[Hard rock] Fallen embers (MP3)

[bvanoudtshoorn]

This is, without a doubt, the hardest rock track I've ever written. Listen to it *loudly*.

Written in OpenMPT using Kontakt.

Get it here

[Nahkranoth]

Woohoo! Barry goes hardrock! It seems Kontakt have got some nice OD guitars, but it's still hard to make them sound chugga-chugga Anyway it's good to see that you're not stuck with dance and orchestral (the latter is your strong point, no doubt). You are trying different sides of your musical self, and this track shows it clearly - it's an early attempt (I bet you just tested Kontakt guitars ). The piano is kinda odd here, and when it plays I feel like it's dance track. But your percussive work is great as always.
Maybe some day we'll hear Black Metal from barryvan :evil:

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Well, actually the nice bit of Kontakt is that it has clean guitars, and a whole lot of the same effects as in Guitar Rig -- so nice distortion. But yes, it's still very hard to make them sound right. Part of the problem is probably that I don't actually play guitar. :/

I'm glad you enjoyed the track, and thanks for the feedback, Nahkranoth. As to Black Metal, though... I doubt it. I listen this sort of heavy rock occasionally, but I don't listen to anything much heavier.

[uncloned]

Nice tune though for hard rock the other instrumentation kinda detracts from the mood.

In a distorted guitar the initial hit with the pick produces essentially noise. Since the signal is so compressed that is basically the only way to distinguish repeated strums - you get a sort of envelop of this brief noise - not too unlike a palm muted guitar and along the lines of adding noise to a flute to imitate the sound of the breath in the pipe.

[Sam_Zen]

Hardrock indeed, but inside it, still the 'orchestral' attitude is there.
Black metal ? Let's go to Trash metal straight ahead... As Nah states : piano is possibly 'not done' here.

[uncloned]

Barry,

I don't think I'm being clear

I find, perhaps not you, that normally clean samples going through a digital distortion in the digital domain does not duplicate what I can actually do. It sounds cleaner, tamer, and much more synth-like.

The best distortion I found for guitar is Antares mic modeling program with the RCA mic boosted into strong tube overdrive.

but that is... to my taste.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

@Sam_Zen: Yes, I do see what you mean about the 'orchestral' attitude still being there. What can I do? It's how I write!

@Clones: Yes, I know what you mean. I think that part of the problem is perhaps the fact that I *can't* play the guitar into the track -- Native Instruments' Guitar Rig is, IMO, pretty much the best you can get for computer guitar stuff, and Kontakt has the same effects modules. So perhaps the problem is that a) I haven't got the right samples, b) I can't play guitar, so I don't know exactly what samples I'm looking for, and c) The track's tracked... I do appreciate the feedback, and all I can do is try harder. I'm actually thinking of getting my brother (a guitarist) to lay down some lines for me -- he just bought himself a whole swag of recording gear, so it could be good for some collaboration.

Thanks to both of you -- I appreciate the time you've taken.