Share Your Music (it probably sucks but that’s not why we do it)

[sidis 9820]

couple of new things from the last couple of weeks, both original and both very different in style.

first is a super electronic jam - playing with some new softsynths and new native instruments maschine controller which is a lot of fun.

 

second is a super orchestral piece that is for someone else's project in which the artist requested something very grandiose and harkening back to copland but short.  the version for the total project will be slightly different but this is the final version of just my part.  thanks to a very generous studio owner in austin, the strings on this are actually real and recorded which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

 

[Bogeywon 2519]

On 6/15/2021 at 4:50 AM, ztejas said:

I have a full cut that's almost YT worthy if anyone gives a fuck enough to want me to post it. 

Post it!

[jimmyjazz 45877]

11 hours ago, sidis said:

second is a super orchestral piece that is for someone else's project in which the artist requested something very grandiose and harkening back to copland but short.  the version for the total project will be slightly different but this is the final version of just my part.  thanks to a very generous studio owner in austin, the strings on this are actually real and recorded which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

That's really well done.  Nice job.

[Paul Wesley 3278]

sounds great, sidis.

[Goredho 17394]

On 6/25/2021 at 10:08 PM, sidis said:

couple of new things from the last couple of weeks, both original and both very different in style.

first is a super electronic jam - playing with some new softsynths and new native instruments maschine controller which is a lot of fun.

 

second is a super orchestral piece that is for someone else's project in which the artist requested something very grandiose and harkening back to copland but short.  the version for the total project will be slightly different but this is the final version of just my part.  thanks to a very generous studio owner in austin, the strings on this are actually real and recorded which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

 

You already knew I loved Colossus.  Rites is really cool, too.  Your ability to create in such diverse styles is impressive.

[sidis 9820]

48 minutes ago, Goredho said:

You already knew I loved Colossus.  Rites is really cool, too.  Your ability to create in such diverse styles is impressive.

 

12 hours ago, Paul Wesley said:

sounds great, sidis.

 

On 6/26/2021 at 10:15 AM, jimmyjazz said:

That's really well done.  Nice job.

Thanks, fellas. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

all of this stuff is really old, but i just now found this thread. i'm actually working on my first project in years right now, so that's coincidental timing. i may have some fresh stuff to post some time soon. but until then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok this one's pretty wild. i'm going back through all of my oldest youtube uploads and i found this. one night about 11-12 years ago my buddy asked me to write a song for him. i only ended up writing one little verse or stanza or whatever, and since then i'd totally forgotten about it. not gonna lie, i kinda like it lol:

 

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by shadow_operative

[ztejas 43411]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cFwnp43eEqlrHn_if8PoK5nyQqH51T1Y/view?usp=drivesdk

Edited November 16, 2021 by ztejas

[ztejas 43411]

eh

Edited November 16, 2021 by ztejas

[Paul Wesley 3278]

nice job, ztejas.

[Goredho 17394]

Part 3 of the concept piece I am working on.  This is a collaboration with @sidis, where I provided the concept, chord progression and melodies on the guitar and he lent the rhythm programming and electronic parts.

This particular movement is about the (often) negative relationship between humans and technology. Automation has eliminated jobs and amplified the divide between the haves and have nots, while the internet and social media has allowed information to be weaponized so as to pit us against each other.

Any thoughts and feedback are welcome.  I really appreciate the contributions, @sidis.  I owe you like 23 beers and an 8ball.

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Goredho

[JulesVerne 32]

You guys are all amazing. I love everything about this thread and these posts. Heck yea. Keep going.

[Paul Wesley 3278]

7 hours ago, Goredho said:

 

 

Ambitious and cool.  Keep chopping.

[Goredho 17394]

4 minutes ago, Paul Wesley said:

Ambitious and cool.  Keep chopping.

Thanks, man, appreciate the encouragement.

[ztejas 43411]

On 7/4/2021 at 8:53 PM, Paul Wesley said:

nice job, ztejas.

Thanks man. I hate that I'm only open to sharing my stuff when I'm intoxicated. It's my biggest block between staying sober and using. The latter of which is what I need to be doing. 

But I appreciate the feedback, I just know that I've posted that here and it makes me cringe and feel embarrassed.

I could stand to get over myself. In a lot of ways. 

[jimmyjazz 45877]

I can't keep up -- love the last two posts (ztejas, Goredho+sidis).  I need to get writing again.

[Goredho 17394]

Thanks, @jimmyjazz.  Would love to hear more from you and @Paul Wesley

[Goredho 17394]

36 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I need to get writing again.

So this will be kind of a strange, non-musical post, but sort of related to what is going on in this thread.  For father's day, we took our kids to Bishop's Castle.  Its just a random castle out in the middle of the mountains of Colorado.  For 53 years, this one guy has been building it, primarily alone, in their spare time.  Its open to the public, unsafe as hell, and he charges no fees for people to visit it.  There's no identifiable reason why he's doing it, other than its meaningful to him.

I sat and talked to the guy for a half hour while there, and he's a character.  He's in his 80s, and still plugging away at it.  His wife died three years ago.  He looks like he's not too far behind.  He doesn't have any sort of successor chosen, and has no idea what's going to happen to the place when he passes away.  My guess is its going to fall into disrepair and probably eventually have to be torn down.

Anyway, as someone trying to do something with my own spare time that is kind of ambitious but ultimately likely not to amount to much, I found it incredibly inspiring.  If this little hobbit of a man can build a fucking castle at 10,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains in his spare time, what would I be able to accomplish musically in my spare time?

You absolutely should get to writing again

https://www.bishopcastle.org/
 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Goredho

[Goredho 17394]

It's been awhile, but here's a bit of the latest thing I am working on, a session gig providing guitar tracks for a composer in SLC.  This is a snippet that I sent him for approval of tone/feel/style.  He likes it and wants me to run with it for the full track.

This is also the first thing I posted here using my real amps into a Universal Audio Ox Box.  This is my Strat into a Friedman Dirty Shirley using the Ox Box for cab/mic/room simulation.

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Goredho

[Capt. Squints 176]

The Byrds with Earl Scruggs revue 1971. You ain't goin' nowhere. - YouTube.html

[jimmyjazz 45877]

15 hours ago, Goredho said:

It's been awhile, but here's a bit of the latest thing I am working on, a session gig providing guitar tracks for a composer in SLC.  This is a snippet that I sent him for approval of tone/feel/style.  He likes it and wants me to run with it for the full track.

 

Really nice.  Did he do the keys, etc.?

[Goredho 17394]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Really nice.  Did he do the keys, etc.?

Yeah, he came up with the chords/arrangement and sent me a stereo track with the keys/piano/pads.  I then came up with the guitar arrangement and added the two guitar tracks to it.  What's in that soundcloud link are just his stereo track with all the keys and non-guitar mixed together, and then my two guitar stereo guitar tracks mixed against that.  When I'm done I'll send him my stereo guitar tracks and he'll do a final mix and master on his end.

I touched on this in my post, but I want to reiterate:  I am really, really, really liking the UA Ox Box.  Its a great cab/mic/room emulator and the tones I am getting with my real tube amps into it are much better than what I was getting with the Line6 Helix with modeled amps.  Pic of its app interface below where you can model a cabinet, two mics direct on the cabinet and a room mic and add EQ/compression/delay and reverb.  So you can do things like have two mics on the cab and pan them left and right for a stereo guitar signal into your DAW.

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Goredho

[Goredho 17394]

And now for the other thing I've been working on with @sidis for awhile, part 2 of my big-ass concept piece.  "Colossus" reflects America during its era of ascendance to its apex on September 10th 2001 -- the industrial revolution, the rise of the American empire and post WWII boom. This is America at its most powerful.  Sidis was the primary creative force here, he came up with the pure orchestral composition that you can hear in his first post on this page.  I added the guitar during the orchestral part, and kind of tweaked the arrangement at the end and injected some rock elements into the climax with the drums, bass and guitars.  He provided the mixing and final mastering.  @Paul Wesley also deserves thanks, he provided some selfless assistance to Sidis during the recording of his orchestral piece.  Thanks guys, you rock!
 

With this wrapped up, the first 3 of the 6 movements of my "Requiem" concept piece are done.  If anyone cares to listen to the first 3 movements in order, here's a soundcloud playlist.  The next couple of movements will be where America really goes to shit.

I will probably need to tweak mixes and masters at the end when all 6 are ready to be stitched into a whole.
 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Goredho

[jimmyjazz 45877]

That's really good, @Goredho.  Can you elaborate on the recording process?  Which parts are live instruments, which parts are in the box, etc.?

[Goredho 17394]

15 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's really good, @Goredho.  Can you elaborate on the recording process?  Which parts are live instruments, which parts are in the box, etc.?

Sure, but Sidis will have to elaborate on that for the orchestral parts.  He did all that first, and so I was not involved until after he had come up with this from some basic ideas from me about style and feel (Copland, America at its Apex, etc...)

So I basically started with that as a stereo track, and brought it into my DAW.  I added the finger picked guitar elements that sound kind of harpy during the orchestral parts, and then the bass, guitars and drums for the big finish.  Everything I did was a live instrument except for the drums.  They were provided by Logic's AI drummer with some midi massaging of the fills and such.  When I had all that recorded on my end, I stored the whole Logic project in dropbox and gave Sidis access to it.  He pulled it down to do the final mix and master with the full set of tracks from both of our efforts.

I used my ES-335 for the fingerpicked parts in the orchestral section, then the R8 for the rhythm and primary lead parts in the big finish, and the Tele for the arpeggiated stuff right at the end.  All the guitars were into my Mesa Boogie mini-rectifier amp, then to the Ox Box for cab/mic/room emulation and then direct-input into my DAW as described in my previous Sea of Clouds post.  I don't have a bass amp, so it went through my Line6 Helix and had some bass amp model that I can't remember right now.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Goredho
Also, thanks for the compliment!

[jimmyjazz 45877]

Do you know if the strings are live or samples?  Seems kinda ambitious to record an actual orchestra, even in bits and pieces stacked up.

[Goredho 17394]

I know some of the orchestral parts are live and some are samples.  @sidis will have to elaborate.

[sidis 9820]

51 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's really good, @Goredho.  Can you elaborate on the recording process?  Which parts are live instruments, which parts are in the box, etc.?

 

34 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Do you know if the strings are live or samples?  Seems kinda ambitious to record an actual orchestra, even in bits and pieces stacked up.

jj, all the stuff i added in the first part and the third part of goredho's piece (eden's children and manchines) was software instruments/synths.  i played in the drums in manchines on my NI Machine (ha) MKII but none of it was live recorded.

on colossus, i mocked it up originally with 100% software instruments (spitfire's abbey road one and spitfire's bbc orchestra samples).  i shared the mockup with a poster on here who owns a recording studio who gave me some feedback that he thought it could be significantly enhanced by recording the strings live...and he very generously offered to facilitate that for me with some players he regularly used, along with a mixing pro for a ridiculously paltry sum and some scotch.  i enthusiastically took him up on that and got to work orchestrating and arranging sheet music for live recording (which was an insanely valuable learning experience for me by the way). 

at the studio, we recorded a quartet (violin-violin-viola-cello) for all the string parts you hear throughout colossus. for the underlying chords, we did a classic studio trick of making the quartet sound like four sections by recording the arrangement for the chords three different times and rotating the players around the room for each take so that the 10 or so mics we used would capture the dynamics differently in each take...then i stacked/melded them together in my daw so that it created a big sounding string section.  i did cheat on one thing and added the double basses at the low end using software but that particular instrument presents less difference imo.  the cello solo line throughout was also recorded live which the cello player impressively nailed in two takes and represented by far the biggest upgrade in live recording to me personally.  the staccato viola and cello in the middle of it were recorded live, as well as the trilling violins that are at the end in my version of the track that goredho dumps for his rock out crescendo in his version.  all of the woodwinds, brass, and percussion were from software instruments in both the mockup and the final version.

[jimmyjazz 45877]

3 minutes ago, sidis said:

on colossus, i mocked it up originally with 100% software instruments (spitfire's abbey road one and spitfire's bbc orchestra samples).  i shared the mockup with a poster on here who owns a recording studio who gave me some feedback that he thought it could be significantly enhanced by recording the strings live...and he very generously offered to facilitate that for me with some players he regularly used, along with a mixing pro for a ridiculously paltry sum and some scotch.  i enthusiastically took him up on that and got to work orchestrating and arranging sheet music for live recording (which was an insanely valuable learning experience for me by the way). 

Paul's studio?  Lovely place.  I'd be curious to learn who the players were.  Those are great tones and recordings.  I've never recorded orchestral players, but I've recorded violin/fiddle on pop & country tunes and it's pretty easy to get it sounding like a wounded cat.

[sidis 9820]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Paul's studio?  Lovely place.  I'd be curious to learn who the players were.  Those are great tones and recordings.  I've never recorded orchestral players, but I've recorded violin/fiddle on pop & country tunes and it's pretty easy to get it sounding like a wounded cat.

indeed it is.  was a great time.  and he played the part of a "first one's free-crack dealer" quite well because i'm currently working on a few things that live recordings will be a must for now that i've experienced the difference...so he's gonna get rich off me as a dumbshit hobbyist with a little money to burn.

i'll let him pm you with the players.  they were absolute pros and did an excellent job with no rehearsal...on top of being super friendly and helpful on the one or two spots i had small oversights in the arrangement.  i did no micromanaging at all beyond just notated dynamics and the ups and downs for them in the sheet music...other than that, i gave them expressivo carte blanche and they were awesome.  as was his studio mixer.  that dude was great - very patient with my being a relative kindergartener through the process.

here's a wav of just the recorded strings from that session isolated so you can really hear the quality of the players and the recording from his studio.

Colossus-strings only.wav

[Goredho 17394]

PSA post.  ikmultimedia is having a pretty sweet promotion right now.  If you buy a qualifying product & signup, you get up to 25 free products of equal or lesser value.  One per 1000 signups.  Right now it’s at 23 for the price of one with 23 more days remaining.

Software plugins, mics, interfaces, etc... 

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/25gb/

[Paul Wesley 3278]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:11 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I'd be curious to learn who the players were.  Those are great tones and recordings.  I've never recorded orchestral players, but I've recorded violin/fiddle on pop & country tunes and it's pretty easy to get it sounding like a wounded cat.

Thanks for the nice review.

We do a lot of string sessions.  In 2021, we've probably done as many orchestral sessions as all other genres combined.  We did one today.

I can't take any credit for the results other than I know a lot of talented players from the string community, and I work with a great engineer.  

I would be happy to hook you up with arrangers, players, or whatever.

 

[sidis 9820]

The new Logic Pro update that came out this week has the ability to mix in spatial audio and 7.1.4. 

I had been messing around with a couple of guitar riffs I had recorded on my les paul and chorus and distortion pedals, along with some bass lines I had played in. Next thing I knew I was experimenting with some new sax plugins along with it and I had a bit of jazzy thing going.

I decided to use this early draft to experiment with the new spatial stuff. You will only be able to hear that element if you listen to it on binaural headphones. The guitar and bass should sound like they are in stereo but the sax should sound like it is sitting above your head and off to the left a little bit. Ms. Mills’ piano should sound like it is sitting right behind you and a little below like you’re standing above the piano. This shit is a bit gimmicky but super cool nonetheless. 

[Goredho 17394]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:40 PM, sidis said:

The new Logic Pro update that came out this week has the ability to mix in spatial audio and 7.1.4. 

I had been messing around with a couple of guitar riffs I had recorded on my les paul and chorus and distortion pedals, along with some bass lines I had played in. Next thing I knew I was experimenting with some new sax plugins along with it and I had a bit of jazzy thing going.

I decided to use this early draft to experiment with the new spatial stuff. You will only be able to hear that element if you listen to it on binaural headphones. The guitar and bass should sound like they are in stereo but the sax should sound like it is sitting above your head and off to the left a little bit. Ms. Mills’ piano should sound like it is sitting right behind you and a little below like you’re standing above the piano. This shit is a bit gimmicky but super cool nonetheless. 

Just got a chance to listen, I really like the minimalist thing going on here.  I don't think I have the ability to hear the spatial stuff.

[Goredho 17394]

I am job hunting, so music is taking a back seat to other concerns at the moment, but I did record this recently.  Its just me rocking out (improving?) over a backing track.  I am really liking my strat/tele (single coils) with my Friedman Dirty Shirley and an Ox Box for guitar recording.  The Ox Box is great if you have amps you like but don't want to get into having to mic cabs and/or don't have an appropriate room setup for it.
 

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Goredho

[AnotherUTFan 9723]

This is an album we've been working on for some time, finally complete. I wrote most of it, everything except tracks 2 and 5.

Listen to Vary Mary - The Best We've Ever Been by Racer5 #np on #SoundCloud

[Goredho 17394]

4 minutes ago, AnotherUTFan said:

This is an album we've been working on for some time, finally complete. I wrote most of it, everything except tracks 2 and 5.

Listen to Vary Mary - The Best We've Ever Been by Racer5 #np on #SoundCloud

 

Love it, just listened to the first track.  Will listen to more later.  Congrats on the achievement, its good stuff

[jimmyjazz 45877]

I'm digging the low end on that first track, AnotherUT.  Kick & bass sit nice.  I need to go listen in the car so I can turn it up more.  Rawk!

 

[Goredho 17394]

No new music yet.  I had to set it aside while I had aging parent issues and a job hunt to deal with simultaneously.  But with a new year and new job I decided to create an office/music making space in our camper we have parked on our property.  I had been in my garage, but got tired of mice pissing and shitting all over my gear.  Looking forward to getting back at it soon.  

 

 

[jimmyjazz 45877]

That's really cool.  Great idea!

[Goredho 17394]

15 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's really cool.  Great idea!

Thanks, I won’t be driving it around anywhere, but will definitely be a nice space where I can shut the door and focus on music or work.

Edit:  I should say I have no plans to drive it around.  I would need to invest in ways to keep everything locked down and immobile while on the road.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Goredho

[Paul Wesley 3278]

That’s fantastic. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Paul Wesley

[Goredho 17394]

So a new little ditty that is a tip of the cap to Velvet Underground and Lou Reed (who is high on the list of coolest fuckers on the planet, by the way).  It could use a bridge if it were a serious composition, but I've been working with it less as a serious song and more as a musical experiment.

I have been playing with a looper pedal I got for Christmas, experimenting with seeing what I could do as a one man band in the moment.  This is something I've been working on in that vein, though translated from the looper to the DAW.  This is all played with my new ES-330, including the "drums" made thumping the strings and slapping the pickguard.  2 tracks with a few bars of the chord progression looping (hence no bridge).  The solo/melody is a 3rd track, recorded here, but what I play live over the looped tracks.

May work on a few things like this and take them to an open mic night or something.

 

[Goredho 17394]

I've got to cloak room this place up a little for my next bit of my Requiem concept piece.  This is about Trump from my perspective and reflects my experience with his Presidency, which had kind of 3 periods:

1. Absurdity:  Is this guy really going to run?  Are the republicans really going to nominate him?  Are we really going to elect him?
2. Surreal Chaos:  This guy is damaging literally everything he touches
3. Tyranny:  Is this guy really going to try to use a mob to overturn the election?

So the song has three parts of around a minute each reflecting each of those things, and I think that experience would have been similar for others of a different political lean if someone else had been elected.

This will ultimately be a collaboration with @sidis, and this is just the current state of things with just what I can do with a guitar and before he has had a crack at it.  It might change somewhat.  Some of the guitar tracks might go away for keyboards, the last part might wind up with more of an industrial feel, or whatever.  Any feedback is appreciated.

 

I hope we can banter about music we make that makes a political statement here, but if that is no bueno in this topic, I'll delete the post.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Goredho

[Buzzrock 14901]

GarageBand for iPad is fun to play around with. The mandolin and guitar are just mic’d with the iPad here, the drums are a loop and the bass and organ are digital instruments played directly on the iPad.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/wNWuDpA7qbbyMYJr6

[Goredho 17394]

Cool rearrangement.

[Buzzrock 14901]

Thanks! I need a crash course on the full GarageBand for Mac. I’m totally intimidated by desktop recording software. I went so far as to buy a Scarlett recording interface but that’s as far as I got. Looks cool on my desk though. 
 

More noodling with GarageBand for iPad and an iRig guitar interface. This time I played the bass and drums on the iPad and I played the three real guitar parts using the iRig and the amp models in GarageBand. You can kill it after 90 seconds, it just plays out. 
 

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/K84sq9D2Pwxbbu4Z6

[Goredho 17394]

Yeah, I graduated from GB to Logic Pro, but 90% of the time I’m only using the features that are the same between the two.  

[sidis 9820]

Couple of new tracks...

First one is a relatively ambitious project that I am working on...this is the mock up of a track that I'm doing for a friend's film.  Long lead in but after the hook starts, it gets a little more involved.  I am going to be recording the strings on this soon at Paul's studio.  Using BBC symphony plug in for now.  The little cello solo interlude at 4:40 in particular I am hoping will be greatly improved with live recording.  Anyway, I am pretty happy with it.  The key modulation from c minor to relative Eb major at the very end is giving me a bit of a hard time but I'll revisit once the strings are recorded.

 

Second one is some fun with guitar recording and my effort to play in time...with a shitload of looping and processing on the back end.  the guitar is my peach telecaster and the bass is a fender p-bass.  some experimentation with some reverb in the mixing and mastering.  i can't play the guitar very well compared to all the rest of you so there's nothing particularly challenging to the riffs.

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by sidis

[Goredho 17394]

Both are great, @sidis.  The first sounds like the slow build up to an avoidable tragedy... if only <blank>.  It’s going to sound amazing when you get the real strings in.  You are in full Hans Zimmer mode here and your compositions in that vein always seems to nail the evocation they are aiming for.

The second has that Edge/Explosions in the Sky thing going on real well.  Your timing sounds great to me.  You also move the things underneath the guitar in interesting ways and not always in lock step with the guitar, to where the layers of sound shift and slide and morph rather than abruptly change, and that’s cool.  I don’t think you are looking for the piece to be really dramatic, but you might consider making the quiet parts a little quieter and the louder parts a little louder.

Bravo!

Edited January 30, 2022 by Goredho