Been a while guys. I finally got back to writing and recording… I am very RUSTY.
If you guys can give this a listen and let me know what you think, that would be excellent.
Every guitar you hear is from the single coil neck pickup of my strat, which I never used in any recording before. So new territory here, not sure if the mix is any good.
Cheers,
Jonni
Sounds good to me, what’s your signal chain if you don’t mind?
Thanks @ingolee heres what I used,
Guitars: Sterling by musicman strat into JST Misha Mansoor plugin
Bass: Orange Tree Samples Cherry Electric Bass
Drum: EZ Drummer Metal Machine
From beginning to end, this recording sounds very “tight”. And that’s normally a good thing, at least in these days of “recording to the grid”. Personally, I guess I’d prefer a bit more variation in tempo, in some sections, etc. And the old 70’s/80’s “tape machine” warmth, but that’s probably just me.
It’s clear you did a good job on this. I don’t care that much for single coils, but I didn’t really notice it here. There seemed to be enough distortion/saturation on the sounds to bypass that. But yet the clarity of the sounds seemed notable. You don’t seem “Rusty” at all, nor “very Rusty” at that. FYI - I do enjoy single coils on a few things, it depends on the genre.
I kind of got a Eric Johnson vibe from the guitar leads, though more aggressive and distorted. Those are some of the best bits IMO. The bass and drums are a bit machine-gun like in their presentation, but fairly consistent with this style as well.
The short intro coming in a bit “fade-in” is very nice. The mix overall seems quite good, in terms of no glitches or obvious ‘stains’. It seems to combine both “melodic” and “driving”, which is curiously fascinating. I wanted something to be a bit different, a mellow interlude, but I’m perplexed on recommendations. It’s like it hits you in the face - in a nice way - but could use a bit more “interlude” at some point, but may not need it … if that makes sense.
Hi Jonni, really digging the sounds here! Not only that, but it is very melodic, which I particularly look for in instrumental music. The arrangement is really cool too - maintains my interest. My wife overheard me playing it and said “is that Joe Satriani?”… so I’d take that as a compliment if I were you!
Mix-wise, it sounds really very good to me. I thought the cymbals may be a bit abrasive in the high mids, so maybe taming them around the 5-7k mark may help smooth out the mix a bit.
The guitar sounds are great. I love me some Strat neck pickup. I particularly like the octave(?) sound you got toward the end of the song - very nice and fat!
Top job on this - this is excellent stuff!
When I search for that plugin it seems to be discontinued? And there is some kind of controversy attached to it? Just curious, you are getting some good sounds!
I am truly enjoying this recording.
The mix is excellent, I love that you can hear all the instruments, especially the lead guitar, which is the star of this production.
Very skilled playing, rust never sleeps, but none on this creation.
Rene
Thanks man @ingolee!
Ah yeah there were some few years back. Joey Sturgis filed a false copyright claim on a youtube video that gave a bad review of this plugin. Drama ensues.
I’ve owned it for a while now but barely used it. The IR that come with the plugin is not really my taste. Good thing you can use custom IR.
So in a way this song is some kind of experiment. “Can I get a good sound out of it - with low output pickup 
”.
Thanks for giving it a listen guys.
I have had a really hard time coming up with ideas for this one. Creativity is muscle that you have to maintain indeed. Same thing with playing to a click
@Stan_Halen I resonate with this so much. I kind of got bored when I listen through. I don’t want a new “adventure”, but maybe little surprises here and there on the chorus and main riff (which part do you think is the chorus? 
). Will give it another try if I have the time.
@ColdRoomStudio I have made it a mission that all my instrumentals must have a top line/melody. Can’t be just riffs, if it were just riffs, the riff must be somewhat catchy. Basically try to not write backing music. Man I wish I can sing though. Heck yeah fellow octave lover! I have been wanting to use that sound for the longest time.
Ah you are too kind @ReneAsologuitar. You should see the cubase session, its full of spliced and edited takes🤫
I agree completely! Something I’m trying to rekindle myself after much dormancy.
With modern DAWs, it’s so easy to insert extra sections into songs, but maybe just consider the idea of the interlude for your next composition. 
As I said, this instrumental does seem to contain lots of variation and interest, so it really does kind of contain all the necessary elements.
I didn’t consider the song boring at all, just a tad bit repetitive on first listen. But as I listen again, there are lots of little changes and nuances in repeating sections that add the variation and interest. It just takes a little more depth of listening to look for that, over a stock song with vocals format (which we tend to be more used to).
I’m not sure about a chorus, though instrumentals frequently do tend to follow established song section arrangements. My sense is that the section after the intro, say 0:09-0:29, has a bold chorus flavor and power to it, whereas the more melodic and atmospheric sections (i.e. Eric Johnson - and yes - Joe Satriani style soloing) might accommodate verse type lyrics if that were appropriate or desired. I do really like how you have these repeating sections, as in the classic song arrangement format, but they seem to change slightly each time or add some other riffs and flourishes. It seems to be something that really good instrumentals accomplish. Congratulations! 
Wow! Outstanding playing!! And good to see you back