i like it! (with or without gibberish). Nice interplay on the guitar/ bass.
Although for me personally the guitar is a bit too fuzzy at times.
Haha, after listening to it a couple times that is exactly what I thought too- It is supposed to just be kind of a place holder melody until I get lyrics... but I do like the idea of it just being sigur ros like gibberish for the end result too (its much easier than writing lyrics, for one lol)
Glad you liked it, extra fuzz aside- that has always been something I can't quite figure out. I definitely agree that its just a bit too fuzzy here, but any less and it isn't what I want either. I may have go shopping for another pedal or two to get just the right ammount
Or maybe I just need to keep playing with my amp/ amp settings.
The_Glad_HatterOne Sly FoxUnderneath a Groovy HatRegistered Userregular
I don't know what kind of amp you have, if it's you want more of an edge without fuzz wiping out your clearness, try to turn your gain/ channel volume up A LOT and keeping your master volume down so it doesn't make your ears bleed. that's always my favourite kind of "overdrive".
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
I've got a Crate FXT120 and a marshall MG15 CDR.
I'm not really into that really high gain distortion- that seems to lose alot of the guitar's natural character. That said, for some things it sounds amazing for...
I'mma keep tweaking the settings until i get something i like.
Also I looked into a new mic set/ usb interface. It might set me back a few bucks but it seems like it's worth it for what I'm doing. Hopefully I can get it soon and you all can notice some sweet sound quality improvements.
I did like some of the guitar stuff on the one track I listened to, if it makes you feel better! I guess I just make my own thread around here if I want to share my stuff, eh?
www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
Go for it, there aren't a ton of music people in the AC yet but at the very least you should get some general comments about the music.
edit: and I should mention that the easier it is for people to get to your music, the more likely they'll listen to it. If you've got it on a streaming site like bandcamp or hell, even youtube, people seem much more willing to take a few min for it.
Something about the little lead portion around :56 of 'July 23' really brings out how nice that chord progression is. I like this latest one a lot.
Edit - I don't tend to listen to guitar music with much distortion, so take all of this with a grain of salt: I also prefer the clean version of the "July 21" stuff.
just want to show some support. There's an appeal to your drawing. I think if you just draw them for hours on end they'll become really natural and then you can pump some stuff out!
This is just the rhythm track and I'll probably work on a bridge or something at some point. I am still working on nailing the destortion... I don't think what I have here works. It sounds too much like the audio is clipping instead of distortion.
Awesome, thanks guys!
@KillerBeeGees: Thanks! I'm glad you dig it. It does seem like a lot of ppl like the clean version of "July 21" so I'll see what I can do to either fix the fuzz or make the clean version work in the grander scheme of the song.
@Bob: Haha, well, I have some comics scripted so I'll probably atleast get those on paper. I have no idea when though and its that "draw them for hours" thing I have a problem with... I just have a hard time getting the dedication to drawing- I am continually distracted by something else. For now, I'm just going to leave drawing on the backburner until I can find a way to get better at drawing that doesn't involve sitting infront of my computer area (I am space limited)
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
alright, more procrastination and I have 3 new things I'm working on (one is something you've probably heard just trying to work some kinks out of it) all of them rough works
I am a complete dumbshit about music so I have no meaningful feedback to offer but I listen to a lot of Iron & Wine (I seem to recall you share this predilection) and Andrew Bird and other dudes like that and I feel like these would be perfectly at home in such a playlist. I especially like #3 but it's mostly because it's a little more hopeful in tone and I'm in a crappy mood.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
Wonderful, I'm glad you liked them!
Yes I really like Iron & Wine and Andrew Bird - both are rather huge influences for me so hearing that my music could be right along side them is super awesome
Sorry they weren't a bit more upbeat for your crappy mood... but i have a hard time making something upbeat that i'm also happy with lol.
And really, even though you don't have much musical background I appreciate any and all thoughts/comments on it
What are you talking about? I make puns all day while listening to Pandara at work. Then my co-workers and I get caught up talking about Peter Panda when Never Never Pand comes on.
I'm digging this. It has a great mellow Do Make Say Think vibe.
A few things, first off, the first two times you come in with the strumming parts it felt cluttered. Too many things competing with the arpeggiated line and the lead line. The third time you come in with the strumming at 2:08 works well.
Also be sure to make sure the arpeggiated line is rock steady tempo wise. That allows the lead line to meander a bit more and feel really expressive.
As far as structure, I felt like I was longing to hear the line comes come to a natural ending at the end of a phrase, then you let it ring for a measure, then come back in all at once with some light drums, maybe with some brushes on the ride cymbal or something. I guess its feeling like it needs another texture in there somewhere and percussion would help give it more energy and movement and give it a place to build to.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
Thanks Lizard!
I totally agree that I need to keep the main track steady. This is just an excuse, but I recorded this while taking time away from homework so a lot of the stuff was just one to two takes while trying to figure out the tempo I wanted. So it is a bit more sloppy than I want, but hey, that's what sketches are for, right? lol
I'll look into 2:08 and see what makes that work vs the other ones.
I would love to have some extra instruments like percussion... but all I have is my mic and guitars. Most of my stuff is written to keep that in mind but I can definitely see how this track needs something extra. Not really sure what I'm going to do about that.
Also, I do one day plan to start adding vocals to my songs and this one is definitely one of those songs- its why some parts of it are a little more sparse and repetitive ... I plan to be singing during those and don't want it /too/ cluttered either. It'll take a little playing around with once I figure out what else I need to add.
Man that last song is very pleasant to listen to, keep it up! I really have no advice I can offer you. Seeing as it's a WIP, you will probably work out some of the minor kinks, and clean up the audio a bit, overall it is a solid and pleasant song.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
Thanks Nic!
I'm actually trying to figure out how to get cleaner audio with my set up. The mic whose tone I prefer tends to pick up a lot of background noise. So much that doing a noise removal filter screws with the actual audio signal.
Other than that, for what I currently have, it is just removing some clicks and pick drops at the ends of a few random tracks... and balancing the audio a bit better.
But I'll probably end up re-recording this at some point and trying to do as much as I can with just two guitar tracks... see where that gets me.
Egg cartons, egg cartons everywhere, it's cheap soundproofing. I'm sure google can lead you to many a resource on that front.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
Yeah... but I only have a few months left in this apartment. I don't want to do anything drastic to it lol. Plus I think the sound mostly comes from my PC fan... but I cannot be sure of that.
Whats your setup like? There might be some things you can do to cut down on that noise.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
I have a small like, 15' x 15' room with my amp on my desk and some mic stands right in front of my pc. I don't really have anywhere else to put them here
What kind of mic(s) are you using for the amp? How close to your amp do you have the mics?
you might be able to buy some foam stuff and put that in between the computer and the mic just while recording. I'm using a foam ripply king sized mattress cover for sound dampening on my walls and it works pretty well.
If you are using a cardioid patterned mic make sure you are setup so you are pointing away from your fans. If its a figure 8 pattern, make sure the fans are on the side. If you are using an omnidirectional mic then... you are kind of screwed without sound dampening.
Another thing to try would be to turn up the amp and turn down the gain on the mic pre's. That should make it easier to filter off the excess noise.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
and I use the 990 more because, frankly, I like its tone better. I'm just not sure how I would do any sound dampening with it because, as it stands, the mic hovers about 5 inches over my mouse. It would have to be something that hangs from my mic stand...
I also have it about a foot from the amp, which is a little far, but the mic tends to blow out if I'm not careful.
The suggestion about just turning the amp up might be a good idea... i'll just have to play around when my roommates are gone and record then.
Posts
Haha, after listening to it a couple times that is exactly what I thought too- It is supposed to just be kind of a place holder melody until I get lyrics... but I do like the idea of it just being sigur ros like gibberish for the end result too (its much easier than writing lyrics, for one lol)
Glad you liked it, extra fuzz aside- that has always been something I can't quite figure out. I definitely agree that its just a bit too fuzzy here, but any less and it isn't what I want either. I may have go shopping for another pedal or two to get just the right ammount
Or maybe I just need to keep playing with my amp/ amp settings.
edit: The song for the new page
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/july-21-vocalgibbrish
I'm not really into that really high gain distortion- that seems to lose alot of the guitar's natural character. That said, for some things it sounds amazing for...
I'mma keep tweaking the settings until i get something i like.
anyway, more demo tracks http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/july-23
Also I looked into a new mic set/ usb interface. It might set me back a few bucks but it seems like it's worth it for what I'm doing. Hopefully I can get it soon and you all can notice some sweet sound quality improvements.
Its all good though :^:
edit: and I should mention that the easier it is for people to get to your music, the more likely they'll listen to it. If you've got it on a streaming site like bandcamp or hell, even youtube, people seem much more willing to take a few min for it.
Edit - I don't tend to listen to guitar music with much distortion, so take all of this with a grain of salt: I also prefer the clean version of the "July 21" stuff.
Keep it up!
This is just the rhythm track and I'll probably work on a bridge or something at some point. I am still working on nailing the destortion... I don't think what I have here works. It sounds too much like the audio is clipping instead of distortion.
Awesome, thanks guys!
@KillerBeeGees: Thanks! I'm glad you dig it. It does seem like a lot of ppl like the clean version of "July 21" so I'll see what I can do to either fix the fuzz or make the clean version work in the grander scheme of the song.
@Bob: Haha, well, I have some comics scripted so I'll probably atleast get those on paper. I have no idea when though and its that "draw them for hours" thing I have a problem with... I just have a hard time getting the dedication to drawing- I am continually distracted by something else. For now, I'm just going to leave drawing on the backburner until I can find a way to get better at drawing that doesn't involve sitting infront of my computer area (I am space limited)
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/nov2
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/album/winter-keepers (if you want to just pretend they are an ep)
and individual tracks
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/keeper-1
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/keeper-2-2
http://thelowlyman.bandcamp.com/track/keeper-3
I am a complete dumbshit about music so I have no meaningful feedback to offer but I listen to a lot of Iron & Wine (I seem to recall you share this predilection) and Andrew Bird and other dudes like that and I feel like these would be perfectly at home in such a playlist. I especially like #3 but it's mostly because it's a little more hopeful in tone and I'm in a crappy mood.
Yes I really like Iron & Wine and Andrew Bird - both are rather huge influences for me so hearing that my music could be right along side them is super awesome
Sorry they weren't a bit more upbeat for your crappy mood... but i have a hard time making something upbeat that i'm also happy with lol.
And really, even though you don't have much musical background I appreciate any and all thoughts/comments on it
Here's about 3 hours of my night last night.
and the rough, process work
also, I cleaned it up a bit, it is easier to read now
who knew that animal puns would cause such panda-monium
edit: i just realized i made a panda pun in response to the original as well.... shut up i like pandas, that said i cant decide which is worse
edit 2: i should walk away from the computer as i have posted in the wrong thread entirely... go me... go beer... go sleepy time
http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/march-26
Its definitely not finished, but it is the gist of what I want it to be so far.
I'm digging this. It has a great mellow Do Make Say Think vibe.
A few things, first off, the first two times you come in with the strumming parts it felt cluttered. Too many things competing with the arpeggiated line and the lead line. The third time you come in with the strumming at 2:08 works well.
Also be sure to make sure the arpeggiated line is rock steady tempo wise. That allows the lead line to meander a bit more and feel really expressive.
As far as structure, I felt like I was longing to hear the line comes come to a natural ending at the end of a phrase, then you let it ring for a measure, then come back in all at once with some light drums, maybe with some brushes on the ride cymbal or something. I guess its feeling like it needs another texture in there somewhere and percussion would help give it more energy and movement and give it a place to build to.
I totally agree that I need to keep the main track steady. This is just an excuse, but I recorded this while taking time away from homework so a lot of the stuff was just one to two takes while trying to figure out the tempo I wanted. So it is a bit more sloppy than I want, but hey, that's what sketches are for, right? lol
I'll look into 2:08 and see what makes that work vs the other ones.
I would love to have some extra instruments like percussion... but all I have is my mic and guitars. Most of my stuff is written to keep that in mind but I can definitely see how this track needs something extra. Not really sure what I'm going to do about that.
Also, I do one day plan to start adding vocals to my songs and this one is definitely one of those songs- its why some parts of it are a little more sparse and repetitive ... I plan to be singing during those and don't want it /too/ cluttered either. It'll take a little playing around with once I figure out what else I need to add.
Thanks again!
I'm actually trying to figure out how to get cleaner audio with my set up. The mic whose tone I prefer tends to pick up a lot of background noise. So much that doing a noise removal filter screws with the actual audio signal.
Other than that, for what I currently have, it is just removing some clicks and pick drops at the ends of a few random tracks... and balancing the audio a bit better.
But I'll probably end up re-recording this at some point and trying to do as much as I can with just two guitar tracks... see where that gets me.
you might be able to buy some foam stuff and put that in between the computer and the mic just while recording. I'm using a foam ripply king sized mattress cover for sound dampening on my walls and it works pretty well.
If you are using a cardioid patterned mic make sure you are setup so you are pointing away from your fans. If its a figure 8 pattern, make sure the fans are on the side. If you are using an omnidirectional mic then... you are kind of screwed without sound dampening.
Another thing to try would be to turn up the amp and turn down the gain on the mic pre's. That should make it easier to filter off the excess noise.
and I use the 990 more because, frankly, I like its tone better. I'm just not sure how I would do any sound dampening with it because, as it stands, the mic hovers about 5 inches over my mouse. It would have to be something that hangs from my mic stand...
I also have it about a foot from the amp, which is a little far, but the mic tends to blow out if I'm not careful.
The suggestion about just turning the amp up might be a good idea... i'll just have to play around when my roommates are gone and record then.
for the love you bring, won't mean a thing
Unless you sing sing sing.
I'm working on that lol.