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Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 7 2009, 06:36 PM

Hey guys, with a small delay I started to produce video comments. Today I did two, for Marek and sted, and for sted it is currently uploading. I will post it soon. Feel free to listen the takes and comment them yourself.
If you need me to give more comments on your playing ask and we wil discuss it in this thread

(FINAL MIX is at the end of this post)

Cheers!

Marek Rojewski

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=15839



sted

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=15844



Jakub Luptovec

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=15946



kjutte

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=15981



eat-sleep-andJam
http://eat-sleep-andJam



matt23
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=15989



VictorUK

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16016



Deadevil

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16055



arctic1234

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16088



Toroso

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16090



Paiva

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16120



kaznie_NL

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16145



gibsonmatte

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16146



Outlaw2112

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16171



Sollesnes
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16196

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jun 7 2009, 06:55 PM

Already told it on the chat, but once again, HUGE thanks, really helpful comment Ivan:)

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 7 2009, 07:22 PM

Anytime man, it was my pleasure

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 7 2009, 09:12 PM

Another comment added guys

Posted by: sted Jun 8 2009, 07:20 PM

Hey Ivan!

Thanks for the comment mate, I guess I did try and cram too many notes in but I really didnt know where to start with a metal solo so I just went for it! Arpeggios are still a bit of a mystery to me and how they fit into my playing but I am constatntly trying to get them in somewhere.
My one question is about the sound, you have made a few comments to me on collabs and in the REC about improving my "sound" but have not elaborated! In particular the Gary Moore sound I used in the blues collab you said that I didnt need that much gain and should back it off and use other methods but I'm not sure what, do you have any general tips/rules on starting to create a good tone for blues, rock, clean sounds etc? I know we discuss different software and amps and stuff on the chat but it really annoys me that I might not be getting the best out of my gear, I admit when people talk about "Headroom" and such I just nod and smile and think "What?" anyway, any tips would be of great use to me (Or maybe a lesson series!! ).

Cheers mate,

Lee
(aka Sted.)

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 8 2009, 08:28 PM

I will be glad to help you of course! I'm no expert so I'll try to explain the best way I can:

As I said your sound is good, but you just need to watch out for the levels. When talking about levels I mean "volume levels" and this is where headroom comes into play. Headroom is nothing complicated really, it's just the amount of "space" that signal can go in terms of volume level until it reaches the clipping point. Check out the next picture:

In this picture you can see several headrooms for different appliances. When the sound reaches the red point, it starts to "clip". Clipping means that signal cannot go any further so the information is lost. You can observe the clipping phenomenon on this example:

As you can see on the picture - if we increase the overall volume of the signal the audio signal amplitude is not curved. When it reaches it's limit it is clipped and basically lost. You cannot hear that curved tip anymore. So if we say for example that some amp has "big headroom" it means that it can be amplified a lot without clipping, thus staying clean. When the amp is distorting on lower volumes (for example average Marshall clean channel usually goes into crunch after 7-8), we say that it doesn't have a big headroom on big volumes. If you take two Marshall amps, one 50W and other one 200W and crank both of them to 6 on clean channel, the 200W will be louder, so it has bigger headroom, which simply means more loudness without clipping. This is basically the story about headroom a bit simplified.

Now, lets get back to clipping part a bit. I said that information is lost when you push the volume up, so the signal is not curved anymore, but it has those straight lines like on picture 2. There are 2 kinds of clipping, one is desireable and the other one isn't:

1. tube clipping (tube overdrive): this kind of clipping is good, and you can hear it when you crank the tube amp, or switch to OD channel on tube amps. The harmonics that tubes produce are even, and goes along nicely with the original signal, so they have that "natural" or "musical" sound as many people describe it.
2. solid state clipping (hard clippin): this kind of clipping is not good, cause it sounds harsh and unnatural. Pretty much every electronic device including solid state amps, digital audio interfaces, and all kind of solid state gear hard clip the signal and above that point work is useless.

Hard clipping is not good cause when the clipping occurs it produces odd harmonics. Although some part of the signal is lost, the transients appear (depending what electronic components are used these transients can vary and they are calculated using some math methods) in the upper sound spectrum that "enrich" the sound. These sound waves are functioning to "color" the main signal. Solid state components create odd or uneven harmonics and this is why this sounds bad. If the signal is too high (as you made in your take when rendering) then this will be heard as lots of cracks and pops, and noise. In order to prevent that, you should monitor the faders in your DAW software and watch out so it doesn't go above the 0dB limit. Back in the good old days of analog gear, some degree of clipping would be allowed, cause back than studios used analog mixers, tape recorders etc. These components could be pushed a bit into overdrive (they had bigger headroom), without loosing the information. These days when most of the stuff we use is purely digital, there is a limit above which everything sounds terrible basically, so we try to prevent the signal going above that limit. This is done by constantly monitoring input meters of our sound cards, input meters in our DAW software, and input meters on our master channel. If the sound is bellow 0dB during the whole recording - you can rest assure that you signal will be nice and healthy.

If you want to discuss further on this topic, for example want from me to give you some specific tips & tricks on how to achieve that, post all the gear&software that you use for recording and I'll try to help.

Cheers mate

Posted by: sted Jun 9 2009, 09:10 AM

Blimey! Thanks Ivan!

That was a bit of a lesson in itself but i understand those principles now. My gear is as follows : Fostex PM0.4 monitors, Line 6 UX2 (New version) which has some nice meters on it etc, my "go to" software is pod farm/gearbox as it seems to work best with my other gear although I may have a look at GR3 as well. The pc has an AMD 3600+ and 2gb corsair RAM with onboard sound card (Hence the UX2) and obviously there my list of guitars shown below on my sig.

Any tips on how to get the best out of this stuff would be great, once again mate thanks for all your help!

Lee (aka Sted)

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 9 2009, 10:01 AM

Anytime Lee bro

One more thing that I need to know is what DAW software do you use for recording? Reaper, Cubase, something else?

Posted by: sted Jun 9 2009, 12:16 PM

Reaper mate, all the way!!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 9 2009, 03:13 PM

OK!

- Make sure you monitor your signal in several mixers, first in POD Farm (picture 1)

- Then make sure you keep the signal bellow the 0dB in reaper (picture 2) when recording on the audio track, and also keep the overal signal loudness lower than 0dB on the Master Channel (first channel to the left)

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 9 2009, 03:19 PM

Cool stuff Ivan, I feel like recording a take, just to get a comment You've also improved your background

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 9 2009, 04:32 PM

Feel free to do so, I can extend the limit for you Kaz, you are my "regular customer".

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 9 2009, 05:01 PM

Another comment added for Jakub

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 11 2009, 12:05 AM

Another take added for kjutte

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 11 2009, 10:50 PM

2 more takes added for ES&J and matt

Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Jun 12 2009, 02:37 AM

Thanks so much man for the comment, I knew the legato lick was sloppy but I just went with it for the most part. I will work on my vibrato more and I will see you in the next one

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 12 2009, 10:26 AM

I'm glad to help in any way, and it was cool to listen to your take man! Cheers

Posted by: Matt23 Jun 13 2009, 12:12 PM

Very useful comments Ivan, thanks.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 16 2009, 11:32 AM

Anytime man!

Posted by: Jakub Luptovec Jun 16 2009, 11:56 AM

Sorry for commenting that late but I was out of time:)

Thank you very much for your comment, I noted it and will try to implement that.

Oh and regarding that second part and the use of A harmonic minor... I didnt really use a scale on the second part.. I just used my ear and heart to guide me, because I wanted that part to be kind of fluid and sleek, sort of out of box, built on some exotic melody:)

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 16 2009, 02:56 PM

No problems mate!
Harmonic minor use is very good to add that bit of exotic feel, I just though I would point out the scale/note that goes along even better there! Great take, and thank you for participating!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 17 2009, 04:26 PM

OK guys, 6 more comments recorded for:

- VictorUK
- Deadevil
- arctic1234
- Toroso
- Paiva
- Kaz

Expect them very soon!

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 17 2009, 06:35 PM

Coolie Can't whait, thanks a big lot Ivan!!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 19 2009, 02:30 PM

Another comment added, rest coming soon.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 19 2009, 04:33 PM

4 to go, and then me

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 19 2009, 06:49 PM

Thanks for being patient Kaz

Actually it's 3 more to go, I added one more just now, adding still

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 19 2009, 06:52 PM

Hey Ivan, you already recorded the takes, just out of interest, what takes so long? Is it the hours long rendering?

pls don't feel hurried, I'm just curious

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 20 2009, 01:43 AM

I will put takes here tomorrow Kaz, but you can try to find it on YouTube as well, it's uploaded It's a slow process I'm doing several things at once, and editing and uploading lasts about 1 hours sometimes more. I have to do lessons as well so I need upload available so...

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 20 2009, 04:42 PM

Wow, how cool! I watched the comment on youtube, and man, thanks a lot!!

Posted by: Toroso Jun 20 2009, 05:39 PM

Hi Ivan! Your comments were spot on as usual. Honestly, I don't even think I thought about tempo at the time. Just tried to go real fast. I've had some ideas about the thing since and want to incorporate those and your comments into a retake.

Thanks for the collab!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 20 2009, 09:34 PM

Anytime Kaz!


Thanks a lot man! I'm glad to help, and if you're up for another shot at this feel free to do it, I can comment it via text comments. Cheers

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 20 2009, 11:46 PM

All new comments are added now guys, and expect the rest 3 comments soon! Cheers

Posted by: Paiva Jun 21 2009, 12:11 AM

Thanks Ivan

I will to try to get better in my timing usually isn't one of my problems. Oh well thanks ivan

Posted by: arctic1234 Jun 21 2009, 09:18 AM

Hi Ivan, comments where great!:)

I knew I had some problems with the rhythm, but that counts for about everything I do musically (still working hard on it tough). I will also try using some wider vibratos.

Anyway, thanks o lot for the great comments

Posted by: gibsonmatte Jun 21 2009, 10:02 AM

Hello!

Really looking forward to the comments since I'm currently stuck on the "country side" (Gotland for you swedish guys) without any guitars what so ever... So reading the forum is as close I get to GMC action

Many thanks in advance Ivan and again big up for an awesome Collab!!

Posted by: Deadevil Jun 21 2009, 12:48 PM

Hey Ivan,

Thanks for the excellent comment on my take , i also noticed that the first part was a bit muddy and undefined and i will definitely work on playing more defined. the tip for connecting the last tremolo part was also great because i couldn't really figure out how to connect those two parts, so i'll definitely start practicing with a metronome more and again thanks for the comment .

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 22 2009, 03:20 AM

You;re welcome mate, I'm glad to help in any way!


Thats good man, and practicing with metronome can improve timing more than anything. Keep a hard workflow going, the results will clearly be visible!


OK will record ASAP! I'm out of town now so I cannot record anything till Wednesday probably, so please be patient. The comments will be done as soon as possible!


Hey it was my pleasure to help in any way. Your take was great, just focus more on those things and you will rock man. Keep practicing every day, and ensure that those minor detail are fixed and it will sound much better! Cheers man

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 30 2009, 12:53 AM

Another comment added, two more, and they are recorded, so expect them tomorrow. Cheers

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 30 2009, 01:38 AM

The collaboration is now closed, and tomorrow I will publish all the video comments and final mix in separate topic as well. Thank you everybody for participating!

Posted by: gibsonmatte Jun 30 2009, 08:11 AM

This was truly an awesome collaboration Ivan. And the feedback for my take is dead on! Looking forward to participate in the next collab and I will practice the things you mentioned in the video.

Again an awesome collab and excellent feedback!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 30 2009, 10:41 AM

Thanks a lot man, I'm glad I could help in any way! See you on the next one!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 30 2009, 01:07 PM

Another take for Outlaw added! One more left!

Posted by: Sollesnes Jun 30 2009, 05:13 PM

Already saw mine on youtube!

Thanks for the comments! I only wish I could have done more out of this great backing!
The first part of my take is very vague and improvised, not being used to playing over backings like that. I'm happy you got where I was going with it though! The part in it that I think is the one you forgot, is around fret 3-7, following the e minor arpeggio with some off-notes, ending on a b on the seventh fret on the high e string.

Hearing my take now, after hearing your comments, gives me a lot of new ideas over the first part, giving strong notes a lot more room. I was having so much trouble over the first part when I recorded, that I'm surprised I survived. haha.

About everything else - thank you very much! I'm very happy that you talked a bit about tone as well. Thank you for a great collaboration, and I'll definitely want to be in the next one!

oh, and it's spelled Sollesnes but no worries ^^

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 30 2009, 06:49 PM

Thanks for kinds words, as always I'm glad to help in any way, and if you got some new ideas listening your take again - awesome! This is the main point to find new ways to express ourselves. Thanks a lot for participating and I'm looking forward seeing you on the next collab as well. Cheers!

Posted by: Deadevil Jul 6 2009, 04:19 PM

Where's the final mix?? i can't find it anywhere...

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jul 6 2009, 05:17 PM

Sorry mate, I didn't do the final mix on this one. The thing is all video comments have takes just above them, so I was feeling that it would be a lot more practical to put it like that since I talk about the takes in the videos on the spot, instead of making final mix and then referring to a timecode. This is good as well, but members would need to load entire mix to read some comments. If you want tho I can arrange the final mix, it's not a problem if needed.

Posted by: Deadevil Jul 6 2009, 05:30 PM

Ok, if it's not too much trouble i'd like to have a final mix, because it's easier to compare my take with the others when you can listen to them continuously. But if you don't want to do it it's ok aswell

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jul 6 2009, 05:57 PM

Sure I'll do it, expect it by evening. CHeers

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Jul 9 2009, 03:38 PM

thanks for taking the time to do this collab and for the comments...

I was without my computer for a week and couldnt comment but your comments are very helpful

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jul 9 2009, 07:19 PM

Thanks for joining in man! I'm glad if I could help in any way

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jul 10 2009, 12:33 AM

Final Mix is now in the first post of this topic