New song from my band, featuring guest lead from Felix!

Skinny Viking

Skinny Viking

¯\(°_o)/¯ How do Lydian?
Oct 10, 2007
7,116
6
38
Philly
www.facebook.com
Yo guys!

Ok so here is a mix I've been working on for my band Shadowdance. Its a song called "Balance" ... nice fast, dark power metal stuff. Anyway, This isn't the final mix, there are still some volume spots that need to be automated and after making some adjustments to the bass yesterday I've now noticed a lovely clicking sound (bass player is a finger player) that needs to be hunted down and killed ... the clicking, not the bass player :p

Our resident Gunslinger Felix was kind enough and awesome enough to donate his talents to the 2nd lead spot. He comes in at around 3:26 right after my solo and man, he really fuckin threw down on it!:headbang: Danke for that Felix. As for my lead, while its not the most intricate lead I have on this forthcoming cd of ours, I think I can honestly say it might be my favorite of all the ones I've done.

I'm posting this more because I want to share the music so far as opposed to getting too heavy in the critiquing, although I'd love to hear all opinions. Main reason I specify that is because its important to note the guitars were all recorded a couple years ago, minus Felix's lead, and it was when I was 1st really learning about things ... therefore, the rhythm sound is not all that great and I didn't know to track with DIs also. Point is, the guitar tone is what it is, cannot be changed really so I have to make it work as best it can in a mix filled with 10 vocal tracks and about 20 tracks of orchestration :p

So ok, enough excuses... I just hope you guys enjoy the tune

Here is the updated (8/7/10) version of the tune
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/594184/Balance Test Seven.mp3

Cheers!
-Carlos

EDIT: I should also mention that there is absolutely NO mastering of any kind done to this, pseudo or otherwise, nothing
 
Oh my god, how I fucking love this song! :worship: A Delicacy for Powermetal fans.

Totally diggin´the bass, your solo, the singer & the vocal harmonys. Production/mix is quite okay, although I´d recommend to get rid of some mean frequences. Maybe this problem will be history after mastering process.

Songwriting 10/10 Fuck yeah :kickass:
 
Danke Felix! Your solo is such a perfect compliment to this song, I still get that goofy smile on my face when it jumps in cause its so killer :headbang:

I'm hoping some of the weirdness in the sound can be helped a bit (not fixed) by a really good mastering job. Like I said, I just have to accept it for what it is however given all that I've learned since recording this, I guarantee the next cd will be MUCH better with the guitar tone. Hopefully the songwriting will be on par as well hahahaha

I think you'll really be diggin the next few songs I'll be posting as the mix progresses. I have a few surprises up my sleeve and I feel confident in saying every song is as epic in scope as this one, yet all with completely different feels. I'm my own harshest critic when it comes to songwriting, you will hear no filler on this cd, that is a promise

So c'mon guys, lets get some more comments & opinions here!
 
Danke Felix! Your solo is such a perfect compliment to this song, I still get that goofy smile on my face when it jumps in cause its so killer
Click to expand...

Thank a ton, my friend. It means a lot :) Can´t wait to hear the other tracks of your band. Can you sell your bass player to me?

I´m envious :D He´s killer!
 
I dig the music. Reminiscent of Helloween at times. And the leads have some Maiden influence in them (I think). I have to say I'm not a big fan of the vocals on this, however. But would probably eventually grow on me (like Nevermore or Evergrey). That bass playing...wow. My fingers and wrists hurt just listening to it. :) Overall...I like it!
 
Felix Neumann said:
Thank a ton, my friend. It means a lot :) Can´t wait to hear the other tracks of your band. Can you sell your bass player to me?

I´m envious :D He´s killer!
Click to expand...

You want the bass player, or the bass lines? ;)

He really is a great player though. I purposely wrote them out to make his hands fall off. He learned the basslines in an unbelievably short amount of time and just totally nailed them
 
Thanks Mark!

Yep Helloween and Maiden both are influences ... not huge ones, but yeah and actually the song "Eagle Fly Free" was the direct inspiration for the basslines for this tune. Wanted to do something where the bass is just EVERYWHERE but still classy.

Vocals can be so subjective sometimes ... its all a matter of taste. Even if you're not too into his vocals on this tune, its possible you might really dig him on other tunes. He REALLY changes it up a lot in his tone and delivery throughout the 10 songs we have for this cd

Thanks for checking it out man, I really appreciate the kind words!
 
Skinny Viking said:
You want the bass player, or the bass lines? ;)

He really is a great player though. I purposely wrote them out to make his hands fall off. He learned the basslines in an unbelievably short amount of time and just totally nailed them
Click to expand...

Both :D Dude, as I had a Band the problem was finding a real bass player and not just an unhappy guitarist, who has to deal with it anyhow :) I plan to have a band soon again and this will be hard to find...again :bah:

You wrote the bass lines, dude? Congratz!! :worship:
 
Skinny Viking said:
Thanks Mark!

Yep Helloween and Maiden both are influences ... not huge ones, but yeah and actually the song "Eagle Fly Free" was the direct inspiration for the basslines for this tune. Wanted to do something where the bass is just EVERYWHERE but still classy.

Vocals can be so subjective sometimes ... its all a matter of taste. Even if you're not too into his vocals on this tune, its possible you might really dig him on other tunes. He REALLY changes it up a lot in his tone and delivery throughout the 10 songs we have for this cd

Thanks for checking it out man, I really appreciate the kind words!
Click to expand...

You're very right about vocals being subjective. I definitely want to check out the rest of the songs, so keep us posted on this!
 
hm....sounds familiar to me somehow haha
Comparing to the older mixes it really does sound cleaner now ;)
Delay on on the vox at the beginning are a bit loud now imo
Also I KNOW that the balance of melody/rhythms is far from getting good easily in this situation...but some volume automation will be enough in the end :headbang:
The basssound fucking kicks ass, even cooler now :kickass:
But Guitars are still a tad upfront, and drums could come up a bit, orchestras are too loud at some places.

You allready know what I think about your music ;)
 
Hey Marco

Ja I'll bet this sounds a bit familiar to you :D hahaha

The delay on the vocals in the beginning and 2nd verses is intentionally louder. I did it for effect but only in those spots. The rhythms I have no automation on but have already made notes of where guitars can be pulled down to not compete with the melody guitars and a couple other small parts. The orchestra parts are driving me a bit insane cause it seems every different set of speakers I listen to this on gives me a different result with volume, and everything is already smashed with compressors and EQ ... trial and error I guess. I would say this mix is about 80% there. I think automating the guitars in the spots I'm thinking will take care of the "too upfront" part cause I think its ok for them to be a little louder in a couple places (the ending riff parts for example).

Yup, the bass ... I'm almost happy with it. Just that clicking but I think I know where the problem is so we'll see how the next revision is. Drums ... really? You think they're too quiet? They're cutting through really good on my monitors, car speakers and even my shitty pc speakers here at work but I'll try a bounce with the drum bus up a little higher and see how it sits. I was just worried that if I did that it might take away some of the clarity from the more dense sections but I can try it

Work work work :D

Thanks for the input bro, I appreciate it!
 
Felix Neumann said:
Both :D Dude, as I had a Band the problem was finding a real bass player and not just an unhappy guitarist, who has to deal with it anyhow :) I plan to have a band soon again and this will be hard to find...again :bah:

You wrote the bass lines, dude? Congratz!! :worship:
Click to expand...

hahahahaha

"unhappy guitarist" :D

Ja I know the problems with bass players, although I have been VERY fortunate in somehow always finding talented players ... you should hear the bass player in my cover band, absolutely destroys the bass player on this song.

Here's a site of some killer world music from his other band
http://www.animusmusic.com/1/Music.html

I write about 90% of the music, including basslines and usually drum arrangements as well. I also play the bass but I'm not a bass player. I just know the difference between bass and guitar and never look at them as being close to the same instrument. When writing I'll usually take out my bass work out actual basslines instead of guitar parts .. I look at it almost more like piano parts or something. I usually record the bass on the demos as well although on our 1st cd I played the bass on 10 of the 12 songs so I've gotten quite comfortable with the performance end of things.

Hey if you're ver stuck on some bass ideas for a tune and want an outside perspective, I'm always happy to help you write out some shit :headbang:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
yo new song from my band!
Replies
9
Views
964
Practice Room
muckypup1
M
Emdprodukt
NEW SONG (now with vocals and guest solo by Felix Neumann)
Replies
39
Views
1K
Practice Room
Emdprodukt
E
M
New song from me band...
Replies
11
Views
521
Practice Room
muckypup1
M
S
New song from my band - The Approaching Storm
Replies
5
Views
471
Practice Room
Sam Bottner
S
Felix Neumann
KRANKSTERS!!! Check my Revolution Jr. (with Mesa recti 4x12)
Replies
41
Views
2K
Practice Room
Felix Neumann
F
Top Bottom
Back