knife. Seriously, get some vocals happening. I immediately was ‘singing’ along to this, it’s seriously screaming for a catchy vocal hook. The programming seems a little busier here, which I like much more.

Pilaco;

Really cool. Like the atmosphere the guitar conjures up, but I reckon even more reverb is needed. And instead of rhythm guitar, have a big fat heavy sludgy bass. Needs bigger balls. Very cool riff irrespective, but I like my bass.
Real drums would sound better with this I think, but that’s my personal preference.
Vocal lines coming into my head again. Seriously man… this stuff is actually really good for ideas.

Mr Bill Dup;

by name and nature. The bass. Yup. See what a difference it makes? Reminded me of a more upbeat Barker. Didn’t like the percussion handclaps tho… unless that poppy feel is what you were going for. That little thing aside, it’s a good song, but…
VOCAL LINES!!! [shocked]

The ending of that song was fantastic actually. More effects like that, seriously. The acoustic was a great touch. Hell, even a heavier ending, more distortion… or maybe not. I don’t know. The piano is really pretty tho.

3

I’m liking this. Good pop sensibility throughout. ‘Some Things Stay the Same’ would make for a good single. The start had me thinking “wait this is a remix of ‘Get Innocuous!’” but then the synths take over and it’s a pretty cool track. I second the need for (or at least experimentation with) vocals. ‘Pilaco’ sounded pretty cool too (like KMFDM on a good day) would love to hear a cleaner mix. The higher notes that sort of hang in the air reminds me of jesu’ ‘Infinity’ which the first half of that song I love. I would say at some points of the songs, esp. near the end of ‘Some Things…’ the programmed beats are maybe a bit too fast to compliment the rest of the song. I like the hard guitars on ‘Mr. Bill Dup’, the programming in the back might feel a bit too generic but it depends on what you’re looking for.

You’re definitely on to something cool here, keep it up and keep us updated.

4

Seriously, I’d love to hear it with vocals.

I’ve listened to it for a third time, and I’ve liked it more and more each time.

Between this, 1002’s work and voidhead’s (which I wasn’t mad on with the early stuff; it’s gotten better and better as it’s gone along), Icepick’s art, Peligro’s radio show, Toot’s kickass ‘recommendations’ (apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone), this forum is turning into a great little repository of moo-sick.

Better yet; no egos or sycophantic backslapping. just honest opinions and respect.

5

Thanks for all the kind words and suggestions guys, I appreciate it. All the songs right now are ideas more than anything, and will have vocals.

“Some Things Stay the Same” has had vocals recorded, and for the most part they’re completely done (although, I don’t know if I’m satisfied with them, I’m kind of into perfectionism). And mick you’re fucking spot on with “Get Innocuous!” I know exactly who LCD Soundsystem are but never got a chance to listen to them. The similarities to “Get Innocuous!” are incredibly similar! I’ll have to definitely change some things up haha.

“New(er) Ideas” (which is just a tentative title thank god) was the first song I did at my university and still hasn’t been fooled around with much, I have an alternative version which is much darker sounding and I would like to fuse the two.

“Pilaco” is a track made a while back that was literally a programmed drum loop, a rhythm guitar and lead guitar track. The chords for the rhythm guitar are heavily influenced by Helmet’s “Unsung” (near the end of the song). Literally the track is a “jam” I decided to keep. I think the coolest part about the song is that both guitar tracks were recorded with a cheap computer headset microphone, and it turned out pretty okay.

“Mr. Bill Dup” definitely has the most work on it. I made the first take of the track back in October 2008 and it’s just morphed and morphed. It’s definitely the most poppy in my eyes, but it was also the first track I was really satisfied with. I have some lyrics for this track, but there’s so much going on I’m not sure how I’ll fit them in.

All the tracks on the MySpace except for “Mr. Bill Dup” are out of date, I have slightly different versions (not that different to be honest) that I’m working on.

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Nice work, the sounds fit together quite well. There are times that I think the music at times sounds a little “Late Night Cop Show”. Maybe a little analog distortion would add extra edge or maybe you should diminish the industrial edge and go more in that route, which could be pretty cool.

The drums sound a little in the back of the mix and I’d probably add a little more distortion on them personally and mix them more upfront. I’ll be real curious what it sounds like when you add vocals.

The “Mr. Bill Dup” track is playing right now, I like the gothy chorus!

On a side note, I used to live in Bellingham and worked with a guy named Matt, he posts regularly on the Litany board (under the name Matt V.2099), maybe you could meet up with him and collaborate? He’s a nice guy and I believe he’s still working on stuff.

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hey that’s pretty good i’m, with everyone on the vox department i’m currently recording as well (very early stages) i do have some old demos if you wanna listen myspace.com/hardwaremusic be gentle i had to record vox at apartment with neighbors banging on wall (quiet screaming?) and lost guitar and had to sample/sequence my own guitat tracks for some songs tell me what you think though

8

You know there’s enough lads here who could contribute stuff for a prongs compilation (or even just a compilation with no official prongs affiliation). It might be a nice way to support the musicians here. I don’t know about the logistics of producing such a comp. but I presume it’s not impossible. I suppose there needs to be a dialogue between those interested but it’s an idea anyway. I’d offer my support in any way I could (have some experience in publicity, albeit non music oriented)

9

The problem is who’s going to buy it lol? Or pay to put it out. Unless it’s just an online-only downloadable comp.

10

Well an online downloadable comp would not be a bad idea. I tried to push for us to do a Ministry/Side Projects cover comp a couple of years ago, but nothing ever came of it.

I think a Prongs comp of original stuff would be well in order, just a showcase of the talent on this forum. Everyone that wanted to could submit a track, or artwork idea could. We would just need someone to step up and coordinate the comp. If Afra okayed it then perhaps it could be a permanent part of the Prongs download page.

Hell I would even cobble the money together to pay Chris Connelly to record a screamed intro to present each band ‘Luc Van Acker’ style! That would be great.

11

Hey brothu, first of all I gotta say I love the band/album or whatever it is artwork. Black and white, minimalistic, sharp looking. I get tired of these band logos that are designed by graphic arts firms and look too obviously computer generated.

Second, It’s cool you’re coming out of Bellingham, WA. I lived in Olympia, Lacey and Seattle for a time and there wasn’t much of an electronic music scene, unless you count new rave revivalists or people into electroclash in Olympia, and in Seattle it was mostly a douche-baggerous DJ scene in pioneer square. Other than that WA state just LOVES it’s guitar rock and they seem hostile to a lot of other forms of music.

So anyway, thoughts on your tunes:

STSTS - I like you it starts out with a very simple early drum machine sounding beat that sounds like the song may even be weak, and then the bass rhythm comes in and gives the song some balls!

Pilaco - Rhythm guitar sounds good in terms of the chords played, but I think it should sound thicker, like maybe use some multiple guitar tracks. The lead guitar sounds a little thin too, maybe could use some reverb? Anyway, I know I’m listening to the tracks on a myspace player which has it’s limitations. Also I like the song for a while but after listening to it for a couple of minutes I get bored (this is the problem I have with my own music that I make). Maybe it needs a few change-ups or some vocals, but beware: as others have recommended vocals for songs to complete them the wrong vocals can ruin a song, or even a whole band for some people.

New(er) Ideas - This track sounds great sonically, lots of good lows and highs and in-betweens… I like the acoustic piano sounds… Again this song too gets a little repetitive after a while cause not much new happens. Maybe add some embellishments or samples? (cliche I know)

MrBillDup - I like this track because it has the most change up in the verse/chorus segments (if their were lyrics), though that organ sound sounds a little sloppy or off somehow… I like the acoustic piano sounds in this one though, LOVE the sample! The occasional sample sounds great, just don’t overdo it. I don’t like the fadeout at the end though, it sounds unnatural and like a lazy way to end the song.

Overall I like it… I could judge the sonic qualities better with some superior audio quality versions of the tracks of course… some instruments need to be beefed up it sounds. Think about adding (good) vocals hear and there or sparse samples, or some other looser sounding (anolog synth, noises etc) sounds to embellish the overall sound. Also consider constructing the songs in a verse/chorus/brigde structure to add variation.

Hope this helps.

12

Well an online downloadable comp would not be a bad idea. I tried to push for us to do a Ministry/Side Projects cover comp a couple of years ago, but nothing ever came of it.

I started collecting samples for a cover of Let’s Go. I might still do it. It was gonna sound awesome.

A free downloadable comp is a good idea. I know nobody wants to pay for my shit, and I don’t really care of they do.

I’ll listen to Lockomotive later today. I’m slow.

13

Anyone ever use cdbaby for distribution? A friend of mine was telling me they were a good distributor and are relatively cheap. They can sell your cd and distribute it digitally across all major sites as well as selling cds of the album.

http://www.cdbaby.com/About.

I was thrown a figure of €60 ($80) for distribution of an album

Also guys it would be possible to sell this. Bullshit if necessary and sell for cheap but it can be done.

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think the coolest part about the song is that both guitar tracks were recorded with a cheap computer headset microphone, and it turned out pretty okay.

No shit? That’s rather cool. Sort of reminds me how Varg Vikernes wanted to record vocals as crappy as possible, so he went and got a computer headset microphone to do this.

And boy. Did they sound crappy.

Nice work, the sounds fit together quite well. There are times that I think the music at times sounds a little “Late Night Cop Show”. Maybe a little analog distortion would add extra edge or maybe you should diminish the industrial edge and go more in that route, which could be pretty cool.

With green on this.

Well an online downloadable comp would not be a bad idea. I tried to push for us to do a Ministry/Side Projects cover comp a couple of years ago, but nothing ever came of it.

I think a Prongs comp of original stuff would be well in order, just a showcase of the talent on this forum. Everyone that wanted to could submit a track, or artwork idea could. We would just need someone to step up and coordinate the comp. If Afra okayed it then perhaps it could be a permanent part of the Prongs download page.

Now, down to business… [laugh]

I have to agree, this would be a great idea.

Why not an album of original material, and another one of Ministry/Revco/Lard etc covers?

Simple part is everyone getting their shit together and chucking it up on the net.

Tough part is who does the artwork? I nominate Icepick, personally.

Another thing…

I was thrown a figure of €60 ($80) for distribution of an album

Also guys it would be possible to sell this. Bullshit if necessary and sell for cheap but it can be done.

We could sell this. Personally, I don’t really care for selling stuff or making a profit. I’m happy to do this, and chuck it up on the net for free if everyone else is.

But, if we’re going to be talking about putting money toward a proper release and distribution, then that’s a little tougher;

everyone should contribute to the costs equally… that pretty much goes without being said. Who actually takes care of the financial side… personally, I’d nominate afra, as he is arguably the most accountable person on this forum (having founded it… I mean, it would seem silly to do this without him having some sort of involvement, unless he didn’t or couldn’t). My apologies if you didn’t want to be mentioned afra, but it just seems like the most logical idea.

The cost of distribution isn’t so bad… it’s getting cd’s pressed and packaged. How professional do we want this to look? Do we want actual jewel cases? A 2 page booklet, or more? It’s something we’d all have to draw a general consensus at, given we’d all be throwing money at it.

Or, we could all sidestep this problem, and chuck it on the net on lossless format for everyone to do their own thing with. I’ve known bands that do that, who were just happy to get their music out there. A few of us have even done it, and I’d be happy to do it again.

I’m in total agreement that the central idea is a great one and it’d be a cool thing to be part of. We’ve just gotta make sure it’s something we all agree on, and something that’s done right, which is harder than it sounds given the amount of people potentially involved and the fact we can’t exactly catch up around the corner.

15

Digipack all the way muthafucka!

I double the Icepick artwork idea.

16

Let me be the devil’s advocate here - who would buy this except for us and maybe a few friends and acquaintances?

Also re: Lockomotive. Like it - let us know when the vocal versions are posted.

17

Maybe we could ask 13th Planet to do do the promotion. Or even better, maybe we can be the next Rev Co!

Now seriously, I’d love to participate in the project. Everyone would throw in their favorite tracks and then a jury (nominated by us) would choose the best and form the most cohesive possible album.

18

There would probably be few enough tracks that we could put everything we wanted to on there.

Also, if Al wanted me to be on the next RevCo I’d do it in a heartbeat - knowing that I’d essentially be working for free, of course.

19

I’d definitely be down for adding a track or two (I could put the track Max Brody remixed for me and we’d have a genuine Ministry connection on the comp).

I’d certainly way prefer it to be released free online as I have no interest in trying to sell my music. My buddy who posts here as Revok could probably help out with graphic design with IcePick’s art. He’s very good at it.

20

I’d gladly contribute a track from The Corrugation, and record a shorter MOTIV track exclusively for the comp. I’m still interested in the Ministry cover project as well, since I have that recording of I Prefer laying around (which could probably be updated).

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