And now for something completely different:

[Glenn Fricker]

Hey guys,

I finally got the 'ok' to post this one: Some Middle-Eastern tinged, Violin enhanced Canadian Power Metal. The track is called "Infidel." Lyrically, it tackles a pretty difficult subject... musically, it was definitely a group effort.... written around a riff the bass player came up with while drunk. Things get real interesting at about the 3 minute mark, when the song segues into this really wild vocal call & answer bit. Betrayer's vocalist, Jeff Klingbeil makes a guest appearance as the foil to the song's narrative. By the end of the buildup, I think we had something like 12-16 vocal tracks going on. Pretty intense stuff.

Violins were played by Stu "Fingerbang" Kennedy, and the melody line for them was written by me... ...completely by accident! I was driving around with a rough mix in my CD player and found myself humming the notes as a counterpoint to the main riff. Originally, I cooked up some violins via softsynth. Upon playback the band asked if I wanted to record a real violinist instead. "Fuck yeah!" was my reply & off we went.

I always love working with violins. I never get to do it much & it can be a challenge from an engineering perspective not to tear the listener's ears off with too much hi-frequency buildup.

BTW, If you're expecting a death metal mix, you'll be disappointed. This has a very deliberate old-school sound to it.

Anyway, as always, comments & questions are appreciated. The song is the first track on my hi-res mp3 player, located on either of these pages:
http://www.myspace.com/spectresound
http://www.spectresound.ca/recordings.shtml

 

[KeithRT99]

the guitars are alittle buried, perhaps alittle muddy too. the vocals are cool. the violin sounds too "processed". perhaps it a room mic thing. maybe you could make the dry, close sound of the violin louder - assuming you close mic'ed it. there's also some sloppyness on the drums.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I dig this tune. I am a big Middle Eastern music fan, and anything with that kind of vibe is always cool. Vox don't do much for me but they sound good. Bass tone is really cool. Backing Vox are tighttttt like a tiger.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Bass tone is really cool. Backing Vox are tighttttt like a tiger.

Bass tone was a mix of Bass Sansamp & a Gallien Kruger rig miked with an NTK. That, & the bassist has some talent. Not just a "Shitty guitar player" but an actual bassist! I've got some video of the setup that I'll be posting up here eventually.

The backing vocals were supplied by Jeff Klingbeil from Betrayer. Jeff's come a long way from sounding like a shitty Dave Mustaine clone into a cross between Michael Sweet & Freddy Mercury. Amazing range & such control. Hopefully I'll get his band in sometime before the end of the millennium to do a second album. Hell, we've only been waiting seven years!