The Gladiator

[MartcasterJunior]

Hi

I'm attempting to better my average quota of one new track per year, and here's the first attempt. Hopefully it's obvious what it's an homage to, without being too close to the original. It's only at the demo stage at the moment but I thought I'd throw it up here and see what the verdict is. I've set myself a target of making 5-6 original tracks this year, with a view to releasing them as an EP with backing tracks, with proceeds to the two charities which Chris Jarvis' family nominated for his memorial, so I'm currently 2 down, 3/4 to go.

https://soundcloud.com/metaltax/gladiat ... o-24022016

Cheers

Matt

[rogera]

Matt I'm guessing that you composed that and if so well done!

It is so reminiscent of the tune that it's an homage to and yet it stands well on its own and has a strong melody.

[Geoff_W]

Excellent Matt, I enjoyed listening to it. I wish you well with this great idea.

[MartcasterJunior]

Thanks both. It's always risky when you're writing tunes in a very specific style that you end up inadvertently writing something which already exists, so it's always good to get a thumbs up/down from the people in the know!

[David Martin]

Couldn't get the link to work Matthew. (Android tablet)

[MartcasterJunior]

Oh, how strange. Did it load any page at all? It could be that it uses Flash to play the file and I know Android has killed Flash Player off now.

Here's a link to it on Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4nr5l7bbthhhwe/gladiator.mp3

[Iain Purdon]

This is quite remarkable, Matt. I am struck by the sound most of all. How was it done? What instruments and kit - and who played on it? It's a brilliant reproduction of the record we're all coyly not mentioning. Bravo.

It played for me on an iPhone, by the way.

[MartcasterJunior]

Thanks Mr. P.

It's all me. The guitars are all my cheap Tele knock-off from eBay running through Guitar Rig on my laptop. The lead was just a rough guide track but I've grown to like the sound of it so much that I'm hesitant to replace it with a real 'take'. The drums and percussion are mostly Addictive Drums with a few odd percussion things from various sound libraries that I have. I have a couple of Abbey Road mixing desk plugins and the distorted sound of the guitars and drums is mostly down to running it through a slightly overdriven replica of a REDD mixing desk (which was how they did George Harrison's distorted guitar on Revolution).

It's still a work in progress but I'm hesitant to faff around with it much more for risk of spoiling it (plus I have to crack on and come up with another 3-4 tracks to realise my project!)

Thanks

Matt

[Iain Purdon]

Well I'm staggered. And you're right, don't tinker with it. As the trailblazer Joe Meek would say "If it sounds right, it is right!"

You have also brilliantly demonstrated that it's possible to make authentic sounds without being compelled to have specific gear.

Good playing, good sound, what more does anyone need?

[MartcasterJunior]

High praise indeed, thanks! I'm not a massive believer in needing specific bits of equipment to achieve whatever version of that sound you're trying to recreate, and there's a lot more fun to be had by trying to achieve it using what you have available than bashing away with a really expensive bit of gear that promises you the earth but just doesn't quite deliver.