How to achieve this band's sound?

[Robus]

Do you have any interet in electronic music? There is a lot of fun to be had in that genre and you won't be struggling to make sims sound like something they are not.

 

[rob aylestone]

In my examining of students who had to submit MIDI files, one thing is extremely clear. Mouse entry is NEVER good. We did use step entry at one point but that faded away too. Real people are not quantised. The best musicians are never loose, but they're able to play in front of the beat or behind it in musically appropriate ways. MIDI is often accused of being bad - as in hearing something awful then saying - another of those MIDI tracks, blaming the communication of note data for inept musicianship - some of those online MIDI files are truly, truly dire - maybe we should have a topic for the worst ones?

No matter what instrument you play - how you play it is critical. Doesn't matter if you press keys, twang strings or blow through your lips - let alone hit things - it's a physical thing. Note input with a mouse just cannot cut it - for every note you'd have to edit so many parameters, and even if you cannot play a keyboard, most folk can play in a melody line on one single key - you record the melody with the right timing. Then you can go back and change the notes - that's probably the best approach. Even 80s synth pop knew what to quantise hard and what NOT to do it to. Somewhere I have lots of versions my own students did if a single song. They range from OK to dire. If I can dig them out I'll make them available if anyone is interested in how people can hear different things and then record them very differently.

 

[killahpl]

For drums, I suggest getting a decent drum software package. Because I'm not a drummer, I use EZ Drummer 2, whihc has a huge amount of loops )one measure and longer ones) that one can use to craft a drum track. After a few years, I have become better at taking these and making them 'my own' my manipulating the MIDI, adding my own fills, etc. But its a good place to start. Superior Drummer and Steven Slate Drums are two other programs you could look at.

That's a very good suggestion - thanks for the input. I've heard a lot of people swear by EZ Drummer 2 (though, to be honest, I've heard a lot of people swear by MT PowerDrum Kit, too, but people on here don't seem think much of it) plus it doesn't cost a fortune, so it seems like a good investment. It's certainly more viable than me buying a drum kit, buying a guitar etc. and learning to play all of those instruments on top of already playing the keyboard.

Those privileges are largely based on post count. I'd thought 5 was the threshhold, but it might be 10.

That said, a good way to boost your post count, work on your critical listening skills, and give back to the community is to post in the mp3 clinic.
Lots of folks of varying skill levels and genres put their mixes there, and they need feedback from folks of all skill levels and experience too.

(Honestly, this thread should probably be in the clinic too)

Hey, if you think that's where this thread should be and have the power to move it - don't let me stop you

Do you have any interet in electronic music? There is a lot of fun to be had in that genre and you won't be struggling to make sims sound like something they are not.

Not really - no. I realize there's limitations that're gonna be difficult to overcome without real musicians playing live instruments. I'm looking to create a reasonable facsimile of the kind of sound that can be found in the song I talked about in my first post.

In my examining of students who had to submit MIDI files, one thing is extremely clear. Mouse entry is NEVER good.

Hi Rob.

I'm not sure whether this is what you're referring to, but I only recorded that sample with my mouse to demonstrate the sound of the kit. I agree that relying on mouse-clicking for accuracy in terms of playing would be lunacy.

 

[TAE]

Rob very cool of you to provide such an in depth detailed analysis and advise following... Likewise to the rest of the HR.com crew...

Fix it in the mix.....error! I am not even in the same universe as far as the other members advising here with regard to recording and the tricks to get an awesome "mix" that said.. the term garbage in / garbage out is a truism that should never be ignored...Get the sounds of the instruments and vocals dialed in to the way you want them to sound and the way they are going to be performed dialed in completely before you ever give a thought to pushing the record button..Though it is done all the time and folks can polish a turd..in the end it is still just a polished turd.... if you start out with pure gold going in it's a lot easier to mix it into a beautiful peice than starting off with stick and rocks

 

[killahpl]

Rob very cool of you to provide such an in depth detailed analysis and advise following... Likewise to the rest of the HR.com crew...

Fix it in the mix.....error! I am not even in the same universe as far as the other members advising here with regard to recording and the tricks to get an awesome "mix" that said.. the term garbage in / garbage out is a truism that should never be ignored...Get the sounds of the instruments and vocals dialed in to the way you want them to sound and the way they are going to be performed dialed in completely before you ever give a thought to pushing the record button..Though it is done all the time and folks can polish a turd..in the end it is still just a polished turd.... if you start out with pure gold going in it's a lot easier to mix it into a beautiful peice than starting off with stick and rocks

Agreed that Rob is an amazing guy and extremeley helpful. I also agree that - in an ideal wordl - we should never have to polish turds... but we don't live in an ideal world. That said, I'm a firm believer in not phoning it in whenever possible.

Okay, let's see if I can link to something now.

I found a couple of ready-made projects for my DAW and converted them into wavs. Maybe I'll be able to use these.

Heavy Metal Guitar FLP Updated by killahpl_1985 | Killahpl 1985 | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Heavy Metal Guitar FLP Updated Pattern 2 by killahpl_1985 | Killahpl 1985 | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Do you think these are an improvement at all?

 

[rob aylestone]

They are a hell of an improvement on your old ones and sound much more like a guitar. The Dreamtale ones still don't work though. I think you should re-record the guitar part, as the rhythm just isn't guitar like.

Don't forget that to be convincing it has to be played like a guitar - so if you play power chord type stuff, even with just a two string 5thm the lowest string sounds slightly earlier than the next one up and if it's an up strum, the order reverses. Other common errors are notes guitars can't actually play. Low twiddles around open strings for example - you cannot have the low E and an Ab on the same string on a real guitar,, but you can on many samples. Full 6 string open E Major vs the E you can produce at other fret and finger shapes - they sound different on real guitars but on a pretend guitar they may sound the same. Metal 'chug' sounds often feature palm mutes - so that means two sounds with the same processing to recreate the sound.

Many years ago I had an Yamaha XG synth and it had amazing filters, resonance settings and the ability to mimic Jimmi Hendrix's style very accurately. never heard the same since. The Wah Wah emulation was brilliant.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

They are a hell of an improvement on your old ones

I agree!

and sound much more like a guitar.

I do not agree!

That said, fake-sounding guitars can sound cool if you're willing to accept that they don't sound like guitars.

 

[mjbphotos]

Yes those new samples do sound more guitar-like. But no one (here at least) would mistake them for an actual guitar.