This is pretty epic, real epic really.

This is pretty epic, real epic really.

My jaw dropped within seconds when I hit play on this one. Stunning work. Welcome back!

My jaw dropped within seconds when I hit play on this one. Stunning work. Welcome back!

Oh wow a lot of work and talent went into this one. That's so proggy! Opeth vibe! How long did that one take you? Super tasty guitar, the vocals are really good. Impressive stuff! You put the bar very very high this year!

Oh wow a lot of work and talent went into this one. That's so proggy! Opeth vibe! How long did that one take you? Super tasty guitar, the vocals are really good. Impressive stuff! You put the bar very very high this year!

The fictional language is surprisingly convincing! My favorite two parts are
1) the little music interlude (particularly the bass line) before the "ancients who made creation" bit
2) that whole ancients section. The vocals flow so perfectly on the odd meter.

Great job!

The fictional language is surprisingly convincing! My favorite two parts are 1) the little music interlude (particularly the bass line) before the "ancients who made creation" bit 2) that whole ancients section. The vocals flow so perfectly on the odd meter. Great job!

this is really cool

i keep being surprised

this is really cool i keep being surprised

Like mentioned already, this is epic... Like the vocals that reminds me Rush. Happy you are back, didn't think I would do it again after 3020 and here I am.

Like mentioned already, this is epic... Like the vocals that reminds me Rush. Happy you are back, didn't think I would do it again after 3020 and here I am.

Love the vocal style. Great progressions. Very ambitious and well done!

Love the vocal style. Great progressions. Very ambitious and well done!

Listening to this track build up as it goes along is so satisfying. The processing on the vocals is pretty spicy too, they sound perfect for the mix. Nice track! Good to see you back at it again, best of luck this year.

Listening to this track build up as it goes along is so satisfying. The processing on the vocals is pretty spicy too, they sound perfect for the mix. Nice track! Good to see you back at it again, best of luck this year.

oh my goodness this riff is pure fire

how did you do the drums?

the fake language is super rad

oh my goodness this riff is pure fire how did you do the drums? the fake language is super rad

Super nice progression and melody! Nice work dude

Super nice progression and melody! Nice work dude :)

Oh wow this is some NICE prog, props for making almost a 7 minute tune for week 1! Those vocals sounds sick

Oh wow this is some NICE prog, props for making almost a 7 minute tune for week 1! Those vocals sounds sick :)

downloaded this, listening again

downloaded this, listening again

yeah this is wild. great stuff. love the vocals.

yeah this is wild. great stuff. love the vocals.

Glad you're back dude, I really dig your stuff! Complex and very enjoyable

Glad you're back dude, I really dig your stuff! Complex and very enjoyable :)

Awesome work on the track.  Really like the guitar lines and heavy riffs to the track.  The metal stuff really does benefit from awesome production hey and it's trickier that what some people may think.  When you think the production is crap, you can just say it's black metal influenced.  Hehe.

Awesome work on the track. Really like the guitar lines and heavy riffs to the track. The metal stuff really does benefit from awesome production hey and it's trickier that what some people may think. When you think the production is crap, you can just say it's black metal influenced. Hehe.

Google translate told me that this is just a song about pizza. go figure!

Google translate told me that this is just a song about pizza. go figure! [url="https://64.media.tumblr.com/7cbe47c2ca4e512dab296b6aaabed346/tumblr_p9ofpmWmyB1vrro81o1_500.gif"][img]https://media1.giphy.com/media/wiUR0nqWNf0o1xwDx3/giphy.gif?cid=790b76115d5e89c9b1dbbff903cf1ad48384edc15317ef48&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g[/img][/url]

This is a fantastic first week track. Really looking forward to listening to more of your stuff this year!

This is a fantastic first week track. Really looking forward to listening to more of your stuff this year!

Ohh dang had me with that intro guitar. Loving the crunch of it just on it's own.  The progressive chops are head nodders and had me air_guitarin' along. Super thick track!  \m/

Ohh dang had me with that intro guitar. Loving the crunch of it just on it's own. The progressive chops are head nodders and had me air_guitarin' along. Super thick track! \m/

great contract between the feel of the instruments. the wall-of-sound vocal production worked well

great contract between the feel of the instruments. the wall-of-sound vocal production worked well

A lot of work went into this one last week, most of it was front loaded. I had a couple of riffs ideas that I wanted to turn into a song so I didn't really need to find a starting point, I just needed to flesh it out into a song first, then some rough ideas for drums, and bass. I got that done in maybe the first 4 days or so, spent the remaining time trying to coax the drums into sounding more interesting and realestic, EQing stuff, and writing the lyrics and recording the vocals. The fictional language was me trying to build a roadmap for a melody but I couldn't find words to replace the sounds so I just rolled with it.

Thank you! The drums are from the studio drummer instrument in Kontakt. I've never actually played drums, so I just make my best guess as to how they should sound based on what I listen to haha. I tap out the beat in increments on my midi keyboard, like bass and snare on one take, hat patterns on the other. Then I just click and drag, add extra stuff, adjust the velocities, ect. It's pretty time intensive, I still need to find better ways of writing drum parts. Honestly I might do more the fictional language thing. It's kind of fun and unique. One of the barriers that prevents me from writing vocals more often is that I get writers block on the lyrics even though I have a melody in my head. Fake language kind of circumvents that .

Coming back for a second listen is honestly the biggest compliment. haha.

Haha yeah, one of my favorite bands who is known for jumping between genres often did a black metal record once and, because they had zero budget, they opted to just record themselves playing the album live at a show and releasing it that way. Then they said "You can get away with shit production if its black metal".

Pizza be flowing through the lifestream

Thanks, although I think I went a little too all in on this one and it'll probably be a while before I come up with something this good again, haha. This was one of those few instances where I could like, hear the song in my head. I knew what it should be and it was a matter of trying to make it that way. Now my brain is all like "Yeah that was cool but now what".

Thanks! The guitar is flashier here than I would normally write, haha. I was messing around with hammer on pull off riffs and I found some patterns that were fun to play so I basically built most of the song around that idea.

I sort of feel like I'm cheating when I take the wall-of-sound vocal approach because what I'm partially doing is masking my crappy singing, but I do really like how it came out here too . I can't do this on every song though, this one in particular was well suited because it's supposed to be about a civilization meeting their end so the numerous voices *could* be "them" singing. Since it worked here well though I'm just going to store the method in my writing toolkit.

Thanks! The ancient section took a lot of trial and error to get right. I basically wrote some stuff down, recorded it until it felt stilted, stopped and fixed the lyrics, then wrote more and kept going. The only thing I knew for sure I wanted in there was a word being repeated rhythmically for the listener's ear to gravitate towards which ended up being Zodiark. Oh and I wanted the vocals to gradually rise to give the whole thing forward momentum. If this were ever performed live it would be a pain in the ass to sing over the guitar while remembering the lyrics and finding a place to take a breath, haha.

[quote=Kedbreak136]Oh wow a lot of work and talent went into this one. That's so proggy! Opeth vibe! How long did that one take you? Super tasty guitar, the vocals are really good. Impressive stuff! You put the bar very very high this year![/quote] A lot of work went into this one last week, most of it was front loaded. I had a couple of riffs ideas that I wanted to turn into a song so I didn't really need to find a starting point, I just needed to flesh it out into a song first, then some rough ideas for drums, and bass. I got that done in maybe the first 4 days or so, spent the remaining time trying to coax the drums into sounding more interesting and realestic, EQing stuff, and writing the lyrics and recording the vocals. The fictional language was me trying to build a roadmap for a melody but I couldn't find words to replace the sounds so I just rolled with it. [quote=orangedrink]oh my goodness this riff is pure fire how did you do the drums? the fake language is super rad[/quote] Thank you! The drums are from the studio drummer instrument in Kontakt. I've never actually played drums, so I just make my best guess as to how they should sound based on what I listen to haha. I tap out the beat in increments on my midi keyboard, like bass and snare on one take, hat patterns on the other. Then I just click and drag, add extra stuff, adjust the velocities, ect. It's pretty time intensive, I still need to find better ways of writing drum parts. Honestly I might do more the fictional language thing. It's kind of fun and unique. One of the barriers that prevents me from writing vocals more often is that I get writers block on the lyrics even though I have a melody in my head. Fake language kind of circumvents that :P. [quote=orangedrink]downloaded this, listening again[/quote] Coming back for a second listen is honestly the biggest compliment. haha. <3 [quote=rdomain]Awesome work on the track. Really like the guitar lines and heavy riffs to the track. The metal stuff really does benefit from awesome production hey and it's trickier that what some people may think. When you think the production is crap, you can just say it's black metal influenced. Hehe.[/quote] Haha yeah, one of my favorite bands who is known for jumping between genres often did a black metal record once and, because they had zero budget, they opted to just record themselves playing the album live at a show and releasing it that way. Then they said "You can get away with shit production if its black metal". [quote=Ipaghost]Google translate told me that this is just a song about pizza. go figure! [url="https://64.media.tumblr.com/7cbe47c2ca4e512dab296b6aaabed346/tumblr_p9ofpmWmyB1vrro81o1_500.gif"][img]https://media1.giphy.com/media/wiUR0nqWNf0o1xwDx3/giphy.gif?cid=790b76115d5e89c9b1dbbff903cf1ad48384edc15317ef48&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g[/img][/url][/quote] Pizza be flowing through the lifestream [quote=hent03]This is a fantastic first week track. Really looking forward to listening to more of your stuff this year![/quote] Thanks, although I think I went a little too all in on this one and it'll probably be a while before I come up with something this good again, haha. This was one of those few instances where I could like, hear the song in my head. I knew what it should be and it was a matter of trying to make it that way. Now my brain is all like "Yeah that was cool but now what". [quote=Tone Matrix]Ohh dang had me with that intro guitar. Loving the crunch of it just on it's own. The progressive chops are head nodders and had me air_guitarin' along. Super thick track! \m/[/quote] Thanks! The guitar is flashier here than I would normally write, haha. I was messing around with hammer on pull off riffs and I found some patterns that were fun to play so I basically built most of the song around that idea. [quote=trumbuthegn]great contract between the feel of the instruments. the wall-of-sound vocal production worked well[/quote] I sort of feel like I'm cheating when I take the wall-of-sound vocal approach because what I'm partially doing is masking my crappy singing, but I do really like how it came out here too :). I can't do this on every song though, this one in particular was well suited because it's supposed to be about a civilization meeting their end so the numerous voices *could* be "them" singing. Since it worked here well though I'm just going to store the method in my writing toolkit. [quote=blighters_rock]The fictional language is surprisingly convincing! My favorite two parts are 1) the little music interlude (particularly the bass line) before the "ancients who made creation" bit 2) that whole ancients section. The vocals flow so perfectly on the odd meter. Great job![/quote] Thanks! The ancient section took a lot of trial and error to get right. I basically wrote some stuff down, recorded it until it felt stilted, stopped and fixed the lyrics, then wrote more and kept going. The only thing I knew for sure I wanted in there was a word being repeated rhythmically for the listener's ear to gravitate towards which ended up being Zodiark. Oh and I wanted the vocals to gradually rise to give the whole thing forward momentum. If this were ever performed live it would be a pain in the ass to sing over the guitar while remembering the lyrics and finding a place to take a breath, haha.

I imagine your single voice singing is better than you think. Anyway, I wouldn’t consider the wall-of-sound-method any more cheating then a choir or ensemble with instruments in unison This studio technique in a way is a a-synchronous choir, and sounds good because of the natural chorus effect. (In my experience, a wall-of-sound in the background of the mix, will often make a solo voice on top of that sound better too.)

[quote=ViridianLoom][quote=trumbuthegn]great contract between the feel of the instruments. the wall-of-sound vocal production worked well[/quote] I sort of feel like I'm cheating when I take the wall-of-sound vocal approach because what I'm partially doing is masking my crappy singing, but I do really like how it came out here too :). I can't do this on every song though, this one in particular was well suited because it's supposed to be about a civilization meeting their end so the numerous voices *could* be "them" singing. Since it worked here well though I'm just going to store the method in my writing toolkit. [/quote] I imagine your single voice singing is better than you think. Anyway, I wouldn’t consider the wall-of-sound-method any more cheating then a choir or ensemble with instruments in unison :) This studio technique in a way is a a-synchronous choir, and sounds good because of the natural chorus effect. (In my experience, a wall-of-sound in the background of the mix, will often make a solo voice on top of that sound better too.)

This track had me when the guitar started playing at 0:00:01.

This track had me when the guitar started playing at 0:00:01.

This is awesome!! Absolutely epic stuff.

Not for nothing but I'd love to hear the guitar with some stereo spread, either the ol "two tracks, panned left and right, but one's like 11ms off" trick or some other thingdoodle?

I'm very excited for what you do next!

This is awesome!! Absolutely epic stuff. Not for nothing but I'd love to hear the guitar with some stereo spread, either the ol "two tracks, panned left and right, but one's like 11ms off" trick or some other thingdoodle? I'm very excited for what you do next!

Haha thanks, the thing that was actually uncharacteristic of me on this one is that I normally DO double track the guitars on my metal songs but for some reason this one actually just sounded pretty decent already with the one guitar, so I was worried that I might ruin a good thing haha. Maybe it would have been even better with another guitar though. The additional harmonics created by distortion make things sound even better.

[quote=scottux]This is awesome!! Absolutely epic stuff. Not for nothing but I'd love to hear the guitar with some stereo spread, either the ol "two tracks, panned left and right, but one's like 11ms off" trick or some other thingdoodle? I'm very excited for what you do next![/quote] Haha thanks, the thing that was actually uncharacteristic of me on this one is that I normally DO double track the guitars on my metal songs but for some reason this one actually just sounded pretty decent already with the one guitar, so I was worried that I might ruin a good thing haha. Maybe it would have been even better with another guitar though. The additional harmonics created by distortion make things sound even better.

Yeah, I think it was just about the guitar sounding pushed back in the mix more than I imagined it would be, but you're right about the tone being pretty killer already. Sorry for the unsolicited mixing suggestion! The song is honestly really great as is

[quote=ViridianLoom][quote=scottux]This is awesome!! Absolutely epic stuff. Not for nothing but I'd love to hear the guitar with some stereo spread, either the ol "two tracks, panned left and right, but one's like 11ms off" trick or some other thingdoodle? I'm very excited for what you do next![/quote] Haha thanks, the thing that was actually uncharacteristic of me on this one is that I normally DO double track the guitars on my metal songs but for some reason this one actually just sounded pretty decent already with the one guitar, so I was worried that I might ruin a good thing haha. Maybe it would have been even better with another guitar though. The additional harmonics created by distortion make things sound even better.[/quote] Yeah, I think it was just about the guitar sounding pushed back in the mix more than I imagined it would be, but you're right about the tone being pretty killer already. Sorry for the unsolicited mixing suggestion! The song is honestly really great as is

I could actually use all the mixing advice. This year I'm actually trying to focus more on producing good sounding tracks. I think the general lesson though is that it wouldn't hurt to record another guitar track and then just A/B it to see if the single or doubled guitars sounds better. This song probably could have at least benefited from it on the chorded chunky riffs. So yeah, continue to drop feedback on the mix because I appreciate it.

[quote=scottux][quote=ViridianLoom][quote=scottux]This is awesome!! Absolutely epic stuff. Not for nothing but I'd love to hear the guitar with some stereo spread, either the ol "two tracks, panned left and right, but one's like 11ms off" trick or some other thingdoodle? I'm very excited for what you do next![/quote] Haha thanks, the thing that was actually uncharacteristic of me on this one is that I normally DO double track the guitars on my metal songs but for some reason this one actually just sounded pretty decent already with the one guitar, so I was worried that I might ruin a good thing haha. Maybe it would have been even better with another guitar though. The additional harmonics created by distortion make things sound even better.[/quote] Yeah, I think it was just about the guitar sounding pushed back in the mix more than I imagined it would be, but you're right about the tone being pretty killer already. Sorry for the unsolicited mixing suggestion! The song is honestly really great as is[/quote] I could actually use all the mixing advice. This year I'm actually trying to focus more on producing good sounding tracks. I think the general lesson though is that it wouldn't hurt to record another guitar track and then just A/B it to see if the single or doubled guitars sounds better. This song probably could have at least benefited from it on the chorded chunky riffs. So yeah, continue to drop feedback on the mix because I appreciate it.