Why not create your own metal music?

[Vesupria]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Line 6 POD Studio UX2 or similar USB recording interfaces?

I am looking for an inexpensive way of recording to my laptop (to share with friends, nothing professional or public) without the hassle of using a mike (or even amp, for that matter). This sounds like it could be a decent solution for around $200-300.

Anyone use or have seen this kind of thing in regards to recording extreme metal?

[Cargést]

Most laptops have a line-in or microphone port next to the headphone jack.  If you have one of these, get a 6.35 to 3.5 converter.

[Vesupria]

My sound card on the laptop is crud. Wouldn't I have latency issues?

[Cargést]

As in, trying to listen back while playing?  You could get a splitter, and get headphones as well.

[August]

The reason for this, I beg to propose, is that the nitty gritty of musical composition has very little to do with ideology, and "real" composers are often hilariously ignorant in areas other than musical poetics. Composition, in other words, is not something you "choose" to do. It's not an activity, it's a condition.

This is most definitely true. I would like to suggest that, ironically, most of the metal that is appreciated here was composed with stupid unbridled passion (derived from 'lowly' girlfriend issues and such), rather than with cold calculation aiming for anything tradenscent. Studying the techniques of art will at most enable the utilization of your already inherent artistic capacity. It will not give you an artist's soul.

The bottom line is that most people here, including myself, are likely too dry and anal (tihi) to create great art.

[Spectrum]

I can perform vocals. I have managed to create some interesting riffs, but I never composed anything. Hell, I may try one day. Technology makes it simple enough from distanced members to compile music, regardless of lack of contact.

[Forza Romana]

Hey, Spectrum it is worth a shot to try something. If you can tab out your ideas for me maybe I can perform them or add something. I use Guitar Pro for my tabs.

[Bondage]

I second the recommendation for Guitar Pro. Torrent Guitar Pro 5.2 with the RSE's. It helps a lot with composing, and learning to compose.

[in abyssia]

Judging from the responses thus far.... I'm assuming no o.g. Anus staff member has released black metal? Or even attempted to make some?  Reason I ask is because this website attacks so viciously on the new bands out there (and there's excellent reason for it,yes) but my whole point for starting this thread is to see if any staff member like Prozak for instance, who wrote some really kick ass reviews, has created any fucking black metal?!

Oh, well.

[Ksatria/Gang_Rapist]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Line 6 POD Studio UX2 or similar USB recording interfaces?

I am looking for an inexpensive way of recording to my laptop (to share with friends, nothing professional or public) without the hassle of using a mike (or even amp, for that matter). This sounds like it could be a decent solution for around $200-300.

Anyone use or have seen this kind of thing in regards to recording extreme metal?

Line 6 works great if you haven't got it already, it's well worth it even if your project turns out to be another turd in the pool.

[Veritas]

What would be in it for me?

I already know how my music would sound on the level at which it counts, so I gain no higher levels of understanding.

Art creation is for slaves, art enjoyment is for masters. Never show your hand.

(however: always remember that a slave among gods is greater than a master among men)

Post #300 <3

[Annihilation]

I already know how my music would sound on the level at which it counts -

What? No, you don't. Unless you mean that you know your music would sound bad, then I agree. Why do you think the greatest works of art - the works which we remember people for - are completed during an artist's/craftsman's maturity, after they've spent a lifetime learning how to work with their medium?

[Veritas]

There was exaggeration/over-generalising at work there.

To make some related (non-argumentative) points however: not all artists create through the same processes, and thus different artists are aware of different levels of the future creation implicitly. All will benefit from its creation, for the trivial reason that it is a creation. However is it a personally worthwhile creation?

How can we change the game so that the eternally worthwhile becomes synonymous with the instantaneously worthwhile?

[hćthen]

Judging from the responses thus far.... I'm assuming no o.g. Anus staff member has released black metal? Or even attempted to make some?

Not necessarily a staff member but I lurk on the forums enough to be considered a verbally inactive member.  I have composed quite a good deal of material over the span of the past 6 years, yet the majority of it, I've come to realize, is not worth releasing as it was primarily written for my own enjoyment.  Out of curiosity, I did however release a few songs as a demo in 2009.  The songs can be freely downloaded from www.haethen.com and are open to some criticism, not too much though as I already am aware of the compositional weaknesses.

A sample of probably the "strongest" track I've released:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8EaH9YOOH0

I have been writing good amount for what I plan to release as an actual album.  The songs themselves will draw more influence from classical music, incorporating longer flowing narrative structures.  The greatest flaw I've found with recent black metal, or extreme metal in general, is the heavy reliance on the riff.  I think metal is at the point where the riff should almost entirely be done away with (especially is the case with black metal) and move towards longer "passages" which are able to create specific emotions within the context of a single song. 

It should also be stated these songs should be viewed as microcosms of  the entirety of the album.  An album should not be a compilation of stagnancy. It should be written much like a literary work, including the initial event, rising action, climax and subsequent falling action; each song contributing to the continuum of theme with purpose and fluidity.

This has proved the most challenging aspect of writing an album for myself, the interweaving of musical and lyrical content but also considering the various guitar and vocal voices that will ultimately decide the emotional and atmospheric aspect of the material.  Its been nearly three years since I've started on this endeavor and finding the time to engage in such an endeavor is scarce.  I will post a track or two within the forthcoming months for the aspies to scrutinize.

[Annihilation]

All will benefit from its creation, for the trivial reason that it is a creation. However is it a personally worthwhile creation?

Ibn 'Arabi (from Laleh Bakhtiar's "Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest"):

Looking at an artisan [knower] who is engaged in moulding things out of clay [that which is known], one might make a superficial observation that the clay in the hands of an artisan is sheer passivity, sheer non-action. One overlooks the important fact that, in reality, the clay for its own part positively determines the activity of the artisan. Surely, the artisan can make a variety of things out of clay, but, whatever one may do, one cannot go beyond the narrow limits set by the very nature of the clay. Otherwise expressed, the nature of the clay itself determines the possible forms in the way it may be actualized. (trans. T. Izutsu)

With appropriate practice, art is a means to spiritual becoming. For most, coming to know the matter of a craft is a long, humbling climb to mastery. Most at the mountaintop won't discuss their creation as a bringing into being, but a process of communication with whatever they're working with.

not all artists create through the same processes, and thus different artists are aware of different levels of the future creation implicitly

Yes, this is a superficial point. It is possible for you now to exert the energy over a certain amount of time to later bring you to the point where you could actualize what's playing in your head. How would your head-music be different after writing, listening, and playing certain types of music for 40 years?

I'm not sure what you're hinting at with "eternally worthwhile" / "instantaneously worthwhile" - perhaps what I'm getting at with the Ibn 'Arabi quote. Traditional crafts ("appropriate practice")?

As a side note, I'm not sure how to not sound antagonistic when challenging someone else's point on a forum.