Synth Metal [Erkan/Sneap/Morgan C - LE456/Catharsis] & Showing Appreciation!!

[DaveBlack]

First and foremost, I just wanna show some love to everyone on this forum for sharing all their resources. In due time, I'll be able to give back and help as much as everyone has helped me. Special thanks to Erkan for his latest samples (phenomenal cymbals and hats), Morgan C for the E902 Kick - easily the best kick I've found on here and of course Mr. Sneap. You've all contributed to MY end all/go-to sample kit for realistic drums.

Onto the music...This is a preliminary mix of a song I'm doing called "Path Uneasy". It's missing a couple harmonies and I haven't worked in the solo yet cuz I'm not sure if I'm keeping it. So it may seem a little repetetive without vocals. I also finally sold out and used Glitch on a drum loop at the very end. Very Subtle though.

All critique and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Click Here to check it out - First one on the player.

Also, if I could ask a favor...If anyone can download it from soundclick and do a quick RMS check, I would be eternally grateful or at least point me in the direction of a free, accurate meter. I just can't seem to trust the VUM in reaper cuz it's reading -20something and that seems way too low.

Thanks!!!

 

[AStacy2]

Cool mix and I dig the song man, it is a lot lower in volume than anything that's been put out lately though like you said.

 

[16S]

try Sonalkis FreeG for a Strip meter with RMS monitoring. Gtrs could come up a bit and tuned a bit tighter note 2:40ish.

 

[muckypup1]

I think it sounds really good dude, the style of music isn't really my style but you can hear that this is a good recording!
What drum samples did you use on this? Those drums and toms sound really good dude! And what was used for the guitars? they also sound sick!

 

[DaveBlack]

AStacy - Thank you! I gotta work on my mastering game.

16S - I smell what you're steppin in...There is a very weird synth that kicks in there but isn't really up front so it could be attributed to that. I'll check it out and thank you.

Muckypup - A whole bunch of collected samples. Kick is Morgan C's E902. Snare is a mix of Sneap and a snare bottom sample that I had taken from a previous session. Toms are also sneap but the floor is gated. hats and cymbals are all erkan stereo samples. I think Beinhardt (sp?) and zildjian. I always go with semi open hats too. Besides youre regular processing, I used Omniverb from KVR on toms, cymbals and hats all on their seperate inserts so I could get each on just right. I finished it off with that new saturation plugin from the KVR programmers contest.

The guitars were very simple. Just TSS->LE456->catharsis HiPres impulses->EQ

2 rhythm tracks hard panned L&R.

Thanks alot guys!!

 

[Erkan]

That's a really cool mix Dave! I haven't heard anyone using my cymbals yet, I think you're the first one apart from a very short clip from Jonas (GubbKuK) waaaay back. To hear a full song was really interesting =)

As for the mix goes, I could hear everything pretty clearly so I think it's a good mix so anything I would say about it would just be personal preference really. One thing that did bother me though was the semi-open hihat. It was a bit too mechanical and if I remember correctly there should be enough samples in my cymbal pack to help remedy this. Perhaps you should tweak the hihat a bit more and play around a bit more with the velocity to trigger more different samples or something. I'm loving the crashes though, really nice shimmer and pleasant sound.

How did you program the drums anyway? Are you using something like Battery 3 or are you firing off the samples individually on separate tracks via ApTrigga or...what do you do? I hope there is a way for you to load up more hihat samples as I mentioned, it would really add a lot to the "groove" to hear the hihat changing a bit more.

 

[DaveBlack]

Yooo erkan...glad you posted in here man! I figured a simple thanks in your thread wouldn't be sufficient. As far as the programming goes, I wish I had drumagog to make some gog files or something. But basically I map all my MIDI in FL Studio and then transfer the MIDI to reaper and fire em off there in there own seperate tracks. I could have messed with the velocities if i put a little more time into it. So when I finalize the song and the mix i'll def do just that.

The stereo cymbals sound great though. They really bring the kit to life especially with a little verb. I didn't even have to pan them that much. Kinda just let them do their own thing.

Thanks for the feedback man. I'll let ya know when the final one is up.

 

[Morgan C]

Only listening on laptop speakers, and very softly, but it sounds quite good to me. Only thing is the snare is maybe a touch too compressed, and the kick a bit too programmed and loud.

Which of my kicks was is it? The later one I posted, or the 'rock tunnel' one? I'm assuming the former. It sounds good, but as I said.. on laptop speakers so nothing below like 400hz. Will listen later on headphones.

 

[Erkan]

Yooo erkan...glad you posted in here man! I figured a simple thanks in your thread wouldn't be sufficient. As far as the programming goes, I wish I had drumagog to make some gog files or something. But basically I map all my MIDI in FL Studio and then transfer the MIDI to reaper and fire em off there in there own seperate tracks. I could have messed with the velocities if i put a little more time into it. So when I finalize the song and the mix i'll def do just that.

The stereo cymbals sound great though. They really bring the kit to life especially with a little verb. I didn't even have to pan them that much. Kinda just let them do their own thing.

Thanks for the feedback man. I'll let ya know when the final one is up.

I really appreciate you are very particular about giving out credits to people who have made stuff that you are using. That's the right spirit, keep it up! =)

Just out of curiosity... what stereo cymbals are you talking about?

 

[DaveBlack]

Hey Morgan - Thanks for stopping in brotha! I'm using E902 Kck6 for this one which I think came from the Rock Tunnel thread if I remember correctly. I'll check out the settings on the snare and see if I can dial it back a little cuz I do hear it when the snare fills hit.


and erkan I'm using three cymbals from the Behindert sample pack

Z10CrashA3Stk1mp2(s)
Z15CrashA3Stk1ff2(s)
Crash 1 Zidjian Medium 15 1

 

[Ola Englund]

Sounds really good! I especially like the snare!

The song sounds like it could fit on any level of Doom II.

 

[Morgan C]

Hey Morgan - Thanks for stopping in brotha! I'm using E902 Kck6 for this one which I think came from the Rock Tunnel thread if I remember correctly. I'll check out the settings on the snare and see if I can dial it back a little cuz I do hear it when the snare fills hit.


and erkan I'm using three cymbals from the Behindert sample pack

Z10CrashA3Stk1mp2(s)
Z15CrashA3Stk1ff2(s)
Crash 1 Zidjian Medium 15 1

Do I read correctly that you're only using one sample for the kick (and for everything..)? That's gotta be why its sounding so programmed. Why don't you use the multisamples?

That kick sounds REALLY tight in the low-end.. not something I would've expected from a mic a metre away from the kick good job.

 

[DaveBlack]

Hey Goddamn Guitar, it's funny cause everyone says my music reminds of VGM. I've got a couple of tracks that are straight 8 bit music a la Super Mario. Here ya go and thanks for the kind words!

Knights of 2021

Powerglove

and to Morgan...When it comes to anything metal, I tend to not mess with velocities on the kick. Maybe if there's some real serious double bass parts but if not, I usually just keep it consistent. Anything else, I'll go for a more natural sound. Like Erkan said, just for a little groove.

 

[Morgan C]

and to Morgan...When it comes to anything metal, I tend to not mess with velocities on the kick. Maybe if there's some real serious double bass parts but if not, I usually just keep it consistent. Anything else, I'll go for a more natural sound. Like Erkan said, just for a little groove.

You don't have to mess with the velocities, but do try using at least 3 or 4 samples. Otherwise you get a very machiney/programmed sound... not the consistent-yet-somewhat-realistic sound thats usually desired. If you're using something that can only use one sample at a time though, then that's understandable.