Harmony

I think the point here is that there is nothing preventing you from producing exactly the same sounds in the box as you'd get with amps+mics.That's the beauty of the digital age in which we live and operate. "Openness", "air", "distance" and "presence" are all qualities that can be adjusted realistically within any decent amp sim, and even without a good amp sim, these characteristics can be approximated with EQ and simple fx chains. So, while there is nothing physical preventing the exact reproduction of amp+mic sounds, there will obviously be differences when practically attempting to match any two tones (even between similar amp+mic setups). The question is, can you or anyone else actually perceive these minor differences if, as Nekofrog says, the person running the production knows what they're doing. I tend to agree that the answer is, by and large, no.

Let that be a lesson to all you people out there in software marketing land. Lower prices -> increased sales -> profit A $1000 box sitting in a warehouse doesn't do you any good.

If you've listened to most of the remixes on this site and that's your opinion, that's cool. But I know many people, many experienced people, would disagree with that. That's just not true, my friend. Recording guitar is a very subjective artform, and it may take money to get a specific sound, but it does not take money to get a good sound. It can be just as complicated as recording a distorted guitar. A gate doesn't get rid of noise, it just makes the entire signal equally quieter when the volume dips below a certain level. EQ, on the other hand, can reduce the specific frequencies that contain noise. Have a high freq hiss? Try reducing the higher freqs and you will reduce the noise. Of course, you will also affect any of the desirable guitar sound that lives in those freqs too. Have a 60Hz ground-loop buzz? Proper EQ will knock that out in no time. EQ won't do it all, but it is another useful tool in the noise reduction arsenal.

It would definitely help to know what equipment you have. For my electric/acoustic, if I'm doing a solo piece or one featuring the guitar I record both from the line in (plug the guitar directly into the soundcard) and from a mic...doesn't really matter how good your mic is. Usually the line in gives a clean bright signal, but it lacks warmth and tone. The mic usually can pick up good meaty low sounds, as well as ambient sounds like pick/fret noise. If your mic isn't that great, you can use EQ to take out parts of the signal that sound bad (like use a low pass filter to get rid of the harsh/noisy high frequencies). Pan one signal hard left and the other hard right, adjust the volume to your liking, and you've got sweet acoustic magic. To eliminate as much noise as possible, make sure your mic is as close to the guitar as possible, as far from the computer as possible, and that the room is as quiet as possible (turn off the a/c, the fridge, the fan, the tv, lights, etc). You also might try some noise reduction software. Audacity (free) has a plug-in that can get rid of some of the background noise with a minimal loss in quality.

Congrats!! Can't wait to get a chance to sit and listen

There are a lot of great free offerings out there. You can start reading about some popular ones here: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11586 Reaper will probably be your best bet, and there's another thread about that too: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13478

Haha, so true.

Very cool. I guess I feel a little differently about some criticisms. The compression add lots of tension to me, which is a good thing for this frantic piece. Plus, things open up when they need to (1:52-2:10). The melody that comes in at 2:13 feels underdeveloped at first, but it fleshes itself out and resolves nicely by the time it leaves the scene around 2:35. I think what would help it not feel so weak at first is if you hold off on the drums at 2:13 until a few measures later. They're going full steam from the get-go but the newly introduced melody is just building up momentum. IMO, that's a mismatch. I think the ending is fine. It SMACKS of SoM flavor, especially the driving kick and snare dominated percussion palette. awesome

If you're only able to spend ~$50 and you're not looking to record, the X-Fi Xtreme isn't the worst card in the world. I'm not so sure that it's any better than the cheaper 7.1 Audigy cards though. In any case, the fact that it's PCI gives you the possibility of very low latency, and if you were connecting via a MIDI port on the card itself (I don't think the Xtreme has this option), you could get one of the lowest latencies possible with any card. But with the USB connection, I would think that the Creative drivers will be a big factor in what your latency will be. Are those drivers good? I'm not entirely sure.

I won't give you the "there's no correct EQ" speech but I'll say that I like the non-eq version better. It sounds fuller and more balanced. There is a little low end (80~100Hz) rumble-jumble that could be toned down a decibel or two though. The EQ'd version lacks mids and highs to my ears. More quantitatively, the high end in the eq'd version starts to roll off pretty quickly above 10kHz which I think is too early. From the spectrum, it also looks like you've reduced the 3000Hz range, which may account for what I perceive as a lack of mids. That said, go with your ears, there's no correct EQ

Just a couple of comments. Not all "white noises" are alike! Use a spectrum analyzer on the output to make sure you're getting what you think you should be getting. mda test tone gives you a very nice constant white noise from something like 10Hz-30kHz and it's very easy to use. Just put it on a track FX bin and it starts pumping out noise.I just did this to test out a new mic, but if you're trying to get the room response, be very careful about how your mic affects the sound, especially if you're using a dynamic mic which tends to drop lower and higher frequencies moreso than condensers. To correctly compensate, you'll need to subtract out the frequency response of the mic (usually provided by the manufacturer) from the signal that you record. As rig1015 said, it's labor intensive but it can be fun and highly educational!

I support this assessment.Plus, if a former judge/ OCReMixer/ musician extraordinaire calls it "Brilliant work", there's probably something more to it than a poor sample quality joke mix worthy of OLR

Ok, this is awesome. The Dark Lich theme has never sounded more happy-go-lucky badass. And all with a discotastic finish! Nice work. lol, so because YOU don't know the game well enough to tell what's what, the samples are horrible?

Wow, I didn't know that.Ultra lame.

Hope it will play nice with MSN stuff, like Hotmail. Other than that, I love Chrome and I'll probably love Chrome OS.

Shortcircuit is great, and so is HighLife

Simple, clean, crisp, sorta Protishead-ish. I likes. You gonna do any additional mastering? Feels a little more airy than I think it should...makes me want to apply a compressor to a master bus...

Fun stuff, especially the second theme. Love the guitar too.

I'm not impressed with my local Guitar Center's handling of this momentous deal. I was there on Saturday and there was no mention of the deal on any of the zillion sale fliers pasted around the store. Komplete was also not on display at all. I was there with a friend to buy it and they had to go to the stock room to get it. That wasn't cool, but maybe it was some odd oversight. However, I was there again yesterday and Komplete was prominently displayed at the old price of $1000. No mention of any deals. I asked a salesguy and he had to look it up to make sure that it actually was $400. For folks who work on commission, they sure aren't trying that hard to pull in these particularly easy sales.

What an awesome birthday.

Yes, definitely. Being around and working with so many people who take music very seriously has taught me techniques I might not have been exposed to otherwise, broadened my musical understanding, encouraged me to actually practice (as opposed to just banging on things for fun), encouraged me to actually finish songs that I start (instead of just banging on things for fun then clicking "no, don't save"), and made me a little more humble. No, I don't rock as much as I thought I did...but with a little practice...

Yeah, thanks for posting this Andy. Even though I don't think Black Eyed Peas are a good example of bad "good" pop, I totally agree with your premise