SwordBreaker

Nice overall. Love the intro and the overall vibe. Vocals were pretty good...not wowing me here, but there are some nice parts here and there. I don't want to be a critic, but I find it strange that the judges accepted a Remix like this and rejected Darangen's "Rest Tonight". That song was equally good, if not better than this one...particularly in the vocals. There are times when they're overly critical on the vocals and times when they say that they shouldn't be critical on vocals. Which is it? I don't mean to offend anyone here. Just my opinion. I have nothing against the judges or DragonAvenger. You guys do excellent work for just being there and doing what you need to do.

I hate to be frank, but, you will not get good results from that horrid lame excuse for a sound card in your machine. On-board soundcards exsist just to allow the PC to make sound with a record input so you can use your webcam (or Skype or whatever) with sound, nothing more. I suggest you invest in an audio interface. An "audio interface" is musician jargon, though. In a nutshell, it means a soundcard that is designed for audio production. The cheapest one I can think of off the top of my head is the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. It can be had for around $90-$100. Personally, I use the M-Audio Delta 1010LT, and I have been almost completely satisfied with it. (balanced 1/4" TRS inputs instead of RCA, please. My only gripe with that card. Oh well, at least it had an XLR interface thatr I could use for my mixer...) Installing an audio interface will involve opening the PC up. It is really easy to do, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it, call your favorite PC-knowledgeable person. 90-100$, eh? I'll look into that. I'll also see what's going on with that USB mic... Anyway, thanks again to Souliarc, Zircon, and Taucer for the additional advise. I read Zircon's production thread like Soul suggested, and I found it to be very useful and easy to read for the most part. I understood some of the definitions, but I'll most likely give it another read while I'm recording. I especially appreciated the vocal examples here and there...I just need to figure out limiting and thresholds when it comes to a cappella remix. It also seems that I'm going to use Audacity from now on...I just downloaded it. I remember trying it a while back but I found it to be very, very in-depth. It's too overwhelming. Hopefully I can get into it some way or another. So...any additional suggestions? I recorded a short sample of my singing via Wavepad without adjusting anything. It sounds good in my ears but I'll most likely post the link to it here to get your opinions on the recording quality. Thanks again, guys.

BTW Zircon...what do you mean by "putting a limiter on everything" in your initial post? Right now I'm playing around to see the best way to get some good results. The only thing which confuses me is the Dynamic Range Compressor. It gives me three things to play with, threshold, ratio, and limit (are you referring to this, zircon?". I don't know what to do exactly but the Wavepad program gives me two "default" options to use with this functionality: 1) General voice level: -20db threshold, 4:1 ratio, and 0db limit. 2) TV radio advertisement: 0db threshold, 2:1 ratio, and 10 db limit. I don't know...but I feel that every time that I play around with something it makes it sounds "higher than usual" or "worse". My initial recording didn't seem too low or too high to me. Wavepad tells me that sometimes, Automatic Gain Control is better than Normalizing. Wonder if I should use both, or one of them is more than enough. @souliarc Wavepad doesn't have a DeEsser. Where can I find that?

Well, yeah, it SHOULD be more than that. But I was pointing out that his current signal path appears to BE that, and nothing else So...is that bad? Is it significantly better if I get a preamp and whatnot? How much does a preamp cost? Taucer...I plug in the Mic directly into the microphone opening of my PC...I got this nifty adaptor which I plug into my mic so it can fit through my PC's mic opening. BTW...how do I know the type and specifics of my PC's soundcard? All I get when I look in My Computer's device manager is "SoundMAX intergrated Digital Audio v. 5.12.1.5240" among other things like codes and Legacy Audio and Video devices...all that under "Sound". I'm going to try recording something (anything) and post it here for quality feedback. Thanks again, guys. You've been a big help.

Oh, ok. Got it. I understood it in a different way. So how I know my recording chain?

Wow...thanks to everyone who replied. Those are some pretty good tips. One major thing I wasn't aware about is the importance of the equipment between my PC and the Mic...or recording chain as you guys put it. Yes, I sound like a n00b because I don't have a recording chain. All I do is plug in the Mic into the PC... So...what is a recording chain exactly? What's the most efficient yet unexpensive one? Thanks again, guys.

I'm thinking of doing a cappella remix, but I seriously need tips on making my recordings and voice samples sound perfect. First off, I have a SHURE SM57 Mic. Most remixers recommened this mic for being really good. Second of all, the program. I'm using a freeware called "WavePad" which specializes on voice recording. You can download it from here: http://www.download.com/WavePad/3000-2170_4-10526522.html If there's a better freeware program, please let me know. I find this one to be pretty good. Now...the things I need to do to make recording perfect. Now when I first record my voice via Wavepad and Mic, it doesn't come out good at all. I need to do a "high-pass filter" to make it sound audible. Is this normal? If so, then what's the recommended high-pass filter I need to do? The program tells me that "Radio/Telephone" quality audio is 4000 Hz. Should I do that one or is it a bit too high? Regarding Distortion, I'm having a problem eliminating it. What should I do? I know that lowering the recording volume helps, but should I do that from Wavepad directly or use the stuff featured in my XP like the "Volume Control" and "SoundMAX control panel"? Of course, I'll have multilayering in my cappella remix. Should I make the singing voice the highest in volume....then the back-up humming and voices lower by how much? Is 25% good? Should I make all the backup layers the same volume or different? I also know that normalizing should be the last thing I do after I finish recording everything, right? Any other additional tips? Wavepad has some weird effects I know nothing about like "Automatic Gain Control", "Noise Reduction", and "Dynamic Range Compressors". Are those helpful in any way? Thanks in advance!

I like the sound of this even though I didn't hear the original before. You kept the arrangement mostly fresh, yet there's one repetitive bit right before the middle of the track. High-quality trance stuff there. I especially like the bit with the Japanese flute playing in the background.

Really cool! Finally, a FFVII remix project. Even though FFVII doesn't have the best OST in the series, there are still some nice highlights here and there. I simply can't wait to hear remixes of JENOVA and One-Winged Angel. The people handling these two particular tracks have a lot to live up to since Square-Enix themselves remixed and modified both tracks a few times, and their takes are excellent I might add...especially Advent Children's One-Winged Angel remix. I'm new in the remixing scene and the only thing I can offer is my singing voice. I don't know if it lives up to OCR standards, but you be the judge (check my debut thread). So if you guys need a vocalist in crunch time and such, I would be more than happy to offer some help. Good luck!