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GMC Forum _ Collaborations _ The New Balld Collaboration
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 01:54 AM
Well guys, after a while mixing , finally another MONSTER COLLAB! 
Let me take this oportunity and thank you all for being patient for the final mix to arrive, I know it took some time but here it is. You all did a tremendous work, and my comments are subjective. If you have comments please leave them too. Thanks for participating!
SUMMARY:
PARTICIPANTS - 20
LENGTH - 18.30 
I'll be a little tough this time Let's begin......
1. at_lights_end:
Very nice playing, smooth and relaxed, I like it. On the half you seemed a little stuck, but the backing is too long for a proper solo. I like the playing, but work on bends and the sound. Too buzzy distortion is not a good thing, also a lot of noise in the background from distortion. So keep that in mind. ALso reverberation is good in certain limits, but too much can cause a muddy sound, so be carefull with the reverb. All in all great solo, you need to work on the sound more.
2. Fran:
Ahh, that clean intro melody reminds me to old cowboy movies Very nice, to much reverb again, but very smooth sound and a nice phrasing. I like the idea that you kept it simple all the way, sometimes the best solos are the simplest ones, and this time you were spot on. Again Fran, reminding you to finish of your phrases in a little more effective way, not just lets-get-back-to-the-root-in-eight-notes way, if you know what I mean. DOn't worry it is not big deal, couple of blues licks, and you will rock I'm sure
3. Tjchep:
Nice intro, like those prebends, you hold the sound nicely, and those pinched harmonics are cool, bends are little shaky, but nothing to serious. Space is nice on the track, not too much, just how much it needs, but the drive is too buzzy. Try decreasing the gain when you hear too much buzzing and noise. It is always better to work with less drive and quality sound that plenty drive and lousy sound. 
4. Sami
Interesting playing Sami, intro is not too great, because you play mostly scales up down, but later on you did some nice melodies, and I liked that. Sound is too buzzy and there is no dynamics, but that can be fixed with some different presets, and some dynamic licks. All in all very good.
5. ballistic31
wow, too much gain again, I understand that you want a hi gain sound but this is not the way to get it. Too much highs, too little lows, buzzing all the way, next time decrease the gain in order to get a quality tone, because that is the most important thing. On the other hand playing is very nice and relaxed, some mistaken notes here and there but nothing too serious.
6. Crazyfret
Great effort Crazyfret, very nice playing, and some solid licks, and interval use. I can definitely see some improvements and lotta new licks in your vocabulary. Keep up the good work. THe sound is also very decent too.
7. Gus
And some cool smooth single clean sounds. Very nice. Like the feeling you put here, those repetative licks are very effective, and solo is nice. You have clipping tho, and need to turn the volume down next time you record. Other than that it's great. Space is excellent too. Very subtle and audible in the same time.
8. Organized Confusion
Nice take Organized, that is really some nice soloing and melody making. The buzzing sound is not that great, work more on your presets. You lack dynamic also in the preset. Bends need to be more effective and solid, but those nice melody question and answer licks are pretty good idea and I really like it. Keep up the good work!
9. Iluha
Nice clean sound Iluha, and a good heavy delay, maybe too much heavy, but it can pass as a style thing. Interesting phrasing, very subtle and unique, couple of notes here and there and the solo turned up great in the end. Nice work
10. IzzyCom
Well, that preset won't go for sure... lots of gain, buzz and noise. On the other hand soloing is great! I really like your bends, I can tell that you practiced the bends but not too much vibrato right? Some more vibrato would be nice to hear on such a lovely emotional solo indeed!
11. JWBauer
Interesting intro, like the melody and developing is decent too. You kept the structure of the solo solid, and the main theme always present which is great. On the other hand too much buzzing cannot be a good thing, so I suggest decreasing gain to some normal value where the full potential of your playing can be more audible (dynamics, phrases etc)
12. machogriz
Wow, who killed the cat Kidding nice solo, and intro, but the preset uhmm...didn't sound too good. I like the idea tho, but the quality is not so good, so I suggest using the preset in smaller degree so it doesn't "eat up" the sound too much. Your playing is great, some nice syncopation and melodies so nice shot!
13. Mario
nice solo Mario, like those runs palm muting and those long emotional notes, but must work on bends a little in order to be more effective. Simple but effective. Preset is not that great, too strong and buzzed,lacks heavily with dynamics, it practicaly eat your sound away. Try decreasing the drive. SPace is great, little but effective.
14. eddiecat
Interesting intro with those arpeggios, and developing is nice, but those up and down the scale in the middel won't pass. You kinda get away later with some nice soloing, and finished it of with nice and emotional bends, I like those a lot! and.... I don't know did you noticed but you finished on a off-note - that is not a good thing! Preset is weak, and buzzing, again remind you on the quality and not the quantity of gain.
15. preownedguitar
Nice clean sound, shakey intro, but you've managed to develop it nicely later with those bends, looks like glued on recordings, some good emotional single style sound, like it, reminds on Clapton a little. The solo is a little short and in the end instead of going up, you came down pretty quickly. Next time I suggest you develop the solo from down to up, and do something effective and rememorable in the end.
16. Superize
Lots of buzzing here too, liek those long notes, but the buzzing is terrible man. Must roll of the drive in order to get some dynamics and effective solo. THe choise of notes is great, you pulled it off very nicely in a simple style. Great effort!
17. Thilo
Nice clean sound, gentle and interesting, bends are great and licks excellent. I really like the clean sound and the way you lead the melody to the end. Very good solo, you're all over the fretboard I like the way you connect positions with fingerstyle technique, but be carefull about muting the strings, and nto to play too many notes, sometimes less is more with such an interesting style you have. Keep rockin
18. Twibeard
I dig the idea with the heavy delay, but too much space in my opinion there, roll off the delay a littel and reverb too. Notes are cool, and I like the minimalistic idea that you've come up with, sounds very effective. Clean sound is also great.
19. wrk
Nice sound man, and a good licks and arpeggios. Phrasing is also good, but your solo lacks a general structure. Lot's of good licks, but little developing and construction. Also the drive is smooth, but I can tell it's a littel buzzy (not too much). Stereo delay is a nice touch on the whole thing. More work on the bends too.
20. soulstone
Interesting phrasing, and a great sence of melody, very nice melody leading and structure. You are great at impro, and the feeling you put is excellent too, but check the preset, I can see that it is not good, too quiet and buzzed.
21. My Take
Well, as for me, my solo is good, but really made in speed, and lacks a real structure, I started slowly and then blew it off with those very unprecise and poor sounding runs in the end, in relative to the nice phrasing on start. The sound is decent enough for the occasion - warm dirty clean just how I like it, but need to work on those vibrato bends more, and need to sound more convinsing and with more feeling, on this track I didn't show any feeling except for something little in the start, and then I finished the solo in a let's hurry up a rap it up way.
Thanks for participating!
Posted by: Sami Feb 28 2008, 02:00 AM
Thanks for suggestions, i really appericate it!!
About the scale thing, i tend to really like that descending sound though, should i use more arpeggios then?
Posted by: Tjchep Feb 28 2008, 02:36 AM
So work on tone..
Mmk..
Well what do you mean by space? Reverb and delay - The ambiance of the solo?
tj
Posted by: Iluha Feb 28 2008, 06:35 AM
Wow I participated in you'r collab and you didn't have one bad thing to say abuot my playing! I'm very proud of myself right now! 
Thanks for a great collab Ivan, must have been a killer to mix.
Posted by: Trond Vold Feb 28 2008, 09:22 AM
This was great .. just listened through the whole 18 minutes of it
Posted by: Gus Feb 28 2008, 10:25 AM
Wow. Good work on the edition. Transitions from one solo another go smooth and sounds better than our original recordings 
Lots of work for so many contributions.
Also, thanks for the comments. I read them all and I can see that it will be add a lot to everyone. I did not realize about the sound clipping 
, but now it is clear to me.
As everyone, I was awaiting for your take. Real cool even if you said you made in a hurry. I liked the way it develops from slow great feeling to shred speed. Reminds of Jimmy Page (well, my favorite guitarist). Also you made the best exploitation of going down the fretboard in the beginning.
At last but not least, post your settings (specially curious to know pickup positions you used). Most of us has to improve the recording sound, so it would be nice to know what you used to achieve your sound
Posted by: Smells Feb 28 2008, 10:25 AM
I`ll have a listen to this when I get home, I think the comments are excellent! really constructive
Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Feb 28 2008, 10:34 AM
This was only my 2nd recording I have ever done so I really need to improve my recording. If anyone can offer some tips after listening to mine then that would be amazing. I hate the annoying pick sound throughout a small part of it. I should have recorded it again really.
Thanks for the amazing collab Ivan. Really loved this backing track. Any idea what I can do to improve my playing as you mentioned recording but not really how my playing can improve.
I will listen to the whole thing when I get home from work
Should I be working on bends mainly?
Posted by: Muris Feb 28 2008, 11:56 AM
Gonna download it in a sec,great comments Ivan.
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 12:03 PM
Thanks guys for your hard work and compliments about the collab. As you may notice, not everyone got the exact same treatmant, because I liked some things better than others - but that does not necessarily means that someone/s playing is better etc. I hope you understand that so there are no hard feeling.
@Sami
If you like the descending sound that's cool. Great use of this kind of lick would be when you are playing over certain chord, and then use the scale of that chord to run down the neck a little faster, maybe even palm muted to give it some character if you know what I mean. Finishing of also on the root note of the chord involved, or third or fifth can be very effective too. SO again, if you like your runs just refine them enough to the point where they are blended in nicely with the rest of the solo.
@Tjchep
When I say work on the tone, I mean the tone of your solo. I've noticed your playing is good, but the tone is not so good and this is because of two reasons. First and more important one is to try to mute all the strings that are not played, especially on high gain settings. The second one already mentioned is the preset, your high gain setting lacks dynamics and sound buzzy, but that is a smaller problem and can be fixed easily - just roll of the drive.
@Iluha
Thanks man! I really liked your solo, tho it had some clipping, I've forgot to mention that. When you record with single pups they sound more dynamic and you must watch the levels on the input monitor .
@Gus
Thanks man, I've tried to put the right comments, lot of things I've missed, but it was like 1.00AM and my head was hurting badly 
My presets were combined neck&middle single, SD1 (slightly overdrived), DD20 (analog delay settings, small feedback), some spring reverb, Marshall clean channel,
@Organized Confusion
I'm sorry I've missed the comments for your playing man, your sense of melody is good, but you lack precision when playing runs, sounds nicely when you run using palm muting, but you should sound precise without that too. SO I suggest some general pentatonic workouts, and slides to connect those boxes effectively. ALso the bends are weak, need to make them as solid as possible. As for recording, I suggest you post your gear and a small sample in the recording section of the forum, we can help a lot more if you do like that, because we then know what you use etc..
Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Feb 28 2008, 12:08 PM
I'm sorry I've missed the comments for your playing man, your sense of melody is good, but you lack precision when playing runs, sounds nicely when you run using palm muting, but you should sound precise without that too. SO I suggest some general pentatonic workouts, and slides to connect those boxes effectively. ALso the bends are weak, need to make them as solid as possible. As for recording, I suggest you post your gear and a small sample in the recording section of the forum, we can help a lot more if you do like that, because we then know what you use etc..
Cheers man. I will post in the recording area
And you're spot on. More work needed on boxes for definite although I mainly use the Natural Minor scale or whatever it's called. Look forward to the next collab and you have done an amazing job with this collab. Great comments, and truly epic Keep up the good work. I will comment on other peoples solos tonight also
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 12:17 PM
And you're spot on. More work needed on boxes for definite although I mainly use the Natural Minor scale or whatever it's called. Look forward to the next collab and you have done an amazing job with this collab. Great comments, and truly epic Keep up the good work. I will comment on other peoples solos tonight also Thanks for the compliment man! The next collab is already open it is a funky collab and although it is a faster one, and maybe not everyone style of choice, I suggest that you try it in order to get a style diversity. I will put some very constructive comments there, learned by the experience of this collab, and useful tips in playing funk!
More comments from you and other would be great since we all have different views and perceptions of others playing, so that we can all benefit. Thanks again!
Posted by: Iluha Feb 28 2008, 12:38 PM
Yeah that clipping is a problem I constantly experience.... what do you mean by Single Pups?
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 12:40 PM
I thought you were using single pickups there? If not sorry, my mistake
Posted by: Crazyfret Feb 28 2008, 02:40 PM
Great effort Crazyfret, very nice playing, and some solid licks, and interval use. I can definitely see some improvements and lotta new licks in your vocabulary. Keep up the good work. THe sound is also very decent too.
Thanks for your comments Ivan I'm really chuffed you liked it
. I did make an effort to improve on this collab and I think things are slowly coming together with my lick development and was pleased with my experiment with the double tracked harmonized guitars at the start came off.A great collab everyone.
Ivan thanks again for your efforts
Posted by: Iluha Feb 28 2008, 02:47 PM
Nah man it's a double... about the clipping, why is it happening? is it because the input volume is too high?
Posted by: Bogdan Feb 28 2008, 04:14 PM
Great job everyone !! This was very interesting to listen
Posted by: Fran Feb 28 2008, 05:23 PM
Thanks for the comments Ivan I'll try to improve fotr the next collab!
Nice job mixing yet another huge collab, sounds great!
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 06:06 PM
Great guys, I'm glad you liked it Funky Collab is ON, so see ya there! Work on the advices I gave on this one and for sure you will be better and better in recording process for every collab to come!
@ Iluha
It could be the input or output volume, or somewhere else in the chain, try to localize the cliping.
Posted by: eddiecat Feb 28 2008, 06:30 PM
Thank you very much Ivan for this collab and comments.
I'm going to work very hard to improve,
I've got SOOO much to learn!
But practicing doesn't scare me at all...
"See" you in the next collab!
All the best, Eddie
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 28 2008, 07:11 PM
Thanks man, see you!
Posted by: Tjchep Feb 28 2008, 08:17 PM
Thats fair, the sound swolowed a few notes here and there, and I couldn't even figure out what I was doing.
But I usually do mute all the strings, and don't use this much gain.
Thanks, I'll keep a closer eye on these things defiantly. Great feedback.
Posted by: IzzyCom Feb 29 2008, 12:08 AM
Well, that preset won't go for sure... lots of gain, buzz and noise. On the other hand soloing is great! I really like your bends, I can tell that you practiced the bends but not too much vibrato right? Some more vibrato would be nice to hear on such a lovely emotional solo indeed!
Thanks for participating!
Thx Ivan!
U're definitely right, need to practice my vibrato on bends especially,
My guitar sounds better usually (the black beauty), I've done this one with my fender mex strat, the single coil pickups are very noisy!!
Thx again, and great collab!! waiting for more awesome backing tracks!
cheers
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 29 2008, 01:45 AM
Thanks guys again, I really enjoyed listening to your solos. Each on is great and unique in it's own way
Posted by: ballistic31 Feb 29 2008, 04:19 AM
Well overall probly due to time the mix is a lilttle rough around the edges........I noticed a few solos just missed the mark and slid away from the backing track and lost the time line a bit.......A few time line markers could have solved the looping problem with warping............but that takes alot of time ........a few send with some filters and a eq band could have taken care of the high gain buzz mearly due to a flat recording eq...........but thats just if you wanted something to write home about as a great mix..............but this is just understandably a collab................for the sake of playing in mind.........I can see that this site is truly going to get some reviews....as being a site that is turning out some great guitar players....
congrads to all.........players.........and no hard feelings on the mix it is just my point of view..........cause im truly no pro at it myself........im still just a student.........with some great teachers and influences....................thanks for letting me be a part of this
Posted by: glazmusik Feb 29 2008, 04:23 AM
This is great, guys!
I haven't gotten to listen to it enough to really study it, but I like it!
What a great idea...
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Feb 29 2008, 10:53 AM
congrads to all.........players.........and no hard feelings on the mix it is just my point of view..........cause im truly no pro at it myself........im still just a student.........with some great teachers and influences....................thanks for letting me be a part of this
I don't suppose you are maybe insinuating that your recording was a little "ruff on the edges" due to my bad mix. I know my mixing&producing pretty well thanks for the advices. Every recording in the collab is putted JUST as it is uploaded. Noe inserts, no sends, no EQ, no producing showoff, because it is suppose to be heard JUST as it sounds. It is not my intention to color your sound in any way, but to give some advices how to GET a healthy recording and that is the most important thing. Suggestions like:"We'll fix it in the mix" just won't pass, neither here or anywhere for that matter. Thanks for participating.
Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Feb 29 2008, 10:57 AM
I think you did a great and the reason it was a little ruff on the edges is because some peoples recordings were ruff on the edges lol. Mine being one of them. I'm glad you don't cover up anything that we've done as it helps us progress. I think you did a great job and always do a great job.
Posted by: Gus Feb 29 2008, 07:04 PM
...
Thanks for participating.
I think you did a great job, given the material that we provided as input.
One thing I think it could be done when having so many contributions is to make more than one mix, based on the settings:
- 1 with the clean tone contributions
- 1 with slightly distorted tones
- 1 with highly distorted tones
In that way, the final mixes would have the same feeling all around (and would be much smaller
)For instance, mine recording and Iluha's accidentally start with the same bend, so that is easy to mix...
Soulstone's recording, for instance, is really great, but gives a totally different flavor for the music (both the tone and speed).
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Mar 1 2008, 08:19 PM
One thing I think it could be done when having so many contributions is to make more than one mix, based on the settings:
- 1 with the clean tone contributions
- 1 with slightly distorted tones
- 1 with highly distorted tones
In that way, the final mixes would have the same feeling all around (and would be much smaller
)For instance, mine recording and Iluha's accidentally start with the same bend, so that is easy to mix...
Soulstone's recording, for instance, is really great, but gives a totally different flavor for the music (both the tone and speed).
That's not a bad idea at all man, I'll ahve that in mind when doing my next collab. THanks for the advice!
Posted by: at lights end Mar 1 2008, 09:00 PM
cool. nice work guys!
thanks for the tips!
yeah my sound kinda sucks, i only have my beginner guitar and a computer. that was my first proper recording so im learning. and ill experiment with my sound, it's not a very clean signal at the moment.
Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Mar 1 2008, 11:48 PM
No disrespect of your gear or anything, my own recording was terrible man! But as time passed I learned a few things. The main goal here is to give you that knowledge to be able to learn it faster that I once could. Keep rockin!
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