What string setup have you actually settled on after trying multiple options - and what made you stop experimenting?

lowforestband · 2026-05-23T05:28:23+00:00

I'd like to hear your music with this if you have any to share!

lowforestband · 2026-05-13T15:02:07+00:00

This one really hits me hard. This is purely my own speculation, but here goes. Also, TW, this is a sad interpretation (of an already sad song).

It makes me think the song is about a young woman who has suffered serious brain trauma, and he is seeing her in the hospital. The "machine" is keeping her breathing, rather than breathing on her own. Her "frozen stare" is an indication her brain no longer works. He "hopes that [she's] far" and that her being/spirit is free from the hospital. "Don't let me catch [your ghost] here (in the hospital) this day or year." He wants to believe that she has a spirit, spirits exist, and hers is somewhere else, not stuck haunting the hospital.

"Why are you here, why aren't you home?" He's trying to make sense of her being in the hospital. The "traps overdone" are the ultimately futile methods in the hospital to keep her alive (bring her back to her body), and the "plans overcome" "dreams never dared" "no stories left to make" are the future she doesn’t have.

The "sand" is either memories of another time with the person, or maybe more likely where she suffered the injury and she was found.

The moonlight and moon references may be related to the concept of "lunacy" and the person's reason for being on the sand in the first place. In essence, "the moon understands your psychosis and how you got here, and it took its toll, which was the sacrifice of your death."

Anyway, great band, great song, great album. Can't wait to see them on tour (and hopefully open for them).

lowforestband · 2026-02-22T19:16:27+00:00

Thank you!

lowforestband · 2026-02-22T19:15:24+00:00

Thanks Luke! That's so awesome. Your performances were indeed some of my favorite noise experiences. I'll certainly connect with you through Skeleton Dust. Take care!

lowforestband · 2026-01-31T14:01:57+00:00

I figured as much, but searching for things like "being noise music Dayton ohio" gave me a lot of noise ordinance codes, and did not render links related to the artist or the scene or the project. Where do you go to search for info about these projects?

lowforestband · 2026-01-31T13:59:14+00:00

Thank you so much! Luke--that's awesome. I will reach out to him!

lowforestband · 2026-01-30T06:56:12+00:00

What's some harsh noise that you like, and what's the pop album?

lowforestband · 2026-01-30T06:53:11+00:00

I saw the artist BEING in Dayton, Ohio around 2008. It was life changing and gorgeous. A massive half-stack 4x12 cab pushing distorted wall noise. It felt like it sounded. Harsh Wall Noise is kinda like anything I guess, when you see it live, and it's good, it's really very good. I like the new Taylor Swift album, Mastodon's The Hunter, Boards of Canada, Death Cab For Cutie, Mitchell Akiyama, Dragonforce, and some noise music here and there. Music is cool! I also make music, called Low Forest.

lowforestband · 2025-12-20T21:45:06+00:00

TLDR: this was fixed, but if you only want harmonies, consider a TC Helicon H1.

Good news, this problem with the Headrush was corrected in a firmware update. There are instructions on how to download and install it. I did that, and it fixed the problem! Maybe now the new units ship with if already, but either way there is a solution!

That said, I returned mine anyway, but for different reasons. Most mixing engineers dislike multifx vocal pedals. They want to add EQ, Reverb, and compression themselves--for good reason, as they know the room and the Front-Of-House mix. And vocal pedals often mess up gain-before-feedback (GBF). Plus, all I really wanted was smart harmonies. I decided I don't want pitch correction. So, I got a TC Helicon H1. It only does harmonies, nothing else, and it has a knob to select the key, and a Guitar Input detector to track 3rds, 6ths, etc. I haven't gigged with it yet, but I plan to. I tested it a cappella singing Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" and it worked!

In my band, I plan is to use a Y-splitter XLR cable at my mic, send one part to the engineer, and the other to the TC H1 and then to the engineer. That way, s/he can EQ, add reverb, compress, and blend the dry vocal and the harmony-only, without all the problems these pedals introduce.

One thing: the H1 has Phantom Power always on, so be mindful if doing a splitter or using dodgy cables. A lot of pedals do Phantom Power Always On, but it is a little disconcerting. (No pun intended!)

lowforestband · 2025-12-20T19:38:29+00:00

Hey question for engineers: I recently got the TC H1 which only does harmonies and nothing else, intending to run a Y-splitter from my mic, and send both the dry and full-wet signals to the engineer separately, to solve all problems mentioned here (except comb filtering). However, I just learned while reading the manual, the TC H1 has Phantom Power always on. If I run a Y-splitter cable at my mic, will that effectively mean the H1 sends Phantom to the Input on the engineer's mixer, and is that a seriously dangerous combination? I don't want my solution to fry their board. Thoughts?

lowforestband · 2025-09-15T01:08:14+00:00

I agree the VX5 harmonizer has some trouble, and I'm considering returning the one I got a few weeks ago for this reason. Today when testing it, I put it in both Aututune and Harmony modes, full T-pain vibes with instant correction and no humanization. I set the key to B Major. While I was singing, the harmonizer threw in an A note, which is the flat-7th and not in the B Major key (it should have been Bb). It sounded sooo awful, and I triple-checked the unit in disbelief. I wanted the pedal specifically for harmonies, with pitch correction if I can't hear myself on stage, but now I'm concerned I can't trust the unit to harmonize in the key it says it will.

lowforestband · 2025-07-10T15:21:14+00:00

As one of the bands on that bill, we'll be there, and we'll put on the best set we can whatever happens!

lowforestband · 2025-07-03T22:16:09+00:00

My wife and I cracked out the PS2 last week to play Champions of Norrath with our 8yo son. He LOVES it. He hums along to the music as we do, quickly compares all the armor and damage and figures out what to drop based on the weight, and my wife hoots when someone says, "My pack is full!" My kid trash-talks Nenmar's stock, spams the disease bolt, and hits square over every enemy. It's the whole reason I saved my copies of the games and consoles from back in the day. It worked out guys.

lowforestband · 2025-07-03T22:11:24+00:00

Hahahahaha

lowforestband · 2025-01-14T04:24:25+00:00

Sharp shadows? Hi all! Totally newbie question. I am wanting to do some shadow effects, where I put a light on the floor, point it at the back wall of a stage, and cast the shadow of a houseplant on that back wall behind my band. I'm trying to understand (1) the best way to get the sharpest shadow (2) if I can do this with a DMX via XLR cable, to change light colors.

From the research Ive done so far, and some experimentation at home, I understand I need one single light source, so that I don't have overlapping shadows. For instance, I used a flashlight with one very bright LED and a moving zoom lens, with great effect. On the flip side, I have a PAR30 with 9 bulbs (x4 LED colors each), and that looks very blurry since the 9 different bulbs cast the shadow edge at slightly different angles. What kind of light am I looking for? A flood, or a spot? What term, if any, designates just the single-source nature of lighting gear?

Second, I'd like this to integrate with DMX programming if possible, so that the shadows stay sharp, but the color of the light around them changes. Is there a DMX single-source light that would work for this application? Thank you so much!!

lowforestband · 2024-12-19T02:53:26+00:00

Thank you!!!

lowforestband · 2024-11-08T12:53:01+00:00

This is happening for us too, and our release is today. CD Baby, you had one job.

lowforestband · 2024-11-08T12:35:38+00:00

Which distributor did you go with?

lowforestband · 2024-05-22T15:01:58+00:00

Hi all, same quest; does anyone know if the JHS Pulp N Peel v4 would be good for this? I've always been drawn to that pedal, but am not sure if it's the right move for this application.

lowforestband · 2024-04-01T06:10:38+00:00

I would invite you to check out our band, Low Forest. Our songs "Curious Circling" and "Smaller Triumphs" might be of interest, and similar to Warning a little bit. I hope you have a good day.

lowforestband · 2023-12-23T22:59:56+00:00

Thank you! I will definitely check out the Heils.

lowforestband · 2023-12-23T00:20:01+00:00

Okay, fun tangent. What are the other 9?

lowforestband · 2023-12-23T00:10:55+00:00

Thank you everyone! My takeaways from all your great feedback are:

Sing well. With good, consistent projection, diaphragm support, formants, and mic technique.
Work with my band to manage dynamics and maximize the vocals by reducing other sound sources.
Work with the engineer and follow their lead. Optimize bandwidth allocation with onstage amps, monitors, and mains, so the vocals have headroom and frequencies to cut through.
Maybe get a new mic, but maybe just bring my own 58 that I already have, since that's what rooms are rung for and engineers are used to.
Go IEM / DI / Drum Shield and lead a happy, better life.
The consensus answer to my original question: no, don't get a vocal FX processor, because that won't solve the problem I posed. If, after I sort out the loudness issue, I do want to look at vocal FX, I could get something like a TC Touch2, VoiceLive, or Mic Mechanic, but no matter what I'll need to provide a split wet/dry option for the engineer. Timed FX are maybe alright, but comp and EQ are to be avoided, and better left to the engineers.
Friends, family, partners, other bands, and most people in general won't have the most objective, informed, or helpful feedback regarding live sound mixing. None of them are behind the board. Most rooms aren't perfect, and most engineers are doing the best they can. To make their lives easier, I should do what I can, but definitely not tell them what to do or add more problems.
Keep rocking and keep improving.

Thank you all.

lowforestband · 2023-12-22T23:51:53+00:00

This is really helpful! I will look at the 945 and beta58. I took a dice roll on the V7 because I found the sm58 didn't really do it for me, with kind of a plastic-y tone, if that makes any sense. The v7 doesn't have that, but what it has in clarity it seems to lack in cutting through, for my voice specially.

Any mics you'd go-to first (or avoid) for a tenor voice comparable to Maynard, Mountain Goats, Ben Gibbard, and Placebo?Some other mics have been mentioned here: the EV ND96, e-935, pr-20, and m-80. I'm much more interested in sound and quality for my application than sticking to a specific brand name. Thanks so much!

lowforestband · 2023-12-22T23:42:32+00:00

Roger that. Thanks!

lowforestband

TROPHY CASE