dream theater - stream of consciousness

[brianinogang]

Hi guys. howr u all? i just recorded this song for testing my overall tonality. i used my guitar settings on my entry on the "metal guitar wars" contest. I scrambled my drum and bass settings to sound very different from my past recordings. bash every aspect of this humble demo. Im gonna be needing all the help that i can get. thanks.

[PeterSimonRussell]

Originally Posted by brianinogang

Im gonna be needing all the help that i can get. thanks.

I'm not sure I really know what you want us to comment on.
The guitar sound is fine, the drums are not so fine.

Where are you going with this?

[rockerdude]

Guitars sound ok. The Drums sound midi sample fake to me.

[Vanan]

It has ASS (Annoying Snare Syndrome). Please refer to St. Anger. Otherwise, pretty nice sounding.

[cakewalkgg]

the guitars sound good. Are you actually gonna cover this tune? or just borrowed the general riff for a tone sample

[brianinogang]

Originally Posted by cakewalkgg

the guitars sound good.

Thanks dude. I know you're one of the guys who's also into prog metal coz your music in myspace kills!!

Originally Posted by cakewalkgg

Are you actually gonna cover this tune? or just borrowed the general riff for a tone sample

I guess a little bit of both. At first i just wanted to get the mix of DT but since i already started the back track, I might as well finish this whole damn song.hehe

Originally Posted by PeterSimonRussell

I'm not sure I really know what you want us to comment on.
The guitar sound is fine, the drums are not so fine..

Thanks bud. actually you got the flaw of the demo. Its the drums so i mixed it up a bit. it seems that I had overcompressed the previous track. I brickwalled it so it sounded so huge in a bad way. Anyway I beefed up the kick and the toms. Reduced some compression on the 2bus and then just added gain through knobs. take a swing on the next mix below. thanks.

Originally Posted by Vanan

It has ASS (Annoying Snare Syndrome). Please refer to St. Anger. Otherwise, pretty nice sounding.

ASS removed!! thanks for the listen and noticing it. i kinda though it was nice to listen at first but with your thoughts, i finally realized that i was just foolin myself lol. take a swing on the next mix below.

Originally Posted by Rockerdude

The Drums sound midi sample fake to me

yep the drums are midi alright but that's the best that i can do coz i dont have the extra time to have a band at these times. And also if you listen to the actual track, that's really how mike portnoy plays. He's so good that you would have mistaken the drum playing for a programmed player. Anyway I beefed up the drums the best I can. It was overcompressed the last time. Thanks for the thoughts coz it made me realize how the last mix sucked big time. Maybe take a swing on the next mix below. its longer coz i added parts earlier. Bash it and be completely honest like you always are. That kind of attidude is what makes us improve so give it all on the mix below. About the midi vocals, its underway. LOL. No but seriously, this song is an instrumental so im gonna do that in my next song.hehe.

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Stream of consciousness 3rd mix: LONGER, its now up to the first guitar solo of the song. beefed up the drums by eqing kick and toms. lessened compression on the 2bus and then added gain to the main control volume. eq'd guitars a bits. And most importantly, the 'TWANG' in the snare was also removed by adjusting the hit velocity. BASH THIS !!!!. John petrucci I dare you!!!(kidding)

[rockerdude]

I was joking about the midi vocals.I didn't know this was just an instrumental,sorry.

All this time spent on learning and recording a cover.
Why not record something original? I like covers but you have to change it add something or make it your own some way.
Do this song unpluged with hand percusion(bongos and shit)JK..........
I like this version better but the compression is still a little much,it's doing the whooooooof.

Nice guitar tone BTW.

I'll bet someone is working on the midi vocalist plugin.

Rock on, Rob

[String7th]

I like the guitars, gritty and fitting. But like Rockerdude said, all this time programming and recording a cover? If you programmed the drums from scratch you got talent and patience I could never have.

Also on the drums, Snare is obviously better on your mix-3, but kick and snare could use slight more room sound. I know it matches the real song, but it just sounds small to me.

Something needs to be done to the cymbal crashes, way too fake sounding and loud. Depending on the software you are using, I'd suggest taking a stereo mix of A: overheads at an 8 B: room mic at 5, and C: direct cymbal mics at 2 (on a scale of 1-10). Then, (depending how processed the samples already are) stereo compress and eq to be lighter and airy.

[brianinogang]

Originally Posted by rockerdude

I was joking about the midi vocals.I didn't know this was just an instrumental,sorry.

No harm done dude(rocker). A couple of laughs wouldnt hurt much.

Originally Posted by rockerdude

All this time spent on learning and recording a cover.

Yeah coz im trying to get the mix of one of my favorite bands - dream theater. what better do than just do a cover and then compare the mix. maybe after getting this down, im gonna make this as a template so when someone wants to record with me and wants a dream theater sound since everything here is DI, id be able to provide it.

Originally Posted by rockerdude

Do this song unpluged with hand percusion(bongos and shit)JK..........

LOL. i cant possible thing nor imagine how to that with this song.

Originally Posted by rockerdude

I like this version better but the compression is still a little much,it's doing the whooooooof.

Ok will lessen it further. gosh my ears are soaked in my mix and i dont even notice things not unless someone tells me bout it.

Originally Posted by rockerdude

Nice guitar tone BTW.

I'll bet someone is working on the midi vocalist plugin.

Rock on, Rob

thank you! haha and yeah about the midi vocal plugin, its totally a good idea by the way. it could give us a couple of million bucks if successful. LOL.

Thanks for the listen bro and I'll be keeping in touch. I wont give uptill this tracks gets done.

brian

[brianinogang]

Originally Posted by String7th

I like the guitars, gritty and fitting. But like Rockerdude said, all this time programming and recording a cover? If you programmed the drums from scratch you got talent and patience I could never have.

yep im programming this and doing this to get the mix of DT. Thanks for the appreciation on the labor side.hehe I get what you mean in programming this. I've been working on this for 2 days already but im only on the 2nd minute of the 10. my goal is to accomplish 1 minute per day. hehe. in a weeks time, im gonna be done(and also drained). well as they say, hard labor pays off coz im aiming learn some of mike portnoy's drumming techniques for application on my next songs. Im a guitarist mainly, so im gonna be needin some techniques for drumming to be able to make tracks of my own.

Originally Posted by String7th

Also on the drums, Snare is obviously better on your mix-3, but kick and snare could use slight more room sound. I know it matches the real song, but it just sounds small to me.

will do that. actually thats what i was thinkin but im a bit afraid to wash the tracks with reverb. gonna try now that you've said it. thanks man.

Originally Posted by String7th

Something needs to be done to the cymbal crashes, way too fake sounding and loud. Depending on the software you are using, I'd suggest taking a stereo mix of A: overheads at an 8 B: room mic at 5, and C: direct cymbal mics at 2 (on a scale of 1-10). Then, (depending how processed the samples already are) stereo compress and eq to be lighter and airy.

hey what plugin would you suggest that fits this? free or bought would do me good. got any ideas? i only use fruity compressor of fruity loops and stereo enhancer.

PS: All you guys, in the thread, if maybe you want the backing track of this one, i could share it when im done. Thanks for the ideas.