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Feedback on hard rock sample

Started by dakota.potts Jan 31, 2013 at 9:25 AM 9 replies 3k views

Original Post

Jan 31, 2013 at 9:25 AM

I've stated before on the forum that I wanted to get away from the electronic orchestral music that's heavy in a lot of games and do a rock/ post-rock thing, which is really where my passion is.

So, with the addition of Addictive Drummer and a recording interface, I'm one step closer to where I need to be. I was at a startup business convention this weekend and ran into a guy who was marketing his energy drink company. He runs extreme sport videos (everything from cross country to white water rafting and bike racing). He told me to take a look at the videos and produce a song with solid beats. He wanted it to have solid movement, a clear beginning, middle, and end, and total between 60 and 90 seconds.

Given that criteria, do you guys have any feedback on this? https://soundcloud.com/dakota-potts/hard-rock-demo

There are a lot of things I'll fix. I spent from roughly midnight to 4 am working on this (now it's close to 4:30) so I'm pretty proud of what I got done in that time. For sure I want to clean up some of the transitions, timing on a few sections, and the sloppy bass sound at the end where I got a little too excited with my digging in.

Anyways, since this is really where my heart's at, I'd love appropriate feedback, good or bad.

xiaoan

Jan 31, 2013 at 11:25 AM

From one guitarist to another, the rhythm guitars don't have the appropriate kind of distortion on them for the genre. You probably want to go for something a little more saturated, with higher output pickups, or maybe the amp/amp sim that you are using should be changed.

What guitar/pickups are you using?

If you can cough up $299, this is a pretty good program for programming heavy guitars. Be warned though, that it only comes with the D.I. sound, so you'll have to get your own amp simulator.

http://www.prominy.com/V_METAL.htm

Regarding the drums, you probably really should program some fills. It'll cover the gaps in the phrasing every 4 bars or so.

dakota.potts

Jan 31, 2013 at 6:30 PM

An Esp with active pickups and a Blackstar ht1. I had the distortion significantly higher but it sounded muddy. Turned out to be just my poor monitors

xiaoan

Jan 31, 2013 at 9:31 PM

Were your pickups EMGs? Yeah you're not going to get very good results with that amp, you might want to think about getting some amp simulators. Even a Line6 PodXT would do relatively well. I know people who can get very professional results with it.

Madhed

Jan 31, 2013 at 10:57 PM

I think the composition sounds too "melancholic" right now. You say he markets energy drinks and extreme sports, something slighty uplifting, powerful, in-your-face would fit better. Also the mixing and tone of the different tracks is not optimal it all sounds very muddy.

Did you record guitar and bass directly to interface or with a microphone? I'd suggest to bypass the amp completely - at least for now - and just plug it straight into the interface and use a software solution instead. You will get a much more defined sound that way.

http://www.simulanalog.org/ This is a collection of very good freeware amp and distortion simulations (VST)

Another thing is doubling. You seem to have everything in the center. http://homerecording.about.com/od/mixingyourmusic/g/How-To-Double-Guitar-Tracks-During-Recording.htm

Sorry if that sounded too hard. Anyway these are my 2 cents

dakota.potts

Feb 1, 2013 at 1:09 AM

An Esp with active pickups and a Blackstar ht1. I had the distortion significantly higher but it sounded muddy. Turned out to be just my poor monitors

Oops, Double post from my phone.

dakota.potts

Feb 1, 2013 at 1:54 AM

Oops, double post somehow. I'm on my phone but I'll fix it later.
How was the songwriting and playing? The guy I sent it to liked it and invited me to come record some bass at his studio, which is awesome since bass is my favorite instrument.
The reality if this was that I wrote, recorded and finalized in four hours. It's the first thing I've recorded on my own and now that I've done it I can learn from it.
So, things I need to work on.
Mixing
Panning doubled tracks
Watch noise levels and clipping
Guitar tone
Anything else?

Also, someone asked about how I recorded. I did my bass into a sansamp pedal to direct in. The guitar was done into the amp and then out to the emulated output

m4uesviecr

Feb 2, 2013 at 3:54 PM

This thread is great for me as well, since I am trying to get some experience with recording electric guitar. I use a Line 6 POD U2X (an older version), but the results I have gotten have been fairly good, especially since the guitar I own is practically garbage.

Here is an example from a guy I followed on newgrounds using a POD U2X and writing a song using it: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/207445

As far as the song writing itself, I agree with Madhed on the pacing of the song. It is much too slow. Energy drinks are supposed to get you pumped up and feel a rush or surge of energy. This one sounds more like an instrumental to a hard rock song. Then again, if the guy likes what you have, it must not be that bad, but I would insist going for a song with a little more push.

dakota.potts

Feb 3, 2013 at 6:45 AM

Thank you. I tried to write something for my old hard rock band and my drummer said "You should write instrumentals". I guess I have a tendency to overplay/overwrite things. Next time I'll try for something a little more four on the floor with a driving bass and a more pickup kind of beat. He said he wanted something with a clear progression of intro, middle, and end, and somehow I turned that into something complex.

fartheststar

Feb 8, 2013 at 8:11 AM

Hi dakota,

I actually kindof like the energy. the drums have a cool thwack to them - especially the snare.

my comment was going to be about the bass. I don't know if it's got a chorus on it, but when it first comes in it sortof oozes in instead of thumping in like I would expect for this style. I like the attack component of the bass sound - string slap effects.

in the guitar part - the third chord in the progression sounds a tad off to me (at about 0:23)

anyhow, just wanted to leave feedback..

dakota.potts

Feb 8, 2013 at 8:28 AM

Thanks for the feedback. You are actually the second person to ask about effects on the bass. It is an Ernie Ball Stingray 5 string into a Sansamp Bass Driver pedal. I didn't have any reverb or chorus but the more people ask the more I think I might have accidentally added some in my DAW. I was getting more of a thumpy Queen type tone but in hindsight I probably could have gone more aggressive. As I play towards the end, it gets much more aggressive as I get into it. I probably should have played more consistently throughout the whole song. I am primarily a bassist.

You are right about that chord sounding off. I was looking for an A minor to play the C, B, C and this wasn't available in an open chord, so I missed that slide.

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