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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 1:14 pm
by aTOMiC
Zarathustra wrote:Great discussion, guys!
aTOMiC wrote: I've been playing guitar since 1983 and I can assure you I don't have the same kind of emotional attachment to it that I had when I was 19. I've written and recorded hundreds of songs. I've performed live shows and billions of band practices.
Damn I had no idea. Let's hear some of your stuff!
In the past year I discovered Audacity and I've been recording my own songs, doing all the parts myself: bass, guitar, drums, vocals, keyboard. I'm having a blast. It feels so good to have "sounds" that have only existed in my head to finally be out in the world.
That's very cool. I'd like to hear something you've recorded.

I use Sonar Professional which is a product born from Cakewalk. I'm a PC guy so I don't use Protools but I hear its a terrific piece of recording software. I've toyed with Audacity but haven't tried to record anything with it.

Here's something I wrote and recorded with Sonar for a short film. Its a slow starter but kicks in with the drums.

The Position

Here's something from the 90s with the rest of the band that I sing.

Follow Me

And something live from back in the day with dANdeLION playing bass. :-)

I Need
Has anyone read the book Clockwork Angels? I dare you. :lol: It's awful.
My wife bought Ghost Rider but hasn't finished reading it. Once she's done I planned to give it a go. If I like that I might try Clockwork Angels. I'll let everyone know what I think. :biggrin:

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:54 pm
by dlbpharmd
While there are some exceptions (The Camera Eye,) I only like the Rush songs that appeal to me lyrically. I'm not big on instrumentals - I rarely listen to YYZ for example, but I do dig the first half of LVS.

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:25 pm
by Zarathustra
So how do I post music?

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 12:10 pm
by aTOMiC
Zarathustra wrote:So how do I post music?

I just copied shared links from song files on my Google Drive and pasted them as URLs in my post. :D

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:40 pm
by Zarathustra
I'll look into that.

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:19 pm
by aTOMiC
Zarathustra wrote:I'll look into that.
Another option is to create a Soundcloud account and post them there then share the link here. In total I have posted about 50 songs between my two accounts.

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 6:28 am
by Zarathustra
I think I finally figured it out!

Okay, these are demos. Very low quality. The software was free. My vocal mic is from Nintendo Wii Band Hero. I plugged my instruments directly into a cheap laptop with the Rocksmith cables for Xbox 360. Also, I am just a bassist without a band! I'm not a singer, guitarist, drummer, or anything else. I merely pretend to be all those things. Oh, and the drums are fake. I played them on a keyboard.

Alright, are expectations now low enough? No? I wrote this song when I was 19. Forgive the cliches and bad lyrics. :biggrin:

https://soundcloud.com/user-751226841/reflective-6

The next one is a lot newer. My wife and I almost got divorced last year. This song is a tribute to us.

https://soundcloud.com/user-751226841/nk-tribute-9

The next one is another old song, written as a teenager. It's really just half a song, supposed to have another verse/bridge/chorus, but I got all excited about making the outro and forgot to add the rest. I like the layers. The lyrics make me cringe.

https://soundcloud.com/user-751226841/foreshadow

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:10 am
by aTOMiC
Zar, really cool stuff. Great vocals. Given what recording equipment you are working with these are very good recordings. I like the style on all three songs.

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 5:30 am
by Zarathustra
Thank you! I spent so much time trying to post mine, I haven't listened to yours yet. Doing that ... now. (My thoughts below, as I listened.)

Ah, real instruments played in real time! Such a difference. :lol: I cut and pasted a lot, especially the guitar. The Position starts out cool. Love the guitar sound. When drums kick in sounds like classic 80s rock. Nice kick drum presence. Digging the instrumental intro. Wait, this isn't an intro, but an instrumental. Ok, got it. By 3:00 it starts to really take off and sound 90s instead of 80s. Maybe a little Tool in there.

Follow Me starts out nice. Love that guitar. Vocals definitely have an 80s feel. Ronny James Dio vibrato in a lower register. I like the vocal effect around 1:30. Guitar is awesome, very musical. I love melody more than crunch, fuzz, and grind. Damn, nice solo! I like the abrupt end on the bass note.

I like the bass break in I Need. Another real guitar solo! Nice. I miss those. LOL.

Nice production on all three. I tried listening to mine on my phone and it was unbearable. I even tried playing it through my car stereo from my phone, and it wasn't much better. My recordings just don't sound good except on my laptop with some decent headphones.

I really need an upgrade in my equipment. And a band. 8)

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:57 am
by Zarathustra
https://soundcloud.com/user-751226841/one-life

Just uploaded another. This is the first track I recorded on Audacity, so it's the roughest. There's lots of things I'd change about it. There are a couple of measures missing, one in the opening verse and a couple in the instrumental transition to the second part. ["You just want to see me," should be followed by, "Beyond our final days."] All three parts are strung together rather loosely, needing a better transition. The last 1/3 now has a different chord structure similar to Starship Troopers from Yes, not reflected in this recording. I can't wait to get back to it. It's the newest song I've written (of these four). It's my atheist anthem.

It's also unique in that there is no guitar. Only bass. A couple layers.

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 3:37 pm
by aTOMiC
Well another cool track, Zar. You captured a nice bass tone. The recording is a little rough around the edges but the content shows through just fine. All of your tracks demonstrate talent. If your goal is to get with a band a live drummer would definitely punch up the energy or if you stick to solo recordings there are advanced percussion modules though your drum tracks sound pretty good as they are.

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 2:29 pm
by aTOMiC
Zarathustra wrote:Thank you! I spent so much time trying to post mine, I haven't listened to yours yet. Doing that ... now. (My thoughts below, as I listened.)

Ah, real instruments played in real time! Such a difference. :lol: I cut and pasted a lot, especially the guitar. The Position starts out cool. Love the guitar sound. When drums kick in sounds like classic 80s rock. Nice kick drum presence. Digging the instrumental intro. Wait, this isn't an intro, but an instrumental. Ok, got it. By 3:00 it starts to really take off and sound 90s instead of 80s. Maybe a little Tool in there.
We were working on a short film and needed some opening music. I wrote and recorded the song with that in mind so its a bit low key in the first half or so intentionally. I cut that first part for the opening credits and cut the second half to use at the closing credits of the film. Worked out pretty well. That's just me layering guitar, bass, keyboards and drums using Cakewalk.
Follow Me starts out nice. Love that guitar. Vocals definitely have an 80s feel. Ronny James Dio vibrato in a lower register. I like the vocal effect around 1:30. Guitar is awesome, very musical. I love melody more than crunch, fuzz, and grind. Damn, nice solo! I like the abrupt end on the bass note.


Follow me was one of the tracks we recorded as a band in a local studio back in the 90s. The sound engineer forced me to use his amps so the guitar is a bit less 80s than I usually play. My vocals tend to be 80s. I'm built to play songs by The Cars or Ric Ocasek though I never did that much.
I like the bass break in I Need. Another real guitar solo! Nice. I miss those. LOL.
dAN will be happy you liked the bass break. I Need was from a live recording from a show in the early 90s. When we recorded that I was so annoyed with the whole gig. Nothing went right. I kind of hated it. But years later listening to the recording its hard to tell that I was so uptight. :biggrin:

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:48 am
by dANdeLION
aTOMiC wrote: I am a hopeless introvert and every interview I've ever watched of Neil helps me understand and relate to him to some degree. Thank God I'm not famous because I'd come off as a prick too and it wouldn't be deserved because I can't help what social anxiety does to me.
So, it was social anxiety that forced you to play loud video games during my band's set? Good to know. You and the drummer were labelled "rude and unapproachable" that night, IIRC.

:haha:

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:11 pm
by aTOMiC
dANdeLION wrote:
aTOMiC wrote: I am a hopeless introvert and every interview I've ever watched of Neil helps me understand and relate to him to some degree. Thank God I'm not famous because I'd come off as a prick too and it wouldn't be deserved because I can't help what social anxiety does to me.
So, it was social anxiety that forced you to play loud video games during my band's set? Good to know. You and the drummer were labelled "rude and unapproachable" that night, IIRC.

:haha:
To be fair it was an arcade game I wasn't familiar with and had never played before. Plus there was an entire back room filled with video games that other people were playing at the time. I was just an idiot for choosing one that people in the audience could see. I had no idea how loud it would be. I tried standing in amongst the crowd at first but felt uncomfortable. I thought doing something proactive would make me feel better. I have no idea why Aaron was playing instead of politely listening to your set.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:18 pm
by dANdeLION
Maybe you were bored because you heard it all before. Aaron's a drummer;he probably never gave any thought to the situation. The place was noisy; I doubt I heard any of it; the only reason I knew about it was because my wife told me about it.

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:28 pm
by aTOMiC
dANdeLION wrote:Maybe you were bored because you heard it all before. Aaron's a drummer;he probably never gave any thought to the situation. The place was noisy; I doubt I heard any of it; the only reason I knew about it was because my wife told me about it.
If I'm not mistaken someone was playing that game during our set too and I never really noticed the sound but I remember looking around at the audience and the rest of the room while I wasn't singing and noticed it. If I had it to do over I would have found a place to sit. I wasn't bored. I may have heard that band's songs before but I still liked listening to it and watching you guys play. If Kim had been there I wouldn't have felt so anxious and uncomfortable.

I'm becoming aware that this conversation is going way off the topic. 8O

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:09 pm
by dANdeLION
Okay, but I have two more questions. Since when did Rush become your favorite band? Do I really have that much influence over you?

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:29 pm
by aTOMiC
dANdeLION wrote:Okay, but I have two more questions. Since when did Rush become your favorite band? Do I really have that much influence over you?
No. Rush does.

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:22 pm
by dANdeLION
Well, you answered one question, with, at best, a half truth. I guess that's what I should expect from a government employee.

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 3:00 pm
by aTOMiC
Rush continues to produce quality product whilst the other bands that were in contention for favorite band disbanded giving rush top honors.