PrototypeRaptor

my chain for obnoxiously super loud mixes (ex: electro house/club muzaks) -saturation (console emulation, something light) -eq (basic shaping) -compression (light) -eq (heavy shaping, especially on freqs that "pop out") -compression (heavy - and I mean intense, you'll have to automate it for loud vs soft sections) -saturation (more intense, this step is optional, depends on the peaks) -limiter (DON'T DRIVE IT TOO HARD! This will squash the sound; you make it commercial loud with the next step...) -a really badass clipper (such as timework's or stillwell audio's) that last step is really a good trick to getting a loud mix while still getting punch - most rock/electronic music uses that + outboard clipping to get ridiculous rms values of like -6.3. but unless you really want that, don't go there. -8 or 9 is plenty loud... also, you get what you pay for in the VST world. I haven't found a freeware limiter or compressor that can compare to the commercial plugins - and a good saturation emulator is pretty expensive too. IMHO, of course

Hey everybody, I'm finally back with some sweet news - my debut album is FINISHED and will soon be ready for your listening pleasure! Penultimate is the culmination of about two years of work; I've spent a long time getting each track to be exactly how I want it... Anyway, if you're familiar with my remixes or other electronic work, you'll know what to expect from these originals - nasty basslines, huge drops, catchy melodies, and no prisoners. The full album will be out on the 26th, but for now, here's the promo with three of the eight tracks: http://prototyperaptor.bandcamp.com/album/penultimate-promo Keep checking back for more updates - I'm planning on starting to release stuff fairly regularly now. -PR

I like the idea behind this mix, don't get me wrong, it is totally juno reactor-esque and I love that; it's certainly a unique style to OCR. It's just... the production is really keeping me from enjoying this to its fullest extent. The drums are lacking in punch and power, in fact the whole mix is very flat, which I find strange for a zircon production. The arrangement is badass, though, so props there - probably just a one time fluke of the ears with the mixing. This is still an easily recommendable track to electronic music fans, it's a lot of fun. Though, now you've got me wanting to do an ethnic track, which I definitely don't have the time to do... curses

But how would you go about writing a catchy pop tune without keeping it relatively simple? Once you leave that first quarter of theory, which I highly doubt "they" are following anyway, it becomes pretty much impossible to make something with the same level of 'hum-ability.' Each type of music needs what it needs to accomplish what it does. If it's a simple chord progression to carry lyrics, then so be it. Mainstream music is all about the production values, not necessarily the note content, imo. Besides, I highly doubt Schubert's lieder would get much radio play if he were writing them today, and those are relatively simple as far as theory goes.

Hey everybody, I'm finally finishing up my first major album and I'd like to get it distributed so that, ya know, people can listen to it... So, does anyone have any experience with places like tunecore/cdbaby? Good, bad, whatever. Just looking for some input from people I trust - you guys rock.

check out blind's golbez 'n goblins: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01876/ also, sorry to toot my own horn, but I've got two mixes in a similarish style - one of them is a cheetahman II mix hosted here: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01954/ the other is a chemical plant zone remix located here: http://soundcloud.com/prototyperaptor/chemixtrixx-sonic2-chemicalplant

I guess I'm kind of an unusual case here in that I'm going to school for classical composition... I just really like to do electronic stuff as well. Started messing with FL Studio about 8 years ago, didn't get serious until 4 or 5 years ago. Been playing trombone for 9 years now, and piano before that for 3ish. Wrote my first classical piece in 9th grade; probably have close to 300 electronic/acoustic songs from then till now. Production aspects are all self taught through experimentation; probably WAY too much wasted time there haha For those who are wondering how to get better at writing music, the only real way is to, well, write! I try to compose at least a little bit everyday, just to keep in touch with the staff paper/piano roll/whatever. The last thing you want is to fight with your tools when you have that "spark" - get to know them now rather than later. Also, five years is probably a bit too long to get to OCR quality. I'd bet you could do it in 2 or 3, depending on how much you practice. Yes, that's right. Writing music is no different than playing an instrument. You gotta practice!

Hey everybody, thanks for all the comments - glad to hear that the genre adaptation works. I was kinda worried there for a bit haha As far as the mix needing another instrument, I kept it relatively "open" on purpose so that the bass could cut through like I wanted - plus it sounds better when played REALLY loud. (ie: PA systems) The album is about one song away from completion; I'm going to put something in gen disc when I have a for-sure release date. ...But, here's a little something for those of you who found this thread - the early album teaser! http://soundcloud.com/prototyperaptor/900-teaser-mix if anyone knows of a label who'd like something like this, let me know. I've been shopping around...

a few thoughts: -If you're going for the dub sound, the bass needs to be more automated - the effects should almost have a melody to themselves. -You could try running the bass through some sort of distortion pedal. Whatever the means, it needs to be more crunchy and definitely louder. -Also, the laser hi-hats really cut through the mix in a bad way. The hi-end in general seems pretty harsh. I like this idea, though. OCR needs more dubstep!

Alright, I wasn't going to release this, but I like it so much I feel that I should share it. It's a hard house remix of the chemical plant zone from sonic 2 that is more "club friendly" than my cheetahmen II mix, but it's still in that vein. It was originally a sound check of sorts to see how I want my debut album to sound - so if you're into this, chances are you'll like my originals. (when they get released...) anyway, enough talk, I'll let the music speak for itself. http://soundcloud.com/prototyperaptor/chemixtrixx-sonic2-chemicalplant enjoy

it's a heavily reverbed french horn rip doubled with the violin IIs, more than likely. There's also a bowed percussion instrument somewhere in there, probably a waterphone? maybe a xyla More than likely, though, it's just a sample found on a library - it's probably Symphobia. god do I love that thing edit: yeah, definitely possible that it's symphobia: http://www.mediafire.com/?tcgdmz2wnqk quick test just throwing some samples through a hall preset

I don't really like zebra or z3ta... they don't sound nearly as good as newer softsynths, imo. I'd recommend DCAM's Synth Squad or U-he's newer project, ACE, for a more 'usable' sound right away. (albeit with more CPU usage) If you really want just a library that loads presets(and have a ton of money to blow) go check out Nexus2 - all you need is a couple grand. Or get Omnisphere and get everything you could ever want in one massive package. Also, I'm pretty sure DT uses it.

yeah, pretty sure it is. ...though it isn't truly nerdy without a time signature... haha

Ok, it's been awfully busy here and I've not had time to finish the guitar solo. (it's next on the list, promise) BUT, I've been thinking - if the "muffins" want this to be a multiple song group, I've got some rough sketches of two other tunes that I think we should do. IMO, of course, and it's probably too far ahead to be thinking about, but, whatever. the songs: -Armored Armadillo's stage from Mega Man X -Wing Cap theme from Super Mario 64 What do you guys think? Armored Armadillo is just begging to be "ska'd"... /derail

Wow, I totally forgot about the possibility of a guitar solo. If you were up for it, I could definitely sketch a part into the trumpet section... Just fyi

Aight, I was poking around the requests forum and I found one regarding Touhou...and since I've been getting my arse kicked all over the place by perfect cherry blossom, I figured I'd take a shot at it. This is a pretty well known and well remixed theme from Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil, but I love the chorus so much that I had to do it. Anyway, this is an orchestral piece, and it's very much like my previous mario piece which was rejected for various reasons. It's heavily inspired by Danny Elfman (specifically, Beetlejuice and MIB)...just so you know what you're getting yourselves into. If I update it at all before I sub, it will be minor changes to parts. enjoy, source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYQHMSN13j4 remix: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=866156&songID=8560903

Heh, first thing I thought of was this...you can read anything into anything if you try hard enough. But that doesn't mean that "something" isn't there - Cameron's certainly not as deep as say, Fitzgerald, but he's not Michael Bay level either. (coherent sentences rather than picture books. ) Either way, I think the amount of time we spend with the india-I mean na'vi greatly influences the film. I think audiences would have viewed the movie much differently if the time spent with the two sides had been nearly equal. Something where the battles would have meant something to both groups - it would have been a much stronger film with a more developed "enemy," IMO. (especially the colonel...haha best character ever) Not to say I didn't like it, but it could have been a much better film if it had gone through some revisions in the writing department.

Very well arranged, performed, and captured - this really does do the "live jazz" feel justice. Gotta give you major props - although I feel it could have been tightened up a bit, you guys probably just sat down and ran through it a few times and then recorded... I know how university jazz works haha... Anyway, I hope to hear more - great stuff!

Alright, I got sick of studying for finals, so I looked over on the requests forum and found one of the most bad ass themes ever - Galacta Knight's from Kirby Super Star Ultra. This is a heavy, noisia/pendulum influenced dnb track; it's not quite finished, but I think it has enough to merit posting. Hopefully some of you are fans of hard hitting stuff and will like this. source: remix: http://soundcloud.com/prototyperaptor/kirby-galactic-knight-wip updates to come...eventually...

I love my mackie mr5's - definitely the best money I've spent on my studio by far. Room treatment is important, but not as important as having something nice to put in it, IMO. -go to a place where you can take a CD and listen to each of the monitors back to back -buy the ones you like best -practice mixing (this could take a while) -end up having to slam tracks with a limiter anyway -?????? -Profit!

Alright, this looks like the final draft of this tune; it's back, and bigger and badder than before. Now at a proper length of 6:05, you can truly get yo' groove on... updated link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=866156&songID=8289391 enjoy

Alright, I'll get down to work on this then. Need some info first: Do we have an alto and a tenor? Or just two altos? Or two tenors? Need a more specific type than just "sax" haha Can you guys read changes or do you want to keep it more simple with written solos/solis? (since jamming would be kind of difficult to do) Also, I'd be much obliged if you could finish laying down the rhythm section so I would know exactly how much time to fill, unless you'd rather me just write the parts and then you work them into the track. This is going to be totally badass, though. Just sayin' as far as the name goes, I like working overclocked into it. Not sure about Overclocked Manifesto, but overclocked "______" would be pretty sweet. I'll think about it for a bit

I have quite a bit of knowledge with scoring for these instruments, so, if you'd like me to have a stab at it, I'd be more than willing. Unfortunately, I have a brass quintet to finish first, but perhaps that could be slightly delayed...haha oh, school work... Anyway, I'd need to know the style you want - I'm getting a very streetlight manifesto vibe from this...(IMHO) Although, if the vocals were in the track it would make this sound 100x more cohesive - any knowledge of when they'll be done? BTW, I think I know a bari player, if nobody here could cover that.

Hey, if you need another bone player count me in. kirby ska = win