[EP] [Electronica] XINCBOX EP (wma/m4a) - free cd posted UK!

[xincbox]

Hi guys!

First of all i apologise if this isn't appropriate, i no longer use MPT as my primary piece of software, but various parts of the songs on this CD were still produced/manipulated in modplug! I arrange and sequence in Cubase sx3, and use Cool Edit Pro as my wave editor.

If anyone would like a FREE CD copy, i'm happy to post them out to UK addresses (or further a field if postage costs can be paypal'ed to me!).. for the downloadable version please read on!


Xincbox - Self Titled EP

1. Introd
2. Oliver's Song [Tmw/Gex Version]
3. To Feel Like A Fool
4. Interlewd
5. Jack
6. I Set Fire To The Cutty Sark
7. Outrod

i opted out of saving as .mp3s, as my CD is 'mixed' and fluent with no gaps between the tracks (and as you may know mp3s seem to always add silences at the start/end of a song when they encode)

DOWNLOAD:

.wma (windows media player) -
Download from Megaupload!
Download from archive.org
Download from Youshare  


.m4a (itunes) -
Download from archive.org
Download from Megaupload!
Download from Rapidshare


more mirrors soon

--

all thoughts, opinions, criticisms, feedback is really appreciated!

www.myspace.com/xincbox

[Sam_Zen]

First some tech comment.

I don't care how you use MPT in your work, but this DL is really tough.
A popped up poker site, a very low block-transfer speed, forcing me to install some advertised accelerator.
Which I didn't. Despite the 62 MB.

You're right about the mp3 format, but before listening, I converted the WMA's to OGG in the same resolution,
because that's my standard archive format, and I noticed a decrease of almost 50 % in filesize.
(OGG also has a flawless transition of tracks).

While I was doing these conversions I heard 'To Feel Like A Fool'. Great! Nice vox-treatures.
And an elegant transition to 'Jack'.

I think the two bitmaps for back/front for the jewel should be exactly square in the same pixelsize.

[xincbox]

A popped up poker site, a very low block-transfer speed, forcing me to install some advertised accelerator.

the poker site can be closed with a single click, and for me i get speeds of 150 - 350 kbps with servers like rapidshare and megaupload.. i've never seen any 'install setup.exe' stuff from those sites (was it on a popup?)

more mirrors soon

working hard to get it up to as many different hosts as i can, he's the first of the morning:
.wma : Download from archive.org, Download from Youshare  

You're right about the mp3 format, but before listening, I converted the WMA's to OGG in the same resolution,
because that's my standard archive format, and I noticed a decrease of almost 50 % in filesize.
(OGG also has a flawless transition of tracks)

I did consider .ogg as an alternative, but it isn't really a widespread format with the general music-listening market is it? Believe me i spent ages deliberating over this.. i chose .wma as in my mindset it's always been 'the next best thing to .mp3'. I've seen countless people with ipods now use itunes as their sole media player, so i felt .m4a was more appropriate!

I think the two bitmaps for back/front for the jewel should be exactly square in the same pixelsize.

there's 4 x 2 pixels difference.. is that really that much of a problem  :?

While I was doing these conversions I heard 'To Feel Like A Fool'. Great! Nice vox-treatures.
And an elegant transition to 'Jack'.

thanks!  

[Saga Musix]

one side note: Use LAME as an mp3 encoder since it supports gapless mp3s.

[älskling]

another sidenote: upload FLAC to archive.org and they'll make OGG, MP3 and ZIPped MP3 for you.

[xincbox]

i don't mean to sound like a total ignoramus but the music is the important bit to me, not the file format.. but thanks for the advice!

[älskling]

hehe, sorry, I'm the fool... I just really like archive.org

Anyway I like the music very much, tho I haven't listened to it enough to give a deeper review than that. Oliver's song is the one I like the best so far.

[Sam_Zen]

2 xincbox
I don't mean to sound like a nagging complainer either. And I used some wrong expressions:
I wasn't 'forced' to install anything, it was a choice. And the bitmap-size is not a matter of 'should' be.

2 Jojo
Nice to know. I've got LameFE aboard.

And archive.org is great indeed.

Now back to the music.
Enjoying this very much. And a nice crisp production.. And you have a good skill for making an song-arrangement.
I like the vocoder use. And the attention for details and 'insignificant' sounds. Also moments with humour.

It was difficult to follow the text phrase at the start of Cutty Sark. A bit too much in the background imo.
And I'm a fan of your reverb-treatment. You obviously construct this very carefully per instrument.

[xincbox]

It was difficult to follow the text phrase at the start of Cutty Sark. A bit too much in the background imo.

yea unfortunately that was recorded during a period last july when my headphones were broken (stepped upon by my nephew if i remember correctly), so that vocal sample was recorded over the top of loudspeakers. i then desperately tried to filter and modulate out the background sounds, but upon compression they were sorta dragged back up around the kick accents, which i admit i did like! listening to the mix now does make the vocal sound quite muffled though, if you're interested the line is 'i set fire to the cutty sark because it was cold, because it was dark / greenwich mean time took an hour of my sleep, so i took napalm to its landmarks'

i spent so long ridiculously procrastinating over this cd you wouldn't believe, it was getting at me that i was being stupid striving to find the 'perfect mix' so i decided at the start of this month i was just gonna get it all done and mixed as best i could and get the artwork finished etc, so here it is

Also moments with humour.

it will be interesting to hear what you think are the humourous parts!  

thanks for all the feedback

[Sam_Zen]

Thanks for the text. I can't explain about the humourous thing, it's just a feeling. Some odd, but joyful input.

[KrazyKatz]

Hey there Xincbox,

Now that everyones done burninating you.

First off let me say, that I'm really not the type to like this sort of music. However I found that I really liked some of the songs on your EP. Very cleverly constructed. What I like so much about it, is that it has an underlying beautiful texture about it keeping it mellow and pleasant yet on top it has layers of complexity without any interference. That's not something you hear every day.

I think you should use your album to approach agents for a record deal.

I'd be interested to know your studio setup?

Best,

Y.

[xincbox]

i'm not really sure at all you could call it a 'studio setup' at all. when i used to post in 2006, some of you may remember me saying i used to record with a webcam microphone .. haha.. well my budget/setup hasn't really increased at all:

this is a £5.97 microphone from argos



which i plug into my Crate GT212 guitar amp



which i then plug into a Griffin iMic, into my usb



i record sound and edit/manipulate waves with Cool Edit Pro, make sounds n stuff in modplug and then export them into Cubase sx3 and sequence them along with beats, VST parts and the like

although the ep is mostly arrangements of synths and samples, there's various guitar parts (both acoustic and electric) manipulated on there as well as recorded vocals, flute, glockenspiel

it's really an honour to have someone give feedback like that!

I think you should use your album to approach agents for a record deal.

this is something i've considered, but i really don't know where to start. i've sent 3 EPs off to labels i like (Ninja Tune, Alex Tronic).. but i have no idea where to go next. any advice or suggestions is welcome!

[KrazyKatz]

Goes to show, it's not always what you got, but what you do with it. I'd also like to know what speakers/monitors you're packing.

I really don't know much at all in terms of the POP record scene. All I can say is you have to make sure you stuff is heard. Sending off the EP might not be enough. You may have to go in there and stick the headphones over the clowns ears.

It's a bit off topic in here so I'd encourage you to open a topic on the forum in 'General Chatter' since some of the guys in the OMPT community have produced commercial albums.

[SoundCrafter]

Xinc, my god, dude. You can't even understand how fantastic I think this album is. I'm having trouble coming up with anything negative to say about. You've definetly established a style, which is incredible.  I think I'd be honestly as happy to meet you in person as I would some of my other idols. (Sleepthief, Armin, The Crystal Method, you know how it goes ;-))

By the way, I've always admired your humorous stinging vocal punchlines, and "I Set Fire To The Cutty Sark" is no different. After I looked at the wikipedia article for "Cutty Sark", and then read what the actual line was, I was impressed! That track is going on my car mix CD. By the way, did you sample an actual news broadcast (starting at about 3:41)? Fantastic.

Overall, I'm impressed, mate. Well done, once again.

[xincbox]

Goes to show, it's not always what you got, but what you do with it. I'd also like to know what speakers/monitors you're packing.

i have the logitech x350 set, more for home entertainment system-ing than monitoring but oh well

as for soundcard i have a Soundblaster x-Fi

Xinc, my god, dude. You can't even understand how fantastic I think this album is. I'm having trouble coming up with anything negative to say about. You've definetly established a style, which is incredible. I think I'd be honestly as happy to meet you in person as I would some of my other idols. (Sleepthief, Armin, The Crystal Method, you know how it goes )

:oops:  thanks ! loads!

By the way, did you sample an actual news broadcast (starting at about 3:41)? Fantastic.

that's actually a snippet from the film version of 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events', were in the introduction the narrator talks about the family home burning down. (to be specific, with a giant magnifying glass + the sun - unlikely to have set the CS on fire   )

thanks again for your feedback