Beneath Revisited WIP (Slow Melodic Death)

[Heaven And Hell]

Not really a release yet, but more of a work in progress still.

I'm reworking Beneath, my only death metal tune so far, to get used to Shreddage2, Amplitube 3, and T-RackS.

This tune won't be on my album. It's just practice. That, and I wanted it to be finished.

All I need now is to finish working on tone, get my drums to some reasonable state (right now they're horrible), and add leads and intro sound effects.

I'm *almost* happy with my rhythm tone.

I slowed it down slightly from the original.

Here's my progress...Most recent at the top and original (with Electri6ity) at the bottom:

[robojam]

Definitely agree with you about the drums, particularly the snare. Would it benefit from a snappier snare in a higher register? To me though I think the drum problem is more that the drums and bass don't sit together well - the bass seems more tied to the guitar sound than the drums.

Maybe if you focus on a drums and bass mix separate you can get them to tie in better then trying mixing the guitar in?

Will be great to hear this progress to a finished piece though!

[Heaven And Hell]

That's something I need to learn to do; tying bass in with drums. I've always pretty much just mimicked guitar.

I'm limited in what drums I can use and I'm just using HALion4 for drums at the moment, but I'm also considering seeing what electronic drums might sound like with death. I suggested to Mark a few days ago that I see what '80s electric drums sound like with death, and he said no, don't even try it. I don't think I'll listen to him. :biggrin:

What do you think of the guitar tone so far? What about the intro? There are going to be sound effects similar to the original behind that clean guitar. Not the same as I don't have Alchemy anymore (just player, and that was a third-party sound), but something that I record and create on my own (there's a first for everything!).

[robojam]

I don't really mean the groove between drums and bass, more the cohesiveness of the two so that the drums and bass fit together in terms of sounds. Have you thought of looking for different drum samples online and loading them to Halion (can you do that?)? Or maybe there's a Reaktor ensemble in the UL that uses sampled drums that will work well?

I think the guitar sound is fine, to me it's the mix that needs some work. Once the drums are punching through I think it will make a big difference, but as they are now I think they're struggling against the guitar.

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

I. Fucking. LOVE IT!!! :rockon:

Seriously sick stuff Dax. Your guitar tone is FANTASTIC! And the way it just sounds like someone shredding...very clear and believable.

Are we going to hear some Dax IX screamo vocals over the top? I'd pay money for that! :p

Keep it up!

[Heaven And Hell]

:rockon:

Glad you like it! :D

My mix needs more work than my future leads that haven't been written yet, me thinks, but I'm really encouraged to hear you say that. :thumbsup: Super-heavy metal comes easily to me (see thread on KVR).

I've also been told that my tone might be a little heavy in the highs, but I like it.

Now to get those damn drums in order. :frustrated:

[Heaven And Hell]

I don't really mean the groove between drums and bass, more the cohesiveness of the two so that the drums and bass fit together in terms of sounds. Have you thought of looking for different drum samples online and loading them to Halion (can you do that?)? Or maybe there's a Reaktor ensemble in the UL that uses sampled drums that will work well?

I think the guitar sound is fine, to me it's the mix that needs some work. Once the drums are punching through I think it will make a big difference, but as they are now I think they're struggling against the guitar.

I'll see what I can do. I'm pretty sure I can load my own samples into HALion4, but I've never even done that with Kontakt, so I have no idea what I'm doing in that respect.

Thanks for the tip on getting the drums and bass to mix well with each other. I'll work on that today.

I think I also need to lower the intro clean guitar, too and take away some compression on the rhythm guitars. They sound muffled compared to the intro, even though I like the tone and they're mixed at a higher level than the intro.

[Ambient Mechanics]

Really cool sound, Dax..like S1gns said, it just sounds like someone shredding..and I honestly thought at first I was listening to a recording of somebody playing.

Got ot be honest and say I'm not into this style of music myself..too heavy for me, but is sounds every bit as good as anything else like it that I've heard over the years. Sorry, man, that's the best I can offer, with my rather limited understanding of metal. :blush:

[Heaven And Hell]

Thank you, I appreciate it.

When I was a teen and when I was in my early 20s I listed to a lot of very heavy music, and I played it when I was in a band, so it comes natural to me.

I actually need to work hard and think about it a lot to create Ambient. It just doesn't come as natural to me, even though I primarily listen to Ambient nowadays. :(

[Ambient Mechanics]

Thank you, I appreciate it.

When I was a teen and when I was in my early 20s I listed to a lot of very heavy music, and I played it when I was in a band, so it comes natural to me.

I actually need to work hard and think about it a lot to create Ambient. It just doesn't come as natural to me, even though I primarily listen to Ambient nowadays. :(

Wow..that's really interesting! To think you can do metal so easy and find it hard to ambient..and yet you founded this forum for ambient music?? Respect, man..big time! That's some jump to make..and I'm certainly glad you made it.

For me it's the other way round..never liked metal as a kid..it was just too loud..and Trash Metal in the 80's just kind of proved to me it was all crazy shit anyway. Then the years rolled by..life happened, as it tends to..and I came to understand that music is music and tastes change as the years go by..but I've always been into ambient in one form or another. I grew up on the likes of ELO, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk and a lot of electro English bands of the 80's, like OMD, Ultravox and Gary Newman. The heaviest I have ever really liked was some tracks by AC/DC..but I don't think they really count anymore as serious heavy stuff. :D

[Heaven And Hell]

Oh, I grew up on orchestral and electronic music like Vangelis and Tomita, and I absolutely love Yanni, but I was trying to be "cool" when I was in high school, and actually learned to appreciate heavy music. The first bands that I played when I was in high school were bands like Led Zepplin, but I got progressively heavier as the years went on, finally ending up on bands like Obituary and Sepultura.

But in the last ten years I've gone away from that and again I primarily listen to orchestral soundtracks and Ambient/electronic music again.

It's just that I used to dream of being a band unto myself for so long, even though I can't play guitar or drums (and really, I'm not very good on bass, either). Now, with computer music and sample libraries, it's all possible. :tu:

Right now I'm in a metal writing mood (even though I'm still not really listening to it) because I need to get some aggression out, but I'll be back to struggling with Ambient again once my album is finished.

Oh, and S1gns, remember, Dax IX does Ambient. Freak8/22 does Death.

[Ambient Mechanics]

Oh, I grew up on orchestral and electronic music like Vangelis and Tomita, and I absolutely love Yanni, but I was trying to be "cool" when I was in high school, and actually learned to appreciate heavy music. The first bands that I played when I was in high school were bands like Led Zepplin, but I got progressively heavier as the years went on, finally ending up on bands like Obituary and Sepultura.

But in the last ten years I've gone away from that and again I primarily listen to orchestral soundtracks and Ambient/electronic music again.

It's just that I used to dream of being a band unto myself for so long, even though I can't play guitar or drums (and really, I'm not very good on bass, either). Now, with computer music and sample libraries, it's all possible. :tu:

Right now I'm in a metal writing mood (even though I'm still not really listening to it) because I need to get some aggression out, but I'll be back to struggling with Ambient again once my album is finished.

Oh, and S1gns, remember, Dax IX does Ambient. Freak8/22 does Death.

It's funny really how many of us there are out there..who start out the same..go different roads musically..only to all end up bumping inot each other on forums like this later in life.

Thank God for forums..uh? ;)

[Heaven And Hell]

Oh, I grew up on orchestral and electronic music like Vangelis and Tomita, and I absolutely love Yanni, but I was trying to be "cool" when I was in high school, and actually learned to appreciate heavy music. The first bands that I played when I was in high school were bands like Led Zepplin, but I got progressively heavier as the years went on, finally ending up on bands like Obituary and Sepultura.

But in the last ten years I've gone away from that and again I primarily listen to orchestral soundtracks and Ambient/electronic music again.

It's just that I used to dream of being a band unto myself for so long, even though I can't play guitar or drums (and really, I'm not very good on bass, either). Now, with computer music and sample libraries, it's all possible. :tu:

Right now I'm in a metal writing mood (even though I'm still not really listening to it) because I need to get some aggression out, but I'll be back to struggling with Ambient again once my album is finished.

Oh, and S1gns, remember, Dax IX does Ambient. Freak8/22 does Death.

It's funny really how many of us there are out there..who start out the same..go different roads musically..only to all end up bumping inot each other on forums like this later in life.

Thank God for forums..uh? ;)

[Heaven And Hell]

I worked with the drums a little and boosted them, but now I'm getting a weird ducking effect with the guitars when you hear the cymbals. Plus they sound phasy.

I'll take any pointers anyone has to offer.

Yes, I think the drums are a little too forward in the mix now.

[Heaven And Hell]

Okay, the phasing was due to SoundCloud's encoding.

I've enabled downloads so you can hear what's really happening.