Hey guys,
Firstly, I apologise for the long post. If you read it to the end, all I can say is "thank you!"
This kinda reminds me of some of Erkan's long posts!
I really value the opinion of the community here, so on we go...
Okay, so I've gone back to playing guitar (I'm a drummer) and I'm finally writing my own songs.
Let me start by saying that I'm not a metal guitarist for starters, when I was a kid I learned guitar by playing along to stuff like Nirvana, Silverchair, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Sex Pistols, The Pixies etc.
I find that these influences are still evident in my playing 14 years later, although I have gotten much better in the last few months, experimenting with more varied tunings (currently playing in open-D tuning) and chords.
So basically, the stuff I've been writing so far is not metal at all, more hard rock/grunge.
Moving on, I am writing with the intent of releasing about 12 songs (we'll see how that goes) and I'm already thinking far ahead with regards to the release etc. I know it's still very early days, but I believe that by thinking of these things now, I'll save myself a lot of hassle further down the road.
Here's what I've been thinking so far.
1. Music will be distributed through all online stores (iTunes, Amazon etc.)
2. Music can also be purchased directly from my own website. This will entitle you to download the LP (with artwork) rendered in a higer bitrate in your favourite format (MP3, ogg, FLAC etc.)
3. A "Producer Edition" will be made available which will include all of the above plus the raw sessions (no post-fx) and extra goodies.
4. To save on costs, no physical copies will be available. Instead, all artwork will be provided ready to print, should you wish to burn a copy of the disc yourself and place everything into a jewel case.
I am currently writing and recording as I go along, pretty much pre-production. Once I'm happy that I've a good selection of songs, I will take a week or so off work and track everything together.
Drums:
I've decided to play the drums on my Roland V-Drums.
There are numerous reasons for this (I have an acoustic kit), but the most obvious is the versatility that MIDI drums will offer me. I'll still be playing them, so they will have that human feel.
Because this record is going to be a rock recording, everything won't be locked to the grid as strictly as you would if it were a metal release. My biggest worry were the cymbals, but the cymbals on my acoustic kit are a bit shite at the moment, so using Superior Drummer makes sense. Also, including the MIDI with the "Producer Edition" makes sense, I want people to be able to mix their own drums.
I'm assuming I can't bounce and distribute the individual tracks as I'm using a commercial VSTi? Would it make a difference if I distributed the bounced drums post-production and not the raw drum tracks from Superior? If someone could clarify, that'd be great.
Failing that, I'll bounce the drums down to 4 tracks, so those without a good VSTi can still play around with something.
Guitar:
I'm using a Schecter Diamond Omen 6 with stock pickups for pre-production. I may put EMGs into it after pre-production just to see if it would be a positive change for the kind of music I'm doing.
I've played around with alot of guitar sims, but for this particular guitar and style of music I find that Guitar Rig is giving me the best tones so far. Other sims (Revalver mkIII and numerous free plugs) just weren't giving me the same kind of tone I have when I'm playing through my amp (Krank Rev Jr). I don't have Pod Farm, so if people think I may be missing out on something, please do let me know.
DIs are being recorded primarily for the "Producer Edition."
I may end up reamping the guitar tracks for the final release, just because I'm loving the tone I'm getting from my amp.
Bass:
I've 2 bass guitars here and plenty of mates who are bass players with top-quality gear. I will probably end up playing the bass myself, depending how I get on during pre-production. Recorded some bass lastnight, I need to get it restrung and setup correctly.
Vox:
These will be performed by a mate of mine who's a pretty damn good singer. I might give a shot at some background vocals.
I've contacted quite a few artists so I have an idea of design costs (which I will be funding myself). I'll be getting someone to design a MySpace page and I'd like to carry the design over to a dedicated domain which I will code myself. This same artwork style will be used throughout all promotional material (CD, adverts etc.)
Something else I'd like to include with the "Producer Edition" would be a video diary of the recording process. If I were to do this, what material would people like to watch besides basic tracking shots? I'm recording this with very minimal gear, so I thought that some people may appreciate a run through of the gear and how I'm maximising its potential. I intend to keep the "arse-around" aspect of most band's videos to a minimum.
If anyone's got any tips or suggestions regarding anything I've said above, I'd love to hear them.
Thank you for your time,
Niall.
Firstly, I apologise for the long post. If you read it to the end, all I can say is "thank you!"
This kinda reminds me of some of Erkan's long posts!
I really value the opinion of the community here, so on we go...
Okay, so I've gone back to playing guitar (I'm a drummer) and I'm finally writing my own songs.
Let me start by saying that I'm not a metal guitarist for starters, when I was a kid I learned guitar by playing along to stuff like Nirvana, Silverchair, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Sex Pistols, The Pixies etc.
I find that these influences are still evident in my playing 14 years later, although I have gotten much better in the last few months, experimenting with more varied tunings (currently playing in open-D tuning) and chords.
So basically, the stuff I've been writing so far is not metal at all, more hard rock/grunge.
Moving on, I am writing with the intent of releasing about 12 songs (we'll see how that goes) and I'm already thinking far ahead with regards to the release etc. I know it's still very early days, but I believe that by thinking of these things now, I'll save myself a lot of hassle further down the road.
Here's what I've been thinking so far.
1. Music will be distributed through all online stores (iTunes, Amazon etc.)
2. Music can also be purchased directly from my own website. This will entitle you to download the LP (with artwork) rendered in a higer bitrate in your favourite format (MP3, ogg, FLAC etc.)
3. A "Producer Edition" will be made available which will include all of the above plus the raw sessions (no post-fx) and extra goodies.
4. To save on costs, no physical copies will be available. Instead, all artwork will be provided ready to print, should you wish to burn a copy of the disc yourself and place everything into a jewel case.
I am currently writing and recording as I go along, pretty much pre-production. Once I'm happy that I've a good selection of songs, I will take a week or so off work and track everything together.
Drums:
I've decided to play the drums on my Roland V-Drums.
There are numerous reasons for this (I have an acoustic kit), but the most obvious is the versatility that MIDI drums will offer me. I'll still be playing them, so they will have that human feel.
Because this record is going to be a rock recording, everything won't be locked to the grid as strictly as you would if it were a metal release. My biggest worry were the cymbals, but the cymbals on my acoustic kit are a bit shite at the moment, so using Superior Drummer makes sense. Also, including the MIDI with the "Producer Edition" makes sense, I want people to be able to mix their own drums.
I'm assuming I can't bounce and distribute the individual tracks as I'm using a commercial VSTi? Would it make a difference if I distributed the bounced drums post-production and not the raw drum tracks from Superior? If someone could clarify, that'd be great.
Failing that, I'll bounce the drums down to 4 tracks, so those without a good VSTi can still play around with something.
Guitar:
I'm using a Schecter Diamond Omen 6 with stock pickups for pre-production. I may put EMGs into it after pre-production just to see if it would be a positive change for the kind of music I'm doing.
I've played around with alot of guitar sims, but for this particular guitar and style of music I find that Guitar Rig is giving me the best tones so far. Other sims (Revalver mkIII and numerous free plugs) just weren't giving me the same kind of tone I have when I'm playing through my amp (Krank Rev Jr). I don't have Pod Farm, so if people think I may be missing out on something, please do let me know.
DIs are being recorded primarily for the "Producer Edition."
I may end up reamping the guitar tracks for the final release, just because I'm loving the tone I'm getting from my amp.
Bass:
I've 2 bass guitars here and plenty of mates who are bass players with top-quality gear. I will probably end up playing the bass myself, depending how I get on during pre-production. Recorded some bass lastnight, I need to get it restrung and setup correctly.
Vox:
These will be performed by a mate of mine who's a pretty damn good singer. I might give a shot at some background vocals.
I've contacted quite a few artists so I have an idea of design costs (which I will be funding myself). I'll be getting someone to design a MySpace page and I'd like to carry the design over to a dedicated domain which I will code myself. This same artwork style will be used throughout all promotional material (CD, adverts etc.)
Something else I'd like to include with the "Producer Edition" would be a video diary of the recording process. If I were to do this, what material would people like to watch besides basic tracking shots? I'm recording this with very minimal gear, so I thought that some people may appreciate a run through of the gear and how I'm maximising its potential. I intend to keep the "arse-around" aspect of most band's videos to a minimum.
If anyone's got any tips or suggestions regarding anything I've said above, I'd love to hear them.
Thank you for your time,
Niall.
