new clip (instrumental prog. metal) - feedback appreciated

[Santuzzo]

Hi,

I been working on re-recording one of my tunes, I added some new parts and worked on the mix.

What do you guys think of the mix/playing/sounds/riffs, etc.

http://soundcloud.com/larsbauer/metal-11-v2-1-0-mix1

Thanks,
Lars

[formosa]

This is a tough one. When I think of instrumental prog/metal I think of BtBaM, Animals as Leaders, Last Chance to Reason, LTE. But nothing in this song really jumps out or sounds like any of those bands. It is very musical though, but perhaps needs to be rethought. For soloing, I could definitely hear some Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai and of course Petrucci in there. There wasn't much of a climax. I actually wanted the song to be over sooner. Nothing really made me say "oh wow, i wonder whats around the corner". It was almost predictable. I'm not sure if you have enough gravy for the listener to stay hooked to it, maybe too many string beans on the plate. Maybe try to work in more modes, or phrasing that really hits those key notes to make it sound more colorful. You know what I mean?

[Kevman]

I liked it. I can see the anticlimactic viewpoint though. Is that 7 strings? A little formulaic sounding but well played and recorded for sure. Where did the drums come from.

[3 Headed Moses]

Nice work! I just started a new progressive, technical, black metal band myself (sort of Blotted Science meets Dimmu Borgir). Be sure to post anything else you do, keep it up! ,,/

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by formosa

This is a tough one. When I think of instrumental prog/metal I think of BtBaM, Animals as Leaders, Last Chance to Reason, LTE. But nothing in this song really jumps out or sounds like any of those bands. It is very musical though, but perhaps needs to be rethought. For soloing, I could definitely hear some Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai and of course Petrucci in there. There wasn't much of a climax. I actually wanted the song to be over sooner. Nothing really made me say "oh wow, i wonder whats around the corner". It was almost predictable. I'm not sure if you have enough gravy for the listener to stay hooked to it, maybe too many string beans on the plate. Maybe try to work in more modes, or phrasing that really hits those key notes to make it sound more colorful. You know what I mean?

 

Thanks a lot, I appreciate the feedback.

yes, I agree, the solo does not really have a climax. At some point it would be awesome to have some shredding in there, but my technique (or lack thereof) stops me from doing anything really fast.

 

Originally Posted by Kevman

I liked it. I can see the anticlimactic viewpoint though. Is that 7 strings? A little formulaic sounding but well played and recorded for sure. Where did the drums come from.

 

Thanks!

Yes, I played this on an RG 7 string (the one in my avatar).

Drums were done with Addictive Drums.

 

Originally Posted by 3 Headed Moses

Nice work! I just started a new progressive, technical, black metal band myself (sort of Blotted Science meets Dimmu Borgir). Be sure to post anything else you do, keep it up! ,,/

 

Thanks, man!

I love Blotted Science! (huge Jarzombek fan).

[aliensporebomb]

I like it - it's got some technical bits with some nice tension and some nicely melodic harmony parts that offsets the heavy metrical riffing. Some nice tones too. I'd love to know what you're doing for the drums as well - they work well for this. The layered multitracked guitars in some sections are particularly impressive.

That being said some of the sections have a little bit of timbral sameness - when the multitracked sections end we go back to a standard drop tuned heavy guitar with drums and bass - maybe in those sections add some textures to make it sound less like "sections are layered heavily and other sections just aren't" effect. Otherwise it's very cool - some real nice work here.

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by aliensporebomb

I like it - it's got some technical bits with some nice tension and some nicely melodic harmony parts that offsets the heavy metrical riffing. Some nice tones too. I'd love to know what you're doing for the drums as well - they work well for this. The layered multitracked guitars in some sections are particularly impressive.

That being said some of the sections have a little bit of timbral sameness - when the multitracked sections end we go back to a standard drop tuned heavy guitar with drums and bass - maybe in those sections add some textures to make it sound less like "sections are layered heavily and other sections just aren't" effect. Otherwise it's very cool - some real nice work here.

 

Thank you very much!

I used Addictive Drums on this with the Metal AdPak.

Yeah, I basically have two different kinds of textures, like you said, one is just low guitar riffing with bass and drums and the other is the parts with all the melodic stuff going on. I agree, not too much variation going on here.

The whole idea of thinking in textures and having different layers is still pretty new to me, I still gotta learn so much about this.

[formosa]

 

Originally Posted by Santuzzo

Thanks a lot, I appreciate the feedback.

yes, I agree, the solo does not really have a climax. At some point it would be awesome to have some shredding in there, but my technique (or lack thereof) stops me from doing anything really fast.

 

I'm not much of a fan of fast playing any more, you can certainly do it, but I'd much rather hear well chosen notes that really speak to the listener. Silence lets the music speak.

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by formosa

I'm not much of a fan of fast playing any more, you can certainly do it, but I'd much rather hear well chosen notes that really speak to the listener. Silence lets the music speak.

 

Yeah, I guess could reach a build up by starting more sparingly, too!

[formosa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KUhADOESHY

 

[Santuzzo]

anybody else?

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by Santuzzo

anybody else?

 

time for another bump

[gdsmithtx]

It's not really my normal style of music, but I listened to it a couple of nights ago and really dug it.

[humbuckerstrat]

 

Originally Posted by Santuzzo

Hi,

I been working on re-recording one of my tunes, I added some new parts and worked on the mix.

What do you guys think of the mix/playing/sounds/riffs, etc.

http://soundcloud.com/larsbauer/metal-11-v2-1-0-mix1

Thanks,

Lars

 

Sweet, I enjoyed listening to that

[humbuckerstrat]

 

Originally Posted by formosa

 

I enjoyed this, too

[3shiftgtr]

Sounds like you're looking for constructive criticism. I'm listening on crappy computer speakers next to a wifi thingie, so what it REALLY sounds like is anyone's guess. But constructive input for original stuff is so important to me so I'll weigh in since I'm a HELPER! So it's the goods vs bads as I hear em.

Goods: Nice toans! They sound mostly direct, but they get the job done and are well thought out. Good time feel, a little tee-niny wonky here and there, but dropping the guitar in the mix a smidge would help that out. Nice compositional flow....sounds like the song was written riff to riff....as opposed to melody to melody...I like the harmony choices and it's flow from riff to riff....of course the playing was great and appropriate; I never got the "wheedly shred" vibe...also liked the intro riff very very much...hooked me right in. Every time it reappeared I was like "Yeah!" Loved the solo over the machine gun break down-y thing that started at 3:50. Nice and long with nice flow and phrasing and choices. Highlight of the piece for me. Kicked ass there! The drum ideas were pretty good and although not amazing or 'holy {censored}' they set the tune up nice.

Bads: Melodies not working for me in all cases. The first all 8ths melody in that multi meter section went on too long. You could have done it once then modulated and that wouldn't have been over stated. If you wanted to do it that long, then it needed to build dynamically. That many 8ths in a row can be trying. The triplet less distorted thing after is a no go for me. If you are going to do that thing after all those 8ths, bring the vibe WAY down. It was supposed to be nice and melodic thing to work with what came before it, but came off (to me) as staid....kinda lifeless....not effective. Although I LOVED the chords underneath....I mean, those are just cool....that triplet thing just sounded stiff in that context. Maybe do the first one, leave the second one out, then the third etc. Also I don't feel that it need to be restated either. Were the drums played or programmed? They sound a bit too compressed for my tastes, but I'm not in the majority where my compression tastes lie! Also, the guitar was up too high in my speakers. I could barely hear the bass. Personally I like a live band mix with everything is even and in the front mix wise with nothing "pulling the weight" amplitude wise. When a lead melody comes in it should fill sonic space, not be "over" anything amplitude wise. Of course that's my taste in how instrumental stuff is mixed. Joe Satriani disagrees....go figure! And I'm on crappy 'puter speakers, so there's that.

Over all I liked it. The solo kicked ass and the riffs flowed nice and the toans kicked ass. The negatives are shniggles....nice work Santuzzo!!!!!

[undergod12]

 

Originally Posted by Santuzzo

Thank you very much!

I used Addictive Drums on this with the Metal AdPak.

 

Which preset did you use (and care to share if it is a custom)? Really liked how the kick sounds on that track. I love using AD for rock but find it hard to get convincing metal drums, even with the metal AD pack.

[Santuzzo]

 

Originally Posted by gdsmithtx

It's not really my normal style of music, but I listened to it a couple of nights ago and really dug it.

 

Thanks!

 

Originally Posted by humbuckerstrat

Sweet, I enjoyed listening to that

 

Thank you, sir!

 

Originally Posted by 3shiftgtr

Sounds like you're looking for constructive criticism. I'm listening on crappy computer speakers next to a wifi thingie, so what it REALLY sounds like is anyone's guess. But constructive input for original stuff is so important to me so I'll weigh in since I'm a HELPER! So it's the goods vs bads as I hear em.

Goods: Nice toans! They sound mostly direct, but they get the job done and are well thought out. Good time feel, a little tee-niny wonky here and there, but dropping the guitar in the mix a smidge would help that out. Nice compositional flow....sounds like the song was written riff to riff....as opposed to melody to melody...I like the harmony choices and it's flow from riff to riff....of course the playing was great and appropriate; I never got the "wheedly shred" vibe...also liked the intro riff very very much...hooked me right in. Every time it reappeared I was like "Yeah!" Loved the solo over the machine gun break down-y thing that started at 3:50. Nice and long with nice flow and phrasing and choices. Highlight of the piece for me. Kicked ass there! The drum ideas were pretty good and although not amazing or 'holy {censored}' they set the tune up nice.

Bads: Melodies not working for me in all cases. The first all 8ths melody in that multi meter section went on too long. You could have done it once then modulated and that wouldn't have been over stated. If you wanted to do it that long, then it needed to build dynamically. That many 8ths in a row can be trying. The triplet less distorted thing after is a no go for me. If you are going to do that thing after all those 8ths, bring the vibe WAY down. It was supposed to be nice and melodic thing to work with what came before it, but came off (to me) as staid....kinda lifeless....not effective. Although I LOVED the chords underneath....I mean, those are just cool....that triplet thing just sounded stiff in that context. Maybe do the first one, leave the second one out, then the third etc. Also I don't feel that it need to be restated either. Were the drums played or programmed? They sound a bit too compressed for my tastes, but I'm not in the majority where my compression tastes lie! Also, the guitar was up too high in my speakers. I could barely hear the bass. Personally I like a live band mix with everything is even and in the front mix wise with nothing "pulling the weight" amplitude wise. When a lead melody comes in it should fill sonic space, not be "over" anything amplitude wise. Of course that's my taste in how instrumental stuff is mixed. Joe Satriani disagrees....go figure! And I'm on crappy 'puter speakers, so there's that.

Over all I liked it. The solo kicked ass and the riffs flowed nice and the toans kicked ass. The negatives are shniggles....nice work Santuzzo!!!!!

 

Hey, thank you so much for your feedback, very much appreciate this! This is exactly what I need to improve.

What you mentioned about the melody going on in the same manner for too long is something I tend to do often, maybe I should make that part half its length so I'd only have half the repetitions.

This is really great constructive criticism you are giving me here, very, very helpful. Thanks once again!!!

 

Originally Posted by undergod12

Which preset did you use (and care to share if it is a custom)? Really liked how the kick sounds on that track. I love using AD for rock but find it hard to get convincing metal drums, even with the metal AD pack.

 

IIRC I used toms, cymbals and kick form the Metal AdPak and the sonor snare from the regular AD. But I'm not 100% sure on this.

PM me your e-mail and I'll send you my preset.

Thanks again everybody for taking the time to listen to this and for giving me feedback!

Lars