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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cert's Music
    Posted: September 11 2006 at 09:08
It's been a long time since I stuck any of our music here, mainly because Andy and I hit the studio for a "proper" jam and mix session for the first time in over a year last weekend.

Since two of them now sound OK, I thought I'd share them with my esteemed fellow Proggers, just as I did back in the day - only there are more of you buggers now.

There are still mixing and execution issues, naturally, and it's NOT Prog Rock by my definitions or any definitions that I know of, but I'm going to be putting these up for free download on my MySpace site when we've ironed out a few more of the gremlins, and I thought you guys might like first hit - and, of course, you can also tear them to pieces in that inimitable Prog Archives way!


Track 1: MONKEY. An old favourite, and most popular choon on our MySpace site, this has been given the once over - plus I've finally produced a bass line that I quite like that gives the whole thing a much murkier feel than before... and Andy finally persuaded me to do a guitar solo, which is something I tend to avoid, as I sound not dissimilar to Nigel Tufnell.


Track 2: DISTURBED. A brand new one what we wrote two or three weeks ago. On the relative success of Monkey's solo, I pulled another one out of the bag of Tapness with widdly-woo to go. I don't think we've finished it yet - the ending's not too great, and the bridge doesn't sit very happily in my opinion.


However, take a listen and enjoy... or something   

Tracks on YouSendIt.com for 7 days from the date of this post ONLY


You'll need WinRAR to open the archive.
    
    

Edited by Certif1ed - September 11 2006 at 09:12
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 12 2006 at 18:41
You guys Kevin Moore fans? Sounds like a rockier Chroma Key :P It's good stuff! By only gripe is the guitar tones, although the second track is a bit better. They still sound a bit muffled. Not sure if that was the intention or not. Overall though they are enjoyable.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 13 2006 at 03:42
Neither of us are Kevin Moore fans and have never heard any of his stuff, even though that comparison has been made in the past.

The mix issues we're aware of - it's because I maxxed the output on the bass when I recorded it to get that over-edgy distorted fuzz sound, and it clips like crazy and bleeds over the guitar. We're going to mix that down - and hopefully not have to compress it too much, as I hate over-compressed sounds.

Is there anything you don't like about the guitar tones apart from the muffled sound caused by bass over-bleeding?

Thanks for the comments! Glad you took the time to listen to our tracks - and even gladder you like them.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 15 2006 at 21:33
Nope, sounds fine apart from that. Keep it up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2006 at 06:29
I remixed both, then Andy made a few tweaks to my mixes. I'm not a trained sound engineer by any stretch of the imagination, and I think we ended up removing too much of the mid-range in our quest to make the guitars and keyboard sounds cleaner... Oh well, back to the mixing desk!

MONKEY (mix #19) is now on the MySpace site, replacing mix #7a - so about time! Hopefully the download issue will be fixed soon... Please visit the site and bump the numbers up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2006 at 05:51
Here's a couple more, both with severe mixing issues, but more or less complete as pieces.

This time they're in a friendly zip file;

Tracks on YouSendIt.com for 7 days from the date of this post ONLY


GOLDFISH is completely unmixed, but we kinda like the rawness of it. Obviously we will be twiddling the knobs in due course, because it clips like crazy - just about all channels were recorded in the red, just like Blue Cheer's "Outside Inside", but there's only so far you can push it before it just sounds naff.

Maybe I'll re-record some of the noodling - but it's so full of "happy accidents" that I'm tempted to keep all of it.


You Really Don't Get It is 2 years old now, and mostly re-written. I really tried to do something a bit different in the guitar solo - but was probably only 50% successful. More re-writing needed, but the direction of this song has changed so completely that it's probably worth an airing. Spot the bit I "stole" from "Modern Man" (available on our MySpace site).


As usual, all comments will be shot down in flames... I mean, warmly appreciated


...and I still haven't heard any of Kevin Moore's stuff yet - well, he never listens to mine...
    
    

Edited by Certif1ed - October 23 2006 at 05:54
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2006 at 04:37
Thanks to UK-Music.com and SoundCheck, we now have a more permanent place for lo-quality mp3s of our stuff - and I've yet to see any limitations other than the submitted files must be smaller than 8Mb.

Check it out - the tracks I've posted here are pencilled in for our imminent album, which we'll try to flog to our families and friends... if not, we could paint the CD gold and hang it on the wall in a frame or something...

Certif1ed on SoundCheck

If you have problems getting it to work, don't worry - so did I, but I solved them
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2006 at 13:35
    I don't know why, but I could only get two tracks to play. Anyway, good work Cert. Very cool stuff.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2006 at 13:41
Interesting way to expose your music....make the playing of your tracks a conundrum!!!


Monkey Puzzle....
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2006 at 06:20
I like to think of it as creating an air of enigma...

I've already emailled the guys at Soundcheck about the usability.

Sometimes the link seems to take you to a page with 4 large blue icons, one of which reads "Media". Clicking on this takes you to a "Gallery", which contains two icons, one of which is marked "Music". This icon takes you to the fully playable set - if you find it, please skip to You Really Don't Get It, Disturbed and/or Goldfish, as they're the tracks we've worked on most recently.

Getting to this page is a bit hit and miss - sometimes the link above takes you to a completely different page, which only allows two or three pieces to be played.

I found a solution was to click on Soundcheck in the menu, then Profile. This took me to the page with 4 large icons that I described above.

You can also do a band search for Certif1ed, and the large icons page should appear.

I don't know why it works this way - but it's another free way of getting my music on the web, which can't be a bad thing.

I'll keep looking for more...
    

Edited by Certif1ed - November 17 2006 at 06:21
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2007 at 06:00
Time to resurrect this thread - we've finally finished our latest and greatest tune.
 
It's kinda proggy in a way (spot the ideas we nicked from certain prog bands and win a prize!) - and at 9 and a half minutes long, the most epic thing we've ever written.
 
I also happen to think it's our best piece so far - even given that "finished" here means it has both a beginning and an ending, and most of the parts are in place (there are a few instrumental sections to complete, and the arrangement is far from perfect.
 
We don't mention the mixing issues at this juncture...
 
 
Enter the password Certif1ed and the track is called Strange mix 8.
 
There's other stuff in there too - but that's all on the MySpace page and Sectionz.
 
ENJOY (and try to ignore the dodgy bits!!!)
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2007 at 18:24
um... sorry... I'll have to pull it (although I see someone's downloaded the lot - when we get famous, those'll be worth at least a bag of crisps!).
 
Now we've heard it a few times in the light of day, the production errors are just too much to circulate.
 
Back next Friday....
 
Embarrassed


Edited by Certif1ed - April 20 2007 at 18:25
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 21 2007 at 05:03
Big%20smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 08 2007 at 05:56
OK, lets go with this mix...
 
It's not perfect, but I think the 4 sections are a bit more polished: I'm still not completely happy with the bass in the verses, but at least it's tight.
 
There are some "smudges" between sections that you might notice - they're worse near the start of the piece, as we seemed to concentrate all our attention on the atmospherics in the 2nd and 4th sections, which have turned out better than we imagined.
 
The guitar atmospherics were the biggest surprise - I just experimented with different settings on the Pod, combining these with odd playing techniques and feedback control in real time - so it's completely unreproducible live in terms of note-for-note interpretation - and they really make it hard to distinguish between what is synth and what is guitar, which is a border I've been trying to smudge for ages.
 
The guitar solo is still the original single take - so is subject to change - but I think it's got a kind of 1970s charm the way it is, hence I'm not too embarrassed to let people hear it.
 
There's no vocal harmonies yet either - so this piece is far from finished, and will sound very different when it hits our MySpace page - but it's our epic, and our one and only Prog Rock track... or is it? WinkLOL
 
Anyway, I've published this folder for the exclusive enjoyment of my friends - and the derision of my enemies - here at ProgArchives; http://www.4shared.com/dir/2520511/c9583a45/In_Progress.html
 
(The password is the name of your favourite site, with the P and the A capitalised).
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 08 2007 at 12:05
I just downloaded this, I've listened to it twice so far... wow.  This is even better than the version I heard before (you had a link to it on another thread, I think).  I hear what you mean about the bass, but compared to the rest of the song I find it is a minor detail.  I like the singing a lot, it reminds me a lot of Chris Squire, and I've always enjoyed his voice.

The song itself flows so well from theme to theme despite the slight smudges you mentioned, and the laughter at about 4:40 is a great touch.  The guitars in particular sounded great.  My favorite part is the change to softer atmospherics at around 5:55, it's so beautiful.  I like that you start and end with the phone call on hold.

I'm trying to think of some constructive criticism here, but I'm not coming up with anything you haven't already mentioned.  I think the song itself is solid and I enjoyed it a lot.  Once I've listened more I might have something more helpful for you.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2007 at 18:49
Originally posted by Certif1ed Certif1ed wrote:

OK, lets go with this mix...
 
It's not perfect, but I think the 4 sections are a bit more polished: I'm still not completely happy with the bass in the verses, but at least it's tight.
 
There are some "smudges" between sections that you might notice - they're worse near the start of the piece, as we seemed to concentrate all our attention on the atmospherics in the 2nd and 4th sections, which have turned out better than we imagined.
 
The guitar atmospherics were the biggest surprise - I just experimented with different settings on the Pod, combining these with odd playing techniques and feedback control in real time - so it's completely unreproducible live in terms of note-for-note interpretation - and they really make it hard to distinguish between what is synth and what is guitar, which is a border I've been trying to smudge for ages.
 
The guitar solo is still the original single take - so is subject to change - but I think it's got a kind of 1970s charm the way it is, hence I'm not too embarrassed to let people hear it.
 
There's no vocal harmonies yet either - so this piece is far from finished, and will sound very different when it hits our MySpace page - but it's our epic, and our one and only Prog Rock track... or is it? WinkLOL
 
Anyway, I've published this folder for the exclusive enjoyment of my friends - and the derision of my enemies - here at ProgArchives; http://www.4shared.com/dir/2520511/c9583a45/In_Progress.html
 
(The password is the name of your favourite site, with the P and the A capitalised).


I've listened to this song once, and my first impression is that it is very nice! Can't put my finger on many things I don't enjoy, except for this one drum pattern that I feel gets a bit overused throughout the song... But that's just my opinion! Great work anyway Big%20smileClap
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2007 at 07:48
We've got a new track!
 
Really, it's been an excercise in more judicious use of drum loops (something we've never been good at), and production.
 
For a change, we pulled all instruments back to sub 0 in the DAW, and worked on a reasonable balance between them, with light EQ and compression as our main tools.
 
Then we applied gentle compression to the entire mix, and rolled off the sub bass and air freqs.
 
So...
 
What do you think of
 
a) The drums?
 
b) The overall mix?
 
c) OK, comment on the song, if you like - but it's a simple thing really, in 3 main parts; a verse/chorus structure preceeded by a mini overture, comprising the bridge and coda material, followed by the bridge, in which I do my best to imitate Nigel Tufnel not once, but twice, then the coda, which is a kind of trip-hop thing. It feels a little bolted on, because some numbskull faded out the guitar riff too early, and it doesn't end properly, because the original version goes into a kinda metal flavoured Bolero, then into something else... maybe we'll fix it, maybe not - we've got another 6 tracks to hone and polish!
 
 
Anyway, it's here, and it's big, to maximise the effects of our work on the production: 
 
 
*The password is Pr0gArchives
 
**The track is "Control" - "Strange" was the last one, and the production sucks on that!


Edited by Certif1ed - October 02 2007 at 07:59
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2007 at 07:58
Is it Prog?????????????????Tongue
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2007 at 08:02

In spirit... Cool

 



Edited by Certif1ed - October 04 2007 at 02:37
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 08 2007 at 03:21

I can see that last one was really popular... 6 downloads and no comment... LOL

 
Here's another, just because we've got 6 or 7 in the backlog, and we've finally got around to working on them.
 
This one is completely different to anything else we've ever written (aren't they all?), and is a kind of blend of 80s style electronica and blues rock, with a vague attempt at a sort of William Orbit style production (without trying to copy him at all, before anyone says it sounds nothing like William Orbit).
 
The guitar solo is messy, because I just rattled off something in a single take to give an impression of what might fit, and the notes are generally correct - it's just the performance that's a bit sucky.
 
 
...it's in the same place as before;
 
 
*The password is Pr0gArchives
 
**The track is called "Avoiding"
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