Buh-Duh (working title)

So I wrote this one a few years back. I brought the riff over to my buddy Cory who plays drums. Together we arranged the song as it is here. My main input on the drums was during the pre-chorus, I wanted the harsh tom hits as I slammed on the guitar. It breaks up the song a bit. The title came from the way it sounds, we needed to call it something while working on it, so... buh-duh duh duh, buh-duh duh duh... you get the picture.

The chorus part came from several places I think. I was listening to a lot of Chevelle and Linkin Park (back when they were good). I think the chord progression is fun to play, I have to slide all around to hit all of the notes. This song originally had a long outtro, that would break off into a separate track, but it never really went where I wanted it.

This is one of the hardest drum patterns I put together. I followed Cory's original pattern that we recorded years ago. I had a lot of trouble getting the cymbals to sound right during the verses. Ultimately it just won't satisfy me until it is replaced with real drums. This song also doesn't have a solo. I feel like there was never a good point to put one in, it would have been forced. I am super happy with the arrangement.

So it won't have a "real" name until I get some lyrical content. But I hope it will fit into my Zombie Apocalypse themed album. Thanks for listening.

Serj Tankian - Figure it Out (DND Mix)

Ok, I think I've got it now. I re-recorded all of the guitar parts, and tweaked the synth/bass. I cut some of the vocals at the end because it started to sound crazy and out of sorts.

So a little background on this. This is a remix for a contest being held by Serj Tankian. He gave out all of the tracks that make the song Figure it Out. I used only the vocals, drums, and solo guitar work. I added everything else. There is a new guitar riff, synth/bass, and what I call creepy vox for atmosphere. I feel my version has a darker, more metal feel than the orignal. Thanks for listening!

Serj Tankian Remix (rough mix)

So I am working on a remix for a contest from Serj Tankian. Please give me some advice, I feel kind of stuck and not sure where to take this mix. Near the end the song isn't finished and sounds like a big mess. Please any advice is appreciated.

Knew you were gone

This song I wrote a long time ago, back when April and I were just dating. She had a rough day and I could tell she was tired. She ended up going to bed early. So it is after midnight or so and I was so bored and lonely I started to jam a bit on the acoustic guitar. That sad little opening riff was born. After some time now I have added on to it, until it became a complete song.

This is the first time it has ever been to put to drums. I had an old demo of this where I used a Casio keyboard my parents found at a yard sale for the ambient sound in the background. Garageband has quite a few better sounds that I could use to give this a darker feel. This is a new bass line as well. I needed something to drive the slower part of the song and bridge the pre-chorus back to the verse.

Now how does this fit into the zombie apocalypse? Well it is kind of a sad story. The emotion for this one will be sadness and loss. It will be about a loved one getting infected and slowly watching them change. By the end, they will look into each other's eyes and realize there is no other way... You can figure the rest out from here right?

The song after it is called Nothing Left to Lose, so this will be near the end of the concept album.

Last Man Standing

This is one of the first complete songs I ever wrote. I worked on it with my friends Cory Phillips and Phil Harris. It was originally called The Liar's Song, based on Phil's lyrics. I added the dark symphony sounds at the beging and realized this would fit great with my zombie theme. This is now the next to last song in the "story" of the album, the new title is "Last Man Standing". It will be about being the last alive of a group of survivors.

This song changed the least out of all of the old songs I re-recorded. To me it has an epic feel, great for the end of an album. I used two different distortion pedals, one on the left and one on the right channel, it give it a grittier sound.

The Zombie Theme

This song I wrote a while ago for my friend / co-worker who was writing a zombie movie loosely based on the Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty: Black Ops. When I started working on this concept album I knew I absolutely had to rerecord this track!

It is still in its demo stage and will most likely stay an instrumental. The slow build really makes me feel like I am in a zombie movie, especially when the haunting piano kicks in. Then when it gets really heavy it has the feeling of being over run by zombies and trying to escape. Before this is complete I plan on having the song fade out to a horde of zombie grunts and growls.