The Vagrance

About 3 or 4 WIP beats, 1 completed beat (The Known), and 2 Beastie Boys remixes. If anyone wants to collaborate on any of these, then contact me. Otherwise, just enjoy them as they're pretty cool instrumentals as is. www.soundclick.com/v80

You know, I was actually wondering about this remix myself...lol. As far as the mixdown, my DnB sense is wondering where the kick on most of the drums is, it kinda gets buried when things get hectic. I absolutely love the work done on the amen though, the snare has such an excellent tone to it. Aside from that, sounds excellent.

Really nice and chill, I like the minimal feel to it. The freakiest part about this though is I'm working on a track with a friend with damn near the same chord progression.

Oh God that was stupid....fixed it in the first post.

Its been a long time since I've posted on here and I kinda went on a VGR hiatus to focus on producing original things. However, after becoming fairly starved for inspiration, I decided to take another jab at remixing, starting off with one of the first tracks I remixed. A few things to note: 1. Its mixed pretty poorly, I know this, before this version I had limiters left and right and so this version as after taking off all limiters (except for on the main) and kinda balancing things out just to get it all sorted and so each element can be heard fairly clearly 2. There's a few sketchy spots on the arrangement, including the fact that I only am using 1 drum loop for the main section. I'll sort it out. 3. While I like the already existing bassline, its kinda a spot-holder for a newer, fatter one I'm working on (I've started doing all of my basslines in a separate file altogether). Anyway, the main thing I'm curious about is, do you think if it were refined and such, that it would pass the judges panel? I remember them being fairly biased against these sorts of arrangements but then again I haven't been here for a few months so that may have changed. Also, any comments or whatever are appreciated. Link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=710435

Yeah, I won't be able to finish this, but I will make the task of whoever wants to finish Sigma a lot easier because I have self-contained the Reason file in a zip file and the wavs that go with it. Anyway, sorry for dropping off the project like this, but if anyone wants to finish off sigma, e-mail me at Samuel.Day@gmail.com and I'll send the zip to you, don't message me because I'm leaving this site temporarily.

Bad news but things are looking like I'm going to be droppping out of this. I'm making absolutely no progress on my mixes and video game remixes in general have dropped off my priorities, for the most part I'm going on hiatus from the VGmixing scene until I improve myself as an artist in original compositions. I'm willing to assist in overall mixdowns, review and critique, providing samples or sounds for those who need them (drum, synth, or otherwise), and other odds and ends but hammering out a full mix looks unlikely for me. I wish you guys the best of luck though and I'll be sure to download it when its done.

My new WIP will come when its done, adding a new synth line to it is a lot harder than I thought it would be and right now I'm trying to fix all of the engineering of the track I screwed up when I originally made it.

I just wish whoever organizes next year's halftime show grows some testicles and books someone decent, indie rock is hot as fire right now, booking the Shins or Bloc Party or Deathcab or Modest Mouse or any indie act that's been in the mainstream would be sweet. Or maybe even a rapper, Rakim's stuff is pretty harmless for the most part, maybe Beastie Boys because a lot of their stuff isn't too offensive, maybe even Luda or someone like that.

You guys should be happy to know this is moving up on my to-do list, right under a couple of vocal tracks I'm trying to get my friend to sing over. Expect a total remake of Invasion sometime when I get around to it and expect Steel Giant to be a rap tune, I wasn't really feelin' the DnB version and producing DnB is pissing me off at the moment.

Go for Ableton, whatever "clicks" for you is what you should go with and Live is plenty capable to handle whatever you throw at it (it should be able to import MIDI btw).

Most of what you're going to find is going to do with Kontakt. I have both (they both came with Komplete) and I NEVER use Kompakt

Pretty cool but he sure chose a crappy song slection to show it off with.

After using it all day I will say that the Parametric EQ 2 kicks ass, reminds me a lot of GlissEQ, if only they could update their compressor the same way.

Its a nice mp3 player for $135, I'd say go for it, DRM or not.

Looks really cool, although truth be told I wish they'd just wait for a couple of years and re-design everything because the way I see it, all of these new features is like pumping up a Honda Civic. FLStudio started off as a decent sequencer (like a Honda Civic is a decent car), but then they just keep on slapping all of these new features and effects onto it, but in the end it has the same foundation. That said, I really don't want to see FLStudio try to become a traditional sequencer either, there are already too many choices on the market, but I would like to see it reinvent itself.

Something I made in between Gears of War yesterday and today, any opinions would be nice: http://www.thevagrance.com/music/newbreakbeatuntitled.mp3

Sorry about dropping out but inspiration hasn't been running and I've had a rough past week or two now, I'm still making slow but steady progress on the Steel Giant remix though.

Heh, I'd love to take credit for it but Doulifée made it for me.

BAsically, listen to a lot of influences, I'm currently taking drum lessons from this guy and the best way I've learned is to basically, jack other people's beats until you start to get a feel for how they're made and start making your own. Its kinda like using synth presets, you use presets when you first start out until you see what all the knobs do so you begin to program your own. I reccomending getting a lot of funk breaks to sample, they can be found fairly easily on forums like www.dogsonacid.com --> the grid. Funk is probably one of the best places to hear ideas for beats.

As far as synths go, there's many different shapes and sizes for many different songs and styles. Assuming you're talking hardware, you're going to have quite a few choices Here's a (general) look at them: Cheap, yet powerful synths: ~$400 Alesis Micron - I personally own this and I love it to death. Its extremely powerful for its size (a heck of a deal at $400) and very portable. My main complaints are the oscillator wave-types suck (only 3, but ability to waveshape), and the effects aren't that great. The sound on it is fantastic though, very easy to get thick sounding patches. Also worth checking out: Alesis Ion (essentially the same synth but with more knobs and no step sequencer). Korg Microkorg - I've played around with this, and its pretty nice as well. The mini-keys might be a turn-off though, and the Micron is more powerful, but the vocoder on it trumps the Micron's and the presets are a bit more practical than the Micron. The sound on it is nice, a bit more mechanical than the Micron but it still has some warmth to it. Also worth checking out: Korg MS2000 (essentially the same synth only it has a step sequencer) Novation K-Station/Xiosynth - Essentially the same thing, this thing packs a punch as it has both the MIDI controller functions that Novation has nailed but it doubles as a synth. The sound is nice and has that distinct Novation flavour to it's sound (which is really kinda digital and cold sounding), its great for trance. Unfortunately its cold-ness disappoints a lot of people, but I personally love that Novation sound. Also worth checking out: Novation Nova (very similar synths and similarly prices, although the Nova is a bit better sounding and more powerful) Mid-range synths ~700 Access Virus B/Classic - The Virus B and classic are the exact same model, and if you're lucky you can nab a Virus C for around this much. The Virus is basically the big-daddy as far as synths go these days, its fairly basic in its set-up with a pretty deep modulation matrix, but the real beauty comes in its effects. The virus also produces really fat, heavy sounds, its great for leads, subs, whatever. The only downside is its not as warm as some other synths around this price range, like the Nord Lead Nord Lead 2X/1 - This thing is as close to analog as virtual analog gets. It has a thick, warm sound, even thicker than the virus. It doesn't have the best effects processors and out-of-the-box its not that outstanding but resampled and run through effects its outstanding. Basically, between this and the Virus there is no wrong choice, you just need to play with them yourself. Novation Supernova - This is the granddaddy of Novation synths. Digital sounding but very wicked sounds come out of this thing, its perfect for trance type stuff. Higher priced synths ~$1200 Access Virus C - This is essentially the same as B with a bit more polyphony IIRC and a Moog styled filter. If you can get it its nice but the B is essentially the same thing. Clavia Nord Lead 3 - A very nice synth, quite a step up from 3, but its still very similar to it. Korg RADIAS - I've played with this thing and it is VERY very nice. Warm, expressive sounds, ranging from absolutely dirty nasty grimey techno stuff all the way up to soulful electro-styled stabs. Definately worth checking out, absolutely wicked synth. High-priced powerful "fuck off" synths ~$2500 Access Virus TI - Oh man this thing is wicked. From wavetable synthesis to the absolutely amazing hypersaw this thing is massive sounding for all sorts of situations. Also, the best part is when you link it up into your sequencer it acts like a VSTi instrument, only its all running on the Virus's internal CPU meaning it doesn't take up any of your computer's processing power. This is an amazing synth. [u}Clavia Nord Modular G2 - Imagine the Nord Lead with its amazingly thick and warm sound, you got that picture in your head? Ok, good. Now imagine it being totally modular, routing oscillators into filters into LFO's into another Oscillator into another LFO into another filter into whatever else you want. Now you see why the Nord Modular G2 is so good. Grandaddy fully-analog behemoths ~$3500 Alesis Andromeda - This thing is incredibly hard to track down, even just audio demos of it, but I've heard it and its *amazing*. It looks almost like it was stolen from aliens and it sounds like pure analog goodness. If you have a spare $3500 lying around this is a good choice. Moog Minimoog - This is the synth that started it all, if you have the chance to in person, play with it, then fall in love with it, then look at the price tag and realize you'll probably never be able to afford it. But if you can, this is a no-brainer. However, before you buy a synth, play with it. Each synth has its own characteristics, its own features and flaws, and it all comes down to you, the user. Don't buy anything based off of just what I've said, but go and actually try out synths for yourself, compare specs, and make an informed decision. Once you buy the synth, learn it inside and out so you can use it to your full potential. Remember, a synthesizer isn't just a toy, its an investment.

This reminds me a lot of something DJ Shadow or RJD2 would've done, the singing is dead on and the rapping worked a lot better than I thought it would, the organ breakdown is wicked as well.

XD, every time I hear rocket kicks I laugh.

Video: Pic: Link: http://www.propellerheads.se/home/namm2007/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=techpreview Needless to say I can't wait.

My suggestion: 1. Go to craigslist/eBay/newspaper 2. Find the cheapest mp3 player you can that is a brand name and that has the features you want and is in an acceptable condition for you 3. Buy it Don't get too sucked into the different brands and such. Seeing of how you'll probably only be playing mp3's anyway, it shouldn't matter.