Post your (own) HM demos here!
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49974
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Topic: Post your (own) HM demos here!
Posted By: Certif1ed
Subject: Post your (own) HM demos here!
Date Posted: July 07 2008 at 08:00
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Since my original NWoBHM "War" thread is currently borked, I'm going to stick my updates in here, until it's fixed - and also the links to my demos.
Things are not going according to schedule - I think I've averaged 2-2.5 hours per week "in the studio", which is half my original budget - and even less recently, with work and family commitments eating into the little spare time I have.
So I'm going to commit myself to the three near-complete songs I have, and try to get some mixing done - although all desperately need decent solos, vocals and drums, intros and outros.
Hopefully I can mock something up through software, using copy and pastes and fadeouts for the endings, but the biggest issue at the moment is mix - all 3 are at wildly different volume levels, and I need to get around that without using a ton of compression, which is going to be time-consuming.
As a taster, I've provided a link below to "Payback Time", which I've slated as track #1;
The verse vox are pretty terrible - it was a case of vocalising the first thing that came into my head, even if it was "rhubarb, rhubarb", just to get a melody established - and, since I didn't know where the melody was going to go, there are many iffy notes.
I also had a quick go at injecting some vocal harmonies, and occasional "screams" (falsetto drawls!) which are even worse, but serve their prototyping purpose.
The solo is just bluff, and full of bum notes - I just wanted something to fill in the gaps, but couldn't come up with anything in the half hour I spent that matched the decorative ideas I had for the final chorus.
There are no drum fills - but I did manage to put a few changes in which are pretty convincing.
I think the bass is a bit too much in the verses - the riffs are too busy to warrant such Lemmy-style noodling, but that's an easy fix.
On the subject of bass, as it's not mixed, there's no rolloff of sub 80hz freqs - so I wouldn't advise playing this on a HiFi setup, as it might knock the woofers of their cones!
Anyway, here it is
 http://www.4shared.com/account/file/53695125/87fb1be8/Payback_Time.html - http://www.4shared.com/account/file/53695125/87fb1be8/Payback_Time.html
...oh yeah - the password is still NWoBHM
 ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Replies:
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 07 2008 at 08:22
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So. In confused, does this mean we can post stuff outside of NWOBHM in this thread given the title? |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 07 2008 at 10:10
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If you want to be true to the spirit of the moment, and the atmosphere that kicked off the whole idea, then NWoBHM style is the way to go - I'm suggesting NWoBHM only until 28th July, which is the 3-month deadline, as I started this project on 28th April.
I guess as long as it's metal, and all your own work, you can post whatever you like though. Generally this forum is for sharing Prog Rock, so it'd be cool to hear loads of different metal ideas.
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 08 2008 at 02:30
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3 downloads... comments?
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 10 2008 at 03:35
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Mark, unfortunately since my download limit per month is restricted to a measly 2 gigabytes before I get my connection speed cut back to 64bkps, I've been trying to conserve what I've got left to perhaps upload some of my recordings onto here. if your files are individual, I might at the very least download one and listen to that. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 10 2008 at 03:40
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Oh, wait, it seems that would only be one file there. I already have your first posted download on my computer, test1.wav. Mix them down to Mp3 format first if you can, it will not only take up less space, but you can upload them faster and I will be able to download more of them and more easily too. As for how Test1.wav sounded, not bad, but not great  Soloing was obviously kinda sloppy and the amount of treble/presence on the solo guitar track did admittedly have that quality that would make you want to turn it off if you were hungover What amp model are you using for leads and what for rhythm? |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 10 2008 at 09:22
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Obviously wavs sound better...
Test1 was just a quick experiment to get a feel for the idea of the sort of sound and style - I used the "British Metal Rhythm" setting on the TonePort for rhythm, "British Metal" for the lead, and "Tom Sawyer" for the bass (and I've stuck to those sounds for all my other tracks, for consistency). Those guitar preset "tones" are both based around the JCM800 Model.
I also poured compression onto the tracks to maximise the volume, and LPF'd the guitars to give them space from the bass (both of which are modern techniques) which is why the guitars sound much too modern - the treble/presence comes from me not rolling anything off in EQ, so you get the lot.
"Payback Time" would have been Test 19c, if I hadn't renamed it - I still can't stop myself from going off and cranking out other stuff while I'm supposed to be focussed on this project.
I'll re-render and re-up it as mp3 - but I'm pretty sure you can just stream it from the 4shared link?
/edit: Just checked - 5 downloads now... and you can stream it straight into embedded Media Player.
I've actually worked on the vocals, mix and solo since I upped this... maybe I can understand why there are no comments ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 10 2008 at 09:36
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Lol, You're not really going to notice the difference between a 320kbps
or even a 256kbps or 224kbps MP3 file compared to a 1536kbps wav file
anyway, unless you have extremely good speakers (which for my computer,
I don't), so I can't say I'm fussed about it not sound as good Dial out as much presence and treble you possibly can before you start to lose clarity and good harmonics, so my guess is that about 25 per cent less which be good. A real JCM 800 doesn't even need the treble and presence all the up to get great harmonics anyway, too much and it's just painful ice pick tones. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 10 2008 at 09:41
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I'll sort out EQ'ing and stuff when I come to do the fine-tune stuff in the mix.
At the moment, I need to finish the drums, work on the intro and solos, and sort the vox out.
If the treble hurts your ears, turn it down on your computer - it sounds just fine through my Sennheisers.
 Anyway - try streaming it instead of downloading it. There's a Play button on the download page. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 11 2008 at 09:04
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OK, I've upped an mp3 into the same folder.
It's called 19f, because the song "Payback Time" is based on the 19th idea I had since I began the project, and the letter refers to the number of times I worked on it, so I can diary the track.
I rendered a wav - and you certainly can tell the difference between it and the 320k mp3, no problems - as easily as you can tell the difference between the 16-bit wav and the 24-bit ACID project it originates from.
6 downloads and no comments?
Whaddya think?
Catchy song or not?
Does it have the right kind of sound and feel for NWoBHM?
Check here for some classic NWoBHM albums;
http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/index.html - http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/index.html ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 03:53
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Come on people, am I seriously the only other person that is going to respond to Mark? Thanks for uploading it to MP3, I'll download it soon and comment on it  Honestly, the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and a Wave file is not enough to have any real negative impact on the listening experience, at least for me anyway, so I'm certainly not bothered by that. EDIT: Very odd, can't find the mp3 version  My download limit per month is only 2 gigabytes  , so you can see why downloading wav format is a problem.By the time I would have downloaded not only your stuff, but other stuff I need, I wouldn't have enough download limit left to upload my own stuff to be listened to. I clicked on the original link on the first post again, and mp3 file still not showing Try uploading it again if you can. |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 04:11
Now that Line6 finally managed to release Vista 64bit drivers, I might even record something next weekend ... I'll also download some tunes and give some feedback.
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to: 
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Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 04:28
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The 64 bit drivers are in, nice I'm eagerly awaiting something good from you Mike
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 05:30
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Hmm - try this link for the mp3; http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html - http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 07:14
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Downloaded 19f.mp3. Not bad Mark, good song structure and playing But as expected, the vocals weren't exactly Rob Halford or Bruce DickinsonI'm gonna upload some sorta improvised stuff soon, mainly a riff I've written out, with some silly lead improvisation thrown in too  |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 12 2008 at 16:00
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What do you think about the overall production?
I spent about an hour re-EQing all the tracks, concentrating mainly on getting a good rhythm guitar tone; I rolled off the bass and treble on every track, although I was a bit light-handed when it came to the bass, as I hate spoiling the thunderous sound of my Thunder 1A. I may have pulled it back too much, though...
I also removed compression from everything except the bass (all bass players worth their salt use a compressor!), which means that the "acousticy" bit in the intro is a bit rough - but maybe that adds atmosphere?
Once I'd done that, I balanced the tracks through monitors (my HiFi speakers...), and finished off by adding a light hall reverb to the entire mix, then bringing the volume up to -0.3db. I completed the mastering using Wavepad (a freely donwloadable program), Normalising the entire waveform, before using Wavepad to render the Wav down to mp3. Hopefully there's enough volume and detail in the mix now.
I'm still using entirely free software (in the tight budget spirit of this project) - but I reckon I could get an even better mix out of it - it's just that my ears are a bit tired of that track now (I'm not a Pro engineer, and never have been!). Any thoughts would be helpful, as they may spark off ideas.
What about the mix sucks?
What about the mix rocks (so's I can keep it!)?
If I get some time alone in the house before 28th July (which is unlikely), I'll redo the vocals, but otherwise, that's pretty much it, short of going through the 6-7 takes I made and copying and pasting shorter sections (cheating, in other words!).
I'd like to hear Rob Halford improvise something better at 2:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday, in the space of an hour, including all the harmonies - and vox and harmonies for 2 other songs at the same time, none of which have pre-written lyrics or melodies.
I don't doubt he could do it, I'd just like to hear it, so I can nick some ideas
 Track 3 will be forthcoming shortly (track 2 needs a lot of work!). ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 14 2008 at 03:19
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Certif1ed wrote:
and have never had singing lessons, I couldn't ever expect to be in keyPosted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 15 2008 at 03:46
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OK, here's track 3, AKA Test20e, AKA "Just The Way It Goes": http://www.4shared.com/file/55239174/75ac0f0e/20e.html - http://www.4shared.com/file/55239174/75ac0f0e/20e.html
Apologies again for the soloing - I'm still trying to find a decent overall shape for it, so the noodle that's there will act as filler until I've worked out the tunes and chops. What's important at the moment is overall song structuring, melodies and general 1980s metal feel in the mix.
The vox are too far back in the mix, I realise that now, and the backing "ooos" aren't supposed to go with every chorus iteration - my fault for block copying and pasting - but I think I've got the bass guitar in the right place now.
I think this is my favourite of the 3 that are currently pencilled in for the EP - the lyrics make me laugh, as I'd just finished reading "The LIght Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett, so there's a lot of that in there.
I've also upped this (a 4mb mp3 - but again, you can stream it), which was something I wrote when I was supposed to be concentrating on this project - you know how easy it is to get side-tracked... I haven't mixed it at all, so all the boomy low freqs are there, along with the "ice-pick" highs.
http://www.4shared.com/account/file/55239118/2a40e4a3/test23c.html - http://www.4shared.com/account/file/55239118/2a40e4a3/test23c.html
The interesting thing about this is that I recorded all the guitar parts DI'd into the Pod (on which the JCM 800 was dialled up) AND recorded live using my Shure SM-58 pointed at my Laney 45 combo amp, cranked up to feedback level - not so it fed back all the time, but as soon as I clicked in the active circuitry on my Thunder 1A guitar. So the rhythm parts are all on the edge of feedback, there's hum when the actives are kicked in, and I've basically alternated the two fun guitar licks with bass and feedback. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Utah Man
Date Posted: July 19 2008 at 12:01
Cert, no matter how hard I try i cannot access this file...sorry. can you upload it to your myspace and/or garageband pages ? also, do you have your own personal web site ? |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 20 2008 at 03:34
| Tried to get a listen also, but it appears as if only registered users can access it.... |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 21 2008 at 02:41
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You should be able to click the links and enter the password NWoBHM - I just tried (after completely singing out of 4Shared and deleting all temporary files and cookies, so it didn't recognise me), and they all worked.
I'll create a new MySpace page and post the link - my existing one is for my other project with my "band" (just a colleague from work, but, you know, we try!).
Only 1 week left to go... basically I'm not going to be able to work on these any more, musically - it's going to be mixing all the way to next Monday's deadline.
However, having revisited some cassette demos from the time, I think my production isn't too bad, in comparison (even my singing isn't too bad, compared to bands like Blitzkrieg or Bleak House, both of whom Metallica covered). It's never going to be up there with major label production like Maiden or Saxon...
The current links are;
http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html - http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/55239174/75ac0f0e/20e.html - http://www.4shared.com/file/55239174/75ac0f0e/20e.html
http://www.4shared.com/account/file/55239118/2a40e4a3/test23c.html - http://www.4shared.com/account/file/55239118/2a40e4a3/test23c.html
Fill yer boots
 ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 21 2008 at 03:03
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Good composition But- I found some of the falsetto a bit annoying- can you scream or growl- might work better. Loved the lead in the middle- had that jammin' feeling to it. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 21 2008 at 03:52
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No - I can't scream or growl (convincingly!), as I mentioned earlier, and I don't have time to work on my vocals to make them better, more's the pity. I don't think my falsetto's any more annoying than, say, King Diamond...
(but you're right, my falsetto does suck - I was trying really hard not to sound like Thom Yorke or Matt Bellamy, as my voice naturally tends to - and thought that a King Diamond approach might work better - I've noticed that Rob Halford uses that particular technique on some of the earlier Priest albums).
The whole piece is one big jam (I assume you mean the first one) - all of them are. I'd love to go back and straighten out the bloopers in the lead, but again, I'm not sure I have time.
Thanks for the feedback!
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 05:36
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OK, I've set up a MySpace site, and called this band Bludgeoning Spawn of Hell's Cesspits - I thought that was quite metal, even if it's more typical of the late 1980s than the late 1970s.
http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn - http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn
Rock On. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Utah Man
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 10:59
You metal heads are all the same  . |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 20:32
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Just listening to the others on your myspace upload- much better way to go. Just the way it goes- Like it. Nicely constructed. Drums sound a little too much like a click track- needs some fills (this may be all you were after though). Changing the vocal falsetto behind the chorus to some synth harmony might be better- just a thought. Instrumental- Nice upbeat piece. Better drum patterns on this one. Untitled- Liked it the best. Good construction, some nice changes. This one has the best potential by my ears... Your guitar playing is excellent. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 23 2008 at 03:06
Thanks for listening to the music instead of the production 
I agree with the drums on JtWiG - I haven't done anything to the original pattern I used... you're right... as a click track. I'm going to sort out the falsetto backing - it's not supposed to be that frequent, and a dab of reverb, and maybe some chorus should blend it in better. I'm not going to use synths, because they're not in the original band spec (I started writing these tracks in another thread: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=48197 - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=48197 ).
Very surprised you liked untitled - happy accident, I think, because it's currently a bit of a random copy-and-paste special - I was going to tidy up the arrangement and structure into something a bit more conventional - but perhaps I won't. Mix definitely needs loads of work though - hopefully I can do that this week.
I've got one, possibly two more (the original spec was for 6 songs that could be whittled down to 3 or 4 for an EP) out of 24 different session ideas that I had over the last 3 months.
The final one is very tongue-in-cheek - even more so than the rest of this project, and I wrote it in a 2-hour session on Sunday, with an hour or so mixing on Monday night. It needs some more arranging, but I'll definitely be putting it up onto MySpace before next Monday (which is when this challenge ends).
Thanks for the comments - I'll try to feed the ideas into all the tracks and get the demo into a slightly more consistent shape.
I'll do a bit of work on the MySpace site too - and try to get the overall feel of some long-lost 1970s HM band.
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 03:00
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...so I've uploaded another track to the MySpace of Bludgeoning Spawn... it's called "Walk the Walk".
What can I add to what I said above?
Only that I wasted an entire 2 hours on it last night, re-arranging, organising drum loops, improvising solo ideas, re-doing an out-of-tune bass, getting a roughly even mix throughout, and EQ'ing like mad.
The mix is still awful, and only sounds any good on headphones (NEVER mix on headphones alone like I did!!!) but I really like the way this one is panning out, structure-wise - and it's a lot of fun to jam to.
Apologies for any cheap jibes you may interpret from the lyrics - all the vocal ideas were jammed, ie, not pre-planned - I had no idea what I was going to sing, although I did sing the lines 5 or 6 times each to get an approximation of the right tune. You may notice that the words "Rhubarb, rhubarb", "Blah, blah" and "Jabber, jabber" have been left in...
I can only re-iterate that it's tongue-in-cheek ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 20:03
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They are a pretty pathetic lot here when it comes to getting feedback. Is everybody afraid of offending? Anyway, I'll give you some feedback. Walk the Walk- This is the best one you have put up, and no, I'm not going to comment about the production- that is not you are trying to do or what it is about. This song could easily be put into full production by any band. Even the mumbles could be kept, but replaced with some news, documentary dialog. The lead was particularly well constructed, especially the 2 breaks- loved em. And you did it in a couple of hours- sh!t phenomenal!!! Had to listen to it again. This one should be done again as a studio production (even if it is a home production- I'm sure you know what I mean) and mastered out. It would make an excellent demo. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 03:03
Ahh poop, I've had a lot of things going on in my life lately, so I've had time to just practice playing, scales, arpeggios, running through theory, but almost no time to actually sit down and write anymore, so no way will I have anything good for the deadline I'm afraid So I guess Mark has well and truly won, by an extremely long shot at that But I guess this thread will keep going, so after the NWOBHM theme dies down, I'll start writing some thrash metal stuff, which is more my style of stuff I've recorded in the past, and I think I'm more confident in writing in the style of thrash metal than NWOBHM. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 04:07
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For once, I'm speechless...
Thanks!
I'm hardly likely to get uppity about offensive remarks about my music - after all, I never hold back when I'm talking about other people's music - and, as you'll see from my comments above, I'm happy to use words like "sucks" when decribing my own...
/edit - Thrash Metal sould be a good concept for the next project - let's do it!!!
Same rules - 3 songs for a "lost demo" recorded back in the halcyon days of thrash, and 3 months to get them together.
The difficulty is choosing between 1983, when it was really raw, 1986, when it got serious (and the production tightened up) or later, when technical proficiency became the thing. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 05:27
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[QUOTE=Certif1ed]Hmm - try this link for the mp3; http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html%5b/QUOTE - http://www.4shared.com/file/54746150/5c0effd4/test19f.html[/QUOTE ]
the file seems to be protected by a password - can you post the password?
 -------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 05:54
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Fred- The password is at the top of the page. And Mark, I will indeed start writing thrash songs, but right now, being able to consistently get down to writing songs, recording and production etc etc, is not something I can be sure I can do on a regular basis anymore, because I've got a lot of other music projects happening with friends right now, and that's my priority. Maybe Mike can join you on a thrash challenge, but I really just kinda wanted to do it more for the fun of it when I find the time, but yet still get feedback on my work, although I didn't mean for the fun of it in terms of just throwing together poorly written/ recorded songs, just not really up for 3 month challenge. For me, I love pretty much all the 80s thrash period, from the early eighties right up to the early 90s stuff really (and of course, as some of you guys may know by now, Rust In Peace is my favorite thrash album of all time). While making some attempts at the NWOBHM, i felt a bit limited by the soloing style, but thrash opens up the doors to more techniques to be incorporated. Obviously the earlier 80s stuff was not so technical, mainly a lot of fast pentatonic licks, with more alternate picking than a lot of NWoBHM stuff, but obviously after a while, we had guys going for something more technical than the standard fare Hammett/Mustaine soloing style, to the more technicallly astute Marty Friedman, Alex Skolnick etc, you know the drill and personally I am to play the more technical lead style. I must really work on my rhythm chops again, not as tight as it was about 6-7 months ago. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 06:36
The password is NWoBHM - but you won't need one if you visit the MySpace site I set up for this project; http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn - http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn - all 5 songs are there, and I'm pretty sure I set them to be downloadable, if streaming performance is an issue for you. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Utah Man
Date Posted: July 25 2008 at 15:22
Ha...you noticed I got some PA members to post great feedback on my tunes ...but that was November 2007.
Either that OR it's a case of envy... User "X" has lousy songs & does not want to admit that User "Y" has enormous talent and great music. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 26 2008 at 10:20
^I can't see why envy should even be an issue - I often find it easier to pick holes in music by people who are loads more talented than me 
For a site with so many reviewers, you'd think there'd be plenty who'd want to review their fellow members' music - perhaps it just feels a bit more uncomfortable to review peers (who will probably answer back!) instead of "gods" who probably won't.
I'll try to be a bit more diligent about reviewing other's music after this, but I've created a Garageband site for Bludgeoning Spawn, http://www.garageband.com/artist/bludgeoningspawn - http://www.garageband.com/artist/bludgeoningspawn and will have to do a ton of reviews over there to get reviews from them - 30 reviews per song I want reviewed  .------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Utah Man
Date Posted: July 26 2008 at 10:55
Good point.
Also, It's possible that PA members only wish to review the kind of music they personally listen to. A "Metal Head" might not be interested in evaluating a non-metal song, either because they don't like that style of music OR they don't know what features to "look" for, either good or bad. Cert, you've always been very good about being willing to review other's tunes Thank you |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 04:49
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Sorry about lack of comments on songs, I've used up my download limit again (well my father probably did:P) although if I can find a few free hours when no one else is using our computer, I can probably download some more of the posted songs. Again, no microphone in this corner, so I'll settle for instrumental songs, which means where I would have spent time writing lyrics, I'll put time in with the riffs and solos a bit more. Me being me, I've decided I'll be aiming more for the mid/late 80s/early 90s more 'serious' and technical thrash style. I'll still take in some older thrash influence, don't get me wrong, but at least on the guitar side of things, expect I'm aiming for the more technical style. I'm going to start putting together various thrash metal style drum beats soon, in fact maybe after this post I'll begin doing that, and see where that takes me. None of the bass parts or drum parts will be played by humans, that will all be computer generated of course, but fear not, every single bit of guitar will be me playing, in all it's glory. Since it's late 80s/early 90s stuff, I'm no longer limited to my JCM800 amp emulation on my amp modelling unit, but will instead be using the various Mesa Boogie amp simulations on offer which also have the side benefit of allowing me to use the same gain levels as the JCM 800 model with 20-30 per cent less hum. For leads, I am yet to decide whether I go for the Mesa Boogie amps or the Soldano SLO-100 amp model, the SLO being my favorite lead tone from my amp modeller. ------------- 
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Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 05:11
...silly me
------------- Prog Archives Tour Van
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 05:17
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^Does your download limit include streaming?
I was supposed to be mixing - thanks for all your helpful comments via PM, Kevin - but for some reason, inspired by Cobb2, I put together a cover instead, and have posted it to MySpace (temporarily - I think that I might be breaking the copyright rules!).
It's a cover of Tubeway Army's "Are Friends Electric", and it's riddled with all the mixing issues you get when you mix using headphones.
Once I'd laid down a clean and distorted version of the vocals (annoyingly, I lost the clean version of the "spoken" bits when ACID crashed on me), I played with the riffs, and have recorded about 6 variations that work - but in this case, I opted to stick with some that were close to the original. I may well post the uptempo version later - it's quite interesting!
I also added effects (but not quite enough!) to mimic some of the synth sounds Numan used, and try to capture the essence of the piece, but in a more Metal kind of style.
Anyway, it's what I could achieve in 4 hours, so check it out; http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn - www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn
 ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 05:33
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Yep, my download limit includes streaming Well, it's occurred to me my thrash metal rhythm chops I had 6-7 months ago that allowed me to play very intense stuff is not quite there anymore at all I'm still very tied up with another musical project with friends, and I always like to cheap my lead chops in good shape, so time for really really practicing intense technical thrash rhythm wont be available for many months in fact. Given that, I'll make more of a compromise I guess. Expect that my riffing will be no more technical than the early 80s thrash stuff of Kill 'Em All, Bonded By Blood and all those old records, but you can be sure the soloing is more modern sounding than that era, so audiences get to hear a blend of early and later periods of thrash in my up coming songs, so hopefully overall it comes out as sounding a bit different to stuff that was just strictly based on one era per record ACID crashed on you, ouchy! I'm using Acoustica Beatcraft for drums and a mix of Audacity and Acoustica Mixcraft for direct guitar recording purposes. The Acoustica stuff is nothing fancy, cheap programs that get the job done. For bass guitar, it's Guitar Pro 5 -------------
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Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 05:46
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hi Mark, heres my critique of the "test 19" song, no comments about the sound quality as you requested ( i must advise though that using electrical equipment in a bathroom is potentially dangerous..).
i liked the Metallica-style intro, though it seemed disjointed from the main song, as if it were stuck on. overall the song is a good song, even though i couldn't understand a single word - the vocals were awful - reminiscent of a drunken karaoke night, out of tune, strained, embarrassingly bad. the song justifies a good singer(s), which is the most important element(s) of a band, i suggest Bruce would fit the bill here perfectly, or someone who knows how to sing in his style.
the guitars sounded great, the rhythm and bass worked together well and sounded good, though the bass was a little indistinct (use a pick) and the drums were a let down, you need a good drum sound for metal!
the little Maiden style lead guitar solo was good, it broke up the beat and added colour.
now hit me...------------- Prog Archives Tour Van
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Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 05:57
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Never heard Tubeway Army- were they big in England? Or underground punk. If the Numan is Gary Numan his pop stuff put out in the 80's was certainly heard over here. You need to get out from under the headphones- very bad mixing levels, especially on the repetitive lead riff (was that a synth on the original). As always good playing. Some of the drums sound real and some sound synthetic. Do you use two different was to get your drums. Your vocal suited the song. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 12:55
Actually, the intro was stuck on... it's all in the mix, and I'm still learning about mixing.
The vox were all improvised in a single take - and that was my first ever attempt at singing rock. I was trying to sound like a typical rock singer of the time - listen to Holocaust demos and you'll see what I was aiming at. I don't use Antares or any other form of voice correction, and refuse to, as I can hear it at work, and hate the synthetic sound. Give me an old-fashioned out-of-tune voice any time (all singers sing flat, but good/experienced ones know how to hide that).
I agree, though... they were very bad. I'm actually a fully trained and experienced singer of classical styles including oratorio and opera, and have performed many big solos, including Count Almaviva in "Le Nozze di Figaro" - but as a rock singer, I know I suck - but now I've started working on it, I may improve - you never know
The drums need mixing - they're all loops.
I did use a pick on the bass - the original mix (19d) was too bass heavy, and I over-compensated when I remixed.
Between the lines, though, it looked like you enjoyed the song despite its flaws, and your comments are well taken and helpful - and I may well go back and do more remixing. Maybe I can even improve my rock vocals
It's difficult to get away from the cans - I have a 4 year-old daughter, and can only mix my music after she's gone to bed.
The drums are all loops taken from the same live drumming session - and all badly mixed!
The lead line is, guess what, badly mixed - I know. I only got 2 out of the 4 sections mixed to my satisfaction; the 2 heavy guitar sections that frame the verses and the spoken sections. The vox are way too far back in the mix - Wow - a good comment about my vocal for a change - thanks!
Did you like the song, despite not knowing it? (yes, Gary Numan fronted a band called Tubeway Army before going solo - "Are Friends Electric" was a big hit in the UK in 1979).
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 23:52
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Yes, I liked the song. Probably would have bought the album back then if I had heard it. So how do you get the live drum samples integrated so well into your tunes? Is Acid that good? I'm only familiar with writing drums on a percussion line in Sonar. Do you use waves and loop them out to the length of the song and add fill waves where you need them or have you got some sort of sample keyboard? |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: July 28 2008 at 01:42
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Mark if you could send me a file of the guitars only for "test19" without drums and vocals i could add a drum track for you (i have a Roland TD-12) , i know drums are usually put down first but should not be too much of a problem!
might be interesting
------------- Prog Archives Tour Van
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 28 2008 at 02:38
Replicas is an interesting album, with some great tunes on it. For my money, though, both Visage and the Human League (seriously!) released better electronic synth-pop (if "pop" is the right word for such dark music) back in '79.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu6MDdxBork - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu6MDdxBork
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0WNbm1jz6A&feature=related - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0WNbm1jz6A&feature=related
Maybe I should do this next;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznha2YTTh0&feature=related - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznha2YTTh0&feature=related
Or this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfjDgmlWLyo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfjDgmlWLyo
(I think it'd work)
This?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFDWez7c8Rc&feature=related - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFDWez7c8Rc&feature=related
(I don't think so!)
Yes, ACID is that good
 - but Sonar does that as well (at least, the version I have does - I only used ACID Express because it's free, and part of the remit for this project was that the budget had to be affordable by anyone, so no-one was excluded because of finacial issues).I bought the samples from Beta Monkey, who do "Acidized" beat-mapped loop libraries which are better than either my drumming or my drum programming; http://www.betamonkeymusic.com/ - http://www.betamonkeymusic.com/
The technique is, as you say, to simply add the loop(s), cut, copy and paste as desired, then mix/add effects to taste. It's the latter that makes all my tracks sound like they have programmed drums, as I have no idea how to mix drums, especially in loops, where if you boost the kick drum, you lose the hihat, and so on - but I'm reading up on it.
I've tweaked the drums (and vox, and guitar "synth" lines) in the latest mix, and I've replaced the one that's on MySpace - I managed to get some monitor time, so it's a bit better
However, I only got half an hour, so it's all quick fixes and kludges - the sections have balance issues now, because I worked on the 4 different chunks individually and didn't have time to go back and smooth it out - but I think it sounds better overall.
QUOTE=mystic fred]Mark if you could send me a file of the guitars only for "test19" without drums and vocals i could add a drum track for you (i have a Roland TD-12) , i know drums are usually put down first but should not be too much of a problem!
might be interesting
Thanks - I'm not sure if you were following this project from the start (in the NWoBHM War thread, which got borked), but the initial challenge was to create a 3-track NWoBHM style demo, by yourself, in 3 months (assuming 1 hour per evening, giving roughly a day's studio time for a 5-piece band).
Since today is the deadline, and the challenge is over, it'd be cool to see what you can come up with - but I'd have to render each track as a beat-mapped file first, and hope the software you're using can cope with Sony's beatmapping algorithm (if you're not using ACID).
It'll take me a while to get that lot uploaded - can your system cope with 24-bit/96Khz WAVS, or do you need another format?
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: July 28 2008 at 03:44
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" Since today is the deadline, and the challenge is over, it'd be cool to see what you can come up with - but I'd have to render each track as a beat-mapped file first, and hope the software you're using can cope with Sony's beatmapping algorithm (if you're not using ACID).
It'll take me a while to get that lot uploaded - can your system cope with 24-bit/96Khz WAVS, or do you need another format? "
i have Acid 4, and 24 bit sounds great, but 16 bit will do if a problem - any form will do even a WAV. file or MP3, i can do something with those ok, the bass and guitars don't have to be on separate channels if its easier to send.
------------- Prog Archives Tour Van
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Posted By: Marcos
Date Posted: July 29 2008 at 11:18
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http://www.myspace.com/postmortemarg
------------- www.postmortemweb.com.ar |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 29 2008 at 20:32
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Marcus- I don't think you are playing fair with Certif1ed. They are full studio productions... Brilliant stuff though. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 04:07
^He probably hasn't been following this thread since its inception - I never said they had to be all your own work (including production) in this thread, even though I did in the original. If it's a metal demo, then it fits the criteria, I suppose  ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 04:15
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Well, I guess it's fair enough that Marcos posted his stuff here, although he does already have his own thread for his myspace music band, but I'm not fussed. Anyway, well I've got my download limit back to near full, so Mark I'll download some of your stuff in a minute In other news, I've got some song ideas happening, ,maybe enough for about 1 and a half/2 minutes of material so far. -------------
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Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 04:59
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Currently I'm working on a Thrash song, but I'm still practicing rhythmical accuracy. In the last 10 years I've been playing largely for myself, never recording anything. Playing fast thrash riffs in perfect sync with the "click" is proving to be difficult. Of course I could always use Ableton Live's warping features and record at lower speed.  ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:
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Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 05:06
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^Pffff, only this isn't St Anger where it was cool to just cut and paste rather than actually play it, NO CHEATING, otherwise you will be awarded the "You are nearly as much of a douche bag as Lars Ulrich Award and this award is not a good thing" Award I'm having the same problem to be honest, because my thrash rhythm chops are very rusty, but I might post some sloppy stuff up in the next few days for a laugh Mark- Went on the myspace page and listened to the space. Still a tad too much upper mids/treble on the guitars, but otherwise I really liked the overall production, you really made it sound classic NWOBHM, well done  -------------
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Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 05:22
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^ I'm really a big fan of copy and paste when it comes to riffs ... saves you a lot of work. I can't see why you shouldn't do that - of course when the song finally takes form you can record it from start to finish again if you're "old-school", but during the composition process I can only recommend to anyone to simply record great riffs as you think about them, and later play around with them a bit - combine them to form songs.
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 05:59
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When it comes to constructing songs in the first place, you can't beat copy and paste - after all, the verses and choruses are going to follow pretty much the same patterns and use the same riffs.
All my NWoBHM tracks are copy and paste-fests - I didn't have the time to do them properly, and your tip on using it to speed up the composition process is spot-on Mike - although I truly agree with Hughes - songs should be played properly. That's not "old-school", it's making music rather than a product.
I tried experimenting with "Walk the Walk" last night, to see how it would stand up to being thrashed - amazingly, it worked, just by playing all the riffs with 16th-note based patterns (adding some accenting here and there to get an interesting style, not just taking the "Overkill" approach
), and sticking in some double bass drum loops.Of course, I'd need to completely redo the vocals with a more appropriate style - should be interesting, I've never tried growling before, and my "screaming" needs a LOT of work... then there's the guitar solos, which will probably have to be Kerry King specials, since my shredding technique needs a lot more practice than I have time for.
The other interesting thing will be getting the 1990s guitar tones - I've been practicing getting a much more modern sound (as well as the retro late 1970s sound), and to my ears, the late 1980s/early 1990s are generally a disaster area (Metallica's self-titled album apart) for amp sounds. Alice in Chains sounded good, and the Almighty had a great sound - but everyone else seemed to use choruses to fatten the sound up - which is cheating, in my book.
You should first get a great sound from your amp, THEN pretty it up subtly, or bludgeon the life out of it with OTT effects - for effect only, IMO. The other thing they tended to do was massively scoop the EQ - why? Why not just cut the midrange on the amp's EQ, if that's the sound you're after? I find that BOOSTING mid on the amp and cutting bass works better anyway for a really big sound.
Any more guitar sound production tips specific to getting a good thrash sound? ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 06:51
Well, I was just talking about speeding it up as cheating, but I no you don't want that award for being a douche, so I know you wont cheat I think, to give it more of a 80s thrash vibe, everyone try their best to see how long their stamina and accuracy can take them in one recording but of course I have no problem with anyone that wants to cut and paste as much as possible, I just think it takes away from the challenge a little.
Ohhhh, I've done vocals on a thrash metal song before, I just sound like I'm not taking it seriously, and that's when I actually try to do them seriously Well, I was actually listening to Alice In Chains yesterday, and yep, a great guitar sound Cantrell had, even if it's not thrash, I'm sure his Bogner amp he uses would be pretty much suited to any heavy style of music. For me, I'm going to be using the Mesa Boogie amp simulations, with the mid range cut, which I think can work great on record, but never really works that well in a live situation (in band practice, I ALWAYS crank the mids), and just double/triple track of course. For leads, I'm going for the Soldano SLO-100, which is pretty much very mid rangey sounding, and I would rather use that for leads because it just sound thin like a mid scooped amp sound would. How much bottom end you use, is partly dependent on the pickups on your guitar. I use a Seymour Duncan JB-4 bridge pickup, which has amazing harmonics for leads, but the bottom end it fairly loose, and you need to back off the low end for rhythm guitar to stop it mushing up (that said, the JB isn't as loose in the low end, as say some of the humbuckers fitted to many of Epiphones guitars). Dave Mustaine used the JB throughout his career, and my guess is that his low end it slightly backed off to maintain a clearer signal path. He now uses his own signature active pickups, and the bridge is based on the JB model, but the output is higher, and they seem to handle more bottom end without mushing out as quickly as their passive brother (I've the Mustaine Live Wire active pickup before, so I can testify to first hand experience with it and I highly recommend them for a searing metal tone). -------------
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Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 06:54
I've found that I always end up with the Line6 Insane model. I should even have some tones in my locker ... :-) As far as recording is concerned: Usually you need to alter your tone a bit ... if it sounds good on its own, without any other instruments, it will probably have way too much bass. Boost the mid range and remove most of the bass ... of course here the Gearbox plug in comes in handy, as you often find out later that the settings should be different. If you take away too much during recording, you can't put it back in later - of course you can boost the eq, but that degrades the sound quality. ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 07:41
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^Have you downloaded the "Wherever I May Roam" Tone into your locker? I d/l'd loads of Line6 tones, but that's the one I always fall back to for seriously heavy riffs. Sounds great with EMGs ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 08:31
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Heh - I was just listening to the 1,000,000th Metal band that sound like Fear Factory on Garageband, and was reminded of this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycjVSyDVQM%20 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycjVSyDVQM
Suddenly, my cover of "Are Friends Electric" doesn't sound so bad - and FF had Gary Numan himself to help them.
Might have a go at "Cars" myself - obviously, without the synths. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Marcos
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 11:08
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First, we recorded the drums at a studio. Then we recorded the other instruments and vocals at home. I have a M-Audio Fast Track Usb, and a Line 6 Pod 2.3
http://www.myspace.com/postmortemarg ------------- www.postmortemweb.com.ar |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 16:24
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What tone did you use for your guitar? ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 18:53
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Alright folks, here it comes: http://progfreak.com/_ws/mediabase/mp3/MikeEnRegalia-Thrash1.mp3 - http://progfreak.com/_ws/mediabase/mp3/MikeEnRegalia-Thrash1.mp3 Edit: Second mix, with less snare: http://progfreak.com/_ws/mediabase/mp3/MikeEnRegalia-Thrash1-2.mp3 - http://progfreak.com/_ws/mediabase/mp3/MikeEnRegalia-Thrash1-2.mp3 It's really just my first experiment at recording with Ableton Live ... expect nothing musically challenging. Let me know what you think about the guitar tone though. BTW: I don't have any bass instrument right now so I used a string synth ... in case you were wondering. ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:
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Posted By: Marcos
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 19:41
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I don`t remember what tone I used, but I can tell you my way of record a `strong` guitar:
I record two tracks with the same thing, but with different sounds (amp, box, EQ). Then, one of them go to left (35%, maybe) and the other one go to right (35%). You can experiment with this way. ------------- www.postmortemweb.com.ar |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: July 30 2008 at 19:57
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MikeEn- Excellent recording. Liked the intro, then the change into the hard driving metal guitars, then the lead out with same echoed chords was nice. Good rythme and balance throughout. Do you sing? If not, I feel a collaboration with Certif1ed coming on- the tune screams out for a vocal. edit: you seem to have got a handle on Ableton fairly quick. The recording was pure and sweet (strange way to describe metal...). Are the drums from Ableton or something else? What about the effects- Ableton or guitar equipment? Shame you didn't have a bass to give more drive. What about writing your bass lines in midi? |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: July 31 2008 at 00:43
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A very nice recording Mike I liked the guitar tone, but I reckon once you buy that Line 6 X3Live, it will get even better Everything sounded pretty good, but the snare had a bit too much punch in the mix, back off on the snare volume for better balance. -------------
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 31 2008 at 03:06
I did a thorough review, but then lost it, thanks to the "Service Unavailable" bug. Serves me right for not saving what I wrote to Notepad
 The essence of what I wrote is that the tones are really nice - seems like you've gone for the smoother side of metal for this piece. I particularly like the lead sound - like Gilmour/Latimer but smoother.
Overall, I think the tones tend towards the toppy, and there needs to be a beefier rhythm sound - maybe with a little less top, more low-end, and maybe use the neck puckup exclusively, and layer it up?
I hope this posts this time...
I think the tune screams out for a decent vocal...
I'd be happy to lay some bass down, though. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: July 31 2008 at 03:16
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^ thanks Harry! I agree about the snare, I did a second mix with less punch. @cobb2: Thanks to you too! You're right that the tune calls for vocals, and I do sing ... unfortunately I don't have a microphone yet, and I would have to write some lyrics first. The instruments - except for the guitars of course - are all Ableton Live Lite Edition ... which is fairly limiting since the Lite Edition only comes with a couple of drum sets and a sampler with a few instruments. The drum set is called "80s Gate", and it was the best I could find for the moment. The effects are all Ableton Live as well - the ping pong delay for acoustic/lead, the reverb and compressor. The bass is midi, and like I said above it's simply a string/synth sound from the Ableton Live sampler ("Warm Strings"). The guitars were all recorded through Line6 Gearbox. I'm still evaluating all the options ... I could upgrade to Ableton Suite, I could also buy some software instruments ... I could also buy a real bass. @Cert: Thanks for your kind words! I ran into problems with the forum too when I wrote this post ... let's hope that at some point Max manages to find a permanent solution. I think I'll try to experiment with a rectifier sound for the rhythm parts and see how that works out. As far as the bass is concerned ... playing bass is something which I always wanted to try. If you're interested I could supply you with a mix without the bass, but I also want to try to get ahead in that department. BTW: I'm not really happy with the chord progression in the bridge part ... it sounds more like Porcupine Tree than Thrash. it definitely needs improvement - I just threw it in to have something to play a solo to. ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: July 31 2008 at 04:09
I'm up for taking a bassless mix and bassing it up
OK, get a composition you're reasonably happy with, and I'll bass that one up ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: August 03 2008 at 14:17
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I'm on holiday in Sardinia for the next week and a few days, so have fun! ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 03:07
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Got back on Tuesday, and found a couple of hours yesterday to knock up a prototype thrash track.
As for the NWoBHM project, this is a scratchpad of early ideas, not a completed piece.
I composed it in exactly the same way as I did for the HM project;
1. Improvised rhythms to a single drum loop/click track for about 10 minutes or so.
2. Edited it into manageable chunks - I was quite surprised at how many of the various sections I liked, so kept most of them.
3. Added bass, section by section.
4. Noodled away, improvising solo lines - here is where my lack of shredding skillz lets me down a bit - but I figured out a few bluffs (including a couple I nicked from Malmsteen) to make me sound faster and more precise, even though I'm blatantly under-rehearsed and hence very sloppy at this lead style. It was fun, though!
4. Added a second rhythm guitar.
5. Added some more drum loops and fills.
6. Roughly mixed it by panning the rhythm guitars 100% left and right and boosting volume.
There is NO EQing and NO compression, and it was all done via the cans again.
The guitar tones I used were;
Rhythm 1: Metallica - Enter Sandman Verse (downloadable from Tone Locker) Hi Midrange boosted in Gearbox.
Rhythm 2: Metallica - Master of Puppets Rhythm 1 (downloadable from Tone Locker) - volume boosted in Gearbox.
Lead: British Metal - Gearbox Preset.
Bass: Tom Sawyer - Gearbox Preset - volume and bass boosted in Gearbox.
I've removed "Are Friends Electric" and upped it to MySpace - but it won't stay there long!
http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn - http://www.myspace.com/bludgeoningspawn
------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Petrovsk Mizinski
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 03:35
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Gave it a listen, not too bad. Are you using the KH ESP LTD for this? Sounds like the EMG HZ muddiness coming through, although I'll have the same problem, because my bridge pickup (Seymour Duncan JB) is great for leads but the bottom end is too loose for my liking. Obviously done pretty rough, the lead guitar lacking a bit of punch in the mix. A fairly solid composition actually, more so than I expected. -------------
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 03:54
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I'm using my 2 Westone Thunder 1As (lead and bass), so these are both Matsumoku active coil buckers. I always use these guitars to prototype stuff, because I can get practically any sound I want out of them (not perfect, but that's why I own other guitars which are more "specialist" sounding). My lead is a fairly early model from 1983, with Matsumoku Hammer pickups, which are serviceable humbuckers, but the bass is a very late (1987) model, so has two fat Magnabasses - hence the reasonable Rickenbacker 4000 series impersonation
. I switched the actives off for the first rhythm guitar - and it punches through in the mix better than the second, which is a pity, as I played much better rhythms the second time around (you always hear what can be improved as you work on a piece!).
I deliberately trimmed the treble on both instruments to try to fatten the sound a bit, and rolled the bass off the entire mix, as my earlier mixes were all a bit too bassy - but probably overdid it (that's what you get for mixing in headphones ). ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: August 14 2008 at 06:51
| Well done. You got the musical style pegged right. Reminded me of early Metallica- even some of the lead licks had that Hammettish feel about them. I know this was just about style, but for a first mix not too shabby at all. |