My band's latest song....
 

Dunno if anyone cares ... but here's my band's latest song :) I play all guitars and sequenced drums, and mixed the whole thing. My brother sings :)

http://www.spiritofthestate.com/music/thebesticould.mp3

For any music geeks out there ... here's how it was done ...

I write and record as I write, riffs and ideas etc ... with the following:

Gibson Les Paul Standard, with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups.
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Line 6 POD v2 using my own settings
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Soundblaster Live 1024 (£5 on ebay) using custom KX Project drivers, giving me 5ms latency
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Cubase SX3
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Various plugins, for delay, reverb etc. Most are Waves plugins. For drums I use EZ Drummer as the instrument, but sequence them by hand, including varying velocities etc for the extra human touch.


I record scratch tracks for the whole thing and often end up with a ton of tracks. .. maybe 20 or more. When I'm happy with the song as a peice of music... I send a low res MP3 to my brother, who comes up with lyrics and a melody to work with the song.

Once he's done that, he throws together a rough track. Sends that back to me.

When I have that done, we decide if the song is any good, and move on.

I re-record almost all my guitar parts, getting them down to about 10 tracks in total. I like to keep rhythm tracks for verses and choruses etc seperate. Easier to manage. Plus, I always boost the volume of the chourus guitars :)

I then finalise drums. Now, up til now, my drums have mostly sucked, but I'm really pleased with these ones. I put time in :)

Then I send back to my brother, who then re-records his vocals. And then he sends them back to me, and I mix the final track.


This whole track was written from scratch and recorded yesterday. The re-records happened today. In total, all in all, about 10 hours work.

holy crap! all the instruments just by yourself? cool

i was gonna make fun of you because i cant stand rock, but it is actually pretty good.

Oh, wait until you record real drums. Then you'll have some work to do -lol.

What pre-amp is he using for his vocals?

wow sounds great ,good luck :thumbsup

i like it.

I hope this won't piss you off:
http://www.spiritofthestate.com/music/

about the guitar solo: you can add a speed part there: add a swiping technic riff at the end , or a 8 finger tapping - it really asks for it.
also in the solo I would add a second guitar near the sting bend at the end it at a higher pitch or at the 7th - it will add a lot of emotion to it.
all in all as I said I like it :)

man it's amazing....great job!!!

Dude ... I don't have any work to do ... this is a demo. My live drummer is insanely good ... he'll rip into some sweet drums for this tune, so I'm not worried :) When we decide it's worth spending money on, we'll do a proper demo. For now, I do all the work :)

Preamp wise, he's actually using an MBox2. Thing is, that's not the bottleneck. We work with cheap equipment, and get the best we can from it. But the mic he's using is my cheap $80 condensor mic. We have it set up in a makeshift dry room. Sounds good for the price.



No. I don't even understand a word you just said. I am not a speed, or technical player, and I couldn't give two shits about theory. LOL! I play what I play and that's how it'll always be. I can play much faster than that but in all honesty, I don't really want to because I like the melody I created in the solo.

:) Oh, and no, I don't mind ... I knew people would look for the contents of the foder, but nothing in there is precious ... download the Ken Theme or summat ... lol :) It's just a storage for my music.


This band is rehearsing at the mo and we sound SO fucking good ... not to blow my own trumpet... I've found a great set of musicians and we're all very into it. It's my life outside of work. :)

Sounds good man...Check out my band if you have a minute: EVILBOYS

Wow sounds amazing for only taking 10 hours of work from start to finish :)

Wow nice! Also interesting how you do it!

good stuff - reminds me a bit of Coheed or Saosin

sounds good though there's tons of US "rock" bands in this genre....they all
sound the same.....not trying to dish you....as I said the track is quite good

Well, I think we're a little different ... most of our songs have been called '80's influenced', and our vocalist does not have the same voice as most of those bands you mention. Will has a unique voice.

Still, your opinion is noted. I'm not doing this to get signed ... I'm doing it coz I think it's fun :)

Actually, we still have to lay bass down ... bassist coming over some time this week to do it

It sure sounds good and much better than most bands that play for fun.....
though even it doesn't matter at all when you're just making music because
you like it yourself :thumbsup

I've played in bands for years and would like to play in a band again. Problem
here is that every idiot wants to become a famous rockstar and just play to
try to become one......I want to play with a few friends a few hours every
week just for the fun of it. I'm not interested in playing 8 gigs a week
in shithole venues all over the country

Fuck that....I just want to make music while having a few drinks and smoke
a few joints....I want to leave my drumkit setup all the time so we just come
in and start playing......that's my idea of having a good time making music.
If only I could find 3 or 4 guys playing instruments other than drums :winkwink:

I actuall do wanna play gigs 8 times a week ... lol. I used to gig a lot but I haven't been in a band in over 2 years ... so now I'm in one that sounds good, has catchy tunes that people like, and I'm the driving force and writer of all the music, I actually feel really accomplished. I think we're a great band, and we do sound great live. So I wanna push it as much as possible. That said, yeah, I don't have blind ambition ... I already have a career that's good ... so while I work hard in the band, I don't expect to be a rockstar :) That's crazy.

Double post! Oops! :)

Have fun doing what you do man.....if you like playing gigs....then all is good
I'm one of those who doesn't give a fuck what others think of the result of my
hobby......I've studied and graduated conservatory....conservatory musicians are lunatics.....once they're in conservatory all they want is to play technical
difficult music.....which most of the time isn't something that sounds good....
it just sound complicated......dream theater music and some funk/fusion/jazz rock
is an exception........everything else that's complicated is just horror to listen
to, doesn't have any emotion to it and playing it makes you tired instead of
satisfied.......god I hate those type of musicians :1orglaugh

Have fun doing what you do man.....if you like playing gigs....then all is good
I'm one of those who doesn't give a fuck what others think of the result of my
hobby......I've studied and graduated conservatory....conservatory musicians are lunatics.....once they're in conservatory all they want is to play technical
difficult music.....which most of the time isn't something that sounds good....
it just sound complicated......dream theater music and some funk/fusion/jazz rock
is an exception........everything else that's complicated is just horror to listen
to, doesn't have any emotion to it and playing it makes you tired instead of
satisfied.......god I hate those type of musicians :1orglaugh

LOL! You seem passionate about that :D lol

Btw, I dunno if you got the impression we're from the US... we're actually in the UK.

:)

I can do double posts too :1orglaugh

Yeah.....I guess it was the sound....it's defenitely not BritRock you're playing :thumbsup

You've got some real talent, good job man!:thumbsup

It's nice but I didn't like the vocals at all (Same with alot of American bands they put on a girlish voice to sing with). I guess i'm biased because most of the bands I like are from the UK (With the exception of RATM and a few others). lol

i like the songgg god job mannn

it's not bad... kind of bubble gum rock... but it doesn't suck :)

Wow, nice job. I record at home using Garaeband, my drums never come out sounding this good. Nice work.

We ARE from the UK!

I don't understand why musical genre can't in some people's eyes transcend country? Just because something is UK or US, doesn't mean it's a certain sound.

I'll pass on your comments about my brother sounding like a girl to him :) I'm sure he'll appreciate the constructive critisism :)

:thumbsup

I love love love LOVE it!

I may be a band groupie!

:)

I love it. Even in demo form, that's a great song. I'd love to hear it again when you finish it. Maybe even a live version at some point :winkwink:

My girlfriend's brother in law has an amazing home studio and while his workflow might be a little different, he works in a similar fashion. I wish I could turn out something like that in 10 hours. I'm envious.

I know, I never said you was from the US lol I just think the vocals sound like the typical american emo band, other from that it's great :thumbsup

woooow very nice :thumbsup

I was going to ridicule you, but this is some good playing. Kinda derivative, IMHO, but then, everything is. Prolly means this could be big! Good luck!

wow, good stuff
personally, I think the vocals are a little off (mix-wise, not quality-wise) I think they'd sound a tad better with the music mixed a little louder, but that's just nitpicking...this is a pretty damn good demo...

that's actually a good song but needs to be mastered

I was saying you will have some work WHEN you record live drums, or whatever. Don't take it the wrong way man, chill out.

We use some cheap equipment, like I love using the SM7B for vocals and the hihat. But we also use API preamps and did have to shell out some $$$... but the best preamps is what you need most of all.

Dude ... the two smileys in the sentence I wrote are proof that I wasn't in need of chilling out :) I didn't take anything you said the wrong way :) It's all good.

In all honesty, I dont' wanna spend any more money making these demo's ... considering the equipemnt is less than entry level, I'm damn proud of what we can do. The thing is, these demo's are mostly just for the promotion of the band as far as getting us gigging goes. Our first gig is lined up for March ... but I don't wanna wait that long! I'm working on getting us more asap!!! :)

Cheers!

It's all good. You do need music to promote the band.

I was going to make fun of you too but I am thoroughly impressed. Nice work.

The recording sounds good to me. I'm not really that into the emo, Fallout Boy sound. But, having recorded my band when I was in university on roughly the same equipment (cubase, soundblaster card, cheap mics and very little processors) you have done a very good job making it sound as pro as possible. In fact, the sound quality ion this track is way better than most of the "demos" I have heard from local bands and such. And considering I was listening to it as a streaming mp3, that is impressive. You should be proud of that work.

Brad, I don't think we sound like Fall Out Boy, but thanks for the comments!

The 'emo' and Fall out Boy references etc kind of annoy me to a degree (not in an angry way tho), on a personal level because the music bares very little resemblence to those types of bands ... if you'd heard our other demo's (some found on www.spiritofthestate.com) you would hear such an 80's influence.

Vocals wise tho ... that's where the resemblence can be made. My brother, Will, is a HUGE fan of modern mainstream rock ... including bands like that. But ... one thing he doesn't do, is create melodies like those bands. His vocal style tho ... yeah, it can be compared.

But anyways ... thanks guys :) Personally I am a HUGE Guns N' Roses fan ... Slash is my guitar hero and the reason I play guitar. I just love old GnR (new is cool too ... but no one will beat Appetite or Use Your lllusions etc). I LOVE Velvet Revolver, and my main listening these days is still those kinds of bands.

The stuff I write musically that you hear here, is just the way I'm writing at the mo ... and you know what ... I'm not doing it because of any bands ... I'm just doing it ... if you get me? :)

Glad so far people have admitted that they may have taken the piss but found that they thought it was good :)

Metaman, you're the biggest surprise... I thought you'd rip me on it! LOL! Thanks guys! :D

Yay... first gig on 23rd Dec! :):):):):)

YAY!

Yeah, private party no less!!!! :D lol

Sounds pretty good..you have talent,nice job

Thanks Spunky :)

I have this tune playing all day. I love it even more than when I posted before.

When I heard the music I thought 80s - but when the vocals came in I thought Fall-Out Boy and Saosin. Like it or not, for most people, most of the sound of the band they identify with the vocalist. So if he sounds more emo, people are going to automatically label you emo. I personally am not a huge fan of most emo, but you shouldn't take so much offense to it - you'll probably get more fans by sounding "current" then sounding like you're stuck in the 80s. :2 cents:

Is your brother still in Hospital ?