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http://modularsamples.com This guy multi-sampled a bunch of classic (and some newer) synths and unloaded them to the public for free. He's even set them up in various sample player formats as well. While a lot of these synths are already done via VST, it may still appeal to some of you.

Some personal experience; I used k240s before I got the M50x. It's no comparison; M50x quality wins by a landslide. Remember Fletcher Munson curves; having a flat frequency graph yields mid-high frequencies that are way higher in perceived loudness than the lower end. Having a slight dip in the mid highs makes for a better listening experience and a more "humanized equality" rather than "technical equality". Either one is okay depending on your mixing philosophy, it doesn't really actually matter. If you mix with references, you can mix on anything. The ATH-M50x has extreme clarity even if it is a little imbalanced; the clarity to me is the most important thing, and references of my favorite tracks tell me how to get an overall balance. The graph runs counter to my opinion here, but I hold firmly that I get a much more A) informative and B ) enjoyable listening experience out of the M50x. Also, frequency response curves don't really tell you everything; it's just dB response. It doesn't really tell you about clarity, especially in the bass region. The shape of the headphones matters, semi-open or closed back, the quality of the sound reproduction itself, etc. That graph says AKG-k240s have better bass than the M50x, but in my opinion, the k240s bass is nothing impressive, and the M50x destroys it in that sector.

Hello errbody. I was recently made aware of some nice, free alternatives to sampled drum kits like EZDrummer, Addictive Drums, etc. http://www.powerdrumkit.com http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica I haven't yet tried the PowerMT kit, but I have loaded up the Sennheiser kit, and am pretty happy with it, especially for being free. It only features one kit, so there's no drum swapping, but you can swap the mics used on those drums (which is kinda neat in and of itself because it gives you an idea of the "color" of some of the different mics they offer). It is loaded via the Kontakt player, which is also free. I demo'ed it here: Hope this helps someone who doesn't currently have the cash to throw down on a drum sample library!

Something else that I almost forgot to mention is the reverb response of the headphones. I proceeded through the following headphones: Sony MDR-7502 (~$40) -> ??? (forgot)(~$60) -> Shure SRH240A (~$60) -> Grado SR-60i (~$80) -> Beyerdynamic DT-880 (250 ohm) (~$400, but 51% off, so ~$200) How I would describe them is the following: Sony MDR-7502 - Hugely lacking in bass and treble (honestly, above 1000 Hz was terrible); didn't pay attention to the reverb response here Shure SRH240A - Rather washy (with reverb), lacking in bass and upper treble Grado SR-60i - Less washy, clean bass, crisp treble (somewhat hard for bass mixing, though) Beyerdynamic DT-880 - Just dry enough for some excellent clarity, well-defined bass (loving it for bass mixing), distinct treble (so I can tell the difference between 14000 Hz and 18000 Hz, for example) So if you can, I think you should test the headphones you want to get on a song with a lot of reverb to see how much clarity you get. This aspect of headphones could change the amount of reverb you want to put in your music. If you can't test it... I wish you luck on that!

If you want something good for casual listening, the M50x beats the k240s. Same goes for critical listening (because of clarity). The M50x are close-backed, so even though the bass dB response is technically lower than the k240s according to the graph, the bass is very big and clear because it's contained. They're not "flat" headphones because of this, no, but they are clear as well as enjoyable.

teoria.com has helped me quite a bit

Here's what I got:http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID Basically it looks like the dt-880's are the clear winner (duh), but the price is much higher than the others. If I am reading this correctly, the k240's perform better in the low range than the m50x's, and the opposite is true for the high range. The sr60's are decent overall, but for the price I think one could do better. Personally I am quite liking the k240's, but I will give it a bit more consideration. EDIT: Fixed errors. Had the wrong ATH headphones in the last pic. The m50x look like it has a great low range and a decent high range, but the k240 looks like it is better overall.

The ATH-M50x is considered by many to be the standard in headphone mixing. I just got them recently, they're very nice. Very clear bass detail. There's lots of other nice pairs, like the ones Timaeus said. The DT-880 has been used by EDM composer and legendary OC ReMixer zircon for many, many years.

Sometimes when you try something and it doesn't work the first time, that's pretty normal. You should be able to figure out what more to do if you, for example, listen in the morning with fresh ears. You could alternatively add, let's say, white noise with filter motion and reverb (i.e. wind SFX), or a soft (somewhat low-passed) ambient pad, or something. It doesn't have to be obviously-noticeable. Also, this is more of a personal thing, but I think you should try a different kick drum and replace that clap with something more snare-like. Currently it actually sounds like hip hop drums, which in this context I find distracting. I like the pad at 1:30, though. That was helpful to do (I don't believe that was there before). Interesting glitching you have going on later. Perhaps tone down the mix level (i.e. wet mix) of the glitch plugin to make the glitching more subtle and less jarring.

Spoiler alert!! And Eino was added as well lol

Quick, create two alter egos and enter the competition. Your can create 10 songs and collaborate with yourself! However if I see two new forum users, RopeLadder and ZipLine, I'm going to be on to you...

musictheory.net by Ricci Adams has been a great resource for more than a decade now. What are you trying to accomplish with your study? Any particular sounds you are trying to make, or do you want to improve your ability to recognize and recreate sounds?

We literally do not "consider the fans" at any stage of the judging process, because this isn't a popularity contest, this is a creativity contest. This site also is cool with diversity. We're not actively catering to anyone's personal taste. To actually hold DPC's track (or any vocal track) back or put it in a corner because "most people prefer instrumentals"/"think of meeeee, I may not like it" is really closed-minded. Of course, you can dislike whatever you want, but we don't care anyway vis-a-vis track selection or presentation. Separate but equal? Segregation of minorities? Really? Tracks aren't people, but to me your proposal is also silly. Let's not go there. Also, so far, we've only got 266 tracks with any type of lyrics out of 3,056 ReMixes, so 91% of the site is instrumental. But are the vocals TAKING OVER? 0001-1000: 28/885: 3.16% 1001-2000: 83/992: 8.37% 2001-3000: 128/999: 12.81% 3001-3180: 27/180: 15% Hey cool, the trend IS growing. 3 out of every 20 ReMixes lately have had lyrics. 17 out of every 20 tracks being instrumental means instrumentals aren't even close to outnumbered, and that you're needlessly fixating on lyrics. Maybe by the time we reach OCR04000, lyrics will (dangerously) bump up to 16% or 17%. Try not to get too hung up on it. VGM is mostly instrumental, OCR will tip towards instrumental for as long as we're doing this, that's just the numbers. Anyway, TL;DR, you can certainly dislike anything you want, but to tell us to consider some sort of change in how any style or genre of mixes are presented... it ain't happening.