Nutritious

Soudsonline is currently having a March Madness sale for their Complete Composers Collection: http://www.soundsonline.com/Complete-Composers-Collection Does anyone happen to know if people can go in together to buy the set, then split out the software as needed? I'd be seriously interested in doing this personally.

Well, apparently Mr. Briggs was wrong, because Castle Walls is now claimed with a WIP in hand . Also, everyone's favorite The Coop has officially joined back up for Merry Go Round. Both tracks already showing significant progress. Full tracklist now guys, time to close it out!

Why would you want to use any of m- I mean, sure

Some quick thoughts while a have a minute: -You've got lots of reverb on lots of different instruments. That's certainly going to fill things up quickly. -The songs sound like they're mixed pretty "hot". No reason you couldn't pull back the levels a bit and still get an acceptable output volume level IMO -it sounds like you're trying to have ALL of the elements in the song come out loudly. Consider working on your balance so that supporting parts sit further back than leads, drums punch through appropirately, etc.

This track is sick dude. I heard it the other day and couldn't get it out of head the rest of the day (a good thing). Make more music please

Double post action! Just received a sweet wip from halc for Wing Cap, locking that track down. We've got a ton of momentum, guys, keep it going . Almost there...

Thanks again for all the comments, guys. I'd be remiss if I didn't take a look at this again after the excellent feedback. New "final" version: Thanks for the title ideas. I've gone ahead and named it "The Unbroken" to tie it in with the lyrics. Song changes below. -Snare: I slightly rolled off some of the high freqs on it, but I'm actually pretty happy with where it is. Probably matter of opinion eh? -Reese: Wasn't sure exactly where to fit this in, but I layered a Reese line in with the main melody synth the second and third time it plays. I actually tried to include a reese line in the song originally, but had problems with it muddying up everything. Seems like it was clashing with the "guitary" synth repeating part. Good point here, though, and I hope I've satisfied the requirement . -Vocals: Backed off their levels a little and rolled off some of the problem mids. Thanks for nitpicking, those are my favorite crits .

The incomparable Chthonic & Willrock have stepped in to tackle a couple dropped sources. Both have aggressive timelines they've agreed to abide by. Welcome aboard, guys. FYI, I replied there a few days ago. Not sure if you saw it.

After listening and reading the judges thread, I'd honestly have to say this still is suffering from the same problems highlighed before. The track sounds generally overcompressed, with several parts fighting for room. For example, you can start to hear distortion from competing parts at 1:28 when things start getting loud. Synth at 2:08 is sooooooo loud. It was already really crowded, but this is way way too much now with the added synth. Listen to the cymbals, for example, as their sound gets way distorted from overcrowding (good example at 2:54). Not sure if it's caused by the same problem, but machine gun kicks at 1:38 really sound "off" to me. As a matter of fact, the kick in general sounds like it has plenty of "click" without much "oomph" or "thud". Are you cutting out the lower freqs of it? Intro strings sounded a bit messy, probably because you've got harmonies in lower string registers. Might want to narrow it down a bit or use move mid-range strings for harmonies a bit. Also, they sound really centered in the soundfield - consider panning them around a bit to get a fuller sound. On the plus side, the performance is pretty cool. Some minor timing issues aside, it's well played throughout. Very cool, aggressive feel you've got going. I recommend you remove all mastering compression, take all the mixer faders down to zero, and start moving them up one by one. Keep your levels under -3dB as you get each element sitting at a balanced volume level. Then bring in your mastering compression. During this process, I think you'll find some freqs on parts that can be cut to give additional breathing room to other parts. Good luck to you.

It's time to call this one finished! I've only made a few minor changes since the last version, mainly eq and mastering stuff. Here's the final link I'll be posting here: To Do: Choose a name! In case anyone is curious, here's a link to the OST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0pFBWAMvo4 Also, as mentioned before, I'm leaving up previous posted versions of the mix in case anyone wants to hear how it's progressed. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Good observation here. It's probably a combination of the style I'm trying to achieve and also imperfect mixing . As it stands, though, I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Also, I wouldn't be opposed to an instrumental-only version. Only problem is, though, certain sections would sound pretty empty without the lead "instrument". I'll definitely render it out at some point just to see how it sounds.

Thanks again for the comments, guys Just wrapping things up now. Done: -Rendering glitch at :22 gone now -Layered in lower octave lead synth for section after vocoded bridge (thanks for pointing it out -Raised dry vocals a bit more, dropped vocoded down a bit -Ending -More and more vocal processing - I think that's enough now To Do: -Submit

Thanks, dude . Nearly done with the track now. Pretty much just need to write the ending, which is a placeholder right now. New version: Done: -Tons of tweaks -Transitions To Do: -Fix placeholder ending -Tweak dry/vocoder levels again -????

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven Aerobiz Supersonic - North America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGSqMhTGx3k

Thanks for the comments/feedback guys New version 8: New stuff: -Worked on intro a little -Lots more processing done on vocals -Filled out Bridge 1 more -Varied up beats some more To do: -More work on bridge 1, not happy with it yet -More transition work (esp. don't like transition to beat kicking in) -Write ending -More work on intro

SS just showed them to me Awesome Awesome Pwesome

Update! Thread's been slow for a while, but we've been working behind the scenes. Got an awesome, nearly-complete WIP from PrototypeRaptor for File Select, Sole Signal is making progress on Staff Roll, and Fishy turned in a final wav for Dire Docks. Also, making progress on Pirhanna plant lullaby on my end and Merry-go-Round may be staging a comeback! Stay tuned. We're movin here.

Hold ctrl and highlight the measure markers on your playlist from the start of the song to the point you want it to stop rendering. Generally want to give a bar or two for any release trails. Then try.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but when I looked at 9.8 beta, the entire pattern block section seemed to be gone. If this is true and carries forward to 10, you may wanna get used to the Playlist exclusively

Please don't buy this PSU . I owned it's predecessor, the StealthXstream I or whatever and it blew out on me, ruining some of my other components. I simply don't trust OCZ PSU quality - just read the reviews. From personal experience, you get what you paid for with power supplies. Wattage output is definitely not the only thing you should be looking at when purchasing one - it's only the starting point. You also need to consider things like efficiency level & brand quality. Sure, you can go with a cheap brand with higher wattage output, but don't be surprised when it soon blows out on you and even takes other components (like the motherboard) with it. This has happened to me twice and I've learned from my mistake. Personally, on my last "budget" build, I also went with a 650W Corsair. They're simply the best brand out there & have a good reputation for using high quality Japanese-made capacitors. I mean, it's up to you, but if I was to go cheap on something, it wouldn't be the PSU.

That synth at the start is a bit piercing on the mid-highs. Drums are nice and varied. Liking that lead guitar. Rhythm guitar timing could be tightened up a bit. In general, it sounds like you're trying to push the volume a little too hard and it's causing some distortion. It goes on for a long time too, so it gets a bit fatiguing on the ears. The rhythm guitars especially seem to be taking more than their fair share of room. So yeah, I'd focus most on the mixing right now, because there's a lot of competition for space. I can barely hear a low thud from the kick, for example, but when the rhythm guitar plays sustained notes takes up a lot of space. 3:20 specifically is so loud, things are just getting squashed out. Honestly, I didn't like the ending drum part. The other parts are ok, but the exposed straight 8th note snares just kinda seemed odd. Maybe a better fill or something else would work here instead. Overall, this is a great rock track. Love the orchestral elements as well. Try to get the levels & mixing under control and bring it back here.

Cool atmosphere. Liking the pads and piano especially. On the arrangement, I can't listen to the source here (I know I always say that). But I'll definitely try to catch it later. Drums & bass really stuck out to me as very basic/simplistic. I understand you're going for the 80's sound, which is cool. But bass doesn't have a lot of presence to it, so it's kind've just low background noise, which also gets a tad repetative. Drums spend a majority of the track on autopilot on the rhythm. Need to vary that up a bit. I'm not a huge fan of 80's drum machine type beats myself, but I think I'll let another Mod more experienced with this type of kit speak here. Lead guitar felt tiny compared to the lush pads and backing elements. I'm a little iffy on it's viability here for the lead part, but at least bring it forward. Track is pretty soft on the volume level. I saw that you're trying to avoid compression here. Is there any specific reason for that? Are you worried about losing the dynamics of the song? Personally, I'd like to hear some more variation on this track. You've got a couple breakdowns here and there, but in general we're hearing the same textures and feel throughout. I think there's potential to bring some more life and interest to the track here. Hope this didn't sound too negative, but I always focus on stuff that I feel needs work in my crits. Good luck to you.

Any specific reason for the expensive graphics card? Unless they're gaming of course. With my recent build, I went budget-friendly and got an AMD mobo with an integrated radeon graphics card. Since I use the computer primarily for music, it's not a big deal. Still, it can handle a game like Team Fortress 2 with decent graphics settings.

Ok, big update today: New: -Structure fleshed out, just about final -Most vocals recorded -Some vocals processed To Do: -Vocal processing -Flesh out unfinished sections -Write ending -Flesh out intro more -Variation in drums, synths, etc -Moar synths Known issues: -Vocals too hot, reverb tweaks -Bridge vocals/backing track sparse (2:51), I know it doesn't sound good yet -Misaligned ending vocals lol steal away

Thanks, as usual, for the feedback Ok, so this is very much a transitional wip. The structure is starting to come together more (less pasting random ideas together). For example, the strings just before the vocoded vocals are the rough outline of a verse-type section. Still, there's a lot more to do here. Also, I'm slowly refining sections like the strings, some synths, drum parts. Mainly, though, I'm working on getting the structure how I want it and some specific lead melodies/textures right. Anyway, I'm not really looking for crits on this one; just trying to give a bit of a look into the process.