Musicians on woz-forum

[archman]

Here's a thread that, from my search results, hasn't been on boards 'till now. I'm making this thread 'cause I've seen some people here being musicians or just playing instruments in some way ;)
If anyone here wants to share some experience of being a musician or simply playing some tunes at your homes, feel free to write something.

I'll start with myself ;)

I've started my musical journey far back at the elementary school days. I've signed to the elementary music school, for classical guitar player.
I've had some great time there. In first class (on the end of the year) I was performing on some show that happened in our local theater. I performed with some other two guys, which were about 3 years younger than me. It went almost well. We f***ed up some riffs :D:D:D. And I saw a tear in profesors eye when he was looking at us thinking: "What the heck, boys?!?"
And all went ok for other two years, until i got into puberty stage (s**t!!!).
I got into some Limp Bizkit and KoRn era, and felt my classical guitar playing inappropriate for my lifestyle...Yes, I quitted the school in 3rd grade. (and I f**king regret it now!!! :().
I've been of of a musicians world for almost 3 or maybe 4 years, until I realized that I have that need to play an electrical guitar (yeah, Korn-influenced...but I got deinfluenced from them the first day I started playing :D:D). I've played some White Zombie and Metallica (ofcourse) stuff...later on I've got into In Flames, swedish Melodic Death Metal band, and started to learn almost all of their songs. I've been playing them for a year. I was totally into them...But that passed me by after some time (luckily :)) I turned to more intelligent, more up-tempo and more "pro" playing, listening and watching guitar heroes, mainly John Petrucci (my guitar god :)). I've been, and still, playing some Dream Theater songs (Constant Motion), building my technique and songwriting, which I began about a year ago. I've also made 2 songs for now...3rd is in progress :).
It's all for now...

You can hear my and my friends work on http://www.myspace.com/darthirr (Death Metal/Progressive)

Fly hi! :)

[INFAXSU]

Are you Marko Teskera (session guitarist)?

I play Keyboards, but only as a hobby... influenced by Britney Spears' last two albums. I've written about a dozen 30 second Hip-Hop sounding bits, which I don't think are compatible with guitars/rock music. :)

But maybe in the near future you and I will jam in my New York apartment!

[archman]

Ahhhaa,
No, I'm Mario Kozjak, the second one...

[EPSILON]

Good idea ^^

This is my "new Work", Remix is it.

www.epsilon.musique.com

or

http://www.myspace.com/epsilonremix

But my first passion is to create with Keyboard (Korg Trinity, Z1, Karma etc...) and Drum machine (Korg ER-1, MC 303, MC 909 etc...)

Love machine, love electronic, love melody and love when it's progressiv music.

[archman]

This sounds nice, bud!
Wow, you're real serious there! ;)

[INFAXSU]

I need to upgrade my Keyboard possession (Roland Juno) to POSSESSION (microKORG XL) :robot :cowboy :robot :cowboy

Then I'll get serious w/ my music production. My ambition will be to work on a Britney Spears album. The Keyboarding on her song "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)" particularly influences me.

- INFAX

[archman]

haha, you make me laugh, man, and it's an art! ;)

[EPSILON]

This sounds nice, bud!
Wow, you're real serious there! ;)

Thanks archman, It's always a pleasure to make some Remix track especially when the original is excellent ^^

If i class my top :

1/ RemixEPsilon Revolte (Hmm, Revolte love it !)
2/ RemisEPsilon Teenage (4 parts in 1 remix, lot of work on it)
3/ RemisEPsilon Bloody Beetroots (Yeah, savage Sound, I love it too)
4/ RemixEPsilon Justice (the last, a mix of several music)

In fact, I create my new studio in 1 month and I'm very impatient to turn on my keyboards ^^

[xtriko]

Hi mates! Nice to have a little space here in the zone for the pilots that also like to produce some music! :) Great projects and songs EPSILON and archman! My songs are not that professional but I like them anyway lol.My alias is Alien Speech and I'm into Psy/Goa Trance. If you want to check them out, go to these links.

These 3 songs were made for my WipEout Pulse Custom Soundtrack:

http://rapidshare.com/files/200788157/Alien_Speech_-_Outpost_7.mp3

http://rapidshare.com/files/200789763/Alien_Speech_-_Arc_Prime__Beta_Version_.mp3

http://rapidshare.com/files/200791198/Alien_Speech_-_Platinum_Rush__Beta_Version_.mp3

This last song was made with DjManiac21 here from zone and it's for WipEout HD Custom Soundtrack. It has a few songs taken from Wipeout 2097 PC that you all should recognize ;)

http://rapidshare.com/files/200792776/Alien_Speech_Feat._DjManiac_-_DNF__WipEout_Music_Project_.mp3

Hope that you guys like ;)

[archman]

Hehe, all of my favourite tracks! :)
Nice work, you've done it like a pro.
I'm not into that type of electronica, but it is nicely done!

Also, in this thread everyone can post links to their music or just announce their new song or album or whatever is done! Be free, and be creative!

arch ;)

[Mad-Ice]

I just came back from a Drum'n'Bass party! There were 5 Djs playing and our live improvisation with a drumkit, synthesizer, teramin, bass, percussion and MC.

I brought my big case full of bells, woodblocks, laughing bags, sticks, thundermakers, surprices and two big African drums (Djembee)

We rocked the house and they want us back on the main stage.

I used to play in a band three days a week for years. Pure improvisation dance music. Never practised and we played everywhere. Tonight it was a call from an old friend of mine, who arranged a gig for the night. Well, it was legendary.

[djKyoto]

I'm just not a pretty name. ;)

But it's just something I do for casual fun. :pc

[archman]

Congratulation, Mad-Ice! I want to experience the same feeling of playing live one day.
You sure are doing good!

arch

[YouAreFubar]

xtriko, I only downloaded Outpost and it sounds pretty good! Psy-Trance is a very polished and difficult sound to produce for because every track that comes out is to a very high production standard, you have to try and match (if not exceed) that to get yourself noticed. The melodies and arrangement are excellent, keep at it!

Epsilon, while Electro isnt really my cup of tea, the production is excellent! You sound like you have true skills in the studio, you should definitely keep that up. Do you send tracks out to record labels? If not to major league pop music labels, you should at least send some out to smaller House/Electro labels. Smaller labels are generally on the lookout for new talent, you never know if you dont give it a go.

Ive got a few Techno/Hard Techno tracks up at www.myspace.com/chrisharbron They are nothing special though. Ive been messing around with Ableton Live over the past few years which is an awesome piece of software! Infect is my last track where I was figuring out more in depth production techniques and what arrangements work best for Hard Techno. Im hoping anything I produce in future will be exactly the style of music im aiming for. I just need to sort the acoustics of my monitors out as the bass seems a little muddled and when I bounce the track to audio, its nowhere near as heavy. Youll have to excuse the recording quality, Myspace seems to do something when it compresses my tracks and they never come out as great as tracks I hear on other pages.

Ive also got some DJ mixes up at djs.choons.net/chrisharbron if you want to check them out. What music do you play DJ Kyoto?

[xtriko]

YouAreFubar I'm listening your track Infect. I'm really enjoying this! I love when the song as an evil and mech feeling! and your kick! wow! so heavy!!! your myspace page is on my browser favourites! :D

[archman]

I love the Outpost track very much!! ((only if the kick was softer... ;)))

[Feisar31]

Some good music in this thread! :+

My music is also not that professional; I'm still trying to improve my production skills. One of these days I'll get some real monitors--that might help. ;) I haven't been working on music very much the last year or so, but I hope to get back to it soon. I have a lot of unfinished songs because I work very slowly.

As a sample here are a couple of my Björk remixes:

Army of Me (Feisar remix) (http://www.animara.com/feisar/remixes/ArmyofMe_Feisar.mp3) - 11 MB

Show Me Forgiveness (Purity Mix) (http://www.animara.com/feisar/remixes/ShowMeForgiveness_Purity.mp3) - 9 MB

There are more Björk remixes on this page (http://www.animara.com/feisar/remixes.php); just a warning though, those are some of my earliest songs. I have some original songs here (http://www.animara.com/feisar/#music) as well.

[archman]

Sadly, even if I bought myself some quality monitors like KRK RP5 or RP6, they would produce that awful bass feedback, because my room is unthreated.
You guys you all have the absorbers in your "producing" rooms? Or do you use headphones?

[EPSILON]

Epsilon, while Electro isnt really my cup of tea, the production is excellent! You sound like you have true skills in the studio, you should definitely keep that up. Do you send tracks out to record labels? If not to major league pop music labels, you should at least send some out to smaller House/Electro labels. Smaller labels are generally on the lookout for new talent, you never know if you dont give it a go.

Thx YouAreFubar ;)

No, I don't send track in any Record Label, it is just for the Fun not to make money or to become a Real DJ lol

I'm not a "DJ", I make some Remix because my studio is building and it allows me to keep my musical ear.

My passion is more to create not to remix but I love doing that :P

[GreenPhazon]

I've taught myself blues and rock guitar over the past 5 years.

[SaturnReturn]

I play a bit of guitar too. I stopped a while ago after I got my ps3. Picked up one of my electrics tonight and was pleased with how well I played after all this time. Unfortunately, I then picked up my rusty stringed acoustic and now have a gaping hole in one of my fingertips. It's crazy how much longer it's taking me to type with just one finger down. One handed is actually quicker. Anyway, I don't have any music to post but have some old pics.

Tokai Love Rock Electric guitar (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/tokaijp.jpg?t=1235780744)
Ibanez Electric (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/ibanez.jpg?t=1235780745)
Modded Aria cheapo Strat copy (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/ariamodded.jpg?t=1235780744)

I started playing after my first year at uni. My mum had passed away and I had to look after my sister who has Downs Syndrome during the summer so that my dad could still work. He bought me the Aria as a thank you and it ended up being a good way for me to get the emotion out too as I'm not very good at talking about that stuff. I had huge amounts of fun during uni rocking to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Green Day, AC/DC etc. Two of my 3 housemates one year also ended up buying electric guitars so that led to some good times.

I really need to start playing again. I only play along to songs I like that I learn from tabs but it's still really a great feeling, when it goes well that is. Sometimes I have bad days and just mess up all the time, much like wipeout, except when you do mess up playing guitar, you don't get a bomb in the face, thank god!

[archman]

Man, awesome arsenal! I like the duncans on the LP. I recently bought myself some Hot Rails for my strat, and put 13-56 gauge on it and it's very bad-ass sounding now!

Yeah, it's true what you said about not playing for a long time. After some time you simply want to play and you definitely pick a guitar and play with joy and passion. About the skill, it doesn't really disappear by the time...well, maybe just a little. But the majority remains "in" you ;)

Yeah, sometimes I think it's sad that PSP and Pulse keep me from playing...

[SaturnReturn]

Thanks archman for the comments and the rep. I forgot to mention I have one of these too - Gibson SG special faded (http://www.musik-schmidt.de/images/product_images/original_images/Gibson-SG-Special-Faded-Worn-Brown_1.jpg) Photo courtesy of musik schmidt

At the moment it doesn't play brilliantly because I need to get the nut filed. I should really learn how to file my own nuts and generally maintain my guitars. But things like adjusting the truss rods etc can be risky. I bought the SG as a reward for getting my job, which I was surprised about as:
1. I had no idea what the job was even about when I went in there. I'd tried researching but it didn't help much. When asked what I knew about the subject I answered, "Erm, pretty much nothing".
2. There were 2 other candidates with work experience in the field. So with the previously mentioned comment I didn't think I stood a chance.
3. It was my first application and interview.
4. The girl I was kinda going out with in a complicated way kinda dumped me the day before my interview, which distracted me a tiny bit. I say dumped, but I kind of instigated it in a strange way. Anyway, that's a whole other story.

The point is, most of my guitars represent some kind of event or achievement in my life so they mean a lot to me. Playing means a lot too, and it's always a joy to crank up the volume and annoy the neighbours. They can't complain either, because rock n roll ain't noise pollution. It says it in a song so it must be true :p

[archman]

Nice, I hope that, someday, when I get a job, I'll reward myself with some original LP, hehe.

Yeah, messin' with the truss rod isn't really a simple task, I wouldn't ever try to tweak it on my two electricals (cheaps, but have a soul: squier strat, and my precious epiphone special :)), to avoid breaking the neck, which would lead to a thousand tears ;)

[SaturnReturn]

I've always wanted a Gibson LP, but the company's alleged business practices, particularly the way they allegedly treat a classic design; their prices; and the way they allegedly exclude small businesses who can't place big orders, are not things I really agree with. I got the SG because it was very cheap - right price, right time.

I would love one of these (http://www.guitarvillage.co.uk/admin/pages/upload/PRS/New08/PRS_513EGreenBrzRw.jpg), but that's a hell of a lot of money (£3600). Right now I actually think guitars are a better investment than banks accounts, so maybe, just maybe I could justify it....not!

[archman]

Yes, definitely a PRS! Those are the best looking! And the price is good :D:D:D ;)

They say it's a Fender and Gibson merge. Ripped from the best and made the best. I mean, not necessarily. But they are no1 for me. I would actually say that in my lifetime, I want LP and some custom 24 ;)

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/8/9/1/374891.jpg

[Tovslan]

I'm studying music, so music is what i do for most of the time. I play the bass and a bit of guitar. Never learned the guitar properly though, so my technique is horrible. I haven't played much electronica, but listening to Epsilons myspace got me inspired, good stuff!

I'm in a couple of bands and things, and appear on a few myspaces, here are two of them:

A pop/punk/skate band i'm in, called Where's my Chipmunk?
http://www.myspace.com/wheresmychipmunk

My acoustic project, called Swiss army knife:
http://www.myspace.com/wankbarclaysbank

[SaturnReturn]

About Where’s My Chipmunk?:
"we like to sing about topics that you can relate to sex"

I don't know why but I found that hilarious. Not bad songs on there, will have a further listen later :+

[archman]

Nice work there, Tovslan, especially the acoustic one! ;)

[Tovslan]

Thank you both :)

[komatos]

I don't really have much time (or hardware) anymore for music production. I used to do a lot more back between 1998/99-2004. Most of my music is 1980's style Electro-funk inspired or Experimental Electronic, although my last song was trance (Nu2Tranz). If any of you are interested in hearing my tracks, there on the Music page/section of my homepage (http://home.comcast.net/~komatos).

I used to have a decent amount of gear (Yamaha RS7000 sequencer/sampler/remixer, Yamaha DX200, Korg microKorg, Mackie DFX12 mixer, Jackson guitar, Yamaha SU700, Yamaha RM1x, Yamaha RY20 drum machine, Access Virus B desktop), but little by little over the last 9 years I traded up to get better gear like the RS7k and in the end it all got sold off piecemeal to try and catch up on my overdue bills (which never really completely happened). Now all I have left are an M-Audio Axiom 49 MIDI controller keyboard, Ableton Live Live 7.0.10, ReBirth 2.0.1, Recycle 1.7, a couple freeware audio programs for OSX, and my PSP with PSPRhythm 8.0, PSPSeq 3.01, and LGPT.

[Velocitar64]

I've been playing guitar 2-3 years, and i've made my own songs. Just never uploaded my music. If anyone interested, i'll send some unfinished stuff over.

[EPSILON]

Good sound here, I see that there are a lot of Music Lover, Excellent ^^

this a Example there are few possibility to remix a music (this one have 4 Parts) :

http://rapidshare.com/files/180207136/RemixEPsilon_En_cours.mp3

It is not finalized just a example for fun ;)

[YouAreFubar]

@ Komatos - Thats quite an impressive array of hardware youve owned in your time (especially Access Virus, my fave synth so far)! To be honest though, all you really need these days is a decent laptop, a decent DAW, a few plug ins and a midi controller, and you seem to have all that covered.

Myself im currently using a Macbook Pro 2.6ghz dual core with 2GB RAM, Alesis Photon X25 midi keyboard, Ableton 7, Sylenth1 soft synth, a few other free vst's/audio units, a ton of royalty free samples (mostly courtesy of Computer Music magazine) and some Tapco S8 flat response studio monitors with a Tapco Firewire audio interface. Ive also got my Technics 1210's and a Pioneer DJM-909 for my DJing (along with almost 10 years of vinyl collecting). The spare room is just full of my gear and my girlfriend hates it!

[Velocitar64]

I have a solo project called AikA (Finnish for Time)

It's progressive metal based around winter

www.myspace.com/aikaband

[archman]

Velocitar64, I've listened to it yesterday. It's pretty interesting part of music. ;)

YouAreFubar, Komatos: Guys, you all have tons of equipment, makes me embarrased :D
I don't have any special gear, I work on a built-in audio device in hp nx6310 ey588es, using JACK audio driver to get myself some nice low latency. :)
Other, it's just some basic stuff like a few VSTi and some "realtime filters" I use when recording in Linux (compressor, eq, noise gate...)
I also have some shitty mic worth $100 :D

http://www.myspace.com/darthirr (if you missed to hear it, if you want...it's metal...)

[archman]

Something flashed in me right now. I think I'm gonna buy myself some pedals I always wanted. Like DD-3 (or some other fine delay), wah pedal, Flanger (BF-2) and...erm...maybe some chorus...

SaturnReturn, you tried BF-2 maybe?

[SaturnReturn]

Nope. I don't really use effects. I just have a Vox Valvetronix with a footswitch for 3 different settings. I only ever use a bit of reverb.

On a side note - Isn't flange a weird word? If you use the word 'flanging' I'm sure you could get some dirty looks from people. Am I the only one that thinks that?

[archman]

hehe, dunno. Flanger seems ok word for me. But english is not my native, so...

[Velocitar64]

Boss Distortion = Ownage. Just remember that ;)

[IDReaper]

http://www.supload.com/listen?s=LpkO2o

{IDR}-Sonic Drift WIP 2

My second work-in-progress on some trippy techno/DnB stuff. Sound like it came straight out of Ridge Racer;) It is still unfinished so any tips or advice would be awesome! I look forward to adding this to my WOHD playlist when I finish it.:o

[archman]

IDReaper, this is excellent-sounding. This forum really has some dedicated musicians. ;)

[A n g o r i A BULLDOZER]

I make music since 9 years approximatively (I'm 22), and I've 3 different solo projects :

- A n g o r i A - Tekno Industrial / Darkcore / Rythmic :
www.myspace.com/angoriamuzik

- Paradize Irradié - Psytrance / experimental :
www.myspace.com/paradizeirradie

- Mortal Flavor - Experimental / Classic / Electronic :
www.myspace.com/mortalflavor

Take a glance to ! ^_^

[archman]

Wow, impressive stuff, mate!!!

And we're equally old, hehe. Interesting stuff definitely!!!

Really many musicians here. I'm proud! ;)

[EPSILON]

My new RmX :sonar

http://uploaded.to/file/cbc7ea

Enjoy !

[archman]

Cool, EPSILON, keep it going. ;)

[Medusa]

Hmm...I'm a casual guitar player, have had an acoustic "Pan" brand guitar (vintage japanese-made) for ages which was given to me by a luthier, it has great sound and looks tres punk which is good for me. Even has one broken tuning peg for the bottom E string so I have to use pliers to tune it.:rock "Excuse me sir, but I'm busy using pliers on my axe." XD

My real baby is my Godin LG (with Godin humbuckers)
http://www.godinguitars.com/godinlghbflamep.htm.
I usually end up playing a lot of rhythm as opposed to lead guitar. Better suited to my skill/practice level!

(Godin makes some really beautiful-to-hold-and-play guitars, if you ever get a chance to check them out! And really affordable for hand-assembled guitars. I doubt they're available overseas but hey you never know!)
*end advertisement*

All I'm using is a cheapo Kustom combo amp but am looking to upgrade to a better (small) combo. VOX Valvetronix is good stuff, I'm not big on Marshall sound and Fender is just soooo....common? But I love its sound.
Anybody got suggestions?

[archman]

Heh, cool, Medusa!

I was looking after this one lately: http://es.woodbrass.com/images/woodbrass/575932.JPG

I'd like to switch to some tube amp, i want "life" from it. I'm using Marshall VS30R at the moment...I mean....it's excellent for my needs, but lacks naturality. You get what I mean. ;)

Hey, you checked out some laney full valve amps? Laney LC50? You going for the clean sounds rather than overdriven?

[SaturnReturn]

I started on a Kustom amp too. I didn't like it though. It always sounded as though it had a blanket over it. I have a valvetronix AD30VT (I think that's its name) and I like it. It's a solid practice amp.

Godin guitars are very nice, I've seen a few in the UK. The LGs tend to feel pretty chunky though - just a bit too chunky for me.

[Medusa]

Thanks for the suggestions! I always forget about Peavey...they've got some great combos!
Yeah, the AD30VT has wicked sound, a guy I know has one and I was thinking about getting one.
It's really hard to get much choice in my area, the dealers pretty much only carry Fender, VOX and Marshall. Have to visit a city to get real selection.
I was looking into real reverb units, like the Rivera amps, but the way amp modelling is going these days, I'll probably end up going for something with sound processing like the VOX. I definitely want a real tube amp though. I play all sorts of music but yes, more clean tones than overdriven (in general...).

While on the topic of playing rigs...does anybody know of a "cheap" way to rig a mic up, for practice quality only. I know that question comes up a lot but I'd like to hear some sort of simple answer...hahaha.

[archman]

Sorry, I don't understand, you mean for recording?

[YouAreFubar]

Just uploaded a new track to my myspace page:

www.myspace.com/chrisharbron

Wanted to make a track for my girlfriend but she doesnt appreciate Techno, so I made her a Trance track which shed actually enjoy. Once again Myspace has done something to it and the quality has dropped slightly. Is there a decent website anyone would reccomend that I could upload audio up to stream?

[archman]

YouAreFubar, i think that last.fm musicians profile is the one that allows full rate. ;)
Checking out your work right away! ;)

wow, I love the sample! (that one lol)

[YouAreFubar]

Much better! My tunes are now up at:

http://www.last.fm/music/Punishing+Audio

Thanks for pointing me in their direction!

[komatos]

While on the topic of playing rigs...does anybody know of a "cheap" way to rig a mic up, for practice quality only. I know that question comes up a lot but I'd like to hear some sort of simple answer...hahaha.

Cheapest way (certainly not the best quality but should be acceptable for practice purposes): if you already have a guitar amp with an extra 1/4" input jack and an XLR mic, just plug your mic's XLR cable into an XLR/->1/4" low impedance->high impedance adapter (cost: about $5-15 US) and plug that into the cabinet's extra input. Adjust knobs to appropriate volume level and voila, practice-ready.

[Medusa]

Thanks, komatos (great nickname BTW). That's exactly the type of answer I was looking for!

[komatos]

My pleasure. I used to do that back in the day before I had a mixer (i.e. Mackie, Behringer, etc.).

[YouAreFubar]

Ive finished my latest Techno track 'Battered', and it is here (http://www.last.fm/music/Punishing+Audio/Techno+Tracks/Battered). Let me know what you think!

[archman]

I'll let some pro guys of techno to speak, as I cannot really "grade" your IMO excellent work (of what I hear) as I only listen to vocal trance out of electronic music genre. Other is metal/rock/alternative.
Just wanna say that I hope I'll get those two tracks I'm working on done in two months... :)

[archman]

Ok, the new track called "Mantle of Flesh" is out now! You can check it out on http://www.myspace.com/darthirr

Cheers! :beer

[abukii]

I used to DJ back in the day...I still get on the 1200's from time to time. My biggest scores are drum & bass, electronica and Jungle. Ive played under a variety of names including: Syn Tek(90's), Neuro(early 90's) and now, Falling Star.
For the record, I am not the same Syn Tek on the WO boards...I have played with a lot of local and famous talent including, DJ Venom, Tiesto (we just set his shows up) and a few others but loads of other talent that, imho, need more recognition!!
:beer

[YouAreFubar]

Ive completed another track. If your into Hard Techno, check it out and let me know what you think. Its called Outbreak and has been uploaded to my Soundcloud (http://soundcloud.com/chris-harbron) page.

[IDReaper]

http://soundcloud.com/idreaper/firefly

Old thread revival time! I have created a new DnB track that is now in its final stages. I still consider it a work in progress but the general length and mood are set. This is my second dabble in Drum n' Bass and the first time I've tried a natural plucked bass approach. So for the DnB fans here maybe you could tell me what you think? I think i need to change the melody on the SQBloop(that bloopy short synth i made) in the beginning. Oh also if you want a download you can ask me as I've disabled public downloads. Track name: Firefly.

[YouAreFubar]

Check your Soundcloud page out ive left some feedback. Its sounding nice mate.

[SaturnReturn]

looks nice. I'm not up to date with what guitars are good these days, but that looks cool. Do you shred?? :twisted

Nearly bought a £1000 Gretsch in York the other day, but the price and the wife stopped me. :-.

Put some picture up of yours and I'll show you mine :P.

Happy birthday again *on topic*

Gretsch make cool guitars. It's probably one of those where you'll only get the Gretsch sound and feel from a Gretsch. Not that I'm trying to encourage you to buy it or anything like that. ;)

I don't shred. At one stage I tried to learn a couple of things like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by8oyJztzwo) and this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27oKgNUfWFI), but only managed bits and pieces of them at slow speed and not amazingly well. I learned to play the Jimmy C thing at full speed until the sweep picking starts. Could never do fast sweep picking. I was quite pleased with myself though, even though it isn't really too hard up until that point. To play either properly would take a long long time and so much practice. I'm not really focussed enough for it and just enjoy playing some of my favourite tunes.

Most of the time it's classic rock and grunge that I play. It's usually pretty basic. I enjoy playing through Back in Black, Paranoid, Sultans of Swing, and I Believe in a Think Called Love (even if they're a bit lame The Darkness made some songs that are really fun to play) - things with cool riffs and some simple-ish solos are enough for me.

Here's a few pictures of my new guitar (follow the thumbnail link). After a couple of sessions I'm thinking it's probably the nicest guitar I've ever played. I've never played a PRS or an American Gretsch and only cheaper Gibsons, but can't honestly imagine them being much better quality than this. The flame maple top is far nicer than any PRS I've seen though. They look so good in the photos but rarely stack up in real life. I have a few guitars - some would say too many, but I save most of my cash other than the necessities like food, rent, travel etc, so don't really feel too guilty on splashing a bit of cash in search of the perfect instruments, given how much joy I get out of them. I think this will be my last for a while though. Previously there's always been a little something wrong with every guitar I've had, which meant I could always find an excuse to try another. But I don't have that excuse any more.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Guitars/Godin%20Summit%20CT/th_100_1101.jpg (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Godin%20Summit%20CT/)

Here are links to albums for the others. I don't own the Epi any more as the Tokai replaced it. I should sell the Ibanez too, or lend it to someone else, as I don't play it and it doesn't hold any sentimental value. The Aria and Tokai definitely do.

Aria Strat (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Aria STG-004/) - Epi LP Custom (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Epiphone%20LP%20Custom/) - Tokai LP (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/My%20Tokai/) - Ibanez (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Ibanez%20AXS-32/) - Godin Summit CT (http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b367/SitarHero/Guitars/Godin%20Summit%20CT/)

I have an acoustic as well but can't find any photos of it, and I don't play it much anyway. Now show me yours?:g

[KGB]

Crossroads, class. :)

I always loved guitars from the 50's, 60's like Burns, Rickenbackers, Gretsch and the rest.

I have Six in all, two electric, two six string acoustic, one 12 string and one with an amp built in to it. None will be as expensive as any as yours but all have a story.

Give me a couple of days as there are two in the attic and one in one in pieces.

The Strat that I have would of been worth a lot of money, but I wanted to take the finish off it, so started stripping it slowly, bit by bit. Came home from school one day and my dad said he had done it, I asked him how he had got all the paint off and he said that he used a sander stuck on the end of his drill! ****ed it completely. :P

[Lazokaeи]

For the links that actually work (Rapidshare keeps saying I need to be a premium meber!) - Excellent work around. Amazing how much different stuff people are into, I'm all for that. I used to say I was into everything but Country and Western, but if you've played the original GTA and heard the "Sideways Hank O'Malley" tune, well, I even like that! lol.

I work with Magix, eJay (laugh all u want, eJay 7 is very powerful for £10 nowadays!), Audition, Sound Club and Sound Forge. I did use Cubase LE that came with a midi controller, but I wasn't up for getting into it full on. I will soon get some hardware and start looking into it. I find that left to my own devices I won't, so want to do a summer course in music production so I learn from the ground up hwo to capture sounds and exploit them. I just need that "kick up the ass" to do it really.

I have a few VST's that produce some awesome sounds (Polyvoks especially) so there is potenital, but as I grew up with eJay and listening to Chemical Brothers and a lot of old skool rap and acid house going into Britpop and general electronica as a whole, I found thanks to the dance influences and eJay as I was 12 at the start, I work better sequencing from a sound and working with that in sound chambers. But I have done some songs using sounds created from sine waves too.

My latest idea for a project is an album with all the sounds from specific games. Megadrive games I think may be the focal point as they have all those awesome "sound test" options in the menus. Streets of Rage is definitely on the cards. I'll share that when it's all done! lol. - Watch this space!

I've also started my composition of "Just can't get enough" by Depeche Mode using Nlog on the iPhone. lol. It's weird using a keyboard on the iphone and hearing this amazing sound. The app is free to mess with and I recommend getting it!!!! - It's being used for the "final" version of a song I have called Solyaris that I made in Sound Club (again a free download for PC).

[Autechom]

Well, I play the drums, but on my own. I used to play in a couple of bands (several kinds of Metal) but never found what I have been looking for (progressive rock). On the other hand I am doing some stuff with renoise, but somehow working with this program does not motivate me. Cool thing would be something like Frontline Assembly or Skinny Puppy with e-drums. Maybe some day

[Medusa]

Here's some pics of two of my babies, my acoustic is away partying so no photo op for it right now...

'05 Godin LG HMB:
http://a.imageshack.us/img714/5465/dsc01669op.th.jpg (http://img714.imageshack.us/i/dsc01669op.jpg/)
http://a.imageshack.us/img28/4276/dsc01668h.th.jpg (http://img28.imageshack.us/i/dsc01668h.jpg/)
http://a.imageshack.us/img138/3658/dsc01667u.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/i/dsc01667u.jpg/)
The colour is not really that pukey orange in the photos, it's a rich burgundy red, the finish and the mahogany are aging together really nicely. :D

'98 Fender Cyclone:
http://a.imageshack.us/img693/2816/dsc01671u.th.jpg (http://img693.imageshack.us/i/dsc01671u.jpg/)
http://a.imageshack.us/img204/6153/dsc01670p.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/i/dsc01670p.jpg/)
http://a.imageshack.us/img3/1572/dsc01672x.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/dsc01672x.jpg/)

[KGB]

Ahhhh, girls that play the guitar, think I'm in love! Interesting chord you played in Creep Medusa, the one with the middle finger off :)

That Fender Cyclone looks cool, I've never heard of them.

[Medusa]

Heheh, since I'd censored the song itself to death I thought I should add a bit of interestingness somewhere...those minor barres are always begging for it.

The Cyclones are discontinued now, hard to find but still fairly cheap considering. I love the looks of them, especially the zebra humbucker. The sound is either grunge-y or strat-y, (basically), there isn't a lot of range in sounds. Not like I need that, really. :P That's what the Godin's for.

[SaturnReturn]

Medusa, did you get the little tag on your Godin that shows you exactly who was responsible for each part of the guitar by way of their hand written initials on it? I love that label!:D

[Medusa]

The quality assurance tag? You betcha. I even checked to see what day my guitar was made, it was a Wednesday guitar. :D

[SaturnReturn]

Best tag evar! I just checked my serial number too:

The guitar was manufactured Thursday, March 12, 2009. It was guitar number 231 made that week.

Aw, it's just a baby. :lol Checked it on a website called guitar dating. 'Date your guitar (http://www.guitardating.com/godin.php)'. I wonder how many people have gone there expecting something a bit, er, 'different'.:P

I listened to the youtube videos. I like the Shiina Ringo one best.:nod Out of interest - what were the mids set to on the other tracks? Say on a scale of 1 - 10?

[Medusa]

Well that's a tricky question since I use a Vox AC4TV, it only has one Tone knob (which was annoying at first, but I don't care anymore now!!) and I usually run the guitar through a Boss GT-6 which sucks some of the guitar tone (because I use cables that are too long...).

But anyways, I had the tone set exactly on 5 (or halfway) on the amp, and left the guitar tone set to full on both of the other tracks. Was using both humbuckers on Brick Is Red, and only the neck bucker on Creep...I was too busy trying not to sing like s*** to obsess over tone like I usually do, (which doesn't work when you're not a good singer and get nervous easily anyways).

That "date your guitar" site always cracks me up. Ah really, we can go out together? Alright, let's go baby! You and me, just the two of us!

[AspenExcel]

I've got a SoundCloud here (http://soundcloud.com/unctuous) which I've been updating relatively frequently, and a Last.fm here (http://www.last.fm/music/Unctuous) for access to my entire catalog. My style ranges from ambient, trance, and a bit of drum & bass and glitch. :)

[Medusa]

I really like Hypersonic. I don't know exactly what sets it apart for me though...

I thought I had replied to Autechom...but I see I didn't.
I'd like to hear some of your drumming Autechom!! It always impresses me to hear/see drummers at work.

Not being a drummer myself I really don't know if some songs I think have great drumming are actually that good, or not...For example:
Death Rides a Horse by Russian Circles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2-hJtJrXxc&playnext_from=TL&videos=4qRC3y9Q5VE
and Inazawa Chainsaw by Number Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uxFT-RaAl0&playnext_from=TL&videos=NuTTeSGgejA

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

I don't know...do choir members count as musicians?