There is a Bass guitar jumpscare a few moments into the video. The downside of not having an intro or anything like that. This one isn't meant to be a walkthrough or tutorial type vid. We just hopped into the DAW with the camera on to see what we'd see. See my description for details about the vid. I made it pretty detailed because I didn't add any voicecover to this one. You might ask why I used hydra on the cleans.. No mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter and I refuse to sacrifice the tone of the high frets for ease of 1 VST. One of the biggest reasons I use hydra for leads is the lack of mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter. As for my drum programming..super rusty. I've been using my ekit more to program and didn't realize I'd be programming like a newborn deer lol.
A couple of things: First of all, your overall sound is super recognizable! Maybe it is just me, but this template you have been using for what I believe is a fair share of your videos is fairly distinct compared to most other prog metal/djent projects. The chorus is/was pretty good imo. The high point is definitely the lead. It gives the entire piece a special kind of 'flavor' while not being too distracting - could definitely see it being paired up with a mix of clean and harsh vocals. Drums were definitely rusty, buuuut I wouldn't call them 'newborn deer' level hahaha. I think that the kick pedal is the biggest offender. It could be both mixed in a slightly punchier manner and also be just programmed differently. The first two kicks in the measure accentuate the rhythm really well, but the rest just get eaten up in the mix and don't really contribute. My biggest issue with the chorus though is the rhythm guitar. For this kind of music, I think the only real option is huge, complex chords and some actual riffing. In fact, I can almost hear the actual riff in my head - dotted 8th/root, dotted 8th/whatever chord of choice, 4th/root, 8th/3rd and then a 4 16th note run. Add in a slightly different rhythm for other measures, put in some bends and pinches, and that would be fucking SLAMMIN I feel, hahaha That aside, I do completely understand the need to simply 'take it easy' and kind of paint on the canvas with no restrictions and self-expectations. It is a special kind of bliss when you can just create with no pressure of what anyone, not even yourself, is going to think of the end result. One way or the other, I am just glad you are having fun :D Which actually brings me to my very last point: thank you for the super, super detailed response on my last comment! It sucks to hear you have as little time for music creation as you do, but please know that you really bring me happiness with these uploads! In fact, I am sure that a lot of people appreciate them just as much. Thank you very much once again, and take care :D
I've definitely had my own sound for a while even though the template has gone through a lot. I tend to be aiming for the same sound but continuously get closer to getting the sounds correctly haha. I have to invest in some monitors or headphones meant for mixing to really focus on my mixes tbh. I've been using a pretty unreliable pair of monitors for a really long time. I agree with you on the drums. They're serviceable but I'd say this is just a quick hit, let's get a rough idea type thing. Closer to a rough sketch of something I'd write :) You nailed it with the way you're explaining it. So, normally I'd write this and then write vocals. Once I have that vocal melody, I'd either leave the rhythm guitar very simple to give the vocals room to shine or I'd spice up the rhythm if I felt like there was room for it. My one song with vocals here isn't really a good example compared to everything else I've done..but my vocals and vocal melodies are normally dense like pop vocals. Lots of catchy melodies and hooks. So, it's hard hearing the instrumentals that sound a bit bland or repetitive. Once you put in the very melodic vocals on top, it makes a lot more sense. I've never been much of a lead player, so I think I fill up a lot of the space with vocals instead. Sometimes, it is a bit hard to show the restraint on the instrumental. It's even a struggle when working with other people because you do want everything to shine in some way but it's hard to see the whole picture when you have multiple creative minds going at it. I highly recommend this to anyone. It really takes a lot of stress out of writing music to just care free mess around. Nothing can be wrong, nothing can suck and it doesn't matter what it sounds like. Going into it without the expectations makes it so much better when you just happen to make something that really inspires you. You're welcome! I'm always happy to talk about music with people. I'm really glad you dig the videos and it does a lot seeing people comment. Unfortunately, my job pays the bills and funds home repairs on my old beat up house. Both eat up quite a bit of time/brain power. Music and video games remain my favorite hobbies though :)
There is a Bass guitar jumpscare a few moments into the video. The downside of not having an intro or anything like that.
This one isn't meant to be a walkthrough or tutorial type vid. We just hopped into the DAW with the camera on to see what we'd see. See my description for details about the vid. I made it pretty detailed because I didn't add any voicecover to this one.
You might ask why I used hydra on the cleans.. No mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter and I refuse to sacrifice the tone of the high frets for ease of 1 VST. One of the biggest reasons I use hydra for leads is the lack of mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter.
As for my drum programming..super rusty. I've been using my ekit more to program and didn't realize I'd be programming like a newborn deer lol.
A couple of things:
First of all, your overall sound is super recognizable! Maybe it is just me, but this template you have been using for what I believe is a fair share of your videos is fairly distinct compared to most other prog metal/djent projects.
The chorus is/was pretty good imo. The high point is definitely the lead. It gives the entire piece a special kind of 'flavor' while not being too distracting - could definitely see it being paired up with a mix of clean and harsh vocals. Drums were definitely rusty, buuuut I wouldn't call them 'newborn deer' level hahaha. I think that the kick pedal is the biggest offender. It could be both mixed in a slightly punchier manner and also be just programmed differently. The first two kicks in the measure accentuate the rhythm really well, but the rest just get eaten up in the mix and don't really contribute. My biggest issue with the chorus though is the rhythm guitar. For this kind of music, I think the only real option is huge, complex chords and some actual riffing. In fact, I can almost hear the actual riff in my head - dotted 8th/root, dotted 8th/whatever chord of choice, 4th/root, 8th/3rd and then a 4 16th note run. Add in a slightly different rhythm for other measures, put in some bends and pinches, and that would be fucking SLAMMIN I feel, hahaha
That aside, I do completely understand the need to simply 'take it easy' and kind of paint on the canvas with no restrictions and self-expectations. It is a special kind of bliss when you can just create with no pressure of what anyone, not even yourself, is going to think of the end result. One way or the other, I am just glad you are having fun :D
Which actually brings me to my very last point: thank you for the super, super detailed response on my last comment! It sucks to hear you have as little time for music creation as you do, but please know that you really bring me happiness with these uploads! In fact, I am sure that a lot of people appreciate them just as much. Thank you very much once again, and take care :D
I've definitely had my own sound for a while even though the template has gone through a lot. I tend to be aiming for the same sound but continuously get closer to getting the sounds correctly haha. I have to invest in some monitors or headphones meant for mixing to really focus on my mixes tbh. I've been using a pretty unreliable pair of monitors for a really long time.
I agree with you on the drums. They're serviceable but I'd say this is just a quick hit, let's get a rough idea type thing. Closer to a rough sketch of something I'd write :)
You nailed it with the way you're explaining it. So, normally I'd write this and then write vocals. Once I have that vocal melody, I'd either leave the rhythm guitar very simple to give the vocals room to shine or I'd spice up the rhythm if I felt like there was room for it. My one song with vocals here isn't really a good example compared to everything else I've done..but my vocals and vocal melodies are normally dense like pop vocals. Lots of catchy melodies and hooks. So, it's hard hearing the instrumentals that sound a bit bland or repetitive. Once you put in the very melodic vocals on top, it makes a lot more sense. I've never been much of a lead player, so I think I fill up a lot of the space with vocals instead.
Sometimes, it is a bit hard to show the restraint on the instrumental. It's even a struggle when working with other people because you do want everything to shine in some way but it's hard to see the whole picture when you have multiple creative minds going at it.
I highly recommend this to anyone. It really takes a lot of stress out of writing music to just care free mess around. Nothing can be wrong, nothing can suck and it doesn't matter what it sounds like. Going into it without the expectations makes it so much better when you just happen to make something that really inspires you.
You're welcome! I'm always happy to talk about music with people. I'm really glad you dig the videos and it does a lot seeing people comment. Unfortunately, my job pays the bills and funds home repairs on my old beat up house. Both eat up quite a bit of time/brain power. Music and video games remain my favorite hobbies though :)