And here is a Draug track from that split
http://youtu.be/paqW17VLmYE

Getting back to playing guitar despite having a finger injury that makes it hard to hold the pick. I don't have much stamina for playing so I'm going to need a lot of practice.

Considering doing a last minute entry for the songwriting challenge with a drum machine and room mic, but I'd have to go out and take a picture. Should've developed all the film that I've shot in the last year or two and found something there. Regardless of the timing of the challenge, I should do that anyway.

went on and recorded the last 3 Yzordderrex vocal tracks for the upcoming full length. I'll mix all that later. Going to work on this Mountain of Beard EP.

Oh and now live and streaming!
http://speedritualrecords.bandcamp.com/ ... omitwolves

Getting ready to record vocals for two songs that won't be on our demo then I'm going to draw the cover. Unfortunately the best way I can think of doing it is making booklets from my printer and using cd-r discs and the slim jewelcases. All bought from Wal-Mart I'm trying to find some disc-shaped stickers that I can put on each one so it doesn't look so tacky, but printing on them may be a little difficult. Still drawing our shirt design even though I'm horrible with that kind of stuff, everyone I've asked to help me out has flaked. Ah well. You can do anything your put your mind to, right?

Great jam with the black metal band today. We accidentally wrote a nine minute song, which has some bits that sound a bit Agalloch-ish, some bits that sound a bit Darkthrone-ish, and the whole thing is absolutely brutal to play. So much tremolo picking. Adding that to the other song we have (which has more Immortal kinda vibes), we've got about half a set written.

Got some guitar stuff in the mail, so I started painting the body translucent red. The hardware will be black. Oh, I should start a thread on here to follow the progress of it. Still trying to write new and different stuff. A friend put me in contact with an independent film maker, so hopefully I can write something for a movie he's finishing up right now. Something with cellos and maybe a piano but still heavy and dark and based around guitars.

in talks of purchasing a couple of more rigs. I'm hoping both of them actually go through. If I get both, I'll be set for amps and heads aside from one that I've been trying to replace since I traded it away

My shitty vocals on my songwriting challenge song have me kinda bummed. I HATE putting out anything that I'm unhappy with like that. I can't wait to get the hell out of Texas and back home to my studio so I can yell properly and redo everything.

On a slightly more positive note I've been writing a lot of music out here. I'm kinda getting out of death metal for a little bit and trying different directions, just expanding my songwriting abilities. I do have some really good ideas for my next Only a Shadow Remains album though. I've got one that will be my heaviest song yet, and I'm looking forward to working on that. I'll probably put out another OSR album toward the end of this year, and hopefully release an Under the Red Sun EP in a couple months. So all's well there. Also when I get back home I'm going to try upgrading to Superior Drummer, as opposed to EZDrummer, which is what I currently use.

upgrade to a real drummer! :-p

I really would like to do that, it would just be a matter of finding one good enough, and then getting all the equipment to record it at a high enough quality sound. Plus with me being in the Army the timing is hard to workout. In about a year I'm hoping to be moving to Colorado and staying there, so perhaps then it will be an option. If nothing else, maybe by then I can learn how to write drum fills better, or just start playing myself haha.

Figured I'd move our raw production conversation over here so we don't fill up the songwriting challenge thread.

I like the "thought", the "Wikipedia definition" of raw production for certain genres, but I just can't get into the actual execution of it, so to speak. I want to be able to hear each instrument clearly and I like the bass to have some good rumble and the kick drum to have a good solid thwack. Even in black metal, one of the reasons I like Immortal and Watain better than many more "pure" bands is because they have clearer production and I can hear the music more. I've even written a handful of black metal songs (with fairly clean production of course, haha) and I would like to do a split with someone some time. I just can't go too rough on the production of it. Personally, I prefer using the instruments to create the harsh, stark atmosphere as opposed to the production quality - although it may not be as successful, admittedly. Probably stems from much of my early music education being very formal and in high school jazz band. Everything had to be perfectly in tune, and perfectly in time. Precision was the key.

This is a black metal song of mine (one of the first I wrote) and is about as "raw" as I can get.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... 0Blood.mp3

I'm telling you if on Thursday or Friday someone tells me that they can't make it to practice then I'm going to burn a moon-sized hole in planet earth and then go on a manhunt for ShaolinLambKiller to put a permanent end to his evil magick spells


EDIT: And I'm bringing an axe with me...

hAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! OH YOU CAN'T KILL WHAT'S ALREADY DEAD!!

Infinity, I'm liking this bm song... well until it crashed out on my laptop. But what I did make out sounded good. And with raw production... going more in the standpoint of how to creating it instead of it's use in well known bands... For me personally it showcases more of the feeling and use of the gear used to create it. I'm a bigger fan of rawer stuff in my production cause it feels more real. As if I'm there infront of a band smashing it out in a small room for themselves instead of live at some huge booming venue. Like many times I get more inspired as I write something depending on what equipment that i use to create it, which is why I have quite a few guitars of varying quality and currently now a dozen amps to have more 'flavors' to pick from. I usually only clean up things to where it's clear you can hear everything for the most part but not to the point where it sucks out all life out of the song (for me)

the recent Vomitwolves ep is a perfect example. before my wife even signed off on the songs I had to achieve the correct sound to the guitars before she felt inspired to do vocals for them. and once I did I took a lot of direction on how she wanted it mix, which was lofi but still able to hear things, I didn't do anything to the guitars, I left the drums as dry and natural as possible and let the bass just blower through everything with a bit of reverb on the vocals and I think it now perfectly nails the early 90's european bm scene.

Got a 6 minute doom grind crusher that almost doubles our set. Wrote a dope as fuck deathgrind song the other day for a six way flexi. Going to start doing more death metal influenced stuff.

A doom grind crusher? I'd be down to hear that.

I'm going to scrap a few of my shittier songs and rewrite or completely redo them...or just not replace them at all. Either way a few songs are going bye-bye. Practice is still on Saturday so as far as I know there've been no evil spells breaching us yet.

Don't worry, it'll make it's way in and worm it's way to ruin everything!


ditto to what dragunov said.

I do the same thing. I've purchased new guitars specifically for a new genre I wanted to try. Really I just use that as an excuse to buy more guitars hahah.

Here's the first bm song I ever wrote. It started off as almost a joke, just kinda playfully mocking the genre, and then turned into a semi real BM song.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... ogrier.mp3


I think my only real problems with a lot of raw production is the muffled quality some of it has, and how "dark" things sound. Like adding a little treble would add some clarity and brighten the overall sound while keeping it raw. I think that might work, I dunno.

Once I get back home I'm going to finish the other few BM songs I have and find someone to release a BM split with. Should be fun.

from what I can tell off that sounds pretty decent, vocals are a bit loud.

Don't you use more of amp sims/direct line in for your recording? I feel alot of the good warmness and rawness from live amplifiers blasting out.... I'm not counting for your typical bedroom projects though.

hit me up I might be down to do that with ya.

I do use VSTs, simply because I suck at properly using a mic to capture a guitar amp. I even have a randall isolation cab, the one with the celestion greenback. I really need to work on that, hahahaha. Even still, I have 4 amps. Whenever I feel that I can afford to spend that much, I'll probably splurge and get an Engle Savage, because that's about the best sounding amp out there, to me. I might not even use it for recording, I'll just play a few notes and beat off to the tone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwbCoT7ZIc
music starts at 29 seconds in. To me and my ears, that is pretty much the epitome of tone. And I'd bet a paycheck that my main guitar sounds better than the one he used for that video. Unfortunately that amp is thousands of dollars, and I still suck at micing amps, haha.

I have some great sounding amps, including a tube amp I built from scratch. If I can ever learn proper mic technique I'll start using it. I guess that can be my project for when I get back home! Because honestly sometimes I do feel a little "fake" using nothing but VSTs for all my guitars, even when they sound good (and with my new interface, they seriously sound good).

On a side note, I just clicked a youtube video for a video about an Engl Invader... And the ad they played at the beginning was a Jay-Z ad.


SERIOUSLY YOUTUBE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

While some of those Vst, can sound decent. they all are rather lacking to me. Way too clean, it just has no feeling at all, you don't get all that bonus harmonics and feedback and hell you know what I mean when you play something you really enjoy blasting out at loud volumes.
hell to properly mic it, place a mic infront of he speaker towards the middle and blast it out. At least that's what I do cause it achieves exactly what I want. That engl... uhm... well I don't see why it would cost that much, to me it's pretty damn bland and clean. Esp for a tube head, it's just dull.

I hate all youtube ads, I hate it when I upload vids for my music, create the tags to associate the correct style of music and bands and what I get for related videos are 'Miley Cyrus twerking'

I'm scared to check the ads in my videos. I did one, "how I sing death metal vocals." I've gotten a good bit of views but I'm scared to see what kind of shit they're advertising.

And I totally agree about the VST vs real amps and feedback and stuff. I like things very strict and cut and dry, kind of like fleshgod apocalypse's "oracles". Very clean, although I'm not as good a guitarist as them. But sometimes a bit of feedback between notes, ESPECIALLY in a slower doom type song, where you're trying to give off that raw feeling of a guitarist fucking trying to say something... an amp up to 10 squealing between notes, it gives off a sound that really adds to that. I agree 100% with you there. I just have to work on my mic techniques. Maybe it's that cab, maybe the randall isolation cab sucks? I dunno, it's a nice big cab with a celestion greenback in it. I built a big 2X12 cab out of mahogany with 2 old 12 inch alnico speakers from the 1960s, I usually use it for my bedroom jamming so to speak. I should try just micing that, it sounds better anyways. I think especially for this new hard rock style music that I'm doing, it would be more appropriate. Only a Shadow Remains has evolved from thrash metal to melodic death metal and my next album will be mostly straight up death metal, so the strict "tightness" of a VST I think is appropriate there. But for my bluesy hard rock stuff, I think some feedback, some noise from an amp, I think that's more appropriate and for a lack of a better term, more "bluesy."

I do want to post on here a few sound clips from popular VSTs with my new interface. I made a thread a long time ago, but with my old interface, the presonus audiobox usb, which I have now realized completely sucks. This one is soooo much better and cleaner and sounds so much better. I'll probably do that this weekend, and try to put about 5 or 6 good tones up. What's funny to me is that the expensive VSTs, like amplitube and guitar rig sound like shit. LePous' stuff is free and sounds incredible. And Engls, to my ears at least, sound great in person. Incredible even. I think their downfall is the cut in lower midrange which makes them not stand out in a mix, and many bands that use them use big modern production where everything sounds the same. That's one thing I try to do when I make my music, I do compress it and boost the levels but I never compress it to shit just to get the overall sound louder. I want the music to breath. One thing I do really want to try in person though is an original 5150 head. I have a feeling I'd really like it.

I would totally suggest going and micing that 2x12. I think those isolation cabs usually are ass because they really aren't built to properly breathe that speaker. I mic up a 412 Krank Krankenstien for practically everything, the dragunov stuff I miced up my Kustom 215, and Vomitwolves was a 412 Carvin with a mix of speakers that I'm going to redo. And all my bass I run through my 810 Ampeg Classic. all blasting of course.

With the new stuff I'm buying I'll be changing up shit more with those cabs, but I really believe in micing a half rig like that for a better sound, I'm also going to start experimenting with running 2 mics on the cab and see how it sounds mixing them together with slightly different EQs.


I've tried the 5150s and I found them to be pretty good actually. Not quite to the point I wanted to get one, but I didn't hate them. I also think they way I mix and strive for that ugly raw sound is from when I first started listening to metal which was really when I started listening to music and some of the first things I listened to was that ugly raw sound so I went off to capture that later on even though I really do love a lot of the modern bands and what not, it's not what I enjoy playing for the most part... well at least not on guitar... drumwise I really would like to do more modern tech death stuff... I just don't want to have to sit and write it all. I don't feel my mindset or skill level on guitar is on par with that. I can and plan on doing some tech death in the old school varity though. Just all in making time to do so.

I'd check out if you did like a video of comparing different VST. like going through the same few riffs on each one.

I've actually been wanting to do that just for shits and giggles with my own amps so people can get a good feel for them, it's just a matter of time doing each in changing out the heads to the amp for each take. I thought it might be sometime when I rearrange my shed for all the new gear.

The way they got the great guitar sound on at the gates' greatest album, whatever it was called, the last one, and also in flames' best album, can't remember the name because I've had a six pack and they've turned to shit, was with two mics on a cab. You just have to be careful with the phase. There's a thread somewhere online about exactly how they miced it and got that sound, remind me and tomorrow I'll get it for you, it's really informational.

And I hear you on tech death. I can play pretty quick, my right hand at least, but my left hand lags. I'd have to do my own version of tech death, and definitely play to a click track. I'm trying to incorporate a tech influence on my next OSR album. I just love the tightness they get, I think it's so brutal for fast songs.

This weekend I'm going to take a riff, just some guitar metal masturbation basically, and use the same riff with some different VSTs with the settings I like, to show their different sounds. I guess I could do a youtube video with it, that would probably be the easiest way instead of posting a dozen different sound clips on here. Thanks for that tip. Ohhhh, plus if I posted it on youtube and got 10,000 views I could earn half a cent with their monetization! Score, on my way to my first million! But yeah, there are some VSTs that really have a great sound and some that sound very digital and processed. I've gone through a ton of them. I should just post them all. Same basic metal riff, at least a dozen different amps. Might get boring hearing the same riff over and over again, but it would be good for comparison's sake.

And the 5150 is one of those amps I've never really heard anything bad about. Every sound clip I've heard it has a great, immediately recognizable as metal tone, but not super scooped and overly processed like a lot of modern amps. Just a tube amp roaring with lots of gain.

Glad you want to hear it it probably will not live up to it's expectations lol. It's just got a really long riff, faster parts and a dope ass breakdown. Probably going to be the last of our thrashy grindcore songs as we move onto death metal sounding stuff. I would like to do basically mini Deicide songs lol.

Bought some more drum gear (heads, sticks, etc.) and hopefully going to be recording very soon. Playing as a three piece on Sunday. Going to be interesting. Also if any of you guys live near Jamestown, NY come to our show on July 12th. Playing with some amazing doom bands Sadgiqacea and Hivelords from Philly and Ancients of Earth from B-lo. I'll give you free merch if we have some possibly.

Give me free merch anyway, Ain't no way I'll be able to get to NY.

Yea I know the youtube cent making, I was offered that on my channel awhile back when my channel got like 2000views total. I was like... naw I don't feel like annoying everyone with those goddamn ads when all they want to do is hear a 30sec song. who knows when I reach more so I just might.

I actually don't like Slaughter the Soul, if I listen to At the Gates which is very rare, I rather the red in the sky is ours. hell basically anything else but Slaughter the Soul. Also not a huge fan of even old In flames. I used to listen to a bit more melodic death metal back in the day when it was new, but i quickly tired of it.
With modern tech death, I feel it's more of the thinking of riffs and making it happen... like sitting down and just blasting out some Spawn of Possession isn't exactly something I can easily do. I basically have to really study on it. I think I have the ability cause jamming with one of my old guitarists who could do that shit I could ape to a degree of what he was playing but not nearly as refined or clean. But the weirder shit say like Gorguts and stuff that really is techincal due to the layering and odd riffs that someone probably wouldn't have came up with unless they are just smashing the guitar with their fingers... that's pretty easy for me to do since when I started out I mainly just did things like that cause I was interested in what weird shit and sounds I can create with a guitar and then actually worked my way backwards towards writing and playing more 'normal'

This weekend I'm actually playing a show, resurrecting an old on hold for years band that was getting kinda big in Nola with our own crowd till well the drummer kinda kept getting flaky and the guitarist kinda lost it and joined the Coast Guard and moved away though I've always been in touch. he just texted me the other day and asked if I wanted play a show and I said sure. I'll be drumming even though I used to be the bassist/vocalist. But hell for the last 4 shows or so we did I was drumming and doing vocals.

And over the rest of the summer, he wants to finally record our full length with the bassist who is currently now in my other doom band.

Oh yea with the phasing.. .I'm aware of possibly running into that. I don't think it'll hinder me too much cause the way I see it, if they are out of phased with each other, I just won't use one of the tracks and mix it like I normally do which is 2 single recorded performances hardpanned left and right.

VST's are extremely handy for writing, doing quick demos, etc. 'Specially since I can just jam stuff out and practice even in the middle of the night without having to worry about making tons of noise.

I need to invest in more equipment though, because even when I can get a solid sound out of VSTs and drum samples, I'd much rather mic up and record the real thing.

meh maybe for you who live alone, my wife hates hearing the pick racking across the strings. for when I am able to write at home I just plug in that Vox Metal and play with some headphones.

After I finish watching the Jinchuu arc of Kenshin in this fall.

I'll make a Thrash/Genre band and call it Antiuniverse.

My folk band Crestfallen Still is playing some farmers markets and a couple other shows throughout the summer.
Then we'll be going into the studio in September to work on pre-production of our full length album.

For my metal project IntroVertuM we are just starting to get a feel for the songwriting/recording process, we have one song recorded and are going into the studio very soon to work on our next one, once we get our feet wet so to speak we'll probably release a 3-4 song EP.

A local-ish band is looking for a fill in drummer for a few months this fall since their's is leaving for a bit due to personal issues. They want people to post cover videos on their page and I can do all of their shit no problem. They tour a good area of the midwest, kind of melodic deathcore, it's something I'd like to try out since I've never been on a tour and they always have a good crowd which is pretty cool. Amass the Grave if any of you have heard of them.

never heard of them, sounds like generic melo-deathcore to me. I say go for it just for the experience at least. You are young. take advantage of it.

Oh yeah, best invention ever, that thing. Although the pick hitting the strings thing, even that is noisy to my girlfriend just can't win at all.

Yea at best I have to go in a separate room and close the door cause it just grates her nerves.

Didn't really plan much today since I came back in town. So I wrote and recorded an Uzumaki track so I have 9 songs thus far for the next full length. Had to wait around awhile to practice with Raum for a show we play tonight. basically built a show kit out of spare shit so I didn't have to break down much of my recording kit. Sounds pretty good, looks like garbage and I'm only bringing a single pedal. there is only one part with double bass in the entire set and I can just play it on one foot since it's slower anyway.

also took apart one of my spare amps, only one speaker works. the rest look alright, I figured there had to be something wrong somewhere but all the speakers look and behave like brand new shit. so there has to be something else wrong.

Also got my Accousti 330 in and I'm immediately hauling it to the show so my friend can pick it up and take a look at it since I basically just paid shipping for it since there is something slightly wrong with it.

I play in my room.

well that's delightful. play music? play video games? play with yourself?

practice was a disaster. Neither of the guitarists showed up
-_-

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA! My magic works again!!