Vonhotch's Musical Journey, for Gab's Army Options

[Gabriel Leopardi]

This is soooooo cool to hear! A year ago I never would have imagined being able to record anything!! Let alone record a small piece of music and post it somewhere where someone thousands of miles away would stop and take notice of it playing. Maybe it's silly, but it is amazing to me. Thank you so much for all you have done for me this past year!

And as for Riffmaster.....That is funny. The weirdness is me failing to hit a pinch harmonic. I have about a 50% success rate when I'm practicing it, and that drops to about 30% when I'm recording. I have also been changing presets and amps and guitars, and has made it weird to remember how to nail it everytime. I will try to focus on hiting that harmonic this week.

Hey mate, thanks for your words. It's also amazing for me to be helping and listening to takes and ideas from friends around the world. That's why I love GMC since the first day I worked here. I remember that first time I entered to this forum and ended jamming via msn with a student from Scotland. I was so amazed of that. Nowadays it's normal to have every week jams at Vchat with guys from everywhere.
You have been evolving a lot here so I would like to say congratulations for your hard work!

[vonhotch]

Thanks.

I worked on that acoustic piece more to develop that into a song. My main idea is to slowly build and develop the idea I showed you until one last short section of heavy, crushing, hoplessness. I want it to have a sad feel but with maybe some building hope, and then BOOM, all the hope is gone! I want to add electric guitars over this and layer in some other stuff as well maybe. I left it unresolved on purpose to add to the tension and lost feel. This track is pretty rough, my mic is picking up all the background music, and or click track. Didn't really feel like I accomplished too much progress with the lessons this week. So I thought I would post this.

https://soundcloud.com/vonhotch/why1/s-HzhQv

Edit!!!! Ignore the last bit around 3:10 I did not notice it til now that I have uploaded it and it is not supposed to still be there and it took forever to upload the first time, and I'm out of time for now.......

This post has been edited by vonhotch: May 6 2013, 12:02 AM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate! This idea is evolving really cool. You won't believe but once again my girlfriend started to hit her desk following the rhythm of the heavier part in the end... hahahha you have that effect. I think that you should explore a bit more that last section starting at 2:30 which I find so cool. Those octave chords melodies are very interesting.

[vonhotch]

Hi mate! This idea is evolving really cool. You won't believe but once again my girlfriend started to hit her desk following the rhythm of the heavier part in the end... hahahha you have that effect. I think that you should explore a bit more that last section starting at 2:30 which I find so cool. Those octave chords melodies are very interesting.

Ha ha ha. You are right I don't believe it. I've got a couple ideas for that last section, and I think I'm gonna try to rerecord more of it in all one take, now that I feel I have an arrangement I like. It seems to be getting too messy with all the different takes pieced together. I think I have got some ideas for the electric guitar stuff figured out where I want them. Hopefully this weekend I can add those too. And maybe some simple drum fills here and there. Do you think I am going about this the right way so far?

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Ha ha ha. You are right I don't believe it. I've got a couple ideas for that last section, and I think I'm gonna try to rerecord more of it in all one take, now that I feel I have an arrangement I like. It seems to be getting too messy with all the different takes pieced together. I think I have got some ideas for the electric guitar stuff figured out where I want them. Hopefully this weekend I can add those too. And maybe some simple drum fills here and there. Do you think I am going about this the right way so far?

yes! you are on the right path with this one. I think that re-recording and arranging it is the next step now. Looking forward the new mix.

[vonhotch]

yes! you are on the right path with this one. I think that re-recording and arranging it is the next step now. Looking forward the new mix.

Ok, great. What do you think about the sound of the recording? I am micing the guitar. I have the mic pointed at about a 45 degree angle or so aimed at the end of the fretboard. Not so much at the soundhole. I had read somewhere pointing it at the 12th fret was a good start, I guess this is somewhere in between. I think it sounds good, but I have no doubt it could be better. Also is there anthing I can do to minimize the sound of my fingers slinging up and down the strings other than NOT sliding them up and down the strings or is that just part of recording an acoustic instrument?
Thanks!

[Gabriel Leopardi]

The sound is ok, but I would still continue experimenting with the mic position to get a more balanced EQ. Putting your mic close to frett 12 gives you more fingers sound, so if you want to lower it a bit, you shouldn't put it there. You can also use two mics for an acoustic guitar, one close to the hole and the other one near fret 12, and then experiment with the mix.

There are lots of videos at youtube that can give you cool ideas for this:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...ube.gH_zvr_LCf0

[vonhotch]

The sound is ok, but I would still continue experimenting with the mic position to get a more balanced EQ. Putting your mic close to frett 12 gives you more fingers sound, so if you want to lower it a bit, you shouldn't put it there. You can also use two mics for an acoustic guitar, one close to the hole and the other one near fret 12, and then experiment with the mix.

There are lots of videos at youtube that can give you cool ideas for this:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...ube.gH_zvr_LCf0

Hey man. I'm just checkin in. I have been really busy working, and my practice goal has been more to maintain than to improve, but I did get a little work done my song. I rerecorded a couple spots so it sounds a little more all one take, and worked on the last section. I am not completely happy with it, but I think I may be on more of the right track. I also added the thunderstorm in the background, I think it totally fits the emotion that inspired this track and adds to the over all ambience. It is a recording of a hailstorm on top of the Atlas mountains in Morocco. (How cool is that?) It fit really well with the track I think. And I realized now that I did not rerecord the first section where you can hear the metronome. I will fix that. And the mix is weird, I have the drums sent to individual tracks but it did not work when I opened it for this rendering, so I think the drums especially the high hat are to far forward in the mix.

I am trying to explain my thinking as I go through this so if there are flaws in my logic you can tell me or see where I am going or whatever, or tell me I am thinking about it wrong.

Hopefully I can get back to progress with my lessons in the next couple weeks. But for now I won't bore you with the same stuff again.

Oh and I added some simple drum fills. Which I think it needed because the drums seemed boring to me. Hopefully they do not still seem to repetitive.

Thanks!!!!

https://soundcloud.com/vonhotch/why2/s-qr96B

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Wou mate! I love how this track is evolving! It's getting better and better! It's true that the drums needs some mixing work but the composition is getting very good. I would fix drums, add bass guitar, some arrangements (other instruments maybe?) and release this track.
Congrats!

[vonhotch]

Wou mate! I love how this track is evolving! It's getting better and better! It's true that the drums needs some mixing work but the composition is getting very good. I would fix drums, add bass guitar, some arrangements (other instruments maybe?) and release this track.
Congrats!

Thanks. I am very pleased with how it's coming too. I'll keep on it and add in that other stuff, and the next time you hear it, it will be a masterpiece...

I was messing around with some other open string chords last night like the octave thing at the end of my track, trying to add some open strings in some other ways. I was playing a progression of what ended up being a F#7(add4), G6, A(add9), and a B(add4). Then I remembered this Petrucci article where he talks about these exact chords, so I wanted to share it with you to see if you had seen it or ever messed around with this type of thing. I love how full it sounds when you add open strings to a chord, almost makes 1 guitar sound like 2.

http://www.guitarworld.com/open-string-thi...ds-open-strings

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Thanks a lot for sharing the article! I have been a big fan of him and DT so I learn many songs where he uses this type of chords and I love how them sound. This is one of my favourite, I play it every time I pick an acoustic guitar.

[vonhotch]

That is a cool song. I haven't listen to too much Dream Theater but I have enjoyed all of his articles that I have read. I listened to a few more songs from them. I like how their style seems pretty wide. Some stuff is softer like this and then some parts are heavier. At least that is the impression I got.

I like to play this song a lot when I pick up an acoustic. Have you ever seen the movie "The Punisher"? I am a bit out of practice but I used to be able to play and sing it. Maybe someday when I get brave I will record a cover.
This is the scene from the movie

This is the whole song.

[Gabriel Leopardi]

That's a cool song! I haven't seen the movie so I didn't know this song. What about a cover for GMC??

[vonhotch]

That's a cool song! I haven't seen the movie so I didn't know this song. What about a cover for GMC??

Ha ha.. Ok, I will work on it. I would like to be able to add vocals to my own songs but am pretty insecure about singing, so this will be a good way to overcome that fear.

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Ha ha.. Ok, I will work on it. I would like to be able to add vocals to my own songs but am pretty insecure about singing, so this will be a good way to overcome that fear.

yeah, I understand your feeling but I think that this should be fixed with practice, and asking friends in who you can trust for opinion. I can give you honest feedback if you want.

[vonhotch]

yeah, I understand your feeling but I think that this should be fixed with practice, and asking friends in who you can trust for opinion. I can give you honest feedback if you want.

Yes! That would be great. It is really great to have a place to step out of your comfort zone and not have to worry about the normal negativity usually found on the internet, and well most everywhere anymore. I have a lot of respect for your feedback, and learning to take some criticism has been something I needed to learn as well. Just be careful what you ask for though my singing maybe worse than my first guitar post!!!!

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Yes! That would be great. It is really great to have a place to step out of your comfort zone and not have to worry about the normal negativity usually found on the internet, and well most everywhere anymore. I have a lot of respect for your feedback, and learning to take some criticism has been something I needed to learn as well. Just be careful what you ask for though my singing maybe worse than my first guitar post!!!!

hahaha don't worry mate! I'm very glad to know that my feedback really helps you to become a better musician.