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| If I Had the Time by Surak | 2 days ago |
| I think I know what Obie's talking about, but it's been a feature of your stuff for a while now; I've been assuming that it's a deliberate attempt to recreate the dark, quiet sound of 70s rock, since you've produced much brighter stuff in the past. So go on, how do you make three rhythm guitars sound like six? Pan and delay enough to trick the ear via the Haas effect? -Eido |
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| Africa (Supporting the ONE.org campaign) by ckrohm | 3 days ago |
| A superb song -- one of the best I've heard on iComp in quite some time -- and all the more special for being in honour of such a worthy cause. My hat is off to you all. -Eido |
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| Why Do You Do This ? (New Vocals) by calummorris1993 | 3 days ago |
Rhythm guitars are sounding good now. The lead is a little on the loud side in the first solo, although it sounds good on the second -- which, incidentally, is another great solo. The clean riff still screams Pantera to me, but it's a good riff.  -Eido |
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| Master Marner (With Vocals Potentially Final) by calummorris1993 | 3 days ago |
| Ha, that'll teach me to submit my comment before the song's finished! I'd just like to add that the outro guitar solo is excellent -- energetic, tasteful, interesting and very, very cool. Good job, dude. -Eido |
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| Master Marner (With Vocals Potentially Final) by calummorris1993 | 3 days ago |
| Ah, great stuff -- I love the new riffs. Now the song has its own identity. I also like what you're doing with the vocal arrangements: the layering at the end of the chorus works very well, making those words leap out. The bridge is excellent too, and the build up into the guitar solo is great. Overall this is a skilfully crafted song, and a good addition to your repertoire. -Eido |
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| Aggressive Evil - Ripped And Scorned mp3 by AggReSsiVeeViL | 3 days ago |
| Wow. This is pretty out there. I'd like to hear either more or less variety in the drum part; the first pattern is really bizarre, but goes on for long enough that I don't really expect it to change. When it changes to the rather more straight-up second beat, but the rest of the music doesn't shift correspondingly, it feels out of place. To be honest, though, I don't think I get what you're doing so you should probably just ignore me. -Eido |
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| Gone Insane by Lightning31 | 3 days ago |
| Very nice! For the first guitar solo, I'd suggest fading that final note out, rather than hacking it off short; as it is, it feels too abrupt. I love the clean section, and the solo that finishes it is great; the rhythm part that follows really throws the lead guitar into centre stage in a way that doesn't happen a lot these days, like people are ashamed to be talented nowadays or something. I blame Korn. -Eido |
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| Double evil ( solo mix edit) by fminorpenta | 3 days ago |
| I like the first section a lot. The performance is tight, and although the rhythm guitar tone is a bit nasal and high-pitched it works well for the thrashy stuff you're playing. The second section is a bit mystifying. The drums seem a lot quieter in this section, so I have trouble keeping track of where the beat is. As a result, the riff doesn't seem as tight. A stronger rhythm would help here. The third section starts off with the louder drums kicking back in, which is a welcome return, and the performance seems to tighten up again. The solo is interesting; it's pyrotechnic and impressive, but it seems far too short to me. The opening flurry of notes is awesome, then the string bend section provides some excellent contrast and dynamics -- but then I'm expecting something else, like another fast section, and instead the song just ends. I want more! -Eido |
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| fatal prophecy by hazzaslagga | 3 days ago |
| Fairly tight throughout, although such a fast rhythm guitar part could benefit from even more precision (but don't get me wrong, if you haven't been playing long it's a good effort). The lead guitars sound quite buried throughout much of the song, though, and they're also periodically out of tune; it might be an intonation problem if you tuned the guitar in before recording each part. (Try comparing the pitch of a twelfth-fret harmonic with a twelfth-fret fretted note; if they aren't identical, you have intonation problems.) You also have a few issues with clipping; it sounds like the rhythm guitars are too loud. Watch out for the level meters going into the red when you're recording; if the small red light next to the meters is lighting up, you need to turn down the input level. All that said, it's a damn good song; your composition skills are excellent. The intro works well, the entrance of the drums is suitably dramatic, the riffs are simple but very effective, the melodies are pleasing, the choice of drum loops is unobtrusive. You clearly have a good ear for song-writing and production (in the sense of song arrangement). I look forward to hearing more from you! -Eido |
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| Untitled by The_Gryson_Orchestra | 3 days ago |
| In the intro, is that just the reverb tail of the synth after each pulse, or is there another synth going on too? What are the synths involved? The echo (though not the pulsing synth itself) reminds me of a sound I've heard in a couple of places before and would like to be able to recreate myself, except that I'm totally hopeless with synths. I like the lo-fi quality; it's pretty unique, although I'm not sure if I could stand to listen to it for long periods. The melodies are good too; like in Contemplation, the result is a powerful atmosphere. -Eido |
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| If I Had the Time (rough mix 1) by Surak | 3 days ago |
| I like the vibe a lot. I was expecting to be dubious about the spoken-word parts, but they actually worked well for me. The lead vocal sounded a little flat in a few places, though, and for my taste the drums are too loud: I'd like to hear more guitar and bass and less double bass mania. The vocals feel about right, though -- somewhere in the middle, so at about the right place on average. -Eido |
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| Inner Sanctum by Arden_Shik | 8 days ago |
| Exceptionally cohesive for an all-loops piece -- good job. When the distorted rhythm guitars first kick in, the low end sounds overly busy to me -- I can't tell if it's distorting because it's too loud, or if there's just so much mayhem going on that I can't resolve individual instruments out of the chaos. I'm guessing that huge bass tone is contributing to the problem, because even when I can make it out, it sounds like a frequency hog. I like the electro touches, though, and as I mentioned it does a good job of sounding like a song rather than a bunch of loops. -Eido |
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| Contemplation by The_Gryson_Orchestra | 8 days ago |
| I'm guessing you don't particularly enjoy waiting, then. Sounds pretty distorted; to an extent it sounds as though that might be intentional, but some of the clipping is on the wrong side of irritating for me. I like the lead playing, though, and the backing is atmospheric and suitably tense. -Eido |
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| Flood of Blood by Arden_Shik | 9 days ago |
| That's some pretty major whammy abuse -- love the warbling stuff. Makes me long for the days when I had a guitar with a floating trem myself. Is this really all loops, and if so, which set? I don't think I've heard such rockin' loops here before... -Eido |
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| Master Marner (no vocals yet) by calummorris1993 | 9 days ago |
| One of the riffs here sounds very similar to a riff in Song Writing For Idiots, unless my ears deceive me -- you might want to tweak it a little to give the songs distinct identities unless it's deliberate. Also, personally I'd have played the clean guitar bit in the middle more legato (flowing, the notes joined together) and a bit more gently; as it is it sounds uneven to me, although that might be personal taste. Aside from that the main thing I'd suggest is working on technique as much as possible -- the tighter your playing is, the easier it is to get great results! -Eido |
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| Divided by Destiny by juzcook | 9 days ago |
| Very nice riffage -- I love the structure, especially the periodic brief stops. Very effective. You've got some clipping going on again, or possibly excessive compression -- is there a limiter on the track? It's easiest to hear near the start right after the riff where the rhythm jumps from one speaker to the other -- the drum hit that follows sounds muffled and a bit squashy rather than snappy. I'd also suggest that the solos are a bit loud. But it's a damn cool song, and it'll work great live. -Eido |
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| Stones' Flash by cosimobest91 | 10 days ago |
| Cool song, although it could benefit from a tighter performance. In the fast bits the palm-muted guitars and drums have a tendency to drift apart from one another, and the lead guitar line that comes in quite early on sounds like one of the strings is flat (a problem which doesn't affect the main solo). I'd also be tempted to put the main guitar solo a little more central in the mix -- at the moment it feels like it's sharing the spotlight with the rest of the band. -Eido |
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| When Angels Die - final mix by NnitehawkK | 15 days ago |
Great job, guys, sounds huge. Nice improvement over the previous mix. My positive comments all still stand (so I hope you kept a copy of them  ).-Eido |
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| No idea? (Working title) by HayleyDeakin | 15 days ago |
| This track had me from the first bar. Despite your critical remarks about the mix, I actually found it very easy to listen to for the most part. The only thing that doesn't work for me is the guitar tone, which has the jar-of-angry-wasps quality that I associate with distortion pedals and Digitech multi-FX processors. If you can EQ it independently of the other instruments, do so -- you may well find a usable tone lurking under the fizz, although you might have to take extreme measures to get there. But aside from that, I like the mix a lot. It's unconventional, sure -- darker than most modern mixes, and the balance is unusual, but that gives it a character that modern production lacks, and the same applies to the vocals, which are much more natural and nuanced because of their minor imperfections than the polished, perfect Pro Tools cut'n'paste jobs that a lot of studios serve up these days. Personally I'd suggest that you keep doing exactly what you're doing -- I'd much rather listen to this vocal performance than if you'd recorded a hundred takes and pasted together the best syllable from each one to make the finished track. Musically, this reminds me in places of early (pre-Fallen) Evanescence, before they developed their commercial sound. I very much like the twists and turns in the music, and the instrumental passages -- very effective. I'd suggest tweaking the end a little -- I can see why you've opted for a fade-out, but it feels rather abrupt at the moment. Perhaps you could introduce a lead guitar and take twice as long to fade out, or something along those lines. Good luck with the band -- please let us hear some more! -Eido |
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| A little solo idea by fminorpenta | 15 days ago |
| I'm hearing an interesting collection of scales and arpeggios, but at the moment I'm not hearing a great deal of melody. Partly this is likely to be down to personal taste, because I've always preferred melodic lead to shredding, but I'm not hearing a huge amount of organisation -- just some moderately fast playing with a few fast runs thrown in for good measure. I'd suggest trying to introduce some specific melodic phrases and putting the fast stuff and the sweeps in between, rather than constructing the whole solo from that kind of thing -- if it has a memorable tune in addition to the pyrotechnics it's going to add more to the song in the long run. -Eido |
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| 2 L8 4 SKOOL by farhanwidiaxana | 15 days ago |
| Do you like the English band Paradise Lost? I ask because the piano riff reminds me a lot of the kind of thing they've been doing on their post-Draconian Times albums -- I could totally hear a riff like that on their self-titled album, for example. -Eido |
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| Ex Astra Cuniculus -4- Dues Ex Machina (final) by Surak | 15 days ago |
| Yup, best mix yet. Sometimes less is more. Good job. -Eido |
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| Rainroom (Katatonia Cover) 1st mix by adamel | 15 days ago |
| I'm familiar with most of Katatonia's work after they reformed (Discouraged Ones onwards) but have never listened to Brave Murder Day. This track makes me think I should. What amp models are you using on the POD? Just curious. I think the guitar tone you've got works great for the riffs in the instrumental sections, but it feels a bit on the distorted side to me when it's behind the growled lead vocals. For that kind of repetitious chord sequence you really need something with a lot of clarity, and when the lead vocals are in the mix the rhythm guitars are tending to fade back into a wall of noise. When the song switches to the harmony guitar riffs, though, it sounds amazing. The clean guitar tone is also lovely, and the drums sound considerably better than the original (which I'm now playing from YouTube for comparison).The growled lead vocals are awesome -- really, really good. The sung vocals I'm less excited about; I know Katatonia's sung vocals have always tended to be mellow to the point of being soporific, but I think they'd be improved here with a little more energy -- it sounds too much like someone trying to sing in a particular way, if that makes sense, rather than someone singing in their natural voice but just being relaxed about it. Overall this is a great cover, and in many respects it sounds much better than the original while still capturing its mood, which is a great achievement. -Eido |
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| Dead reckoning by NnitehawkK | 15 days ago |
| Excellent, atmospheric song. I'm not familiar with Tool, but it reminds me of A Perfect Circle, and I gather those two bands have features in common (including band members). There are several places where the tuning on the lead vocal could use some tweaking, but the vocal delivery is interesting and varied, and the rest of the performances sound great. The mix sounds a little on the busy side, but I actually like that -- it gives the listener more to explore, if they're of a mind to do so. This is one of the most interesting songs I've heard on iComp for some time -- good job. -Eido |
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| Twenty-Twelve (v1.1) by juzcook | 15 days ago |
| Very powerful, but sounds like it's been brick-walled to within an inch of its life, Rick Rubin style. Personally I'd prefer to hear a little more dynamics, especially in sections where you have a heavily palm-muted riff that suddenly opens up into chords -- that's a killer riff, but it would sound even more impressive if there was a little more variation between the tones; the trouble with brick-walling to such an extent is that everything starts to sound the same. The song-writing does help to compensate for that, though -- it's an interesting song full of twists and turns, and the start and end are both excellent as well, so overall it's a very satisfying listen. -Eido |
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| Running From Fate (Orchestral) by juzcook | 19 days ago |
| Dude. That was freakin' awesome. I'm glad it happened to be in your weekly top plays, otherwise I'd have missed it -- drop me a message if you upload any more of this stuff. Otherwise I'll be back to plunder your MySpace page at some point. Very nice work! -Eido |
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| Latest Version II by WettonFan | 19 days ago |
| Hmm. I think I actually prefer the previous mix. (Sorry.) When listening on my MacBook speakers I could really tell any difference between the two; I switched to earphones and started flicking from one to the other, and the only real difference I can detect is that both the guitars and drums sound less bright -- the guitar sounds warmer but less aggressive, and the snare just sounds quieter -- indeed, the rhythm guitar and snare sounded better balanced in the first mix. (I still like the song a lot, though -- when I saw that this was a repost I was pleased when I remembered which song it was. )-Eido |
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| why dont u leave by empressd | 20 days ago |
| Interesting and unusual. When the track starts, it reminds me a little of the vibe on parts of Madonna's Ray of Light album; a little later on, I get hints of Nine Inch Nails (I think it's the vocal melodies that do it). A couple of production points: the vocals are overwhelmingly loud, to the point that on my laptop speakers I can barely hear the backing in several places (it doesn't help that the backing track sounds very busy and dense). There are also some tuning oddities -- a few places where the vocals and lead guitars don't sit together well, although I can't tell which is deviating from the chords in the background because they're too soft. A couple of auto-tune tweaks would help out a lot here -- nothing huge, just some subtle nudges to make everything line up better. This is a promising first stab at the genre -- I suggest you keep doing what you're doing! -Eido |
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| Birth Kontrol-Berserk by juisthelaw | 22 days ago |
| Very distinctive sound -- as you say, it's too bad you guys didn't survive and prosper! I particularly like the section where the song suddenly shoots off on a swirly tangent -- totally unexpected but superbly executed. For what it's worth the drums don't sound so sloppy to me -- indeed, I like the variation in the beats a lot. Suits the crazy nature of the music perfectly. I suppose a reunion is out of the question? -Eido |
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| PostUploadSyndrome by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| Nice to hear another slower, more reflective piece. I like the mood here a lot. Again it makes me think a little of game music -- probably because I played a lot of shareware games with MIDI soundtracks in the 90s -- but I mean that as a compliment, because a lot of those musicians were extremely talented, especially considering what they had to work with -- which I think applies to you too. -Eido |
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| OGRE by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| The clipping I mentioned on another track seems to be back here with a vengeance -- the big chords at the start of the song sound like they're breaking up. Watch out for that -- it gets in the way of an otherwise nicely constructed song. -Eido |
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| Something to Die For by hacked_to_pieces | 22 days ago |
| Damn, hacked, you're good at this stuff. I can always count on you for super-tight covers. One mix thing -- the closed hi-hat seems to be surprisingly loud relative to the rest of the mix; either that, or it's oddly obtrusive on my MacBook speakers for some reason. The rest of the mix is dense and sounds well-balanced -- the drums punch through, the guitars are thick and heavy, possibly with a gentle hint of clipping but nothing too serious. Very nice work! -Eido |
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| Petal by Lukeaef | 22 days ago |
| Intriguing chromatic riff. It reminds me of some of the stranger material on Dream Theater's Scenes From A Memory. The drums could use a little variation in velocities to sound more natural -- in a few places they sound a bit machine-gun. The crazy dissonant arpeggios toward the end sound terrific, though. -Eido |
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| Latest by WettonFan | 22 days ago |
| I'd say this works pretty darn well. I'm never very convinced by GarageBand's distorted guitars, but the cleans sound terrific here -- I did a double-take when I saw that there weren't any real instruments in this track. The Hammond stuff works very well in my opinion, and sound very natural. I'm enormously impressed with how natural your sounds are in general, actually -- I didn't know GarageBand had it in it. -Eido |
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| T i r e D by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| Cool, back to the dissonant stuff... I like dissonance! The main riff is very strange, but I like it. The guitars in this one sound more powerful than in some of your other songs -- did you do something differently? -Eido |
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| Rebel Without Lunch Box by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| Cool track! If I could offer an unrelated suggestion, though, it might be worth chilling out a little with regard to your upload rate. You've uploaded 24 songs in the metal category alone today -- that's a heck of a lot, and it's pretty daunting for people who only visit the site occasionally. You'll probably find that people listen to your stuff more carefully if you upload things a little less frequently -- plus you won't hit the upload limit so often, so your songs will show up in the new song list sooner. -Eido |
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| Spyro by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| I like the effect at the start a lot. The mood here is spooky -- reminds me a little of some of the music in the original Doom. -Eido |
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| Phoenix by farhanwidiaxana | 22 days ago |
| I think this is one of my favourites so far. There's a very nice grasp of dynamics here -- the soft, subtle bits shift into the heavy bits without jarring, providing interest and contrast. My only complaint is that one of the main drum beats could use an additional snare hit -- the pattern as it stands makes me feel like I'm waiting for something to happen. -Eido |
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| Instrumental 8 by FrankJappa | 22 days ago |
| Absolutely insane drum performance -- suits the guitars nicely. Mix-wise, I'd like to hear more body to the kit -- it's very high-endy at the moment, meaning that the drums are rather bright and the cymbals dominate. Did you have separate mics for the kick and snare plus overheads, or just a couple of mics for the whole kit? Nice to hear some real drums on iComp -- doesn't happen all that often. -Eido |
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| Night On The Ocean ROUGH by juisthelaw | 23 days ago |
| Wow, I really like this. The performance isn't the tightest thing in the world, but it has character, which in some respects I prefer. The atmosphere is great, the sounds are smooth and interesting, and the harmonies are beautiful. The distorted guitar tone is pretty cool too. (What are you using?) I'd be interested to hear this develop, so if you feel like revisiting it at some point in the future, please upload the results! -Eido |
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| Stubborn Rocker by farhanwidiaxana | 23 days ago |
| Watch out for the maximum volume in your projects. A few times when the guitar is blazing away and the drums come in with something powerful, it sounds like the result is distorting a little ('clipping' is the technical term). I don't know how FruityLoops works, but most software has meters for each track which show you how loud the sound is, and if they're hitting the reds then you probably need to turn the volumes of the individual tracks down a bit, to avoid overloading and distorting. That aside, very nice riffs! Interesting chords. -Eido |
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| Dead or Alive by farhanwidiaxana | 23 days ago |
| Cool drums. Are the drum grooves supplied with FruityLoops or do you write them yourself? The varying velocity on the snare in particular sounds great -- it's a very natural effect. I love the piano and strings here too -- very atmospheric. -Eido |
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| airborne by farhanwidiaxana | 25 days ago |
| Nice! Very energetic. Are you still using the demo of FruityLoops? You should really get the full thing, just so you can save your stuff. -Eido |
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| Lets Talk About Nothing by farhanwidiaxana | 26 days ago |
| Mellower than your other stuff. Cool, though -- I like the feedback effect at the end of one of the lead guitar passages. I think this might be my favourite of your songs so far. -Eido |
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| Insane-sation by farhanwidiaxana | 26 days ago |
| Nutty! Reminds me a lot of some of the old MOD scene music back in the day -- driving rhythms and instruments which weren't quite guitars and weren't quite synths but managed to be something unique somewhere in between. I like the dissonant stuff. I think the lead guitar is a bit on the loud side -- I turned the speakers down when it came in -- but aside from that this is a crazy, interesting trip. -Eido |
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| The first song I made on guitar by fminorpenta | 26 days ago |
| Unique! I like the natural touches -- little noises, changing sounds as you (presumably) switch effects on and off. A record of a moment. -Eido |
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| Twenty-Twelve by juzcook | 27 days ago |
| Awesome song, as usual, but man, you're clipping again -- pretty badly this time. In the sections where you have a lot of kick drum and palm-mute stuff it's running so hot that I can barely hear the rhythm -- it's all mushing into one. You really need to take a careful look at the levels all the way along your signal chain: right from the mic preamp through to the recording interface to the individual track levels in GarageBand to the master track, and if any of them are overloading, turn them down. You have an amazing ear for writing heavy riffs, and when you get the production right the results are incredible, but as often as not you're letting the levels run too hot and it's severely marring the result. I know you can do it right! -Eido |
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| We Ride! by uptheirons106 | 28 days ago |
| The mix here is a lot brighter and cleaner than on Ceaseless Pursuance -- much more modern, in fact. Sounds like the levels are still running rather hot -- I'm still getting clipping -- but not to the extent that they were on Ceaseless Pursuance, and the lead guitar is much better balanced. As far as the composition and performance go... You know how I said earlier that I hate you a bit? Make that a WHOLE FAT LOT. -Eido |
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| Ceaseless Pursuance by uptheirons106 | 28 days ago |
| Jeez, dude -- considering you don't know jack about mixing, you've blown most amateurs out of the water without even trying. I hate you a bit. On the mix front, it sounds like the levels are running too hot -- I'm hearing some clipping pretty much all the way through, although it's more noticeable when there's a big drum fill. The mix also sounds a little dark and muddy, although I quite like it that way -- it almost sounds as if the mix is struggling with the power of the guitars and drums, an enjoyable contrast from a lot of modern metal production which sounds so clean you could eat a meal off it. (After spending a year trying to clean up my mixes because I thought that was the right thing to do, I now put most of my effort into trying to dirty them up again...) In a couple of places the lead guitar sounds a bit too loud as well -- I guess that's what I'd fix as a priority if this were my mix. On the composition front, this is awesome. The riffs are bursting with energy -- really brought out by tremendous performances -- and the drums sound really, really cool. I'd love to hear it with vocals, but even as an instrumental it rocks. Awesome! -Eido |
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| Why Do You Do This To Me ? (Thickened More) by calummorris1993 | 28 days ago |
| Outstanding improvement. Great job -- the guitars sound a hundred times more powerful than in the last mix of this song. Now I feel like I'm listening to metal. Keep up the good work! -Eido |
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| Song Writing For Idiots (thickened) by calummorris1993 | 28 days ago |
| I miss the panning effect in the intro from the previous version, but apart from that this version sounds much better than the last. If you aren't sick to death of making changes to it now, though, it would be interesting to hear Randolf's suggestion of additional vocals in the chorus. You could also try having more rhythm guitars in the chorus -- try two in the verse and four in the chorus, say, panned left and right with the bass up the centre. But even if you don't touch it again, you've done a great job -- the progression from the first upload to this one is very impressive. Good work! -Eido |
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| Madness (thickened, more rhythm, not as repetative, better ending) by calummorris1993 | 28 days ago |
| Introducing more rhythm guitars has added a lot of power to your sound. For my taste I'd take the distortion down a little, but you're on the right lines. The only problem now is that because the rhythm guitar has increased in volume so much, some of the loops (especially the vioin, and to some extent the drums) are getting buried now. But you're absolutely moving in the right direction, and the end is much better now. Good job, dude. -Eido |
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| crashpoint by farhanwidiaxana | 28 days ago |
| This is fairly unusual. Listening last night, the quirky riffs and unexpected piano really didn't work for me, but this morning they have a strange, offbeat charm. I don't really get it. I'd say this is certainly a unique composition... If only I could make sense of it. Yours in confusion, -Eido |
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| Face of Fear by Agrippa93 | 28 days ago |
| You guys really do have a unique, immediately identifiable style. I'm pretty jealous. Huge guitars, unusual percussion and a variety of musical elements throughout the track -- good stuff. I'm finding the vocals just a little on the dark side for what is a busy mix -- there are sections where nothing quite sounds like the focal point of the mix, whereas in the all-instrumental sections the track feels much more purposeful. But overall it's very cool -- interesting, unusual and well executed, which are the traits I associate with you guys. -Eido |
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| Dropin Bodies by fminorpenta | 1 month ago |
| Pretty crazy solo... A bit heavy on the chromatics for my personal taste, but I like your vibrato -- very expressive. -Eido |
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| Why Do You Do This To Me ? (Thickened up) :P by calummorris1993 | 1 month ago |
| It is thicker, and it sounds cool, but it would sound even thicker and cooler if you recorded two or four takes. -Eido |
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| all along the watchtower - covered by some young gentlemen... by dr_elvis01 | 1 month ago |
| Excellent rendition! Sounds like the wedding party must have been killer... -Eido |
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| Madness by calummorris1993 | 1 month ago |
| I reckon this is your best track so far by a mile. It has a ton of energy, and the best use of that violin loop I've ever heard. (Sooner or later pretty much everyone uses that loop, and until today I thought I'd heard everything that could possibly be done with it, but it really plays very nicely alongside the rhythm guitar.) My only real complaint is that the ending is hyper-abrupt, which I presume is because it's only a first draft and it isn't finished yet? I'll be looking forward to hearing the next iteration of this track, because I'm liking it a lot... -Eido |
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| Why Do You Do This To Me (With Bass) by calummorris1993 | 1 month ago |
| Sounds way better with bass. Good job. -Eido |
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| Why Do You Do This To Me ? by calummorris1993 | 1 month ago |
| Personally I'd consider tweaking that intro riff just a little more -- although it deviates from Pantera's This Love after the second bar, the first two bars and the guitar tone are basically identical, so it's very hard not to think of Dime and the boys. As thenownows suggests, I'd also recommend recording multiple layers of rhythm guitars -- the end result would sound a lot more powerful, and make a nicer contrast to the clean sections. At the moment the heavy sections sound relatively restrained, which just doesn't seem right. As regards the drums, you have fine taste in loops -- ordinarily drum loops annoy me as soon as I realise they're looped, but with your stuff I really haven't noticed the loopage at all. Go for the album. Albums are cool. -Eido |
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| Song Writing for Idiots (EQ Tweaks) by calummorris1993 | 1 month ago |
| The vocals are much clearer here than on the previous mix, which is exactly how you want them to be -- lead vocals are, well, a lead instrument, so the last thing you want is to have them buried and backgrounded. I like the bass tone a lot, although personally I'd prefer to hear a more traditional layout for the 'band' -- bass panned centrally, and two or four rhythm guitars panned left and right. The bass tone is actually warm and full enough that you get away with the current arrangement without it sounding too unbalanced, but the guitars would sound much thicker and more powerful if there were more than one of them. Do I take it from the note in the lyrics that 'that famous band' is Children of Bodom? I'd been wondering if you were referencing Metallica, given the third line of the chorus... -Eido |
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| Believe in Nothing by TheUnheard | 1 month ago |
| Wow, cool -- that guitar sound is amazingly full. Of course, it helps that it doesn't have a drumkit and singer to fight with for the midrange, but it's still pretty darn cool. This is Line6 tone, right? (Seems to me increasingly these days that when I'm impressed with a guitar tone it's coming out of Line6 modelling.) When I saw the title I was wondering if we'd be getting a Paradise Lost cover; I'm actually pretty pleased that this was something else entirely, partly because Believe In Nothing is my least favourite PL album and partly because this is much more interesting than a cover... -Eido |
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| purple lightning by redskin2189 | 1 month ago |
| The high end is a little on the sharp side -- the drum loop is quite bright, and at least one of the guitar loops is a little harsh too. Otherwise, though, it's an interesting piece -- it sounds rather disjointed, and would maybe be more cohesive with a melodic or harmonic element running throughout, but it has a distinctive mood. Plus the sample at the start is cool. -Eido |
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| Ex Astra Cuniculus - 2 - Missing the Sound by Surak | 1 month ago |
| Okay, so I have to ask -- what's the deal with the multiple drum tracks? Here's my guess: multiple copies of the same loop with different pans and EQ comb filtering or band-passing to push different drum frequencies into different parts of the stereo image. Am I close? Tight mix. The guitars sound thick without being over-powering -- the layering is really working for you here. The cymbals are rather present for my taste, but some people like a lot of cymbal and some people like hardly any, and I'm in the latter category, so I think most things have too much cymbal. Sorry I missed the development of this one -- it's been a busy couple of weeks. Glad to have caught the final mix, though... -Eido |
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| Thrash by Smileygeezer | 1 month ago |
| That opening riff is thrash embodied. Indeed, the track as a whole has an 80s thrash feel to it -- shredding but somewhat thin rhythm guitars, driving drums, a stripped-to-the-bone feel. Are those Beta Monkey Double Bass Mania II drum loops? They sound kinda familiar, but they're a lot less bright and ugly-sounding than usual... Might just be a similar kit, I guess. Anyway, the mix sounds great -- very evocative of those early thrash records -- and I don't think you can possibly have ruined it, because the result is excellent. Good job, Smiley! -Eido |
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| If I Change My Life by TripFandango | 1 month ago |
| Very nice track. I can see the Axl comparisons in the vocals that everyone else is making, and to an extent I agree -- particularly toward the end of the song -- but I find the voice here easier to listen to, which has to be a good thing. I do find the vocals unpleasantly sibiliant, though -- 'ch' and 'sh' sounds are particularly sharp on my MacBook speakers. A de-esser might help out, although real men just ride the vocal level to minimise the sibilants, I'm reliably informed. (I've done the latter myself; takes ages but it does get great results.) My only other mix-related comment is that the snare and hats sound a little dry. Compositionally, I like the melodies and the chords a lot; the chorus melody in particular is a nice one. I'm finding, though, that the distinction between verse and chorus isn't particularly apparent -- both feature riffs with big distorted guitar chords and similar vocals, so the song feels quite flat dynamically. Perhaps you could introduce another instrument, say a piano, into the choruses, just to make them a little more distinctive. The more I listen to this the more I hear the Axl, particularly in the 'turn and walk away' section -- makes me want to dig out my old GnR records... Cool track, guys -- I've listened to it half a dozen times while writing this comment, and it's good stuff. Thanks for sharing! -Eido |
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| I of the Storm by VertigoSteps | 1 month ago |
| What do Vertigo Steps and Scar For Life have in common? Quite a bit: Daniel Cardoso on drums and mixing; stunningly beautiful artwork; and a completeness and professionalism in composition, arrangement and production which elevates their work far above the amateur sphere into the realms of 'Why aren't these guys signed yet?' Oh, and they're two of my favourite acts on iComp, but that's almost beside the point. I sort of tend to think of both bands as being pros who just happen to be here rather than regular site members; otherwise I get terribly depressed and realise that people like me just have no excuse for sucking. The intro is excellent. Eerie, tastefully dissonant in places, and of course it sounds gorgeous. The lead guitar which enters after a little while just oozes professionalism -- it sounds so good it hurts. The first time I heard this, I was taken aback by the vocals when they entered, and wasn't sure if they worked -- I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. But having now listened to this song a great many times, I couldn't imagine it without them -- from the huge, aggressive onslaught of the shouted vocals to the touchingly frail sung parts, the vocals add a wealth of emotional depth to the track that probably wouldn't come from having a more 'mainstream' vocal, whatever I mean by that (I'm not really sure myself). The whole track works, and it works really well. I'd like to see you guys give a recording masterclass -- a blog or series of blogs, or maybe a podcast, taking one of your awesome tracks to pieces and showing how you assemble the mix. I bet that would be eye-opening for most of us... Oh, and that outro? Awesome. -Eido |
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| CMC by Braisenman | 1 month ago |
| Awesome guitar tones. What is/are the amp/amp sim(s)? Nicely dense and powerful without being over-distorted. The flanger(?) on the lead guitar is possibly verging on the side of overkill -- it's a little hard to hear the melody -- but it's a cool effect, so I'm in two minds. The end is very nicely done too -- unusual, and hence memorable. Great job. -Eido |
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| sex dolls by tokai2 | 1 month ago |
| So then it occurred to me that I could listen to the copy I'd downloaded to analyse in Soundtrack Pro. Duh. Long day. I like it! Very organic mix -- it breathes nicely, rising and falling smoothly and naturally. A great mixture of tones creating a varied palette, masterfully arranged and (clipping aside) tastefully produced. Good job. -Eido |
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| sex dolls by tokai2 | 1 month ago |
Yeah, I thought I could hear a little clipping, although it's pretty subtle, at least to my ears. But Soundtrack Pro agrees with us too: The red bits indicate regions where Soundtrack detected clipping... Anyway, cool track. Interestingly bizarre concept, and a nice collection of sounds. A fun listen! I confess I haven't given it my full attention because iComp has been a little unreliable for me today, but hopefully I'll be able to come back tomorrow and leave a proper comment. -Eido |
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| Ramayana: Indrajit Falls by DavidBowles | 1 month ago |
| Wow! One of these days when I have some spare time I'm going to have to sit down and listen to the whole Ramayana project -- I don't suppose you could send me a private message when it's done? I tend to prefer listening to concept pieces all together. Anyway, I love what you're doing here. Being a guitarist, I'd love it if you had real rhythm guitars rather than the software instruments (which always strike me as just a bit too nice for their own good). But the atmosphere is great, the melodies and harmonies intriguing -- it'll take me several listens to make sense of parts of this -- and the composition terrific. Great work, sir! -Eido |
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| Liar (remix) by drutter | 1 month ago |
| This mix is tons better than the last one -- much better balanced, and now I don't have strain to hear anything. The vocals are still just a little dark -- I'd suggest some compression and a little EQ or possibly excitation to bring the vocals out more. It would also be worth investing in a better auto-tune (or doing repeated takes of the vocals until you nail them), because the robot voice effect sounds out of place. It would be nice to hear more bass too -- I know NWOBHM isn't typically all that bassy, but it would give you a fuller sound, particularly during the guitar solo. Good to hear the development -- keep up the good work! -Eido |
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| gods cleansing by mkinnon | 1 month ago |
| Whoah -- it's an mkinnon song with an ending! Truly the gods are smiling on us all today... Killer track, dude. Good development, interesting melodies, breakneck riffs, and a satisfying conclusion -- great work all round. (Is that enough to avoid a smiting?) -Eido |
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| GUITAR.COM JAM FALL 2008 by shanejohnson2002 | 1 month ago |
| Aha -- IBZrg already posted his part of this. I thought the backing sounded familiar. So this is the complete track, huh? Very impressive -- you have a great collection of very talented lead guitarists, any of whom could play me under the table. It's nice to hear the variation in guitar tones from guitarist to guitarist -- different 'voices' entering and leaving the stage. -Eido |
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| Nympholepsy by Ignoramus | 1 month ago |
| I've listened to this track several times over the last few days, never quite having enough time to sit down and write a sensible comment. But I just got back from work (at 9.30pm on a Sunday, meh), and I have a little time before unconsciousness claims me, so here goes. So what's the gear? Is this all the Engl, or is the Roland(?) getting involved with the cleans as well? And presumably this is one of those G-guitars that we don't talk about? I'd like to hear a touch of reverb in the mix in the heavy sections; those Beta Monkey drums are smashed to hell with compression and dry as a bone, so they're very up front, whereas the rhythm guitars have a subtle but pleasing room ambience, so they end up a little pushed back. The lead guitars sound lovely, though -- I can't place exactly what you've done to them, but it sounds tremendous. The acoustic sounds nicely full, although I'd like to hear more natural string sound and less piezo, as usual. The lead guitar in that section is just beautiful, by the way -- both tonally and musically. The harmonies there are one of the most special moments I've heard in your music. Terrific track overall. As jkane says, this definitely sounds like a step forward -- like you've taken all the various elements of your sound and moved them up to the next level. Great stuff, sir. -Eido |
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| Damned by joxeankoret | 1 month ago |
| Much like your other pieces, I'm enormously impressed with the atmosphere you evoke, and would only comment that the mix lacks body. I'm hugely stoked to hear that you're going to be working with a real guitarist soon -- needless to say, I'm very keen to hear what the two of you will produce together. I'm a confirmed fan of your stuff, and I think working with real guitars will take your music to the next level, which you're absolutely ready for... -Eido |
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| A Depiction of Betrayal by Outcry | 1 month ago |
| The guitar tone is pretty abrasive. The guitars sound like they're way too loud and thus distorting the mix in the bad way; they'd also benefit from less midrange (to get rid of the nasal quality) and more body. Cool vocals; it's pretty rare to hear a black metal-ish rasp on iComp, but yours is pretty cool, although it might benefit from being a little louder in places -- sometimes it sounds like you're trying to rasp quietly, which sounds a bit odd. Great playing on the guitars and bass; if the mix was neater this would probably sound killer. -Eido |
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| Can You Feel ? by Dave M | 1 month ago |
| I'll second Dan's comment about the dryness of the vocal -- it sounds in front of and separate from the rest of the mix. If it were better integrated with the rest of the mix it would be perfect -- it's a great performance, and the rest of the music is superb too; lovely tones, interesting arrangement, solid production. Thanks for sharing -- and too bad Serfox isn't still around... -Eido |
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| Liar by drutter | 1 month ago |
| Cool energy, and a fun song, but you definitely need to bring those vocals out more. The trouble with burying something in the mix is that, well, it ends up buried -- it's there, and people might want to listen to it, but it's really difficult to hear so it comes across badly. Either put them front and centre or cut them altogether. (Check out smileygeezer's work for an example of an unconfident singer who nonetheless does (IMO) great things with his vocals.) That aside, I gotta tell you I'm pretty jealous -- your first song is a heck of a lot better than my first song, and I love the disintegration at the end; great stuff. -Eido |
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| What I Never Said Out Loud by ScubaScissors | 1 month ago |
| Man. I wish I could make something so beautiful for my folks... Glad to hear you back on iComp again. This is a really lovely track; beautiful vocals, beautiful backing, touching lyrics. Absolutely superb work, and I hope your mother likes it! -Eido |
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| Gcom Metal Jam by ibzRG | 1 month ago |
| Very intense playing! Watch out for those string bends -- some of them fly a little past their target. But there's some very interesting melodic stuff going on here -- I don't normally like chromaticism all that much, but you use it sparingly and to great effect. So is the final result going to be six times as long as this and with different people playing solos? -Eido |
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| Sanctuary by TheUnheard | 1 month ago |
| Yeah, too bad about the recording -- if you get a chance to revisit this with better recording conditions, please do. Although please tune the lead guitar and rhythm guitar in with each other before you do. It's possible that all the fuzz on the rhythm guitar is misleading me, but the lead sounds consistently flat. But I'd love to hear a high-fidelity recording. The melodies are cool, and the song sounds doomy and awesome. I love this kind of stuff and I wish there was more of it on iComp, so please keep doing what you're doing! -Eido |
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| Freeway Chaos - Instrumental by Mick_Reeves | 1 month ago |
| That's... an electro-acoustic? Excuse me, I need to pick my jaw up from the floor. Tremendous performance, and a beautifully chaotic sound. Some of the rhythm guitar stuff sounds a little thin and tinny to me, but the lead tones are great -- unique, interesting and very listenable. And yeah, that slap bass is awesome. Wish I could play like that. -Eido |
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| Cause Your Mom...(better vocals[emphasis on explicit]) by bonsushi | 1 month ago |
| The vocals are indeed much clearer this time around, although randolf has good advice. -Eido |
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| A Scar For Life by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| This song is your loosest, I think. Some of the vocals again sound like they need a nudge in the tuning department, and in a couple of places I'm rather surprised to hear the timing gets just a little sloppy in the middle section too (unless I'm just completely misunderstanding the groove). I like the lead guitar in the bridge very much indeed -- the Katatonia thing again -- but the chorus seems just a little generic to me (by which I mean it reminds me of Creed, who are sort of my poster child for 'generic Americana'). It's worth noting, though, that at least some of this is in comparison with the rest of the album. This is the final track, after all, and I've been tremendously impressed by the eight preceding songs, so it's all relative. In closing, I'd just like to say thanks for sharing -- this is a tremendous record, one of the best things I've ever heard on iComp by a long way, and I wish you guys well in the future. -Eido |
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| Innocence Is Bliss by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| Anyone who hasn't listened to Distant Shores, go right over there and listen to that before this one. On the album they flow right into each other, and the effect works tremendously well. Just played on its own this track has huge energy, but on the album it explodes out of a mellow acoustic section, so the impact is all the greater. My only complaint about this track is that the first half of the song sounds a little samey; although the vocals and lead guitar weave in and out, which helps, the rhythm section is pretty consistent throughout that whole section, which means that it's almost four minutes before we hit something new. I mentioned on a previous song that my attention span sucks, and it's usually when I hit this point on the record that it first occurs to me that maybe I've played it enough times today already and I should put something else on. (I tend to listen to a single CD over and over, especially when I'm at work.) If I can sustain myself as far as the acoustic bit, I'm sold -- that section is cool, especially when the vocals come in (although again I think I hear some tuning that needs a nudge) -- but it isn't guaranteed that I'll get that far. This sounds pretty churlish, complaining about what's actually a damn good song, but you guys have set a very high standard with the rest of your work, so I'm holding you to it. -Eido |
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| Distant Shore by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| I love the use of picked acoustic guitar within metal (one of my favourite bands is Opeth), so this instrumental is right up my street. My only complaint is the piezoelectric tone on the guitar; I can't tell for sure whether there's a mic in there as well, but I'd have liked to hear a more natural sound. But, in fairness, I do loathe piezoelectric pickups beyond all reason, so I'm perhaps a little biased. Incidentally, segueing this one into the track that follows was a great decision. -Eido |
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| One By One by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| Heavy! It's always interesting to see how well a band's sound translates to very heavy riffs when they don't play music like that all the time. Often the guitar tone will suffer pretty badly, but here the result just sounds incredibly intense. I also like the fact that even though this is one of the shorter songs you still manage to surprise me -- after hearing the first minute I wouldn't have expected the major-key melodic vocal section later on. -Eido |
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| My Last Words by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| One of the factors which sets your music apart from most of what I hear on iComp -- and part of the reason I keep telling you to go pro already -- is the attention to detail. Everything is beautifully balanced and layered; the effects are unique and interesting; the guitar tone is consistently great without sounding samey; each song has its own acoustic space yet still sounds like it belongs on the record. And those attributes are displayed well here: the ambient effects during the verse are distinctive, tasteful and interesting, and they give the song a character which sets it apart from its fellows, but it still sounds absolutely like part of the record, rather than just being 'another scarforlife song'. -Eido |
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| Insomnia by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| There are a couple of places on the record where I think you'd have benefitted from a little auto-tuning on the vocals, and the intro here is one of those places. I'm admittedly over-sensitive to this stuff at the moment because I've been working on a project with serious tuning issues, but on the rare occasions that I come across a tuning blip -- most noticeable when you have harmony or multilayered vocals -- it makes me wince just a little. Which is a shame, because this is a great song -- from the opening melody to the bone-crushing riffs to the atmospheric middle section. I've already waxed lyrical about the production and instrumental performances on previous songs, so I'll leave those alone for now, but again I'd like to say how much I appreciate your song-writing talents. These aren't just three riffs thrown together with a bit of guitar twiddling in the middle -- this is pro-grade composition, with enough twists and turns to hold my famously fickle attention over repeated listens. Great work, guys. -Eido |
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| The Bleeding Gun by scarforlife | 1 month ago |
| After an album opener as strong as Kill The Past you needed something powerful to keep up the momentum, and this fits the bill nicely. What really makes this track work for me is the layering. With just a couple of guitars and a single vocal line this could potentially be just another heavy rock song, but instead you've given us an intricate sonic tapestry with enough variety and interest to keep me hooked time after time. The Katatonia-style lead guitar in the bridge is a good choice, too -- just as in Katatonia's music, it creates a smooth, hypnotic effect which gives the track a special atmosphere. Great work. -Eido |
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| End of Days by theantichrist147 | 1 month ago |
| This has already been uploaded under Agrippa93... http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=97557 -Eido |
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| Exterminate by Marino_Experiment | 1 month ago |
| As an electro-metal fusion, this works very well, although I'd agree with JD on the bass -- the mids and highs are there, but the guitars don't have much low-end punch and (at least on my crappy MacBook speakers) there's nothing else filling in the lows either. I'd like to hear more frequencies coming into play if only because what you've done with the frequencies you've used is so intricate and interesting -- I can only imagine the soundscape you could produce if you extended your reach downward, so to speak. -Eido |
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| Desecration by juzcook | 1 month ago |
| Epic! Production sounds nicely tight, the performance is great, the drums sound good (and very realistic, perhaps with the exception of the cymbal stuff at the beginning which sounds a little weird), everything grooves along nicely. I'd like to hear this one with vocals, if it's going to have them -- it would be interesting to see where you'd take it. -Eido |
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| Cause Your Mom Sucks D... by bonsushi | 1 month ago |
| Nice guitar sound, although it's a shame about the noise -- I'd suggest a little slip-editing or volume automation to clean that up. Cool vocals -- roughly midway on the intelligibility spectrum, in that I couldn't quite make them out without having seen the lyrics but they make perfect sense afterwards. Decent mix overall; the guitars sound full, there's plenty of space for everything. The snare samples sound a bit machine-gun in places -- was Humanize turned off in EZDrummer? Great performances on the real stuff, though, and this hangs together nicely as a package. -Eido |
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| End of Days by Agrippa93 | 1 month ago |
| You certainly do have a unique sound. I can't think of anything else I've heard that comes close to this stylistically -- very interesting! The balance of the mix is rather inconsistent. The lead guitar is very bright in some places, and when it drops out there's nothing of a similar tone to take its place, which makes the mix feel uneven -- if it were subtle then would probably be an interesting texture, but it's very obtrusive. Still, it's an interesting song, and one I've been coming back to lately -- it took about five or six listens before I could even begin to write a comment, which bodes well for its longevity. Good stuff! -Eido |
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| Bad Wolf 3.0 by Surak | 1 month ago |
| Cutting back on the reverb was a good decision, as was bringing up the drums in the mix. Listening on my crappy MacBook speakers this morning, however, the rhythm guitar seems to have suffered -- I'm not hearing as much power in the palm-mutes; for example, in the section immediately after the first chorus, the guitar has a much faster decay on the palm mutes, which used to hang out there but now sound like they're being crushed. Did you tweak something? -Eido |
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| Stupid mankind by joxeankoret | 1 month ago |
| Dude, seriously, you need to find a pet guitarist to work with. Your compositions are going from strength to much bigger strength with every upload; I'd love to hear them done justice with real instruments. Your command of structure, arrangement and atmosphere is impeccable -- now you just need the sound to go with it. -Eido |
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| Instrumental 7 by FrankJappa | 1 month ago |
| This sounds a little different to your other stuff -- I don't want to say 'more coherent', because that sounds ruder than I'm meaning to be, but it has more of an obvious structure, which makes it more immediately approachable. With some of your previous tracks I've had to listen three or four times just to figu | |