Harmony

...disturbing...disturbing indeed

When I jammed with BGC at Dave's house a little while ago, I was freaked out at how musically similar Jimmy and I are. The conclusion, my friend, is that you can't have us both on the panel at the same time. Our votes would be overly synthetic and too 'in phase'

The link seems to be working now. Good foundation Visibore. Off the bat, I can think of a few really simple things to help this arrangement out. First, the four instrument parts need their own sonic space. Right now everything is sitting in the center and the tone of the two guitar parts is very similar. The result is a jumbled and less interesting performance. Try panning the two guitar parts away from each other, say 60%L/R. The cello should stay relatively centered since it carries a lot of the melody, but play around with the panning on it and the strings as well until something sounds nice. Secondly, everything sounds pretty dry. Even basic samples such as these can be brought to life with the right amount of reverb. Don't go crazy though. Classical music played from inside a cave = bad. Third, vary the playing of the guitar parts. They pretty much play eighth notes from start to finish. Gotta switch it up sometimes! Fourth, to further separate the guitars, try changing the eq of one of them. This will give them each their own character and will keep parts like 3:05-3:09 from sounding overly synthetic and too 'in phase'. Hope this helps

A buddy of mine pointed this out to me. 4Front Technologies claims to have a set of drivers that supports a number of audio cards under linux. Their "MIDI support not available" warning is kind of suspect but ignoring that, they appear to support the major Sound Blaster cards as well as some M-Audio cards, both of which are decent for remixing. Of those two brands, M-Audio has more USB options, although many of those are only USB 1.1 (if that is a concern to you).

What a difference live guitars can make Love the panned phaser but I could have used more bite in the distorted power chords. They seem to mush together and lose definition, especially on low notes. Probably just need to mess around with the eq. lol. I'm loving the audio snap in SONAR 6 because it corrects all kinds of timing issues like these. If you have access to it that would be great (I think Cubase has something similar). Otherwise, you can always cut up the guitar audio clips yourself and stretch-slide-tweak until it's fingerpickin' good.

Cool Springyard mix. Just a few quick thoughts to add to what’s already been said: First, I don’t think the samples are your biggest concern in terms of this getting posted. The arrangement is what’s not quite there yet. For a 4min jazz song, there isn’t much soloing or improve here. That’s what jazz is al about man. Like Kanthos said, vary the rhythm, throw in some cool harmonies and expand upon the original…make it unique! 2:05-2:24 is a good example of where you’re heading in the right direction. Nice right hand piano harmony with the main theme and a solid left hand to back it up. Also to add to what Kanthos suggested, you really should head over to google video and search for “jazz drumming.” Don’t just listen…watch those guys and understand what feels natural. Try to imagine a flesh and blood human playing your drum part. As it is right now, I can’t see it, can you? In fact, I think that the drum work is the weakest part of this mix. I don’t hear any triplets, nothing is syncopated and everything is overly quantized. Two examples that really stand out are the tom roll at 1:00 and the snare roll at 2:15. Way too simple and quantized. Needs a little work but I really do like what I hear so far. Looking forward to updates.

Wow, I love the ambient build through the intro that gives way to some really trick percussion at 1:08. Although I like the stutter at 1:14 because…well, I like stutters…I’m not sure it fit perfectly with the rest of the mix. A little too dry and staccato, to borrow Jill’s description. Awesome interpretation of the source. Awesome. It really sounds like you put some thought into synth automation and FX (lots of cool stuff going on at 1:50-2:18) so props for that. All in all, props for a really cool mix.

Oooh, good stuff with tons of fluttery percussion and light synths for the win! Nice to see this much reverb used tastefully without mushing everything together.

Simple and slick. I love when a mix takes a solid underlying groove (like what’s established with the synth that kicks off the source material at 0:09) and runs with it. When that foundation is setup, there’s almost nothing you can do as a musician to screw it up. The guitar breaks at 2:10 and 2:39 are needed to break the monotony and they are great in their own right. Not sure what you were going for with the decision to add vinyl pops and hisses throughout major portions of this. Yeah, it fills out holes in the soundsscape but at the cost of sound quality. And if it was the lo-fi thing you were after, the rest of the mix just doesn’t echo that. Meh, I’m probably biased after having heard earlier versions sans vinyl effects. Speaking of that, I have a wip of this titled “Tetraphobia WIP v2.” Where in the timeline of WIP -> VGmix -> OCRemix does that version fall?

Yeah...about that...a coupla months ago my leg and I were molested by Taucer in the heart of DC*, and, well...I think he may already be having my man babies. Damn my sexy man voice. *I HAVE WITNESSES!

Gone but not forgotten I see A sincere thanks to Monobrow and everyone else who tosses this remix into the playlist every once in a while. Oh, and as soon as I work up enough cash to bribe Dave and Larry, I'll see if I can get something on the front page again

Unfortunately, I don’t have anything too decent in the way of brass or woodwinds. Especially if you’ve already googled for them and checked HammerSound. In defense of that site, yeah, they do have a lot of crap but it’s still a very useful resource. All of these can be found there and are, IMO, worth having on hand if you rely primarily on free samples. Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano Roland 64 Voice Piano (7mb SF that I use more than 120mb Clavinova, Maestro Concert Grand, or any other piano sample) Campbell’s Grand Xylophone Naturally Decaying Bass Guitars (very, very nice) Cadenza Strings JJ's French Horn Campbell's Thumb Piano (surprisingly expressive for its filesize) Roland Orchestral Rhythm BK Junk Kit Drum by KEN ARDENCY v2.0 Roland TD-10 "Woody" Set Acoustic Percussion

Very beautiful Jon. I think you've paid some serious tribute to one of the sweetest songs on the F-zero soundtrack. I’m loving the slick harmonies and melodic lines at 0:49, 1:00, 1:19-1:40, 1:43-2:06, 2:48-end. Hmm…that’s pretty much the entire song

Like q-pa said, thanks for catching the video at Dave's house. I didn't take a single picture and those were good times indeed. Pictures are great so far everyone, hope they keep coming...

Hey man, I guess I'll have to wait a little while longer to meet you but it's great to hear that you're on the fast track to recovery. Take care Andy.

Oh, well if that's the case...

Wow, the balance between the guitar and the ambient elements is beautiful. From the first time that I hear them at 0:48, the vocals work wonderfully. This is especially true when the male ahh pulls the mix back from what sounded like an outro at 3:48. And how sweet is the brief guitar riff at 2:53? Flute, guitar, chromatic stuff…everything screams Seiken Densetsu and which makes it all gel for me. While I do agree with some of the criticisms regarding the intro/outro, and perhaps the need for some selective reverb, this mix is very cool and thoroughly enjoyable Zyko. Pulling out a tune like this takes a certain type of musical courage that I think I need a little more of in my own work. I’m not referring to the courage to stand up to the inevitable criticism, or to intentionally keep a guitar “11 cents” out of tune. I mean the personal courage required to have a musical goal in mind, to craft and perform the piece and then to sit back and take it for what it is. I for one would have probably tweaked, equalized, pitch-shifted and quantized my way into a cookie-cutter masterpiece; an achievement that I don’t think should be anyone’s goal. Nice work. Zyko ++

What can I say? The awesomeness of SoM and Shna has pulled me from the grave

chiptune battle + SoM + slack-jawed yokel intro = smiles! Oh man Sam, I can only imagine the hell it must have been to decompose the wonderful chaos of Kikuta’s Danger! and remold it with a calculated chaos all your own. Technically stunning throughout but I especially love the changeup at 2:42 and the finale from 4:50. Nice, nice work.

Really enjoyed the production on this. The FX and sparse instruments during the first 1:42 really feel like Doom and serve as a good start to the dynamic build that climaxes with the rock section at 2:51. Before 2:51 we get some slick FX on the vocals that really pull together a solid atmosphere. The vocals themselves are cleanly recorded and nicely executed. Elsa’s deep, haunting old-English enunciation conjures images of all things Halloween. There’s room for improvement though, mainly in the lower vocal register. Some of the notes sound a bit forced and might benefit from a little pitch correction (0:39, 1:22, etc). For sampled guitars, the rock section is awesome. Like TO said, the lead is kind of sketchy but by no means is it bad, especially since it’s shrouded in the heavy rhythm guitar/bass work. Arrangement is a problem though. Even though a lot has been done in terms of additions, in terms of arrangement and composition this sticks very close to the original. As an instrumental this would be enjoyable, however the vocals are really the only significant element that saves the first 2/3 of this mix from being a cover. Love the heavy guitar take on things for the ending but I also wish that we had a better resolution after all is said and done. The 5-note piano outro is a little brief IMO. Great stuff and it’s close but I’m going to have to b-no this due to it’s overly conservative take on the theme. Definitely a memorable track though. NO (borderline)

Good stuff Jredd. I’m really digging the use of some of the samples. The Sonic scratches and the glass breaking first used at 0:45 for the transition are nice touches. Unfortunately this is drowned in muddiness and clutter. Many of your synths are fighting for space in the same low register. Try giving some of elements higher pitched parts. You might also consider transposing the entire mix up a few half-steps. That would put a little distance between the bass/kick combo and the melodic synths. The cluttered intro goes on for a little too long for such a short mix. It’s not until 0:49 that we get a cleaner sound but less than 20 seconds later it sounds as though you intentionally drop some of the higher frequencies out (1:03-1:18). With the muddiness of the rest of the track, you can’t afford to lose what few mids and highs you have. That sections sounds much better when the percussion comes back with some highs at 1:18. The percussion in general is nice; good variety of sounds and patterns. I’m not a fan of the hard oscillating panning on the lead synth starting at 1:20. I think it greatly weakens it’s impact. You also should work on the ending. Aside from it coming about a minute too soon, the water sfx sounds too much like static to serve as a base for the other elements. I like it’s brief appearance in the intro though. The arrangement ideas are certainly here but this needs some good old-fashioned polish work before it really shines. Keep working at it. NO

Ok, the intro is my favorite section. Before we get the horns, the bassline is thick and the percussion is a little offbeat but slick. Enter the horns however and the heavy compression becomes apparent. If the effect was intentional, it’s not working here. Try applying compression to individual tracks rather than globally over the entire mix. That would let you keep the claustrophobic feel of the percussion and bass while keeping the horns, cymbals and synths bright and loud. For a first cut at revision, I’d take TO’s advice and ditch the compression altogether. You’ve got interesting arrangement ideas and even more interesting sounds at some points. The chromatic guys playing with the strings and subdued percussion from 1:00-1:30 are really cool. Although the flutes that come in at 1:31 are lo-fi and dry I think they fit pretty well, especially given the odd-ball original tune. For only 2:26, a decent amount of variation is packed into this mix. I’d love to hear it resubmitted with a lot more attention given to production and cohesion (the intro doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the mix). Good stuff so far. NO (Please Resubmit)

Love it. From the classic piano breaks at 1:04 and 3:14, to the subtle accent of the claves and cowbell from 1:36-2:00, this bubbles over with jazzy Afro-Cuban flare. The drums and bass are rock-solid, especially the bass-work from 3:03-3:13. To nit-pick, I would say though that the global reverb strikes me as a little excessive. I think some of this mix seems to lose a bit of presence as a result (e.g. piano at 0:27, brass at 3:17). In this newest version, the sax does fit quite nicely with the rest of the elements and is skillfully sequenced IMO. Excellent work all around. Congratulations on crafting such a creatively arranged, enjoyable mix. YES

Nice work Txai. The atmosphere is rich, the instruments are varied and dynamically this piece has a lot going for it. It’s a bit cluttered and unfocused in some spots. You might consider toning down the erratic hand percussion during 2:12-2:26 or scaling back and varying the loud snare that dominates the scene from 3:03-3:44. The break at 2:33-3:00 is pretty slick but would be much better if the performance was more fluid. Although the melodies are interesting during that section, the chromatic and percussive elements get very robotic, especially towards the 3:00 mark. The choir vox isn’t working for me but it isn’t the worst choir ever. In general it doesn’t sound like the highest quality instruments are in play here, especially in the intro where they are most exposed, but this is an example of how processing and composition can overcome the shortcomings of a poor violin or weak piano. After a little work this would be fine by me on a sound quality and compositional basis. However, as has been pointed out, the source is absolutely buried. Except for a few melodies that might show up in any song, I honestly can’t find the source at all. So, in spite of how enjoyable this is, I’ve gotta go with a… NO

Hmm. I've wondered about the correct pronunciation of both words. My pronunciation of "Mana" is the one that I've heard most often, although Dictionary.com agrees with you that I am incorrect. As far as "Flammie", in the WIP thread for this song I specifically asked how the word should be pronounced and the only reply I got concerning that was from Keiiii: Certainly not the strongest evidence to stand on but with that and no arguments to the contrary, I felt I had good enough reason to justify being lazy and not changing the way I've pronounced it for all these years . Thanks for the criticism and glad you enjoyed.