Family

Jason Warner

I'm Jason Warner, a 16-year-old guitarist, small-time producer, and songwriter. I usually go by the names Gresh'Kaal or Steelscale, though. I was raised on video games and heavy metal. The metal must have stuck pretty well, since I grew up to become both a metal fan and a metal musician. Sure, I'm young, but that doesn't mean I'm totally clueless about what I'm doing. I know how to write, record, and produce a song. Also, my entire history of musical tastes includes all rock and metal, except the short time where I was into rap. I remember when I was... I wanna say between 3 and 5 years old, and how I'd listen to Metallica and Pantera on the local rock station with my dad when he was driving around with me. I distinctly remember hearing the chorus to Walk, but instead of ìRe-! -Spect! Walk!î, I heard ìBreathe! Spit! Rock!î.

My biggest influences are Pantera, Bathory, Hatebreed, Five Finger Death Punch, and Disturbed. When I write music, I don't try to stay to a specific subgenre of metal, but it usually just happens to lie somewhere around general extreme metal. I also will sometimes draw in a little bit of industrial or techno when writing or mixing. When I make a song, I usually have a good idea in mind of what I want to do, but I always seem to accidentally discover that the tune sounds even better with extra synths or a few extra palm mutes.

When I'm not working on heavy metal, I'm either making an electronic song or helping my rapper friend produce a song. I actually did start off using loops in late 2007. I moved to VST in 2008, and I started trying to record. Key word trying... Long story short, directly plugging a guitar into a computer without an amp sim sounds terrible, with our without effects pedals.

My studio is pretty simple. My DAW is Magix Music Maker 15 Premium. I have a USB dynamic microphone that I use mostly for recording vocals. For guitar, I use a Zoom G1X as an amp sim that I directly plug into my desktop's line in. Sometimes, I'll use other pedals with it, depending on what sound I want, and I may use my mic to record my Raven RG20. Most of my drums are Steven Slate Drums EX, but I sometimes use a sampler VST to do electronic kits. My bass is done with the Essential Bass pack for Kore Player, and my synths are done with Kore Player and Revolta 2.

I discovered Steven Slate Drums when searching around the internet for good drum software. I saw people praising the sounds and support, so I decided to check it out. I heard some demos and decided that it was just what I needed, so I ordered it in the September of 2010. SSD fits in great with whatever projects I'm working on, from metal to electronic.

Anyways, here's a little metal song I made. It's just a rough mix, so please forgive the mistakes!

-Jason Warner

http://japanesekanjidesign.tk/

Obliterated (Written, Recorded, Mixed by Jason Warner) by Slate Family