|
i recorded an EP this week instead of studying for finals procrastination = motivation  http://420lsd.bandcamp.com/album/fall its just a buncha dumb v a p o r w a v e and weird electronics but you know, its mine 
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2017 19:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 16:32 |
|
|
NarkyBark posted:(One of) My metal band's first full album is finally getting finished up, after a long year. Hoping to get it wrapped in a bow in the next couple months. We put a tune on YT just to see what people thought, so... if it's your kinda thing, tell me what you think! I think it's great! Par for the course as far as technical death metal (?) goes. Production, vocals, riffs, artwork, everything.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2017 20:47
|
|
|
mrbradlymrmartin posted:i recorded an EP this week instead of studying for finals As someone who had never heard vaporwave before this, I really dig the idea of taking easy-listening music and making it ugly. I don't know what I'd say about this particular manifestation of it if I knew the genre better though. Still, I really enjoyed "now it is a robot dirge" especially. I either heard or imagined some neat Baroque harmonies underneath the mud. My only complaints are that "bots on patrol" is bland in its sonic palette, and that you don't take yourself seriously. Or is that part of the aesthetic?
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2017 21:33
|
|
|
My best friend sent me a batch of lyrics I wrote back in 2003-2006 that I lost after reformatting my computer, and while they're kinda cringey teenage metal lyrics, they inspired me to start working on am ep of songs from those lyrics, but trying to capture the mood and atmosphere of what I was listening to and inspired by back then. I have one track recorded already (of 5 sets of lyrics) that I need to lay vocals on, and a second that has a very rough demo recorded already. So far it feels different than what I've been writing for my main project, and the freedom to experiment with different styles has been incredibly inspiring. This is the first track https://soundcloud.com/davidplaysgloomymusic/ghost-show-demo-1
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2017 21:49
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:My best friend sent me a batch of lyrics I wrote back in 2003-2006 that I lost after reformatting my computer, and while they're kinda cringey teenage metal lyrics, they inspired me to start working on am ep of songs from those lyrics, but trying to capture the mood and atmosphere of what I was listening to and inspired by back then. What sort of music do you normally write? Did you perform all of the instrumental parts for this demo?
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2017 22:51
|
|
|
LargeHadron posted:What sort of music do you normally write? Did you perform all of the instrumental parts for this demo? I played the guitar and built the drums from loops because I don't play drums. I usually write what I generally refer to as "Gloom Metal" but it tends to be sad shoegazy metal....stuff. That track feels like it could slide in with my usual stuff pretty easily, but I think when I give it a second pass I'm going to try and get a bit of a colder, lo-fi sound. Edit: for clarification, this track is from my main project and the general direction that project tends to take https://soundcloud.com/davidplaysgloomymusic/walking-in-shadows-laura-palmer-mix-v1 joylessdivision fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Dec 29, 2017 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2017 23:58
|
|
|
I listened to both tracks you linked, and then I browsed (visually) the rest of your SoundCloud. It looks like you have a lot of demo material and very little, if any, completed and polished works. What are you ultimately hoping to do with this material?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 15:47
|
|
|
LargeHadron posted:I listened to both tracks you linked, and then I browsed (visually) the rest of your SoundCloud. It looks like you have a lot of demo material and very little, if any, completed and polished works. What are you ultimately hoping to do with this material? Most of what is sitting on my soundcloud with the exception of a few more recent demos is stuff that will likely never be anything more than it is and was just rough ideas that I recorded so I wouldn't lose them. The goal is to be able to release an EP/album under the main project name, it's just a bit daunting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 18:18
|
|
|
Hi, now I am officially recording an album! I assume moments where you suddenly think everything you wrote sucks are normal?
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2018 18:01
|
|
|
Tweezer Reprise posted:Hi, now I am officially recording an album! I think that's just part of being a musician. If you don't think everything you wrote is trash at some point in the process I think you're doing it wrong.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2018 18:03
|
|
|
Tweezer Reprise posted:Hi, now I am officially recording an album! Ha, totally. So are the moments where strangers on the internet tell you in no uncertain terms that everything you wrote sucks, and friends and family listen to what you wrote and never speak a word about it to you, or just never listen to it in the first place despite trying to start awkward conversations about it when you see them...goddamnit. Serious answer, I had a teacher once who told me that if you already know that what you compose will be well-received, then you aren't making good art. I think there need to be a few qualifiers on that statement before I'm willing to agree with it, but I can get behind it as a general sentiment. Your art might never be appreciated for reasons beyond its quality, and if you give up because of that then you'll never give yourself the chance to become appreciated. I hope you're willing to commit to the long haul. I have my own doubts often.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 00:19
|
|
|
LargeHadron posted:Ha, totally. So are the moments where strangers on the internet tell you in no uncertain terms that everything you wrote sucks, and friends and family listen to what you wrote and never speak a word about it to you, or just never listen to it in the first place despite trying to start awkward conversations about it when you see them...goddamnit. Wow, thanks a lot! It's always good to have a battle-tested outside voice who's been there. I have most of basic recording done, a friend who's doing drums for me. It's a modest first release, a short 7 tracks in 27 minutes. Then, I have to learn to fill out a mix, actually mix, and master.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 00:31
|
|
|
Tweezer Reprise posted:Wow, thanks a lot! It's always good to have a battle-tested outside voice who's been there. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Be sure to post when it's done.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 03:07
|
|
|
LargeHadron posted:I'm looking forward to hearing it. Be sure to post when it's done. Goodness, thank you! Let me correct myself, though: 9 tracks, let's say 35 minutes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 04:44
|
|
|
I’ve been lurking in this thread and waffling over weighing in myself, which comes in part from a privacy that I’ve cultivated after years of being more free with sharing my music and ending up being disappointed/embarrassed when it doesn’t work out or become what I expected or hoped it would. But ultimately my journey with music has taken a circuitous path that wound through these forums in earlier times, and I think I’ve learned a few things over the years that are worth sharing. My current project will be my first with an outside producer and also my first using professional session musicians instead of the members of a band that I’m in or playing everything myself. It’s costing a good amount of my own money, but I feel almost relieved to have committed to it (25% down on the studio time) and I feel like I’m doing my best creative work so far (more on this later). How did I get here? The same way I got to and through the last project, which felt otherworldly in its own right. Here is the backstory: a band that I was in was having a record mastered for release, and I drove two hours from where I lived at the time to attend the mastering session. The mastering engineer was a well-known, career engineer with a small collection of analog recording equipment that had accumulated over the decades. As we got to talking about this project, he asked what I/the band was planning to do with the release. I was honest with him: my band was in the process of actively winding down, this release was scheduled for a very small vinyl run to a likely disinterested public, there would be no tour in support of it, and it was bumming me out as I had new music that I wanted to work on. At the end of the mastering session, he took me to the back of the studio with all of the recording gear in it, explained that he didn’t do much recording anymore, and certainly none that was crucial to his income as a mastering engineer, and so that if I wanted to work on my new music at this studio, he would lend me the tape, supply me with an engineer, and cut me a good rate. And he did; I booked five days with him at an unbelievable rate, drove back up a month later and worked on the album for a week while I slept out of my van. In January. In upstate New York. But the pain was worth it; I was thrilled with the sounds I was producing and enthralled by the process. It was the first record that I had made where there wasn’t a computer monitor in sight, not to mention the unbelievable store of iconic gear that was otherwise sulking in the shadows in the back of this ugly converted commercial garage space. I’ve never tracked a record this effortlessly. Every instrument that I wanted to record sounded amazing out of the box, I came back a month later to mix for five days, and he mastered the record for me within a week. Then nothing happened. No labels were interested; friends and family were congratulatory, but publishers, licensers, etc. were noticeably absent. But this was my best music! Couldn’t they hear how good it sounded, too? I used a cross-country move as an excuse to book a small tour for myself appearing as only myself, and that was disappointing for its own reasons. Fast forward a year and a half to last October. On a whim, perhaps under the influence, I wrote to a producer who is an artist in his own right who had released a record that I really admired in 2017. I was honest with him the same way I had been honest with my mastering engineer: I told him about the last record, the thrill of recording to tape, the ambition, and the expectations; I told him about feeling directionless since having moved across the country, how I had failed to meet any musicians in my new town, and how much of a bummer it was to feel rejection not just outright, like I always had, but even now, once I had started to internalize and really believe in the work that I had been doing. I have, at times, reached out rather grandly and blindly like this into a world that is so far from my “level,” and it’s probably something I’ll continue to do in life, but suffice to say that I didn’t expect to hear back. Before I knew it he had responded to my email, listened to my record, and wanted to talk on the phone. Last month I was on the west coast for the holidays and was able to meet him in person, see the studio space that I had put a deposit on, and talk shop about the demos I had been sending over in the meantime. So what is the point of this post. That in my experience, honesty, vulnerability, and openness will yield tangible results. There’s no point in posturing or grandstanding, especially to people you barely know, and you should never feel like you have to make excuses for yourself, especially to people you barely know. Attend every session involving your work, seek advice from whoever you can, especially about your music while you’re paying them to work on your music. And don’t be shy about expressing not just your opinion, which hardly matters, but your feelings. How do you feel when you create music, and what would make you feel better? It can be very hard; in order to make progress on my current record, I had to listen to criticism of my last one which I was so proud of and engage that criticism in order to give this producer a reason to help me with the next one. Of course, if the last one were perfect, there’d be no need to make the next one! Of course it’s not perfect, but it can be hard to listen to anyone tell you that there are things that could be better. The point is that I was honest about my shortcomings with both of these people who were in a position to help me, and as a result they helped/are helping me realize my art. What must remain true is that the next one will always be better, to get back to my point at the beginning of the post. You should always be doing your best work. You should always be most excited about your next work. I’ve always felt this way, but it used to be informed by fear; fear that the last thing was not good enough and of the depressing oblivion of not having made anything more. Now, as I get older, this mindset is informed by excitement and love of the craft. This will be better because I will have more fun doing it than anything else, and that’s what it’s about. And if the sole purpose of the first project in this story (or, perhaps, your current project) was to provide a demonstrable vision for the next project in order to secure the confidence of better, more talented collaborators, then it will have been worth it. As for the questions that seem important: will I finally get a record deal out of this one? Will people come to love me through loving this music? Will I get to go on tour again? These are important questions, but they are not important to the creation of the work. There is no point in asking them until much later, if at all. This insight was key for me in unlocking the joy of recording an album, which had prior to then been a fear-driven experience, in this case fear of unfavorable answers to these and other questions. Finally, put some money at stake. You'll find that productivity tends to ramp up when you've got a date to make and cash on the line. Anyway, tl;dr is whatever y’all are up to, be honest with yourself and others and have fun with it!
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 07:31
|
|
|
You've made me curious to hear it. Want to post?
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 15:57
|
|
|
https://exitmundi.bandcamp.com/album/catharsis Currently working on the follow-up to this. It's a solo metal album I made in a no-budget bedroom studio over 2-3 months, so it's not a huge production, but I think it was an important step as far as learning to express myself through music goes, and I'm proud that I managed to actually finish the thing. I think it still has a very rough demo quality about it and it's hard to show to people, but I learned quite a lot about self production in the process of making it. Right now I'm essentially attempting to re-do the idea with new tracks and themes, and improved production quality, and really take my time with it this time. Dig through/release all the bad ideas so I can get to the bottom where the good stuff is.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2018 23:27
|
|
|
Chewybiteems posted:https://exitmundi.bandcamp.com/album/catharsis I dig it. Definitely can hear the Townsend influence in places.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2018 00:16
|
|
|
joylessdivision posted:I dig it. Definitely can hear the Townsend influence in places. Thanks for listening! I wear that influence on my sleeve, his career is a huge inspiration for sure.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2018 01:50
|
|
|
I used to sing in a progressive metal band called Presh. When the guitarist of that band quit, we eventually gave up searching for another guitarist, and I started a solo project. I recorded two albums on my own in my bedroom studio, as a way to teach myself to play guitar and bass, and also how to record. Last year, I got the old band back together (minus the guitarist), and we’ve been rehearsing a batch of new songs that I originally started writing for the RPM Challenge in 2015. Next Saturday, we’re going into a studio in Portland to record a 7-song EP. We’ve come a long way since we started jamming together in June, and I feel like these are some of the best songs I’ve ever written. The engineer we’re working with is loving awesome, so I’m ridiculously excited. Looking forward to sharing what we end up with!
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2018 19:36
|
|
|
e: wrong place for sharing demos! I'm almost done with basic recording sans vocals, but I might have to go back and redo stuff
Tweezer Reprise fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Jan 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2018 22:04
|
|
|
The Science Goy posted:Tracks 1/3/5 were recorded on my Clement 5 string with four year old La Bella black nylon tapewounds, the other tracks are my G&L Tribute SB-2 with new La Bella white nylon tapewounds. Yes, tapewounds are the poo poo. Tapewounds on an SB-2? Dang, maybe I should move from the ghs pressurewounds at last. I have no idea what I'm going to do for an album, I've had lots of ideas in different genres and I'm not really that good enough to sing your standard pop/rock song so I might have to stay mostly instrumental. My big hurdle is really to get started, and I was wondering if anyone else had those questions of "what do i put together, what do i throw out, how do i shape this?" and stories of how you overcame that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2018 05:36
|
|
|
<snip>
ajrosales fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jul 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2018 00:46
|
|
|
here's my project. I tried to make it easily accessible to anyone but not exactly easy listening. I really dig a lot of disparate stuff and tried to make a cohesive electronic album out of it. https://hpshivcraft.bandcamp.com/
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2018 01:37
|
|
|
I just finished my album: https://ladylonghorn.bandcamp.com/album/black-fox Don't really know what to say about it - it's Beat Happening-esque noise rock. I'm still not much of a musician, and I mostly just wanted to see if I could make a cohesive album that was longer than 30 minutes.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2018 23:24
|
|
|
This is really good and I hope people in this thread click on it and listen for more than like 30 seconds
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2018 01:11
|
|
|
Edit: Wrong thread sorry
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2018 19:56
|
|
|
china bot posted:I just finished my album: https://ladylonghorn.bandcamp.com/album/black-fox update: I set up promo codes, so PM me if you're interested in a free download of this (while "supplies" last)
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2018 00:41
|
|
|
I have just recently finished another album, much different than any I've ever done as it's entirely instrumental (except for some recordings of people speaking, but nothing sung). It's also all electronic, and even things that were recorded live were then heavily processed/resampled/etc. Right when I was finishing, I thought it needed a visual component, so I made a video collage for the entire thing over the past month or so using clips from archive.org I don't have the whole thing up on Youtube yet, I'm trying to organize a viewing party in NYC later this month or next, but I have a preview here and one full track here.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2018 21:29
|
|
|
We've just released another one: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jessicascrime6 It should be available on iTunes, Amazon, etc., relatively soon. Our cover model passed away back on 3/1, from a fast-moving throat cancer. Poor thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
El Miguel posted:We've just released another one: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jessicascrime6 Dang, are you really the top American western-pop-rock-and-goth outfit? edit: I listened to it all minus half of the Smiths cover. I’m in a tough spot here cuz I want to be constructive, but I also want to be harsh as a sort of payback for the CD Baby album description. I understand the DIY thing is a really awkward place to be in. You have to take yourself seriously, because nobody is going to do that for you, and it’s tough to find the right place between “I’m nobody, just a small indie band” and “I’m the top band in my genre”. It’s obvious you wrote your own copy and probably your own Wikipedia page, and I think the success of your overconfident self-praise relies too much on the ignorance of the reader. What I mean is, it sounds like you’re trying to make me believe you’re already a well-known and respected band in order to convince me to pay attention to you. Of course, you probably have to do this to some degree in order to break through (fake it til you make it, and all that), but this comes off to me as particularly phony and made me dislike you before I even listened. This may be the typical reaction too - it’s really easy to Google you and come to the conclusion that you aren’t widely-known. It’s a tough balance, one I’m trying to figure out myself. Now for the music itself: I thought it was alright. Certainly not one of the smartest albums I’ve heard in a long time, by far. You’ve got a solid sound and some pretty decent vocals. I was really impressed by “Nine While Nine”, and then disappointed to find out it’s not only a cover, but a cover within your genre. I haven’t heard the original. I really didn’t like the “How Soon is Now” cover. It’s reasonably accurate, but there’s nothing about it (well, at least the first half of it since I gave up) that justifies it being on the album for me. I think it would be cool to bust that out at a live show, definitely. It’s fun to watch a band play an accurate cover of a song you like. But for a recorded cover, I dunno. Nothing about it interests me more than the original; less even. I could sort of hear the Bad Seeds influence in some of the guitar work. It’s a very surface-level comparison. What makes Nick Cave effective is the risk-taking, both lyrically and muscially. He’s not afraid to embarrass himself. And he does - no matter how many times I’ve laughed or cringed at some cloying piano tune or awkward phrase, he’s the greater artist for it. I’d like to see more risk-taking in your work. LargeHadron fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Mar 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2018 16:39
|
|
|
Cpt. Spring Types posted:Looking forward to sharing what we end up with! And now I can share it! The EP is called Object Permanence, and it’s found here: https://theblackflash.bandcamp.com Recording this stuff was so much fun, and such a great learning experience. I’m super proud of how it came out.
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2018 22:25
|
|
|
Right, update time! Believe it or not, I haven't given up, and have been working the whole time! I look at the posts of a me several months past and laugh at his naivete. I've learned so much about recording and mixing. Unfortunately, it appears my connections to a drummer and so forth have fallen through, I'm not looking forward to shelling out $90 a song to get drums recorded  Anyway! I'm about done recording guitars and scratch vocals (I think!), would anyone be kind enough to sit through rough mixes and give me pointers? Tweezer Reprise fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Apr 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 02:11
|
|
|
I started working on new material for an EP or album a few weeks ago, and here's the first demo I've finished. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe5zD216OeI china bot fucked around with this message at 20:41 on May 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 25, 2018 18:52
|
|
|
I've been working on my first album for far too long and I finally decided it's finished: https://luriddreams.bandcamp.com/album/never-with-a-few-exceptions it's kinda shoegazy indie something something. feedback is appreciated!
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2018 04:03
|
|
|
china bot posted:I started working on new material for an EP or album a few weeks ago, and here's the first demo I've finished. I'm digging it so far! It's very not much like anything I usually listen to, but I get kinda... Aquabats type of sound? Red Ryder posted:I've been working on my first album for far too long and I finally decided it's finished: My first thought is that the clipping guitar is probably a bit too high? This is just me listening to the first song though, you've got a nice voice and it is a shame it has to be hidden so deep in the mix  I just had a single listen through all of this and I'm loving the songs, is there anything in particular you want feedback on? 
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2018 02:11
|
|
|
welp... yes, I am in the process of finishing a recording I started in the spring. I was in the studio and decided to video the experience and I made a documentary film out of it called "The Manifest Sessions" - my attempt at "manifesting" the music I have been writing for the past year or so. I'm getting some positive feedback on it elsewhere so I figured I'd post it here too... not sure if the vimeo link is working here so there might be some redundancy to the links below: https://vimeo.com/ajrosales/the-manifest-sessions  https://vimeo.com/280300566
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2018 06:50
|
|
|
I'm writing some sort of, video-game inspired album/ep right now, which all started when I wanted to make a simple cover of Guile's Theme from Street Fighter 2 (which I honestly think is probably the best track from any game). It's been tough, since I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to play the bass to it. The tracks I've written so far from me (not) managing to cover the track are these; https://soundcloud.com/skriket/bob-the-builder-does-not-like-the-union-representatives-who-want-him-to-stop-hiring-illegal-aliens https://soundcloud.com/skriket/bitcoins-is-false-advertisement-they-dont-bite-or-are-actual-coins https://soundcloud.com/skriket/mickey-mouse-sure-loves-his-coke-right https://soundcloud.com/skriket/in-the-stars-our-future https://soundcloud.com/skriket/christopher-walken-on-sunshine https://soundcloud.com/skriket/donald-sutherland-is-probably-not-a-virgin https://soundcloud.com/skriket/shave-me-sean-connery-hanging-from-a-cliff I've got two other tracks I'm just going to lay down some programmed drums on, which are the following; https://soundcloud.com/skriket/deliverance-old/s-NXOSb https://soundcloud.com/skriket/the-silence-old/s-Rg3U6 That's 9 tracks and they honestly don't have a lot in common which makes it a bit hard to figure out what order they should come in (or if I should even include them), the thing linking them together is mainly just me going wild on the guitar and a _lot_ of layers, which I feel is my biggest weakness as a composer ; I have a lot of ideas, which I try to shoehorn together. Less would probably be more, but then again, I love layers because it allows people to find them after several listens. Mixing too, I know that if I stay too long on mixing a track it'll just come out worse. Stuck in details and all that. What's everybodys approach to mixing? For me, I do a quick run through the whole composition at first and using automations on volume etc to get the general gist of it at first, then I start mixing the drums and later I'll try to fit the guitars together within the mold that is the drums.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2018 19:53
|
|
|
I put this album out about a month ago, and I can't keep myself from going back every few days and fiddling with something. Mostly mastering stuff. If anyone has an advice on simple mastering that would be greatly appreciated, has anyone every tried one of those automated mastering things, that can't be any good right? anyway, punk and blues in a rock opera. https://punkrockopera.bandcamp.com/album/punk-rock-opera-vol-ii-album made on protools with an 18i20 in a garage. and probably should sound better than it does ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2018 12:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 16:32 |
|
|
Mac9k5 posted:I put this album out about a month ago, and I can't keep myself from going back every few days and fiddling with something. Mostly mastering stuff. If anyone has an advice on simple mastering that would be greatly appreciated, has anyone every tried one of those automated mastering things, that can't be any good right? anyway, punk and blues in a rock opera. I purchased Ozone 8 because I got a great deal on it and don't have the time/money to learn mastering at this point. It is one of those automated mastering tools, but allows you to tweak everything individually. Essentially you select Mastering Assistant, choose Digital / CD / Reference Track and then Ozone figures out EQ curves, Dynamics Processing and Maximizer settings to bring the track up to a LUFS level you have set, or the LUFS level of the reference track. It really does what I wanted it to do in that I can take my mix, run Ozone 8 on it, and have a track that is close to the standard for loudness today. They have sales a lot and if you own other Izotope plugins, just email them and they will probably give you a discount.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2018 15:38
|
|