[Melodic Metal] Celestial Killing Spree (mp3)

[nads20489]

Hi,

first song released on ModPlug here!


Title:  Celestial Killing Spree
Genre:  (epic ?!) Melodic Metal
Length:  2:50
Format:  mp3
Filesize:  2.6 Mb
Kbps:  128

The song is available for downloading and streaming at:

http://www.mp3.com/artist/nathand/songs/

It should be the top song.  My main page is:

http://www.mp3.com/artist/nathand/


All my songs were written exclusively with ModPlug and OpenMPT except the four "Espad" songs, which I made in Anvil Studio, a midi sequencing program that I used until I discovered trackers.  My later songs use a lot of VST plugins and instruments.


For this song picture (bear with me):

The angels once banished to Hell organize themselves and march on Heaven to get their revenge...

00:25 - The armies of Hell rise above the cloud line and become visible from Heaven.

00:35 - They charge at full speed, flying through the skies.

00:46 - Hundreds of thousands of Fallen Angels unexpectedly crash through or fly over the Pearly Gates...

Some battling (silver swords, bursts of fire, winged beings flying above the clouds)

It goes back-and-forth action for a little while.

01:40 - Each from the back of his ranks, God and Satan, come into each other's view for the first time.

2:02 - They are flying at each other, hundreds of feet over the clouds and the other angels.

2:12 - undisclosed events followed by an end that leaves you hanging, leaving room for a sequel, maybe even a trilogy.


Sorry, that was way too dramatic for my first post, but its the basic picture I had when composing the song (and I was having fun :-).

[Sam_Zen]

Nice work.
The choir sound though needs some differentiation of the 'neat' path on some moments imo, to add some more (in)tension.

[aGIANTpupafish]

i like it.  i'm guessing you recorded the guitar and then added the tracked drums and choir?

anyway my only complaint would be perhaps the drums and choir were a lil quiet but apart from that it was good

[nads20489]

thanks for the feedback

i like it.  i'm guessing you recorded the guitar and then added the tracked drums and choir?

no, actually i cant play guitar.  this song is entirely tracked/synthesized.  for the guitar i used ReFX's Slayer 2 VSTi, for the choir i used Syntheway's Magnus Choir VSTi, and the rest (percussion) are audio samples.  I also used a few equalizer plugins, a reverb, and a few other odds and ends.

i'll try adjusting the volume of the drums and choir. in my songs the drums and secondary instruments are usually louder, but i was trying to emphasize the guitar a little more.


Sam_Zen,
i agree, i should put a little more work into the choir.  i'll likely have an update with louder, more complex choir and louder drums in a day or two.



Sweet, over my entire ModPlug career, I have a 100% record for positive feedback!    (I know, the very next person is going to give a poor evaluation, if not just to spite me for that last comment)

[Nahkranoth]

Good work! It's very raw and evil! As for the choir I think there's no need to make it more complex, only a bit louder.
You should do something with guitar though. A reverb or good ol' flanger would make the sound more alive, it is too dry atm.
-=-=[Edit]=-=-
Were you inspired by Therion's "Ginnungagap"?  :wink:

[nads20489]

I know it has been a while, but I have finally, uploaded an edit of my song at:
http://www.mp3.com/artist/nathand/songs/

It will be named "Celestial Killing Spree (edit)"


I adjusted the levels for all parts of the song, and did some minor work on the drums and guitar. I rewrote most of the choir and made it a much more powerful part of the song.

Overall it does not sound too much different from the first, but I think it is a definite improvement.


Nahkranoth: I had not heard of Therion or Ginnungagap, but I just listened to a sample on YouTube and I don't mind you making a connection :)[/quote]

[Nahkranoth]

Hi, nads! Glad you've finally came back  
Here's my thoughts about your edited version (5 minutes after listening):
The guitars still need some work. Don't know how to describe it so I'll try to recreate some parts at home to see if there's something more can be done to make it sound not so dry.
Have you done something to the choir? It seems more celestial now
and less powerful, but I can be wrong - need to listen to the first version.
And finally I LOVE the drum part, and I can't get that melody out of my head. I should have done it first!  :twisted:

[Sam_Zen]

Certainly improved, this edit. More balance among the instruments.

Choir is enhanced too in pronunciation, at least as a body. Whether it's a matter of volume, I dunno.

A somewhat weaker moment is the quite 'static' break at ~1:00 - 1:10, but I'm aware of my nagging here..

[nads20489]

Thank you for the feedback, Sam_Zen and Nahkranoth.

Sam_Zen: I am glad to be pointed to the area of the song you feel is a weak link, not just because it implies that much of the song must have some strengths in order for it to matter that it is weakened by this bridge, but because I seriously appreciate constructive criticism.

I am pleased that you felt the change in balance between the instruments, which I tried for in the edit. I did more changing of the melody and progression of the choir than simply of volume, but I did change both.


Nahkranoth: Glad you like the drums, choir, and melody overall.
-On the drums: I have put a fair amount of work into the sequencing and equalization of these drums, especially (compared to previous songs) trying to incorporate them as part of the song and not just "those channels where the drums go" because this type of melody would have drums.  
-On the choir: I did try to make it more celestial, even at the cost of some power. I thought the choir should bring the celestiality, while the guitar brings the power....
-On the guitar: I know...the guitar is still missing something, and it's probably not as simply as adding in an effect somewhere. I would very much like to see what you have in mind for the guitar.
I am looking for ideas/advice on dramatically increasing the dynamics and expression of my lead instruments, so if you gave me a little demo of what you were thinking, I would definitely incorporate it into my attempt to reach the next plateau of compositional ability.
However, rather than change the guitar part for this song, I would more likely use the ideas in consideration for the sequel I have planned; still in the early stage (floating around in my head) but I want to have a much more dynamic guitar, and a heavenly solo thats sweet as hell!

[Harbinger]

I had the advantage of having never heard the first version, so i can't criticize it or appreciate the changes...

Doesn't matter. This song sounded pretty cool   , and i definitely like the gtr riff. As a student of Impressionism (Faure, Ravel, etc.) i love repeating motifs, but if done wrong, they can easily get annoying. This one is composed well enough to prevent that from happening, breaking up and altering timbre at just the right places.

Since i've been composing electronic music, i've found that there are 3 instruments that are pretty hard to synthesize -- violin, sax, and electric guitar. But this song does a decent job with the electric guitar. I thought at first that it was an actual axe-grinder with a tube!! The hard part about these instruments in a synthesized assembly is that playing them lends themselves to an expressiveness that can easily be overlooked in sequencing them. Getting their timbres is not that hard (except at different octaves), but when you play them, they have little nuances that a composer can easily miss. In the electric guitar, this can be finger cuts (called fret noise), blue notes (intentional, accidental, and structural), remnant notes (strings that play when playing another string), and harmonic accidents. Since Aeon doesn't have an electric guitarist anymore, here's some tricks we use to acousticize our electronic one:

1. After assembling the EG parts in your pattern(s), go back thru and offset most of the notes using the oxx command. This adds human off-tick fingering.
2. Add fret noise in places where it's obvious you'd hafta make big fingering changes. If you don't know how to play guitar, then put them in randomly. Except for acoustic or solo parts, you generally want to keep the volume on these down, but randomize them with the Random Volume slider in the Instruments panel.
3. I use 4 tracks and sometimes 6 tracks for each EG string, so that i can note- or chord-bleed in random or realistic places. IOW, if i pick the hi E string, and then thumb the D string, the note on the E string may be leftover. OTOH, usually when you play the B string right after the E, the guitar player's finger accidentally mutes the note on the hi E. You should account for these too.
4. Don't forget to use pitch bend, vibrato, and slightly random resonance alterations.
5. I can see you know about VSTs, but others may not know that VSTs make all the difference in the world. Electric guitar especially need certain ones to bring out an "acoustic" electric feel.

I hope to hear more from you, nads...

[Asharin]

Recognise that slayer2 sound anywhere nice

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Well written, nicely constructed... But I have to agree with the other feedback: the electric guitar seems to be lacking a bit of presence. It sounds a bit tinny, in some ways. Maybe you could pump the bass up *heaps* - give it that massive sound which just fills everything out.