For people who enjoyed the last 2 death metal songs I posted...here are 2 more! :)

[Dylan S]

Hey guys,

I haven't been around here as much as I would have liked to lately because I have a lot of final assignments I have to be doing, but my other guitar player came around yesterday and put down some solos on some songs. 2 of the songs you've already heard, so I won't bother uploading them just for you to hear the solos, but 2 of the songs you definitely haven't heard in their full versions, so here they are...

In this song, I take the second solo whereas my other guitar player takes the first.
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1044020/Celephai - Qyr Ahr'Bn Bl'enn.mp3

In this song, I take the first solo and my other guitar player takes the second.
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1044020/Celephai - Sky of Maggots.mp3

I know the mixes aren't amazing but they're the best I can do right now without re-doing a lot of stuff (majority of it was recorded a while ago) but pelase tell me more importantly if you actually enjoy the songs! Thanks guys!

 

[Dylan S]

Are the songs not good or something guys?

22 views and no comments.

 

[Ola Englund]

Nothing wrong with the songs! I'm just annoyed by the cymbals on the fast parts.

Let us know if you improve the mix, it sounds promising.

 

[RiF]

Qyr Ahr'Bn Bl'enn
The Song:
This is a very solid death metal tune. I personally like it very much, because it is straight and not too complicated and has a nice, comprehensible groove and some cool vocals (more on that later). The only critic (from others, not me) might be, that is does not add too much new to the genre.
Guitars:
They sound like a VST (Nick Crow's stuff?) to me. Am I right? Just a bit to digital for my taste. And maybe a dB or 2 too loud. And the left guitar is louder than the right one (maybe just more mids?).
Bass:
There is something down there, but personally I like to hear a pick attack. I am listening through headphones, maybe they cheat on me on the bass.
Vocals:
All of the vocals need some serious compression, because they pop out and then dive back into the mix.
I do not like the high melodic vocals at about 1/3 of the song at all, sorry. The low growls and the screams are top notch, though.
Drums:
Played and recorded very well, but could be mixed a bit more tight and up-front.
Mix:
The whole mix could need a master bus compressor that glues the stuff together. But before that, the individual tracks need to have their dynamic treatment done properly (especially drums and vocals). The overall frequency spectrum sounds fairly well to my ears, though.

Ooops, just read your post again and you just wanted comments about your solos, did't you? The second solo adds more the song and has more vibe than the first one IMHO.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Icony]

Hey, those actually sound a lot better than your previous tunes you posted in this forum! (and you said these were recorded some time ago??? I'm confused...) I like the guitar tone and drums. Bass is a bit too quiet...allthought it supports the guitar but there could be more that metallic klang. Now it's just lower and sub freq's. Vocs are a bit funny on some parts (cleans) and seems to dive a bit too much (as descriped above).
And yep...a bit too generic. There's no really any serious catch or anything new in the songs. But definetly not bad! Mixes are good and there's no unnecessary fancy shit. Well done.

Edit: me spell wörst och add stuff.

 

[Dylan S]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I know I need some help with a few things...and that is where you guys come in.

Ola - The fact that you like the songs is enough for me.

RiF - Thanks heaps man. The guitars are actually the line out of my dual recto using recabinet impulses. I know it could sound a lot better but like I said...I recorded the tracks a little while ago and going back and doing them at a time when I have 10,000 words worth of essays due in the next week (no exaggeration there) is a little tough.
I am in dire need of advice about how to compress vocals too. I haven't got the hang of automation yet, and Tim's (my singer) low growls are quiter than his high ones, and I really don't want to go through and cut the takes up and have them on separate tracks. Can someone please give me advice on some settings for compression I could try? Like what to turn in order to make the volume consistent but not have anything clipping?
The really low growls in the call and response sort of parts are me, and you can't laugh! I'm not much of a singer, but I'm quite proud of what I achieved with no double-tracking too.

If anyone has some advice about how to use a multiband compressor properly or master-bus compression to get the track a bit better sounding, please help me out! I'm one of those nubs who knows how to do a few things and gets by on what I know only, and I joined here to learn more about the more complicated but often over-looked stuff.

Icony - I am glad you like the songs. I wasn't aware that they were as generic as people were thinking however, but I am glad people are enjoying them I have posted 4 out of the 9 songs that will be off the 'demo album' here, so make sure you look for most posts by me for some different songs!

Thanks guys. Please keep more comments coming. I don't mind compliments but I'm mostly looking for opinions on the songs themselves and ways I can improve the things that are wrong, and I can't do that if peeps don't comment.

 

[Icony]

Damn sure man! I said those were a bit generic but not bad in any means! Thanks for the good and overwhelming feedback! Good to know what you think so we can help you!
Keep em' coming! You really got something going! There's never enough good (And Yeah I mean GOOD) Death Metal! We really need more and we need quality! You got everything to do really good Metal, I mean REALLY good Death Metal! Just's do it, dammit! Those samples are good but nothing really special. Now, just fucking do it!


Yeah I'm believing you, man! ...and no pressures.. Just trying to help you!

 

[RiF]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I know I need some help with a few things...and that is where you guys come in.

You're heading in the right direction, the song and mix have some solid ground to built up from and just need some spices.

RiF - Thanks heaps man. The guitars are actually the line out of my dual recto using recabinet impulses. I know it could sound a lot better but like I said...I recorded the tracks a little while ago and going back and doing them at a time when I have 10,000 words worth of essays due in the next week (no exaggeration there) is a little tough.

Then I would advise to drop the guitar level a bit and care for the mids so the guitars better fix into the mix and do not stand out that much.

I am in dire need of advice about how to compress vocals too. I haven't got the hang of automation yet, and Tim's (my singer) low growls are quiter than his high ones, and I really don't want to go through and cut the takes up and have them on separate tracks.

First, I would definitely cut the vocals into two tracks (I counted three including the clean vocals) and process them seperately. It should take you about 5 minutes to do this and you will save a lot of time later.

Can someone please give me advice on some settings for compression I could try? Like what to turn in order to make the volume consistent but not have anything clipping?

That's the exact task of compression. Try this: set the ratio to 1:8, fast release, use the threshold to control the amount of compression (depends on the recording level of your track). Start with an attack of 20-30 ms and move it around until you get a noticable amount of compression but don't kill the transients.
While fiddling with the compressor, listen if the vocal level gets more consistent and stays nicely and even a bit above the mix.

The really low growls in the call and response sort of parts are me, and you can't laugh! I'm not much of a singer, but I'm quite proud of what I achieved with no double-tracking too.

Kewl! I really liked the very low growls.

If anyone has some advice about how to use a multiband compressor properly or master-bus compression to get the track a bit better sounding, please help me out! I'm one of those nubs who knows how to do a few things and gets by on what I know only, and I joined here to learn more about the more complicated but often over-looked stuff.

I would stay away from multiband compression on the master bus. Use a standard compressor (which ones do you have?). Start with a 1:2 or 1:4 ratio and head for a maximum of 2 dB gain reduction (using the threshold knob), start with an attack of about 30 ms (not faster) and fairly fast release (depends...)

As always, you can post individual tracks or stems (in this case, the single vocal tracks and the rest of the mix as a single track would do) and let the forum members do a mix and tell you what they did.

 

[Dylan S]

I'll give that stuff a go when I have time man.

I need more feedback please! I find it hard to believe only 3 people have listened.

 

[Dylan S]

No more comments?

 

[beercan]

Dyl, as you know, I love your music, but I am already kind of hearing it differently with these comments from the members.

Peace.

 

[Dylan S]

Thanks Brandon.

These guys know their stuff.

Still a few people who normally listen to my stuff that haven't commented yet...

 

[RiF]

Still a few people who normally listen to my stuff that haven't commented yet...

Do you want comments or do you want comments from specific people? If so, you might want to write them PMs.

 

[Dylan S]

Well either are good really. I'm still kind of new here and I don't want to be 'that nub' who sends everyone PMs to listen to his stuff that isn't really that good compared to what a lot of other people post here.

I just find it hard trying to make a name for myself on a new forums...especially when only a few people listen to my music.

I'm going to maybe update the mixes relatively soon, depending on how much uni work I can get done today.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hey dude, sorry I'm only now getting around to listening to these - First, Qyr Ahr'Bn Bl'enn (had to copy and paste that one What language is it?): right off the bat, I gotta say the mix is definitely a big improvement over the past stuff you've posted dude, so props for that! Guitars are cool but have kind of a weird thinness to them (they've got a decent amount of balls, it's just the attack feels thin to me - I'm guessing this is Dual Rec --> 1960?), but overall they fit well in the mix, and the drums sound great too (though the cymbals are a bit loud) - is this AD? The vox are once again a SERIOUS weak link though dude; mainly, I really dig your singer's growling/screaming voice, but the levels are horribly uneven (needs some epic compression and automation), and it sounds like you recorded it with like a $10 Radio Shack mic, very tinny (did you do some drastic post-eq? That could be it too). Great solos too; I really dig the first one, and yours is pretty cool, though I might suggest not holding on to so many of the notes, rather trying to create a bit more movement in your phrasing. Some cool ideas though! And yeah, overall the song is pretty damn heavy, sweet fucking riffing and grooves, and with better vocal production (and some tuning/reverb to mask the clean parts a bit more, eek ) it'd rule!

Sky of Maggots is pretty sweet too, some good grooves, though not quite holding my attention as well as the other one, but then again this is a first listen, so I'm sure it'd grow on me! I do feel like you could use some overdubs with guitars doing stuff on the higher octaves (or subtle synths) just to fill up that frequency range; the perpetual low riffing gets a tad monotonous from a strictly tonal perspective (for example I often like to write one guitar doing strummed octaves on some of the upper notes just to give a cooler balance) Cool solos here too!

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh, but I do have to say your singer is a bit too throaty (and not really growly) on the low growls, sounds a little goofy/old-man esque

 

[Dylan S]

Thanks for listening man.

Tones are Recto with recabinet. Vocals were with an sm57 unfortunately. I have to work on their sound a lot.

I'm glad you dig the stuff.

Btw, the low growls in the call and response bits in Qyr are me...and I'm not the best at death metal.