Nearing the finish line I am! The parts are basically recorded, but I need to give it a few more critical listens and mixdowns before unleashing it unto the universe. It's a bit odd; I'm really not sure of how to describe the music. It's actually very spontaneous, a lot of the parts recorded as I came up with them, so not a lot of forethought went into this effort.
I did use my "Word/Phrase" composition method for the "basic" chord progressions and riffs, but kept it very loose, and revised things that didn't quite work. I also did most of the album with my Schecter Omen-6 tuned to CGCGCD, so I had to completely re-learn the fretboard, too. To help with this, I discovered a very helpful website called StudyBass.com (www.studybass.com - duh?). This site has a great feature that allows you to print out fretboard diagrams with custom tunings, scales, chords, etc. A huge help. Just type in how your guitar or bass is tuned, and then tell it what scales you want to see, and it creates a great printable diagram of the fretboard.
This album is very different than my usual work, which usually has a lot of keyboards and synths. This one is 95% guitar-oriented. Only a few very short and simple synth parts, and a few that are actually guitar with some freaky effects that make it sound like a synth. There aren't a lot of "melodies", mainly chord progressions and riffs that will hopefully keep your head bobbin' and your foot tappin'. I've been listening to a lot of "post-rock" and "post-metal" bands lately, and their music tends to be comprised mainly of very open and free chord structures - the songs mainly rely on simple and repetitive chord progressions, but the variety is in the dynamics of the songs, going from heavy to lighter sections, creating crescendos and decrescendos through sheer volume and tempo changes.
So you may love it or hate it. It could be ground-breaking or a total snooze-fest. But I've been wanting to do something new and different for quite some time, and my work with both Burn Without Me and Moroghor inspired me to delve into unexplored areas.
I also have to work on the cover art, and figure out the best places to post it. Very soon, folks.
Showing posts with label post-metal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label post-metal. Show all posts
8/23/09
What's next?
Okay - here we go - I've been trying to come up with ideas for the next Dimaension X project, and have been immersing myself in a few different types of music:
Post-metal
Atmospheric Black Metal
Devin Townsend
Tortoise
Post-metal bands as mentioned in the previous blog have really been seeping onto my consciousness as of late, much more so than your typical metal music. I just find this kind of music more open and interesting, and capable of going into different directions, unlimited by the usual "constrictions" that most "Metal" bands feel the need to adhere to. It can be subtle and mellow, or heavier than hell. It can be fast or slow. Loud or soft. Brutal or melodic. So much interesting potential.
Atmospheric Black Metal is also an area of great potential, similar to post-metal, where it may have the typical blast-beats and tremolo picked riffs, but it is the haunting atmosphere and general feel of the music that removes it from the usual stereotype. I'm not about to start adding evil screeching vocals to the music. It's more about "atmosphere". I just discovered a great band called Organ, who play all-instrumental "black metal", but they sound more like Tortoise with blast-beats and weird vocal samples.
Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad have been coming out of my speakers lately. I've had an odd musical relationship with the HevyOne. At first, I found him to be really annoying, just overdoing the whole "wall-of-sound" thing, but as time has gone on, and I've acquainted myself more with his music, and with the way he creates music that I've come to respect the man and the music more, and even grow to like it a lot. His tuning alone has inspired me to once again re-tune the Schecter in a similar fashion. Dev tuned most of his music to an Open C chord (CGCGCE), but I have tuned to Open C minor (CGCGCEb). Personally, I think the Open C minor is better, because you can easily make the chord Major again with one finger fret. The problem is that I now have to re-learn the whole fretboard and associated scales/modes, which are completely different in this tuning.
Tortoise is a band that I never listened to until just recently. I think I did listen a bit years ago, but just didn't have the patience or musical maturity to fully appreciate them. Their music is open and expansive, jazzy and rockin', improvisational and stricltly composed. Each member is capable of playing numerous instruments, and does so in their live performances, switching from guitar to bass to vibraphone to synths, etc. I'd love to actually be able to put together some kind of similar ensemble of local musicians and do this kind of thing. If only I could actually find like-minded musicians. That's the problem.
So my next album with probably be some odd combination of all of the above. Or not. We shall see.
Post-metal
Atmospheric Black Metal
Devin Townsend
Tortoise
Post-metal bands as mentioned in the previous blog have really been seeping onto my consciousness as of late, much more so than your typical metal music. I just find this kind of music more open and interesting, and capable of going into different directions, unlimited by the usual "constrictions" that most "Metal" bands feel the need to adhere to. It can be subtle and mellow, or heavier than hell. It can be fast or slow. Loud or soft. Brutal or melodic. So much interesting potential.
Atmospheric Black Metal is also an area of great potential, similar to post-metal, where it may have the typical blast-beats and tremolo picked riffs, but it is the haunting atmosphere and general feel of the music that removes it from the usual stereotype. I'm not about to start adding evil screeching vocals to the music. It's more about "atmosphere". I just discovered a great band called Organ, who play all-instrumental "black metal", but they sound more like Tortoise with blast-beats and weird vocal samples.
Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad have been coming out of my speakers lately. I've had an odd musical relationship with the HevyOne. At first, I found him to be really annoying, just overdoing the whole "wall-of-sound" thing, but as time has gone on, and I've acquainted myself more with his music, and with the way he creates music that I've come to respect the man and the music more, and even grow to like it a lot. His tuning alone has inspired me to once again re-tune the Schecter in a similar fashion. Dev tuned most of his music to an Open C chord (CGCGCE), but I have tuned to Open C minor (CGCGCEb). Personally, I think the Open C minor is better, because you can easily make the chord Major again with one finger fret. The problem is that I now have to re-learn the whole fretboard and associated scales/modes, which are completely different in this tuning.
Tortoise is a band that I never listened to until just recently. I think I did listen a bit years ago, but just didn't have the patience or musical maturity to fully appreciate them. Their music is open and expansive, jazzy and rockin', improvisational and stricltly composed. Each member is capable of playing numerous instruments, and does so in their live performances, switching from guitar to bass to vibraphone to synths, etc. I'd love to actually be able to put together some kind of similar ensemble of local musicians and do this kind of thing. If only I could actually find like-minded musicians. That's the problem.
So my next album with probably be some odd combination of all of the above. Or not. We shall see.
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