siven7

I would say to listen for the harmony and listen to the bass line - those will be your two biggest pylons for finding out what the guitar is doing. "Time's Scar" is in Em, right? I don't think that it moves outside of the key too much so just listen for the chords that naturally fall within the key, that'd be how I'd tackle it.

Really enjoyed the mix! Your instrument patches are really, really astounding - especially the tuba! I found that your tuba writing really reinforced the sound quality... in other words, your tuba writing was characteristic of the instrument and (while it doesn't happen as often as I'd like) I think that that's what really made your patches sound awesome. Also, really solid runs with the french horn, very well arranged Does a score exist for this? I'd love to see it and maybe perform it live (but alas, the plight of the euphonium player... lol). Really fantastic job!

Hey all, I'm trying to learn more about using VSTs and patches and, while I've found ones that I can use to replace my MIDI patches on my computer, I really dig a lot of the ones that are on my keyboard (she's a Korg Trinity LE, very shiny ) Is there a way to assign the keyboard patches onto MIDI that is already written and on the computer? For example, if I rig up the keyboard to the computer with MIDI cables, can I assign... say... "String Ensemble 1" with "Stereo Strings" or "World Strings"? (for example). OR, say "Flute" with "SweetSilverFlute" or "Celtic Tin Whistle" so that I hear nice patches instead of uber-brutal-MIDI-flute? Is that even possible, or would I have to record a wav/aiff track of me playing the part on the keyboard alongside the MIDI? (does this question even make sense?) Many thanks, siven7

Transcription club would be a good time Sometimes its nice to listen for the chordal progression in the pieces to help with the inner voices. If you can notate the melody and figure out what the bass line is, you can figure out the inner voices just by what notes of the chord you have left.

Good submission, guys. Production was really nice, really inventive drums and some really nice sounding samples I thought that the arrangement was a little bit slow, but if you were to say that it meant to just kind of be ambient, then the arrangement would be just fine It didn't seem to move a lot for me, but maybe that was the point Right on

I agree with the dudes above - a lot of it is listening and either 1) seeing the similarities between songs or 2) seeing what you like in the song/style and stealing it lol. Hear are some things that I draw on for blue grass... 1) Focus on major pentatonic scales 1 2 3 5 6 (1/8) G A B D E G... (for example) If you wanted to add some chromatic colour, you could connect scale degrees 2 and 3 with a b3 in the middle (G/A/Bb/B/D/E). The b3 is more like a passing note, try and use it either going up (b3 to 3) or down (b3 to 2) instead of just by itself - not always, but general rule. Again, not all the time, but if I'm writing bluegrassy stuff, it's usually major. 2) Drones/Repeated notes You'd have to find the right chord tones and probably double-check your banjo's tuning for it, but having a lot of open/repeated notes adds for some twang... (not the best example, but it works) Again, the open notes should usually be notes of the chord, but not always - use your ear and see what you like 3) Use the Internets http://www.projectsandhobbies.com/playingthebanjo.htm http://www.banjohangout.org/lessons/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music Okay, right on. Good luck with the banjo stuff!

Right on, Pixie! Sounds amazing - super pumped to hear it (in 10 months, lol). ps: Loreena McKennitt is amazing, fine small-town Manitoba girl! (I grew up in small town Mantitoba as well, but not the same town as Ms. McKennitt, boo.)

Really good idea, I agree. We have a laptop and a desktop at my place here, so what we used to do (for Skype interviews and stuff) is run the audio-out to the other computer, set to record for "audio-in"... ... but I like the post-production much better. Anyways, it's an idea!

I agree, that's a fantastic means. A really good site too... I didn't know that Mother 3/Earthbound 64 ever got released... I only ever saw the screenshots back when N64 was first going to be released... crazy.

it's mesmerizing... I love when it "ends" and then all of the dots come back in a big "wham!" (minus the george michael, and the other guy... the one who isn't george michael). mesmerizing... so mesmerizing that I must quote the prophet, Will Farrell: "That show was delightful... no, no, it was brilliant... no, no , no... there is not word to describe it's perfection, so I'm forced to make one up. And I'm going to do so right now... scrumtralescent." yep, I think that that sums it up.

It was a solid movie - I did enjoy it... not quite as much as the others... but it was good. I mean, I didn't really enjoy the book as much as the others as well, but both (the book and the movie) were really well-done. I agree with Geoffrey Taucer that Umbridge and Luna were amazing... Umbridge especially, just because she was such a sugary-sweet b*tch Amazing casting for that. Also, I would've liked to see a bit more of Hermione and Ron's getting-closer-ness And the cast just got ripped for that movie - Harry and Ron were behemoths compared to Goblet of Fire. Also, I was really happy to see that Neville got a bit bigger of a role... I love Neville. Oh yeah, and Order vs. Death Eaters... awesome.

Very nicely done, you took a lot of liberty with the arrangement and I like that. You also got a lot of colour out of the chamber string ensemble - a difficult task, but well-executed It had a very 20th-century feel (at least in Western music) where there is a lot of playing with rhythm and time and it gives it a very fun and jovial, if ambiguous, feel... especially where everything comes together at the end. If you expanded into a chamber orchestra involving some winds of something, I think that you really could've brought out a lot more colour, especially with your rhythmically-complex writing. Awesome production and (if the players aren't real) really fantastic samples. I love how your strings get a really nice attack and a really strong bow sound, but still get a really nice middle-of-the-note - really, really nice! I dig!

Ifirit - nicely described! The only thing that I can add to that is to make sure that those terms don't allow oneself to paint themselves in a corner - rather than think about arranging in "sequenced" or "live" terms, keep the sound that you want in your head and find ways using technology and/or live recording to make that sound come to life. The two can be combined, and often when they are, the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts Captain Annoying-Optimism, out!

I think that any music program is exhausting because the sheer volume of work is way out of control... probably anywhere. When you look at all of your classes, plus ensembles, PLUS practicing (which is as much or more time than both of those combined) then yeah... busy. For the Integrated Music/Ed program at University of Manitoba, you have to take more than a full course load every year... it's busy... but as you're writing out your chorales for theory class or pounding Haydn and Beethoven into your head for you History listening exam... you just think to yourself... I could be learning something that I don't care about... and then it's okay PS: Drum and Pixie - I wish I went your school, it's so nice and mine is like an igloo with a performance space lol.

Nice nice! There's something to be said about the importance of middle school band - for some reason, little-to-no students retain a lot of elementary music training. Not to say that their elementary music is bad, it's just that middle school teachers often have to reteach it all in band class. Kids need those elementary WIND skills too - who gets all the work with initial good tone production, first impressions of wind band and all that... it's the middle school teacher. My hat's off to you, my friend

I forgot to mention that U of M's degrees are integrated, meaning that one could gear their degree for Music Ed. So like, in 5 years, Integrated students get Bachelor degrees in both Music and Education... the last post sounded very pretentious! (musician? pretentious? NOOOooo!!)

Same here! Just got a Bachelor of Music AND Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba, graduated like... two weeks ago! My major was euphonium and my minor is English... but yeah, euphonium... all the cool kids play it... *ugh* jk! DragonAvenger - job prospects? what are you teaching? (early/middle/senior? band/choir?)

That insane asylum one of LoZ just freaked me out, I feel like I lost part of my soul...

I totally agree! I totally thought that it was real guitar, but just found myself thinking "man, I wish my attacks sounded that good..." lol. You did a really great job on arrangement, instrumentation and production... simply astounding! While there were some people who weren't into the deviations, I really dug them. It was nice to hear someone have a new take on such a familiar theme, especially with the harmony because while the melody was (mostly) the same, it had a totally different colour, and I thought that was awesome! Nice work!

They did Dancing Mad at Play? That's awesome! I went to it in Toronto (a 10-12 hour drive from where I live in Winnipeg) and it was amazing - there weren't a lot of sound tech problems at all, maybe just where I was sitting. I wish I could've gone to the Sydney one because I was there last month. The Eminence Orchestra concert was two days before I arrived and Play! would be a month after I left... dang.

Holy crap, nice job Makes me happy. I'm hoping that a lot of others post scores too - kudos to those who have already!

Yeah! Montuno piano always gets me going... teamed with the Kefka theme... awesome! It's fun, playful, still got a little bit of darkness from the Kefka theme - but that's what the original theme is, you know? I really dig this, you've captured such a great spirit in this work! Amazing job!

Hey all, Time and time again, I see community members/musicians/composers/arrangers asking around OCR for scores or sheet music... And so forth... and I'm the same way too - there's tons of stuff that I would play with my wind band had I the chance to see the score. OR, not even to play, but just to see how the arrangers/remixers do what they do and everyone else would get the chance to get see the magic unwind right before our eyes, you know? I've listened to both Jeremy Robson's FF7 Philharmonic Suite and Chrono Symphonic SO many times, and so many of those times I think: "I wish I had a score to this so I could follow along!" I know that a lot of the music is either performed or sequenced live, meaning that notation probably isn't written down or required, but if it were, could it be a worthwhile to start some sort of a program of score sharing? Or at least score posting? Like on the page where you can see djp's comments/download/review... if a score is provided, could there be an extra tab for notation? There's so much amazing music on this site and there's so much magic in it to be unlocked for listeners...

Really great mix - 10/8 is a tough meter to work in, especially when you're using synth beats. No criticism! Awesome to see a KH mix in there and such a great piece to use (Hollow Bastion is beauty). Really nice work

I just heard this for the first time today and dug it - a good mix. I didn't think that it was quite as amazing as everyone else did/does, but that's cool. The production was awesome, great industrial feel... some seriously tasty moments with the actual Dust Man theme; I didn't realize how many idiosyncracies there are in the original piece until I heard this remix. However, for me, it was a bit static - didn't seem to have a lot of forward momentum. Maybe it's cool to chill to? Maybe that's the arranger's intention? I don't know, it was cool, but didn't blow me away.