Superhuman - latest shredfest

Hey guys,
I just added my latest (and still unfinished) track to http://mp3unsigned.com/Showband.asp?id=4890
Track is called Beyond Our Universe, for me it has a sci-fi quality to it. I'm thinking of adding some cool vocal samples to give the music a definite theme and storyline.
Of course, there are plenty of mistakes, some more audible than others but I think this track will shine when my hands work out what my mind wants them to play;-) Having read a lot of the threads in the Technique section of the forum I decided to try a new approach to writing the lead parts on this track. I worked out some basic structures for each part then jammed the bits in between. You can hear the bum notes here and there and the odd badly swept arpeggio but I think it was a successful experiment.
Let me know what you think, besides a general tidy up, a symphonic accompaniment and maybe some vocal samples any other suggestions?
Thanks!

I used the bridge for the first and last solo with the neck for the second. I just prefer the bridge sound;-) Although I did get a new Pod xt (fist track using it) and was using one of the tones from Line6 which models a certain sound. I used the "Deity's son" tone for all lead parts.

[font=trebuchet ms]First, I've gotta say that most instrumental metal just bores me to tears, but I found something interesting to focus on all the way through your track. Good composition. Good playing. I'm impressed.

That said, The ending should sound a little more like an ending, instead of a bunch of guys just got tired of bashing away at it.

The bass and the rhythm parts need some EQ tailoring. The heavily scooped-mids rhythm guitar trespasses deeply into the bass player's territory. And the bass is indistinct. The result is a lot of muddy, thumpy, thingies lurching about in the background. Roll back the bass on the rhythm guitar, add some edge to the bass, and I think you've got a winner![/font]

hey Superhuman I like ur style...excellent track some good ideas in there keep up the awsome work.. im in Ireland too...

Lordofthestrings (cool handle by the way), I have yet to add any bassline at all, the whoel thing is just little old me and my guitar playing along with a midi drumline (the most time consuming part of the whole exercise). ANyway, by the time it came to playing the end I was a ilttle short on inspiration and a little full of beer. I jammed the last solo entirely, I think there are some good ideas in there though. You're right about the production, when I've played all of the parts the way I want them and have added the bass etc I'm getting a friend of mine to mix and master it in ProTools - all I know how to do in CUbase is records and sequence.

Silentmusic, good to see another Irishman onboard, where you from? I'm a Dubliner myself;-)

Quality stuff...repost the post mixdown version when yer done.

Sounds like some pretty d*** good playing going on, but the lead work
is really buried in the rythym track. Can hardly make out the solos/leads.

Did you record the rythym track seperately from the leadwork?

If so..try mixing a bit more mids into the lead work and also lower
the rythym tracks volume.

Could be really a good tune I think with the proper mixing.

And...I agree...

The neck pickup is too newoooooodly sounding most of the time.
It's also a crutch as alot of players don't sound smooth without
it.

Hit those shrieking, trebly, overtones and dynamics.

Cause some ears to bleed. Hahaaaaaaaa....

Thanks for the feedback guys, I was wondering why everyone was saying there was to much bottom end in the mix untill I listened to it on another pc... for some reason everything I record through the line in on my Tascam US428 has been sent to the pc with the bass knob up all the way and eq all over the place. I always thought this was only for post production. To compensate for the high bass and low trebe I had my sound system configured to play it how I wanted to hear it, which was very different to what was coming directly from the final MP3 file.Ah well, I suppose I'll have to go back and do it all over again. That was the plan anyway, this is just take one after all. Thanks again;-)

I like it!
I actually really like it. It kept my interest whereas most metal instrumentals I've heard just float about with no direction. Very nice ;)

It's hard to mix something to everyone's playback system or taste.
I understand where you are coming from.

Might try using a reference CD and put the EQ at all middle/default
sliders. If the referece sounds good, bass...mids....and trebs, then
mix yours accordingly.

Good luck...and you'll get it mixed better every time you try. ;)

Originally Posted by: SuperhumanThanks for the feedback guys, I was wondering why everyone was saying there was to much bottom end in the mix untill I listened to it on another pc... for some reason everything I record through the line in on my Tascam US428 has been sent to the pc with the bass knob up all the way and eq all over the place. I always thought this was only for post production. To compensate for the high bass and low trebe I had my sound system configured to play it how I wanted to hear it, which was very different to what was coming directly from the final MP3 file.Ah well, I suppose I'll have to go back and do it all over again. That was the plan anyway, this is just take one after all. Thanks again;-)

Originally Posted by: Superhuman...I was wondering why everyone was saying there was to much bottom end in the mix untill I listened to it on another pc...

I remember reading a post where Dr. Simon mentioned something to the effect that when you're recording, you should not play your recorded stuff back through some fancy speakers, speakers that add "colour" to your sound and so on. I think this is what happened here; your speakers sound good for you, but the sound is different elsewhere. Bottom line, use as plain (and I might add, small on sound volume) speakers as possible. A recording played back through some hot shot of a thumping sound system will sound awesome to you. Wait till you hear on some normal speakers.