Short prog song

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Schwarzenyaeger

Schwarzenyaeger

Formerly "Dog-In-Door"
New version down below

This is a song that I'm working on at the moment. I think that it needs vocals since there isn't too much happening.

Please tell me what's working and what isn't. Everything is subject to change right now so really dig in.
 
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There is a lot that I am liking here. LOTS of great grooves and riffs. I'm getting more of a sludgy/funky/djenty hybrid sort of thing rather than prog myself. It's a cool mesh of styles that is drawing from a varied background and many different influences. I dunno. I don't even think it really needs a classification so much. If so, how about slunkdjent?

My personal general impression is that you have all the components that are needed to put together a great track. If you are thinking of bringing in a vocalist, then I think working together with that individual to rearrange the track (a little) around the flow of the vocals would really help propel this forward. I do think that bringing in a vocalist is a great idea. Not because there "isn't too much happening", because I do think this could stand on it's own, but rather just because I can hear a great canvas for some cool melody here.

A couple tiny things that I was thinking in addition to the above:
- Not so sold on how the piano bit after 1:40 is really adding a dimension to the song that is needed. It's nice to break up a song and introduce another element, but, not sure that this sounds "right" to me (personally).
- Love the bass tone.
 
Thanks for listening, buddy

I got to use some gear that isn't mine for this recording. I compressed a Fender Jazz Bass with a Neve 8801 gently on the way in to a Ashdown amplifier and recorded it with an RE20. The compressor helped me control some of the deep low end that was getting out of control since the low E was tuned down to B and also tame the really sharp attack that my bass gets when played with a pick, though not get rid of it.

I'm rather adamant about the piano part. I think it's proper unfittingly fitting and a real unexpected element to the song. If it caught you off guard, than it did what it was supposed to. :thumbs up:
 
The drums are too room reverby compared to the other instruments (not-same-room). The toms also sound distant compared to the crack of the snare.

Has a subtle Sabbath feel during those 'verse' sections. A good thing for this genre.

I like the piano.

The lead could be tightened up, a little slop there and I know you can do better. ;)

Agree that vocals could elevate this. It's jammy now and probably not something I would play more than once, just not enough outstanding elements as an instrumental.
 
It sounds like a cool start. I think everything sounds pretty distant though. Both guitars and drums sit too far back. Not sure about the piano part?
 
well the song is a little schizophrenic in that it changes all over for no apparent rhyme or reason, but I don't think that's ever stopped me from liking a song. I dig the end where the guitar has a leslie/phaser on it, and a bass guitar underneath to fade out. It sounds dark and mysterious like it's painting a picture in your head of the night and the darkness. Some of the body of the song is yearning for a little more freedom/exploration though.
 
Thanks for listening, everybody. Piano is staying.
Got a new version.


It fades in. Don't turn up your speakers too loud.
 
I think it sounds pretty decent , with lots of different things that could be added, or changed up.. depending on where you want to go with it. With my limited knowledge, i'd sit on it until i found out what i might do with a vocal track. Then i'd change what ever needed it after that !! Nice job !
 
I think the piano part's brilliant. The rest of the mix sounds good and has good separation. The question I've got is about how well the piano part fits in with the rest of the mix. You could put a bagload of delay/verb on it and turn it up just as easily as you've done it here.

Really liking this one. Moves well and sounds good. What more could you want from it?
 
I keep forgetting that prog means something different these days.
I'm not too fussed on the rhythm gtr tone.
I like most of the rest though.
Good work - does need a vocal though.
 
rayc said:
I keep forgetting that prog means something different these days.
Click to expand...

What did is used to mean?

Thanks for the listens, guys.
I'll get on to finding that vocalist.
 
Prog historically/traditionally has a softer edge, it's only more recently (say since say early Dream Theater era/early '90s) that the harder edge to prog has slowly become part of the larger prog sound. Even then, there's stuff like early Opeth that's thrash prog, and some djent is proggish (I personally like Gojira, which is very heavy but has plenty of prog elements). So you get sub genres like progressive metal, etc.

So classic prog would be personified by Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, Yes. This doesn't sound anything like that.

The entire topic of what makes something "progressive" is complex. I've often argued that despite the lack of numerous time signature changes, dropped/added beats, and off the wall jazz influence, my own songs have strong elements in prog due to the absurd variation of styles between tracks, and often even within songs. Later Beatles is considered possibly the roots of prog (Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine), despite not having single tracks much longer than 3 or 4 minutes. So length of the songs, often one of the litmus tests for whether something is prog, doesn't apply evenly either. Steven Wilson's latest album has some very short tracks by prog standards, but is very progressive nonetheless.

One test for whether something is prog is to let a room of a dozen average teenage girls listen to it. If after a few minutes they ask for it to be turned off because it's too weird, it's probably prog.
 
I think everything sounds good. It's pretty syncopated. ..some great musical ideas. I like the piano coming in, it's really cool. Also good lead guitar chops towards the end. It should be a really good song when finished.
Nice work.
 
Not going to criticize an un-finished tune. Just going to say that I love the parts, I love that kind of chugging guitar, I like the piano part, and I can't wait until this is done, because it promises to rock.
 
Did you take some verb off the drums and guitars since the first mix? I listened once to that one and my impression then was that it was too wet for this sort of piece, but it sounds tighter and drier to me now, which I like better.

I like the entrance of the piano myself. It might be cooler if it was even spacier sounding with more verb or something to contrast even more with everything else, but maybe not. Not wild about the actual piano sound used, but the part and the idea of it is cool.

I love the riff coming right after the piano...how is that done? It's a sound I hear in metal sometimes...almost like one string is being bent slightly while another is allowed to ring out? I dunno, that's probably a little too specific for you to explain, but I do like that guitar sound right there a lot.
 
You'd have to give me a specific time but yeah, it could be that.
I'll often play a chord and hit the low E along with it (in this case tune to B). It sounds dissonant in context with the low string and then move into a chord that works better harmonically with the low E while the empty string is still ringing
 
Yeah, maybe that's it...sounds discordant and then resolves all in an instant...like at 2:02 for example.

I think the very beginning of iron man may be a primitive example of this? Slower and more drawn out of course, but it's a cool, almost sour sound that adds to the darkness of the guitar part.
 
In this case it's just a really downtuned string with vibrato on it.
What Tony does in Iron Man is he bends the low E behind the nut.
 
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