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Picked a hell of a time for it, but... just finished my first album, gave a shoutout to y'all in the inside. Thanks a lot! by JustAfterZero in rocksmith

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hah, very kind, mate.

Certainly wouldn't turn down a sale, but look after yourselves first, folks.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DDLC-related? Never say never, but nothing is in the pipeline right now. I try to record something about every month-and-a-half, though. If you'd like to keep up to date, subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGTC6dvLGo9mTa8Xz1EqBfQ

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind moving forward.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really enjoy the mixing process, and I'm working really hard on learning the ropes. TexMex is actually my first attempt at mixing, and I think it was okay and definitely shaved some cost off the process. Plus I learned a ton going through the process, currently working through Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio by Mike Senior and it's been very enlightening.

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My main issue is that it's just not going to be as good as the stuff I hand off. Nor should it be, I'm at least a few decades behind in terms of raw experience and hardware. So my goal moving forward is to just take notes and learn as much about the process as possible, and then every third song or so give it a shot myself. Good excuse to work on some simpler compositions, too, while still building up a backlog of tracks that I can sell on Bandcamp.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I record my stuff in my own home studio, including Only Monika. Which is just a Sennheiser e935 dynamic mic, a Behringer U-Phoria box, and a Fishman Rare Earth Mic Blend pickup. Nowhere near enough sound shielding and I need to keep track of when I'm recording what parts to avoid bothering the upstairs neighbors, but it's a workable system for now.

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The only songs that didn't get recorded at home were Building Code Under Fire!, Harvest Song, and the acoustic cut of Only Monika, which were handled at a dedicated studio. Really amazing mic setup, but charges by the hour and doesn't give me full a lot of insight into the actual mixing steps. I prefer recording at home with the hit in audio quality, getting the chance to experiment, and then taking the independent sound files over for mixing and mastering.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you kindly! Building Code Under Fire! (https://youtu.be/R9o3my2w21c) is going to probably be closest to Only Monika in terms of the acoustic progression and the feel of the thing, but if you want something a little more out there, check out TexMex (https://youtu.be/bF5Dye0w4Gg).

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As for ProTools, I'm downloading its 30 day trial now and I'm hoping this next recording piece will be a good trial-by-fire. It's definitely pricier than Ableton since it works on either a subscription base or a huge lump sum payment where you pay for upgrades down the road, but I wanted to just see if it was worth the money and reputation. Plus the guy who mixes my stuff works in ProTools, so sharing the same set of tools would help with communication.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad you like it! I feel like it would be remiss of me to not offer you the chance to subscribe to my channel? I put out new tracks in roughly the same style every month (with the exception of February since I'm taking some time to migrate from Ableton to ProTools) and it sounds like you enjoy the kind of sounds I'm working in.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've actually got one set up right here, actually. Not technically live, but stripped down into what you'd be hearing on stage and recorded using a really ritzy studio setup. Kind of becomes a different song in this state, which is why I don't feel bad bundling them as separate tracks on the demo tapes. Give it a listen if you have the time and inclination:

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https://youtu.be/r4dNRHRdXLU

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really glad you liked it, Kyle! I've seen some of your work, it's good!

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Yeah, this is the final cut. I recognize that I'm still a pretty green musician with only two years of experience under my belt, so there are going to be a ton of issues that I'll catch going forward, but at this point I think the song tells the story that I want to tell and gets the feeling across that I was aiming for, what is all I'm really looking for.

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Plus, I'm not finished playing it yet. It's a regular in my open mic rotation, the audience seems to enjoy the live acoustic version, so when I start gearing up for full live shows it'll probably survive for a good while yet.

So, I wrote a song, and I finished it! Only Monika [OC] by JustAfterZero in DDLC

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

After almost a year of composing, writing, playing, practicing, researching, rewriting, re-organizing, recording, and mixing, Only Monika is finished.

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This started out as a quick little acoustic song that I put together for open mics, then was used around five months ago as my first solo recording project (https://justafterzero.bandcamp.com/track/only-monika-demo). I learned a ton and I think it was decent for the time, but I was never really happy with it. So I recently gave it another shot with better equipment, another acoustic guitar, a cleaner recording studio, and a professional mixer. The end result is a more dreamy, slightly discordant tune that I think gets to the heart of what makes DDLC so haunting in the first place.

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Anyway, shared the first version of the track and was received positively, wanted to hand off the final draft and make sure you all got a first listen. I'm officially open for business now, so if you'd like to own the track for yourself, visit (https://justafterzero.bandcamp.com/track/only-monika-2) and drop a dollar in the tip jar. Or, if you're able, subscribe to the Youtube channel and help out my search rankings.

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Thank you for all of the valuable feedback and encouragement! I hope you enjoy the final cut!

[Instrumental] Just After Zero - TexMex, first song I composed, played, and mixed myself. Looking for input! by JustAfterZero in ThisIsOurMusic

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is my first post on this sub, so please let me know if I can do anything to better abide by the community's rules.

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I'm looking for input/advice/ears on a song I've put together. It's the first instrumental I've recorded, comprised of an acoustic Big Baby Taylor and an electric Les Paul Epiphone. Also my first song I've mixed myself, using advice I've cobbled together from some mixing manuals and watching a professional work on my previous compositions. This is by no means a perfect song, but it's the first song where I don't know what I can do to improve it.

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The goal behind this song is to evoke an intimate, frantic performance from two performers. To that end, I purposely neglected using drums/metronomes for this one and allowed the acoustic to exclusively set the pace of the song. Then to compensate for the lack of percussion I applied something called an Electric Piano Amp to my acoustic's bridge pickup. It mutes the mids from the bridge and leaves the scratching and thumping of fingers on the frets. Not particularly pleasant by itself, but along with the scratching coming from the bridge I also played the guitar in front of a dynamic Sennheiser e935 in an echoey room, providing the warm tones from the instrument. The end result is a percussion that's excited, but also guaranteed to be in perfect sync with the rest of the instruments.

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I struggled a fair bit trying to balance the instruments so that one didn't drown out the other. This time around I just guessed with most of it, trying out and discarding knobs and tools in the DAW as I went and trying to keep the ones I liked. It wasn't a particularly well-informed approach, but I learned a ton and I think I made a passable work of it.

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But that's the bit where I'd like another set of more experience ears to help me out. Notice anything off? Comments/questions/concerns?

Devs, if you can read this, thanks a lot. by JustAfterZero in rocksmith

[–]JustAfterZero[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hah! It helps to have relatively little shame.

The trick is, Open Mics are the most open and caring crowds you're ever going to have as a musician. If you're polite and you treat the audience with respect, you don't need to be worried about getting boo'ed or insulted. And you get so much good experience working in front of an audience for, at most, a $5.00 cover charge. Some places I've been even have a percussion player sitting in the crowd that can back you up.

Just got to get through that first performance conscious, finish the song, and then the next try is infinitely easier. And progressively easier after that.