New black metal mix

I like the style, composition, and the guitars are angry without being over the top (a fault of a lot of 'todays' metal).

Needs a bass guitar to fill out that bottom end.

Drums sound electronic, which is not a good thing unless you're doing techno. In metal you want the illusion of there being a band performing it.

I also think you milk your licks for too long. It's good to ride the wave, but eventually it crashes or it takes out the whole beach community lol. The change at 4:00 was a good idea, but again it was repeating the same measure X number of times with little variation. If you halved the times you repeated the measures you'd have a 5 minute song with the same content.

Are you by chance going for that Opeth style of goth metal? It has that feel, maybe it's the double kick overkill and then the slow orchestrated interlude...

The transition to the piano at the end needs some work, and it's been done a few dozen times at the end of metal songs (Faith No More did it best IMO).
 
thanks for the listen. Yeah that middle section does get a little repetitive. It's very common for riffs to repeat themselves a lot in this genre of music. Makes it kinda hypnotic. I need to get a bass to add the basslines. I also need to do the vocals. Are the electronic drums that obvious? I know in the middle section they are but that was what I was going for in that part. A kinda industrial sound. I'm going for more of an atmospheric black metal sound than a goth sound. Bands that have influenced me the most are: Summoning, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Burzum and Graveland.
 
I like Dimmu the most. That's some great ass playing!..

A friend of mine is doing a black-project that sounds alot like this one. (I'm supposed to do them basslines there)

The only part where IMO the measures went on too long was the first.. after that they did carry themselves through in a blackish sort of way..

That friend of mine has the exact same guitar sound that you do, but less orchestrating around the core. Just plain suffer-endulged screaming. :D

Overall I liked the song, needs the bass, It's goth enough to be sung by a female though, or then some SERIOUS screaming.

...Blackmetalists never had very much riffing, mostly grinding the same three notes, for hours. :D

It's a tad too beautiful for blackmetal, good though.
 
well i'm not trying to be just a black metal band. If it's too beautiful to be black metal than so be it. I just create music I like to listen to. Thanks a lot for listening and for your input. I need to buy a bass or borrow one from a friend or something. I'm poor right now and can't afford to buy one. I think I may make some cuts here and there on some riffs. I do agree the beginning goes on too long and maybe that quiet interlude. Although the intro does fade in to the riff. What did you think of the drum sound? Do they sound too fake? I thought they sound pretty good. I'm still new to recording and programming drums. How did the mix sound? What about the guitars? For vocals, I will have a black metal voice. Similar to Summoning.
 
Sort of tongue in cheek wit the too beautiful comment, take that not too seriously. Your drum programming surpasses mine by far. The mechanics are given away mostly the continuing precise cymbals ( hi-hat or Ride) in first couple of parts. Cymbals are the hardest I'd guess...
The guitarsound I like, very scandinavian, pick attacking middle-ish. ...something not common to all. People are too used to that bottom-grinding-table-saw-high-treble-kind of grinding. IMHO that middley-ish sound giveth nice harmony..

The mix is fine by me. Maybe the crashcymbals are a tad low?..
Wait until Rayc hears it, if no-one else sees the error of ways, he will. :D

..seems to sound better everytime I click the link, that is good.

Beautiful as hell though... :D
 
thanks man. Yeah cymbols are hard to program. I think i'm going to re program the cymbols. Maybe play them in real time on my keyboard this time. Actually most of the time it's not a ride or hi hat but a schellen. I don't really like the typical trebly raw black metal guitar sound bands like Darkthrone have. I like fatter guitars with more midrange. The guitars actually are going to be retracked with my mesa boogie F50 amp. Right now they are a vamp2 with some post processing. I really need to add vocals though. I've never done them before though.
 
Nice recording overall ericlingus.....here are some minor things I noticed while listening (on headphones)
- drums sound programmed but very good tone (maybe the cymbal's a little flatbut that's a byproduct.....
- drums are a bit low in the first section.
- the "motor" kik section (the first one) could use some "variety"
- the second similar section was much more interesting on the drums.
- overall the programming was excellent/extensive your efforts do not go unnoticed.
- the keyboard was a nice touch.
- the guitar playing was fabulous
- the addition of a bass and vocals later will make this even better
- tone on the guitar was cool, the F50 will be much different...I use one on a few tunes with mjhamil.....

Overall impressive work.....

:) :D :) :D
 
thanks a lot. I'm not sure what "motor" kick part you are talking about. Are you talking about the double kicks? I am going to re do the cymbal parts. This time in real time on a keyboard to get more of a human feel. What do you mean second similar section? You mean the song after the quiet interlude part? I didn't want to make the drums too complex. I don't think it would fit the song having drums doing fills and drum rolls all over the place. I wanted to keep it kinda hypnotic. Thanks for the compliment on the guitar playing. I when I first started recording, had some major timing issues. I never really played in a band before and never played to a click track, so it took some getting used to. The drum programming took forever. I am still pretty new at it. But i'm glad you think they sound good. The drum program im using is a 40 dollar software drum machine called beatcraft. I used different samples than the ones provided, which I think sound much better.
 
Listening to this a second time for reference times...

ericlingus said:
thanks a lot. I'm not sure what "motor" kick part you are talking about. Are you talking about the double kicks?
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Yes - the double kick part at 3:11 was what I meant.
ericlingus said:
What do you mean second similar section? You mean the song after the quiet interlude part?
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Yes - at around 5:45 it's very nice programming (not double kicks)...and then after that the double kick section seems more complex than the first section.
ericlingus said:
I didn't want to make the drums too complex. I don't think it would fit the song having drums doing fills and drum rolls all over the place. I wanted to keep it kinda hypnotic.
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I agree - you would lose the hypnotic feel if you got too complex.

Enjoyed the second listen as much, if not more, than the first....
 
Sorry I took so long to listen in. I'm suffering from metaloverkill in the forum.
A. Nice beginning. That's a change - not 100% overkill.
the drums are pretty good for progs & the guitar tones , intro, include a fair bit of guitar so I'm pleased thus far.
B. This section needs some dynamic added like a gentle rise in vol. or intensity from something.
C. Nice intertwined lines.
D. single guitar then friends join in again needs some dynamic after the band join in like the 1st guitar going up a notch at a rep.
E. Synth good
F. flamenco industrial? I reckon you should put a subbass synth line under it - it's too mid to top but great ideas. The drop out of piano adds dynamics & there's tha occasional throb of a bass.
G. galloping guitar over F. It should be LOUDER.
H. SOLO guitar intro to whole band (D repeated?) with synth. The beginning of a decending progression that I reckon you should have taken further.
I. galloping louder - good.
A repeat.
The cymbals need a little sizzle & some volume. you don't use them often so they should make a splash when they arrive.
A+ repeat to fade with the piano coming up & up nice. careful - people will make comparisons with Evanescence at this stage.
With no vocal or overarching melody this is a backing track & suffers from the natural repetition that occurs in a backing.
I can hear a squillion things in my head to put over the top - vocal melodies, solos - occasional soundbites.
A really nice beginning - let's hear a finished piece please.
 
thanks for taking the time to listen. I really need to add vocals. How does the mix sound? Does it sound like a mix a newbie would do? Maybe tomorrow i'll retrack the guitars and redo the cymbols along with some edits. Or maybe i'll attempt vocals first. I'm not sure. How does it compare to my first song? Is it an improvement recording wise? How about the songwriting?
 
ericlingus said:
bump :)

anyone else wanna leave a comment?
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I will. I like the track and agree with pretty much all of the suggestions that other have made. I might add that the mellow bit in the middle of the track would benefit from some acoustic guitar; it could work for the rhythm gits or even an acoustic solo. I only wish you didn't list bands like Burzum and Gravelend as influences. How much longer is metal going to have to put up with the bullshit ideology behind bands like them?
 
For me, the riffs are pretty long... But that is just me. I would say, when music is repetitive, it is because of a verse/chorus situation and catchy vocals and such... For the instrumental stuff though, you may want to change it up a bit more often. Some of Dream Theaters instrumental are pretty dang exceptional. I'm also working on a long instrumental, but I do alot of change ups... sometimes rediculous and sporatic... hahaha...

Good work on the drum programming though, maybe some more use of crashes and such though. They do sound electronic, and to me... arn't loud enough.

Good guitar work though... Everything sounds pretty good for what it is.
 
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