Yeah, it could have had some more clarity, but I like a little bit of muddyness haha. Yet I find myself rolling the tone knob a tiny bit down because the high pitched noises (string squeaks etc.) come through really loud otherwise.

Significant amounts. I've always been a fan of using 15's but with 12's my normal rigs had always been a 215 cab and a 412. basically one 15 for each 2 12's. the low end and rumble are immediately noticable.

Left to right.

412 with Celestion GT12-75's
212 115 with Eminence test run speakers that were designed for Hiwatt. only 4 in existence. I got 2 and the 15 is a Celestion Neo
415 with 80's Eminence Big Roc 15's
212 with Celestion 7080's

Mike Perun from Cianide just bought two copies of the Gloaming CD. That's pretty damn ego-strokey, considering he's one of my musical idols and was a huge influence on the band, heh.

went to do some videos of some of the new amps I've gotten and some comparison videos of 2 amps for a friend so he can decide which one to investigate in.

while I was down there I managed to get my madison divinity working, there's a problem with Edge 2 that when it's engaged it immediately pops a fuse. so I'll have to get that fixed sometime in the future.

while jamming sorta ended up recording a Fall of Efefra 15min long track. I mean pretty just a straight up lost track. I'm pretty pleased with it, I'm not sure if I'm going to do more material or not but if I do I might do it under the name Elil... for obvious reasons. I thought about using Owsla but that's being used by a couple of bands it looks like.

re did a few vocals on the foE track.

did vocals for another Ange De La Mort song.

Almost have all the equipment pieces in place to start recording my new demo. Have enough riffs and bridges for 2-3 songs so far. Just need to get my new pup installed, and solve my drum loops issue, then decide if I'm going to try to record in Garageband or break down and buy Reaper.

Cool beans, dude. Post up a link once it's done. You can PM me if you want cheap mixing too

buy reaper.

The mixing I can handle. Drums... ummm... I'm gonna try. LOL.



I think I'll DL the trial version in a week or two and mess with it. Definitely seems like I'll dig it more.

Yeah man, get yourself a real DAW. Try out Reaper and if you like it, it's only 60 bucks.

Either way you use Reaper buy or demo... damn use Reaper.

I assume you can use Betamonkey drum loops in reaper the same as any other DAW, right?

no idea. I play drums.

That's the one thing I can't do... or at least, not do well...

Assuming it's in WAV format, yes.

Finally I moved to my new home, where I can record my stuff without interruptions and undesirable noises. I'm about to finish all acoustic guitars for the sophomore Ff album (which are many, many tracks and I'm finishing track 7 of 8) and electric guitars follow. I hope to finish all guitars this month, while a friend of mine will record bass.

The album is way more acoustically driven this time but I hope the heavier sections will shine more given the dynamics. For instance, my tremolo picking has improved a lot. Also, the album will contain the best things I've ever played/written ever, especially acoustic guitars.

When you say acoustic/electric dynamics, how Opeth-y does this new stuff sound?

Been looking for a guitar to replace my Gunslinger as my main "metal guitar", and I've been gawking at those 2014 Schecter Banshee 6 guitars lately, the ones with the passive Nazgul/Sentient setup. Anybody have any experience with these? There isn't a Schecter dealer in my area anymore, and spec-wise these seem pretty spot-on to what I'd want, but I'd like some feedback if at all possible. Or maybe a recommendation for a similar guitar.

Bite the bullet dude, you won't regret it.

I played a handful of Schecters before I bought my LTD. I thought for sure I'd like 'em better, but the LTD won.

I think I may pull the trigger on it. I've owned a Schecter before (C-7 Hellraiser) and it was an excellent guitar, so hopefully if I get the Banshee it'll treat me the same way.

Iron1, what particular LTD did you end up getting, and what about it made you pick it over the Schecters?

I favour Schecters because of a general reliability in the build even amongst the cheaper models, and they're usually fitted with solid electronics even if you don't spend too much (Seymour Duncan, EMG, etc). I've never played a Banshee but the Nazgul/Sentient combo is fucking killer. Nazgul is very well balanced, more smooth than aggressive (depends what you like actually, but you can always increase distortion; you can't take it away if your pickup is too hot). Sentient is less boomy than traditional PAf-style neck pickups, again depends on what you like but I do feel is has the right balance of character and clarity.

finished up the logo today and finalized the mix today.

the band with me and Dragunov

It has nothing on Opeth, they weren't the first in changing from acoustic to electric sections in extreme metal btw.

In Ff's case, the songwriting has always been done with acoustic guitar and I took some of the acoustic sections and arranged them for electric. The transitions of the songs are way more coherent than Opeth's IMO, given the songs were totally written as a sole unit and all riffs and sections are related to each other, it's not a copy-paste of different shit thrown into the mix.

'Hereafter' was also totally written in acoustic guitar, but played almost entirely in a metal fashion. This time, I'll just present the songs closer to their origin in composition.

I got an MH-100QMNT. It's essentially a higher mid-level priced guitar with lower mid-level PUPs and electronics. I knew I was going to swap out the bridge PUP and the electronics, so I mainly went for playability, sustain and body resonance. When playing the more expensive Schecters, they felt heavier, weren't balanced as well, and had some dead spots when I held my hand about a half inch off the body in various places (when I was still just a singer, one of my old guitar players told me he always did that when buying a new guitar to feel the vibration of the strings through the body - the BC Rich I traded in for the LTD was DEAD everywhere around the body when I did that). Overall, the only upside to the Schecters were they all had EMGs in them and nicer electronics.

Not saying the Schecters weren't nice, just didn't see the value in spending $200 more just to have PUPs I was going to swap out. And, I'm sure some of it is personal preference. The LTD neck felt faster, the action is fantastic and it just feels good in my hands.

Try 'em both and let us know what you think.

Ah, I've played that particular LTD, and they are quite nice. I'm gonna do some testing in the coming months, we'll see what I end up going with!

Oh, another thing to do when shopping is to pay no mind to things that you know can be changed (in Iron1's example, go for feel/comfort since you know you are gonna change pickups). For example, if the action sucks, just get them to set that up for you. These things are not deal breakers since they can be fixed real quick. Size/shape of the neck, balance of the body, overall sound and sustain are the things that can't easily be changed.

I feel I also should mention that if the guitar sucks, a pickup change might not save it either (Bareknuckles or Lundgrens in a $150 Ibanez Gio will still sound like a fart). But I'd put my money on Schecter build quality, especially in the $400-500+ range.

Oh yeah, I'm no stranger to that method of testing out guitars, usually feel/balance and how visually appealing the guitar is are my deciding factors.

Yeah, gotta love the way it looks.

For sure. If I can't get into how a guitar looks, nine times out of ten I'm not even going to pick it up and play it.

Totally. Ugly guitars rarely get love.

Unlike this one, which I need (not want, need):

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... aQodYmYAWw

I'm the same way. but looks are always first with me, and then I'll try it out and if it's atrocious to play then I just don't bother. which is why I don't like SG's I actually don't mind that boat paddle look but just about every one of them that I played has made me sad.

A bit of what I'm currently recording.

https://soundcloud.com/forestfather/exc ... m-acoustic

This is a nice atmosphere! Great use of acoustic guitar. I like your logo too.


I have been struggling with this mix for a while https://soundcloud.com/q-p-10/payback-ritual-vocals

Slowly getting there, although I think the rhythm guitar could be beefed up a bit and get a bit warmer, although it tends to devour the drums and bloat the low end. It's a hard balance to strike.

Same. I have that with BC Rich. Had a Mockingbird and a Warlock. Love how they look, not so much how they played... now I just stick to strat bodies, although this intrigues me: http://www.espguitars.com/products?cate ... es-guitars

Goddamn, that Jackson. Not an EMG fan but I will take that.

Hey there my band just recorded a 6 song ep of raging deathmetal/grind. We wanna know what ya think! Spread it around if ya like it! We are very happy with what weve produced

http://www.humandissention.bandcamp.com

That Human Dissention is good shit. I like the guitar sound though I wish the drums were a little less muddy. But the overall balance works I guess. Good pacing and flow throughout the EP as well, which is one of the finer points that not many bands pay attention to (when they should).

Do you post on the TLAL boards? I saw this posted over there but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.