A journey through 2011 - Or my first year as a musician!
3 replies, posted
Hello musicians gig, my name is Dick Tracy (or is it?) and I'm making this thread for the sole purpose of showcasing what I consider my artistic growth, and also as an example for aspiring musicians to show how fast you grow as a musician, and to provide inspiration to people who might think that "oh, I'll never get better".
First off, we'll start with the absolute beginning ; My first song!
[b]Dick Tracy - Beyond Apollo (previously known as "Unforseen Consequences)[/b]
[url=http://tindeck.com/listen/yjfg][img]http://tindeck.com/image/yjfg/stats.png[/img][/url]
When I first started, I did what any sane man would do - Plug in his guitar into the amp and just throw on shitloads of effects on top of the guitar! This song started with just a really simple chord progression that in hindsight I noticed reminded me a LOT about the bond theme. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the exact chord progression :v: I've always been a fan of space exploration, and I think the song does sound a lot like something out of space. At this time, my artist name was just Dick Tracy, and I asked a bassist friend of mine to lay down some bass for me on this track.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - A New Frontier[/b]
[url=http://tindeck.com/listen/wkvv][img]http://tindeck.com/image/wkvv/stats.png[/img][/url]
I first started making music in March, but oh boy what a creative month that was! Not stopping for breath, I directly went ahead and started working on yet another track. My bassist friend asked if he wanted to make a band with me, and "Zero-G Sunrise" was founded. He was also an avid fan of space exploration, and I think it was he who came up with the name. We felt that we had a good thing going with this whole "throw effects on my sloppy guitar playing and then throw some more effects on it" thing was working pretty well, so we started working on A New Frontier.
Thematically, the song is essentially just an extension of "Beyond Apollo", but with some more things going on in the song.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Throne Of Terra[/b]
[url=http://tindeck.com/listen/itqk][img]http://tindeck.com/image/itqk/stats.png[/img][/url]
My confidence and guitar-playing skill grew and I started pushing out riff after riff by now, just one day after we had made "A New Frontier" and "Beyond Apollo". We wanted to make something more different from the two first songs, so we laid off on the effects to an extent, but still kept it rather heavy. Thus, Throne Of Terra was born. By now I had realized that the DAW I used had a pretty nifty equalizer, and my first steps in mixing started. We also started exploring different melodies, with guitar playing one and the bass doing something else to compliment eachother.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Starbase X13[/b]
You remember what I said about different melodies just a few lines ago? Well, this song was our real first stepping stone in that matter, with a lot of guitars on top of eachother, and a bass that I just love. This song is also one of the first ones where I really started messing around with mixing, and most importantly ; panning. Of all the songs I've made, this is probably one that I'm really, really proud of. It also marks the end of what would become our first EP.
The days went by and some songs were made during this time, but I can't seem to find the links to them or where I've uploaded them. Nonetheless, my friend and I were jamming a lot during that time and it was during that time that we started playing with a drummer.
[b]Zero-G Surnise - A Farewell[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/a-farewell-6[/media]
A Farewell was the first song we made (I think), my technique had gotten a lot better by now, and the songs themselves got a bit more structure, with me churning out riff after riff. This also marked the first time I laid down an actual guitar solo, and I started exploring multi-tracking a lot more. It can be heard most clearly during the solo, where I recorded the solo twice, with two different settings on the guitar and on two different strings. I wanted to create a fuller sound, and I think I got it down pretty well. You'll hear a lot of this in the next few songs. =)
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Surprises Of Tomorrow[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/surprises-of-tomorrow-2[/media]
A note before here ; I sadly do not remember in which order the rest of the songs were made, so I'm going to list them in the order at which they are on the second album we made.
Now, this song I took a lot of inspiration from "The Naked And Famous - Young Blood". It probably isn't audible, but the main riff has a lot of resemblence to the guitar in that song.
We wanted to make a song that droned on, and I think we got a pretty good and groovy drone-ish sound. I had a bit of a 70s phase around this time, which I'm certain you'll hear throughout the next few songs. =)
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Stop, Drop & Roll[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/stop-drop-and-roll[/media]
Rock from the 70's has always been music I've listened to, ranging back from when my own father used to play in a band (he was a drummer) and I used to follow him to band practice. They just played for fun and never really had any huge gigs, but they had some catchy songs that resembled Led Zeppelin a lot. We started experimenting a bit with tempo changes in this song, going from fast to slow to fast and then faster.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Sunshine[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/sunshine-3[/media]
A friend of mine called this song "a mix between Wolfmother and Judas Priest", I can't say I really agree with him on the judas priest part, but I guess Wolfmother there is a very very small semblence. Oh well, I found a really fun riff when I worked with "Stop Drop & Roll" that didnt quite fit, which became the main riff of this song. Again, really straight-forward and I think it has more in common with 'Surprises of Tomorrow' than S,D&R with how the song structure is. I think this is one of the earlier songs too, can't recall though.
[b]Zero-G sunrise - Forgotten Memory[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/forgotten-memory-1[/media]
The songs so far has been pretty guitar-driven, but this song is all in the drums. My drumming friend had just bought a double-drum thingy (the kick, not sure what its called) and he fell in love with it immediatly. If I'm the 70s guy then he's the heavy metal from the 80s and forward guy in our band. If there is something I regret with this song then it is not giving it more distortion, it sounds pretty weak with that 70s guitar-sound. I also thing this is one of the earlier songs, I remember it was hard to record though :v: This is also the only song where I don't lay down a guitar solo, my bassist buddy found something that we thought sounded awesome and had it be a solo/break type of thing instead.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Grim Tides[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/grim-tides-1[/media]
This song was a lot of fun making, me and my bass buddy doing a lot of different melodies that accompany eachother and a riff that sounds brooding. I think I took a lot of inspiration from Black Sabbath on this one, but I can't recall any other riff that sounds anything like this. This song was a lot of fun making, but I'd definietly say its one of the worst mixing-wise. It's a shame I can't find my old source files because of all the songs, this is one I'd love to remix the most.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Late Greetings[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/late-greetings-1[/media]
I can't really say a lot about this song, I think its rather boring, it was the last song we made I believe, we had jammed for quite some time by now and we were all starting to get a bit exhausted. I remember that I had a pretty big fight with my drummer buddy about this song, and for a short while we didn't speak to eachother. We later reconciled however, and it's all good now. =)
[b]Zero-G sunrise - Afternoon[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/afternoon-1[/media]
Listening through this song I'm amazed at how good the 'acoustic' guitar sounds. It sounds really dreamy, and is funny enough the song that has been downloaded the most. Guess we should've stuck to making acoustic music or something :v: The 'song' is just two chords playing over and over, D (with minor alterations every now and then) and G, with me doubletracking a few times on various settings.
This marks the end of our two first albums, after the fallout we had with the last album we decided that making songs for an album was out of the question, and now we'd just make songs for the fun of it. Singles, if you will. =) We also started experimenting even more with genres now! The order of when we made the songs will be even more out of order now, because sadly I just can't remember when we made it, just small glimpses of how.
Funny how the memory works, things way back in march I remember, but this period, nothing :v:
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Travels to Betyond[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/travels-to-beyond-3[/media]
Travels to beyond is a pretty non-descript song, I honestly don't know how to categorize it at all! This is another song thats pretty driven by the drums, with the guitar and bass just adding a background for it really. I don't complain though, the drums are a lot of fun and I think it was around this time I really started working on the whole mixing aspect of it all. We all started to listen a lot to stoner rock around this time, which will become even more evident as time passes by with the extensive use of crash cymbals.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Bound For Glory[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/glorybound-2[/media]
I remember when I came up with this riff, I was asleep when I suddenly just woke up with a riff stuck in my head. I always keep my guitar close to the bed, so in a haze I just picked it up, and played this song over and over for an hour or so. I called over my bassist buddy and drummer the next day, and work started on the song. As you can hear, there is a lot of experimentation with the rhythm here, with guitars playing triplets while drums sort of stick to a steady pulse.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Eye For An Eye[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/01-eye-for-an-eye[/media]
It's rather evident of how much stoner rock we listened to in this time period. Two songs that have these stoner-rock type of riffs! This one took a page out of the 'bound for glory' with the way it started,but drums are more steady and joins the guitars to push forward the song. At first, this song was just a straight riff-raff song, but you guys pushed me in the right direction and the melody guitar was added, with a solo on top of it all. This was about half a year of playing now, and tooting my own horn, I think this is one of the most complete songs we've made, and a solo that I'm really, really proud of. It changes a lot, with a lot of panning going on. If Zero-G sunrise had only one sogn, then this would probably be that one.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - New Dawn[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/new-dawn[/media]
New Dawn was actually concieved thanks to another member of facepunch, whose name I've sadly forgotten. If you're reading this, I just want to say thank you! This is also another song that I wish I could find the source files for again, because with some better mixing I believe this song could actually be a big hit, or at least used in a medium-budget movie. Oh well, this song is probably the one where I learned how to record guitar that wouldn't sound crappy, something that had plagued me before. (Just kidding, it's all part of our sound :smug:)
Again, no real guitar solo, this time not because I couldn't get one, but because the song itself didn't require one. =)
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - A Tribute[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/def[/media]
A Tribute is our tribute to the Shuttle Program, me and my bassist buddy are as previously mentioned fans of space exploration and with the last shuttle it marked an end of an era of space exploration. Obviously it didn't end, but it meant an end to sending up shuttles to explore. I think I really came into my own with my mixing skills around this time, and I think this song is really well mixed, almost sounding profesional. =) This time it was the bassist who came up with the riff, which is essentially just the same thing playing over and over again for 1½ minute. Obviously, the way its played changes over the time, and I think we really struck gold with this song.
A few months passed and because of circumstances I couldn't find myself to write riffs anymore, my creativity just went away, nothing I made sounded good. I started having troubles to sleep, so I went ahead and just read up on mixing. Time passed and now we're here, almost at the end.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Cue Insanity[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/cue-insanity[/media]
I started finding inspiration ago, but my recording possibility went kaputt, so I did the best I could do ; do electronic music. I found a riff on the guitar, transcribed it and asked my drummer buddy to help me with drums. Me and my bassist friend worked out the riffs and melodies of this song, and later on I used all my hard-gained mixing skills to level this song so that it would be pleasant to hear. From making doped up space rock to 70s rock to stoner rock to ambient rock to electronic, this past year has been a really fun trip. I think that in this past year, I've grown a lot as a musician, and I hope that you can find inspiration, both as a new artist or as a seasoned veteran in hearing my (and my bands) progress over 2011.
[b]Zero-G Sunrise - Total War[/b]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/dicktrace/zero-g-sunrise-total-war[/media]
I'll leave you now with this piece of music. The only thing I've done is adding sound samples and mixed the track, the rest is my drummer friend.
I hope you've enjoyed this read, I hope you'll find inspiration in hearing the music and I hope that you haven't felt you've wasted any time reading/listening through this.
Feel free to use this thread as an exploration of your year as a musician, post everything you've done this year and share some interesting tidbits on your own artistic growth.
This is Dick Tracy, reporting out. =)
I love you, Dick.
No but really, its nice to see people progress in music writing and creation so quickly.
What do you need the chemotherapy for dick?
absolutely lovely, been following you since you came around in the musicians forum, and you can never have too much doom stoner metal!
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