James_The_Composer

Well, before an argument takes place I want to say thank you for your replys. =) For my project I'm going to be hiring storyboard artists also and I'm almost strictly bent towards hiring people in person rather than on the internet. But since I live in a small area about 2 hours away from "the city" I may have to go with online anyway. I guess I could make it into a collaberative project. Right now I'm just saving up the money to be able to do so. At first I thought I would be able to produce the music as well as compose it, but now I'm starting to feel that it's just too much work for me to take on. I use Reason 3 which can give me some pretty great sound, but the problem is that it's extremely stressful work for me...I don't know if other people feel this way about music producing..... A huge issue when doing this, I think, will be amount of time spent on one song. I think I need people that wouldn't put too much work into just one midi but can still create something that's pretty high quality and make it rock (as in the genre). I guess I would hold auditions on this site in a thread? I think it's either that or scout for people to remix the soundtrack, but the problem with that is that I may find people who are in-active online.

Well I've had a soundtrack I've been working on for a couple years now but it's all in MIDI form. I am willing to pay someone to have these MIDI files turned into higher quality MP3s but I honestly don't know where to start. The files don't really even need too much extra accompaniment or anything, they just need a good arranger musician to run some high quality samples through them and touch them up. I'm wondering if people here actually do this kind of work, or if there are some websites I should check out? Thanks in advance. =)

The Grandpa Song again by performed by Static Reduction. Thanks for listening. =) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNTOx0FOyIo http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=978157&songID=8191037 I've got a grandpa and he's ten feet tall, his head reaches up to the ceiling and the wall, he one day got a hold of a beer, he tripped and he fell and he landed on his rear, he one day got on a motorcycle, he lost control and killed his friend Micheal This is the song I sing to you, don't let your grandpa lose in a zoo, cause he could get a hold of a kangaroo this is the song I sing to you, he got in trouble and he went to jail, but soon I hope he will get bailed, but this is the song I sing to you, grandpas lose are really uncool, as a zombie he'll come back for you, and his zombie friend Micheal too. <Bridge> This is the song I sing to you, don't let your grandpa lose in a zoo, cause he could get a hold of a kangaroo this is the song I sing to you.

Thanks for listening. =) Youtube: YouTube - Static Reduction - Why Modern Alternative Rock Sucks (Shinedown, Creed) SoundClick: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=978157&songID=8188622 At a very young age I got in an accident with the word "der", I should really be cleaning toilets, but why I'm here I'm not sure, I can't really play guitar actually, they just gave me a prop, but if I use my magical imagination I just don't want to stop. I'm not really sure where the sound comes from, but I think it comes from --- god, they told me that the drummer is an alien, a alien cyborg from outer space Oh why, do people listen to my crappy, music when they know it sucks, Oh why, don't people know, that there is better music out there and why can't they give me chord progressions like this one here it's frickin sweet I'm pretty sure America is smart enough for beauty in artwork But no! Tell my mother, tell my father, I tried the best to change, I'm sorry about all my crappy music, I know that it sucks I would fix it, but I don't know how to play the guitar, If I knew math and was smarter, then maybe I could start <short bridge> Tell my mother, tell my father, I tried the best I could, Sorry about my crappy music, I know that it sucks Also tell them, if you see them I need some extra cash, seriously I'm dying here, They own everything...

So for the past couple of years I've been basically working on getting a good rock sound so that I could get me and my good friends ideas out with the same emotion of professional bands. The result of this hard years of work is a virtual band called "Static Reduction". Within the near future we will also have a singer. Here are some samples of our work: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=978157 Our sound is imitating the feel of Guilty Gear X2, The Black Mages, and Dream Theater. The virtual band has been created with Propellerheads Reason 3 also using the Sonic Refills Gold Collection.Blue Moon OST 1 4. Blue Moon - Love of Battle 5. Blue Moon - Within the Clouds 6. Blue Moon - Guitar Solo 7. Blue Moon - The Castle 8. Blue Moon - Fisherman in the Sky 9. Blue Moon - Sol 10. Blue Moon - The Final Destination 11. Blue Moon - Blue Fire 12. Blue Moon - Heart of the Rebel 13. Blue Moon - Deep Within Other Demos Takuto - Demi Version 2 Zatch Bell - Dramatic Song If you have any requests I'll consider them. =)

After buying both libraries I realized my computer could not properly run the software due to lack of cpu power and bad software. As I can't return the sample libraries to sounds online, I am giving these libraries away here on ebay for a discounted price. The iLok is fully activated to work with both libraries. I can say that the sounds in this library are really amazing, although didn't work too well with my personal set-up (I'm used to using Propellerheads Reason 3, as opposed to VSTi plugged into a DAW setup). Here's the item: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150361149608&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling Thanks for your time.

Wow, thanks. I should note that these are the lower quality versions of the songs, I'll be uploading the higher quality versions of a select number of the songs on to my website once I get it redesigned.

I have to agree it sounds great on speakers. (don't know about ''loud speakers'' though) I really like it. It's got a lot of cool distorted synthesizers. I wonder, by new setup do you mean 'keyboards/hardware synths' or all software?

Takuto OST 1 Lite [COMPLETE ALBUM] - 41 Track OST Album - 26MB [Compact Version] Of all my years composing, this is my very first full album release. =) Hurray. I always wanted to compose for an epic video game or anime-like project, so [trying to] making my own was really the only path I could think of. There will be much more to come in the future, as there are certain melodies I can't wait to get to. It's not the BEST OF THE BEST, but I do believe that you will find many things to enjoy if you give it a fair chance. About the Album: Takuto OST 1 Lite is the free version of the Original Soundtrack to the Indie Anime Series (even though it's all storyboards) "Takuto". A couple notes: - Shorter songs and lower bitrate to make it compact/easily-downloadable - Includes 37. Fighting which you will NOT find on the commercial Album, due to copyright laws. - Includes 3 bonus tracks that I won't be able to sell... from Princess Mononoke, Eureka 7, and Bleach - Includes Iris Wisterias [sung] rendition of "Nature" (the ending theme for the first 6 episodes) Thanks for listening. =) All music created or arranged by Mark Hans Avon, All Rights Reserved. (Except maybe for "Fighting"...I seriously am starting to be skeptical of whether or not that song is a rip off of some sort...) Track List: 1. The Fruit of Life 2. Freedom Speaks Version 2 3. Freedom Speaks Version 1 4. Breath of Fresh Air 5. Jello Pudding 6. Around Town 7. The Beat 8. Hummingbird 9. Gluey Song 10. Reflection 11. Takutos Fight 12. Day of Fate (Remix 1) 13. Wandering Hopelessly 14. Sneaking Around 15. The Stairs 16. The School 17. Out of the Blue a Warrior 18. Takutos Stress 19. Exciting Battle 20. Exciting Battle Version 2 21. Nature (Piano Version) 22. Light Battle 23. Reflection 24. Shins Sitar 25. Wandering Hopelessly Version 2 26. DVD Menu 27. Freedom Speaks Version 3 28. Rubys Memory 29. Day of Fate Version 1 30. Day of Fate Version 2 31. Morning 32. Thinking 33. Rubys Company 34. The School Version 2 35. Nature Version 2 36. Nature 37. Fighting 38. BONUS Yochou (from Eureka 7) 39. BONUS Princess Mononoke Theme 40. BONUS Byakuyas Theme (from Bleach) 41. BONUS Nature Voiced (Iris Wisteria) -- Sample -- [1 MB] -- Takuto OST 1 Lite -- [26MB] Thanks again for listening. ___________________________________

Hmmm...I guess your right. Man, I sure hope so.I kind of feel bad for my taste for older soundtracks like Guilty Gear... Or even older soundtracks in where entire synthetic orchestras were used...Or even older soundtracks in where fake rock guitar was used (extremely rare!) and accepted (and these sounds for the most part are completely accepted by non-musicians/the-masses). I guess sometimes I have to think, why can't it come back? There are songs I know that fellow musicians will say "Meh! It sucks!" to, and yet they can't feel the love that I feel for those songs. Oh well... I think I've learned this much. Love does not know preference. If your looking for people to love your music, sound will not buy it.

That's not my point. I've already thanked those that have given me advice that actually helps, but some have given me comments like "It would be like shooting yourself in the foot to call this complete".

That's not true. It's a matter of taste. Also, I did work really hard on the arrangement, even though I did only spend...I guess 30 minutes creating it. It's the MIDI guitar sound that I like within it. I guess the panning suggestions have come in handy, though.Also, the fake guitars are based from the Sonic Refills Gold Collection. I already know this. Maybe you should check out my String Quartet Video Tutorial. Yes, I've compared the song to many, and I still enjoy what I've created. I would say that I find many of the remixes to be bland, especially those that use even BETTER samples. For example, the S&K3 collection with that final boss theme. It had a great sound, but melodically I thought that it fell short of the original. Why? It didn't keep the repetitiveness. It went on into guitar soloing and didn't focus more on the melody. He or She that remixed it could have created another melody completely that complimented the first one. Instead you hear soloing for half the song. I've heard many songs that are slower, especially in the FF7 Remix Album in where you have some tracks in where your like "wait...what was the original melody for this song?" I've found that people AVOID doing MIDI songs like the one I've presented. You either love the sound or fear the sound. I happen to love it. I think it's a great experiment, and a great breakthrough of directly converting GM MIDI into an MP3 arrangement. Why do I look at it melodically over sonically? Well, listen for yourself to the Elder Scrolls 3 and 4 composers arrangement of the Final Fantasy 6 Theme. He has taken out most of the melody. This is what happens when you focus more and more sonically and less and less melodically. You end up with chords. Flat, no-tone chords. I liked the part in where I had changed the melody around when the strings take the melody and I DO like how it sounds. That's why I've called it final. I will have more remixes that I do release here and they WILL have a focus on melody NOT a focus on sound.

What do you mean improve as a musician? Do you mean improve in the field of sound or the field of music?

So your not arguing the point of better sounds? What would you suggest then? edit: Ah, man musical content again? (sorry didn't see that) I don't agree. I think that it has a lot of musical content. Why? Because the notes that are hit are the exact notes that came out of what I heard in my imagination.

That's pretty harsh. ;/ Thank you, but my tastes seem to be way different than most people here....There seems to be a lot of focus on what is wrong with music within this community and not a lot of focus on what is right. I like the people here that have helped me by saying 'you have to bring this out more' and 'the pannings off', and 'you could use this here or this here'. I kind of want to know things like, if I brought in analog synthesizers how I could keep the rocky-ness feeling of the mix. I actually love the sound. I really do. I'll call it final, but I am absorbing the information given like a spundge, I promise those who have given their time to post something up. Thanks. I will not be afraid of the sound that people have called before "muddy". I haven't been able to find many songs at all that have used things like distorted organs and such. It can become a habit, to be ''afraid'' of certain techniques. As you start to avoid them, your music starts to sound a certain way and no other.

This still doesn't make sense to me. What is one supposed to do, have the money to shell off $500 for Ministry of Rock? The point is to use GM MIDI to create a good well-rounded rock sound. I really am open to response, just not "get better samples, shell out more money". Secondly, there are no free rock samples that can achieve a sound like this one without dsp effects. Using plugins, which seems to be where everyone is going with this (use a real guitar, forget using your sampler), seems to be where everyone is at with this. Yes, there are many re-mixers here that use real guitar, but I am not one of them and I will NOT be one of them. I do appreciate a lot of the critique though. I am listening, and it is making me much better, but a lot of it is just "sorry, it's not good enough. You need better samples." Their basis is "You gotta sound better for the judges.". I don't give a damn about the judges! Again, free samples can't achieve this kind of sound as far as I know. Plugins maybe, but samples usually can't....Thanks though. Thanks. x_xI don't understand...just 2 or 3 years ago MIDI Samples seemed to work perfectly. They were used in professional productions a lot more. I really liked the music in Naruto for example. The music in Naruto Shippuden, though, uses all real instruments. I like sampled strings. They can have less reverb, and be more video-gamey rather than dramatic real instruments, which aren't working as well for it. The focus used to be more on the music and now it's more on the sound. Why do people decide to have a preference about them? Thank you.

I do not in any way want to discredit the original writer of this article, but to thank him (or her) I will re-write the wording of the article so that this is relisted on google.com. Therefor, I encourage you to give credit to the man or woman who wrote the following page: http://www.1manband.nl/microsoftsynth.htm Microsoft SW Synth is the only available music synthesizer on most Windows XP and Vista machines. Using this guide and Windows Vista 64-bit I have reduced the latency of the default Windows SW Wavetable Synth from 200ms to about 45ms. It's not perfect, but for MIDI composers/musicians MIDI is now available to us by default for free, on any computer with the required (free) software set up and installed (no need to buy a sound card). By using Direct Music Producer as a software synthesizer you connect it to any DAW or Sequencing software that you would like to use such as Cakewalk, Cubase, Band-in-a-Box or even Anvil Studio. Get a copy of MIDI Yoke and the Microsoft Software Direct Music Producer. MIDI Yoke is easy enough to find, but Microsoft will make you jump through hoops on their website to get DMP so I've provided a link for you here: http://www.takutogame.com/images/DMP81.exe First, install MIDI Yoke. This is not the type of software that you open up, it's just something that adds MIDI Ports to the Input/Output selection within your DAW or Sequencing Software. If you don't trust the above link you could always go through the microsoft way. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=microsoft+direct+producer&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=microsoft+direct+producer&fp=Q9hKAq0-8-0 Now fire up Direct Music Producer. 1) Within the upper left you should to the right of Standard Stereo & Reverb, you should see a little MIDI-like icon or button that when hovered over will say "MIDI/Performance Options". 2) Within MIDI INput select "In From MIDI Yoke: 1 [Emulated] 3) Within MIDI Input Device select "In From MIDI Yoke: 1 [Emulated] 4) Check the Box that says "Echo MIDI In" 5) Adjust Latency from 100ms to 0ms 6) Set Number of Voice to 64. The reason you don't want 128 is that the latency will jot itself up. Yep, it really does take a lot of windows memory even for a computer with 5 Gigs of Ram to run a 2MB big Synthesizer with low latency.

That's a GREAT way to look at it! I'm not shooting it all down, just the part that had the drama. Something along the lines of "You might as well shoot yourself in the foot if you consider this to be finished." Is it really that bad I wonder? Is it a generalization I wonder? And then "You need better samples." Ok, I'll just shell off $1000 for a new sample library. x_x I love how it sounds, and of course I'm taking the criticism but that doesn't mean I don't like it how it is right now. Most people think that their appreciation of a certain sound isn't defined by themselves. Of course it is. If you look at older video game music, I know you'll find songs that you prefer in the original sound over any other sound. Tastes can be acquired by will. And of course I'll use what's given as best I can. That's just the final version right there.

Hmm, I couldn't agree with you there. The drums, also, are how they are due to GM > Reason translation.

I'm actually pretty satisfied with how it sounds. :-PI'm more of a melody person myself. I just focus on the music, not the sound. If I brought out more of those things it would be like shooting myself in the foot. ;p

Updated... http://www.takutogame.com/images/Bloodied%20Sword.mp3 That's my final version.

I am trying to accomplish the fullness of sound I would be able to get using a real guitar vs a synth band. So, no guitars were used in the making of this. (which is pretty obvious, I think) It's all just Reason 3 with the Sonic Refills Collection. Many different mixing/audio-processing techniques are used to try to get a fullness of sound. It's hard to get that "sinking bass" frequency that regular distortion guitar creates. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYNxiYi2X2I http://www.takutogame.com/images/Fighting.mp3 Thanks for listening.

A thing that's already been stated but I find when something dosn't sound right it's note legnth that tends to come and save the day most of all. But yeah, mix instruments and control vocoder (record it) to create variation.

Well, from what I heard it was mostly synth improvements than NN-XT improvements, but if I'm wrong praise the lord.

I'm not sure, but my guess is that they call it 'lite' because it dosn't have some of the features that the kontakt sampler does. I think, for example, it has knobs like "var1" and "var2" to add more variation to the sound so that when you play it it's not completely in tune (the more you put it up the more out of a tune it becomes randomly). I really think that GPO lite for Reason 3 would be just as good, though, since you have 2 times the power in Reason with a good orchestra. In fact, I'd say that Reason just needs a couple things to become invincible like A) A good assortment of distortion guitars Nylon and Steel guitars as good as Realguitar2 C) Orchestral samples like Garritans that come with the base product. D) Some realistic world instruments with realistic bending (somehow) like Erhu It would just be so awsome to have everything in Reason 3 and that's that (east west libraries require a mega-computer with 100+ GB). For now it's just as good to come up with stuff using the combinator.