Fragments

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Rainmak3r
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Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

Hi all,

a couple of weeks I bought a new guitar, a Jackson Warrior I fell in love with from the moment I laid eyes on it. Obviously I had to give it a go right away, which is what I did in this new track in a couple of weekends:

https://soundcloud.com/lminiero/fragments

All guitars (except acoustic ones, of course) are played using that one. Initially I meant to record something short and heavy like Frozen Ground, but I got carried away and ended up with a much longer heavy and "epic" track, in a style that mimics both Iced Earth and Iron Maiden, two of my favourite bands in the genre. I tried to keep it interesting despite the 9 minutes of length, which I hope worked (you tell me :mrgreen: ).

For guitars I followed the same approach I did in Frozen Ground, so 4 rhythm tracks for more "punch" (except under solos, where it's just 2). There's also more solos than usual, some better than others (I would lie if I said I'm in love with all of them), but overall all fun to record. The thin keyboard choir you can hear in the refrain represents what I'd like the vocal lines to sound there, and even if vocals are actually missing, I liked the effect so I kept them in. I spent some more time on bass and drums as well, so hopefully they'll sound better than they usually do.

Hope you'll enjoy this, and feedback welcome as always!
Last edited by Rainmak3r on Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Fragments

Post by Basslint »

That is one metal guitar! :D

Very nice riffing, I hear Iced Earth a lot! Actually they are also heavily Iron Maiden influenced, I think.

Back to the song, really like the composition and pace. I think your rhythm and solo guitar playing has gotten a lot better since the first track you posted. Planning a career change? :D
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

Basslint wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:21 pm That is one metal guitar! :D

Very nice riffing, I hear Iced Earth a lot! Actually they are also heavily Iron Maiden influenced, I think.
Thanks for listening! Yep, IE were definitely inspired by IM, even though they went for a thrashier sound.
Basslint wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:21 pm Back to the song, really like the composition and pace. I think your rhythm and solo guitar playing has gotten a lot better since the first track you posted. Planning a career change? :D
I'm afraid that ship has sailed more than 20 years ago! :lol: I'm just happy to put something out there from time to time for the fun of it... If people enjoy it as much as I do, all the better!
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Re: Fragments

Post by Tenaba »

Nice riffs, and nice leads too! For the mix, I'd turn the snare down by a lot, and the rest of the drums down just a bit. That's about it though.

Congrats on getting a new guitar too, I like the black/white pickups, and the natural finish. Hopefully it's comfortable to play too! :D

I make music as Tenaba! Bandcamp

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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

Tenaba wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:57 am Nice riffs, and nice leads too! For the mix, I'd turn the snare down by a lot, and the rest of the drums down just a bit. That's about it though.
Thanks! The snare level was part of my attempts to make it suck less, as it's what people usually complain about. As part of the equalization process I boosted some frequencies, but I'm afraid I may have boosted them too much :mrgreen: I also reduced the levels of crashes to make them less obnoxious. What may indeed be a bit too loud are kicks, true.
Tenaba wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:57 am Congrats on getting a new guitar too, I like the black/white pickups, and the natural finish. Hopefully it's comfortable to play too! :D
It's very comfortable! I'm sure it could be even more if I tweaked it a bit (e.g., for the action), but I'll need some time to figure out how to do it properly (maybe copying how my Ibanez Destroyed is configured, as it's the most comfortable guitar I have!). But in general it's very light in weight, and really fun to play, especially for heay riffs. The natural finish is indeed what drew me to buy it, as I knew I wanted a heavy guitar, but I also wanted something that would at least be a bit different from the others I have.
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Re: Fragments

Post by jeanette_c »

Hey, as usual you release some solid music. One really misses the vocals here. In my mind the high, strong voice of Iron Maiden is already there. Just give them a call! :)
The guitar is well recorded and superbly played. I enjoyed the chords at the end of the "main song". I'm a sucker for that style! :)
The toms could perhaps use a little more work. The rest of the drums is chunky, but very fitting to the feel and style of the piece. Though the toms sounded a bit too raw/practise room. Some highcut, EQ, maybe a touch of distortion to prune the high frequencies a little more. The choices are there. :)
I hope that you find a good vocalist to join you in this track, because it's great!
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

jeanette_c wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:33 pm Hey, as usual you release some solid music. One really misses the vocals here. In my mind the high, strong voice of Iron Maiden is already there. Just give them a call! :)
Before that I'd have to write the lyrics, though, unless Bruce Dickinson's happy to improvise :mrgreen:
jeanette_c wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:33 pm The guitar is well recorded and superbly played. I enjoyed the chords at the end of the "main song". I'm a sucker for that style! :)
The toms could perhaps use a little more work. The rest of the drums is chunky, but very fitting to the feel and style of the piece. Though the toms sounded a bit too raw/practise room. Some highcut, EQ, maybe a touch of distortion to prune the high frequencies a little more. The choices are there. :)
I'm glad you liked how the guitars sounded! The acoustic outro concept is something I like a lot too, and in fact I've probably abused it over the past couple of years. On toms, you're 100% right: the raw sound of drums is to be expected in general, as Drumgizmo kits are recorded that way on purpose to allow you to tweak them to your liking; I finally managed to get the bleed control in DG to work, which I set to 50%, and this gave me more control on the separate drum pieces, so I worked much more on snare this time (eq, compression), but neglected toms entirely, so they end up souding even more raw in comparison. I'll have to find some guides on which frequencies to focus on for toms next time.
jeanette_c wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:33 pm I hope that you find a good vocalist to join you in this track, because it's great!
Lazy as I am, that will probably never happen... the only two songs I have vocals for, I had my sister sing them, and she lives next door :lol:
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Re: Fragments

Post by milo »

When it comes to musical instruments, I definitely believe in love at first sight. That is a beautiful wood tone. Nice (Iron) Maiden voyage for your new axe! Congratulations!
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

milo wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:56 pm When it comes to musical instruments, I definitely believe in love at first sight. That is a beautiful wood tone. Nice (Iron) Maiden voyage for your new axe! Congratulations!
Thanks! It really is a beauty to look at, and a pleasure to play!
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Re: Fragments

Post by Gps »

This really sounds good. :)
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

Gps wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:49 pm This really sounds good. :)
Thanks!
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Re: Fragments

Post by pdechery »

It seems the guitar really inspired you! A 9-minute instrumental thrash track!

Very good leads, and some strange-tempo riffing this time. It must have been hard to sequence the drums with Ardour.

Nice listening and very rich musically, as always. Congrats.
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

pdechery wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:02 pm It seems the guitar really inspired you! A 9-minute instrumental thrash track!
It's a fun guitar :mrgreen:
pdechery wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:02 pm Very good leads, and some strange-tempo riffing this time. It must have been hard to sequence the drums with Ardour.

Nice listening and very rich musically, as always. Congrats.
Thanks, glad you liked it! Yes, rhythmically there are more variations than usual, and I'm happy about how they came. I didn't write drums in Ardour, though: while I tweaked them there, eventually, they were written in Hydrogen, which makes the job much easier.
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Re: Fragments

Post by davephillips »

Tenaba wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:57 am ...For the mix, I'd turn the snare down by a lot...
This.

To the OP: Your recording is great, the playing is excellent throughout, and that snare is over-recorded, it's way out of balance with the rest of the texture.

Very fine work otherwise. It's not at all a genre I take much interest in, but I know good guitar playing when I hear it.

Best regards,

dp
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Re: Fragments

Post by Rainmak3r »

davephillips wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:18 pm
Tenaba wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:57 am ...For the mix, I'd turn the snare down by a lot...
This.

To the OP: Your recording is great, the playing is excellent throughout, and that snare is over-recorded, it's way out of balance with the rest of the texture.

Very fine work otherwise. It's not at all a genre I take much interest in, but I know good guitar playing when I hear it.

Best regards,

dp
Since many said the same thing, I just reuploaded the file after toning snares a good chunk down and lowering the volume of drums a bit as well. Snares should sound weaker, as they often do in my works, but hopefully they're not that obnoxious anymore. Thanks for the feedback and for listening!
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