Scrambler - my new project

ewal · October 2018

I've been focusing most of my energy on writing for my band recently, however I've found that it doesn't give an outlet for my more melancholic tendencies... So I've decided to start a solo project (Scrambler) which will give me somewhere to go with tunes in this style. I'm calling it instrumental dream rock...

Here's the debut recording... Be kind - my mixing knowledge is limited...

spark240 · November 2018

Link not working for me....

ewal · November 2018

@spark240 thanks for pointing this out - the link was changed after posting. Try this.

spark240 · November 2018

Hi Bud, I like this kind of vibe, but it does go on a bit ?

Im not really sure what where its going, its a sort of never ending build up to....?

Its a nice mix, but again I cant really tell whats in there...maybe thats the intention?

What instruments / DAW are you using?

jonnygreentrees · November 2018

This sounds great but it sounds like a really long crescendo to a song, maybe try cutting it down and having a really minimal intro and building into what you already have?

ewal · November 2018

@spark240 cheers. It was recorded using Reaper, various free plugins, and EZ-Drummer 2. Guitars wise - it's my Manta Ray, JM partscaster, and Tokai Jazz. I use various pedals (nothing special) and a Joyo American Sound for amp duties.

Mix wise - it's half and half - partly intentional for things to be hidden in mix - partly that my mixing skills are pretty hit and miss - I know very little about about use of EQ and Compression effectively. Things like the e-bow guitar doesn't sit the way I want it for example. I do intend to re-visit the mix once I've recorded more tracks - I'll then really focus on learning and improving my mixing skills - at the moment it's all about the writing and recording.

@jonnygreentrees thanks for the feedback - I'll bear that in mind when I listen to it again with fresh ears! Although it will always be instrumental - all my music is nowadays.

spark240 · November 2018

@ewal - check out Joe Gilder, Johnny Gieb and Warren Huart for good mix tips

ewal · November 2018

Interesting you both mentioned the length and going nowhere. I know the point in the song that it is crescendo'ing to. It obviously doesn't stand out enough dynamically. Good feedback - I'll make a note of that for my next mix attempt.

jonnygreentrees · November 2018

ewal said:

@spark240 cheers. It was recorded using Reaper, various free plugins, and EZ-Drummer 2. Guitars wise - it's my Manta Ray, JM partscaster, and Tokai Jazz. I use various pedals (nothing special) and a Joyo American Sound for amp duties.

Mix wise - it's half and half - partly intentional for things to be hidden in mix - partly that my mixing skills are pretty hit and miss - I know very little about about use of EQ and Compression effectively. Things like the e-bow guitar doesn't sit the way I want it for example. I do intend to re-visit the mix once I've recorded more tracks - I'll then really focus on learning and improving my mixing skills - at the moment it's all about the writing and recording.

@jonnygreentrees thanks for the feedback - I'll bear that in mind when I listen to it again with fresh ears! Although it will always be instrumental - all my music is nowadays.

sorry I shouldn't have used the word "song", I love instrumental music. I just mean to start out with very sparse music and use what you already have as the crescendo of the piece

joetele · November 2018

I liked this a lot - quite happy with the shape of the song and the dynamics. The only thing I'd change (based on my personal preferences) is almost adding more and more layers towards the end, building a wall of noise, but then I'm an idiot.

ewal · November 2018

joetele said:

I liked this a lot - quite happy with the shape of the song and the dynamics. The only thing I'd change (based on my personal preferences) is almost adding more and more layers towards the end, building a wall of noise, but then I'm an idiot.

Thanks! You're the guy that mentioned Caspian, so you'll maybe know partly where I'm coming from. And yeah, I get the wall of noise idea - but it's something that I'm wary might be a clique for me - alot of the music I've been involved with ends with over the top outro! But yeah, it does fit the story of the tune - the working title was 'Sometimes it sneaks up behind you and hits hard'

ewal · November 2018

jonnygreentrees said:

ewal said:

@spark240 cheers. It was recorded using Reaper, various free plugins, and EZ-Drummer 2. Guitars wise - it's my Manta Ray, JM partscaster, and Tokai Jazz. I use various pedals (nothing special) and a Joyo American Sound for amp duties.

Mix wise - it's half and half - partly intentional for things to be hidden in mix - partly that my mixing skills are pretty hit and miss - I know very little about about use of EQ and Compression effectively. Things like the e-bow guitar doesn't sit the way I want it for example. I do intend to re-visit the mix once I've recorded more tracks - I'll then really focus on learning and improving my mixing skills - at the moment it's all about the writing and recording.

@jonnygreentrees thanks for the feedback - I'll bear that in mind when I listen to it again with fresh ears! Although it will always be instrumental - all my music is nowadays.

sorry I shouldn't have used the word "song", I love instrumental music. I just mean to start out with very sparse music and use what you already have as the crescendo of the piece

Totally get what you mean - it is almost but not quite a crescendo piece with layers upon layer being added. However it maybe lacks an obvious pay off.

joetele · November 2018

ewal said:

joetele said:

I liked this a lot - quite happy with the shape of the song and the dynamics. The only thing I'd change (based on my personal preferences) is almost adding more and more layers towards the end, building a wall of noise, but then I'm an idiot.

Thanks! You're the guy that mentioned Caspian, so you'll maybe know partly where I'm coming from. And yeah, I get the wall of noise idea - but it's something that I'm wary might be a clique for me - alot of the music I've been involved with ends with over the top outro! But yeah, it does fit the story of the tune - the working title was 'Sometimes it sneaks up behind you and hits hard'

I certainly do get it - and I can't wait to hear more. In fact, just send them directly to my inbox please

I don't think it necessarily needs an obvious payoff - it can be a kind of ethereal space to exist in for five minutes. But it's all subjective I guess.

I would say that, after listening to so much ambient / post rock stuff and as such getting a bit bored by it, this didn't bore me or do the usual "oh, it's just more generic post rock" thing that happens to me when I find another band on Youtube. I found it engaging and want to hear more.

ewal · November 2018

Cheers! That's exactly where I'm trying to go with this. Ambient/post-rock (or whatever) but avoiding the cliques.

joetele · November 2018

ewal said:

Cheers! That's exactly where I'm trying to go with this. Ambient/post-rock (or whatever) but avoiding the cliques.

Keep on keeping on with it - I'm definitely interested to hear more.

ewal · December 2018

New Scrambler coming soon. Currently got a tune across with a mixing engineer in Portland. Found him on Fiverr.com which is a decent site for that sort of thing.

ewal · December 2018

Here's my new tune. I'm really happy with the way the mix turned out. From 3.11 to 3.42 is maybe the best piece of music I've written:) Well I think so anyway!

joetele · January 2019

ewal said:

Here's my new tune. I'm really happy with the way the mix turned out. From 3.11 to 3.42 is maybe the best piece of music I've written:) Well I think so anyway!

This is BRILLIANT. Feels like a proper complete song and I can't wait for an album full of this.

Who played the horn parts and drum parts?

ewal · January 2019

Thanks! The drums are EZ Drummer, the horns are sampled too although I play trombone and know a few brass players so might record live tracks at some point.

So good getting positive feedback, gives me motivation to keep at it!

joetele · January 2019

ewal said:

Thanks! The drums are EZ Drummer, the horns are sampled too although I play trombone and know a few brass players so might record live tracks at some point.

So good getting positive feedback, gives me motivation to keep at it!

To your credit, those drums and horns sound like live version. I think this one feels like a really complete track with lots of dynamics and an arc to it. So now you need to create a whole album

Honestly, this is the kind of thing I could happily play on, if only to add little extra highlights and ambient sounds over the top. Really cracking, sounds like a pro band and like you've been doing it all your life.

ewal · January 2019

Thanks so much. The album will take a while, but that's the plan. The challenge is to create a consistent collection of tracks both in terms of style and quality.

I'll definitely be going back to the guy that mixed this - what he's done with the drums and bottom end is really different to how I imagined it. But I think it adds a lot to the track.

joetele · January 2019

ewal said:

Thanks so much. The album will take a while, but that's the plan. The challenge is to create a consistent collection of tracks both in terms of style and quality.

I'll definitely be going back to the guy that mixed this - what he's done with the drums and bottom end is really different to how I imagined it. But I think it adds a lot to the track.

For sure - the sign of a guy who knows what he's doing. And if you ever want to jam, let me know!

ewal · February 2019

This is a song I have mixed feelings about. Loads of effort went in to it, not sure the result merited it. The mix could do with quite a bit of work - might revisit it at some point.

Jetfire · February 2019

Just listened to Elfa Dogg, sounds like Mogwai, Explosions in the sky etc and theres nothing wrong with that.

Going to check out the rest now!

ewal · February 2019

Thanks!

joetele · February 2019

ewal said:

This is a song I have mixed feelings about. Loads of effort went in to it, not sure the result merited it. The mix could do with quite a bit of work - might revisit it at some point.

I really liked that one. The only thing I'd change is maybe a bit of reverb on the guitar melodies in the first half, and maybe in the coda as the song winds up when, a repeat of those phrases from the first half, but a very gentle naked one .

ewal · February 2019

Thanks as always for positive and constructive feedback!

ewal · March 2019

No on Spotify for the LOLs....

https://open.spotify.com/track/1t35QzZCgkA0McnfpiQAH8

guitartango · March 2019

great stuff @ewal ;

ewal · March 2019

Thanks!

camf · April 2019

Very impressive! Are you Perth based? I spent my teens there and played my very first gig at The Grill in Perth.

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Scrambler - my new project

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