If it's something heavy that you crave

[bigbubba]

Hey guys,

Just working on this.Trying to make it real heavy. Not quite there yet. But getting there. A lot of heaviness is in the technique of playing, too, I guess.

The beginning rhythm guitar is not as tight as I'd like for it to be. Ain't that the case with most of my songs anyway?

Past the 2:00 marker it's more of a proof of concept at this point. Not refined as I'd like the final product to be.

Any comments and suggestions on the mix, production, playing, arrangement and all? I'll apprciate any help that helps me improve my mixing.

The Jam - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=419303&songID=4512694

 

[Nakatira]

Oh yeah man this is heavy by all means.

great tune, some nice riffin, and cool lead.
It almost reminds of Perfect Strangers in a way, great vibe man.

I like the way you play with effects on this one, sounds like good fun to play this.
Kinda progressive to.
I really enjoyed the mix, no nits here.

 

[BlackHawk2029]

has a really nice feel to it. the guitars could be cleaned up a lot.. and a real drummer might help. But overall i really like it, it sounds like a more melodic children of bodom type thing, and sort of reminds me of the mission impossible theme song. >.<

 

[true-eurt]

Flamenco dancers with gun in hand, about to commence in a duel....

Electronica-Flamenco-Metal...

I love the axe tone....I wonder how it would sound a bit thicker or more upfront in volume?

The bass is great here Bubba!! Nice thick and full sound to it. It has bite.

Are the drums programmed? They are a bit one dimensional sounding. Does that make any sense? I would love to hear some full sounding drums on this one.

Are you using a sythn?

The feel is seductive and daring and bold. I like it a lot Bubba !!!

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Solid Bubba, very heavy and powerful Good guitar sounds. Maybe it's just my system, but the bass sounds like it's working the woof just a tad too much. Or there's something boxy about it at just points (mainly the 0:40 type sections), maybe try dropping the midrange on the bass or something else there(??). Otherwise the bass does sound excellent. Anyway, good start here, drums sound powerful enough IMO, I like

 

[ausgrindslaught]

Just my opinion guys; I dont think its heavy at all. Bass could be a bit thicker. The guitar distortion is pretty bad... just a bleh texture. I'm not sure what the norm is in this genre, I'm a grind & hardcore man myself and I just cant hear the balls to it.

I'd recommend fixing up the rhythm distortion, maybe fattening the track a bit and perhaps thickening the bass. Not much you can do about the drum machine I take

Nice little song though.

 

[bigbubba]

Nakatira - Thanks for listening man. I appreciate it. I'm glad you like it. Haven't heard the Perfect Strangers. Have heard the name before but not the stuff. Maybe I'll try one of these day.

BlackHawk2029 - Thanks for listening. I appreciate it. So how can the guitars be cleaned up? Do you mean there's a lot of distortion coming thru or like noise coming thru? I do hear the noise in a few place and the fingers sqeaking on the strings in a bunch of places. If you have anything in specific in mind, I'm listening. Also about the drummer, it would be nice to have a real drummer. I agree with you. But working with what's available in terms of gear.

true-eurt - Thanks for listening, ma'am. I do appreciate it. Flamenco? Maybe sounds flamenco'ish 'coz its an eastern tune. I would be so lucky as to even dare play something real flamenco. Yes, the drums are programmed. That's twice someone's dogged the drums. Gotta work on that. And yes, I'm using a synth. It's the sound you hear in the opening. It mirrors the bassline but sometimes in lower octaves and sometimes in higher ones.

SnakeDog5050 - Hey, thanks for listening buddy. I appreciate your comments. Yeah, I was noticing today that the bass seemed to be right on the edge of pushing my system. Didn't quite but almost did. I'll try to EQ the bass a little in the next mix. Well, I'll also try to have the song completed, or close to completed. And that's 1 vote for drums sounding OK.

ausgrindslaught - Hey thank for listening and commenting. I appreciate all good comments. And I appreciate yours. Your honest opinion is all I ask for. So you're the second person to mention the guitar dist. But which guitar. The lead, or rhythm or the bangers that mirror the bassline for the power punch. Well intended power punch. OK, I see your later comment about the rhythm dist. Some of the rhythm dist past 2:00 marker is just too crude. I'm definitely gonna redo that. So maybe that'll address a few issues. You got any specific recommendations for fattening the track and the bass? 'Coz I just normally the EQ the crap out of it in the lower range. But my bass is currently maxed out.

All thanks for listening and commenting. I really do appreciate it. The song is a christian hymn, as all my tracks as, and that explains well thought out tune and the melodic repetitions. The only thing I brought in was the intro and the arrangement.

 

[Dogman]

Hey guys,

Just working on this.Trying to make it real heavy. Not quite there yet. But getting there. A lot of heaviness is in the technique of playing, too, I guess.

The beginning rhythm guitar is not as tight as I'd like for it to be. Ain't that the case with most of my songs anyway?

Past the 2:00 marker it's more of a proof of concept at this point. Not refined as I'd like the final product to be.

Any comments and suggestions on the mix, production, playing, arrangement and all? I'll apprciate any help that helps me improve my mixing.

The Jam - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=419303&songID=4512694

I can't get the soundclick player to play...I'll have to try back later man....

 

[ausgrindslaught]

Well mate I'm not an expert on mixing, but I do know my metal! I was talking about the rhythm guitar, your lead actually sounds pretty sweet. The rhythm, i dunno it just sounds like a stock standard 8-bit metal distortion... how are you recording it?

The drum library youre using it a bit weak too, but I guess that isnt all that important. You could always go steal some better drums like DFH.

Fattening the guitar... well I just did a grind track with 5 guitar tracks. Panned them differently to let all the guitar textures mix, and messed around with EQ'ing and use a bit of phase shifting to fill in any gaps.

 

[bigbubba]

Well mate I'm not an expert on mixing, but I do know my metal! I was talking about the rhythm guitar, your lead actually sounds pretty sweet. The rhythm, i dunno it just sounds like a stock standard 8-bit metal distortion... how are you recording it?

The real dirty rhythm is DigiTech RP200 (FX Pedal) DI'd into the soundcard. The bangers are also the same but done twice with different sounds. So I guess I'm on the right track as to how to make them fatter. I just got to keep them cleaner and all.

The really dirty rhythm is very dist. so that you could use it for anything other than constant noise, which is what attracted me to it. I guess I'll try some other sounds.

The drum library youre using it a bit weak too, but I guess that isnt all that important. You could always go steal some better drums like DFH.

I guess I could get a better drum kit. Currently, I'm using some free soundfont. I haven't even tried EQ'ing different pieces, so I might be able to make it slightly better sounding.

Fattening the guitar... well I just did a grind track with 5 guitar tracks. Panned them differently to let all the guitar textures mix, and messed around with EQ'ing and use a bit of phase shifting to fill in any gaps.

Alright, that's it. I'm adding one more rhythm take in there.

Thanks for responding and commenting.

 

[bigbubba]

I can't get the soundclick player to play...I'll have to try back later man....

The hi-fi is working now. It's the soundclick site. Anyhoo, no worries. Take yer time.

 

[SnakeDog5050]

SnakeDog5050 - Hey, thanks for listening buddy. I appreciate your comments. Yeah, I was noticing today that the bass seemed to be right on the edge of pushing my system. Didn't quite but almost did. I'll try to EQ the bass a little in the next mix. Well, I'll also try to have the song completed, or close to completed. And that's 1 vote for drums sounding OK.

Sure Bubba, yeah I guess the bass almost pushing the limit on your system might be pushing it on others. Maybe try something like ausgrindslaught was saying, thickening the bass up, that'd spread out the energy some in the stereo field... hopefully making it just as loud and powerful without pushing the system too much. Just an idea, I have no idea if that'll work

 

[bigbubba]

Sure Bubba, yeah I guess the bass almost pushing the limit on your system might be pushing it on others. Maybe try something like ausgrindslaught was saying, thickening the bass up, that'd spread out the energy some in the stereo field... hopefully making it just as loud and powerful without pushing the system too much. Just an idea, I have no idea if that'll work

Ok, I'm thinking of adding a second bass track with some different tone and try to pan them different and may EQ them differently.

I'll also be adding a second rhythm track.

I'll be redoing all guitar tracks except for lead. Hopefully, I'll get something that sounds better.

Man, after ausgrindslaught mentioned it, I can hear more problems with the rhythms and how they need to be cleaned better to get the real feel of what I'm trying to play here. I guess in the process of getting something better than before, I lost sight of the original goal. That's why this forum is so valuable.

Enough rambling, will be redoing some of this stuff soon.

 

[monkeymanx]

Interesting sounding song. I'm not a religious man here so I wouldn't recognize it. Anyway, to me it isn't heavy either, but I'm another guy that listens to some pretty extreme metal but also some not so.

The distortion is to fuzzy. It sounds like the rhythem guitar has emphisis on the low end and not enough in the upper mid area. Try tracking the rhythem guitar area with less gain also, but do multiple tracks and then pan to get that bigness.

The bass is definately loud. When the bass is overpowering the kick drum it makes the drums sound weak. I'm into syncopation so I like to have my kick drum and bass working together.

I would definately try some EQing and compression on those drums to make them sound bigger.

 

[ido1957]

Wow bigbubba, lots of good stuff going on here.....

Although the song is already arranged, I would suggest using that intro again later in the song. That intro is really creative and builds nicely. There is a similar part at 1:54 but not exactly the same.

The leads are nice and smooth, bright and well played. I'm getting an eastern or asian feel once in a while. Is it a minor key? My theory and ear are fairly untrained.....

I like the guitar tones you're getting - especially the second guitar. Layering another track will make this fatter - looking forward to that version.

Lots of cool change ups on this - keeps it interesting for the listener.

The bass is overloading on my system too - albeit cheap PC speakers....seems to be the most prevalent towards the beginning and at the very end.

Looking forward to more good stuff.....

 

[bigbubba]

Interesting sounding song. I'm not a religious man here so I wouldn't recognize it. Anyway, to me it isn't heavy either, but I'm another guy that listens to some pretty extreme metal but also some not so.

The distortion is to fuzzy. It sounds like the rhythem guitar has emphisis on the low end and not enough in the upper mid area. Try tracking the rhythem guitar area with less gain also, but do multiple tracks and then pan to get that bigness.

The bass is definately loud. When the bass is overpowering the kick drum it makes the drums sound weak. I'm into syncopation so I like to have my kick drum and bass working together.

I would definately try some EQing and compression on those drums to make them sound bigger.

monkeymanx, thanks for listening. I appreciate it. Well, it's not an english hymn. Well, I've heard quite a good amount of metal but don't so much anymore. I listen to all genres really. But most metals tend to be too evil sounding or negative lyrics or just incomprehensible and so I've stopped in the recent years. Anyhoo, that still doesn't mean that I know how to play metal. It hasn't been until recently that I've actually learned how the bass and rhythms are played so differently in all different styles.

So what makes it metal? Or heavy metal? I know when I hear it but I can't reproduce it. BTW, this was so much meant to be a heavy or hardcore metal but more of a heavy rocker. Althought, I'm open to the metal inclination.

The bass and the kick are both programmed, so I don't see why I can't make it more harmonized.

Thanks so much for your input.

 

[bigbubba]

Wow bigbubba, lots of good stuff going on here.....

Although the song is already arranged, I would suggest using that intro again later in the song. That intro is really creative and builds nicely. There is a similar part at 1:54 but not exactly the same.

The leads are nice and smooth, bright and well played. I'm getting an eastern or asian feel once in a while. Is it a minor key? My theory and ear are fairly untrained.....

I like the guitar tones you're getting - especially the second guitar. Layering another track will make this fatter - looking forward to that version.

Lots of cool change ups on this - keeps it interesting for the listener.

The bass is overloading on my system too - albeit cheap PC speakers....seems to be the most prevalent towards the beginning and at the very end.

Looking forward to more good stuff.....

Ido, thanks for listening and commenting. I appreciate your input.

I do like the intro. It is meant to be repeated once the second verse is recorded, this intro will also be the outro as I see it.

You're getting an Asian feel 'coz all my tracks are Urdu/Hindi christian hymns. Also as such they're more melody driven and sometimes are really hard to fit into some of the techno, rock 'n roll, slow contemporary, and heavy genres that I try to fit them into. I wouldn't know what key it's in. I sang out of tune for hours and strummed all the power chords until one fit each measure and wrote them down. Now whatever key they make when you transcribe like that is beyond me.

I also like all the guitar tones I'm getting except for the rhythm guitar that is too dirty.

I'll be redoing all the guitars, and adding a couple of more tracks soon. So hopefully all the metalheads here will help me make this one sound cool.

Thanks for listening, man!

 

[ausgrindslaught]

Sorry if this has been covered but;

The real dirty rhythm is DigiTech RP200 (FX Pedal) DI'd into the soundcard

Thats why it doesnt sound any good. Record it with a mic if you can. I've never had anything good come of direct inputs into computers when it comes to analog guitar signals + pedals. It just kills distortion.

Also putting heaps of distortion isnt always a good move -infact it often isnt. A couple of guitar tracks with lower distortion level sound bigger, beefier and thicker than one really distorted guitar. Strangely enough, high levels of distortion never sound any good! Dont ask me why, but its the truth mate.

 

[rayc]

I like the middle eastern flavout though that guitar should either be more delicate or heavier. The Tea Party seem to have the eastern flavour lead down to a, err hum, T & you've a nice touch - actually it heavies up further in NICE. So maybe lighten the tone to a more delicate one at the intro.
I like the tone of the lead guitar best - I reckon you could experiment with the other a little. Think Zep & Kashmir.
Nice track though.

 

[Dogman]

Got it to work now...

Cool tune man...I like the Middle Eastern vibe on the leads.

My nits...I think it does sound a bit Boxy, like Snake says. Maybe dropping some mids would help. Just seems the bottom end builds up and takes over. Bass is a bit overpowering...maybe some compression, and eq to make it more controlled might help. It just seems to mask alot of other sounds.

Work on it a bit, and clean 'er up....

Look forward to the next mix. It's a pretty good tune, and should turn out fine when you're done man...