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Posted by: quadrium Dec 30 2010, 04:15 PM

Hey guys.We can share our riff/lyric ideas from here now on.Here are the corrected version of the lyrics by mad and a cool riff idea from Gitarreo

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 30 2010, 07:26 PM

And there off! Looking forward to a great project. Can you record that riff clean with no fx and post it? I can add distortion during the mix. Also, if you could play to a metronome or click track, that would help us all stay in sync. You don't need to embed the click track in the recording, just keep track of the bpm.

Todd

Posted by: Gitarrero Dec 30 2010, 07:30 PM

Sure Todd, I can do that! I actually changed the riff a little, will record it again with NoFX and then post it.

Posted by: quadrium Dec 30 2010, 07:37 PM

I am also working on a riff now.As i said before on the other topic, due to my recording problems i am writing it on the guitar pro,then i'll post it here.gonna record with my guitar as soon as get my problem fixed

Posted by: Gitarrero Dec 30 2010, 09:05 PM

Here's my new, clean recorded riff idea!

Posted by: quadrium Dec 30 2010, 11:51 PM

Here is my riff idea

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 31 2010, 01:19 AM

Cool We are moving pretty quick. Next thing you know we will have several tunes completed I'll download the files and have a look. Congrats again on starting a great project and getting it up and running so quickly.

Posted by: quadrium Dec 31 2010, 03:56 AM

Mate,i couldn't open it.Can you send a .mp3 file too if possible?

Posted by: mad Dec 31 2010, 04:41 AM

here's is an audio mixdown in mp3..

Posted by: maharzan Dec 31 2010, 05:09 AM

Good going guys.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 31 2010, 05:14 AM

Here's a first pass at the guitar sound. (just a rough) and a scratch drum track to act as a click track. Try to re record the guitar part listening to the click track so we can map it to a beat. Otherwise, it will drift a bit over the drums. Let me know what you guys think of the guitar tone, I'm up for anything.
 ScratchDrums.mp3 ( 2.07MB ) : 403

 ScratchDrums.mp3 ( 2.07MB ) : 403

Posted by: quadrium Dec 31 2010, 06:14 AM

I think the guitar's tone is very nice Todd By the way what do you think about my riff idea, can we use it?

Posted by: maharzan Dec 31 2010, 07:03 AM

awesome guitar tone Todd.. What are you using?

The drums sounds a bit weak.. perhaps lot of compression? Oh, its just a scratch.. Can't wait to hear the mix guys.. This sure is gonna be a great song. I might chime in for soloing stuff if you guys want some help but I am sure Todd is a mater of shred and metal. I have addictive drums so if you guys have a midi or something, I can export it... I like the AD sound as it sounds really nice.

Posted by: quadrium Dec 31 2010, 08:25 PM

Here is the slighty changed version of my riff

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 1 2011, 12:21 AM

Thanks The guitar track was recorded by quadrium and then I just tripled the source track, and applied a different custom Amplitude Metal patch to each. I'm sure everyone would love to have you on board for solos or whatever you are up for contributing. As for the drums, yeah, it's just a scratch to re-record the riff with. I dig where this track is going so far

Todd

Thanks much. It's just a rough on guitar tones to get a discussion about "tone" going as to what we all would like it to sound like. I dig the riff I"ll check out the other riff today and gitarreros riff as well.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 1 2011, 01:06 AM

I'm having a bit of trouble with this track as the level is quite low for me. When I add distortion, the noise floor comes way up. Can you use a patch on your fx box that has compression and eq and push the volume a bit more? I like the riff itself Just needs to be a bit hotter if possible.

Posted by: maharzan Jan 1 2011, 01:13 AM

Ah so thats the secret!! Now I know what I need to do while I record.

Thanks Todd.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 1 2011, 01:58 AM

Todd, what do you think about playing the the riff i've sent after Gitarreo's? I think it sounds cool

Posted by: quadrium Jan 1 2011, 03:59 AM

Feel free to help man we'd like that

Posted by: quadrium Jan 1 2011, 07:42 PM

Here is another riff idea of mine

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 2 2011, 03:41 AM

QUADRIUM:: Glad you could make it to the lesson today I dig Gitarerro's lick and think it should work well. I've done a recording of me playing it aproximately and put a bass bit behind it. Give this a listen and let me know what you think.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 2 2011, 03:52 AM

Thanks Todd Sorry i had to leave early because of my connection problems i hope next time there won't be any By the way i couldn't see the file.did you upload it?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 2 2011, 09:11 AM

No problem. Just glad to see ya there Here is the file.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 2 2011, 09:46 AM

I did a quick recording based on your lick and added some bass and drums. See what you think. Just trying to set up the overall idea to see if everyone like where we are headed. I'm digging it so far. I'll put the other licks in as soon as I can. In the mean time, you guys feel free to make recordings and such and post them and we can go from there.


 Quadrium_Todd.mp3 ( 1.06MB ) : 246

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 2 2011, 12:27 PM

Sounds really cool, Todd! Sorry I couln't make it yesterday, I had to get some sleep
Do you guys want me to tab the riff, so everyone can play it?
I would also record a bassline to it tonight.
Since maharzan made the offer, why don't we invite him as our "drummer"?
I think when we are all happy with the riffs so far we can start to structure the song, so that mad can start singing.

Posted by: maharzan Jan 2 2011, 01:32 PM

Oh.. I am not a drummer at all.. I just thought I could probably export your midi to get a better sounding drums (if at all). I can program drums but I really suck at rollings.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 2 2011, 03:37 PM

Sounds really cool Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 3 2011, 02:06 AM

Maharzan: Sounds like a plan Can't wait to hear it. I"m putting a midi file of the drum track in a zip and attaching it to this post.

 Drums_Quadrium1.mid ( 254bytes ) : 179

Posted by: mad Jan 3 2011, 10:43 AM

Mates! I'm really excited! Todds recording sounds awesome and I played quadriums riffs and they all sound really cool!
A tabbed version of your riff would be great Gitarrero, so I can recompose/loop the riffs and give it a vocal try..
btw I'd like to have a kind of intro (maybe few arpeggiated chords) to build some tension while singing the first verse.. what do you guys think?

Posted by: maharzan Jan 3 2011, 02:52 PM

Here is a one shot.. Whats the tempo if I may ask.. I just tried at 155bpm.

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 3 2011, 08:57 PM

Sounds cool, maharzan!
Initially I recorded my take at 160 bpm.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 4 2011, 02:42 AM

Here is another riff idea

Posted by: quadrium Jan 4 2011, 05:04 AM

Very great idea man! i'll give it a try to find a cool intro By the way you guys have any ideas about how should we do the song structure?

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 4 2011, 09:08 PM

Hi Dogukan,

I did a real quick recording of your riffs 3 and 4, played with a distorted guitar. I didn't really warm up or practice the riffs, so they're a bit sloppy, but I hope you get an idea how they sound with a guitar.

Christian

Posted by: quadrium Jan 4 2011, 09:48 PM

Thanks Chris.sound cool with distortion.I'm sure after Todd's mix they will sound even cooler I uploaded clean version of riff 2.Due to my sound card problem sound may not be great.i directly recorded it from mic input.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 5 2011, 02:43 AM

Hey guys I'm a bit under the weather as I've caught a flu bug during our xmas visits. As soon as I"m back up and going I'll download all the new stuff. Seems to be moving along!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 5 2011, 02:43 AM

Hey guys I'm a bit under the weather as I've caught a flu bug during our xmas visits. As soon as I"m back up and going I'll download all the new stuff. Seems to be moving along!

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 5 2011, 09:42 PM

Get well soon, Todd! It's about time we put a few riffs together and release our first song!
Did I mention: patience is a virtue I just don't have?

Posted by: quadrium Jan 6 2011, 10:59 PM

Get well soon Todd and then lets finish our first song

We currently have 4 riff ideas.Lets put them together and make a song structure then you can write a killer solo

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 8 2011, 03:27 AM

Hey guys I'm back in the saddle after nearly going under with the Flu. Uggh. Glad to be back Looks like things are skipping along! We do need to figure out a rough structure. Lets get a rough idea on which licks are going to be played in what order. Which one is best for intro, verse, bridge, chorus etc. Part of song writing is of course taking the cool bits and putting them together in a cogent structure.

Gitarerro, Quadrium, using Guitar pro, or just making a recording, try to play the licks in a sequence that would work in terms of a song and then we can all have a listen. Once get a general idea, we can lay down the drum bits and play over it so it syncs up.

One thing that would help is if we could all use the same software so that we could send project files back and forth and not have to rebuild everything each time. From what I gather, REAPER, is the best way to go as it's cross platform and free to download. I don't use it but I"ll go get a copy and start working with it if we can all agree on using it. If there is another option, I'm open to that too.

Part of working remotely like this, is also about working out the production process. Once it's in place, things can move really quickly. But converting guitar pro, to midi, to wave, not having a time/metronome set to work with etc, is gonna slow things down a bit. There is a bit of a learning curve but it's a curve worth taking. Also, can you guys give me a breakdown of how you are recording? This is also a good chance to work on your studio skills.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 8 2011, 03:44 AM

good idea Todd.i will download the REAPER to work on my riffs.i normally use m-audio fast track usb soundcard and guitar rig 3 or pod farm 2 while i am recording.since my soundcard is broke now i am recording my stuff directly from the mic input of my laptop.so things go messy if i am recording distortion guitar currently but recording clean guitar is not a problem for me.so i can record the riff sequance with clean sound.and i can work on the reaper for some mix and then i can send you later.is that ok?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 8 2011, 05:32 AM

Sounds like a plan I"m all for guitar modeling. Record clean and then use your guitar rig 3 patch if possible and I'll see if I can open it. I'm using guitar rig 4 so I'd like to see if I can open the 3 version preset.

Also, I did a quick recording with scratch drums of QUADRIUM IDEA 4. Take a listen

 Quadrium4todd.mp3 ( 856.04K ) : 223

Posted by: quadrium Jan 8 2011, 06:15 AM

wow! sounds great i got a plan about song structure i will record it and upload by tomorrow and will send you my gr presets:)

Posted by: quadrium Jan 8 2011, 11:48 PM

Todd here is my structure idea.I'm uploading it as reaper project file.i copied gitarreo's riff that you have recorded as mp3 file to the project directly(i didn't have time to record it clean ) and i added clean recordings of my riffs 2 and 3.hope you like my idea.there are 1 intro part,4 verses and 2 choruses on the project file, i couldn't find a proper rhythm for solo,so i didn't do the rhyhtm part behind the solo and the outro part.if you like the structure we can work on it


Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Jan 9 2011, 03:07 AM

The files i've used in the project are in here.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 9 2011, 07:36 PM

Nicely done putting it all together in reaper I was able to open the project and see the structure.

I think the riff 3 lick is quite a bit out of tune though. Check it and let me know if that's intentional or if you just didn't tune up first. If it's a tuning issue, try to record that one again and repost the reaper file. I'll Add a midi drum track so that we have something underlying the riffs.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 9 2011, 10:49 PM

Its not intentional sorry for that didn't check it before recording:)i will record and upload the project again:)By the way did you like the structure so far?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 10 2011, 03:53 AM

Yeah! I'm digging the structure I think we have a cool tune in the works!

Todd

I got your note about having some gear issues in terms of recording. What is your recording setup again? Forgive me if we have been through this, I ask this so much it from various students it's hard to keep it straight. Do you not have a an audio interface of some type? If not, you really need one. The good news is they are not expensive. There is one called the POD STUDIO GX from line 6 that is a little box with a guitar jack and that goes USB to your computer. It will allow you to record direct without all the problems associated with going in to the Mic input. It comes with POD FARM so you can have emulations of great sounding gear. Here is a link.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-POD-Studio-GX-with-POD-Farm?sku=250006&&src=3LL6WXX1

You really do need some type of audio interface to convert your signal to digital and have it sound good. Without a functioning audio interface, everything will be something of problem/challenge in terms of recording so try to do whatever you can to get one asap. It's crucial to the success of the project. Eventually, you will want to be able to record actual tone from an amp, using a nice microphone. Your audio interface will help with that too. For now, just getting your guitar in to the computer is the first step.

Todd

I'll do a pass of the lick in the mean time as a stop gap. I would iike to see you guys playing the licks even if you have to stretch and grow a bit to make it happen. That's sorta the point Write stuff that pushes your ability and you can't help but get better. So far it sounds great! So let's keep it.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 10 2011, 05:04 AM

I have got a m-audio fast track usb soundcard but its broken for a while and i think its not fixable i am thinking about getting a new equipment and i will definitely take a look at the link you've supplied.As far as i know there are no shipments to Turkey from those sites,so i have to find it in Turkey And as for my laptop while i were trying to record my stuff via mic input i think it burned or something because of the guitar-mic empedance difference.Now its not working at all Tomorrow i ll take my laptop to a electronics store as i said before.And i ll buy a new equipment for recording as soon as possible

Dogukan,

Good news Todd i ve found the Line 6 POD Studio GX while checking some websites in Turkey and i've ordered it In 3 days i ll have it

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 11 2011, 02:42 PM

Sweet! I just saw this point that you found a new sound card! Sorry for the long winded post about the two others. I'm thrilled to hear it The Pod Studio GX is a fine unit and I think you will love it. It will be of great help in our project as well!

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 11 2011, 09:45 PM

Will you upload the project with drums added Todd?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 12 2011, 12:42 AM

I"ll do you one better. I'll upload all the riffs, and the drum track as separate "stems". What I want you guys to do, is put them together in reaper to build a rough of the song. The Reaper file that Dukogan put up is quite nice. Well done! Using these audio files you guys should be able to build/mix something cool. I'd like to see each of you give it a shot in reaper to see what you come up with. There is a bit of a learning curve, but learning is perpetual, it never ends so get used to it now so that it just becomes part of you.

I"ve recorded riff 1, 2, and 3 separately and I'm adding a long loop of the backing drums. Put each on it's own track in reaper and move the bits around to create song structure. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with. Don't dissapoint me! You can do it!

 Riff1todd.mp3 ( 1.04MB ) : 198

 Riff2Todd.mp3 ( 496.86K ) : 193

 riff3Todd.mp3 ( 496.86K ) : 203

 Drums.mp3 ( 2.06MB ) : 203

Posted by: quadrium Jan 12 2011, 01:52 AM

Here is my idea.Its almost like my last idea.But in this one,i used riff 3 before verse 1 and after the second chorus i did an outro from riff3.Hope you like it.In the first attachment you can find the pattern as 4 seperate tracks that Todd sent and in the second attachment you can find the pattern as 1 track.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 13 2011, 09:07 AM

Very well done! It looks like you getting the hang of reaper! I took your reaper file and extended the drum tracks out (just copied and pasted the drum track the length of the tune) so that the whole song has drums behind it. Copy and paste is your friend when working in non-linear audio editing. If you play a passage once the way you want it, you can use it repeatedly by just pasting it in. This is great when building a song. If its a song that you plan on releasing or putting on a CD, eventually you should record the entire track over as the slight variances in the way you play a riff over time gives a track life.

That being said, I"ve been in the studio and worked on projects with bands that sometimes keep the copy/paste method all the way through for budget reasons (studio time is pricey) or personel reasons (the guy that was playing is out of town or quit the band) etc.

Learning how to produce tracks using software is a critical step in ones growth as a musician. Having an ear for entire tracks, not just guitar parts is important.

I adjusted the levels a bit (pre-mixing) and adjusted the riffs so that they match the beat, there is some riff overlap that will need to be trimmed or re-recorded but one step at a time.

Download this reaper file and give it a listen. You already have the riffs from the previous post. Remember, the reaper file is just a project file, it doesn't contain any audio files. It just points to them. So put the project file and the riff audio files in one folder and reaper will put the pieces together.

Now we need a bass line. Anybody up for that?

 project_quadrium2a.zip ( 3.05K ) : 182


Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 13 2011, 03:21 PM

I"m going to put a call out for a bass player to join us

Posted by: quadrium Jan 13 2011, 05:28 PM

Thanks Todd And about basses Gitarreo can do bass lines

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 13 2011, 09:10 PM

Great! I can do them as well in a pinch, but thought I'd ask around. Did you get a chance to listen to the reaper file with the drums all the way through it? One thing you may notice is that since the drums never change, after a while it can start sounding like a drum machine. This is one of the challenges of home recording. Non-drummers are putting together the drums. So eventually, what you have to do is use different drum parts for different parts of the song and add drum fills in to break it up.

I've got several CD's of drum samples that I have used at various points to construct drum kits, fills etc. I"d be happy to send these cd libraries to you if you are interested in this aspect of production.

Just let me know

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 13 2011, 09:16 PM

Yeah i listened ,you did really great and i noticed the drums.I'd give it a shot about making drum parts but i've never done this before

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 13 2011, 10:10 PM

Hey guys,
just had the time to check this thread again. I'll download the reaper files tomorrow and record a bass line, so we got that covered

Christian

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 14 2011, 03:02 PM

Great news! Can't wait to hear it

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 16 2011, 01:06 AM

Hey guys,
here are the basslines!
A bit sloppy at times, recorded them in a hurry, but I think their okay for a start. BassRiff 1 is fpr ToddsRiff1 etc...

Posted by: quadrium Jan 16 2011, 02:55 AM

Here is the song with bass lines added

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 16 2011, 09:28 AM

Some great progress Now that we have the parts all fleshed out and arranged, I went ahead and re recorded the guitar parts. While I was at it, I listened to Christians bass line and got inspired to make a bass pass as well. I've started adding FX to each track. This is crucial and not complicated. Inside of REAPER on each track there is a greaen button that says FX. Click it and your effect menu comes up.

This is a good chance to start working with software effects. Take a look at the effects I"ve added to each track and mess with it a bit. Try to add new effects and improve the mix. Familiarize yourself with EQ, compression etc.

It's starting to come together Download the project file and associated media and give it a whirl!

Here is the mixdown so far as an mp3. (doesn't do it justice but it's nice and small)

 project_quadrium2d_mix.mp3 ( 3.96MB ) : 177


And here is a link to the reaper file and new tracks in one zip file. It's getting to big to post. 68 Megabytes

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/Quadrium_ReRecorded.zip


When you pull up the reaper file, notice that I"ve doubled some of the guitar tracks and panned them left and right. This makes the guitars sound bigger. I actually played each track twice instead of just copying the track and shifting it forward in time. That works too, but actually playing the track twice gives it a bit more life. Let me know what you guys think I cant wait to hear your version of the mix! Then we have to start putting solos over it!

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 16 2011, 02:00 PM

Just one word:wow i listened the mixdown you ve sent and its great. i ll download the files and take a look at mix as soon as possible.Great work Todd And i think its time we put some vocals on it to see how it sounds. @mad take a listen man and if you download the project file you can see the verse,chorus parts etc.I am uploading the lyrics again(i wrote next to the lyrics that which one is verse/chorus so you can take a look at it)

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 16 2011, 04:57 PM

Awesome guys!
Glad I inspired you with my bassline, Todd! I still need a little practice
So if it's okay I will throw a short solo idea in the ring tonight.
Can't wait to hear Mad's vocals on this track.
Then it's time to promote our music! Should we stick with the name "project quadrium", or just name our band "quadrium"? Or something completely different?

Posted by: mad Jan 17 2011, 12:22 AM

hey mates!

just downloaded to the new mix - sounds really great! i'm going to let it sink in
and try to put some vocals over..
we're moving fast forward

Posted by: quadrium Jan 17 2011, 12:39 AM

@mad don't forget to download and take a look at the project files that Todd sent I assume you got Reaper to open them.

Posted by: mad Jan 17 2011, 01:04 AM

i have reaper, but never used it - using cubase normally
got todd's project and i'm able to open it (just one link to the drums was missing.. used the one i downloaded before).

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 17 2011, 01:24 AM

Glad you guys liked the mix This has been wads of fun so far. I"ve never used reader before this so it's also been a learning experience which is always good. I"m making sure not to use any plugins that don't come with REAPER so that the project files will work for everyone. The current project does ask for a drum.mp3 file which was part of the previous file list. The rest of the files are new so I thought I'd save some space by not making everyone download the same thing twice.

I can't wait to hear the solos, and vocals Go nuts!

As for what to call it, that's a good question. I"m pretty flexible, what do you guys think? Quadrium is fine with me But I"m up for whatever the group wants to do.

Promoting the project will also be a great learning experience. As Dokugan started the project, do you want to lead the charge on promo? Everyone can help of course. When starting a new band project, here are some basic things to do first to promote it once you have a band identity (name, logo, artwork, graphics, etc.) and some tunes.

1.)Create a Facebook "Fanpage" / "LikePage" just for the project.
2.)Create facebook profiles for members and link them to project page.
3.)Create a myspace page for the project
4.)Create a sonicbids.com electronic press kit for project.
5.)Create a twitter account for the project.
6.)Create a hootsuite.com account for the project (more on that below)

Keeping up with all this social media can be a pain. Here's the secret.

www. hootsuite.com

signup for a free account on this site, and you can update all your social media in one stroke. A given post can be distributed to all the social media sites you've created at once by loging in and posting through hootsuite.com once it's setup.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 17 2011, 01:52 AM

Great idea Todd i am thinking about the same thing for a while Quadrium is fine with me too Anyone interested about making our band logo, artwork, etc..? I am not good at those. After we done with this i can create our page.

Just created a facebook page check it out from here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Quadrium/190616044298662?v=wall
@Gitarreo @mad write down your full names so i can update the band members name status

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 17 2011, 08:51 PM

Woohoo, your quick Dogukan! I really like the logo! My full name is Christian Driever.
Can't wait to hear the vocals, and I already have some new ideas for another song

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 17 2011, 09:22 PM

Well done Thanks for creating the facebook page. Kris Dahl has "liked" it already! If you would, just use "Todd" for me instead of my full name. I just use "Todd" for music projects.

A logo would be a great idea. Does anyone have any ideas? If we are going to keep Quadrium, maybe some info on what led to creating that name? It would help inform the design.

P.S. The most recent version of the reaper file that I posted is a complete re-record of all the tracks, not just a remix. It's an important distinction. When I'm working up new tunes in my home studio, I'll usually follow the same path that we took.

1.)Record each riff quickly, played just once.
2.)Move the riffs around in my DAW (Digital Audio Workstaion software) to see what order sounds best.
3.)Re-record everything with a bit more attention to detail on sound and playing.
4.)Add fx to tracks and create a rough mix.

So what we've done is pretty much how I do it each time I right a new tune. There is more than one way to skin a cat as they say, but this approach works well for me.

The next steps, are to add vocals (if any are planned) and solos. Then finally to make a "master Mix" and then put the final output through the "Mastering" process. Then it's ready for release I"m thrilled to see how quickly you guys picked up Reaper. It's a great package and is cross platform. Not to mention that the price is killer. I"m a big LOGIC fan but it doesn't play well with others so I'm starting to like REAPER more and more.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 18 2011, 04:09 AM

Done And about the name.Its coming from trivium.While i were reading an article about them i came up with that idea

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 20 2011, 06:41 PM

Here is a riff I thought I'd toss in to the mix so see if we might want to add it to our next tune. Just an idea at this point.  toddriff.mp3 ( 358.08K ) : 155

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 22 2011, 01:51 AM

Hey guys! Thread seems to be slowing down, hit me with updates! I hope you guys can make it to the SATURDAY VIDEO CHAT!

Todd

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 22 2011, 09:15 AM

Hey guys, I'm back!
I was really busy the last few days with moving, since my new flat is finally ready for me to move in Looks good so far, already got an internet connection, a bed, a chair and my guitar. What else do you need?
I'll record some new riffs and solos for our first tune today.
Mad, how are the vocals coming along?
Todd, See you at the Midnight Metal Madness tonight!

Christian

Posted by: quadrium Jan 22 2011, 04:35 PM

Sorry guys.Been busy with the finals.I just wanna know if we all agree with the rough song structure.Here take a look if you forgot (The recordings aren't the new ones.so its just for you to see the structure.) And I hope i can make it tonight. @Todd i loved the riff idea you ve sent by the way

Posted by: mad Jan 22 2011, 06:22 PM

Back, too!
Already did a vocal try few days ago.. sounded very crappy . I wrote a small intro - will finish that tonight and try to put some drums on it, too.
I'll take the new mix and give it another vocal try, too. btw: maybe the bass has way too much power in that mix - or is that intentional?
Todd: your new riff sounds FAT!

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 22 2011, 08:42 PM

Hey guys,
here is a new riff idea I had...this could be our first power ballad!
Just kidding...I tried to go the same way as Todd with his new riff.

Christian

Posted by: quadrium Jan 23 2011, 08:52 PM

@Todd @Christian very cool ideas.Can you make a mix with that new ideas guys?I have to go to hospital for next 2-3 days.I have some examinations about some allergic reactions in my hand

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 24 2011, 03:56 AM

I'm very sorry to hear it I hope you get better very soon. Please take good care of yourself. We will be here when you get back

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 24 2011, 06:03 AM

I like it Can you make a guitar pro version of it as well? It's handy to have the gp files as reference. I can make one for mine as well. Though mine will be gp6.

Can't wait to hear the vocals! I checked out your Aman Amarth lesson and it was killer! What is your home setup and what software/plugins are you using?




I think you may have the old mix. I"m attaching the new mix to this post. The bass from christian was replaced with a track I recorded later.
 project_quadrium2d.zip ( 5.62K ) : 118

Glad you liked the new riff It's fairly simple but has a nice crunchy groove. If you have any licks you want to share, please do!

Posted by: mad Jan 24 2011, 08:59 AM

sad to hear that, get well very soon!

Posted by: mad Jan 24 2011, 09:38 AM

@Todd: First of all, thanks for your add/comment (still wasn't aware of the friends list here )
regarding the Amarth-lesson: just my schecter->zoom g2.1u (5150 sim, little reverb)->m-audio soundcard->cubase 4 (no plugins/fx, just raw- playing directly over backing).

gp-files would be great for me, as long as they are gp5 format. Todd, can send me your riffs as a pdf-print?
atm i play the riffs by ear - and that trains my ear
Recording - I always use cubase for this and don't want to spend time on learning how to use another DAW, sorry.
So, I'll record my takes/ideas with cubase and upload an mp3-mixdown. Hope that's ok...

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 25 2011, 06:45 AM

@ MAD: I'm happy to have you on board but sad to hear you are limiting yourself to one DAW. They all have similarities and once you get one, the rest aren't that tough. I'd urge you to reconsider learning more software as it will help you in your journey as a musician to know more than one package. Limiting yourself to one daw is almost like picking a single scale. You can do it that way, but man is it limiting. So please do give it some thought before closing yourself off to the idea.

I liked the overall tone and mix of the Amarth lesson and the guitar sounded great Nice patch. I'm using GP6 so sadly I don't think you can open the files, but like you were saying, I can print to a PDF and post it that way. You can see the tab/staff at least. Do feel free to drop in any riffs you think might work in a tune. Love to have more in the mix

Todd

Posted by: mad Jan 25 2011, 09:30 AM

Maybe you're right with limiting to one DAW in some way. But I like to spend more time with learning scales instead of messing aroung with every DAWs characteristics . This time it's reaper, next time it'll be pro tools and another time there's audacity.. For me it's like learning a new software but doing exactly the same thing: recording my guitar, maybe bass and put drums and vocals to it.. using a PC usually means you have to mess around with driver and compatibility issues nearly every time when it comes to a new software.. don't get me wrong - if one has time and likes doing such things, that's ok! But for me as a father of two kids (1 and 6 years old) my time is very limited..
But just for our Project: Would it be ok when I just upload the mp3-tracks for you to mix them up (like dogukan and christian did)?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 25 2011, 04:07 PM

Wow, your a father of two? I didn't know. I"m impressed at your playing ability given how much time a family consumes. I hear what you are saying. Time is a very limited factor when raising a family. If you do get a chance, try to at least download an install reaper just so you can open up our mix project files. The reason I chose reaper is that it's not prone to driver issues and works across platforms. Even if you don't spend any time learning the software, if you could open our project files, you could at least see the whole mix and see where we are at. Keep recording in cubase, that'll work for our project just fine.

Yeah, go ahead and upload your mp3 files. Or if you can, your .wav files, or .aif files. The mp3 files are much more compressed. But if MP3 is what is best for your process then MP3 will work just fine.

Todd

Posted by: mad Jan 25 2011, 04:27 PM

I installed Reaper at once after the first mix came up in our project.. It was just installing, starting, loading the project and pressing play so that worked..
Regarding MP3 and compression: I will upload mp3 to this board and will pm a download-link for the corresponding wav for mixing on my ftp-server..

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 25 2011, 10:22 PM

Great news! Glad to hear. That's what I was hoping for, just so you can double click on the project and see and hear the mix as we are hearing it. I'm not going to use any fx that are not standard in reaper. So no plugins that will cause problems for folks that aren't running them. Every project should be able to be shared among all of us just using reaper. I'd like to keep our work flow as simple as possible.

Posted by: quadrium Jan 26 2011, 02:03 AM

Hey guys.I'm back :)Doctor gave me a couple of pills about my situation.I think i'm ok now.Ready to work again:)

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 26 2011, 03:31 AM

Glad to hear it Welcome back! Quick question, are we posting stuff here or in our other thread? Why do we have two?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 26 2011, 05:22 AM

I really liked Christians IDEA 2 lick. Here it is for reference.

 quadrium_idea_2.mp3 ( 1.59MB ) : 168


So I thought I"d play with it a bit and see how it worked out. I added Bass guitar, changed the drums up a bit, etc. Here it is How about this for a title

"Ascension Paradox"

 AscensionParadox.mp3 ( 525.02K ) : 168


Just a riff at this point but could easily be built in to song 2! We can work on a couple/few at time.

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 26 2011, 06:12 AM

I really liked Christians IDEA 2 lick. Here it is for reference.

 quadrium_idea_2.mp3 ( 1.59MB ) : 168


So I thought I"d play with it a bit and see how it worked out. I added Bass guitar, changed the drums up a bit, etc. Here it is How about this for a title

"Ascension Paradox"

 AscensionParadox.mp3 ( 525.02K ) : 168


Just a riff at this point but could easily be built in to song 2! We can work on a couple/few at time.

I also made up a second riff that could work maybe as a bridge or something. It's very, very, very syncopated. Everything is on the off beat until a little scale run at the end. Kind of reminds me of Dream Theatre just a bit.

 AscensionParadox_Riff_2.mp3 ( 221.96K ) : 152

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 26 2011, 07:38 AM

Wow.riffs are great "Ascension Paradox" is really cool title.I want to ask a question.Is Christian's idea is for our song we are currently working on for song #2? And i think its time we sort out the full song structure for Marc's vocals.Todd if you liked my idea i've sent before(think project_quadrium2b or sth.)about the structure can you make a full arrangement according to this?(Didn't add the rhythm parts for solo because i couldn't find a proper rhythm for it.Maybe you can sort out)And after that we can do the final recordings/vocals/mix etc.

Posted by: mad Jan 26 2011, 09:10 AM

Glad to hear that you're ok!

@Todd
Great riffs for the 2nd song and 'Ascension Paradox ' is a cool title. Well, I should upload my intro, so you can put it into the mix for song#1
Will do that today.

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 26 2011, 06:06 PM

Awesome re-recording of my riff, Todd I also love the second riff, I really think we should use these two to create a second song.
I also think the mix of our first song we have so far is great, so let's add solos and vocals and then start the marketing machinery

Posted by: quadrium Jan 26 2011, 06:41 PM

@Todd Here are my clean recordings of our riffs for final mix.I couldn't find a satisfaying tone so i am sending them as i recorded.I am working on finding a good tone now.I will send the riffs with fx later.Or maybe you can add your fx you used in your recordings.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 26 2011, 11:07 PM

Glad you guys liked the new riffs and title Dokugan has a new idea for the overal structure of SONG 1 so I"m going to download the reaper file and check it out. MAD had an intro idea for song one, so when he puts that up I'll pop it in there too.

Also, Dokugan re recorded some riffs for use in the final verison so I'll check those out as well to see if we need to swap some out of the current mix.

This will all take a bit of time so I'l aim for this weekend when I have more time to mix. Speaking of which, I hope you guys can make it to the saturday lesson.

Glad to see our project is gaining such great momentum

Todd

Posted by: mad Jan 27 2011, 12:40 AM

hey guys, here's the intro-idea. I removed the drums, because I changed a few things and the pattern doesn't match anymore. The distorted guitar with delay will removed by vocals later.. it's just for getting the idea.
The intro will be first verse, ending with an angry 'scared' regarding to the lyrics. Hope you got the idea

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 27 2011, 07:44 AM

I started working with these and realized it feels kinda like going backwards as we have a decent recording already that I"m mixing as we speak. I am adding the intro from MAD and have used the project file you sent to get an idea of the longer structure. I've arranged the recording including intro and it's now about three minutes long. I"m mixing it right now and listening to a test pass as I type. Should be able to put it up tonight!

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 27 2011, 07:50 AM

Awesome intro, Mad! Can't wait to hear your vocals.
I'm also looking forward to the new mix, Todd. Unfortunately, I won't be able to join our midnight metal madness this saturday
Once the mix is uploaded I'll record a short solo, already have a few ideas in mind.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 27 2011, 08:50 AM

NEW MIX!


Give this a listen and let me know what you think I really dig the new intro! It need vocals and solos! I'm putting up the newest project file as well. I"m using more features inside reaper as I learn them. Still only using reaper, no plugins so it should open fine everywhere

Here is an MP3 Version of the mix
 project_quadrium2d.mp3 ( 8.14MB ) : 157


Here is the wave file version (Sounds better but it's HUUUUGE, and takes a while to download)
 project_quadrium2d.wav ( 53.83MB ) : 196


 project_quadrium2f.zip ( 9.37K ) : 140


Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 27 2011, 08:52 AM

Ok then.Looking forward to listen the mix

Posted by: mad Jan 27 2011, 08:54 AM

The wav-file contains just silence

Posted by: Gitarrero Jan 27 2011, 09:11 AM

same here...

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 27 2011, 09:26 AM

Sorry about that guys! I reposted the correct file in that same post. Check it now and let me know


http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=37701&view=findpost&p=513456

The mix took several hours but it was fun It's 3:30 am here, I"m going to pass out. I look forward to reading your comments in the morning.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Jan 27 2011, 09:32 AM

Great mix I will correct the markers in the project file(which parts is verse/chorus etc.)and upload here.

Couldn't decide the parts.Marc can decide since he is the singer

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 28 2011, 04:20 AM

Here is the NEW MIX as an .MP3 file. The .wave file is huuuuuge and takes forever to download. This will start playing right away. Enjoy!


 project_quadrium2d.mp3 ( 8.14MB ) : 176


Todd

Posted by: mad Jan 28 2011, 09:10 AM

woohooo! Awesome Mix! I'll put vocals on saturday. Which Projectfile I have to use? Maybe you can send me your current "WorkingFolder"?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 29 2011, 04:36 AM

Can't wait to hear Here is the current project file.

 project_quadrium2f.zip ( 9.37K ) : 121


Here is a link to a zip with all the newest recordings.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/Quadrium_ReRecorded.zip

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jan 31 2011, 11:44 PM

Any luck on Vocals and or Solos?

Posted by: quadrium Feb 1 2011, 06:42 PM

Cannot wait to listen them

Posted by: Gitarrero Feb 1 2011, 08:19 PM

Hey guys,

I did a quick and dirty tapping solo, starting towards the one minute mark. This is just a rough idea, I'm still playing around the other parts of the song as well.
Todd, would the E minor scale be a good choice for a solo?

Christian

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 2 2011, 05:31 AM

E Minor and E Pentatonic Minor would be great for this As I'm playing back and soloing over it, I think I may have been tuned WAY up when I recorded all of this. The tuning doesn't match regular A440 so my soling sounds very off.

Still, the track seems to work as a whole, maybe instead of Solos we focus on putting some sort of lyrics/vocals with it?
The rythm tracks are nice and punchy and busy enough to where we may be able to just focus on the groove and (I can't believe I'm saying this, skip the solo.)

I"ve actually got some ideas for song 2 that would make better solo sections. When I record that one, I'll make sure not to do something silly like tune by ear and push E towards F which is what I think I did on this one.

Todd

Posted by: Gitarrero Feb 2 2011, 07:28 AM

I thought the same, Todd! My solo attempts never sound in tune with the rhythm, and I also don't have a clue which part of the song would be the best for a solo.
Mad, how are the vocals coming along?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 3 2011, 01:40 AM

It's not you, it's me! I was all jazzed up about recording this stuff and ear tuned my axe and way overcranked it. I noticed it when I tried to solo over the song and it sounded out of key. The tune still works. Just makes solos a pain Detuning is quite popular, now we are pioneering UP-Tuning

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Feb 7 2011, 08:40 PM

Hey Marc when will you upload the song wtih your vocals man?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 8 2011, 02:14 AM

No pressure but, WE CAN"T WAIT TO HEAR IT!



Soon! PLEAAAASE Seriously, we are all pyshched to hear it.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 11 2011, 09:10 AM

Still no luck on Vocals? Maybe we should expand the search for vocalists and go ahead and start on Track2?

ALSO: How about we start coming up with some potential track names for track 1? Here are some ideas.

*Reign of Tears
*Reckless Endangerment
*Building to Break
*Bone Saw
*Weapons Grade
*Apotheosis
*Temporal Narcosis
*GEIST

These are all song names that I've been working on for some time. Maybe none will work,
but I wanted to share them to see what you guys thought. I hope you guys also feel
free to share in terms of your creativity. Don't hold anything back. Sometimes
people hold back ideas thinking (I'm saving this for my masterpiece), this is a dangerous approach.
Your ideas will get better as you go or your doing something wrong. Ideas are useless until you share them.

Todd

Posted by: Gitarrero Feb 11 2011, 09:43 AM

Hi Todd, you're up late (or early)!
I think I'll pm mad to see what's going on before we look for a new singer.
Reign of tears is a cool song name, but since Dogukan wrote the lyrics I think he should have the last word on this.
As for new song ideas, I'm recording stuff this very moment, so I'll upload something within the next few hours.
See you tomorrow in the chat!

Posted by: Gitarrero Feb 11 2011, 10:53 AM

I know how impatient you guys are so here are two new ideas.
I tuned the guitar down one half step! Hope you like it so far, I'm sure we can make one or two songs out of these ideas.
Christian

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 12 2011, 01:48 AM

I think I mispoke myself! I meant the titles we could use the titles on TRACK 2. I think Dokugan probably already has an idea for the title on SONG 1 as he wrote it

I dig your new licks I really like the second one! It's got a Iron Maiden feel to it. Can you make guitar pro files for both of them for reference and our file stash for song 2?

As for vocals, I wasn't saying we should replace anybody, just saying that as this is a collaborative type project, we could have several singers come in and work on a particular track at a time or several at once. We have the entire user base and internet to pick from so I say the more the merrier We are probably not going to "tour" with this lineup so it is a good opportunity to work with as many talented folks as possible.

Sort of goes back to what I was saying about ideas in a previous post. I really believe in keeping the creative process as open as possible. WHen I was starting out I used to be very guarded about my music/songs/lyrics etc. as if my best stuff was what I was doing right then and worried someone was going to steal it.

Having been around the block a bit, I've come to realize one thing. This is CRUCIAL. Big quotes on this.


"Piracy, even direct theft of your ideas is not your greatest enemy as an emerging artist. Your greatest enemy is OBSCURITY."



All this means is that "obscurity" or simply people not knowing who you are or what you bring to the table as an artist/musician, is the single greatest stumbling block you will face.. If you can fix that one, all the other problems can be dealt with. So don't be afraid to share every song, idea, lyric or lick you have. And embrace every chance you get to work with new people and new project. Getting your stuff out there is more important than anything else.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Feb 12 2011, 07:43 PM

Great ideas Christian I also like the second one too.As for the title of our first song,i haven't decided yet.I'll think about some ideas and will share here.

Dogukan,

Posted by: mad Feb 12 2011, 11:47 PM

ok guys - i think another vocalist would be better for a faster progress, too.
to be honest - i did several takes for the first song and every take was far from a decent one.. i need to put dynamics into the song (regarding to the lyrics from dogukan) with my vocals, but that's quite hard with the current drum pattern/riff chain. and i'm not able to put in the drums I like by myself.
well, finally i do some additional vocal exercises - hopefully i'll get into it..

btw, nice work with the new riffs christian!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 13 2011, 02:13 AM

I'm sure everyone would love to hear any takes you feel like sharing. As I mentioned and as Mad just confirmed, we should probably open it up to anyone that thinks they could add something cool as far as vocals just so we have some things to choose from. Vocals are hard and not everyone sings. So if we could find some folks, even us, to take a crack at it, it would help us move forward

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Feb 14 2011, 07:59 PM

Here is a idea of mine for intro of song 2.

And the all ideas for song 2 so far.(including the last one i've just sent ) Maybe we can work on a rough song structure from some of these ideas while we are waiting song 1 vocals

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 17 2011, 06:01 AM

Here is a little riffage I've been working on. It's got an ERIC JOHNSON meets EDGE from U2 sort of vibe and may not be "Dark" enough for what we are doing. I also plan to use bits of it in this weekends lesson so that I can play real time harmony lead with the students against a backing. Anyhoo, let me know what you think

 QUADRIUM2_TODD_GUITAR_LICK.mp3 ( 1.76MB ) : 152

Posted by: quadrium Feb 18 2011, 09:35 PM

Cool lick Todd.Loved it

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 19 2011, 01:21 AM

Thanks It's a bit "up beat" and happy compared to what I thought our next song would be but maybe we can do something with it down the line. I"m really liking all the stuff we have done so far

Posted by: quadrium Feb 20 2011, 01:50 AM

Maybe we can mix the things a little in our next song.It can be cool By the way Todd and Christian can you send me gp tabs of your riffs for me so i can work on a rough structure?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 23 2011, 06:30 AM

Instead of using GP files, we can just use the riffs themselves as they are already audio right? Just line them up on separate tracks in Reaper and we can get a general idea. It seems like we are losing some momentum on our project as I just noticed the last post was some time ago. I hope we can get it going again.

Also, just due to time limitations, having more folks might help keep the pot stirred when one or more of us get busy with something. I"m going to try to pull up all the project files again this weekend and see where I left off.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Feb 23 2011, 07:06 PM

Ok then.I will make a rough song structure and will post it And by the way Todd can you make a new arrangement for drums in our first song?As Marc said before it goes with same pattern in entire song,and he couldn't do his vocal parts because of that.After that we can finish our first song

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 23 2011, 11:17 PM

It does need some new drums. I'll try to give it a shot this weekend if at all possible. I"ll also post it without any drums so that anybody that wants to can take a crack at it.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Feb 24 2011, 12:08 AM

Great Can't wait to see the outcome.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Feb 25 2011, 02:01 AM

Here is an MP3 of Song 1 with no drums. Please, anyone, feel free to grab this and go nuts. Whatever you think works, put it on the track and we will all take a listen

 project_quadrium2d_NODRUMS_1.mp3 ( 8.14MB ) : 157

Posted by: quadrium Mar 1 2011, 04:40 PM

Been busy with the hospital Todd.I couldn't find a proper time to do that Any luck with drums? Cannot wait to listen

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 3 2011, 02:09 AM

I posted the track without any drums but so far nobody has posted anything in response.

Posted by: quadrium Mar 3 2011, 02:25 AM

I see I am gonna try it by the way can you send me the drum packs you have sent before, i accidently deleted them.And can you try to make drums also since you are an expert

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 3 2011, 08:52 AM

Hi guys,
I'm back from my holiday and I've got plenty of time today and tomorrow, so expect some new lick ideas and drums for this mp3

Christian

Posted by: quadrium Mar 3 2011, 02:39 PM

Great to see you again Christian I will be working on the rough song structure for our song 2 this weekend.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 3 2011, 02:52 PM

Welcome back! Can't wait to see what you come up with
Todd

Posted by: quadrium Mar 3 2011, 08:25 PM

Hey guys.Here is the idea of the rough song structure of our song 2.I'm uploading the project files also in case if you haven't downloaded before.Check this out

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 4 2011, 04:11 PM

Nice work, Dogukan!
But I get the feeling there's just too much stuff in song 2, I think we can make two songs out of it. My "Maiden" riff could work as an intro, followed by my other riff, and we're halfway through with song 3
I am working on a new drum track for our first song, it is more difficult than I thought at first...do you know how it feels when you got an awesome drum pattern in your head but don't have the skills or the program to recreate it? It's driving me nuts, therefore I'm not content with my attempts so far. But you'll get the track with drums soon.

Posted by: quadrium Mar 5 2011, 09:16 PM

Cool Then i will make another arrangement for song 2

Posted by: quadrium Mar 5 2011, 09:50 PM

Here is the new idea for song 2.I haven't used Christian's ideas 3 & 4 this time as he said.I will use them for song 3.Feel free to help me with the ideas guys Hope you like it.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 6 2011, 08:17 AM

CHRISTIAN AND DOKUGAN? (Getting up to speed on creating midi drum tracks)

What are you using for Drums Christian? Let me suggest something, try STEVE SLATE DRUMS. It's a plugin and it's killer. Here is a link with samples.

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=66

I'm also a fan of EZ DRUMMER (It comes with tons of midi drum tracks pre built) I bought a copy of this well. I know, more spending. Not easy.
http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=7

Also, when putting in drums, having a keyboard, or small drum pad is a real help. If you don't have midi keyboard, your gonna need one, so start looking around. I use a Maudio keystation which is a workable and cheap way to go. About 50 Euro. Any USB/Midi keyboard will do. It's so much easier than using a mouse to create drum tracks.

Korg has a new small usb/midi keyboard for about 50 euro.
http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=579


Or you can try the usb nano pad from Korg about 25 Euro.
http://www.korg.com/product.aspx?&pd=415


All this of course means, money, money, money. I've only suggested the cheapest possible prosumer options here, part of what I hope you guys pick up as we continue is what you need in terms of hardware, software, at a minimum, to create decent sounding demos/recordings. There's no substitute for experience.

I know it's tough to find money for these things. Believe me. That too, is a vital survival skill. How do I buy what I need and still eat and pay rent?


Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 7 2011, 07:27 AM

Getting Better Guitar Tones in Reaper.

Here is a demo reaper project where I used a 5 watt micro cube amp, a cheap netbook, and cheapo icicle usb audio interface with a cheap mic. I recorded on a PC netbook that is pretty underpowered. Essentially, I wanted to use about the worst gear I could put together and then use reaper to get a decent guitar gone as an example.

Download the reaper file and the audio file. Open the reaper project and play. Then listen to the .wav file by itself just using windows media player or something outside of reaper just to hear the difference. I used three plugins that come with reaper to essentially replace the entire guitar tone. That's what is great about reaper. Even if the recording of your guitar isn't great, you can fake it in software. There is guitar amp emulation built in to reaper and I just ran across it. It's really quite good. I"m hoping we can use this to even out our recordings as we all use different gear. Let me know what you think


Here is a preview of the unprocessed recording.
 unprocessed.mp3 ( 211.26K ) : 144


Here is a preview of the processed version of the same recording.
 ProcessedVersion.mp3 ( 420.45K ) : 136


Here is the unprocessed recording to use with the reaper file. (NEW REAPER FILE BELOW)
 01_110307_1356.wav ( 1.35MB ) : 168


Here is the reaper file as a zip (BE SURE TO GRAB THIS FILE, IT CONTAINS THE GUITAR EMULATION)
 ToneTestzip.zip ( 1.59K ) : 119


Here is a pic of the rig I used to record. Micro Netbook, micro amp, icicle usb interface, cheap headphones etc. Pretty minimal gear.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Mar 7 2011, 09:46 PM

Wow this is great Todd I have microcube too and i can definitely use this tac.Thanks for sharing.By the way what do you think about the latest song 2 structuer idea i have sent?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 8 2011, 11:57 PM

Hey guy Here is a link to some drum sounds I had shared just in case it got lost in the shuffle.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/DrumsFromHell_LoopAIF.zip

I'd like to see what you guys can come up with for drums. I'm trying to really push you guys toward learning and growing on this and your doing great so far

Dokugan, can you post a rar with all the files for your current version of the new song? I've got the project file but not the source files.

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 8 2011, 11:57 PM

Hey guy Here is a link to some drum sounds I had shared just in case it got lost in the shuffle.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/DrumsFromHell_LoopAIF.zip

I'd like to see what you guys can come up with for drums. I'm trying to really push you guys toward learning and growing on this and your doing great so far

Dokugan, can you post a rar with all the files for your current version of the new song? I've got the project file but not the source files.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Mar 9 2011, 01:24 AM

Here it is Todd.And about the drums i am waiting to hear Christian's idea for now.And thanks for sharing the sounds again

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 10 2011, 12:48 AM

Don't wait! Jump in I"m hoping to hear both of your ideas on drums actually. I'm really looking forward to it.

Here is something that will help It's a collection of MIDI files that you can use as a starter on making your drum tracks!

Enjoy!

 MidiRockDrums.zip ( 17.8K ) : 114

Posted by: quadrium Mar 10 2011, 12:53 AM

Great Thanks By the way Todd can you send me the latest project file of song 1? Couldn't find it anywhere in my laptop And what are your opinions for song 2 structure?

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Mar 21 2011, 06:02 PM

Hey guys. It's been while since the last post. Time to start working again I just wanted to ask you something Todd. Can you make a re-record the riffs for song 2 while we are waiting song 1 drums? I talked with Christian 2 day ago and he said that drums are almost done. So we can see the new version of song 1 anytime Also i know that you've said to me to make drums, but since the midterms going on lately i couldn't find a proper time to do that. So for now i'm just waiting to see Christian's idea. But after friday i will be fully available

Cheers,
Dogukan.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 22 2011, 04:00 PM

Todd here Finally putting my studio back together. The move has been a bit rougher than I thought. I think I"m going to streamline my gear a bit and try to use about half the cables/lines/power as before if possible.

DOKUGAN: I had posted the example of "re-amping" in software using reaper (The post where I have the picture of the very small amp), and the project files so that you guys can make the recordings from your own home studios sound more like you want them to. Try re recording the song 2 stuff and then drag/drop or import the track in to the reaper project I posted above. The tracks are pre-tweaked with amp simulation.

Let me know if you need any tips on doing this. Or post the new recordings and I"ll make an example reaper file. Either way works. I really do hope this project is an opportunity for you guys to improve not only playing ability but recording/mixing technique as well.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Mar 22 2011, 05:24 PM

Okey then. I will give it a shot after i've done with my midterms Todd, can you send me the tabs of your ascension paradox riffs? I couldn't sorted out the notes exactly with my ear. I wanna be sure before i get into recording And Christian, are you still messing with drums?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 22 2011, 05:33 PM

I sure am
The reason why it's taking me so long is that I messed around with a few free drum plugins and sounds and also tried out different drum freeware, but I got back to programming with my regular program (energyXT) and one of the Akai drum plugins it came with. I also tried putting vocals over it, but it is really difficult to sing over the riff for some reason, what is most annoying is that I have some serious timing issues when it comes ti singing over the riffs...
But you guys feel free to work on song 2 while I still mess around with song 1...but don't expect vocals (if you can expect them at all ) before next week since I got a cold and my voice sounds terrible at the moment

Posted by: quadrium Mar 22 2011, 05:41 PM

Get well soon man I will re-record the riffs of song 2 as soon as Todd sends me the tabs. And don't worry about the vocals. You or Marc can take care of it after we've done with drums

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 24 2011, 12:04 AM

Todd here The first Riff is actually from Christian, I just sort of guessed at what he was playing and recorded it.

CHRISTIAN: Do you have tablature for your song 2 riffs?

The second riff I did I made up as I went so I'll need to tab it out. But I'll do that soon as I can so we ca move. Also, you can download the temp riffs and use them as placeholders/markers in a reaper project until we get the new ones.

Todd

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 24 2011, 02:50 PM

Hi Todd,
you guessed absoluetely right at what I was playing
Still have to tab out the riffs for song 2, but let me get the drums finished first so that we finally can put our first full song onto our facebook page

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 25 2011, 12:22 AM

Good plan! I'm glad I got it right on your riff. It was all by ear so there's always the chance it's just way wrong. Figuring it out by ear is always a good way to work on your ear training though I'll tab out my lick as soon as I can remember how the heck it went. I like it Must have been a laaaate recording session.

Posted by: quadrium Mar 28 2011, 05:11 AM

Ok guys, i have a plan While i am waiting the tabs of riffs for song 2, i will make a rough song structure for song 3 from Christian's riffs and the latest cool riff you have sent Todd. I have also written 4-5 riffs lately. So i will make our 4th song structure from them also Then i will put them all into here with project files(including the song 2 structure i have sent a while ago), so we can know what to work on after we finish our songs one by one I have also written an acoustic song with lyrics, if you guys want i can share it too. Let me know what do you think about this

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 28 2011, 07:41 AM

Sounds great Dogukan!
Song 1 is finished, but my connection is really slow today, so the upload didn't work, yet. I've got some workers in front of my house, looks like they are fooling around with the cables. Once the connection is good again I'll upload the track, hopefully it will be today... :/

Christian

Posted by: quadrium Mar 28 2011, 05:43 PM

Thanks! Can't wait to hear it I am going to start working on song 3 structure tonight.

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Mar 29 2011, 04:47 AM

Ok guys. I have just finished both song 3 & 4 structures I'm putting the both project files and riffs of song 2,3 and 4. Check it out. Then we can work on songs one by one

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 29 2011, 05:41 AM

Well done! Downloading now, can't wait to hear!
Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot Mar 29 2011, 06:10 PM

Thought about using Kompoz as a place to house this project? I think it would make it easier for you to upload and manage the most recent versions of your ideas. I think you can make it private (by invite only) and when you're done, you can publish it to the "real world" for feedback from people on that site.

I once recommended (but I guess it wasn't considered worth doing) that GMC create a Kompoz channel for doing things like this) as a way of introducing people to the results of GMC students - publicity and all.

Just thinking out loud. Sorry I haven't been able to attend Saturdays as of late. I'll be back, hopefully sooner than later.

Cheers,
Christian A.

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 29 2011, 06:21 PM

That's a great advice Christian, I didn't know about Kompoz until just now. Seems like a great tool for our band, so thanks a lot!

Christian D.

Posted by: SirJamsalot Mar 29 2011, 06:36 PM

Cool. Hope it helps. If you do create a Kompoz account, add me as a friend
kompoz.com/member/SirJamsalot

Cheers

Posted by: quadrium Mar 30 2011, 09:39 AM

Same here Thanks for the advice Christian A. By the way any luck with the connection yet Christian?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 30 2011, 04:07 PM

No luck yet, this really sucks...I asked the construction workers and they broke a cable...they said they will fix it tomorrow...fingers crossed :/

Posted by: quadrium Mar 30 2011, 04:25 PM

Okey man. Now that you finished your work on song 1 should we start working on song 2 ? Todd any chance tabbing out your ascension paradox riffs yet?

Posted by: Gitarrero Mar 30 2011, 07:40 PM

Taking the time to reprogram the drums, as they are not really in sync with the music. Todd, at what bpm did you record this? I tried with 150 and 160, but I can't really sync it all to a satisfying level.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 31 2011, 07:38 AM

I just grabbed a drum loop and went with it. It might be easier to turn everything off on the mix but the drum loop and match your snare, to the existing snare and then build around it. I"m still finding all my hard drives and cables but hope to collect all the project files this weekend as well as make the tabs.

The first Riff is Christians, I think he's going to tab it, but I'm planning on Tabbing mine this weekend when I get some time to sit down and actually play. Lifes been a bit hectic of late. Looking forward to focusing on this project again. Can't wait to see where it goes

Posted by: quadrium Mar 31 2011, 03:06 PM

Okey Todd




Christian, i'm wandering have you tried putting vocals as you said before or just handled drums?

And one more question guys, all ok with song 2 structure? I'm asking it because if you guys have some ideas, tell me before i get into recording:) And i'm putting some lyrics here for song 2, tell me if it is too heavy for this song

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Apr 2 2011, 12:38 PM

Guys, still waiting for an answer..

Posted by: Gitarrero Apr 2 2011, 12:43 PM

Sorry Dogukan...
I think the structure is great, so get going
I made a first attempt a vocals but wanna try and make a few more takes before uploading them. I fooling around with drums this very moment...
The lyrics are kinda heavy, then again the lyrics for the first song are heavy too, so I don't see a problem here.

Posted by: quadrium Apr 2 2011, 01:11 PM

Okey then After getting the tabs i will get into recording I hope you can handle the vocals soon, or if you want we can ask Marc again and he can try. What do you say?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero Apr 2 2011, 01:33 PM

Sure thing man,everyone should feel free to record vocals...you and Todd as well, or someone else who is not in the band yet

Posted by: Gitarrero Apr 2 2011, 07:31 PM

Guys, I'm at the brink of giving up with the drums, I just can't seem to sync them to the music. It seems to be 156 bpm, but everytime I create a loop it will sound in sync two times in a row and then it is getting out of sync. Todd, any chance you can try it again?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 4 2011, 06:58 AM

DOKUGAN: I"ve tabbed out the Ascension Paradox lick. Here is the Guitar Pro File (It's guitar pro6 which I must say is worth every penny for the upgrade from 5) I you can upgrade to 6 you can open these files and hear it. I'm hoping you and Christian can both get guitar pro 6 so we can all be on the same page.

Here is the GP file in a zip.
 Ascension_Paradox.gpx.zip ( 13.31K ) : 101


And here is the exported tab from GP.


CHRISTIAN: If you would, go ahead and post your drum try just so we can hear it and I can get a vibe for what you were trying to do. I"ll give it a shot as well.


Todd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 4 2011, 10:10 PM

Great! I will get into recording this weekend

Posted by: quadrium Apr 10 2011, 06:05 PM

Hey guys. Finally got back to my guitar I'll make the recordings as soon as i can. Christian can you send me your licks tab if you tabbed out? And one more question guys, any luck with drums yet?

Dogukan.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 11 2011, 07:43 PM

Glad to hear it! That was quick! Is your brother doing ok? I'm going to try to make a reaper file that uses amp modeling that comes with reaper so we can all record without distortion/fx, and just use software if possible for our demo work. That way, it will be easier for us to get better overal all tone consistently.

DOKUGAN: When you record, do a pass with any distortion/fx, direct recording if possible, just the guitar itself. I'll use that as the basis for adding the fx in reaper. I think it's possible, but I"ve never done it this way.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 11 2011, 08:45 PM

Yep he is doing fine I will make the recording as you say, hope that works well

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 11 2011, 10:40 PM

Great to hear he is doing better I hope this new "direct recording" workflow works out. It could be a real blessing if we can just send clean recordings and make all of our tone choices inside reaper. That way we can collaborate on how the guitars sound!

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 11 2011, 10:50 PM

Yeah exactly Sounds really really great By the way Christian said me that he talked with you about drums Todd. Did you take a look at it yet?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 12 2011, 08:38 AM

DIG THIS! SOFTWARE GUITAR EMULATION TEMPLATE USING FREE SOFTWARE ONLY!

I"ve created a project file in reaper with an fx chain the sounds like a large high gain amp. The good news is that it's only using what is built in to reaper and a free plugin set that you will need to down load at this link before opening the project.

These are free distortion/amp modeling plugins for PC and Mac. Handy eh?

Here are the Free PC Guitar Plugins
http://www.auraplug.com/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=10&view=viewcategory&catid=8

Here are the Free Mac Guitar Plugins
http://www.auraplug.com/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=10&view=viewcategory&catid=7

PREVIEW SOUND FILE
*Dry recording using only reaper and above plugin for tone.

DRY ORIGINAL RECORDING
 01_110412_0318.mp3 ( 669.57K ) : 112

WITH FX
 DirectTemplate.mp3 ( 591.76K ) : 107

PROJECT FILE ZIP
 DirectRecordingReaperProject.zip ( 5.51MB ) : 87

Now we can collaborate on the tone! Make changes in software and just send project files. Let's try one tune where we record everything dry and do all our fx in software if at all possible. I think it will really help our work flow.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 12 2011, 11:08 AM

Wow! It's great Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 12 2011, 03:40 PM

DOKUGAN: Glad you like it! GIve it a shot and let me know how it goes for you! Post some test if you can. I Hope this works for you and Christian.

Posted by: quadrium Apr 13 2011, 02:56 PM

I will get into recording tomorrow, then i will upload here But Christian didn't send me his licks tab and now he's gone for some trip. Since you've recorded Christian's lick also(Ascension Paradox 1) can you tab that one out Todd? I'd be appreciated

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 14 2011, 06:33 AM

I started to tab it out and it was kinda clumsy in tab so I thought I"d just record it and get the ball rolling Here is a REAPER project with our new "Direct Recording" workflow. The guitar is recorded dry and all fx/gain is added in reaper. I"ve added a drum loop and Christians riff. Open this and see if you can record the other riff. The ball is in your court! Hit me if you have questions.

 AscensionChristianWithDrums.zip ( 2.38MB ) : 97

Posted by: quadrium Apr 14 2011, 11:32 AM

Thanks Todd it's great I will record the other riffs and post the project soon

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Apr 14 2011, 12:06 PM

Hey Todd, one question. I have downloaded to vst plugin and scanned with reaper. But when i try to open the latest project file you have sent i have this error:


The following effects were in the project file and are not available. REAPER will keep their configurations, but things may not sound as desired.
Track 1: AU: AuraPlug: California Sun
Track 2: AU: AuraPlug: California Sun

But when i looked my fx folder, i have seen this plugin already here as:

VST: California Sun (Auraplug)

Still couldn't hear the file properly. Can you help me with that?

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Apr 14 2011, 12:06 PM

Hey Todd, one question. I have downloaded to vst plugin and scanned with reaper. But when i try to open the latest project file you have sent i have this error:


The following effects were in the project file and are not available. REAPER will keep their configurations, but things may not sound as desired.
Track 1: AU: AuraPlug: California Sun
Track 2: AU: AuraPlug: California Sun

But when i looked my fx folder, i have seen this plugin already here as:

VST: California Sun (Auraplug)

Still couldn't hear the file properly. Can you help me with that?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 15 2011, 01:18 AM

Yeah, you need to download the PC version of the CALIFORNIA SUN plugin. Here is the direct link to that plugin.

http://www.auraplug.com/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=10&view=viewdownload&catid=8&cid=28
AU is the apple version of the plugin. Your not using a mac, so you'll just use the PC version, get it? To add FX to a track.

Click the green FX button on the track

Pop up window comes up. Poke around get to know whats in the menus, that's what I did

Select the plugin you want.


That's all there is to it

Will the track play despite the error? Does it sound wrong?

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 15 2011, 10:05 AM

Here is a rough draft of a new set of licks I'm working on for maybe adding to one of our future tunes. No bass guitar in there yet, just temp guitar and temp drums. I'm digging it so far
 NewRIff.mp3 ( 629.25K ) : 109

Posted by: quadrium Apr 15 2011, 12:07 PM

Done it thank you And your lick is awesome!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 16 2011, 04:24 AM

Glad REAPER is working! Thanks for checking out the lick! The sound is rough but I wanted to get it down before it fell out of my head.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 16 2011, 08:26 PM

I wanted to invite other GMC folks to join us in our Collaboration project if they are so inclined and wanted to know what you guys think? Anyone that can run REAPER can download the project file and contribute in theory. The more the merrier

Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 16 2011, 09:16 PM

I use cubase :/
I'll give you my 2 cents on what I hear though
I like the overall sound so far.

Chris

Posted by: quadrium Apr 16 2011, 09:26 PM

Great thinking Todd I'd be very happy if other GMC folks join us. Especially a singer By the way i've tried the record something yesterday but i didn't like it so i will try again tonight And one more thing Todd, any progress with drums of song 1?

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Apr 16 2011, 10:23 PM

Hey Chris. You can use the mp3 files we uploaded here in your project and send your work as mp3 to us also if you want Also REAPER isn't very hard to use it. I didn't know anything about it until Todd suggested us to use it

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 17 2011, 06:06 AM

Here is an updated rough version of the rif I posted last time that I've been working on. No bass guitar in there yet, just guitar and a melody through line lead. Much heavier than the last one though. See what you think

 Rev2.mp3 ( 1.28MB ) : 138


DOKUGAN: I gave track one another shot on drums and I have to agree with Christian. I can't get much to fit. It may have to live as it is. It was our first track of the project so I"m sure they will get much better as we go. I"m looking forward to these next ones we are working on in a big way

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 17 2011, 07:07 AM

I've heard good things about Cubase but I've got to say REAPER is well worth the download. It's free to download and use (they leave a nag screen at startup though to ask you to pay a bit) and there are tons of free plugins and it's cross platform. As far as I can tell it's the perfect and so far, the only way to allow people to collaborate across distance/platform/operating system/plugin architecture etc. and do so for a Zero outlay.

It's really simple to use to. Give it a shot if you can. I know it seems like a pain to learn to new software and who has the time? But in spite of all that, it's still worth it.

LETS MAKE SOLOs FOR SONG 1!

We never made any guitar solos for Track 1! I think we should maybe do it as a collab? It would be a challenge as the riffs that are not in E are actually tuned a quarter step up so it's impossible to solo in key over those sections. So it would be a great chance to use squeals/harmonics etc. over those sections.

If you guys can make a solo pass of the entire tune, (EVERYBODY WELCOME!) I can mix them in .

Here is the final tune again.
 project_quadrium2d.mp3 ( 8.14MB ) : 143

Posted by: quadrium Apr 17 2011, 02:15 PM

Wow! Great riff great. I loved it

It's fine for me, we can make a collab. I'll see what i can do about making a solo Then we can use the lyrics i have posted for song 1 for our future songs.

TODD: If you want you can make a collab thread into the collabs forum about this so more people can hear about it.


Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 17 2011, 11:12 PM

Todd, yeah I've heard a lot about Reaper - I've already shelled out the money and time to learn Cubase, and while I see the benefits of it, it's easier for me to stick to Cubase and just import audio tracks.

Cheers!

Posted by: quadrium Apr 18 2011, 06:10 PM

Hey Todd. Here are the recordings. I didn't record your ascension paradox 2 lick because no matter what i do, i couldn't be able to record exactly what you have played Instead of that i have recorded the intro part and my verse riff. Hope you like it

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero Apr 18 2011, 08:36 PM

Hi guys,
just letting you know I'm back! I'll dive depper into our project during the easter holidays, so expect some riffs, solos and maybe drums then
Christian

Posted by: quadrium Apr 18 2011, 10:05 PM

Welcome back man

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 19 2011, 12:26 AM

Great! =) I"ll check it out! The ascension paradox lick is a bit tricky. The scale bit at the end makes it a bit like a lead. I'll re record it without fx.

CHRISTIAN: Welcome back!

Posted by: quadrium Apr 19 2011, 05:41 PM

Great! Thank you Todd Should i send the song 2 structure again for you to arrange the song with the newly recorded riffs?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 19 2011, 10:28 PM

I"d say give it a shot! I want you guys to learn/practice the art of recording/mixing. Big part of the point of all this. Toss the recordings on separate tracks in reaper and copy/paste drag them around a bit. Ideally, you shouldn't need me but I"m more than happy to help.

Posted by: quadrium Apr 20 2011, 04:04 PM

I'm currently trying to learn but need more time to do it properly I have some issues when i try to merge the riffs. But after this song is finished, i will take a step for this And the other reason is that you are an expert about mixing/mastering I'm looking the final mixes you have sent and learning from them also before i start making the mixes

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 21 2011, 06:41 PM

Well, a bit part of this is just about the practice. Adding tracks, dragging and dropping recordings in to the tracks, pulling the volume fader up and down, just repetition, repetition, repetition. It's the only way to get better at anything, guitar, mixing, chess, etc. So start dragging recordings on to new tracks and start playing with it. Like most folks, I only started learning about computer recordings by doing it. I'm as new to reaper as you guys. So don't wait, start asap. Put something up, no matter what it turns out like and we can all check it out, change it, repost it, etc.

That way we have a real "collaboration" going on. What I really don't want to happen is I play/record/mix everything, making it essentially just sound like me. I really want this to be an actual give and take between all of us

Posted by: Gitarrero Apr 21 2011, 08:16 PM

Sound like a great approach, Todd! I will dive deeper into Reaper this weekend and can hopefully upload new riffs, drums, mixes and so on by monday.

Posted by: quadrium Apr 21 2011, 08:22 PM

Okey Todd, i will give it a shot Just need the newly recorded version (dry recording) of your Ascension Paradox 2 lick, then i will try to make the arrengement and upload it

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 23 2011, 07:57 PM

Great I am really excited about seeing you guys get better and better as we go. When I learn new bits of software, usually accidently by just clicking on menus and buttons to see what everything does, I get a feeling of accomplishment and can usually remember what I clicked on. If I watch videos, read manuals, often it won't stick when I go back to the software. I usually end up sort of bumping my head against it in a stubborn way until I get the hang of it. Then again, that's almost how I learned to play guitar as well. An almost defiant persistance will grant you many things.

Cool I'll record a dry version of the paradox lick as well. I dig your lick too! We can mix and max all of them as well go.

Building drums is very, very, hard part of home recording. Even with good tools like EZdrummer, you still have to build the track with various pre built bits and add fills/breaks. Otherwise, it will sound like our first songs drums. I dig our first effort But the drum loop was a place holder at first. For our next one, now that we have some guitar parts, lets try to start building the rythm tracks in sections if we can.

Intro
Verse
Chorus
Outtro

this is not easy. It's a HUGE pain for most, including me, but it's worth doing.

TOdd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 23 2011, 10:00 PM

I'll dig into drums I have never done it before but i will figure it out. Also having a Nanopad + EZ drummer is my main advantage

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 24 2011, 06:02 PM

EZ Drummer and a Nano pad are HUGE advantages and will help quite a bit. EZ drummer has tons of preset drum patterns. You can mix and match those by dragging them in to the timeline in reaper. This is an ART in an of itself. For a guitar player to build a drum section is a HUGE stretch typically but gives great insight in to the drummers world. Creating the foundation of track.

The hardest part is you almost have to hear it in your head to a degree before you build it. You need to have a rough idea of the parts and all, but being able to build what you want just takes repetition.

I'll build a drum track as well. Maybe Christian can do, it feels like working backwards as I usually start with guitar. The good news is, if we build in the rythm first, we won't run in to the probs we had with track one trying to fix the drums afterward which is always tough.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 24 2011, 06:49 PM

Here is the Paradox lick recorded clean. Toss this in to the template project and see how it goes The trick to recording clean and adding fx is to get adequate gain/level recorded so that the signal can "push" the software distortion enough inside reaper.

Even if you add a little red line/peaking to the clean track, it's better than having the track be too quiet/soft before it gets Amp Emulation. Let me know how it goes

Posted by: quadrium Apr 24 2011, 10:04 PM

Hey Todd, here it is I have used each riff in 2 tracks to provide a flow but i couldn't do that at some points of the song. Can you take care of it? And what do you think about my verse riff beside the intro. I can't decide whether it is compatible or not to the song. Should we change it? I will start making drums now

Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 25 2011, 05:57 PM

I'm gonna have to pick up a nano-pad one of these days. Although, working with midi keyboard controller seems to do the trick quite well I've been using EZ-Drummer for a quite a while now, inside of Cubase. It's great for dropping drum loops on the time line, but I agree, editing the drum parts to work alongside your song really is an art all of itself. Challenging and time consuming are two words that best describe it for me

It gets easier and faster as you go though. Just like everyone has their own style of playing, you find out that you also have your own style of drum sound you gravitate towards in your songs, and because the more songs you create drums for, the more practiced you are at being able to lay down patterns that you're looking for.

I'm enjoying watching you guys put together this project. Keepin at it is how you get it done!

Cheers!
Chris

slick riff Todd. Came out real clean - nice.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 26 2011, 04:36 PM

Great! I'll take a listen now!

Todd

Well said Like many things, it's a lot about practice/repetition. It's really tough at first. A producer buddy of mine has a huge collection of midi controllers and I borrowed his nanopad and really dug it. It has a "flam" feature making drum rolls easy to create as well. Also tried his new Kaos pad with the green lights on it and dug that as well. Also his nano daw mix controller. Guy has a massive collection, makes me jealous! I really wand his Quad UAD cards though. They have the best sounding plugins I've ever heard in my life.

P.S. Please feel free to jump in to the project if the mood strikes All are welcome!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 27 2011, 04:57 AM

I like the arrangement I've reposted the file with the VST plugins turned on. I"ll stop using the AU plugins as they are mac only. So the guitars have distortion.

The tough bit is going to be doing this to drums as some of the licks are just a hair faster than others. So either the drum parts will have to get faster and slower, or the parts themselves will. But either way, it's a great thing to work through.

Well done!
 AscensionParadox_April28_2k11.RPP.zip ( 5.73K ) : 111

Posted by: quadrium Apr 27 2011, 02:16 PM

Glad you liked it Todd I am messing with drums now Just have one question for you. Some parts of the song has blanks between the riffs. I am dragging the riffs all around but still couldn't able to do it properly. What should i do? Or can you fix it?

Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 27 2011, 10:49 PM

I appreciate the invite. I just might jump in at some point - I'm currently recording a new song though, and all my time is consumed with the drums and riffage - but once I'm at a wait-rest-relisten point before finishing the project, I'll jump in.

Chris

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 27 2011, 10:50 PM

Any chunks that are blank/no audio, means that the project has just lost the audio file. You should still have the original recordings you made. Just re import them, or worst case re record them.

Keep in mind, it's best to work in one folder when doing this type of work. That way the Reaper project can find all of the bits. If the files are nested in sub directories, reaper can lose them.

File management is one of the most important things to learn when doing computer based audio. Losing some files is something that happens along the way.

Todd

Posted by: quadrium Apr 28 2011, 05:32 PM

I see. I have recorded a new version of my verse riff. I will put it into the project file and upload it tonight

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium Apr 28 2011, 10:53 PM

Hey Todd,

Here is the newest version of our project file. I rerecorded the verse riff and try to close the gaps between the riffs at some points Take a look and tell me what do you think

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 29 2011, 03:15 AM

It's honestly getting kinda hard to tell what's going on with no rythm section. It's good though that you are getting practice puttng the bits together. Repetition is the key.

See if you can start putting a beat under the guitar riffs. It will help the song start to take shape.

Moving forward is hard, keep fighting!

Todd

Gotcha You are always welcome. Our stick point seems to be our rythm section. Maybe on this tune or the next one, we could recruit you for some help with drums? It's a struggle for guitarists to create good drum tracks. But it is a great way to understand rythm.

Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 29 2011, 05:41 PM

good riff/intro idea. I would sit on the first portion of the riff for 4 bars. Have a bass come in to assist on the 3rd bar, then the drums kick in on the 5th bar. That will give the first portion of the riff a renewed energy without having to change the tonality, giving you a nice build up into the main verse or chorus (whichever) into the song.

Change to the second half of that riff for another 2 bars, and you have your hook into the song.

my 2 cents.
Chris

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 30 2011, 03:59 AM

Dude! Grab the project file and arrange it like this That's the whole point! I"ll make it super easy, here is a zip with all the file in MP3 format. Just open and drag the clips around. Nothing to learn, nothing to to make it hard. Jump in!

 April30Consolidated.zip ( 1.31MB ) : 94

I"ve created a consolidated version of the project with MP3 files so it's much smaller. I grabbed your intro from a previous version. It's got gain/distortion baked in to the track but thats fine. I"ve noticed that the tracks you guys are recording dry have a lot less overal level/signal than mine so they aren't matching very well but we can fix that. Also, the tempos are drifting because we have no drums yet. But we are still working on arrangement so that doesn't matter either

Anyhoo, grab this zip. Expand it in to a folder and it should get rid of those "file missing" problems. Make any changes, like adding drums, and just reuploap the folder.

You may get prompted to go download an encoder which is free so you can work in mp3.

Progress!
Todd  April30Consolidated.zip ( 1.31MB ) : 116






Christian! I"ve consolidated our project and re-encoded it using mp3 files so it's much smaller. Also, it will fix those "file missing" nags if you are getting those.

This is still just the arrangement, no drums. But now we can all be on the same page

Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot Apr 30 2011, 08:34 PM

What's the project tempo?
I'm using cubase so there are only 3 usable MP3 files in that zip file.

01-110428_1855.mp3
02-110414_0113.mp3
Ascension_ParadoxClean.mp3

not much to go on unless you want me to lay something out from scratch?

Posted by: quadrium May 2 2011, 07:27 PM

Thanks Todd I am currently working on some ideas for drums. I will upload the file soon

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 2 2011, 10:23 PM

The project tempo is a standard 120 I believe. The trick is, we are using Amp Modeling that is built in to Reaper on this track. However, our First track, really needs love on the drums. If I sent you a stem of the mix without drums, do you think you could pull it in to Cubase and add percussion?

Also, we are running in to the same problem with this track. We are all trying to build an underlying drum track for the parts to go over. That's what everyone is struggling with.

For that matter, would you like to initiate a tune by creating the rythm section, or just the drums that we could take the drum stem and add on to?


Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 2 2011, 10:46 PM

I'll work on it tonight when I get home from work.
Cheers,
Chris

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 3 2011, 07:49 AM

Go ahead and zip up your project files and send them to me. I'll msg you my email address. Make sure to include a sync-tone if you have alot alrady synced up to a BPM. You said 120, but the audio lick that you posted is actually really close to 130 if not spot on.

just for fun, I chopped up one of your licks and put together a drum idea based on my remix of your lick, and added a little guitar hi-lite. I don't have a bass though so I couldn't get too fancy

 Quadrium_SAMPLE.mp3 ( 1.03MB ) : 125

Posted by: quadrium May 3 2011, 05:53 PM

It's great man! And here is the project file, includes all the recordings etc. Feel free to change it And can you tell me what do you think about the 01-110428_1855 recording after you have listened? It's my idea but i kinda didn't like the recording, maybe we can change it a little. I have also added Todd's drum idea that he used while recording his riffs

Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 3 2011, 06:09 PM

I'll take a look-see this evening after band-practice. I tried reading all of the posts in this thread to get up to speed on what's what but it's information overload.

My understanding to date is that you guys already created one song and created a facebook page that points at that song.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Quadrium/190616044298662?v=wall

Now you're working on the second song, what you attached here are the current version of the master project as it stands, and you're looking for a drum track and some more ideas on how to arrange the various riff ideas you've come up with into a song structure?

Thanks!
Chris

Posted by: quadrium May 3 2011, 06:13 PM

Exactly. We have finished the structure & recordings of our first song but we couldn't be able to make vocals because of the drum problems. Both Christian & Todd tried to made drums but they said there were some sync issues, so we have moved on the song 2.

Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 3 2011, 06:30 PM

Can you post the project files for that song as well? I don't need any of the effects but if you have the midi file for the existing drums I might be able to work with it off the grid if that is the syncing issue you're referring to.

Chris

Posted by: quadrium May 3 2011, 06:37 PM

Hey Chris,

I don't have the project file of that song at this computer right now. (This my gf's computer) If you ask Todd, he can send you

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 5 2011, 02:36 AM

Hey guys I"ve put Song 1 and Song 2 up on my drop box account. (get one if you don't have one, it's a FREE 2 GIGABYTES of storage! Here is the link http://db.tt/wL1AQiC

Here is the link to download the zip for song 1. All tracks and project file.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/Song1_Consolidated.zip

Here is the link to download the zip for song 2. All tracks and project file.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/Song2_Consolidated.zip

Enjoy!
Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 5 2011, 06:32 AM

I"m going to start a track with drums and call it Song 3. Hopefully all the tunes can move forward at once

Here is a link to download the zip containing the reaper project and files. Starter files have fx baked in.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2761041/PROJECT_QUADRIUM/Song3_consolidated.zip

Here is a preview
 song3_Preview.mp3 ( 2.85MB ) : 145



Enjoy!
Todd

Posted by: quadrium May 6 2011, 01:41 AM

Great idea Todd. Loved it

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 8 2011, 02:20 AM

Here is a track that I started working on as a Backing Track just for a Video Chat Lesson but I ended up with something pretty spiff so I thought we might use it in one of our tunes. The good news is, it already has drums and it's great to solo over.

Key of A.

 56BackingTrack.mp3 ( 2.62MB ) : 146

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 8 2011, 03:09 AM

URGENT! : Also, just realized, we need to TURN ON THE METRONOME! In our reaper projects so that there is always a "Click Track" we can play to even if we don't have drums yet. Otherwise, the tempi are all over the place.

Posted by: quadrium May 8 2011, 03:19 AM

Wooow! It's awesome! We can make one hell of a song from that




Agreed.

-I accidently deleted the drum tracks i have made for song 2 :@ So i have to start all over again I hope Chris can save us

Dogukan.

Posted by: TylerT May 8 2011, 07:15 AM

Hey guys! Im tracking some drums for both songs now to help get the ball rolling, let me know what you think!

EDIT : Was this recorded to a click track??? Whats the BPM?

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 8 2011, 07:50 AM

Okay - First of all, I get easily confused given the fact we don't have a central repository containing all the files. Just to make life easier,
I created a private project on Kompoz.com. I have a full membership there, so it's free for you to participate - just sign up fir a free account let me know what your profile name is and I'll send you an invite. Mine is SirJamsalot - you can send me a pm or reply to this thread.

I've uploaded a tempo file with a sync tone at the beginning. Please be sure to watch the two 5 minute videos on Sync-tones found here.
http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/videos.ktv.music?c=1

It will ensure that everyone is able to line up their contribution tracks accurately regardless of what DAW you use - REAPER, Cubase, whatever. It just helps keep everything in sync.

Chris

Posted by: TylerT May 8 2011, 08:13 AM

Here it is, nothing special I threw it together pretty quickly just wanted to see if you guys liked the sound / general feel i was going for

Posted by: quadrium May 8 2011, 08:52 AM

I'm going to class now, i will open a account right away when i get back




Holy shit man. Loved it! After the drums are done we can finally make vocals and finish this song for good

Dogukan,

Posted by: TylerT May 8 2011, 09:22 AM

Awesome!

Let me know whenever you need any tracking for drums, guitar, bass , or keys done!

I can do some mixing and mastering as well if you need it!

Posted by: quadrium May 8 2011, 04:48 PM

Hey Todd. I saw that in song 2's project file there are some riffs we have recorded earlier with fx. I will remove them and upload the latest version i've created(April 29) with consolidated files. And one more thing, song 1's project file looks like shorter than the latest version of the song you have sent(3:30 minutes - currently on our facebook page). Do you have a longer version of the pf?



EDIT:

Here is the consolidated version of our song 2. We can work on the drums on this project file. One more thing guys, can you throw some riff ideas for the verse(currently on the 3rd and 6th tracks in the project file) i kinda don't like it anymore and i am stuck finding a new one.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 9 2011, 06:31 AM

New Blood in the Quadrium Project. I found TylerT here on our spiff site and was most impressed with the quality of his playing and his recording so I invited him to join us here in the group! If you guys find anyone you want to join us please do invite them. I'd love this project to be about our community of killer players!

Here is Tylers profile

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showuser=2856

and her is his SoundCloud profile with some examples of his work. Take particular note of the killer drum parts and leads.

http://soundcloud.com/tylerteeple

Welcome aboard Tyler!

Todd
--------------------------------

As you may have noticed, the tempo drifts. I recorded my bits at 120 and I think (not sure though) dokugan recorded some of his at 130. But these are just rough idea tracks and I honestly thought we would re-record everything once we had decided on an arrangement and laid down some drum tracks.

Re-recording isn't hard and we certainly still can and I suspect we might need to.

---------------------------------

Kompoz looks spiff It's similar to something I"ve been using called indaba which is a similar idea and has a DAW that actually runs inside the web browser. Here is a link to check it out.

http://www.indabamusic.com/

Sync tones are a very good idea especially if you don't use zero starts on your tracks. When exporting tracks or "stems", if you export from Zero in the timeline, you will export silence in the head of the track (a guitar solo track for example will have silence until the solo starts) but it helps make sure the track will line up.

We have been using reaper so the sound files are referenced in the DAW making it hard for folks not using reaper to work with the files. So in the future, I'll make sure all tracks/stems exported have a sync tone or have a zero start and are marked accordingly. I didn't even think to do this at first for which I must apologize to Tyler and Sir Jamsalot.

-------------------------------------------






I"ll check to see if I have a more recent version of Song 1. I think the longer version just repeated some of the parts so we can work with the version thats up and always just copy/paste to extend it. Thanks for having another go at song 2! Can't wait to hear.



LOVED IT! JUST LOVED IT! I really dig how you varied the parts up to change the vibe. Very glad to have you on board What are you using as your DAW BTW? Also, can you post just the drum track so I can put it in our REAPER mix? I will export all the STEMS of the SONG 1 REAPER MIX without any FX so that you do a Mix Pass as well if you are up for it

Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 9 2011, 06:39 AM

I've used Indaba - but I don't have a premium account with them. When I first joined, they were mostly populated pop-electronic-hip hop artists which I am not. Kompoz offered much more in terms of genre compatibility. Also, unless you have a premium account, all projects are public, which means the world will be staring - which might be fine, but everything is under a commons license which means anyone take and alter your work for their own and not everyone understands what that means for them... so I created a private project to protect the fear-factor. You can always publish it afterwards. At one point I recommended Kris consider using either Indaba or Kompoz as a way to advertise GMC by publishing collaborations under the GMC flag - there's a niche to be had for new people to the site wanting to be led by the hand. But that aside ....

Keep in mind that the .mp3 compression process can do bit-adjustments, so if you don't have a sync-tone, when you export to .mp3, the process could eliminate or even add leading white-space / blank sound if you will, to aid in the compression process. I'm sure Tony M. could expound on this better than I, but I know it's a phenomenon worthy of taking into account when trading .mp3s as track files that have no leading sound such as sync-tone.

Cheers,
Chris

p.s. I have all the project files for project two, but because I don't have REAPER, all I can use are the .mp3 files to determine what if anything you have. You guys are talking like there's an arrangement, but all I can gather from the .mp3s is that you have two versions of a riff, and some ideas - can someone export an audio mix-down of project 2 so I can hear it in context of what you guys are talking about?

In any case, I've uploaded some files including a basic tempo and alternate drum track, all with leading sync-tones to a private Kompoz project. If you don't want to work within Kompoz, that's fine, but the offer is there - just sign up for a free account and p.m. me and I'll send you an invite to the project - you can upload/download, listen to tracks, comment, discuss, whatever. I'm footing the bill.

Chris

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 9 2011, 10:02 AM

Kompoz Project is located here:
http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.project?projectId=24497

it's a private project to keep the rest of Kompoz from adding files (it is a collaboration site after all . What that means is that you'll need to join Kompoze.com (it's free) then send me a message either in this thread or on kompoz.com so I can invite you to the project. Then you'll be able upload/download/listen to tracks and discuss.

Todd is on and we'll be setting up the files there - it's a lot easier to manage all the tracks on that site.

Todd: kompoz.com/member/techwithtodd
SirJamsalot: kompoz.com/member/SirJamsalot

Posted by: quadrium May 9 2011, 02:40 PM

I've joined Chris. My username is quadrium



Hey Chris,

Here is the mixdown

Dogukan,

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 9 2011, 05:37 PM

Awesome! I sent you a Kompoz invite. I've uploaded this mix-down as a reference idea so everyone is on the same page.
Cheers,
Chris

Posted by: quadrium May 11 2011, 03:00 AM

Hey guys,

Here is the project file of our song 2 with new verses. I also included the mp3's of the verse in the rar file. And i have uploaded the mixdown and the verse file to kompoz also.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 11 2011, 08:51 AM

Great! Can't wait to hear it Glad you have joined KOMPOZ as well! Should make our file workflow a lot smoother.

Posted by: quadrium May 11 2011, 09:11 PM

Hey guys,

Since our song 2's name is Ascension Paradox i have written some lyrics about it, includes 3 verses and a chorus. Hope you like it and feel free to give me ideas if you want to change it Here it is:

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 12 2011, 01:46 AM

I got 18 missing files when I opened this one so I couldn't see much. I"ll check over in our KOMPOZ section.

Posted by: quadrium May 12 2011, 01:56 AM

Hey Todd take a look now, i've included all the files this time. You can also hear it from kompoz.(AscensionParadoxMixWithNewVerse file)

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 12 2011, 01:58 AM

Great News! Jamsalot has created a CLICK TRACK for the entire ASCENSION SONG! Please download this and put it in the timeline for reference when recording/arranging.

http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.track.project?trackId=130903&projectId=24497

I have uploaded the original Drum Track Loop (sort of Funk/Rock) with and without fx to KOMPOZ. This can be dropped in at the head and should match up. It provides a great cotrast to the double bass part which I like as well.


http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.track.project?trackId=131192&projectId=24497

Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 12 2011, 02:43 AM

those links are to the Kompoz project, and the project is private so unless you are signed up to Kompoz and a member of the project (PM me with your Kompoz screen name to get access), you won't be able to get to those links.

Here are the direct links to the files themselves.

tempo track
http://s3.amazonaws.com/1K6M3Y5WPCNJ6M657A02.kompoz.p/u76641-20110510-025747.mp3

drums at tempo
http://s3.amazonaws.com/1K6M3Y5WPCNJ6M657A02.kompoz.p/u76932-20110511-194117.mp3

Cheers

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 12 2011, 02:49 AM

Well said SirJamsalot. I"m hoping that our core group will all join KOMPOZ (it's free after all) so that we can more easily track/make progress. Then we can post our results here in the forums and get feedback from all of our GMC brethren.

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 02:41 AM

Thanks Dokugan! I'll check it out. I saw the mix file on KOMPOZ as well. We are really gaining momentum! KEWL!

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 05:13 AM

I wanted to see if you guys thought this riff would work in one of our tunes? I don't think it will fit in song 2, but maybe 3?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=38892&view=findpost&p=522265

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 05:13 AM

I wanted to see if you guys thought this riff would work in one of our tunes? I don't think it will fit in song 2, but maybe 3?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=38892&view=findpost&p=522265

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 05:13 AM

I wanted to see if you guys thought this riff would work in one of our tunes? I don't think it will fit in song 2, but maybe 3?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=38892&view=findpost&p=522265

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 06:33 AM

Finally! With Drums! Here is a consolidated REAPER version with the drum track Chris has been working on. I re-tracked my guitar part on Tracks 4 and 5.

*I also doubled the BPM so we can have more precision when moving clips around in the timeline.

*AND I RECORDED MY RIFF WITH MY 7 STRING SO IT"S IN B!

DOKUGAN: GITARERRO: Shift your clips in the timeline to see if you can make them work. IF not, re record them on the same track they live on now. Just delete the clip on that track. Make sense? Also, when exporting UNCHECK the little checkbox that says "IGNORE SILENCE LONGER THAN 30 SECONDS" This way, it will export a full track/stem with silence this will make it much easier for those not using reaper! The tracks will all line up.

SIRJAMSALOT: Finally! This should work for you in cubase with minimal fuss! Each stem is full length and starts at 0. As we move forward, we can all just swap out a given stem/track. None of the guitar parts except for the track 4 and 5 that I just retracked, match up. But hopefully they will soon once the guys re track them.

 AscensionParadox_May13_FullStems_Drums.zip ( 26.33MB ) : 99

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 13 2011, 11:41 AM

Todd here I've started another private project on KOMPOZ for Song 1! I really dig what Tyler did with the drums and I think song 1 is gonna be killer. Here is the link to the project. You will need to sign up for a free account if you don't have one.
http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.project?projectId=24594

Posted by: quadrium May 13 2011, 03:45 PM

We can definitely use this in one of our future songs Todd




Great! I'm dowloading it now. The new verse riff i've recorded shouldn't be a problem. Because i have recorded it according to tempo track but i'll look anyway




Todd, can you send me the invite again? When i click the link i still see "The project is private".


EDIT:

One more thing i've noticed in the latest project file you have sent Todd. The old recordings (Tracks 6 and 7) of your riff are still in that project file so i am a bit confused Anyway the structure is on the kompoz (AscensionParadoxMixWithNewVerse file) so we all know the order

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 14 2011, 01:45 AM

I think I left the guitar emulation tracks in and muted and then rendered the fx to a new track. Is that what you are asking about? The tracks without the fx "baked in" should be muted. They are still available in case anybody wants to change the FX. Once the FX are baked in, the CPU load is greatly reduced and so is latency so I thought I'd start doing that on tracks that were to a certain point.

Then again, I could be completely misunderstanding. Let me know

Todd

Posted by: quadrium May 14 2011, 05:02 PM

Hey guys here is the new lyrics for our song 1. Hope you like it

I mean your new recordings should be replaced with the ones in tracks 6 & 7 so that we have the right song structure. And there used to be a chorus riff(your first ascension paradox riff) at your new recordings place. If you look at the latest project file i have sent(post #265) you will see what i mean I have put markers defines which riff is used for verse/chorus/bridge And one more thing i want to ask, i have used that riff many times as bridge in the song, not just once (before first chorus,between some verses,outro part etc.). Can you put the stems of that riff according to that? This way would be easier to Chris i think.

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 17 2011, 07:57 AM

It might be simpler if you just arrange it the way you are talking about? You have all the riffs/recordings right? Can you put it together in reaper and zip it up? I'll download it and give it a listen.

Posted by: quadrium May 18 2011, 04:02 AM

Hey guys,

Here is the new version of the lyrics for our song 2. I've changed some lines as The Uncreator suggested.

Posted by: quadrium May 21 2011, 02:23 PM

Hey guys,

Within the next 4-5 days i won't be able to online as i am now because of the finals. Hope you don't mind much How are recordings going by the way? Do you need me for making the arrangement after you done with the rerecordings before vocals and final mix?

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 24 2011, 08:03 AM

If you could download the new drums track and put the guitar tracks we've got (even if they don't match/work) in the order they should appear that would help me a lot. I would really like to hear the arrangment with the drums to give me a better idea of what lay of the land is.

Of course, we will re-record all the bits, just hearing them in the right order against the drums would be great though.

Posted by: quadrium May 24 2011, 03:00 PM

Sure thing Todd. I am currently syncing the latest recording riff 3 alongside with my verse riffs. After that i will post the project file to here.

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium May 24 2011, 05:28 PM

Todd here is the project file. Both riff 1 & 3 are in place. And i have put markers defines riff 2 places so you can record according to that. And riff 2 is this one: http://kompoz.com/t/130718

And here is the structure for you to see the riffs order: http://kompoz.com/t/131036

Dogukan,

Posted by: Gitarrero May 24 2011, 05:36 PM

sounds great so far, guys!
I haven't done so much guitar recording for our project lately, I really have to dig deeper into Reaper to understand the program better.
Nevertheless, I have tried to sing along to the songs we've got so far, which took more time than I expected. I also experimented with different "voices", regular thrash metal singing and death metal growls basically. Once I'm 80% happy with a take I'll submit it here
Christian

Posted by: quadrium May 24 2011, 05:41 PM

That's great!

Posted by: quadrium May 25 2011, 04:26 PM

TODD: Here is the latest project file. I ve put the extended drums that Chris has uploaded into the project. I also placed the riff 2's in their spots for you to see the structure. If you rerecord your riff 2 parts. We can finally dig into the final mix

Dogukan,

Posted by: quadrium May 27 2011, 09:48 PM

Hey Todd, i'm wandering when will you be able to record your riff part? It's time to finish our song

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 28 2011, 12:34 AM

Perfect! Thanks soooo much! I've booked out some time this weekend to record. You know your busy when you have to book yourself in to your own studio.

Posted by: quadrium May 28 2011, 01:04 AM

AWESOME!

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 30 2011, 09:29 PM

Here is a link to the post of the remix of Track 1 with the killer TylerT drums. Let me know what you guys think!

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=39133&st=0#entry524988

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=39133&st=0#entry524988

Posted by: quadrium May 30 2011, 09:34 PM

Loved it! It's awesome By the way have you recorded the riff 2 part in our second song Todd? If you have upload it to kompoz and i can finish the arrangement and we can start mixing

Posted by: TylerT May 31 2011, 12:23 AM

Great song guys! Saw it posted in the uploads forum...

It deserves a real drum mix! Im going to do the drums for real now!

Ill post it in an hour or two

Edit: Ive got a new mixing preset for the drums so they have more punch and sound much more aggressive!

Posted by: TylerT May 31 2011, 01:01 AM

This is what I came up with!

[attachment=23658:project_quadrium2d.mp3]

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 31 2011, 07:09 AM

Great! Did you add/change some of the drums? The drum mix doesn't sound too much different but I think I hear some new parts?

If you would, post that drum track as an AIF or wav, or what not, or post the updated project file, etc. I"d like to hear how it sounds with the SSL compressor and Reverb on it. I think I may have the drums to quiet in the mix but really wanted the guitars to stand out. The compressor and verb really give the drums punch/life.

Here is just the drum track with plugins on it from the last mix. Toss it in a reaper project and A/B it against your solo'd drum track. It' will make the mix/plugin stuff pop out so you can hear what I'm on about. Also, notice the volume level. I've used the compressor to maximize the volume so that the final track is LOUD hopefully without being crushed.

 SSL_Drums.mp3 ( 3.76MB ) : 123


Thanks for your continued work on this. I'm really diggin the drums!


DOKUGAN: I'm looking at MAY25 ASCENSION FULL STEMS DRUMS and it looks like that one part that is repeated several times in the start is still out of tune and a bit out of time. Also, it seems to repeat 6 or 7 times almost in a row, broken up only by one rotation of that lick I tossed in. It is a bit repetetive. Either way it needs to be recorded to match the drums and with a new attempt at tuning perhaps? If you record just one loop. We can repeat it inside reaper.

It seems that the part your asking me to record is in this version but is just not synched up with the drums. The recording sounds good to me so I"ll just move it around to match the drums.

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 31 2011, 08:47 AM

NEW UPDATED VERSION:

Todd here I finally got a listen with the drums in place and I think I have a better idea of everything. I thought it would help the song to move some bits around. I Put my funky/metal riff in the start then transition to christians lick as it has pull offs, then flowed in to Dokugans lick which has the most pull offs so that musically it builds and makes a bit more sense.

I re-recorded my parts and christians part and Dokugans part. I was hoping not to but, whatever works. As long as we are all trying and moving forward as a group, I guess it doesn't matter who does what really.

So take a look at the new version and see what you think. These riffs can be copied and pasted later in the timeline as needed. I"m liking the drums on these so big props to Chris!

Here is a preview
 May31NewAscension.mp3 ( 3.65MB ) : 131

and here is the new Reaper Project
 MAY31ASCENSION.zip ( 23.77MB ) : 91

Todd

Posted by: quadrium May 31 2011, 02:00 PM

Woooow! Loved it! I'm downloading the project file and gonna make the final arrangement Great job as always Todd

Posted by: SirJamsalot May 31 2011, 05:14 PM

Hey, that's great

I noticed you exxxed out the intro. Charges right in?
Dokugan, if you can upload the new arrangement in its entirety to Kompoz, then I'll rearrange the drums to make sure they match the new arrangement.

I'll let you guys take care of the mix / maximizing of the drums as I have *no* experience whatsoever in mixing. Something on my to-do-list

I think we're almost there. I guess bass and vocals are next huh?

Chris

Posted by: quadrium May 31 2011, 06:13 PM

Yeah I have finished the arrangement and uploading to kompoz right now named May31Final. And yeah we are almost there

Dogukan,

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 1 2011, 06:47 AM

Thanks I actually just trimmed the intro out for the preview but I think it might work better without it. We already have a song that sort of starts that way. Just busting in to it might work

Thanks SOOOOO much for your help in creating/producing a solid drum track! This song was just not working for me without one. It really makes it RAWK. Bass and Vocals are next I hope that we get a volunteer to bring something to the table with Bass/vocals. Worst case scenario, I can do the Bass tracks again. But I"m hoping other folks at least give it a shot. That's the whole point of all this

As for mixing, it's really not that hard one you give it a go!! Once you install reaper (when you get your new riggage) I"d be happy to have a quick skype session with you to walk you through the basics You've got a great ear so it's sort of tragic to me that you aren't mixing! Gotta fix that and I'll help!




Woohoo! I stayed up till about 4AM working / reworking the mix, then just re recording and arranging but it was worth it

I took the liberty of updating our QUADRIUM facebook post with the new preview with drums. I pulled the old preview as it had lots gaps and such which is just where we were at the time.

Now just Bass and Vocals! Any ideas?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 1 2011, 09:18 AM

HOLD THE PHONE/PRESSES! UPDATE ON ASCENSION PARADOX!

ARRGGHHH@@@@!!!!!!!!! I just realized that the "Sister Lick" I wrote for what is now the intro lick isn't even in the song! I wrote these two licks as a sort of "Call and response" both have a very similar structure and pair well. They then lead in to the next set by introducing buts like the pull offs and such. I"ve recorded the lick in and placed it in a new reaper project.

Here is a preview. Give this a listen and tell me what you think I've got to say I think the lick works quite well with that spiff breakdown in the drums and then goes in to a cool mosh drum bit which works very well. That's where it transitions to the next riff now. Let me know what you think

Having drums to work with has made things a TON better.
 June1_NewAscension.zip ( 20.16MB ) : 88