My Band...

[Obscura]

Hey Guys,
I haven't posted anything in a long time. I've been studying for a board exam and working like crazy (not that I posted very much anyway). I stop at this forum at least once a day to get my fill of guitar/amp/recording talk and kind of hide in the shadows. Anyway, I finally have a link to a promo mp3 from my bands new album.. We're called Starkweather and the album is called Croatoan. We recorded with Pierre Remillard up in Canada and I'm fairly satisfied with the end result. This song is unmastered and it's called 'Taming Leeches With Fire'. I hope you enjoy it. Here's the link:

http://www.hxcmp3.com/bands/22469/

 

[Obscura]

Ok, I wanted to give you a little bit more background even though it doesn't seem to matter. When I posted on here before I was obsessed with getting new equipment, custom guitar, boutique amp, etc.. but after sitting at home and working on demos with my 300 dollar ESP and 5150 combo I'm starting to realize that it doesn't really matter. Yeah, I would love to have a Diezel Herbert or a VHT, and I nice custom 7 string, but obsessing about that stuff was time wasted when I could actually be playing. The guitars on our album were recorded with an old 5150 head and a new Rectifier. The Rec was a nightmare to coax a good sound out of but the 5150 was a breeze. Guitars were an Ibanez Universe with a Dimarzio Blaze Custom and an old ESP Mirage Custom with an EMG 81. We used Andy's trick of loading the front end with a Tube Screamer and that helped with the Boogie's tone, but getting rid of the boogie buzz was a pain in the ass. There are 4 tracks total, 2 of each amp. It took 3 mixes to get the guitars to work well together and in the end it was more an issue of panning than EQ.

I've been coming to this forum for a really long time but don't post often. I hope the regular members don't feel like I'm some guy that popped in out of nowhere to pimp his wares. I'm looking forward to the Nevermore remix. If ever an album needed another mix...

 

[johnzorn]

Hey man, the clip is pretty tight. I like how the vocals are pretty varied and the song has some good intensity to it. Nice production all around. Also I second the thing about the gear obsession. I used to be just like that. Untill after listening to a few albums and figuering out that distortion is pretty relative and it doesn't matter if the guy playing a 5150, a Ultra Plus, or a Diezel VH4, its all in how well the player handles the amp. It goes the same with guitars. I love my Pod XT though. I only use it for direct recording and I get all the tones I need. Anywho, keep it heavy.

 

[Obscura]

Thanks JohnZorn for the reply. As for the vocals, we've been hugely influenced by an old punk/metal band called the Amebix who were doing the mixed vocal thing back in the early 80's. It's strange these days to hear so many bands doing that kind of thing, death metal bands, metalcore bands, bands like Linkin Park...I love gear and at one point was a total gear whore. If I had the money I might still be, but it got to the point where rather than connecting me to music it was getting in the way. These days I just have an old rack mount Boogie .50 Caliber, a 5150 combo, a cheap ESP 7 string, the nice ESP Mirage 6 string that I don't play much, and an Ibanez Universe that's in pieces in the garage. That's more than enough for now. Take Care.