Djent

What is Djent(pronounced as gent)?
"Djent is not a genre,its a sound"-from the what's djent video.
This is has lately been my most loved tone till date. Its a little less of very high gain and is highly palm muted. Messhugah guitarist Fredrik Thordendal is said to have coined this word. It was popularized by periphery.
Most guitarist who make djent generally use 7 or 8 string guitars. There are guitarists who play it on 6 string guitarist but it was originally made for 8 string guitarists. Riffs played by djent guitarists are very different and are at times challenging to play which of course makes it fun. Many a time people confuse djent with metalcore.
Some of my favorite djent playing bands are Messhugah ,Periphery, Cloudkicker, Scale the summit, and of course TesseracT. Due to the heavy usage of palm muting the sounds sometime seemm digital. The drumming often sounds digital. The high hat is used a lot.
If you havent heard any of this i would suggest you to listen to the album Rare Trax be Messhugah, then The discovery by cloudkicker and then carving desert canyons by scale the summit. All these three albums are amazing in their own respects and have a completely new outlook on metal music.

ESP

Top:Will Adler Series
Bottom:FX series

Of late i have been doing some research as i am planning to get myself a new guitar. as i ask more and more people for suggestions i realised that its finally upto you to choose what you want as at the end of the day almost every famous guitar manufacturers name has been suggested.I presently own a low end ibanez and i was pretty much a big ibanez fan till i discovered ESP.When i started listening to bodom about 3 years ago i saw this amazing looking guitar. so i looked up on google and saw that it was an esp. when i checked out the specs i was pretty impressed.


Then i went to a shop nearby that sold esp's and tried em out. trust me i got the heaviest possible sounds that i have ever heard. i just fell in love with the sound.
but then i was told about schecters.
So the next time i went to get myself a supply of strings and jacks i tried out the diamond series which was abt 56k. again really good. Now i was like ESP or schecter??Last month i was told that the gkg is coming back the series which van halen used to use. this time around i didn't go to any store as i didn't have access to one.
I finally sat down compared the pros and cons of all three and came to the conclusion that if you are a hardcore metal fan then without a doubt it would be the ESP FX or the ECLIPSE-II series. both have
-mahogany bodies
-22 frets
-mahogany necks
-rosewood fretboard's
-Gotoh TOM Bridge & Tailpiece
and the best of the lot EMG 81 series Active pick ups!!
the ECLIPSE-II looks like a lespaul and the FX is one that looks similar to james hetfields snakebite...
If you would like to indulge your self into some really heavy stuff then the wa-600 or the will adler is the one for..its the will adler series of guitars.

Adobe Audition

It is one of the best software's that i have ever worked with for recording purposes. I wouldn't be saying this if i were a mac user or ever used a mac.for windows this is the ideal software for intermediates and higher.It has multiple features and a multitrack environment and it saves every workspace separately. So you can always recover something if you edit it ,that is only if you bother to save the workspace before closing it.The basic format in which it saves is .wav .Though it consumes a lot of space the quality of sound is good.
Options are available in case you would like to save in other audio formats. Even if you do not have a processor or a mixer or even if the environment that you are working in is not very conducive for recording you can still get a good output after proper utilisation of the software. Many tutorials are available online.
The screen is divided into two parts. In one half that is the left one there are multiple options which are subdivided into three major groups:
-real-time effects
-multitrack effects
-process effects
Under process effects there are some really cool features which we can add to make the sound even more attractive,like the stereo field rotate,generate silence,dynamic delay.
in case you are a guitarist and do not have a processor yet want some processed sounds use the real-time effects. You can modify the effects to whatever you want. It has echo,reverb,delay,chorus,flanger,distortion,sweeping phaser,etc.All the basic and some advanced effects are available. Even if you do have a processor this can be used to give a final touch to the sound.
One more feature that is worth mentioning is the metronome. You can set your desired time signature in whatever key you want and record accordingly.The multitrack environment has two main screen blocks , the maina nd the mixer. The main is somewhat a simple and easy to handle screen. The mixer has an EQ setting in which the user is allowed to set their own setting and not just choose amongst some predefined setting.The pan and volume levels are also explicitly set there. There are a few track automation modes also available and are five in number. With each setting we can work differently. For example with the write setting we can record and not with the read. The modes are off,read,write,touch and latch.One last thing about the mixer section is that it has three buttons with M,S,R written on them which are meant for muting the track,playing only that track as in the solo option, and finally the R button which is used to arm the track for recording.
After all the recording is done in different tracks, all the instruments can be summed up and put together in one particular track using either the mixdown to newfile or the bounce to new track feature. Either ways a new file named Mixdown is created with all the tracks in one.
This is just a summary of what Adobe Audition 3.0 is capable of doing.

Eminence

I recently had a gig and I had to play with people I had never played before. I was made to work with a guitarist, bassist and a singer. My bassist did not have an amplifier so I suggest a Hartke 30 W which would cost about Rs.11000. Instead this guy lands up buying a 120W amp!! I mean just for practice and when you have just started playing the bass, something truly out of the blue.

Anyways this amp is by Eminence and has an inbuilt cabinet with facilities for ‘megadrive’ which is a heavy overdrive, a warm gain and a clean. All of these contained basic features such as Level, Gain & Tone. The clean zone had a couple more feature which were actually general features and applicable to all the modes. It consisted of Equalizer settings such as High, Low, Mid, Master Volume & a reverb.

The Reverb effect was actually kind of impressive. Basically what anyone might ask for, for the first couple of years of their practice. The sound Quality was good and even at very loud volumes the sound did not break. The cost of this might be around Rs. 22000+ I assume as he got it at an extensive discount. A Pedal was also provided with warm gain and megadrive in it , thereby allowing the user to set their requisite levels of gain and tone and just using the stomp box to change the effects.

Sound: 7.5/10

Features: 8.0/10

Essentials

For any guitarist it is very essential to have a few basic tools. Most people tend to omit these tiny things. They are actually very helpful in many situations. Imagine you are stuck in some isolated town and you don’t have a good music store close by and you run out of strings or one of you strings are stuck in one of the holes in the bridge, then what do you do? Well being in a similar location I just happen to know what all one might need to save themselves and their equipment.

It is of utmost importance for any guitarist to carry at least one set of spare strings if not more. Way more than one spare for the E, B (first two) strings as they are always prone to tear. One should also carry a good cloth to wipe the strings after using or at least once every two uses so that sweat and dirt is not accumulated on the strings which will later on lead to rust formation and weaken the strength of your strings.

A few more essential items would be like a gig bag or a hard case bag in case you have to travel a lot with your guitar. If you are an electric guitar user it is very essential that you get yourself a decent amplifier. Make yourself a budget of at least Rs. 3500 and purchase a decent amplification unit .Buy from companies such as Laney or marshall for guitarist. In case you happen to be a bassist you will have to save up almost twice the amount to get an amp. The basic bass amps will be at least Rs. 6500-7000. For those sort of amps you should go for companies such as Fender or Hartke. I think Hartke would land up being a little more costlier. The reason I am stressing so much about amplifiers is that in music sound is everything and your amplifier is one that gives you an idea of what kind of sound you produce. Plus if you go on stage and perform you will notice that you are always supplied with some what good equipment (in most cases). Sound varies from amp to amp so one would like to get his tone and pick up settings done before hand.

There are a few more things one must have. They are such as a peg winder, hairpin incase your string gets stuck in the bridge hole. A screwdriver kit, Wire Stripper, a Capo,a tuner(in case your ears are not yet accustomed to the notes) and the most important one of the lot plectrums. Beginner, intermediate or professional we are all humans and most of us have a habit of losing things especially small things. Plectrums or commonly known as picks are lost a lot at least in my case though I have become more responsible of late.

If you have quite a bit of money on you then buy yourself a processor. I would suggest to learn for atleast a year or so and get your basics clear before you buy the fancy equipment.

Bryan Adams in Tour

the concert on the 13th at palace grounds was one to experience...i was there only for picking up the tickets...but looking at the place and knowing a few of the people going there i am pretty sure that it would have been one hell of an evening...the sad part in banglore though is that tthe concerts don't go on for a long time into the night...
the concert was scheduled to have started at 7 pm ...there was a band opening for adams...he is touring india for a period of 5 days over 4 cities...new delhi...blore....hyd...mumbai...the prices of the tickets were moderately high prigh priced at 1500 and 3000 in blore and hyd and 2000 and 4000 in delhi and mumbai...
what is more intersting is that i hear that lamb of god is supposed to tour india again soon...which will be amazing....i would love id bodom also came by in their new world tour...anyways lets hope for the best