Acoustic Metal

Sounds like Alice in Chains. I don't hear anything metal about it, but it does sound really good!

Man the more I listen, it sounds a lot like Alice in Chains. The guitars, the solo, the vocal style. Really cool!

The vocals sound like Lain Staley mixed with Jerry Cantrell. That solo part sounds so much like Jerry Cantrell it's uncanny. If someone told me this was a lost Alice in Chains recording, I'd believe them.
 
Dude, your "Acoustic Jam" is awesome! You are all over the map musically, kinda like me. I like it. That acoustic song makes me wanna try that, just layering the shit out of some acoustic guitar :)

Damn, Capricho Arabe Serenata kicks ass too :) I thought you were a metal guy, where's that at?
 
Forgot to talk about the recording. This sounds totally pro, and I can't see anything to improve short of getting a real drummer to replace the canned drums. All the rest of it sounds perfect. I could easily see this being on the radio. Really nice guitar tones all around, and I love the solo tone. What kind of gear and effects and stuff did you use?
 
Thanks for the feedback John!
For the git solo, it is triple tracked (left, center, right). It's a vintage Kramer with an EMG 81 going thru a PSA-1 rack (for dirt) then to a Crate Combo (clean channel). This is miced with a single Senn e609s thru a Tampa preamp, then into an Echo MIA card. Then in nTrack, I used some verb and filtered out most below 100 and above 1000. In fact, the acoustic gits are triple tracked also, but with an AT4040.

The overall mix is using the kjaerhusaudio.com gold package GAC-1. I just got it, and it's lots of fun to play with.

btw - what is making the drums sound canned? Is it too repetitious?
 
I dunno, they just sound canned. Are they actually real drums? I say they sound canned because each hit sounds the same, even in the fast rolls and such. It's too mechanical and clean sounding, and doesn't have the touch of a real drummer. I guess I could be wrong. So far no one has managed to show me sampled drums that I thought were real, although I have heard real drums I thought were sampled. If these are sampled drums, I would adjust the velocities on a per-beat basis to make each hit slightly random to be more organic. They are programmed well, and they are "good drumming" from that standpoint. Not too repetitive, etc.
 
For example, real drums would simply sound different on those tom rolls like the one before "Hearts can be bruised..." Like each hit on a real drum builds up some kind of acoustics and it just sounds different, whereas canned drums usually sound too tight and clean on each hit.
 
Good feedback John...I'll work on that. It sounds like the toms are the biggest culprit. For the snare, I usually put a little bit of slow chorus on so that each hits sound a little different based on the location of the phase during the hit. Like you mentioned, I'll start looking at velocities too. Thanks again!
 
David, nice tune. It also reminds me a bit of AIC unplugged. While I like the drums, I'd say roll them back a small amount in the mix, and let the guitar carry the tune more. Just a thought, bought the guitar is way cool.

A side note...I see you have the gold series from kjaerhus. How does it compare to the freebies? I only have free stuff right now, but have considered buying some plugs.

Anyway, nice tune man.
 
My wife just had a listen, and mentioned it reminded her of Days Of The New....the first album. She found it very enjoyable.
 
Thanks Dogman...I'll be working on the drums. While trying to make them sound big, I probably pushed it too far...oh...and thank your wife for listening too. :D

Compared to the kjaerhus classic series, the GAC-1 thing blows the standard compressor and limiter away. But I still use their other freebies (chorus, reverb and some others). It is worth the money to me. They have a trial download for about a month if you're interested.

Grey Angel...thanks for the listen. Glad you liked it. 'Yes', you can burn this to a CD and enjoy. And again, I'll be working on the drum sounds.
 
These days it's not often I come in here and find a song that I genuinely like, but I do like this one. Really good job recording the acoustic guitars. The drum samples are pretty good as well, very snappy. Were they programmed or tracked and triggered? I like the bass tone too. Everything sits well with me. Keep pumping em' out dude.
 
FattMusiek, thank you for the kind words. I very glad you liked it. The drums were programmed on a midi piano roll, then sent to DFH2 VSTi. The Ibanez bass went thru a PSA-1 rack...I really like that preamp.
Thanks again for the listen!
 
David Katauskas said:
FattMusiek, thank you for the kind words. I very glad you liked it. The drums were programmed on a midi piano roll, then sent to DFH2 VSTi. The Ibanez bass went thru a PSA-1 rack...I really like that preamp.
Thanks again for the listen!
Click to expand...

It sounds good man... I like it alot.. Why was the solo on an electric? SOunds a bit too electric for me compared with the smooth acoustics..

And, if I may, I'd say that the panning of the toms is somewhat 'fake' sounding , like they are too far apart or not blending together very well or something..

Hell, what do I know. It's good!

:D

PS, a high pass around 80-85Hz on the 'breathing' spots (only) in the intro doesn't fuck up the sound too much, but helps alot to remove the 'rumble'.
 
Last edited:
Stuif, glad you liked it...I just redid some of the drum sounds. By nature, I'm a metal head, so every song needs a electric git solo. :)
jpw23, thanks for adding me to your soundclick. Hopefully there will be a few more in a few weeks.

Everyone who posted about the drums...THANKS! This is what this forum is all about and I value each persons opinion. With that, I've adjusted the drums a bit. I put the toms down the center, and lowered the levels on the snare and toms which ultimately brought out the gits a bit more. It really does make a better rounded recording. Thanks again!
 
David Katauskas said:
Yeah...this may be a weird combo, but it came out better than I had expected. I tried to make every twist and turn a little bit different to keep the listeners attention and tried to have a punchy drum and bass line. Let me know your thoughts.

"Morning Comes"
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283771
Click to expand...


Hey David,

Very nice tune, I love the acoustic guitar tone and the lead style lick/riff/melody.
The electric guitar solo is nicely played, however the tone is a little nasally, it could have been bought forward in the mix more and a little boost in the mids by a few dB's and a tad in the lows!
The drums could benefit (maybe) from a tad more bottom end!

That's my comment's on a tune that I found very enjoyable to listen too, very Alice in Chains as mentioned previously!.........That's a good thing!


Well Done David!

Thanx for sharing!

Gorty :)
 
I love it! I'm sorry... I can't really offer any recording advice... I'm just so impressed. I love the guitar solo! The acoustic riffs are so hypnotic and clean. Terrific job!
 
I dug it man. Kind of more rock than metal. Can't say anything negative about it, other than the tom thing that was already mentioned. If you were going for an alice in chains vibe, some more heavily layered vocals would REALLY sweeten it up....
Anyways, cool song, I liked it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top