battle/funeral instrumental

[B.SABBATH]

hey guys,

a friend and I came up with this tune and we recorded it on the spot.. He's on guitar and I'm on drums. We recorded the rhythms live, and I drenched it with keyboards afterwards.. the solos are keyboards..


it's a funeral/battle, type tune.. instrumental metalish.. It's fairly heavy..


I'd like to get some mix comments more than anything..


thanks as always doooods!

it's the last tune

www.nowhereradio.com/samij/singles

[jjtcorsair]

I think it's a race to see who downloads and comments first...

[elephant]

very cool goth groove

The gtr has a good bite and presence. Do I here three gtrs left center and right? am not sure. If so they need some separation to get a smidgen out of phase. and perhaps played in different harmonies.

and is the gtr being doubled with a pitch shift down an octave or doubled with keys? If it's keys I would try more of a picked bass. again for some separation

The drum part is right on but the gtr sounds so good, the drums (snare and kick)sound sort of flat by comparison. maybe a tight gate wet 30 -50

this is a good groove, glad to have a listen.

[jjtcorsair]

Rainbow...

to be more precise, the "Rising" album.

Critique...

The drums need to be more present. Bring them up a bit and everything else down a bit and you're there. Or take some of the verb off the drums to bring them out of the shadowy procession.

Tonally I'm boned away!

RIP,
Jon

[Guernica]

Hey Sam........
Damn man, how do you shit so many of these things out so quickly? .....just your speed is impressive.

First off, whats the source of the bass sound? I like! The low end is way punchy.
.....and those guits are BIG and FAT.....thumbs up to your buddy. Great job on the guitars!!!
The drums sound great......but you know that. I noticed that JJT mentioned something about the drum levels......mmmm, i didnt hear that, they sounded plenty big to me. If anything, maybe a touch more verb on the snare. Maybe its my 'phones.
.......the keys, also great............ ........damn dude im tryin to bag, but im comin up weak. Ive listened to it 4 times now. Im lookin for something to bitch about......... .......oh well, I resign to just saying great fuckin job as usual.

















........wait, Ive got something........ IT NEEDS VOCALS!


Nice work bro, G

[chrisharris]

THAT DAMNED HI HAT IS TOO LOUD!!!!

(I'm kidding...actually, if anything, I'd bring every percussive instrument up a tad...but I'm listening on headphones...so ignore me).

-chris

[Kramer]

That was a helluva ride man.I dont have any mix comments as usual because Ive never mixed anything quite like your music and I didnt notice anything that sounded terribly wrong with the mix.I was hoping for a screaming guitar solo somwhere in there but thats just me. You definetly have your final mixing down to a science these days...your last few tunes have sounded polished and normalised.....you seem to be in a creative river right now with at least a song a week,while I on the other hand, need to get my ass into gear and post something new!

Good job sam.

[mkg]

Haven't read the other posts yet, so please excuse if the following is redundant.
I listened at fairly low volume with comp tweeters and subwoofer. The drums sounded very good to me, just right in the mix. Drum eq was very good I thought. In fact, levels of all tracks sounded right.
Might just be my system, or my ears, but the overall mix (except drums) sounded slightly mid-heavy. Think I would have liked a little scoop...but again, may just be my playback.
To these ears you did an excellent job, the mids comment is very subjective.
I liked the backwards key riff at the end a lot. So much that maybe it could occur a few times throughout the piece in various forms as a theme to contrast the dirge motif.
As usual, a skilled and challenging work from you, congratulations on another fine piece.

Mark

[caretaker9]

Sam... Man, a very rich and thick sound! Great mix... The only things that stuck out to me, and mind you, this is nit-picking... was the short lead riffs (at about 4:15) were a little buried (intentional?)... and the hard panning on the cymbals was noticable, but not distracting. Overall, the mix is incredibly full, and nothing is battling to be heard; another killer tune!!

[mixmkr]

sammie...I think you need better equipment.... ya know...like those plungers with the fiberglass handles... Then you can beat the shit out of your boss (presuming you're employed by another) with said, durable, mr. unstuffer...and therefore have time to play a little more music and get a life!!

ah...so when are the 50 naked women coming over to sing bg vocs, so you can ditch those cheezy patches??

You don't need mix comments, you snowzer!!... You need gigs ...or a manager who can sell a boatload of CD's outta da house!!

[mixmkr]

Originally posted by B.SABBATH

I'd like to get some mix comments more than anything..

Ya see guys....that's how ya get good. This person here would rather hear mix comments than say....even a good piece of ass... Now that's dedication!!

[Fed]

this is cool.... got to hate those cymbals though...
mix... hm... the drums are very clear and it actualy feels strange and wrong somehow ... why??? dunno...

good drumming Sam... to keep it interesting... like that place at 2:00...

ok it's 1:30 I'm off to bad... how come there is no yawn icon?

cheers

[CrankyOne]

First of all, the drums volume level sounds just about right. The snare could use a bit of reverb, since the snare sound is kinda short. Just a thought. The hi-hats seemed to be on the right level. I don't think you should lower their volume, at least not in the slow parts, because that's what's driving the rhythm in the slower parts. The tom sound is pretty damn good. Sounds so powerful there. The bass is good, not boomy or anything, just right. The solo guitar thingy at 4:14 should be louder. The drum fills sound kinda out of place behind the riff that starts at about 3:28. Just sounds like not every one of them succeeded perfectly. But if you played the drums live, then I understand the situation. You've heard a lot about those fat guitars already, I suppose, so I'll leave it at that But... I would have liked the sounds more if they were be panned to the sides. Your approach works good too, and I understand you did it live, so double-tracking the guitars would make it less live, I guess...

The song is well structured and has that nice catchy hook. And it has your name written all over it, which is good too. You seem to surprise me with sounds I wouldn't have expected, like that weird synth bass sound at the beginning and later on. I like the song, indeed.

...oh, I did hear a slight slight weirdness there. The first hihat's of the song sound kinda unnatural somehow. Sounds like there's a minor gap between the open and closed hihat sounds. Could just be my paranoia, though

[participant]

Sam,

I feel like Antoine Salieri to your WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART ('cept your funeral tune didn't kill you ). How in the world do you hear all those notes? Another great composition.

[B.SABBATH]

hey guys, a couple quick recording notes.. The main guitar rhythm is just 1 guitar.. He was too lazy to double it, so I just tried to beef up the one guitar track with keys etc.. The only time there is 2 guitars going is in the faster 'battle scenes.' He doubled a few of the runs that start @ 3:30.. I wrote the guitar riff @ 2 min.. It repeats faster later.. After we got the initial rhythm, I had to punch and fix the many drum mistakes. I spent longer fixing my drums than we did recording the rhythm together.. He played a 7 string guitar tuned to A#.. This song was for a big concept idea that I gave up on.. It was going to go with another song I did with him called C# minor.. I have a whole narration thing in the archives. Maybe I'll get around to finishing it before I die.. For the solos, I ran my XP-30 through a Pod Pro and a Blue Max compressor..








elephant - thanks for the listen.. Read the above for the guitar info.. this is not the best sounding thing but I ran out of ideas on how to make it better. thanks for the advice..




jjtcorsair - "RIP" Now that I think of it, I did hear the Rainbow song but I didn't remember it until you mentioned it.. It wasn't intentional.. A funeral can't be copyrighted anyway. thanks for the feedback man..




Guernica - My initial post may have been misleading because I have been working on this for awhile.. This is another from a pile of songs that I never got to finish.. I'm only now putting the icing on the cake... or 'closing the coffin' as they say.. It took me a long time to mix this to where I can live (die) with it.. The bass sound was my 5 string (tuned to A#) through a Sansamp GT2 and then into the Blue Max compressor, then into a BBE.. In the slow 'funeral' parts it was synth bass.. Vocals? hmmmmmmm thanks my man.. Smoking was permitted when we recorded this.. It was similar to a Cheech and Chong vibe. Check out his picture!




chrisharris - thanks for the feedback man!




Kramer - I really wanted to solo over this, but I didn't out of respect for the guitar player.. Although I should have because he got very lazy.. I tried to make those keyboard solos more like vocal melodys.. I never normalize, and I don't use compression on the final mix.. If anything shows improvement, it's directly because of people like you, and the rest of the clowns here! I appreciate very much that you always comment and help out.. Get some new tunes done so I can bitch at you! thanks Krame!




mkg - your right! I hear the mids thing too. I tried to e.q. it, but I kept ending up with something noisy.. I used hardly any e.q. and no compression on the drums at all.. Maybe I could add more of the backwards keys thing.. thanks a lot for taking the time and for those comments.. Your hearing the same thing as me..




caretaker9 - thanks Undertaker 9! I think I should raise that end solo.. I didn't want it to be harsh so I may have taken it down too low.. I tried to pan the cymbals for the illusion of a real drummer.. I guess I failed.. thanks for always checking out my tunes man.. I always remember who did..




mixmkr - Where ya been man?! There has been several songs here I was curious to see what you would say about them..
I guess you actually have a life though.. You know, I had a good piece of ass................ but she killed me.. Lately I have been settling for a good piece of Pizza.
At least the mixes are getting better.. Hey mix, have you ever heard the 'Vocal' expansion card? I have been thinking about getting it, but it seems to have a lot of those 'scat' and 'boo-bop' type sounds.. I was wondering how many gregorian chant sounds were on it.. Would you be my manager? thanks for making time to comment mix.. I know you haven't been commenting on too much lately.. I do look for your posts..




Fed - I figured I would lighten things up with this one.. thanks for commenting Fed.. I know my stuff is a little dark for ya! Cheers!




Cranky One - I was going to send this one to you and get your thoughts before I posted it.. Read the first paragraph of this to hear about the guitar sound.. I'm glad you thought the drums were halfway decent.. I worked really hard on them for this one.. I had to go back and punch in many drum parts to fix all my mistakes.. This does not match up to the sound quality of your stuff, but I'm glad you liked it.. I thought you would like the battle feel of this one.. Wait until our collab! thanks as always Crank!




participant - thanks my man! I hear all those notes like someone would hear voices screaming in their head.. I guess you thought the mix was decent enough not to give me e.q. suggestions.. thanks for the words Chad!









If anyone wants to see a picture of my drunk guitar player friend and I, I attached it... He's the tall guy in the picture!

[B.SABBATH]

and here's a picture of my music room and recording gear if you haven't seen it..

[TripleM]

I know I've said that I don't like your instrumentals much. But I really enjoyed this one. Real heavy sound without being muddy - perfect balance.

As a 5+ min instrumental, you need to do quite a bit of changing up to keep listener interest going. And you did that. Lots of different guitar parts, keyboard parts, different tones, changing up the drums. All real good.

Now to the minor nitpick section... The little guitar riff at 4:14 was my favorite fill of the whole piece. But it was pretty short. I wanted to hear more of it. Someone commented that it was a bit soft. I agree with that.

Excellent job.

[fenderlikingood]

sorry man, but i had to say something!!!!!!!! mix comment or not.

see above icon^

peace

rick

[CyanJaguar]

Ok, Im enjoying immensely.

I love the brooding/heroic/wailing feel of it. It reminds me of watching the story of moses or one of those charleton heston movies.

Nice mix as usual, good choice of sounds.

Wail on my friend!

[participant]

jeez-S, how many pairs of monitors ya got Sam? And I'm trying to make do with one pair of lousy Alesis Monitor-Ones

Your guitar player looks about how I pictured you. I look a bit like him too, but the hair's much scragglier (and thinner )


Chad

[theron]

Hey dude,

Upon first listen I will say this. The mix is solid and smooth. You certainly can pound the skins! THe song gave a feeling of relentless and trudging movement.......No going back.

the 2:35 mark (or so) lent a feeling of arrival. That git insert at 4:18ish was placed even with everything else in the mix but, it was short and teasing......never to be heard again........

The song was the star but, I waxed and pined for a stand out here and there. It is fine ambient music. Creates a definitive mood and texture. It is verging on a Tangerine Dream approach. Wonderful movement and I can only give myself a head check to listen again and fully absorb all that you've spilled out.

Thanks for the listen.

peace and progress,

Theron.

[King Elvis]

Man this is good stuff. Reminds me of a group called Manowar out of NY, are you familiar with them??
I am speechless...I could hear this as an interlude to something or in a movie where the army is riding out of hell!!

The King

[Flash]

Sabb, Very interesting. Ya, I could see this in a movie myself. Good stuff, Now I see why I need some real drums in my stuff. I should send you the wav files and let ya have at it. Good playin'.

[petelait]

Wow huge stuff!

Sounds like it should be on the sound track fo Heavy Metal 3!

I see the evil forces marching to war!

The drums sound great,very big.
I like the backround vocal chorus sound,from a module?

Collaborating with others,I'm jelous!
Must be nice to have friends!

I dig the bells at the end,is that backwards e-bow at the very end?

Really cool!

Best to you,
Pete

[macle]

Wow, that is some heavy scary stuff. I've said before, this isn't really my thing, but you do it well. I don't really like the drum sound, but that's just my preference. The snare sounds separate from the rest of the track, if you know what I mean. To be honest, I had a hard time getting through the whole track, so I looked at some porn while listening, and that worked oddly, perhaps pervertedly, well!

Macle