Speedrunning a Metalcore Chorus with MIDI and then deleting it
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- About my mix:
DAW: Reaper
Guitar: Shreddage 3 Hydra 3.0 (DI)
Guitar Amp: Omega Ampworks Granophyre
Bass: Umansky bass using the internal amp
Drums: GGD Matt Halpern Signature Pack
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I saw a video a few months back about writing electronic music and how a lot of producers only go into their DAW to write demos or final projects. With live instruments, we tend to just “jam” sometimes and it’s just as important to do that with electronic (programmed) music. Almost like getting in practice without the weight of needing to turn something in.
When I sit down to write a track, I’ve thought a lot about ideas and riffed around on guitar/drums or even sang some melodies that might all go into a track. Then I’ll sit down and build up a track from scratch. A lot of things end up getting shelved or scrapped and that’s alright. I choose to not document that process for a few reasons.
I never know what I am going to keep until I’ve spent weeks working on it. It would be a huge undertaking to record a few hours every other day for weeks on end, scrap it all and do it until I have something.
Since composing music is so special to me and such a personal process, I feel an extreme amount of stress/pressure. The classic problem of being able to nail a take 100x in a row and then going completely braindead when you hit record.
That being said, I frequently make things like this video where I just hop into my DAW and write something random with 0 direction, no intention to complete anything or make anything specific. Essentially just jamming with VSTs. This is completely unedited aside from overdubbing the final mix at the end for quality. Even all my boomer misclicks and moments of confusion. I think I may have resolved all my issues with OBS now but the audio quality does still suffer a tad. However, I did not rewatch the video before uploading.
What you’re seeing here is exactly what it looks like.. I just opened up a mix ready template I’ve saved and threw things I thought sounded good together. I had 0 inspiration, no ideas in my head or any specific goal. I knew I wanted to make something in F# Minor because I’d been working in drop E on the 8 string for a while. Other than that, how I create music is really this psychotic. If you’re wondering why I’ve done something like deleted a part or adjusted a melody..I really don’t know. I hear something and my brain seems to be 2 steps ahead of me. I hear 1 thing and it sparks ideas for more. Naturally, I just keep cooking and see what happens. I did not get very granular with the guitar programming because I didn't intend on keeping any of this. If I did intend on saving this project, I would have gone back through and spent about double this on it. Once I finished, I just closed out the project and stepped away. Mission successful. Hopefully sitting in on my jam session wasn’t as boring or annoying as it feels when I watch these back.
There is a Bass guitar jumpscare a few moments into the video. The downside of not having an intro or anything like that.
This one isn't meant to be a walkthrough or tutorial type vid. We just hopped into the DAW with the camera on to see what we'd see. See my description for details about the vid. I made it pretty detailed because I didn't add any voicecover to this one.
You might ask why I used hydra on the cleans.. No mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter and I refuse to sacrifice the tone of the high frets for ease of 1 VST. One of the biggest reasons I use hydra for leads is the lack of mutes past the 12th fret on Jupiter.
As for my drum programming..super rusty. I've been using my ekit more to program and didn't realize I'd be programming like a newborn deer lol.
A couple of things:
First of all, your overall sound is super recognizable! Maybe it is just me, but this template you have been using for what I believe is a fair share of your videos is fairly distinct compared to most other prog metal/djent projects.
The chorus is/was pretty good imo. The high point is definitely the lead. It gives the entire piece a special kind of 'flavor' while not being too distracting - could definitely see it being paired up with a mix of clean and harsh vocals. Drums were definitely rusty, buuuut I wouldn't call them 'newborn deer' level hahaha. I think that the kick pedal is the biggest offender. It could be both mixed in a slightly punchier manner and also be just programmed differently. The first two kicks in the measure accentuate the rhythm really well, but the rest just get eaten up in the mix and don't really contribute. My biggest issue with the chorus though is the rhythm guitar. For this kind of music, I think the only real option is huge, complex chords and some actual riffing. In fact, I can almost hear the actual riff in my head - dotted 8th/root, dotted 8th/whatever chord of choice, 4th/root, 8th/3rd and then a 4 16th note run. Add in a slightly different rhythm for other measures, put in some bends and pinches, and that would be fucking SLAMMIN I feel, hahaha
That aside, I do completely understand the need to simply 'take it easy' and kind of paint on the canvas with no restrictions and self-expectations. It is a special kind of bliss when you can just create with no pressure of what anyone, not even yourself, is going to think of the end result. One way or the other, I am just glad you are having fun :D
Which actually brings me to my very last point: thank you for the super, super detailed response on my last comment! It sucks to hear you have as little time for music creation as you do, but please know that you really bring me happiness with these uploads! In fact, I am sure that a lot of people appreciate them just as much. Thank you very much once again, and take care :D
I've definitely had my own sound for a while even though the template has gone through a lot. I tend to be aiming for the same sound but continuously get closer to getting the sounds correctly haha. I have to invest in some monitors or headphones meant for mixing to really focus on my mixes tbh. I've been using a pretty unreliable pair of monitors for a really long time.
I agree with you on the drums. They're serviceable but I'd say this is just a quick hit, let's get a rough idea type thing. Closer to a rough sketch of something I'd write :)
You nailed it with the way you're explaining it. So, normally I'd write this and then write vocals. Once I have that vocal melody, I'd either leave the rhythm guitar very simple to give the vocals room to shine or I'd spice up the rhythm if I felt like there was room for it. My one song with vocals here isn't really a good example compared to everything else I've done..but my vocals and vocal melodies are normally dense like pop vocals. Lots of catchy melodies and hooks. So, it's hard hearing the instrumentals that sound a bit bland or repetitive. Once you put in the very melodic vocals on top, it makes a lot more sense. I've never been much of a lead player, so I think I fill up a lot of the space with vocals instead.
Sometimes, it is a bit hard to show the restraint on the instrumental. It's even a struggle when working with other people because you do want everything to shine in some way but it's hard to see the whole picture when you have multiple creative minds going at it.
I highly recommend this to anyone. It really takes a lot of stress out of writing music to just care free mess around. Nothing can be wrong, nothing can suck and it doesn't matter what it sounds like. Going into it without the expectations makes it so much better when you just happen to make something that really inspires you.
You're welcome! I'm always happy to talk about music with people. I'm really glad you dig the videos and it does a lot seeing people comment. Unfortunately, my job pays the bills and funds home repairs on my old beat up house. Both eat up quite a bit of time/brain power. Music and video games remain my favorite hobbies though :)