so i just recently finished cobbling together a home studio n was testing everything out, and these 3 joints came together as a result. all instrumental. all me. they're all one-take wonders so it's pretty loose as fuck. kinda goin for a 'live beattape meets Thievery Corporation' vibe.
1. ""Recall the dream" very good, esp. the sound quality" In response to Reply # 0
"Air" very good
"Shadow game" ok
you definitely know what you're doing with the sound quality and how you mix stuff (how much echo, strong bass, resonance and space) is in the mix.
basslines could be a little better.
You brought up the term "loose" and "1st take" but they all sound very controlled so....it seems like it would be best to stay as loose as possible because any more "control" might sound "dead"/"lifeless"
2. "sweet. yeah its mostly the sound qual i'm demoing." In response to Reply # 1
needed some fresh ears to make sure i'm on the right track. most of it had only a small amount of mastering too which is great, dont need to spend so much time tinkering around with it. i literally had no plan for the tracks though. usually just start with playin drums on its own for a few mins n build it up around that, somehow it ends up soundin controlled lol. good feedback tho, i'ma get loosey goosey with the next one. thanks!
3. "RE: InstroDeluxe (some new one-man-band type shit i made)" In response to Reply # 0
Recall The Dream is good, really funky; Dragon Reaper sounds really majestic like a movie intro or some shit; Air and Shadow Game got some Clutchy Hopkins vibes going on. What's your recording setup if you don't mind me asking?
4. "Dragon Reaper is my new fav out the bunch" In response to Reply # 3 Sat Aug-26-17 11:48 AM by araQual
i utilised 90% of my percussion arsenal tryin to create a mix b/w Game Of Thrones and Battlestar Galactica, for a non-existent tv show or movie based on "Vahagn The Dragon Reaper" (my peoples' (Armenian) god of fire and war). if i ever write the script this is pretty much the theme to it lol. n thanks! i dig the comparisons with Clutchy stuff.
the setup is fairly basic. the nerve center is a regular ass hp desktop pc. software wise i only use Fruity/FL Studio and SoundForge. this is surrounded by a studio full of instruments i cobbled together from mostly 2nd hand sources. which gives me the opportunity to just pick something up and play it whenever i get the urge. everything is recorded through 2 mics: SM58 and the Heil PR40. running through a Zoom R8 mixer (1 mic per channel). i'm mainly a drummer but i been trying to stretch out over the last few years. so now im kinda at a point where i'm comfy picking up an instrument and getting some kind of decent sound out of it. thus these recordings. typically i start with drums. then i figure out the melody via midi keyboard and a bevy of plugins. then add live bass. and generally anything else i can play live. all the keys and synths i do via FL are played on the keyboard too so it still hopefully sounds organic. thats pretty much it.
7. "everythings a single take" In response to Reply # 6
Dragon Reaper was percussion heavy with at least 5 different drums, but its the same concept as the other tracks: start with 1 drum or drum kit, then add the next things one by one by one, layer accordingly once the rhythms reveal themselves, then add the melodic stuff later.
11. "Oh my album is better from here" In response to Reply # 10 Thu Aug-31-17 01:41 AM by Key
The mp3s are the best the Flac and lossless is messed up because bandcamp converted my masters.
Thanks man. I think a lot of that stuff i used on these projects just way later i got around to mixing, sequencing, and mastering them. http://keymusic.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson
