HEVYDEVY FORUMS

What is everyone working on at the moment?

- Learning new songs?
- Working on improving a particular skill?
- Learning a new instrument?
- Working on a project?

Like always, just playing along with guitar. More specifically, playing triplets and right-hand stuff. Also Faceless but that shit's way out of my league, lol. Really wish I had drums.

Been listening some more to classical music to get inspiration for different chords and progressions to help with my songwriting. Hoping that playing/writing solos also benefits from this as I know very little about theory and/or scales.

All this inspired by a somewhat ridiculously complex song our bassist wrote and which I'm cramming into my fingers.

I've been learning how to write songs. I've played music forever but never really written anything. It really is something you have to practice. So when my band needed songs I thought I'd step up and give it a try. Coming out ok, it's not necessarily stoner fuzz rock which is what we seem to play but, hey, variety is good.

I am trying to figure out how to grow a pair. Success seems unlikely

Currently trying to make half decent recordings for the first time after stockpiling sooo much stuff me and my bf have written over the years.....and wishing I'd recorded some of this stuff years ago when we wrote it when I had the time to play enough to nail it. It's pretty tough going on some of it, but really enjoying it

Now I'm adding some synths to old songs. Sometimes boring, but still rewarding. Besides that, there are always band rehearsals and other stuff.

Learning controlled screaming. Last band rehearsal we covered Reuben - Alpha Signal Three with me doing the vocals. Fun stuff.

wish you'd asked this question 24 hours ago.. ive just finished a Hard Tech track.. some might call it cyber..ebm..whatever.. but that took 12 hours of my time yesterday... but i am looking for inspiration again...

oooh and controlled screaming is a blast i love doing it..

I'm working on bringing myself to record something at all. Ditched it a bit, since the results were underwhelming, then realized I don't have any hobbies aside of that. Unless you count compulsive reddit browsing.

So I renew'd my Reaper license to motivate myself (there's version 4.0 now - where the hell did they hid "dock the midi editor" function), but it's still sort of hard to get things going.

currently working on a dance track called 'how to kill a monday'... essentially done when i was let down by a friend last minute on a monday.. or indeed to outline my hatred for Bez... aah not really Bez is cool... the basic structure is there.. but it needs tarting up, and some vocals... so work in progress i guess.

i'm working on a drone/post-rock project with a friend. heavily influenced by swans and the angelic process on both our parts, but everything i do is permeated by my obsession with peter gabriel's film scores.
he's doing guitars, drum programing and vocals while i'm doing other electronics and would like to try my hand at bass, but i haven't played seriously in almost a decade.

i have nothing to share with you from this project though because i don't have any of the files that are close enough to completion to let anyone hear yet and my friend wants to be super secretive about it.

Slatewoman wrote:i have nothing to share with you from this project though because i don't have any of the files that are close enough to completion to let anyone hear yet and my friend wants to be super secretive about it.

i can understand totally Slatewoman.. however, im currently doing alot of work for a friend, who systematically tells me they hate everything ive done to 'our' project. i imagine raising kids is probably the same kinda thing.

Tall-Latte wrote:
i can understand totally Slatewoman.. however, im currently doing alot of work for a friend, who systematically tells me they hate everything ive done to 'our' project. i imagine raising kids is probably the same kinda thing.

that sucks. i absolutely hate criticizing anything about this project because balz is so much more experienced as a musician and producer than i am, but sometimes our tastes clash. for example, he sent me a new version of a track we're working on last night which is some kind of weird shoegaze black metal with east indian chanting.... he put 12 MINUTES of waves crashing at the end. the fuck? that's one, maybe 2 more songs worth of space! i mean, sure if we've got 12 minutes of dead air to fill, he could put a 12 minute recording of cats fighting for all i care. but i want to fill that shit up to the brim with actual content.

"but it's hella soothing!"



ps- what is controlled screaming?

tell me about it. i recorded some really harsh styled vocals for an indutrial band.. and without wanting to make it sound like all the other industrial bands out there, weve gone for a real laid back dub drum patteren.. it sounds boring with out the vocals. also, i gave them a version with some superb little drops in.. and they stripped it out!! it sounds like theyve sent me an earlier version of the track before we worked on the superb little drops!! gah.. decided to release 2 versions on our ep.. i know mine will be liked more..

controlled screaming is essentially screaming, and emulating a highpitched and corse scream, but not giving it the power to wreck ones throat, even though it sounds like it.. especially over a mircophone. using good mic techniques can give the illusion that youre wrecking your throat like a super loud hardcore singer, but then youre able to switch to a different part of your voice box to sing softer or different tones notes. its like switching to different parts of your voice box. its hard to explain with out demostrating.