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So, this is the latest song from the Kill Branch Studio.... a Twin Gremlin production. Based loosely on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, I heard the Bells, and We 3 Kings. Merry Gents The band: Cello 1856 Bass 387 Drums: Rock Thrash Everything else is live.... or midi. Herb: All guitars and keyboard parts. There are 7, yes count them, seven synths in this at various places. Absynth, Massive, and Cakewalk Sound Center. Most are only playing for a few measures at most. One of the bigger projects with well over 20 tracks working together to create this song. Feel free to comment or ask questions about things you might hear in this. Headphones, studio speakers and subs, cranked up ...all advised, with proper parental supervision of course. Have a Merry Christmas my musical friends.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Fantastic work on this GuitarHacker! Good choices of instrumentation, they all complement each other quite nicely. Great mix on the guitars too. Well done!
Cheers,
Joe
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Herb,
Cool track, many interesting variations!
I enjoyed tasty vintage guitar sound. Those synths worked very well on this.
Thanks.
Misha.
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Nothing short of awesome.  Merry Christmas to you as well!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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A very cool tune, Herb. Great soloing. And it sounds just great. Enjoyed the listen a lot.
Cheers, Stefan
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Herb, great playing and brilliant over the top arrangement and production. Wow! Tom
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Excellent guitar work and a nice arrangement. The bass sounds big and full without being boom-y. The synths are nice.
A terrific listen (at low volume). A cool rock version of the song.
At loud volume (or "cranked up") as you suggest, the drum mix overpowers the rest of the instruments.
I'm all for big, loud drums (I'm sure you know that).
But it seems like you are cranking the EQ on the high end to attempt to achieve that.
The snare gets big, but the high EQ on it takes it "up out of the mix".
It is really "drawing attention to itself" - taking the ear away from the guitars and synths.
It needs some warmth to be supportive to the guitars.
The when the cymbals start in at 1:25 they REALLY take over - nearly drowning out everything else.
That happens again at 3:53.
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Taking a quote from DM... "Oh, wow man"...
Seriously... great job Herb!
Jim
†=☮&♥
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"Guitarhacker"...
There's nothing like familiar Christmas "evergreens" to riff on during the holiday season! Your composition has a big, spacious orchestral rock sound that is a bit downbeat in tone, which contrasts in an intriguing and memorable way with our typical expectation of reveling in Christmas "cheer". The drums track has a big, bopping rhythmic footprint that cuts a path through your song as big as a four-lane highway. I thought the brief intro was haunting and classical-sounding, not to mention unexpected.
Got some serious attitude and bluesy, hardcore swagger going on with the guitars, too. Definitely a new, gutsy kind of musical take on the Christmas songbook!
Jammin' the season away,
LOREN
Last edited by bluage; 12/14/18 10:08 PM.
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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I like this very much. This is a classic performance for me. Guitar work stands out. Wow!
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Herb,
This is extremely well produced, and some really nice gun slinging man!
I enjoyed it a lot! We need to change your name from guitar hacker to guitar smacker.
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Fantastic work on this GuitarHacker! Good choices of instrumentation, they all complement each other quite nicely. Great mix on the guitars too. Well done!
_________________________
Cheers,
Joe Joe.... thanks for listening. I appreciate the comments. Herb,
Cool track, many interesting variations!
I enjoyed tasty vintage guitar sound. Those synths worked very well on this.
Thanks.
Misha. Misha.... I try to keep things interesting, not only for the listeners but for me too. The synths are all Native Instruments vintage stuff. Nothing short of awesome. laugh
Merry Christmas to you as well!
_________________________
-- David Cuny David.... Glad to hear that you like it. Thanks for tuning in.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Great sound and well produced track, awesome to hear the midi, real tracks and live playing, all together gives this its very own touch .
That's what its all about.
Thanks
win 10 64 bit 16gb,i7 chip, ssd 500gb, m-audio air, ,Roland BK-7M, 1000,shure sm7b,sonar,acid,mixcraft, variety of plugins.Sample tank 3,Kontakt. TC Helicon Voicelive 3 2 . https://beatmaster1.bandcamp.com/releases
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Wow what a cool song. The song grabbed me right at the into. This is would be very cool to see live. I could vision you and the bass player playing off each other. Guitars sound excellent.. Merry Christmas to you as well Herb..
Last edited by Scott C; 12/16/18 12:42 AM.
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A very cool tune, Herb. Great soloing. And it sounds just great. Enjoyed the listen a lot.
Cheers, Stefan
_________________________
What do you mean, 'The guitar's out of tune'? Stefan... Glad you like it. Yeah, you won't believe how many people record guitars and don't tune up to start and then don't bother to tweek it during a session. Herb, great playing and brilliant over the top arrangement and production. Wow! Tom
Tom... Thank you for the kind words. Excellent guitar work and a nice arrangement. The bass sounds big and full without being boom-y. The synths are nice.
A terrific listen (at low volume). A cool rock version of the song.
At loud volume (or "cranked up") as you suggest, the drum mix overpowers the rest of the instruments.
I'm all for big, loud drums (I'm sure you know that).
But it seems like you are cranking the EQ on the high end to attempt to achieve that.
The snare gets big, but the high EQ on it takes it "up out of the mix".
It is really "drawing attention to itself" - taking the ear away from the guitars and synths.
It needs some warmth to be supportive to the guitars.
The when the cymbals start in at 1:25 they REALLY take over - nearly drowning out everything else.
That happens again at 3:53.
Floyd... Glad you like the low volume listen. I actually am aware of the thrash on the drums..It happens in the thrash drum track when BB hits the "green". I have it pulled down and EQ'd rounded off.... should have heard it straight up at "0dB". I played years ago with a drummer who rode his cymbals all the time. He destroyed his cymbals constantly. Back to the track. Glad you liked it in spite of the cymbals. Taking a quote from DM... "Oh, wow man"...
Seriously... great job Herb!
_________________________
Jim
†=☮&♥ Jim... Glad you liked it too. I try to do different things from time to time. I might be entering a "use more synths" phase. Never can tell. "Guitarhacker"...
There's nothing like familiar Christmas "evergreens" to riff on during the holiday season! Your composition has a big, spacious orchestral rock sound that is a bit downbeat in tone, which contrasts in an intriguing and memorable way with our typical expectation of reveling in Christmas "cheer". The drums track has a big, bopping rhythmic footprint that cuts a path through your song as big as a four-lane highway. I thought the brief intro was haunting and classical-sounding, not to mention unexpected.
Got some serious attitude and bluesy, hardcore swagger going on with the guitars, too. Definitely a new, gutsy kind of musical take on the Christmas songbook!
Jammin' the season away,
LOREN Loren... Yeah, I like to play around with the old classics this time of year. Rock them up, add some irreverence, play them out of the box of expectations. Hardcore swagger.... I like that. Thanks for coming to listen and staying to comment.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Thanks to Herb, this year Christmas goes to 11. Really nice job on every front. Oh how I would love to play drums to that! Seriously nice work man. 
Chad (Hope that makes it easier)
TEMPO TANTRUM: What a lead singer has when they can't stay in time.
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WOW!!!! GREAT!!!! Should be on the radio! The sound is BIIIIIIG, the musicality is WONDERFUL!! What a project! So well done Herb. Enjoyed immensely!!! Merry Xmas!! Take care. Greg
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Yeah! I love this. Very creative, keeping the melody but rocking it out.
Enjoyed from start to finish, well done!
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I like this very much. This is a classic performance for me. Guitar work stands out. Wow! Ezekiel... very much appreciated. Glad you like the guitar work. This is extremely well produced, and some really nice gun slinging man!
I enjoyed it a lot! We need to change your name from guitar hacker to guitar smacker.
_________________________
David Snyder David... I try to be creative and raise the bar with everything I do. Thanks Great sound and well produced track, awesome to hear the midi, real tracks and live playing, all together gives this its very own touch .
That's what its all about.
Beatmaster... It's literally been years since I used midi.... I had to refresh on some of how it was done....and try to remember what sounds I had in the various synths. Thanks for listening Wow what a cool song. The song grabbed me right at the into. This is would be very cool to see live. I could vision you and the bass player playing off each other. Guitars sound excellent.. Merry Christmas to you as well Herb.. Scott... A song should grab you right from the start... hold you until the last note and leave you wondering what just hit you. Thanks. Thanks to Herb, this year Christmas goes to 11. Really nice job on every front. Oh how I would love to play drums to that! Seriously nice work man. Hear to Learn... crank it to 11 and rip the knob off... Yeah, that drummer is pretty solid and creative too. I loved that track. WOW!!!! GREAT!!!! Should be on the radio! The sound is BIIIIIIG, the musicality is WONDERFUL!! What a project! So well done Herb. Enjoyed immensely!!! Merry Xmas!! Take care. Greg Greg... I agree, this should be on the radio but..... Glad some select folks including yourself got a chance to hear this. Thanks Yeah! I love this. Very creative, keeping the melody but rocking it out.
Enjoyed from start to finish, well done!
Dave... Wow... 3 Dave's on this post so far.... Thank you for listening, glad it was enjoyable. Start to finish.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb,
Not much I can add to everything that's already been said. So, a simple... absolutely terrific and amazingly creative. Thanks for asking me to enjoy it - I did!
Alan
BIAB 2024 Ultra Plus-all StylePaks*Win11*32GB DDR5*Rhyzen 9745x*AT 2035 Mic*Peavey Nashville 112 Amp*Ibanez ART120* Acoustic/Electric/Washburn D200S Acoustic*Stromberg Monterey Jazz Guitar Loops: https://aldavidmusic.wixsite.com/bestmusicloops
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