Any musicians around here?

[TheRiddler]

I play the tabla. And a bit of piano, although I'm not great at it.

 

[Artemis923]

Just guitar...mainly black/death metal. My vocals are also considered "raw" and "brutal", which I take as a compliment.

Everyone in my area plays faggoty deathcore. The thought of doing breakdowns at around drop A for 30 minutes straight makes me want to puke, otherwise I'd work at finding a band to play with.

Until then, I'll just keep playing Dissection by myself.

 

[II2]

Mastering is tricky, an art unto itself.

Most important rules:

Good mix is most important. Mastering isn't going to fix anything that's broken

Find some songs you like the sound of to A/B with (I use Prodigy's 'Omen', Alanis Morissette 'You Oughta KNow', Nirvana 'On A Plain', Killers 'Mr Brightside' and Foo Fighters 'Bridge Burning'

Keep it quiet - if your mix is too loud, it makes mastering a nightmare

Careful with the limiter - Too much limiting will make your track loud as fuck but squash all the lovely dynamics out. I use the Pro-L by Fab Filter, much prefer it to the Waves L3, has a much more natural sound when it starts compressing Sam Hulick recommended it to me and I've never looked back.

Have you tried iZotope Ozone, Gavin? I jumped ship from Waves software to theirs at Ozone v.3, now 5. I find their RX audio restoration stuff a godsend, too - particularly for improving low amplitude field recordings or fixing up stuff that's given to me with a lot of line noise.

Also, while it might not suit the main of your MOS material, as a fun distraction or uniquely unsual effect, check out the freeware http://rekkerd.org/dtblkfx/ ... Mental FFT resynthesis effect plugin - turns incoming audio into silly putty.

 

[pearcinator]

I've been playing Piano for quite a while now...I mostly play movie/video game/trailer music and the occasional popular song.

If you like here's some of my videos

Spoiler: This is a bit old (2008) but it's the only Zelda song I know - Gerudo Valley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfQIeTfnX1c[/youtube]

Spoiler: This was only a month ago - Dire Dire Docks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQVLVYhh0E[/youtube]

Spoiler: I love Two Steps From Hell - Remember Me and Nero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSWkBQ_-Mw[/youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhfLVqHeRTs[/youtube]

There's a few more you can watch if you're interested...I can't play by ear at all but once I learn a song (takes me a few months though) I don't need sheet music to play it...it becomes a part of my memory.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Pearcinator/videos

 

[shootthebandit]

Ive been playing guitar on and off for just over a year. Ive tried to teach myself and im not doing too badly. I work full time so its only the odd evening or weekend i get to practice

P.s. any tips would be helpful

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I write music for (mostly student) short films, games and (very rarely, unfortunately) commercial stuff like ads/documentaries/etc. It's fun stuff! I have an absolutely ridiculous amount of software now, and it's pretty good. It always makes me laugh when people ask how I got the budget for a brass section XD

On top of that, I also play guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and sing. I used to sing in a kind of traditional metal band, that was really kind of an affectionate parody. At the minute I'm recording the most depressing alternative rock album ever made :']

As far as the unfortunate loudness war goes, I do hate how I have to squash my pro stuff for the reasons MoS mentioned. As far as my personal projects go, though, fuck that shit. I realize that far fewer people will be able to listen to my stuff if I don't, but I don't care. I'm recording that album for me, first and foremost, other people listening to it would just be nice.

 

[IvoryTriforce]

It always makes me laugh when people ask how I got the budget for a brass section XD

Isn't technology great? I've heard people make a full orchestra with a midi keyboard and a bunch of virtual instruments lol. Of course it never replaces the feel of real players but if you're not going for authentic is pretty amazing that that's even possible.

 

[blaqknoise]

I can play guitar, bass, drums and clarinet. I'm also a recording engineer at a studio here in Vancouver.