A cool music opportunity for me!

[auxioluck]

So, as most metalheads are like me, I have never liked techno. One bit. But I've gotten the opportunity to record guitar tracks for two techno producers that specialize in a genre of techno called "Jungle." Jungle is typically a faster, more industrial sounding techno. For reference, DJ Starscream (Sid from Slipknot) specializes in Jungle. The producers/DJ's I've hooked up with are currently working on making a more industrial sounding progression, and they want to add a more "human" feel to it by adding guitar. Now, this sounds pretty generic, but it may work out to where I'm actually playing guitar live while they DJ everything. This is what really caught my attention; I've never seen a techno show with a live guitar player. Anyway, I'm going to start recording with them next weekend, and I am really excited about it. Not necessarily for my own desire to play live again, but more because this is a huge musical crossover for me. I never would have thought I would be at all involved with a techno scene, but this is going to completely change how I write and play, and I could not be happier about it. I love new ideas.

Thanks for listening, I am just kinda giddy like a little school girl, (get back, JJ) and I wanted to share it. Once we get some tracks done, I'll link them for sure!

[AySay]

That's great man! Soon techno kids will be wanting 7 strings
I really think too many guitar player miss out on potentially huge opportunities and interesting new ideas, by trying too much to stay within their genre...
Good luck with this, and upload some tracks when your done!

[Scar Symmetry]

Originally Posted by auxioluck

Jungle is typically a faster, more industrial sounding techno.

it's actually a breakbeat hardcore version of Drum n Bass or IDB.

I used to listen to it when I was about 15

sweet man, make sure to post the results

[Dwellingers]

Sound like a cool concept! - Post the result when you got some Musical crossover is always interesting...

Reminds of dansih F.u.k.t - Drum n Bass with real Drums and Bass...really sick players.

F.U.K.T on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

[Zepp88]

Sounds like a cool gig man

I've been wanting to do a full-on industrial thing for a while, but I never even thought about breaking into techno land.

[Scar Symmetry]

Originally Posted by Dwellingers

Reminds of dansih F.u.k.t - Drum n Bass with real Drums and Bass...really sick players.

F.U.K.T on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

they are ....ing cool

[BurialWithin]

i've always loved techno congrats man that sounds really cool and murphin fun too

[auxioluck]

Originally Posted by Scar Symmetry

it's actually a breakbeat hardcore version of Drum n Bass or IDB.

I used to listen to it when I was about 15

sweet man, make sure to post the results

Yeah, what you said.

I'm still learning all of the terminology. I have found myself extremely intrigued with Drum n Bass, especially after watching them play with the workstations and pull 20 different sounds out of one bass sample. Crazy stuff. I have a lot more appreciation for the creativity than I used to.

[Scar Symmetry]

yeah man definitely, never rule anything out

except reggae and garage music, they do my ....ing head in

a sample of a cool drum n bass song:

[SleepingSymphon]

You realize if you're writing guitar parts for a drum and bass tune, it's most likely going to be chords and then some cool tiny fast licks that are repeated over and over.

It's not like you can solo over this stuff, it sounds terrible, just look at London Elektricity.

[Luuk]

That's an awesome opportunity. What's kind of guitar pieces are you going to blend with the music.. Riffin' or some harmonic leads?

I've never seen a techno show with a live guitar player

And now you will..

[Scar Symmetry]

Pendulum also use a guitarist and bass player live.

their older albums are definitely drum and bass but their newest offering is a lot more poppy.

[auxioluck]

Originally Posted by SleepingSymphon

You realize if you're writing guitar parts for a drum and bass tune, it's most likely going to be chords and then some cool tiny fast licks that are repeated over and over.

It's not like you can solo over this stuff, it sounds terrible, just look at London Elektricity.

Oh I know. That's why we have been discussing more inustrial than drum and bass. There's even ideas floating around of me recording an entire song, then them chopping here and there, and making the song out of it. It's all still in the infancy, so there's a long way to go. That's what's really cool about it....it's all still interpretive at this point.

[MFB]

Isn't techno with guitars borderline industrial?

[lucasreis]

Great idea.

While I´m not into techno or anything I do like industrial and I think electronics + guitar = win. Well, guitars + everything = win (well, almost)! But it sounds like a cool concept, I remember listening to some jungle stuff in the 90´s on a friend´s walkman and it sounded really sick.

[auxioluck]

Originally Posted by MFB

Isn't techno with guitars borderline industrial?

That's what I always thought, but I think in this circumstance it may be more of moving things more industrial to convenience the guitar. I dunno, we'll see, I'll let you all know how it goes after the first sessions this weekend. I'm really more excited to run my guitars through the workstations and see what kind of crazy sounds we can create.

[EliNoPants]

man that could be really cool, you should definitely post the results...even if it turns out to be a disastrous failure, the experiment itself could at least pop out a few cool ideas that could be built upon

[Dwellingers]

Originally Posted by Scar Symmetry

they are ....ing cool

Year, dig them also, gonna grap a Cd anytime i get the chance...

[synrgy]

Sweet!!! This is something I've been working on in my spare time for a couple of years now. I just haven't quite found the right balance between my production style and my guitar playing style.

Drum N Bass, which grew out of the old 'jungle' scene (just FYI hardly anyone uses the term 'jungle' since the late 90's) is where my head's been at since roughly 1999, right around the time when rock and metal started sucking bigger balls then I was comfortable trying to swallow. (I think it may have been the moment Saliva hit the charts that I threw up my hands and said "That's it -- .... this, I'm out!") I've got more DnB 12" records than I have CDs of all genres combined, by a LOT.

There are a bajillion amazing DnB tunes I could point you to that feature live guitar, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. Just know that there's a lot, and they're really cool. Not some jackass masturbating through the use of inappropriate sweep arpeggios, but tasteful parts that fit the track(s) in question perfectly.

I'm sure there's a lot of 'anti-techno' (also FYI -- 'techno' is a specific sub-sub-sub-genre of electronic music, not the other way around) people on the board, but I would imagine most of them are just being closed minded about it. Just like any other genre, there's a ton of shit, and a whole lot of diamonds as well. If you (not anyone specifically, but the proverbial 'you') heard 'Sandstorm' back in 2000 and decided that was what all electronic music sounded like, you've missed out on some amazing shit.

ScarSymmetry already mentioned Pendulum, who are sort of the current 'hot-shit-live-dnb-band', but they're also getting a lot of hate from within the DnB scene for 'turning their backs' on the genre AKA 'doing something a little different'. I think the most recent album is great. Took a little time to grow on me, but I love it. The DnB scene is that way -- very closely knit, and very resistant to 'new' movements within the genre, which basically means that projects featuring live musicians have the chance to succeed that much more, or fail that much harder.

For me, the big 3 current artists that I can't get enough of are Noisia, Spor, and Evol Intent. SICK production from those guys. Evol Intent's album 'the Era of Diversion' is amazing.

What sort of flavor are the tracks you're starting with? Smooth/mellow? Hard/Techy?

For you 'metal or STFU' guys, if it's the aggression you like in the music, you might like DnB artists like Current Value, Technical Itch and Limewax, for starters..

*edit* also, to that other dude -- London Electricity are amazing. That post was fail.

[troyguitar]

I've always thought that most electronic music would be way better with some real instruments - good on you for jumping in there.

[auxioluck]

Originally Posted by synrgy

Sweet!!! This is something I've been working on in my spare time for a couple of years now. I just haven't quite found the right balance between my production style and my guitar playing style.

Drum N Bass, which grew out of the old 'jungle' scene (just FYI hardly anyone uses the term 'jungle' since the late 90's) is where my head's been at since roughly 1999, right around the time when rock and metal started sucking bigger balls then I was comfortable trying to swallow. (I think it may have been the moment Saliva hit the charts that I threw up my hands and said "That's it -- .... this, I'm out!") I've got more DnB 12" records than I have CDs of all genres combined, by a LOT.

There are a bajillion amazing DnB tunes I could point you to that feature live guitar, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. Just know that there's a lot, and they're really cool. Not some jackass masturbating through the use of inappropriate sweep arpeggios, but tasteful parts that fit the track(s) in question perfectly.

I'm sure there's a lot of 'anti-techno' (also FYI -- 'techno' is a specific sub-sub-sub-genre of electronic music, not the other way around) people on the board, but I would imagine most of them are just being closed minded about it. Just like any other genre, there's a ton of shit, and a whole lot of diamonds as well. If you (not anyone specifically, but the proverbial 'you') heard 'Sandstorm' back in 2000 and decided that was what all electronic music sounded like, you've missed out on some amazing shit.

ScarSymmetry already mentioned Pendulum, who are sort of the current 'hot-shit-live-dnb-band', but they're also getting a lot of hate from within the DnB scene for 'turning their backs' on the genre AKA 'doing something a little different'. I think the most recent album is great. Took a little time to grow on me, but I love it. The DnB scene is that way -- very closely knit, and very resistant to 'new' movements within the genre, which basically means that projects featuring live musicians have the chance to succeed that much more, or fail that much harder.

For me, the big 3 current artists that I can't get enough of are Noisia, Spor, and Evol Intent. SICK production from those guys. Evol Intent's album 'the Era of Diversion' is amazing.

What sort of flavor are the tracks you're starting with? Smooth/mellow? Hard/Techy?

For you 'metal or STFU' guys, if it's the aggression you like in the music, you might like DnB artists like Current Value, Technical Itch and Limewax, for starters..

*edit* also, to that other dude -- London Electricity are amazing. That post was fail.

Dude....THANK YOU for that post! I'm going to check all those guys out tonight! I've been on Pandora for awhile listening to DnB non-stop for the last two days, just trying to get a feel for it.

As far as the sound, the DnB tracks I'll be working with seem to be a lot more hard/techy, but when I write leads, they are typically more legato, mellow, and melodic. But when I write rhythm, it's very quick, stoccato and punchy. The weirdest part so far is finding a way to write in different time signatures with it, because the beat revolves around mostly the same thing in every track. I think once I can let my mind click over to it and get an ear for it, I'll be able to really zero in on how to write with it.

I really can't wait to start collaborating with this project, and I really am grateful for all the support and advice from you guys! You electronic geniuses, you!!

[synrgy]

Originally Posted by auxioluck

As far as the sound, the DnB tracks I'll be working with seem to be a lot more hard/techy, but when I write leads, they are typically more legato, mellow, and melodic. But when I write rhythm, it's very quick, stoccato and punchy. The weirdest part so far is finding a way to write in different time signatures with it, because the beat revolves around mostly the same thing in every track. I think once I can let my mind click over to it and get an ear for it, I'll be able to really zero in on how to write with it.

I really can't wait to start collaborating with this project, and I really am grateful for all the support and advice from you guys! You electronic geniuses, you!!

If you have a sequencer or a metronome, just start playing anything at or around 170bpm, which is the relative average of current DnB tunes. That should help you with the tempo stuff. As far as the signatures go, like you said -- it's all 4/4. Where things tend to variate is in the placement of the snares. By and large they're on the 2 and 4, but a lot of producers like to be more creative than that.

Tech tip -- try to find a tone that you like that has little-to-no low frequencies, so your guitar parts don't compete with the bassline. In DnB the 'bassline' is usually compromised of multiple synthesized layers that when put together take up a LARGE portion of the frequency spectrum -- not just the lower end. There's usually a lot of focus in the midrange, and a boost near the absolute top end to give it the right character. Then again, it's all about the individual tune(s) in question, so just follow your ear.

I'm looking forward to hearing the output. I'm particularly stoked to hear that there's at least a few people on the forum who are open enough to try stuff like this. When I move back to Hawaii at the end of this summer I'm planning on starting a live DnB band with a few of my friends there. I'll do mostly guitar+MIDI guitar.

[auxioluck]

I wanted to give everyone an update on this:

Went into the studio yesterday and laid down 2 songs. We got to get a rough drum track laid over it, and they started laying bass on it as well....and we actually were getting goosebumps while doing it! It is really some of the coolest stuff I have heard in a very long time. I'm going back in on Wednesday to continue laying stuff down, and hopefully there will be a finished track very soon, so I will definitely post it here. But I wanted everyone interested to know that it is going extremely well so far!

[synrgy]

Originally Posted by auxioluck

I wanted to give everyone an update on this:

Went into the studio yesterday and laid down 2 songs. We got to get a rough drum track laid over it, and they started laying bass on it as well....and we actually were getting goosebumps while doing it! It is really some of the coolest stuff I have heard in a very long time. I'm going back in on Wednesday to continue laying stuff down, and hopefully there will be a finished track very soon, so I will definitely post it here. But I wanted everyone interested to know that it is going extremely well so far!

Awesomesauce! Let this be motivation to the rest of us to expand our horizons.

[budda]

just read this, i'm pumped for you!

let us know how it goes