Hehe!

Of couse I WAS considering to write tons of lines again, but then
decided that a simple short line would do the job just as fine.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen!


The two Behringer "Ultra-G" units I recently ordered just arrived.
Those 'lil things are KILLER! In the first case they're nuthin' but D.I.
boxes, but that's not the reason I've bought 'em for. I've bought 'em
for their AWESOME sounding built-in "miced 4*12 cab"-simulation.
My Line6 Vetta amp delivers pretty much ANY tone you can think of,
bit it's internal microphone-simulations SUCK big time. Okay, they
still sound better than just going into the console WITHOUT any mic
sim...but they still suck.

That's, by the way, the way Trent Reznor gets this blistering
"all things broken" saw-like guitar sound...Pushing an overdriven
amp direct into the console or P.A., bypassing the cab (or, if it's
a combo, the internal speakers). Don't know what I'm talking about?
Just drive your amp into some full-range hi-fi speakers instead of
a guitar cabinet and you'll see what I mean. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!
Keep the volume low or you might blow your speakers within a blink!
TA-DA! There you go, spiraling downwards, hehe...

Okay, back to my amps internal mic sims...
The problem with those is that they not only color the sound
in a way I don't want 'em to, but they also add TONS of bass
and treble to the signal. So the main signal that I want to
come through (the mids) is pushed back SO far that I either
would have to adjust my amps settings (which I don't want,
cause THEN the signal coming from my cabs will sound shitty)
or to REPLACE an EQ-pattern at my consoles' inputs to compensate
the dirt, boom and hiss the shitty sim added to the signal.

A third option was to find something external able to do the job...
...and do it BETTER than the internal mic sims. I've found it now.
It's the Behringer "Ultra-G" direct box.

With those 'lil guys planted into the signal line I now have KILLER
sound from BOTH my cabs AND the direct outputs! They make the
direct signal sound pretty much like my amps' cabinet sound picked
up by an expensive flat frequency response microphone placed at
the sweet spot in a room with PERFECT acoustics. Nice job, Behringer!
At the price of 35(!) bucks these fellas CAN'T be beaten!
I purchased two, cause that way I can record in stereo.

This also means that I won't mic ANY guitar tracks now.
You see, my amp handles the direct out and the speaker out
volume levels completely independent, so I can crank up the
amp to a volume where I get some sweet feedback for solos
but the direct out signal, going into my console stays at line level.
Okay...I need to do the solos with some pretty closed and damping
headphones on then...otherwise I wouldn't hear anything of the mix
coming from my HD-recorder cause the amp is so fuckin' loud.
Drummer headphones should do the job quite fine. They're pretty
closed and damp about 30-60 db, depending on the type.
They don't have to sound like flat studio monitors, for they're just
there to check if I'm still in time...
Could use some normal headphones also, but then I'd have to crank
them so far that my ears would start to bleed...not a good idea.
They'd also distort like hell then.

That's it for now...I'll keep you updated.
Take care!

Danny

sounds great!!

you seem to know yer stuff.
i would never even consider not mic-ing the guitar cos ive never got as good a sound when di-ing compared to when i mic up.

as always, keep up the hard(?) work and keep posting yer advise/techniques for us too.

Well, I've worked up my own ways and procedures when it comes to
recording and mixing stuff. It's all about experience, you see...
You can read tons of technical books and instructions and tipps
(which is good cause it shows you a rough direction where to head)
but in the end it's all up to YOU...
My personal doctrine is:
If it sounds good, GO for it, no matter how unorthodox your procedures
and way to achive that sound may be...or SEEM to be to others.
I've had LOTS of conversations with "professional" sound techs about
recording and mixing techniques. Each of them will tell you a different
story how to get things sounding good. Each of them uses different
equipment, each of them has his own special order of working through
the different stages and each of them follows his own doctrine.
There is nothing like "THE way" to produce something.
Just trust your ears...best advice I can give. Try to capture the
vibe and mood of the stuff no matter where that'll lead you to.
Take Kyuss for example.
Did they sound "good", seen in a "conventional" way? Nope!
They sounded shitty and blurry, both live and on their albums...
But that's exactly what made 'em sound GREAT! Their shitty lo-fi
sound caught the mood and vibe just perfect! With a differenciated
"clean" sound they wouldn't have been Kyuss anymore.

Uh, oh!

I've just read another threat where someone
posted a line from an interview with Dev.

"There's a new album on the way. It will probably be about God.
And it'll probably be in the form of one 50 minute long track."

Holy mother...Dev REALLY must be a soulmate of mine!
Sounds pretty much like "Terraformer"!

Hey, maybe he WAS talking about "Terraformer"!
He didn't say that it's HIS new album that's on the way...
And from the info I gave on TF yet (and IF he's watching
this thread) he could have drawn that conclusions.
Nah, just kidding...

Can't wait to hear what the canadian mastermind comes up with next.

TF info coming tomorrow evening, when I'll have had a jam with Mike
to check if we can use my current drum mics or if we'll have to borrow
some better stuff for the drum recordings.

'till then...

Danny

Okay...guitar sounds are set now...I found a pretty crushing tone that fits
my vision of "Terraformer" quite well. I've been looking for this special
tone for ages...I think I've found it now.

So I think it's time to give you some samples now.
For today I'm too tired to record something, but I'll do it tomorrow.
It'll be a rough medley of riffs that'll be on "Terraformer". I'm not
sure if I'll find the time to add some synths and vocals, but the
guitar/drum track should be able to give you an idea of how the
final product may sound.

Till then...

Dan

Okay, lads...Newstime again.

Due to massive problems with organizing and structuring the project
I've decided to throw all my plans and worksheets overboard and to
do things the old-fashioned way. The stuff is all there, but I have no
idea of how to put it all together yet. That's the curse of working alone.
If I had the possibility to play the stuff live it would be much easier to
bring all the stuff I've collected into a form that satisfies me. It's way
more easy to experiment with part-lenths and structures when jamming
with some other guys who know the material. Checking out all of the
possibilities alone and to find the most satisfying combination is a pain
in the ass.

So it's creative "chaos time" again.
This means that I'll start to record without a certain goal, letting things
develop by themselves. I've always worked this way and to me it's much
more creative than to force things into some form by organizing.
I know that I'll have a million more ideas while building up the whole thing
slowly. This way it'll take longer to finish the whole thing, but this working
method suits me just fine. I don't wanna compromize on this baby.
I wanna let it flow, let it all out...
Why hurry when I got all time that I need?

Anyway...I'm on some really cool new stuff. I guess in about three days
it'll have enough structure and form to be presentable. I'm sorry it takes
so long, but it's a lot of work, you see...

Till then...

Dan

whatever makes you row your boat, make you sure you get ashore one day

hope you'll let us know when it's there

HOLY FUCK!

I've just experimented with some pre-mastering methods. I took a little
phrase, routed it onto a stereo track and started to play around with
multi-band compression and EQ while listening to it in a loop. It's just
amazing how all my problems with getting the single stuff to cut through
just fade away with the right settings. The only problem thats left is the
"cut-through" of my low end guitar riffs. Not the "meat"...talking tonality
here. But that's a string based problem. My low A# string drowns a little
bit, compared to the others. But re-setting the height of the pickup
magnet coils for this string should solve this problem.

Anyway...the test mixes sound just HUGE.
Imagine a mix of "City" and "Biomech"...There you go.
I'm thrilled with the capabilities of my recording-gear.
These days I've been digging deeper into it than I did
ever before. It's all there...I just had to find it.

Coming night is gonna be a LONG one!

First results will be available soon. Stay tuned!

Dan

Newstime again...

And some nice news that is!
"Terraformer" might come as a two disc album.
Or even a triple, if I should decide to include the documentary disk
in the "plebs version". You may wonder what "plebs version" means.
Well, Devs version will definitely contain a bonus disk with background
material...also his version might differ slightly from the one that will
be available to the public. That's why I call the version YOU will get
"plebs version" for now.

So why two discs...
Easy...it's a LOT of material! Even though the final structures are not
completely set yet, I know that it would never fit onto a single disc
without throwing parts of it overboard. And that's a thing I just don't
wanna do. Otherwise I'd have to release a second one.
But "Terraformer" is planned to be a one album project.
You'll understand why after having listened to it.
IF Dev gives his okay to make the stuff available to the public.
Remember, it's not a simple tribute, it's a personal gift.
So if he sais: "I'll keep that for me." we'll have to respect that.

Stay tuned.

Dan

By the way...for the sonic-thirsty among you...
I'm gonna sit down and record some guitars-only teasers now.
No drums yet, sorry...Still haven't found the time to work out
patterns. It'll be just short raw riffs, but they should be enough
to give you an idea on how "Terraformer" will sound like in the
end. Style-wise that is...like I said, recordings will be raw, with
just a little corrective EQ to clear things up a bit.
Anyway, in the final mix there'll be so much stuff going on that
it will be nearly impossible to hear everything out clearly. It'll
be a massive record with massive sound.
Devy-like...just the way I like it.
If you're interested in listening to them write me a private
message via the board and I'll send 'em to you via e-mail.

Till then...

Dan

Updates (fist shaking noises)

Relax, lads...

A preview-ten-minute-monster will be available to the public on
the 9th of June. Why? Cause Dev will be in town on the 8th and
I'll hand it over to him then. The track initially was planned to be
the bonus-track on the "Dev-only" version of "Terraformer", but
I now decided to make it available to everyone.
AFTER Dev will have listened to it...
The reason for this decision is that the track, planned to be the
last one on the record, became more and more complex during
rehearsals with my drummer and turned out to become
somewhat like a compact version of the whole record, for it
contains riffs from multiple other TF songs, weaved and wrapped
around the main structure. You get the idea...
Kinda like a short-cut-premiere of a movie.

It also makes a nice gimmick...Say you wanna listen to TF
but don't have the time to dig through the whole material.
No problem. Listen to "Compact" and ZAPP!...There you go.
No lenghts, no "filler-material" (I hate to call ANY sec of TF
this way, but you get what I mean, I guess.)...
Just the pure essence of what TF is about...
Should be enough to satisfy one long enough 'till he/she
finds the time to listen to the whole package.
All I will tell for now is that "Compact" (let's name the track
so for now) is fast, massive, crazy, wicked and beautiful...
Have patience and gimme two more weeks to complete it.
(This, by the way, makes a great reason to put ALIEN into
your CD-player and give "two weeks" a spin, doesn't it?)

Stay tuned and take care, lads! You'll be terraformed soon enough.

Dan

It kinda looks like it's June 13th already...

patience all great things happen slowly

I am totally interested to hear this.