Meteo Xavier

I've pretty much made it a second full-time job since April to drastically improve my song quality so that it they would at least sound believable, but there are a lot of things I'm trying to improve that I just can't seem to touch on and fix. I can't tell if I really need to work on it, or I'm just paranoid. What I don't get is how a lot of songs can bring in and out a lot of additional instrumentation without making it seem awkward. I hear a lot of strings come in and additional percussion that comes in from the side and isn't too loud and really helps the emotional structure of the song, but isn't so front and center that when it gets taken out suddenly, it doesn't sound awkward. I have to rape the hell out of rolling and reverse cymbals and crashing sounds just so I can get song parts to link together. I have to layer, layer, layer just so the song sounds a little more full, but then I can't take it out or add anything else in because the sound spectrum is completely filled up. I just hear a major difference between my songs and even inferior quality songs by others, so do they know something I don't, or am I just being paranoid? I'm trying to gauge it from the soundpoint of the listener. I know I can't produce studio quality music with just FL and some VSTs, but I still feel like I shouldn't have to go to extreme lengths to get it to sound like a real song. Here are some examples: http://www.savefile.com/files/1812034 - here's where I think I got most of it right, but like I said, I filled up the sound spectrum completely and raped the hell out of cymbals. I didn't add much the second time around and I worry it sounds too repetitive. I used a lot of soundfonts and only the guitar and the flute are professional VST instruments. http://www.zshare.net/audio/19851692b9a6fa7a/ and this is me practicing. I don't think it sounds too bad, but it sounds too bare and I feel like the instruments are too stagnant in their spaces. I used mostly professional VSTs for the instruments and not much FX. Widening Delay, Stereo Enhancer, Compression and slight Reverb. What do you think? Am I right or just paranoid?

Then he hasn't seen the movie yet.

Oh Chr*st. Toriyama is spinning in his grave right now.

If I wasn't inbetween things at the moment, I'd give you a better appraisal - of the three I listened to, THE REVIVAL was actually pretty decent and in need of the least improvement. The song itself doesn't do much for me, its like something you hear between levels that have the best music, but the instruments and the mixing and its overall effect on me, the listener are pretty good. I'd kinda like to hear more cool pads, sound effects, and maybe some cymbal rolling inbetween parts myself, I think that would round it out better.

Its a decent start at best, but there's a LOT of room for improvement. I won't bitch too much because my sound quality isn't a lot better and I bet you can only really afford FL and soundfonts. Still, the piano sample you're using is just awful, especially as it makes hard low chords. The acoustic guitar is too front and center and there's no velocity in it. I'd move it further to the left and drop some volume on it. The drums aren't too bad, but they're also too loud and attention getting, especially the kick. The part of the song that really sticks out to me is 2:13 when it starts getting faster and frenetic - I'd take that part out entirely and keep it a slow, melancholy tune and even solo a couple instruments. As far as EQing it, if you have Winamp, you can experiment with the EQ presets on it and see if you can find a sound that makes it work better. Less bass in the EQ is usually better. Tell you what, if you want to make the effort, I could trade you some better soundfonts to give you a better boost if you'll critique the one or two songs I have up here so I can polish them up.

I got into music because at the age of 18, I had the insane idea that my little bit of acting talent would get somewhere, so I wanted to get into music first as a way of breaking into acting. 6 years of time, money and life wasted plus autism later, I'm still barely able to complete a song competently, but I'm too far in to give up now, so I'm looking forward to a lifetime of failure and obsession ahead of me. I envy the deaf (and the dead).

Not that anyone would care, but I'm going to give it another shot with this update: http://www.savefile.com/files/1812034 I added an acoustic guitar and fixed a few things.

....better than nothing I guess. Thanks for the comment, whatever it was.

Well, I can give you a more thorough appraisal if you'll appraise my WIP. It should be just below this one, until this is posted, that is, then you'll look for the one beneath it.

What virtual synths did you use was my question, I like the way they sounded, I might try to find some.

What instruments did you use besides the voices and the Amiga?

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1942428816331366/ - Key of D Minor. So I'm trying a new method of composing to get more actual SONG done without having to work within a Fruity Loops file that takes up 70% of my computer resources, and this is what I have. I'm just building a song blueprint at this point and I'm doing it with basic sounds and no fx. Basically what I'm looking for here is whether or not the current arrangement works. This is a song for my first record, and many songs come before it with off-center arrangements and lots of improvising on top, so I wanted to try something a little more basic - something that had an epic sound but kept repeating main themes. The theme for this song is KluYa walking the road to certain death knowing there is no alternative and accepting graciously his fate. The song is going to be more electronic and trance-like when (if) I finish it and it already has a minute ahead of it, so this section would come in after the first minute. The piano line at 2:12 is actually the introduction theme, but I sabotage it with the other main theme throughout the song, just to play with the structure. Thats all I'm doing right now is playing with structure and seeing what works.

Well, it has a clean production sound, other than that, its hard to judge right because there's just not that much there.

Yeah, I'd call this one good from here and start on another one.

I'll make a judgement for yours if you make a judgement for mine.

http://www.savefile.com/files/1782611 This is a song I started in April and spent all day today working on so its makes a decent overworld-ish type song. It's halfway inspired by FFIX and CREID. I'm not very confident with this version as of yet. Its got some ideas but I'm having a hell of a time linking them together and making them believable and workable. About 99% of the instruments are soundfonts and, well, the short end of it is I don't have a clue what I'm doing here, in any aspect of the song. I'm already aware of the major problems, but feel free to really tear into whats wrong here and how I can fix it. Thanks.

Its a bit meh for me. I think they pretty much peaked at Mega Man 7 and everything naturally goes downhill from there. EDIT: You thought I was going to fix it so it said Mega Man 2, didn't you? No, I really mean Mega Man 7 is the best soundtrack in the series.

Ok, I think I get it. You're totally right to mock my topic title too, I don't know why I wrote it that way.

I want to sell a bunch of my rarer games that I'll never get to play and I'm considering using that function, but I'm not very good at those things and can't manage very well. I'm wondering if someone can give me a basic gist of what all I have to know. Like what are their rules on trade? Do I wait until they send me a check before I send the game out? Do I have to send it a certain way? Do I have to pay a percentage to Amazon.com? I feel stupid asking, but this is the best way for me to learn.

Makes me want to play Actraiser

It wouldn't be Zombies Ate My Neighbors it wasn't oversampled.

Ok, lets try illustration. I'm looking for 2 images, one being a Yoshitaka Amano style image (although not nearly as complicated, it would be much simpler) and the other being an image similar to Cowboy Bebop's last image before "You're gonna carry that weight" flashes on. My budget for artwork is pretty modest, but I am willing to pay someone to help me out here.

For a record I hope to do before the end of the year.

The FATMAN himself.

Neither link works.