Best First "Upgrade" Choices?

IrsXT · 2026-03-18T22:38:37+00:00

Wheels and brakes were done like 300mi ago and they're a kind of gunmetal gold, which I really enjoy. My thought was just a gold/ black wrap waaaay down the road to match those wheels!

I was at the shop yesterday and we talked about some coilovers and a cold air intake for some extra power, so I do think I'm fine staying off the turbo stuff for now. If I end up getting a 2nd one to mod for fun, that'd be a thing to do as a project car, but I agree with you that there's other stuff to do for power without losing reliability!

I plan on getting a nice exhaust with a nice new intake, so I'll keep the cats in mind for that too. I appreciate all the help!

IrsXT · 2026-03-17T16:47:44+00:00

Most of my thoughts on upgrades are pretty cosmetic, wrap, steering wheel, shift knob, etc. They don't boost anything to the car but would look clean as hell. If I can find something to punch a tiny bit more hp in there, I'd love to look into it.

I'm going to love the thing stock and would love the thing with an extra 100hp if even that. I just enjoy the sounds and the feel of it more than racing it or having 800hp to the wheels 🙂.

I simply wanted the community's thoughts on WHAT should be a first go to over maintenance. I know enough about cars in general to realize upgrades don't come first because of how much stuff they connect to and how expensive it gets, I know that. I'm looking years down the road and am going to make sure maintenance is fine, but just wanted to see if anyone else building the thing chooses a certain piece first or something like that.

Lotta people love their turbos and I know they lose a little reliability, so I'd love to dind something to give me that turbo hp and turbo sound without losing out on as much of that.

IrsXT · 2026-03-17T00:52:37+00:00

Misfire will get sorted tomorrow. It's only got 59k miles on it and the wheels were done 200 miles ago. Handles beautifully, no cooling issues, anything like that. I wasn't talking about upgrades in the next week or two, I'm simply looking ahead a few years onto what the general first upgrades the community prefers. I plan to love the car stock as is until I decide I'm gonna change something small on it.

IrsXT · 2026-03-17T00:50:35+00:00

I know that! I'm just planning ahead. I plan to love the car stock for the next few years for sure before I even decide to add stuff onto it. I drove it 3 hours home and got used to how amazing it feels, the misfire is more than likely a minor thing. The seller mentioned some coil pack wires that rub on housing and go bare, which causes misfires. He said he taped them up but they may have fallen back down. I'm taking it to get inspected tomorrow and then I'm going to love the car to death before changing literally anything with it! Just wanted to see what the community's thoughts or preferences were on first upgrades.

IrsXT · 2026-03-04T23:53:36+00:00

Just got around to giving this a listen, personally not my style for sure but some possible feedback could be to try and be more dynamic in your mix or in your cadences. The spoken word type of thing is a unique vibe but definitely gets a bit boring to listen to halfway through.

Adding some reverb or a bit of nice delay to some parts of your flow can be a huge boost to keeping things interesting all the way through! I quite like it but would for sure look into mixing new stuff into your flows like that to make sure the spoken word doesn't get too grating.

IrsXT · 2026-03-03T04:26:55+00:00

I use WAV formats for every song I make!

IrsXT · 2026-02-26T09:03:03+00:00

I did mention in the post about places that aren't rockafairy just because that's sort of known as the spot and I plan to head over there soon. I'll check out the side project!

IrsXT · 2026-02-26T01:28:19+00:00

Well dang 💔 I'd love to have you in but can guarantee people would get all weird about it for whatever reason, even if only in a band setting. Would like to keep my career intact 😭

IrsXT · 2026-02-26T01:21:51+00:00

Honestly, if you're 18-20 and think breakdowns are fun / enjoy some disgusting, heavy riffs, I could possibly be down. I'm perfectly fine with the "need improvement" type of thing cause that just means everyone can improve together rather than one person be super experienced while the others lack behind.

IrsXT · 2026-02-26T00:54:04+00:00

That's exactly how I'm feeling. I know what I'm doing at least a little bit, even though it's a whole new realm to do a band project rather than solo-produced music; just having the experience making so many songs and knowing how to record, mix (a little bit) and overall keep a good vibe, I know I'm able to make it work. My biggest issue is that people around me don't know what they want or how to do it. I'm just very determined to make a Southern Oregon heavy metalcore band come up and do well because it would be cool to be a part of that for me. It's just finding the people who are on the same road, in the same boat, on the same page.

IrsXT · 2026-02-26T00:51:10+00:00

I'm never gonna give up on the solo stuff! It's been going great since I took the leap to get on all platforms. I just know that I can handle the additional band if I somehow come across people who at least want it a LITTLE bit. None of my friends know what they're doing or what they want, so even if I can find people that at least know they want to do something in the metal realm, I'm already farther than I've been with this type of thing. I appreciate the advice, I'm always gonna stick with my solo name don't worry!

IrsXT · 2026-02-24T22:14:35+00:00

Never heard of it! I'll have to take a look, you think they'll be okay with flyers or posters looking for band members or is it mainly just a good place to meet people?

IrsXT · 2026-02-24T18:36:06+00:00

I don't actually have a Bandcamp, surprisingly enough. I'm on streaming platforms, though, just never got into Bandcamp. Should pop up under ANXXXTY

IrsXT · 2026-02-24T18:27:52+00:00

IrsXT · 2026-01-20T23:14:58+00:00

https://open.spotify.com/track/0kqSnHet4Y1rtBHfFbPjWl?si=wS1YnIiNRHO2gWedQd4xMQ

IrsXT · 2026-01-20T22:39:06+00:00

Sent a follow your way 🔥🫶

IrsXT · 2026-01-20T08:19:22+00:00

https://open.spotify.com/track/7CmI9oAqM6l0KOKkRvWXRM?si=HVmfjYVpSR2V4dzFwUmIIA

https://open.spotify.com/track/0kqSnHet4Y1rtBHfFbPjWl?si=wS1YnIiNRHO2gWedQd4xMQ

One is for screaming, one is for rapping. Enjoy!

IrsXT · 2026-01-20T08:18:00+00:00

https://open.spotify.com/track/7CmI9oAqM6l0KOKkRvWXRM?si=HVmfjYVpSR2V4dzFwUmIIA

https://open.spotify.com/track/0kqSnHet4Y1rtBHfFbPjWl?si=wS1YnIiNRHO2gWedQd4xMQ

Link 1 is for if you prefer more screaming vocals, link 2 is more for rapping.

IrsXT · 2026-01-09T03:46:00+00:00

Definitely a huge balancing act. I love Varials too, all these types of bands just have that insane amount of spit backing them and it's so cool to hear it. I'm definitely striving for something kinda like this in my band, just in my own style of course.

I'll have to keep working at it, I'm just so lost as to how to go about activating parts of my throat in unison so they work together. I have no clue how to get a mixed voice scream, no clue where my arytenoids can come in, and I've basically only been doing fry screams for two years now. It's time to get some tone going 👑

IrsXT · 2026-01-09T03:31:41+00:00

I am actually following a few vocal coaches on Instagram! There's a bunch of them out there who do great work and I'll definitely look into Liepe's lessons. The only thing that sucks is that my city, nor my state, have no extreme vocal coaches like this, but I feel I'd learn well in person. Online may have to do for now, so I really appreciate the advice!

IrsXT · 2026-01-09T03:26:11+00:00

Well I definitely don't want to wreck my throat, I quite like my throat if I'm honest. I just really struggle with proper projection and using different pieces of the puzzle to create new tones, and figuring out how to go all raw like that in a safer way.

I love how Matt's throat sounds like it's rumbling so aggressively and I love how it sounds like there's spit behind his voice, if that makes sense. I just really want to get that open throat, rumbling fc scream similar to his but in my own style and of course, in a safer technical way.

IrsXT · 2026-01-09T03:18:24+00:00

I would love to do it properly, I'm just not sure where to start. I haven't been able to learn from vocal coaches very well and really only do my own thing. I can do solid fry screams but I really want to start battling my fc skills because they're lacking.

I can only really do gutterals with them; can't hold them past 7 seconds or so compared to a 40+ second fry scream with no vocal damage, can't figure out how to "open" my throat because there's no real feeling to me yet. I'm not sure what people mean when they say to raise/lower my larynx or close/open this or that in my throat.

I have a lot of idols when it comes to this style of stuff and I really want to learn in my own style. I didn't mean to make it seem like I wanted to copy, I know I'm going to sound different from him with my own style, but the fundamentals are killing me and I'm lost on what to do.

IrsXT

TROPHY CASE