Called "The Riff" because it was the first thing I made up myself like 6 years ago.
I can also hear how I should've EQ'd it better already, so I guess that's a good thing?
Honestly that doesent sound too good. You said in your other post you were using virtual amps and you've heard they arnt too good, thats not true. Virtual amps are great and plenty of modern recordings use them. You just have to have a solid idea of what each piece of your "virtual" amp setup is doing. Whats the chain there?
The aim is for obnoxious as possible, every song will have an autotuned chorus, unnecissary electronic parts and possibly some "WOO!"s.
Haha, wonderful man.
I'm going to try to solder and put together my own Weird sound generator. Ordered it last week, but it ships from the states so I guess it won't be here in the cold north of Sweden until the cows come home. Will post pictures if I can of putting it together. It will make a great companion for my thingamagoop.
I had a better EQ set up, with a bit more mids in it, but I bumped the reset and tried to do a quick and dirty version of it real quick.
I actually just plugged in my Boss Metal Zone MT-2 pedal right into my mixer. I agree that it is too distorted. I tried out someone else's setting, and just went at it.
Like I said though, just my first little shitty recording to test the whole set up out. I was mainly trying to get it all to work and be clear, more than anything. Thanks for the feedback, though.
So can anyone give me any tips on cleaning my guitar, it's the Gretsch 5120 posted a couple pages back, the previous owner didn't seem to be very clean, as grime gets on my hand and increasing the friction between my hand and the neck slowing me down a bit.
I have some specific cleaning stuff but rarely use it. Small bit of bleach with some water should do it. If you have some really bad build up on the frets then you may want to rub it down with some mineral oil on the fretboard.
Finish up with a nice polishing. Glass cleaner works well.
I usually use something like simple green to go after gunk, then a quick rub down with a clean damp rag, and then the super secret? A small sheen of lemon oil on the fretboard gently rubbed in with a flat finger. As with anything, you should do small test spot to make sure nothing will stain or damage the wood, the lemon oil won't really work on something like a maplewood neck with a clear coat.
On the body, usually simple green or windex for gunk, then a nice mild polish.
I can't find a decent editing software that lets me input through one sound card, and output through another (onboard). I don't have any speakers for the outputs on my new card, so I have been using my regular computer speakers. Audacity allows me to do this, unfortunately I need something that works with VST's. ProTools M-Powered doesn't seem to, neither does Cubase. Any recommendations?
I can't find a decent editing software that lets me input through one sound card, and output through another (onboard). I don't have any speakers for the outputs on my new card, so I have been using my regular computer speakers. Audacity allows me to do this, unfortunately I need something that works with VST's. ProTools M-Powered doesn't seem to, neither does Cubase. Any recommendations?
If it's because you have 1/4" jacks on the back of the new card, just buy a 1/8" to 1/4" converter, radioshack sells them pretty damn cheap.
Yeah, I guess I'll have to do something like that. The problem is that the card doesn't have 64bit drivers yet, so I've been running all my editing under XP, until they catch up with the times and release the newer drivers, then I can run it under Win 7 64bit, which is what I game with. So I'm going to have to either switch my speakers back and forth, or get another pair of headphones.
Yeah, I guess I'll have to do something like that. The problem is that the card doesn't have 64bit drivers yet, so I've been running all my editing under XP, until they catch up with the times and release the newer drivers, then I can run it under Win 7 64bit, which is what I game with. So I'm going to have to either switch my speakers back and forth, or get another pair of headphones.
Got my new monitors set up last night; they're much more crisp compared to my older pair of monitors (and they're not broken). The bass isn't as boomy and they're much flatter, so it'll take me a little while to get used to them, but they sound fantastic in my small room (10x13).
To celebrate I recorded some scottish-irish folk records my wife had bought recently on ebay?
Brace yourself for the horror. Hilariously enough I got an invite to be in a battle of the bands. I was so floored I didn't even respond. I got bored though and stopped promoting it after a bit.
Oh, and I'm basically completely self taught at mixing and mastering, and have been trying "crazy" "new" (for me) things lately, especially since I started recording under Linux using Ardour. Hopefully some of the people in this thread with more experience than I have can tell me if I'm on the right track. I won't likely change these songs, but your advice will be helpful in the future:
I was just asked to audition for a band that, when I briefly heard their demo CD a few months ago, sounded a whole lot like Killswitch Engage.
I have absolutely no idea how to play that type of music.
I once went for an audition for a band that declined to tell me what vocal style they wanted, and didn't show me demos with their old singer, just instrumentals. And somehow on this information they expected me to perform. Needless to say I didn't end up in that band.
Oh, and I'm basically completely self taught at mixing and mastering, and have been trying "crazy" "new" (for me) things lately, especially since I started recording under Linux using Ardour. Hopefully some of the people in this thread with more experience than I have can tell me if I'm on the right track. I won't likely change these songs, but your advice will be helpful in the future:
I'm not into the type of music so much, so I won't comment on that, but I will say that you definitely need samples with better hats/cymbals. And I know it's a pain because when I was starting out, all my hat/cymbal samples sucked too.
Bus Ticket to Nowhere is using a drum machine, and the rest were played via kit. Not sure what to do about that. I can't really disagree about BTtN though, but it was a remix (plus vocal re-record) and I didn't have the original drum files to dissect and make a new loop.
I was just asked to audition for a band that, when I briefly heard their demo CD a few months ago, sounded a whole lot like Killswitch Engage.
I have absolutely no idea how to play that type of music.
I once went for an audition for a band that declined to tell me what vocal style they wanted, and didn't show me demos with their old singer, just instrumentals. And somehow on this information they expected me to perform. Needless to say I didn't end up in that band.
I had a similar situation, only I ended up in the band. They didn't tell me what they wanted so I pulled out my old death metal voice. Only since I hadn't used it in so long it was less "low unintelligible grumble" and more like "low pitched growl-ish singing". Worked well for that band.
But as to how to play music like Killswitch Engage. If you're on bass, just ride the E along with the bass drum. If there are two guitar players and you are one of them, do the same thing as the bass unless you are the designated "play notes" guy. If you are "play notes" guy, learn a scale and play 3 or 4 notes in a repeating pattern and then move the pattern down 1 1/2 steps. Rinse and repeat until chorus where you can hold out a power chord. If I'm way off and you are a drummer, do whatever, I don't know how to play drums at all. But make sure you learn how to gravity blast because it's "sick" and all the kids are doing it these days.
I was just asked to audition for a band that, when I briefly heard their demo CD a few months ago, sounded a whole lot like Killswitch Engage.
I have absolutely no idea how to play that type of music.
I once went for an audition for a band that declined to tell me what vocal style they wanted, and didn't show me demos with their old singer, just instrumentals. And somehow on this information they expected me to perform. Needless to say I didn't end up in that band.
I had a similar situation, only I ended up in the band. They didn't tell me what they wanted so I pulled out my old death metal voice. Only since I hadn't used it in so long it was less "low unintelligible grumble" and more like "low pitched growl-ish singing". Worked well for that band.
But as to how to play music like Killswitch Engage. If you're on bass, just ride the E along with the bass drum.
More like ride the C. Killswitch's bassist tunes to CGCF for most of their songs, as do a high percentage of metal/hardcore bassists. But yeah, otherwise that's pretty spot on. One song is Open C for literally 90% of the song. Sometimes there's an Open G. Sometimes.
EDIT: If any of you guys have original guitar tracks you've recorded, please post them for great justice. I'd love to fuck around and write a bassline for a guitar track, but I haven't found anything to play with. I won't upload them or anything like that, I just want something to work with. If I happen to somehow come up with a bassline that's decent, I'll of course upload it for you.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
The low end sounds rather empty to me. Bass drum and bass are barely there. I agree to drop the organ a touch. Otherwise sounds pretty good.
Vocals sound like Voltaire, which is a compliment coming from me. Pretty snazzy tune.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
The low end sounds rather empty to me. Bass drum and bass are barely there. I agree to drop the organ a touch. Otherwise sounds pretty good.
Vocals sound like Voltaire, which is a compliment coming from me. Pretty snazzy tune.
Thanks for the input! The organ was actually louder in my first version, so this is the toned-down version after my girlfriend was startled by it. So a few more dbs cut and perhaps some reverb to put it back a bit in the mix.
I'll look into tweaking the low end, too. Could be just that I need to tweak my mastering settings.
Tangent: I'm actually targeting this track to be a future Rock Band Network track, as I figure it would stick out a bit from the rest of the songs up there eventually. Anyone else looking into doing something for Rock Band Network?
Can you? I didn't read up too much on it, but do you have to buy a toolkit for it or something like that? The cursory glimpse I gave the article made it sound like something for bigger bands to upload their own tracks.
Can you? I didn't read up too much on it, but do you have to buy a toolkit for it or something like that? The cursory glimpse I gave the article made it sound like something for bigger bands to upload their own tracks.
It'll be open to anyone willing to purchase a Creator's License and can perform the necessary mixing tasks.
And yeah, I'm definitely looking to do quite a bit of RBN'n.
Can you? I didn't read up too much on it, but do you have to buy a toolkit for it or something like that? The cursory glimpse I gave the article made it sound like something for bigger bands to upload their own tracks.
It'll be open to anyone willing to purchase a Creator's License and can perform the necessary mixing tasks.
And yeah, I'm definitely looking to do quite a bit of RBN'n.
Ah, neat. Is there a set price for the License yet? Or a guess?
Can you? I didn't read up too much on it, but do you have to buy a toolkit for it or something like that? The cursory glimpse I gave the article made it sound like something for bigger bands to upload their own tracks.
It'll be open to anyone willing to purchase a Creator's License and can perform the necessary mixing tasks.
And yeah, I'm definitely looking to do quite a bit of RBN'n.
Ah, neat. Is there a set price for the License yet? Or a guess?
Unless the RBN site says, nobody knows. You can also hire 'qualified' groups to do the charting for you.
Can you? I didn't read up too much on it, but do you have to buy a toolkit for it or something like that? The cursory glimpse I gave the article made it sound like something for bigger bands to upload their own tracks.
It'll be open to anyone willing to purchase a Creator's License and can perform the necessary mixing tasks.
And yeah, I'm definitely looking to do quite a bit of RBN'n.
Ah, neat. Is there a set price for the License yet? Or a guess?
Unless the RBN site says, nobody knows. You can also hire 'qualified' groups to do the charting for you.
Ahh...
You'll be able to take the stems from any master recording* and create MIDI charts for each instrument using the Reaper Digital Audio Workstation equipped with our free authoring plugins. Audition the track on your Xbox 360 console to make sure it rocks properly. When it’s good to go, you'll package everything up and share your track with the RBN community.
$225.00 for a Reaper License. $60.00 for a "Discounted License." Don't know what the difference is.
EDIT: Plus an XNA Creator's Club membership, and something called "Magma."
EDIT: Re: Reaper License -
There is only one version of REAPER. We offer two licenses, depending on how you use it.
$225: full commercial license.
$60: discounted license.
You may use the discounted license if any of the following is true:
* You are an individual, using REAPER only for personal use.
* You are an individual or business, using REAPER for commercial use, and the yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000.
* You are an educational or non-profit organization.
So, the $60.00 License should be good. Unless you are uploading a lot of tracks. And they are really popular.
I was just asked to audition for a band that, when I briefly heard their demo CD a few months ago, sounded a whole lot like Killswitch Engage.
I have absolutely no idea how to play that type of music.
I once went for an audition for a band that declined to tell me what vocal style they wanted, and didn't show me demos with their old singer, just instrumentals. And somehow on this information they expected me to perform. Needless to say I didn't end up in that band.
It's different if they want you to bring your own style it's one thing, but if they wanted you to sound a specific style, then that's lame.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
The low end sounds rather empty to me. Bass drum and bass are barely there. I agree to drop the organ a touch. Otherwise sounds pretty good.
Vocals sound like Voltaire, which is a compliment coming from me. Pretty snazzy tune.
Thanks for the input! The organ was actually louder in my first version, so this is the toned-down version after my girlfriend was startled by it. So a few more dbs cut and perhaps some reverb to put it back a bit in the mix.
I'll look into tweaking the low end, too. Could be just that I need to tweak my mastering settings.
I'll echo above -- the bass is very thin, and it sounds like it's being played through a bad car speaker. The organ is fine, although it could be a smidge lower in the mix without losing it. The vocals are too high, as it sounds like you're singing over a backing track rather than singing the song.
The only other comment is that it sounds really "sparse," in a not so good way, which emphasizes the thin-ness of the recordings. It almost sounds like you made sure to scoop each instrument so that it would stand out apart from everything else, and didn't put any effects on. It makes it sound rather "deliberate," like you set up and just played a part and that's that.
So, I've been trying to get back into writing and recording lately, and I have a few new songs up my sleeve. However, my mixing skills are pretty rusty, so if anyone would be willing to listen to this track and comment on it, I'd be much obliged. I feel that there's something off with it, but I can't place my finger on what. I've mastered the track already, but you should get the idea.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
The low end sounds rather empty to me. Bass drum and bass are barely there. I agree to drop the organ a touch. Otherwise sounds pretty good.
Vocals sound like Voltaire, which is a compliment coming from me. Pretty snazzy tune.
Thanks for the input! The organ was actually louder in my first version, so this is the toned-down version after my girlfriend was startled by it. So a few more dbs cut and perhaps some reverb to put it back a bit in the mix.
I'll look into tweaking the low end, too. Could be just that I need to tweak my mastering settings.
I'll echo above -- the bass is very thin, and it sounds like it's being played through a bad car speaker. The organ is fine, although it could be a smidge lower in the mix without losing it. The vocals are too high, as it sounds like you're singing over a backing track rather than singing the song.
The only other comment is that it sounds really "sparse," in a not so good way, which emphasizes the thin-ness of the recordings. It almost sounds like you made sure to scoop each instrument so that it would stand out apart from everything else, and didn't put any effects on. It makes it sound rather "deliberate," like you set up and just played a part and that's that.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. I wanted a sparse arrangement, but it ended up too sparse, perhaps. So, I made some very quick adjustments before heading to work this morning that sounds like this. Boosted bass low end, more reverb on vocals and guitars, attenuated organ with more reverb, slightly boosted bass drum, and slightly boosted low end on the mastering eq.
I'll tinker with it some more tonight, with perhaps boosting the low end a bit more and attenuating the electric guitars a bit, especially the last solo guitar as I now realize I have a double reverb on it... But it sounds better than before, I think. Although I'm having a bitch of a time of getting the low end right with the speakers and headphones I have.
Posts
http://www.ueak.net/Crash/Music/TheRiff.mp3
Called "The Riff" because it was the first thing I made up myself like 6 years ago.
I can also hear how I should've EQ'd it better already, so I guess that's a good thing?
PSN : Bolthorn
Honestly that doesent sound too good. You said in your other post you were using virtual amps and you've heard they arnt too good, thats not true. Virtual amps are great and plenty of modern recordings use them. You just have to have a solid idea of what each piece of your "virtual" amp setup is doing. Whats the chain there?
Maybe he wants to be in a nu metal band?
Haha, wonderful man.
I'm going to try to solder and put together my own Weird sound generator. Ordered it last week, but it ships from the states so I guess it won't be here in the cold north of Sweden until the cows come home. Will post pictures if I can of putting it together. It will make a great companion for my thingamagoop.
Part of it is there's just too much fuzz in there, I would like hear what the signal chain is as well.
He'll have to write a bouncier riff and tune down to Bb then.
PSN : Bolthorn
I actually just plugged in my Boss Metal Zone MT-2 pedal right into my mixer. I agree that it is too distorted. I tried out someone else's setting, and just went at it.
Like I said though, just my first little shitty recording to test the whole set up out. I was mainly trying to get it all to work and be clear, more than anything. Thanks for the feedback, though.
And it's in Drop D.
I have some specific cleaning stuff but rarely use it. Small bit of bleach with some water should do it. If you have some really bad build up on the frets then you may want to rub it down with some mineral oil on the fretboard.
Finish up with a nice polishing. Glass cleaner works well.
Use a rag, not a paper towel.
On the body, usually simple green or windex for gunk, then a nice mild polish.
I can't find a decent editing software that lets me input through one sound card, and output through another (onboard). I don't have any speakers for the outputs on my new card, so I have been using my regular computer speakers. Audacity allows me to do this, unfortunately I need something that works with VST's. ProTools M-Powered doesn't seem to, neither does Cubase. Any recommendations?
If it's because you have 1/4" jacks on the back of the new card, just buy a 1/8" to 1/4" converter, radioshack sells them pretty damn cheap.
Or an A/B switch.
http://electronicsusa.com/mk1and2.html
That's just the first thing I found on google so I can't vouch for the site or anything.
PSN : Bolthorn
To celebrate I recorded some scottish-irish folk records my wife had bought recently on ebay?
I got to play one of these.
It is what I would aptly describe as "shit hot".
I want. So hard.
I have absolutely no idea how to play that type of music.
I did something like that once. Well, similar idea.
The Demon Sodomite
Brace yourself for the horror. Hilariously enough I got an invite to be in a battle of the bands. I was so floored I didn't even respond. I got bored though and stopped promoting it after a bit.
Oh, and I'm basically completely self taught at mixing and mastering, and have been trying "crazy" "new" (for me) things lately, especially since I started recording under Linux using Ardour. Hopefully some of the people in this thread with more experience than I have can tell me if I'm on the right track. I won't likely change these songs, but your advice will be helpful in the future:
Stealing My Smiles
Bus Ticket to Nowhere
Keep Your Hands Clean
I once went for an audition for a band that declined to tell me what vocal style they wanted, and didn't show me demos with their old singer, just instrumentals. And somehow on this information they expected me to perform. Needless to say I didn't end up in that band.
With your fingers.
With your cock out.
I'm not into the type of music so much, so I won't comment on that, but I will say that you definitely need samples with better hats/cymbals. And I know it's a pain because when I was starting out, all my hat/cymbal samples sucked too.
I had a similar situation, only I ended up in the band. They didn't tell me what they wanted so I pulled out my old death metal voice. Only since I hadn't used it in so long it was less "low unintelligible grumble" and more like "low pitched growl-ish singing". Worked well for that band.
But as to how to play music like Killswitch Engage. If you're on bass, just ride the E along with the bass drum. If there are two guitar players and you are one of them, do the same thing as the bass unless you are the designated "play notes" guy. If you are "play notes" guy, learn a scale and play 3 or 4 notes in a repeating pattern and then move the pattern down 1 1/2 steps. Rinse and repeat until chorus where you can hold out a power chord. If I'm way off and you are a drummer, do whatever, I don't know how to play drums at all. But make sure you learn how to gravity blast because it's "sick" and all the kids are doing it these days.
PSN : Bolthorn
More like ride the C. Killswitch's bassist tunes to CGCF for most of their songs, as do a high percentage of metal/hardcore bassists. But yeah, otherwise that's pretty spot on. One song is Open C for literally 90% of the song. Sometimes there's an Open G. Sometimes.
EDIT: If any of you guys have original guitar tracks you've recorded, please post them for great justice. I'd love to fuck around and write a bassline for a guitar track, but I haven't found anything to play with. I won't upload them or anything like that, I just want something to work with. If I happen to somehow come up with a bassline that's decent, I'll of course upload it for you.
That sounds really great. My only real qualm would be that the vocals are the little too close, not really possessing any of the air that the remaining instruments carry. And maybe drop the organ a little bit.
The low end sounds rather empty to me. Bass drum and bass are barely there. I agree to drop the organ a touch. Otherwise sounds pretty good.
Vocals sound like Voltaire, which is a compliment coming from me. Pretty snazzy tune.
PSN : Bolthorn
Thanks for the input! The organ was actually louder in my first version, so this is the toned-down version after my girlfriend was startled by it. So a few more dbs cut and perhaps some reverb to put it back a bit in the mix.
I'll look into tweaking the low end, too. Could be just that I need to tweak my mastering settings.
Tangent: I'm actually targeting this track to be a future Rock Band Network track, as I figure it would stick out a bit from the rest of the songs up there eventually. Anyone else looking into doing something for Rock Band Network?
It'll be open to anyone willing to purchase a Creator's License and can perform the necessary mixing tasks.
And yeah, I'm definitely looking to do quite a bit of RBN'n.
Ah, neat. Is there a set price for the License yet? Or a guess?
Unless the RBN site says, nobody knows. You can also hire 'qualified' groups to do the charting for you.
Ahh...
$225.00 for a Reaper License. $60.00 for a "Discounted License." Don't know what the difference is.
EDIT: Plus an XNA Creator's Club membership, and something called "Magma."
EDIT: Re: Reaper License -
So, the $60.00 License should be good. Unless you are uploading a lot of tracks. And they are really popular.
It's different if they want you to bring your own style it's one thing, but if they wanted you to sound a specific style, then that's lame.
I'll echo above -- the bass is very thin, and it sounds like it's being played through a bad car speaker. The organ is fine, although it could be a smidge lower in the mix without losing it. The vocals are too high, as it sounds like you're singing over a backing track rather than singing the song.
The only other comment is that it sounds really "sparse," in a not so good way, which emphasizes the thin-ness of the recordings. It almost sounds like you made sure to scoop each instrument so that it would stand out apart from everything else, and didn't put any effects on. It makes it sound rather "deliberate," like you set up and just played a part and that's that.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. I wanted a sparse arrangement, but it ended up too sparse, perhaps. So, I made some very quick adjustments before heading to work this morning that sounds like this. Boosted bass low end, more reverb on vocals and guitars, attenuated organ with more reverb, slightly boosted bass drum, and slightly boosted low end on the mastering eq.
I'll tinker with it some more tonight, with perhaps boosting the low end a bit more and attenuating the electric guitars a bit, especially the last solo guitar as I now realize I have a double reverb on it... But it sounds better than before, I think. Although I'm having a bitch of a time of getting the low end right with the speakers and headphones I have.