The Vagrance

I feel like you're overreacting a wee bit. Yes there is degradation in sound quality with limiting, but there is with any and all processes put on sound. The trick is to hit the middle ground in between loudness, and clarity; its not a black and white loud = bad thing but rather a sliding scale. Whatever is best for the art in the end.

Its actually more like the last 20 seconds, I was hoping to trick the DAW or something by just have it go on long into the silence but nope, failed at the same spot. Other points are noted though.

Thanks all for the comments, I've hopefully alleviated a lot of your concerns (except for the long intro, which I'll always do, I'm setting a vibe damnit!) with this newest version. Done a lot of stuff, tightened up the drums a little, added more source, added a sax, added an outro that has nothing to do with the rest of the song but still sounds kinda cool. Link : http://tindeck.com/listen/mtto Actually, speaking of the outro, I'm getting some weird export problems where the CPU just spikes where the audio randomly cuts out on this WIP and I can't get a version where this doesn't happen. Aside from that everything else sounds great but for whatever reason the song always fails around the 3:50 mark.

Those drums are heavy, nicely done on that. Really I'm digging this overall and if its not good enough already, its very very close. My only complaint worth mentioning is that there doesn't feel like there's enough tension and relief to it; after the song kicks in it kind of feels like its on rails at that point. For example, at around the 3 minute mark (I'm guessing, not looking at exact numbers) where all of the gated trancey synths disappear and there's an almost classical motif going before it gets all crazy and squelchy, there doesn't feel like that much of a drop into it. One reason for this may be a lack of subs, that alone might help but its just an idea, but overal the track sounds fantastic; production values are through the roof.

HOW DARE YOU?!?! </not really upset> Exact same way I feel about it and problem I'm running into, but I've got a couple ideas.

The thing you'll find is you'll have to make a lot of cuts in some typical genre's style in order to conform specifically to the site's standard, and its true for more than disco.

Bumping this thread to say expect a new/possibly finished version sometime this week. I only have a week with the computer the file is saved on (and where all of the plugins work, damned NI) and I also am getting my friend in to record sax but it should get done.

If I start with an idea: 1. Get the idea down as quickly as possible so I don't forget it 2a. Expand on it, and if nothing of value comes from it after half-an-hour or so tinkering or something, scrap it. 2b. Expand on it, if an accompanying idea sounds better than the original, then scrap the original and go from the accompaniment. 2c. Expand on it, it sounds good, success. 3. Try as hard as I can to not get stuck on one particular theme. I can't help it sometimes but try to get some movement into the piece, even if it means completely changing the original idea for the song. Yeah it sucks not getting my feelings about my high school prom (or whatever) down on a song but if its better for the piece then go for it, you can always nail that emotional vibe some other time and its not something you want to force.

It sounds like you're overthinking it tbh, everyone has different styles and it may just be that you're getting into a rut. If you typically divide your song into sections or whatever then try doing a song where you do the complete opposite - just to see what happens. Don't force it, but try to let it come as naturally as possible; being in unfamiliar situations often helps with inspiration.

I dig it, like the vibe. Doubt it'll get posted for reasons above (too repetitive, mix is too dark, vinyl crackles kinda loud, etc.) but I like what you're doing. I was kinda bored and ended up sampling it for a nice house thing: http://tindeck.com/listen/gkft Very barebones, low quality, and probably a different feel than you were planning on going for but its kinda funky and a different way to think about your song.

Got plugin woes still, but I also have Spring Break next week (at my house with my computer that loads the project up correctly) and lazy-ass friends so a lot of potential studio time.

I have a rough sketch outline for a Magus Theme remix in the style of The Mars Volta that I'd love to see through but I'm not sure when that will be.

I feel like this notion in itself is a very bad thing for the gaming industry and something I was trying (and failing) to point out earlier, that almost every video game undergoes this type of scrutiny. In other forms of art/media the complaints levied are usually very broad strokes and don't have the qualifiers "but if x, y, and z were fixed then I'd like it", yet it feels to be a common theme in video games. I'm not saying criticism is bad, but people are constantly talking about individual features as opposed to the whole product, and some developers fall into the trap of trying to please everyone. More video games need to be seen as works as a whole as opposed to a collection of different sequences and features. An example of what I'm talking about is Heavy Rain. A lot of complaints have emerged about it basically being Dragon's Lair but after actually seeing it in action and how it all functions the game's vision becomes much more clear. But whatever, I'm just rambling so I don't have to do Computer Science homework.

Except ultimately it really doesn't that much, because if he can get to making wicked sounds on FM8 (which you definitely can) then there really isn't a huge need to learn a bunch of other synths. For this person's needs they probably don't need a huge arsenal of synths but rather one or two that they can really learn in and out.

This forum seems to be the only place where people are all over Zebra that I've seen; I don't get quite get it. FM8 is quickly becoming my favorite synth though, its near impossible to make it sound bad. Not subtractive but that doesn't really matter that much.

I can't agree with you more on this.

I was initially upset about that too, until I went through the Wards again in the first game, and honestly there's not a lot down there. A few sidequests are centred there and it did have a nice atmosphere, but the developers obviously felt that that area didn't have a purpose in the second game and might even seem a little bit redundant considering Omega (IIRC, I'm more familiar with ME1 planets than ME2 ones right now) was basically the Wards pt. 2. As for the characters talking to each other; don't they talk to each other as you walk around anyway? I may be thinking of Dragon Age because I know that game does it but I'm almost positive ME2 does it as well. Iono, ultimately its not the most vital thing in the world to me because any given two characters only have like, 4 or 5 lines they can talk about in the elevators anyway. Play through ME1 again. I'm not saying ME2's AI is flawless but its certainly smarter than the AI in ME1. How is that stupid? Each differing gun of a weapon type (different pistols, shotguns, etc.) has a very clear difference, more so than ones I discovered in the original. Granted the shotguns somehow got more useless but having clear, differing weapons is a good thing and still gives people the option of a different strategy. You're complaining about only 25 distinct, fairly equal weapons? That's a lot of choice and way better than 100 or so slightly differing weapons (excluding the different levels of them, which again, is unnecessary). That's kinda the whole point though of (I'm so sick of this word already) streamlining the game though; you take stuff out that just isn't working right. It sucks that you're not enjoying it as much and it would be irrational to think everyone would like the changes, but I'll argue that they were definitely smart changes and a move in the right direction. Not only that, but the trend of streamlining in games as a whole is a good one, simply because a fair number of games were becoming increasingly inundated with various features that weren't needed. I'm not against complexity at all, but not all game franchises need to have a severe amount of depth to them, and Mass Effect is one of those franchises. There's a quote about design that applies to games as well: "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoinè De Saint-Exupéry.

I don't mind the idea of elevators but having loads of different areas all connected by them was annoying, especially compared to ME2 where there are fewer loading screens in the world as a whole (and the little dialog sequences were still there in the forms of news briefings on the wall). This isn't something I noticed the first time but playing through again and its really an issue. Allies will often stand right in the middle of fire, will go for cover where you are already in cover, or just plain get in your way. And a lot of enemies only seem to have two strategies: Hide in a corner until forced out or kamikaze. Except there is almost always a clear cut better piece of armor or weaponry at a certain rank than all of the others, which makes the mass arsenal before you seem kind of useless. I'm not trying to find problems, but they're much more apparent after playing through ME2. And again, those are just problems specific to your description of a better ME game. Streamlining isn't just one aspect, but an entire mindset you have to get into. You can't cut out aspects of one section of a game and then leave another section untouched.

It would still have giant, unnecessary, empty environments with loading screens (elevators) every other minute. It would still have a slightly broken targeting system. It would still have annoying AI. It would still have inferior sidequests (granted a debatable issue), character development, and voice acting. It would still have unnecessary gear and items that serve little purpose other than to complicate things. And these are just problems I'm thinking of off of the top of my head. A lot of the RPG elements present in ME1 felt like they were there because they had to be, and to an extent they still are, but they're hidden because their inclusion was otherwise unnecessary and shallow compared to other RPG experiences. The point is to make a more cohesive product overall, and ME2 nails that point. And I'm not saying people who liked ME1 should play Dragon Age, but what I am saying is having two (possibly three with the arrival of The Old Republic) parallel RPG franchises with a similar battle system by the same company would get slightly redundant even if they're set in completely different worlds. It feels like the changes made were to differentiate the Mass Effect series that much more from the other franchises that Bioware has/plans to have.

Playing through ME1 again now I have this to say: I'm so fucking happy they made the choices they did about ME2. I'm not saying there shouldn't be super deep RPG battle systems but that's what Dragon Age was for, and if you're looking for that type of game don't complain that ME2 doesn't fit your needs. For whatever reason a portion of the gaming community feels the need to complain when certain fundamental features don't fit their specific wants or needs, to which I have to say, "Play a different game." The video game industry is getting huge and its only going to keep growing, but to do so there are going to need to be more easily accessible video games because a lot of people don't want to have to spend hours figuring out the game mechanics or grinding to get a piece of gear. If this trend is good or bad for the gaming industry depends on which side of the fence you fall on but people need to get over some franchises (particularly border-line mainstream ones as Final Fantasy or Mass Effect) taking a more streamlined approach to their games, because at the very least this causes developers to pay more attention to detail and take out features that ultimately have no place in their game.

I try to. I hadn't since October or November or something like but its something I try to do on a regular basis, partially as a fun exercise and to give me some amount of practice before I go out and do live shows and such, which is the ultimate goal.

Thanks, although I hope you are aware that I didn't make any of the tracks involved, just mixed them. Thanks.

http://soundcloud.com/fli/february-2010-mix Probably the best out of my efforts so far, Stigma still makes my heart stop during the wind-up.

So really you just don't like DnB My opinion towards Pendulum is exactly the opposite of Windstrike but I do actually for some weird reason has some hope for this album, primarily because one of the dubplates that has been tossed around by a few DnB DJs sounds quite good. I can't remember the name of the track but if Pendulum can get back to their roots (clean and atmospheric mainly) then I'll be all over it.