Are people sure these are demos?

[adnan]

Better and T.W.A.T are obviously rough stuff, not mastered. IRS sound like it MAY not be a demo, the mixing sounds okay, but if that is the finished product, the song shouldn't be on any of the upcoming 3 albums.

[sweetness]

They only seem like demos because Buckethead sucks

[Nightcrawler]

I'm just curious how people came to the assumption that these are demos. The reason I ask is because people seem to be using the defense "THEY'RE JUST DEMOS PEOPLE, DEMOS" to explain away any possible faults the songs have. When I was listening to some UYI demo songs last summer, I remember them being really rough, missing some "effects", and Axl would even say things briefly in between lyrics like "this will be changed" etc. While these on the other hand are quite polished sounding from a production prespective are they not, and Buckethead isn't around to do any tinkering anymore.

Are people just fooling themselves when saying this? Couldn't they actually be final versions? Or do you think the final versions of the songs will be quite different?

Based on what Axl said, even if they are demos the music is most likely complete. These aren't demos in the UYI style of a band rehearsing. These are probably finished or near finished instrumentals with Axl doing scratch vocals, if they are demos of any kind at all and just not unmixed finished tracks.

I write the vocals last, because I wanted to invent the music first and push the music to the level that I had to compete against it. That's kind of tough. It's like you got to go in against these new guys who kicked ass. You finally got the song musically where you wanted to, and then you have to figure out how to go in and kick its ass and be one person competing against this wall of sound.

Why I chose to do it that way is that, you know, I can sit and write poetry 'til hell freezes over, and getting attached to any particular set of words... I felt that I would write to those words in a dated fashion, and we really wouldn't get the best music. "Oh My God" is a perfect example. When we finally got "Oh My God" where it needed to be, then I got the right words to it. With "Appetite," I wrote a lot of the words first, but in, like, "Oh My God," I wrote the words second, but the music was written like "Appetite." We kept developing it until it we got it right. [With] "Appetite," everything had been worked on, and worked on, and worked on. That was not the case with "Use Your Illusion."

[Captain Chaos]

These songs are all awesome, vintage GNR with some new modern touch ups. Better really shows that, and even if they are just demo's they sound great.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Captain Chaos

[Lukin]

Of course they´re demos. Geffen hasn´t put down all this money for a mix such as this to be the final product. I find it hard to belive someone would think this was the final mix.

And btw 192 is all the bitrate you need on an mp3. Everything over that will only increase the filesize. Your small ears wont hear any diference, it´s all in your mind

[NiGhTrAiN®]

Who the hell layers like 5 vocal tracks for a demo?? With layered backing vocals, all the little guitar nuances...

Someone who's spent 13 recording an album

[f**k_your_enemy]

They only seem like demos because Buckethead sucks

WHAT THE FUCK??!!??!!

[shootingstar]

U feel sure about IRS, it´s a definitly a demo.. Pretty sure the drums are a drummachine.. TWAT.. well, I shouldn´t utter about that one.. BUT, BETTER makes me a bit unsure. I´m sure thera are effects on the vocals. And those effects make it sound RAW but great. But if those songs came from the same source at first place, there´s nothing to discuss, I think.. BUT, is that source Trunks Disc?? Or is his disc mixed with Demos AND final cd versions that came from different sources...???

Edited February 24, 2006 by shootingstar

[highvoltage]

The only one that sounds like it might not be a demo, is IRS.

You kidding? IRS sounds completely empty, hollow. It's a very, very long way from being finished - i'd say it's the most unfinished of the three

oh dear god... you can't be serious? Please never listen to music EVER AGAIN. Yeah I am sure Axl is going to have some dude playing a DRUM MACHINE out on tour.

He used a drum machine at RIR back in 2001. Lots of musicians use drum machines for live shows.

I have no idea where you got that idea from, but it's ludicrous:

Looks like a drum kit to me.

No self-respecting musician (or one with half a brain) would use a drum machine at a live show. They sound wooden and artificial - they sound like absolute crap.

These songs are demos and they're a long way from being finished. If you can't hear that, get your ears checked.

Edited February 24, 2006 by highvoltageacdc

[badmf]

The only one that sounds like it might not be a demo, is IRS.

You kidding? IRS sounds completely empty, hollow. It's a very, very long way from being finished - i'd say it's the most unfinished of the three

oh dear god... you can't be serious? Please never listen to music EVER AGAIN. Yeah I am sure Axl is going to have some dude playing a DRUM MACHINE out on tour.

He used a drum machine at RIR back in 2001. Lots of musicians use drum machines for live shows.

I have no idea where you got that idea from, but it's ludicrous:

Looks like a drum kit to me.

No self-respecting musician (or one with half a brain) would use a drum machine at a live show. They sound wooden and artificial - they sound like absolute crap.

These songs are demos and they're a long way from being finished. If you can't hear that, get your ears checked.

Ermmm...look closely....He has drum Machine pads....and they sound awesome....

[Giblet]

There is a big difference between drum triggers and pads, and a drum machine.

[Lukin]

There is a big difference between drum triggers and pads, and a drum machine.

Hell yeah!

These leaked tracks are demos, so this discussion is stupid. I will drink a glass of milk if they´re not! And concidering I´m vegan that´s a big thing for me.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Lukin

[LA_0013]

Of course they are demos.

In fact, I'm willing to bet the final version of Better sounds VERY different to the one we have all heard. No Buckethead, and no replacement = Finck and Fortus playing the tracks. There's no way they can perform those shreds (kinda happy in fact!). Those parts will go, coz without the Bucketman, those guitar parts cannot be played live!!

LA

[Zephyrus]

These leaked tracks are clearly demos. If you examine the songs in an audio editor you'll see that they are recorded almost entirely in mono- i.e. both left and right channels are the same. There's no way Axl would release an album full of mono recordings. These demos were probably made to work out the arrangements of the songs, but are in no way close to being the final mix.

[f**k_your_enemy]

^ word!

I still can't beleive people think these are the final product.

[Projected]

They only seem like demos because Buckethead sucks

[pilferk]

I'm just curious how people came to the assumption that these are demos. The reason I ask is because people seem to be using the defense "THEY'RE JUST DEMOS PEOPLE, DEMOS" to explain away any possible faults the songs have. When I was listening to some UYI demo songs last summer, I remember them being really rough, missing some "effects", and Axl would even say things briefly in between lyrics like "this will be changed" etc. While these on the other hand are quite polished sounding from a production prespective are they not, and Buckethead isn't around to do any tinkering anymore.

Are people just fooling themselves when saying this? Couldn't they actually be final versions? Or do you think the final versions of the songs will be quite different?

For IRS, at least, we know because Merck told us so....

Back when the "cruddy" version leaked last April.

The other...given the mixing and levels, it's pretty easy to discern that they are.

[Gcam]

if you want a reason why these are demo's. just listen to better and twat closely at the guitars, there are some pretty blatant mistakes and bum notes on the lead. add to that the entire things are in mono, and some of the vocals are indistinguishable from the wall of sound, and that tells you no major mix down has been done

[mcalldp]

Nothing wrong with a drum machine, he is influenced by NIN. You can't get the sound at the start of better without one and using drum triggers with a live drummer is fine by me, I like the sounds. Yea, for sure these are demos...still you never know what parts of these tracks may make final cut. You could pull out one guitar solo, a vocal phrase, whatever. a lot of this could end of on the final as parts that are shoved into final mix. Plus mix and effects applied to some of these tracks would make them sound fine for a finished sound. We also don't know how many generations of copies were made and in what forms before it got to us, we know at lest we have lossy .mp3 sound going on. The mp3 compression is very easy to hear.

[PoonTaco]

They are DEFINATELY demo's.

[artfromtex]

they are elaborate demos, but they are in fact demos. if you're gonna have a five layer vocal on the final product, you do a 5 layer vocal on the demo to see how it sounds. if you didn't it would be like a football team saying " i wanna do a double-reverse Half-back pass in the game, but let's just practice the FB dive play!".

[JEEP11]

I'm just curious how people came to the assumption that these are demos. The reason I ask is because people seem to be using the defense "THEY'RE JUST DEMOS PEOPLE, DEMOS" to explain away any possible faults the songs have. When I was listening to some UYI demo songs last summer, I remember them being really rough, missing some "effects", and Axl would even say things briefly in between lyrics like "this will be changed" etc. While these on the other hand are quite polished sounding from a production prespective are they not, and Buckethead isn't around to do any tinkering anymore.

Are people just fooling themselves when saying this? Couldn't they actually be final versions? Or do you think the final versions of the songs will be quite different?

I emailed Axl and he replied, "They are demos. Now where are my shades?"

So there you are. Peace.

[highvoltage]

add to that the entire things are in mono

Better isn't.

[Anahzul]

I'm just curious how people came to the assumption that these are demos. The reason I ask is because people seem to be using the defense "THEY'RE JUST DEMOS PEOPLE, DEMOS" to explain away any possible faults the songs have. When I was listening to some UYI demo songs last summer, I remember them being really rough, missing some "effects", and Axl would even say things briefly in between lyrics like "this will be changed" etc. While these on the other hand are quite polished sounding from a production prespective are they not, and Buckethead isn't around to do any tinkering anymore.

Are people just fooling themselves when saying this? Couldn't they actually be final versions? Or do you think the final versions of the songs will be quite different?

We'll know if these versions are ¨the final versions¨ when we hear Chinese Democracy.

[Devildriver]

yup i think they are demos.

cant wait for the album!!

i can tell its gonna be awesome just from these 4 year old demos rock1