what's Atomic Shrine Maiden???? It's the cheesy nomenclature for a music project by yours truly, [url=http://uemulagirls.tumblr.com/post/116150630441/atomic-shrine-maiden-umeko-daigozen]named after an illustration by one of my favorite artists[/url], but that's besides the point. the point is I make music I do a lot of synthwave, but I've also messed around in prog rock, sample-layered breakbeat and... other... stuff. I think the only consistent genre I do is... I dunno, it's gotta have a catchy tune? I like catchy tunes. I'm gonna link some of my more notable stuff on instad.io because as far as I know there's no like, soundcloud embedder -Synthwave covers of [b][url=https://instaud.io/i7G]the theme from Pacific Rim[/url][/b] as well as [b][url=https://instaud.io/i7H]Nuclear by Mike Oldfield[/url][/b] (the theme from the Metal Gear Solid V trailer). This is my most popular stuff because to be honest it's a bit pandery -[b][url=https://instaud.io/i7I]I Have Seen Dogs With More Style Than Men[/url][/b], an original synthwave track from an album that's currently in development hell. it samples a poem by Charles Bukowski and it just kind of... stops dead because it's supposed to seamlessly transition into the next song on the album. I know all of this sounds incredibly pretentious but -[b][url=https://instaud.io/i7J]What's It All About?[/url][/b], one of my more sample-y songs. it's somewhat repetitive but that's kind of on purpose, I envisioned it being the bgm to a character select screen or menu or something -[b][url=https://instaud.io/i7L]Clockwork Kingdom[/url][/b], my attempt at a more prog rock-y song and probably the song I've worked on the hardest so far. It features me actually singing and actually playing real guitar, both of which I suck at. well yeah that's it. I hope you like them. and if you do, you can keep up with me on [url=https://soundcloud.com/atomicshrinemaiden]my soundcloud[/url] (where some of my best stuff goes) and [url=http://atomicshrinemaiden.tumblr.com/]my tumblr[/url] (where I just post everything, even crappy WIPs)

This is very interesting! Kinda rough, though. The Queen B**ch cover in particular almost had a lo-fi feel to it, but nonetheless I happened to enjoy it well enough. Keep it up, guy!

Woah, this is some pretty good stuff! I'm honestly not quite sure what to say, because generally all I do is give basic advice about stuff like keeping the song's key in mind or making sure the harmony isn't dissonant (or at least, doesn't sound dissonant) - but you're definitely beyond that. Heck - I'm willing to bet you've got a rather solid background in music! Some actual things I could say is that I think the mixing on the guitar for Clockwork Kingdom (definitely hits prog rock vibes, by the way!) needs a bit of work - are you recording it from an amp? Right now the tone's a little bit muddy, with the wrong frequencies boosted. I'm no expert on the topic of mixing, but it's something I think you might want to work on. Also, your singing is often flat, especially around the line "Clockwork Queen, the Clockwork Queen" - if you don't want to rely on pitch correction software, I'd recommend you keep a tuner handy every time you record vocals. Your soundscape and choice of instruments is interesting... I've never listened to much synthwave, so I might just be unfamiliar with its instruments, but I think the synth on the main riff clashes a bit - either that, or it's simply too loud. I Have Seen Dogs With More Style Than Men is significantly better in that regard - I particularly like the approach of layering the guitar with a synth - but I think the two are unbalanced. Don't let this get you down - I'm definitely liking everything I'm hearing so far. Really, keep at it - this is some great stuff.

good stuff!

[quote="Can of Nothing"]Woah, this is some pretty good stuff! I'm honestly not quite sure what to say, because generally all I do is give basic advice about stuff like keeping the song's key in mind or making sure the harmony isn't dissonant (or at least, doesn't sound dissonant) - but you're definitely beyond that. Heck - I'm willing to bet you've got a rather solid background in music! Some actual things I could say is that I think the mixing on the guitar for Clockwork Kingdom (definitely hits prog rock vibes, by the way!) needs a bit of work - are you recording it from an amp? Right now the tone's a little bit muddy, with the wrong frequencies boosted. I'm no expert on the topic of mixing, but it's something I think you might want to work on. Also, your singing is often flat, especially around the line "Clockwork Queen, the Clockwork Queen" - if you don't want to rely on pitch correction software, I'd recommend you keep a tuner handy every time you record vocals. Your soundscape and choice of instruments is interesting... I've never listened to much synthwave, so I might just be unfamiliar with its instruments, but I think the synth on the main riff clashes a bit - either that, or it's simply too loud. I Have Seen Dogs With More Style Than Men is significantly better in that regard - I particularly like the approach of layering the guitar with a synth - but I think the two are unbalanced. Don't let this get you down - I'm definitely liking everything I'm hearing so far. Really, keep at it - this is some great stuff.[/quote] all these are pretty legit criticisms the guitar on Clockwork Queen was indeed literally recorded directly from an amp, and the mic I used to record it kinda sucks. luckily though I'm gonna be getting a new mic soon and I'll be able to record guitar much better. And yeah, I notice I hit the notes rather flat a lot of the times when I'm singing. I've been in a lot of musicals but apart from that I don't sing often, hopefully I'll get better with practice. also mixing is something I know very little about, but it's been something I've been needing to learn. there's definitely an art to that in and of itself.

You should definitely look into your mixing. A good mix is the difference between a song being really great and a song being really amateurish. A lot of what did it for me was equalizing in a mix: it's a careful art, not just something you can go in and fiddle with and expect great results. Have you tried directly plugging your guitar into your computer and using an amp sim VST? That typically sounds far better than mic-ing an actual amp, especially if your amp and/or microphone aren't up to par.

[b][url=https://instaud.io/itT]I did a kind of… garage-y cover of Sword of Damocles[/url][/b], my favorite song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is the best soundtrack to a musical I have ever heard I readded extra verses that were in the stage show but not in the movie. [b]also warning: it might be a little bit loud[/b] I still don’t have a bass so I again used the technique of playing notes on the guitar and pitching it down an octave. also I sampled drums from The Ramones (and Hardnox at parts, but it’s harder to tell) because I really needed an authentic drum sound and I don’t own a drum kit. I don’t own a lot of things

this is kind of a big bump but here's a bunch of stuff ive done since the last time i posted here I finally finished the album I was talking about earlier, give it a listen here. featuring really amazing cover art by my friend [url=http://jetito.tumblr.com/]jeto[/url] [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAje3GoLf5w[/video] you can [url=https://mega.nz/#!aR4WxAjZ!yM6AX3sh8bB6reQgH0DhQznbG89mcPniG9m91XL7hD0]download it free here[/url] or [url=https://atomicshrinemaiden.bandcamp.com/album/the-3d-album]pay for it[/url] if you want some bonus content also here's [url=https://eckelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-bad-influences]another shorter album[/url] i did thats kind of a pastiche of punk and garage rock ALSO here's [url=https://instaud.io/wbT]another song i finished a few minutes ago[/url] that was supposed to be the overworld theme of an RPG I was working on but idk where that's going now. it's kinda... frank zappa-y? idk, ive been trying to make my compositions more musically colorful lately

I'll have to listen to all this stuff later

Your mixes are a little too compressed. They lack a lot of dynamic range and almost kinda sound like they're being played through an intercom speaker at times - kinda makes it difficult to get into the music, tbh I'll give the whole thing a full listen tomorrow if I can and will give a proper assessment by then, but that's just something I noticed going through it a bit real quick.

one thing is definitely certain and that's that i know next to nothing about mixing or EQ or dynamics or anything. I should probably learn about that stuff. I might take a college course on it or something either way this is another thing I forgot about - I got really into Queen and Foxy Shazam over the summer and I had this crazy idea to start a bombastic glam band with my friends and do a few shows in crazy glittery costumes and makeup, but the whole thing turned out to be a scheduling nightmare and also we couldn't find a human who could play in 16/17 at 135 bpm so it was scrapped We wrote a bunch of songs but [url=https://instaud.io/wcg]this one[/url] was the closest to being finished, albiet nowhere near. my friend performed the lengthy piano intro and my other friend did the guitar solo in the middle, but other than that everything else was me. it's also pretty horribly mixed, something even I can attest to. but if anything I am kinda happy with how the choir parts turned out, I overdubbed my own voice around 24 times to get them to sound like that, and the second verse has my two friends joining me.

Ha, that sounds like a neat idea. At least you have the talent to actually write music and preform, something I've been wanting to do but haven't been able. Maybe I just don't have the mind for it.

Love the 80's style of your tracks!! :thumbsup:

[quote="Greeno"]one thing is definitely certain and that's that i know next to nothing about mixing or EQ or dynamics or anything. I should probably learn about that stuff. I might take a college course on it or something either way this is another thing I forgot about - I got really into Queen and Foxy Shazam over the summer and I had this crazy idea to start a bombastic glam band with my friends and do a few shows in crazy glittery costumes and makeup, but the whole thing turned out to be a scheduling nightmare and also we couldn't find a human who could play in 16/17 at 135 bpm so it was scrapped We wrote a bunch of songs but [url=https://instaud.io/wcg]this one[/url] was the closest to being finished, albiet nowhere near. my friend performed the lengthy piano intro and my other friend did the guitar solo in the middle, but other than that everything else was me. it's also pretty horribly mixed, something even I can attest to. but if anything I am kinda happy with how the choir parts turned out, I overdubbed my own voice around 24 times to get them to sound like that, and the second verse has my two friends joining me.[/quote] Now that is an awesome little thing. Putting aside that the mix absolutely sounds terrible (no offense, haha), the fact that you pulled off the vocal harmonies so well is incredible. Seriously, that was Queen-esque up and down. If you want advice on how to mix that better, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbgOID_U4Q0]I did a Queen tribute a while back[/url] and I've been studying their sound for practically years now so I've gathered a lot of info on just about every part of their sound - even their lesser known '80s material, for whatever reason.

[quote="Vimimin"] If you want advice on how to mix that better, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbgOID_U4Q0]I did a Queen tribute a while back[/url] and I've been studying their sound for practically years now so I've gathered a lot of info on just about every part of their sound - even their lesser known '80s material, for whatever reason.[/quote] that's pretty damn good. the lyrics, the guitar harmonies, the piano parts... they're rather authentic. The guitar harmonies sound especially impressive considering they sound like they were done with a VST? And the lyrics manage to contain a bunch of subtle references to different parts of Queen's discography while also sounding like lyrics to a self-contained Queen song. I guess the only thing I would say is that the vocal harmonies sound better when they're higher. Whenever Queen did elaborately overdubbed harmonies they were usually pretty high. But you were able to capture the sound pretty well, and it shows that you've studied the sound rather extensively.

[quote="Greeno"]that's pretty damn good. the lyrics, the guitar harmonies, the piano parts... they're rather authentic. The guitar harmonies sound especially impressive considering they sound like they were done with a VST? And the lyrics manage to contain a bunch of subtle references to different parts of Queen's discography while also sounding like lyrics to a self-contained Queen song. I guess the only thing I would say is that the vocal harmonies sound better when they're higher. Whenever Queen did elaborately overdubbed harmonies they were usually pretty high. But you were able to capture the sound pretty well, and it shows that you've studied the sound rather extensively.[/quote] Thanks! The piano in particular I went out of my way to make it sound like an old, beat up Bechstein (by virtue of it [i]being[/i] a sampled Bechstein, so in many ways it's entirely authentic). The guitar parts are actually, believe it or not, my actual guitar playing on my worn out Strat. Brian May's Red Special astounds me so much that I took what felt like [i]months[/i] of constant studying and listening of the Bohemian Rhapsody multi-tracks to figure out how I could make my Fender Bender sound as close to it as possible. I [b]used[/b] to use exclusively VST guitars, but I ditched them once I started getting a grip on playing a real one. I'm hardly a guitar virtuoso by any stretch of imagination, but I can play the parts that I write and that's usually enough for me! As for the vocal harmonies, you'd be exactly right - I was just trying to sing to my range, which admittedly isn't one of my strong points.

Atomic Shrine Maiden is pretty good stuff! I especially liked tracks 15 and 16

Okay, I gave the whole album a listen-through finally and overall, I did like it! Aside from what I already have said about the mix, sometimes the samples were rather out of place sounding - that is to say, they felt like they started and ended at very random points. Nothing terribly distracting, but something I noticed nonetheless. My favourite track would probably have to be The Gardener's Rhapsody. It's calming but in a melancholic way, and I can dig that.

From listening to Clockwork Kingdom, I can see you have a very Jon Anderson-like voice. Maybe you should listen to some Yes tunes with Anderson in vocals to work on your vocal technique since you have a very similar tone. Other than that, I don't have anything to say that hasn't been already said.

[quote="Enchlore"]From listening to Clockwork Kingdom, I can see you have a very Jon Anderson-like voice. Maybe you should listen to some Yes tunes with Anderson in vocals to work on your vocal technique since you have a very similar tone. Other than that, I don't have anything to say that hasn't been already said.[/quote] oh yeah hahaha i was trying to sound as much like Jon Anderson as possible on Clockwork Kingdom, the whole thing was kind of a Yes pastiche since im a huge fan. And yeah I do need to work on my voice tho, especially for harmony parts. there's a lotta notes I hit flat. I think I've gotten comparatively better since I recorded that though