And another new Shadowdance song ...

[Skinny Viking]

This one is called "Branded"

Fast & nasty

Mix is like 80% there ... I forgot to bus my ride cymbal with everything so it kinda pops in and out throughout the tune and there is definitely something off with the keyboards in the 2nd half of the solo section but I already know how to fix that. Leads are all me and fuck yeah, I finally found an excuse to use an evil church organ sound in something! hahaha Aside from all that, there will be another short but awesome backing monster vocal added very soon *cough cough Marco cough*

So enjoy

or not

but hopefully yes

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/594184/Branded Clip Test 8.mp3

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the kicks are the only thing 100% replaced and I used one of Lasse's kicks for it. I was struggling with the kick sound for quite a while until I tried one of his magic kicks, can't remember the exact one but I'll dig it out later make note of it here. Its fucking KILLER sounding in my opinion and I did nothing to it except a high pass at like 60 and small 1.5 db dip somewhere around 220 I think

EDIT #2 : I've updated the link with the most recent version. Made some adjustments per some suggestions and also added in Marco's BRUTAL backing vocal spot (you fuckin KILLED it bro!) Please give a listen and let me know what you think. Thanks guys!

 

[grywolf627]

First...have to get this out of the way...not really a fan of that guitar sound. POD? Okay, with that now out of the way...I like this song more than the last one you posted. It was mainly the vocal style that I didn't care for last time. This time, I like it more. Or maybe his voice has just grown on me since then. Just...BRING UP THE VOCALS. I'm only listening on crappy headphones at work right now, but the vocals seem too far back in the mix. And (uh oh...here comes the 80's metal production side of me) don't be afraid to get some bigger stereo effects (reverb, delays) happening on the vocals. That's just a personal taste thing, but they just seem too tightly focused in the center. But don't pay attention to me...I like the more epic and large/wet sounding of 80's stuff.

Over all...nice song! It is fast and furious. Nice touch with the "evil church organ". Just my first listen. I'll definitely be listening to this more throughout the day.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Hahahaha

Yessir, its a POD and I'm not happy with it either but its the best I can get out of it ... I already explained the situation with that in the thread for the other tune but I completely agree with you there Now onto the other points:

Vocals ... really? louder? weird, I mean they sound pretty balanced to the music on my shitty speakers here at work but also on my monitors at home and in the car but I can try bumping up the vocal bus a db or so and see whats what. I have no problems with the 80s production side of things but I do have the delay pretty wide and the verb is at full stereo spread. I think what you're hearing is just an end result of my shitty convertors ... I did everything with an MBox, all I have to work with at the moment ... looking to upgrade soon though

Glad you're liking the vocals more, for either reason, maybe a little of both? This is another of the more aggressive side to George, actually has less reason to use his cleaner approach in this tune than in the last just due to the nature of the material itself.

I've had that church organ patch sitting on standby for like 15 songs or more and never found a spot where I thought I could actually get away with it. This just seemed right so glad you agree hahaha

Seriously though, thanks Mark for taking the time to check it out and leaving a comment. I'll definitely take a look at the vocals as soon as I finish a few little tweaks ... some drum fills need to be brought up, I'm still waiting on Marco's angry bear vocal spot and I think the leads could be brought up a C-Hair. After that I'll experiment with the vox

Cheers buddy!

 

[grywolf627]

Hey, like I said...I'm listening on crappy Plantronics headphones here at work (office/lab equipment...not mine from home ), so it may just be them.

Oh, forgot to mention...great guitar playing on this!


Edit: I need some way of setting up an alert whenever a member from a list of people I set up posts a song in the Rate My Mix section, I get some kind of alert. Some way of helping me notice stuff I actually WANT to listen to and filtering out the rest of the *stuff* over flowing here. I got lucky and just happened to see your post as the latest one in that section.

 

[Line666]

I really dug this Carlos, I like the really chaotic thing you have going on - so many layers and hammering riffage. I do agree with Mark in that the vocals could come up a hair and the rhythm guitar tone could be slightly less cloudy here, giving you more room for some of the other elements. Leads were excellent btw and the vocals are awesome, your singer has some pipes!

 

[neverpurify]

man that shit sounds awesome

 

[Skinny Viking]

Hey, like I said...I'm listening on crappy Plantronics headphones here at work (office/lab equipment...not mine from home ), so it may just be them.

Oh, forgot to mention...great guitar playing on this!


Edit: I need some way of setting up an alert whenever a member from a list of people I set up posts a song in the Rate My Mix section, I get some kind of alert. Some way of helping me notice stuff I actually WANT to listen to and filtering out the rest of the *stuff* over flowing here. I got lucky and just happened to see your post as the latest one in that section.

Thanks for the compliment on the playing man, this is NOT an easy song to play as I proved to myself last night when I tried to play it again. My hands just straight up said "go fuck yourself" hahahaha. It eventually came back to me though

As for a list thing like you mentioned ... I was thinking something like that too but I've just been trying to make it a point to look through this subforum everyday and finding the posts by the people I know. I check their stuff out and try to leave a comment. I figure the only way to "take back" this sub forum is to actively participate, at least with the people I interact with a lot on here.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I really dug this Carlos, I like the really chaotic thing you have going on - so many layers and hammering riffage. I do agree with Mark in that the vocals could come up a hair and the rhythm guitar tone could be slightly less cloudy here, giving you more room for some of the other elements. Leads were excellent btw and the vocals are awesome, your singer has some pipes!

Chaotic ... that does sum it up pretty well and hopefully it reflects the mood of the tune. Thank you very much for the kind words on the guitar playing and yeah, sometimes George just pulls some vocals out of his ass that blast my eyes out of my head hahaha. That high harmony scream thing at the end was completely spontaneous on his part. We had the other part in and he just said "get me another track, I wanna try something". He blasted that out and I was speechless.

Unfortunately there is just so much I CAN'T do with the guitar tone that this really is the best compromise. Its all been chalked up to being part of the learning experience and the next batch of tunes after these will surely reflect knowledge gained since

 

[Skinny Viking]

man that shit sounds awesome

Thanks for checking it out and the compliment dude, its much appreciated

Cheers!

 

[Skinny Viking]

I'll be updating the link soon with a newer version, got to hear the backing vocal section Marco did for us ... I'm not ashamed to say I almost shit shit my pants

Marco ... you make angry bears afraid

 

[Mago]

I'll be updating the link soon with a newer version, got to hear the backing vocal section Marco did for us ... I'm not ashamed to say I almost shit shit my pants

Marco ... you make angry bears afraid

Hahaha thanks a lot Losm, it was a lot fun to do
Also cool that I get to hear the full tune now, it's awesome!

I think the guitars are cooler in this version (moar gain than on the other stuff I heared? or is this quadtracked and the others weren't?), and maybe it's because I got used to them or I learned to like them more, but I really like the rhythms on that tune hahaha
As for the leads it's the same as for the last songs...I dunno why, but for me it's always a real PITA to make leads sit good with ampsims, I dunno why
Awesome song again dude!
Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Hahaha thanks a lot Losm, it was a lot fun to do
Also cool that I get to hear the full tune now, it's awesome!

I think the guitars are cooler in this version (moar gain than on the other stuff I heared? or is this quadtracked and the others weren't?), and maybe it's because I got used to them or I learned to like them more, but I really like the rhythms on that tune hahaha
As for the leads it's the same as for the last songs...I dunno why, but for me it's always a real PITA to make leads sit good with ampsims, I dunno why
Awesome song again dude!
Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks bro!

Honestly I don't know WHAT is different about the gats in this tune compared to the other. I quadtracked all the tunes with the same settings and all so my only guess is strings ... I changed strings every 2 songs (8 finalized rhythm tracks) so maybe the last song was at the end of a 2 song block and this is at the beginning. Thats about the only thing I can think of. Could also have something to do with the actual arrangement and where I'm playing the riffs. I used a lot of dissonance in the last tune on purpose, this one is a bit more locked down even though I have sus chords all over the place in here as well as some other odd chord voicings

Glad you dig the tune, I'm fuckin dying to drop your vocals in here. I might have to fake an injury at work so I can leave early

I think after I'm done with this tune I'm gonna start working on the other tune you do the demon-bear for

Fuck YEAH! *Punches the air*

 

[Mago]

Thanks bro!

Honestly I don't know WHAT is different about the gats in this tune compared to the other. I quadtracked all the tunes with the same settings and all so my only guess is strings ... I changed strings every 2 songs (8 finalized rhythm tracks) so maybe the last song was at the end of a 2 song block and this is at the beginning. Thats about the only thing I can think of. Could also have something to do with the actual arrangement and where I'm playing the riffs. I used a lot of dissonance in the last tune on purpose, this one is a bit more locked down even though I have sus chords all over the place in here as well as some other odd chord voicings

Glad you dig the tune, I'm fuckin dying to drop your vocals in here. I might have to fake an injury at work so I can leave early

I think after I'm done with this tune I'm gonna start working on the other tune you do the demon-bear for

Fuck YEAH! *Punches the air*

Yeah man, WwF is also an awesome tune!
I loved recording the vox for it...was a hell lot of fun

About the guitartone: I dont think its much about the chords, since I like the palmmutes a lot more on this...maybe it's really just the newer strings, or maybe you had set the input for the preamp set at a different level...anyway, I so looking to hear the whole album

 

[Skinny Viking]

bump

made adjustments, please check it out

 

[grywolf627]

Hey Carlos...just did a quick listen (I'll listen more later). Man...my hand gets cramps just LISTENING to the guitar parts. Anyway...the vocals sound better now. I'd probably still work on making the vocals a little "bigger" sounding...but that's just me an my tastes. But it sounds better now. No real complaints about that. I think the leads could come up just TINY bit (except for the harmony sections...those are fine). But even where they are, they're fine. The ride cymbal doesn't bother me, I think it's fine. But, one of the crashes just seems louder than the rest of the kit. Now...take all this with a grain of salt. Still listening at work on crappy headphones.

And yeah, the vocals are growing on me more each time I listen to it. That scream at the end is fantastic. A little Phil/Pantera there? Also there's a harmonized background vox line saying "Realize". Everytime I hear it, I think of a Symphony X song...just don't remember which one.

Still liking this song!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Hahaha ... if you saw the wave forms for the OHs you'd totally see how correct you are about the one crash being louder. My brother has a really heavy hand but only on one side ... like the dude from "Lady in the Water"

I always run an aux set of cymbals on his tracks to enhance them a bit cause the drums weren't tracked the best so I'll bring that channel down a little cause I already know which it is

The leads I just need to write down exactly note for note what seems too quite and go nuts with the volume auto

Don't know how much Pantera George is into but Symphony X is up there for both of us, especially considering the similarity in vocal style

Thanks again for givin it a listen Mark!

 

[Mago]

I think the ride is good were it is loudnesswise
Leads are also at good volume
George's vocals could still come up a tiny bit imo
Dude, I LOVE what you did with the stems!
Did you end up panning them harder & did you even use all of them? Awesome dude, hearing it in the whole context makes me go
great to be on such cool tunes man thanks a lot hearing myself side by side with such cool vocals and guitarwork is awesome haha

edit: listened to it again a few times, the only thing I (personally) would "fix" would be to let the cymbals fade out at the very end, personally I don't like it that much if they are ringing out after some tom action. Only my personaly preference though

 

[Felix Neumann]

Wow! This is very unique sounding stuff, Carlos. Congrats! I like the rythm guitars A LOT. Songwriting is phantastic as usual I think the splash/crash cymbals are too loud at some time. Solos are pretty nice as well, although I found some "to avoid" notes But that´s counting beans. Under the line, it´s a great tune!

 

[Skinny Viking]

I think the ride is good were it is loudnesswise
Leads are also at good volume
George's vocals could still come up a tiny bit imo
Dude, I LOVE what you did with the stems!
Did you end up panning them harder & did you even use all of them? Awesome dude, hearing it in the whole context makes me go
great to be on such cool tunes man thanks a lot hearing myself side by side with such cool vocals and guitarwork is awesome haha

edit: listened to it again a few times, the only thing I (personally) would "fix" would be to let the cymbals fade out at the very end, personally I don't like it that much if they are ringing out after some tom action. Only my personaly preference though

Yo brother!

Only thing I did to your vocals is add a hi-pass and some verb (plus the echo). I panned them exactly how you had panned them in the clip you sent me. Ja, all of them were used No extra compression, just have the high ones sitting 3 db lower than the lows and grouped them ... BOOM! ... instant Satan hahaha

Not too sure about what you were saying with the cymbals ringing out at the very end after the last tome hits. There actually is no cymbal hit at the end, just a floor/snare hit Or were you talking about right before that?

After I let this version sit for a couple days I'm going to come back to it and without listening to it again just bump up the vocal effects aux like 1 db ... THEN I'll listen and see if it solves 2 "problems", makes it all a little more "wet" sounding "per Mark's suggestion" and increases to vocal volume just enough to have it sitting perfect.

In the meantime, I've already begun consolidating and grouping tracks for "Walking With Fate". I already have your vocal stems locked in there so maybe I'll be able to post a rough mix of it soon. THAT song is gonna have the über Amorphis sound going on between the middle eastern vibe, your death vocals and Santeri's keyboard solo!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Wow! This is very unique sounding stuff, Carlos. Congrats! I like the rythm guitars A LOT. Songwriting is phantastic as usual I think the splash/crash cymbals are too loud at some time. Solos are pretty nice as well, although I found some "to avoid" notes But that´s counting beans. Under the line, it´s a great tune!

Felix Mein Freund!

Dankeschön for checking the song out and the very kind words on the songwriting It means a lot coming from you and I really appreciate the compliments

Ja I'm gonna do an A/B on the cymbals later today to see if I can get the right balance there. That should be solved soon I would think

The solo ... I had a feeling if anyone was going to call me out on some of "those notes" you would be the one to hear them but thats a compliment to you cause you have the ear for that. Those notes are on purpose. I had a very long argument with my brother (drums) because he is EXTREMELY schooled in music ... incredible jazz bass player actually. He called me out on a couple spots in the solos and I insisted that not only did I do them on purpose but that they NEED to be in there. Its part of the dissonance and, as Owen said, chaos of the tune. Even though I know the notes technically aren't correct in a couple places, it "feels" right for those parts to make it a bit uglier sounding ... its to give the impression of someone who is trying to control his emotions but is having a very difficult time doing so and is ready to go completely affenscheisse crazy

Thanks again for taking the time to check out the song man ... wait until you hear the next one