January 2009

Just got the review from Earshot of our last album with AZURE called "King of stars - Bearer of dark", released in 2005 I think. I'm glad they gave the album a high rating 6.5 out of 7.
Robban Kanto (Azure) called me a few days ago and we started talking about doing the next album maybe next year...we will see what happens.

Check out the review (if you know german) www.earshot.at

I just finished writing and recording the piano edition of Skippy Symphony. It is a variation of the Skippy Symphony #1 but with some colorful additions. I wanted it to sound kind of "bare bone" on some of the parts, but still with some added dynamics to the stronger sections (main theme/chorus). The piano sound I used is from the East West series.

I will also make an alternative mix of this song with the new Quantum Lean Pianos (I received a 7 day trial version when I got the Symphonic Orchestra Play edition some months back), it's supposed to be a killer sound. =)

Some of the dynamics in the song got carried away since my master keyboard is the Yamaha EX5 which has synth type keys and not the weighted kind of action you get with a real piano.

Well, I hope you enjoy the song!

I've had my trustful Ibanez RG570 for about 10 years now and a few years back the tone started sounding dull, and due to other projects at the moment I didn't take my time to look at it.
I've recorded a bunch of songs since then but always thought the tone lacked "life" and the "sound" I had grown fond of.

Then I bought a Ibanez SAS36FM and thought I could replace my old RG570 but oh I was so wrong.
The SAS can't handle the "low" string height I'm used to (yes, I play alot of tapping since I'm the worst plectrum player ever...hehe). The neck is also alot fatter and isn't really comfortable. The only good think about it, is the look. It has a real nice finish.

So yesterday I took my Ibanez RG570 and started to see if I could find the root of the problem with the "dull" sound.
After a quick search on the internet I found the coupling-scheme (wiring diagram) for the electronic 5-way switch and the mic system of the RG. After doing a quick comparison with my guitar and the scheme I realized that Ronnie (one of the former guitarplayers in my band Embracing) had manage to connect a few wires at the wrong inputs of the switch when he was mounting a new volume pot in my guitar.

So I got my solder-gear out and rewired the switch at the correct positions according to the diagram.
Plugged the guitar to my soundcard and into Revalver Mk3 in Cubase 4...and guess what? Yes, my good old sound is back.

The guitar now sound as good as it did 10 years ago.

Now I just have to replace the pivot-studs for the tremolo (since one of them broke, and it's impossible to change the string-height without adjusting these. Maybe I'll go for one of these.

Now I have to re-record all guitars for my latest songs (like Shape of another soul etc.).

And so it is finally finished, a new symphonic piece I wrote on piano a few weeks back. It's been arranged in a cool Disney kind of approach with loads of twists and turns. I hope you enjoy the track (yes, it's available through the mp3 player on this page).

The track consists of about 50 different midi instruments and is my biggest project to date with East West Symphonic Orchestra library. Skippy Symphony is a journey with lots of dynamics and so I didn't compress the heck out of it in the mastering stage, like I always do with my other tracks.

I will record the downscaled piano version of the piece in a few days since I like that version alot too.

The other day while having the friday beer I came up with a weird idea (as always). Why not make a song totally made up of sounds from a Heineken bottle? So at evening I went into my studio with a beer, sampled it in all kinds of weird ways. Clapping the bottom (makes for a good and solid bass drum sound), hitting the sides with my nails, a screwdriver and some other stuff.

Then finally to create a melodic instrument with actual tones I sampled the windy sound of blowing into the bottle with different levels of beer in the can (which obviously gives different pitch). I sampled the beer at 5 different levels and at each level I made 4 different distinct sounds (like hard, light, and sustained-note blow). Then some sounds from the cap hitting a table etc.

The sampling sessions gave me 28 samples of Heineken notes (all articulations included) and 25 samples of drum-like sounds from the can, and I was ready to start making some music of it. Well, not yet...actually I had to build the instruments in some sort of sampler and I chose Kontakt 3 since it's my main sampler and I love all it's features (version 3.5 is coming out in December I think with lots of new great features like 64bit support and some other enhancements.)

Building the instrument patches took about 2-3 hours and then I arranged a really experimental remix of Zelda with the sounds...creazy stuff!

I will post the song here in a day or two.

Hope you will enjoy it. And please let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Mattias

A few months back I bought the KRK RP10S subwoofer as an addition to my other KRK RP8 studio monitors to get some more low-end in my listening environment. It has a smooth and solid attack which is nice while mixing rock, metal and club music (where you have those really low sub-bass sounds). I also treated the mixingroom with some more dampening material and a new carpet. =)

Four days ago the RP10 fuse burned and when checking the back-panel of the subwoofer I realized to my suprise that the manufacturer have provided a spare fuse within the fuse holder. I replaced the fuse and some day after that the fuse burned AGAIN. I now have replaced the fuse with a 2A 250V instead, and now it runs like a charm again.

I also got to mix a day without the subwoofer and I then I really realized how much I missed the lowend, and how much harder it is to obtain a correct bass-sound without the RP10.

I would replace the subwoofer in a flash if it ever broke down. Pure factz!

Now, with the monitoring system up and running again I will finalize the mix of my two latest songs, "Shape of another soul" and "Before is too late".

Another song is in the making called "Before is too late".
It's a pretty straightforward rock song which has been laying at my desk for the past year and I really never had any inspiration for that song until now.
I recorded the drums and bass for it yesterday and will continue with some guitars today. A sample of the song will be available soon....

Finished a new track called "Along the road", inspired by the Ragnarok online soundtrack.
One of my brothers (Nicklas) is really into this kind of jazz/fusion "whatever" kind of style, so I thought I should givet it a try for the fun of it. And of course with plenty of space for solos and playtime. Hehe...

Hope you enjoy the track "Along the road", available on the mp3 player.

Please let me know what you think.

Yours sincerely,
Matt Holmes =)

With the fresh breeze of the autumn, my inspiration to write songs is at it's best. And this year is no exception, I've already finished writing the lyrics and most of the music for the song "Eye to an eye" which is for my son Elliot. And some other songs are in the air. I'll post them here soon when my cold is over...

Hi folks, I thought I should share a little bit of insight into my recording projects and how I use the recording gear and software.

This week I setup my drumkit for recording in my new rehearsal room which is quite big and therefor can probably provide with good room acoustics. =)

The drumkit is a Pearl Master Custom Series and consists of:
20" bassdrum, 14" Snare, 10-13-14-16" Toms, Zildjian A Series 14-16 Cymbals, Zildjian 10" Splash and a Zildjian A Custom Ride. 14" Masterworks hi-hat.
14" Piccolo snare (used on some songs).
Tama Iron Cobra double pedals. Pearl Double pedals - I played on them when recording Naglfar "Vittra" and the Embracing albums.

The recording pipeline follows:
Drums -> Mics -> Mackie VLZ 16 channel mixer -> MOTU 828mk2 Soundcard -> Reaper (a brilliant recording software).

I setup the tom mics about 3 inches from each head, this ensures that I get a more natural tone from them, a little bit more wood.
My bassdrum is a 20" (most rock drummers use a 22"), but I find the 20" more tight in sound and doesn't get so muddy when playing fast doublebass. For the snare I use a shure sm57 about 2 inches from the head, facing (from the hi-hat side) a bit downwads, and towards the middle of the snare (just slightly to the side). I hope my explanation is dececnt, but I'll provide some photos of the setup soon.

I tested the overhead mics in the usual style, which is one mic at each side of the drumkit, facing downward on the cymbals. But since the kit is placed in the corner of the room this wasn't a good choice. So I tried another approach which is the X-Y method. When you place the mics crossing eachother at a 90° angel (see photo). This gave a broad and accurate stereo perspective and good response from the cymbals, hihat and ride cymbal.

I also had two condenser mics over, so I placed those about 5-6 meters from the drumkit, at a high position (almost at the ceiling), facing towards the drumkit. When you mix in those mics at a subtle level with the other channels you get instant magic.

The snare was damped with a dampening-ring (just to get rid of some stupid overtones). I could have let those through, but the song I was about to record would not sound as tight with those overtones around. I also have a piccolo snare but it didn't fit with the song so it was erased from the setup.

After placing all the mics and testing a few rounds of drumming I inserted the Alesis compressor into the mackie mixer on the bassdrum and snare channels.
After doing some recording I realized that no matter how I tweaked the Alesis, somehow it killed the sound more than I wanted.

The gain in from the mics seemed too hot for the Alesis to handle for some reason.
Tried the "+4 -10db" switch but it didn't help. I also tried all kinds of various settings for the compressor, but I still liked the natural sound more than the precompressed one.
It's also better to have a natural sound than a too processed one, because you have a broader selection of processing within the DAW (Digital audio workstation. Yes, that is your recording application).
Just keep in mind that if you don't use a pre-compressor on the bassdrum and snare, be sure to set the levels accurately so that they don't peak in the middle of your song.

If you take time to do proper mic placements, room mics and check all levels you can at least be sure to have a decent sound to begin with. I think it's better to use a few extra mics (maybe on the snare bottom, hihat, ride etc.) if you have them around.
You can always decide in your mixdown which mics to use.

I did a few rounds of tracking and then the levels were perfect for recording.
Finally, everything was setup for a smooth recording.

Listen to a mix of the song "Shape of another soul" on the mp3 player.
I think it turned out well and I hope you enjoy it!

I found a link where you can download a few quite usable VSTi plugins.
here

There is a bass expander/exciter called "BAXXPANDER" which might work well with basstracks, try it out!

Also check out this link with lots of quality brushes for Photoshop.
qbrushes

Check this review of FURIAE which was done by Pocket Gamer.
They gave the game a proper Silver Award for stunning gameplay & visual/audio.

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Rate: 8/10

The rpg game Furiae has been announced for the mobile platform.
Read more about the fantasy game at softpedia

I've produced music for the game so please check it out and explore the fantastic epic worlds of Furiae.

Some days ago my good friend Peter Uvén was here and we player through some of my new tunes and we recorded one of my old instrumental tracks called "Harbour of my dreams" live (except for some additional guitar melodies, vocals and piano that I added later). You can listen to the track at www.myspace.com/tiredtreeswe

Uvén also put down a track of Contrabass on my new song "Det kryper i kroppen", which will soon be available through the Tired Tree myspace page.

Hope you like it!!!

Here are two videoclips from a gig at Club Classic in Kristianstad 2006, that I did with Supreme Majesty (as keyboardplayer).





Also have a look at a rehearsal photo and a band photo taken after the first gig with the new SM lineup at Magazinet in Kristianstad.

Here is a photo of some of the albums I've made since 1995.
The first album is Naglfar "Vittra", where I played drums.
And the latest album, is the Moody Blues tribute album (released in 2006) where I
contributed with a cover of the song "Blue world", under the name Tired Tree.

I still got copies of the following albums:

EMBRACING - I bear the burden of time - reissue
EMBRACING - Dreams left behind - reissue
AZURE - King of stars, bearer of dark.

So if you like to buy a copy just give me a mail, before it's too late!!!!
The price for a copy is $ 10 USD (+ additional shipment costs)

More music themes for LEGIO in production!

I'm currently writing another batch of songs for the TBS (turned based strategy game) Legio which is beeing developed by Ice Concept Studios from Umeå.

I've written 7 themes for them so far, and another 5 is going to be produced in the coming weeks.

Since the game takes place in a fantasy world we tought some classical orchestral music with additional modern percussion beats would fit well.

The themes are very powerful and you can listen to a montage with short excerpts from the themes at my webpage www.morningdewmedia.com

Check some official screenshots /concept art (by Peter Sällström) below:

I've currently got a bad cold. Which caused me to stay at home and, "rest" for the whole week. For me "rest" is like working 80 %. =)

Here are some pictures of my Pearl Master Custom drumkit.
You can also take a look at my latest investment,
Hart Dynamics - Virtuoso - Electronic drumkit

Linda and I went to stockholm for a Dream Theater concert and stopped by at Mattias Blombqvist place for a visit / party. =)

Promotional photosession....