Darn kids, eh? haha just kidding

Well, I'm with my band curently in the mixing process of our debut album. It's som progressive/ doomish black metal. You can listen to our demo here: http://hagmusic.bandcamp.com/

Allllright, I found a guitar store in town that has a pretty good selection of super interesting new/used guitars from a lot of manufacturers I don't recognize. Dicked around in there for a while today and I will definitely be going back and buying a guitar (and interface) in a paycheck or two.

new guitars are always nice.

new flittering album

https://speedritualrecords.bandcamp.com ... appearance

Got my Hercules DJ Control instinct in the mail so now I can start working on live performances for my electronic project. For that project, I'm on the last track for my upcoming EP and all I need to do is finish mixing it and then I'm DONE.

I just bought a Madison Prophecy

Hell yeah, I just found out that all used gear on Musician's Friend will ship to South Korea. For some reason USB interfaces are stupid expensive here so I'm probably far better off buying a used one off there and having it shipped.

Hell sounds good there, snap that shit up!

I can't find anymore juice to write music lately, so I'm thinking of experimenting in a different tuning and changing my distortion sound a little. It's starting to sound too generic and weak. Also, my guitar can stand a scrubbing.

New gear can be pretty inspirational, aside from being fun of course.

When I'm in a rut I usually just revisit some old songs that I haven't played in awhile or put on a YouTube playlist of random backing tracks and solo over them all to try and force some new ideas from myself.

I managed to come up with something pretty decent for the Paul Masvidal solo in the song we are covering for Oshiego's upcoming "Crossing the Bridge of Siraat". I doubt anyone will find that it equals his but it's no shame to be beaten by the best Besides, I think it's cool when judged on its own. I tried many times to write a good solo but got irritated at how I would revisit them the next morning and think that they sucked. So I looped the solo section and improvised something out on the first try which I'm keeping. Sometimes overthinking it is the problem.

If I could stop buying martial arts crap and running my light bill up, I could get some new equipment. But my blood pressure has been elevated and I like it cold.

Haven't been here in a little while. Some bullet points on how music's going for me right now:

-Did the biggest gig I've ever done with Sorrowseed at the Boston Freedom Rally. We opened the main stage on day 2 and it was the biggest crowd I've played in front of yet.

-Got contracted to do drums for a local MA project called Wandering Oak. It sounds like, in the main guy's words, old Opeth on steroids.

-Finished tracking drums for the new Blacksoul Seraphim album, which now has a name too. We want it to be done for release on Christmas.

-Tracked vocals for Josh and I's straight black metal side project. It's an intentionally very stupid project, with songs about frozen penises, necrophilia, and mythical creature orgies, among other things.

-Started writing with Josh the next Sorrowseed album. This one we're gonna take our time with and not rush to completion like we did Nemesis Engine. It could be done in 2 months or 2 years; whenever we feel like it's ready, basically.

I know what you mean. On top of all my recent acquisitions I STILL want a new guitar!

Thankfully it doesn't particularly take anything to 'inspire' me to play or write. Just plugging in and hearing the amp roar already gets me in the groove.

Guitars, amps, and pedals/switches are something I will always have to try out before I buy them. I waaaaaay too picky for my own good about my sound. Luckily we had a pawn shop open up here a year ago, so my options just went from impossible to improbable.

Although, I will say I bought my current guitar from there, and it is goddamned awesome if a little basic. Ibanez RG120, with a cheap floating bridge I blocked from floating. If I get any other guitar though, it will have to be an Epiphone LP edition. I played the Epiphone LP compared to the Gibson LP, and the Epi just suits my comfort and playing style better that I can only described as 'balanced'.

Go for an Epiphone LP Tribute 09, or the other version whose name escapes me if you prefer a 50s style neck. Those are hands down the best, no discussion.

Alternatively you could just get an Epi LP traditional and swap out for some SD JB/59, or BKP Black Dogs

Luckily I just have the one, and she's not too expensive to please. My wife got her a kitchen set the other day, and she'd rather play with the box.

Anyhoo, my dad just dropped by today with an early birthday gift. I asked him if they still had a Marshall MG250 amp at the pawn shop he works at and apparently a guy had it on layaway for a while. The guy basically called in and said he didn't want it anymore and my dad bought it with employee discount. Marshall + Ibanex make Matthew one happy camper.

It couldn't have came at a better time.

put an old demo tape up on the deathlord bandcamp

https://deathlord.bandcamp.com/album/fe ... f-the-dead

Would anyone who plays drums and has the ability to record be willing to record drums for a little 2 minute Kyuss-ish song I just recorded a scratch track for? It's some pretty simple, primitive stuff. A couple of droning riffs and a couple of groovy ones. Not for release or anything, it's just not the usual sort of song I write and I'd love to hear it with some proper drumming. Will post the scratch track to anyone interested.

I'd be stoked if anyone's up for it. Cheers!

I got to try something I've wanted to at today's practice since my band's guitarist got a new wah pedal and is letting me use his old one for my bass. I've always liked the way that guys like Cliff Burton and Al Cisneros used it in their setups so I've been figuring out how to make it work with some of our material. We're going back to the studio next Saturday and at least one of the songs off the upcoming album should have my wah on it.

CloggedUrethra is doing drumming jobs. He does mainly tech/prog/black metal stuff, so I'm pretty sure some droning groove riffs would be pretty easy.

Thanks for the heads up, but the job's already taken. Guess who.

I hate internet guessing games. If you are going to tell us, then out with it. If not, that's fine but quit teasing.

Are you serious? I thought anyone who read my post would instantly assume SLK. Hence the tongue out smiley.

I did assume this =D sometimes I think this topic could be called "What is SLK up to?" Im kinda envious of the drive that guy has

I assumed the same too and I thought anyone would, since it's pretty well known which of the regulars here plays what instrument etc.

Well this is somewhat musically related. I'm taking a college class in classical music and for the final project I have to compose an 8 minute long opus displaying core musical tenets of classical songwriting, whether it's texture or structure or whatever. Along with 6 other girls, only one of which plays a musical instrument (piano). This will be fun. Think Marty Friedman playing with a folk band with some Metallica/Exodus segments in between (yes, I came up with a legit way to force that in).

All music is recorded for Oshiego's third album, Crossing the Bridge of Siraat. More than half the songs are mixed too. All that's left is to settle tracklisting, label/pressing details and we're all set for release. I've let a couple of people whose opinion I trust hear some samples and the response has been great so far. I'm very satisfied with the songwriting and performance but especially the production. I've never had my guitars sound so massive and clear before. I credit that to using a much better guitar this time around (Ibanez MFM1, Duncan SH-6), an overall improvement in my playing, and the fact that I tracked all 4 layers.

That said, I'm switching main guitars for the band at the moment. The Bareknuckle Aftermath in my schecter is destroying the world everytime I play it. At the guitar store I worked in, some guy was deadset on EMG 81/85 when asking me to recommend him a metal guitar. I hooked him up with an Aftermath equipped Ibanez and he soon changed his mind about pickups.

Well, I was a little intoxicated last night, and my earlier comment was really asshole-ish. Sorry, guys.

http://www.numbskullaudio.com/tone-clon ... e-plug-ins

Thought I'd share this. Shows you don't need a ton of expensive gear to get a great sound. As John Suhr said, "practice cures most tone issues".

Ugh on plugins always. And thanks. I'm glad to help and willing. I should have some more time to do more music since my huge artshow event that I pretty much wait all year for is over. Do have a bunch of commission work to start on before xmas so I'll still be strapped as far as the full recording I have planned.

Do have mixes in the works for a Dragunov full length, Corpse Arise full length, 54R full length and a Flittering ep. Oh and another Uzumaki album sans vocals.

Why would anyone want to sound like Iced Earth?

This wait for my next paycheck is killing me, haha. Anyone ever played a guitar made by Indie Guitars? It's a UK-based company whose guitars are all built in their own factory in Korea. I guess they're widely known for their really high-quality Gibson copies (i.e. you can get a much, much nicer guitar than a Gibson for less money) but I kind of like their original body shape guitars, too. The guitar store had a couple of them, like this one:

http://www.indieguitars.com/product-2.cfm?ID=9

But they also had it in a nice matte olive drab, which looks real cool. Nice specs on them - 25" scale, extremely nice passive humbuckers, set necks, and if I remember right that olive drab one was actually string-through which is really nice. I think new ones are around $400 but I'm hoping to snag a used one for $200 or so.

But who the hell knows what I'll end up buying. There was even this cool natural finish guitar that looks like one of those classy handmade things you see some metal guys playing, except possibly built in some guy's shed or something then transported back to the mid 80's and played with gusto since then. I'd buy that guitar in a heartbeat, but the lady at the counter said it was a million won (about $1000) and pointed out that it was "used" (which was super obvious), so it coulda been a translation issue and she meant 1,000 won, which is about $100.

Hey, Iced Earth has a great live guitar sound! Jon Schaffer is my biggest influence,I always strive to get the thrash chugging as tight and as powerful as him. I think many extreme metal musicians could do with learning from his rhythm chops, James Hetfield himself has nothing on that guy.

I have a friend who used to have an Indie guitar, he compared it mostly to an Edwards Les Paul in terms of playability. Pickups aren't really an issue since you can change them. For mahogany body guitars you won't go wrong with a JB/Distortion but if you're feeling more adventurous or want something with a significantly different voicing, a Bareknuckle Rebel Yell(similar to JB) or Juggernaut(similar to duncan Distortion but less tight and more warm, due to the alnico V magnet).

Gonna be a busy month, I've got 5 gigs between this friday and the first friday in decemember. I'm certainly not complaining though, the only downside is between the shows and rehearsals there isn't much time to work on new stuff. Both our vocalist and I have written a bunch of new stuff I want to get going on, so if nothing interesting comes up for Jan-Feb we'll set that time aside to work on new material.

somefella, I would very likely not be bothering with pickup swaps at all, since this will be a guitar I'll own for a relatively short period of time before I inevitably have to resell it when I move again. I've heard the stock Indie humbuckers sound just fine.

I dunno, I think Iced Earth are probably one of the worst bands around, and Schaffer's guitaring is over-the-top boring/lifeless/sterile beyond compare, if you ask me. Maybe he has all the chugging chops in the world but his riffs are about as entertaining as watching grass grow.

Iced Earth can use a lot more bass presence. I think this might make them a little more entertaining. I can hear it just fine, but that's not enough. It has to really pump muscle into the music or else the music sounds flat to me.

Another thing their music can use is a little riff ending flare. Like at the end of a riff, through a little flutter or a little melody to tie it in with the rest of the song or back into the same riff during a repeated section. This goes a long way when used correctly, and so do a lot of other little things that Iced Earth doesn't seem to bother with.

I've got a proper busy month ahead of me.

This weekend, the blackthrash band's doing a mini tour of England, which should be pretty fun. We were Terrorizer's band of the day the other week, so that's been pretty cool. Got a load new facebook likes, lots of downloads, and a few orders as well. I posted a few CDs to Qatar, which was cool. We've then got a short-notice gig the week after. We might be doing a few shows with Morkhimmel in January, and then we're booking a tour for April, which is mostly sorted. Lots of gigs around the country. And we've got some new stuff on the go as well, we just finished a new song that's got total speed metal vibes. Fast as all fuck. So it's all go with that.

The black metal band's not doing as much right now, as the other two guys have heavy uni timetables, so we're mostly just planning stuff for later. Playing a show with Bast at the end of the month though, so that's going to be good.

The post-metal band is finally doing stuff regularly again, we've got two gigs this month, and we've decided that we're recording the album in February. Which is about damn time.

Aside from the gigging bands, I've been writing stuff with a guitarist for a total old-school death metal band. 1993 is about the cutoff date for influences. Lots of Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Obituary, and Entombed. A bit of Timeghoul in there as well. It's going to be a studio project, so I'm drumming, playing bass, and doing vocals. It's been great to play drums fast for a change, it's good fun to push myself again.

Been putting on quite a few shows as well, which has been good. I got 83 people into a venue that struggles to hold 50 at the end of August for Bonesaw's last show. There was crowdsurfing and everything, absolute chaos.

And I'm starting to get some freelance production work lined up, I'm recording an album with Evil Blood in a couple of weeks.

Busy times.

SLK, was it going to be Eats Aids for our split? I've had everything recorded for a while, just gotta make the final mixdowns. No hurry, though!

Besides that, I've been practising and will re-record 3 songs I wrote in 2010 that were only ever released on myspace (the Cora songs). They're very riff salad style where the riffs constantly change, and I'll be releasing them with the 2 songs I did for the riff salad songwriting challenge. And nobody will like it because changing riffs so often is gay.

yes it is, I plan on recording this week coming up. this weekend I'm emptying my shed and rearranging shit so I can walk in and work easier. I was actually about to ask you where you were on your material.

I love riff salad songs.

Alriiiiight, all songs mixed and sounding like the end of the world, for Oshiego's upcoming full length. Just need to settle tracklisting (I find this really important) and artwork and label stuff and we're done!

Spirit Division had another day in the studio today and got three more songs completely tracked, leaving us with only two more to do next time around. We're aiming to have eight songs on the album at a length of about 38 to 40 minutes, which I think is a pretty good length for a record inspired by bands like Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus.

Only three songs left to record for the new Dalla Nebbia album... and they are all hard as fuck . Was going to record one or two today but one of my knees and one of my shoulders were killing me, so I couldn't do anything that was worth sending over.

spent most of the day rearranging the tomb

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/shaolinlambkiller/library/The%20Tomb%202014