Rozovian
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Posts posted by Rozovian
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If it can make sound, it can make music. The rest is just a matter of how, how well, how conveniently. While it's completely possible to write audio in notepad, I think LMMS is a better tool. That said, workflow, built-in tools and techniques, plug-in support, interface, and so many other things factor into what makes any music software good.
TL;DR: Use it if you want to. If it becomes too limiting, use something else.
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Imma shoot you an email with some art stuff.
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I feel like a bum having already finished my song like... 2 years ago or whatever...
You can always unfinish it, like I do with my tracks, occasionally.
Just need to screw with my drums a bit and I think mine is done.
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Is your bass drum panned? Don't do that unless you're imitating a band.
Woodwinds are mechanical and sometimes waay too loud. Track is messy. It takes a minute, but then I start hearing things reminiscent of the source. A lot seems to be original writing on top of the source's bassline.
Other instruments also have really silly loudness problems, being way louder than the rest of the track. Balance the track better. Guitar towards the end - guess if it too is too loud.
This kind of orchestra/electronic hybrid seems like it'd work well if the instruments were just balanced better, and more human (where applicable).I count around 2 and a half minute of source. Either I'm missing something or there's too much original writing here. You know what's source and what's not, so you know if I'm right or wrong.
More source, more human orchestral stuff, more balance. Let's see where it is after that. Good luck.
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Droplets sfx is too loud.
...then to the 6/8 rhythm of the track. Yay!
Superbirght and loud hihat. Loud bass drum, which makes the otherwise soft track kind'a weird. its especially jarring during the piano section. The rest of the drums sound like you've filtered out not just lows but also their mids. Snares usually need some mids. None of the other instruments seem to contribute any mids, so consider adding something to fill that range.
3:19 transition is a bit hard. It's not breaking the track, but it could be better.
Your voice synth stuff are also really bright and shrill. Careful with your highs.
Ending works well.
Frequency balance is your biggest problem with the track. The pacing of each part of the arrangement could be better as well, which should make the track flow a little better. Source is there, no problem there.
Needs work, but in a pretty good place to build form.
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Really loud. Especially loud high-end percussion and other high stuff. Tone that stuff down a bit. Piano is a bit soft compared to the electronic instrumentation.
One minute in, source is obvious. Some weird harmonies behind it. I hear references and use of the source's backing elsewhere in the track, so it should be in the clear source-wise.
Ending feels a bit lame. Not so much the fade, but that nothing else changed during the ending. You just drop to a solo and fade once the solo is over. Feels a bit cheap.
Too loud stuff, and with some other minor mixing problems. Weird harmonies. Boring ending. Otherwise it works quite well. A bit too much saturation and other loudening. Balance it better and you should have a pretty good shot at the site here.
Cool stuff.
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Dude, avoid uploading wavs just for crits.
Kick seems a little bassy when you've already got a strong bass. The rest of the drums are too weak by comparison. Decide which way you wanna go - bassy kick or bassy bass, and adjust accordingly.
You know what? The drums are too weak, period. Everything else is louder. When that epiano is louder than your drums, in what sounds like a metal hybrid, something's wrong with the mix. Grab some recent metal tracks from ocr and compare. Even if you can't make yours as loud as they are, you can make yours as balanced. Just going by other ppl's comments and your own, biased ears can easily lead to a really weird mix. Compare.
The sound design is really nice. The ending could be a little bigger, and maybe those synthy strings aren't the best to end it on. They work fine for most of the track, but they fall flat when exposed like that.
The writing all feels cohesive and like it's based on source, tho someone more familiar with the source can probably say for sure. Arrangement is nice and varied.
In other words, the mix is the problem. Can't find anything but tiny nitpicks that'd be wrong with the arrangement and sound design. So just mix it better and it should be in the clear.
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So apparently, the Water source is by Mendelssohn, or so a YT commenter says.
It's a really fun arrangement. Lots of fun sound design there as well. Guitar is a bit loud in the mix, and if you drop that, you might have to drop the drums a bit too.
Can't come up with a lot of issues on the production side of things, but the arrangement feels a bit like a medley, and I'm not that familiar with the sources so I can only ay that they're there, not how well they're really used together. Feels like a medley tho. Structurally sound, but source-wise a bit too much like a medley. Source A, source B, source A source C, etc, that kind of thing.
I don't mind the last note's lack of bass, it sounds deliberate imo.
So if this gets rejected, it's on the basis of the source usage, imo. The rest sounds good. Nice work, really fun track.
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Man this track is gritty.
Couldn't make sense of the Joker source, but the HC source is there. If there's something this track will fail on, it's probably source, cuz the rest sounds pretty good. Also, there's a voice clip fairly early on that doesn't bother me. What has the world come to?
More voice acting later on, and it's pretty good, but I don't don't like ppl talking in my music. That's me tho.Transition at 4:56 felt a bit weird, but the rest of the track flows well.
I can't think of anything left to do besides a quick comparison with gritty tracks already on ocr to check that your levels are about right. I'd say it's subbable. It's always a little hard to judge gritty, noisy tracks with their inherent noise and distortion, but unless I've really missed something, this is postable. Nice work.
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Dat bass.
Obvious source at 0:35. 1:28 micro-break seems a bit superfluous and doesn't gel with the rhythm. It's the kind of thing that usually works later in the mix. There are some weaker instances of this around the 2 min mark, not as annoying, not as dramatic either. I would experiment with this thing and figure out where it's most effective and most useful and use it once or twice like that.
It's got loads of groove, but the arrangement is pretty much just alternating between sources. Source A with groove, source B with groove, source A with groove... Structurally and dynamically it doesn't feel like it ever starts. It stays in intro mode until 0:30... but that too feels like it's in intro mode, as does 0:48, 1:02 feels like a chorus, but it's as if we missed out on when the track actually got started, like there's a verse missing. Also, one minute intro to a 3 minute track?
The only issues that really stand out are arrangement issues. You've got a strong concept here, the sound design and production as well as the groove. Just make sense of how the track moves and you should be fine. Source usage seems to be somewhat medley-itic, so a little more blending of the source, more overlap and interplay and it should make more sense, source-wise. Then again, I'm no expert on Sonic soundtracks, so I could be wrong about that.
In any case, it's a solid concept, just needs a bit more work on the arrangement end of things. If you wanna keep it short, you gotta make the initial build-up faster so the 0:48 part feels like the verse rather than a chorus. Just adding the snare there can do a lot. If you wanna make it longer, insert parts in between to bridge the parts.
Groove on.
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Name: Simon Shirley
Age: 27 (but not for much longer!)
Gender: Male (although my full name would suggest half-male!)
Normally online as: foreversonic
Hi and welcome. Surely no-one would make fun of your name.
If you want feedback on your works, drop by the remix board. Good luck with your mixes on the panel.
Welcome everyone else, too.
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Depends on how you're gonna remix it. The compositions from way back are public domain. A random recorded performance probably isn't. So you can midi rip them all you want, but you can't sample orchestral recordings unless they're waaay old. (thanks a lot, copyright mafia)
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Hard to grasp the rhythm before the heavily reverbed backing stuff comes in.
Bass might be a tad too loud. I'd give it a longer decay, lower sustain and slightly longer release. The mix feels weird when the bass drops out between notes.
2:05, clashing. That whole part has some strange harmonies overall, but most of it just sounds weird, not wrong.
There's some occasional timing issues. Yeah, they add realism. Yeah, they can still do that even with some timing edits. 1:42, 1:55, 2:10 stand out, but there's probably a few others.
Sounds design is really cool, but there's some cleanup left to do before I'd be happy with it. I would...
-try to reduce that occasional super-bright piercing thing in the flute
-likewise the sustained synth in the 0:30 part
-definitely do something about the fm synth at 0:54; it's a great sound but it's too shrill here. either reduce the fm strength or eq it. i'd start with the former.
-1:32 could use some slightly softer or less bass-y pads, since the bass needs a little more room in that part of the track
It's a bit on the repetitive side, but it works imo. It's a little hard to get a good grip of the arrangement, but it feels like the same track throughout, and does seem to have an intro-main-break-main2 structure to it. Source is there, and imo interpreted enough.
There's some nitpicky things I'd be bothered by if I made it and it got posted. This sounds like it could get posted, just make sure to file off the shrill edges and clashes and stuff before subbing.
Nice work.
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Okay so...
Yeah. I can hear the sources, and they fit well together. Terra's theme ties it together beginning-end somewhat. Not sure it has enough focus, but my tracks tend to be meandering messes and they get posted.
Then again, I tend to stick to one or two sources.I foresee two potential issues: medley-itis and non-vgm source.
This is primarily a take of Carol of the Bells imo, with a lot of vgm sources integrated into it. Since Terra's theme is used the most, it'd make sense to say this is primarily an arrangement of that, but that's not quite true, is it? With the primary source being non-vgm, and the vgm sources making appearances rather than any one of them being a substantial part of the arrangement, I don't think this is ocr material.
But sub it anyway. I can be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. This is a really cool arrangement.
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I know there is a after that sentence, which may indicate sarcasm, but I still disagree with those words. Because this implies the only way to show musical skill is through production.
By that logic, anything made in a time before the technology existed to record music, sucked. I'm probably just reading it wrong though, I just got back from having to put my dog down, so my mind is kinda cloudy.
Imma jump in here to say performance and production aren't the same thing, but they're both ways to show the skill of a composer or arranger. We have computers now so we can make up for a lack of performance skill, just like someone playing an acoustic instrument doesn't have to think about production. Except the parts that apply to live performance, thatis.
(also yes, subjective is what ppl think and feel, objective is what something really is)
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if they sound human enough, repetition isn't that big a problem within a part, but if they're the same for the whole track you've got a problem. Make sure to vary them according to the dynamics of the track. Don't be afraid to make really minimal parts with just one or two notes, if the track calls for it. Also, don't think your additional percussion has to blindly follow the track's dynamics, a soft section can have a lot of it to make up for a lack of other drums, while a really intense section might get too busy with too much going on.
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On the copyright thing - whenever a work in fixed in some form - notation, audio - the copyright is yours. Registering the copyright is another matter.
That said, I kind'a share your misgivings about sharing wips, both of them, the latter more than the former these days.
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Summary from the FAQ: as long as you do NOT make any profit AND you credit both OC ReMix and the artists for each track used, the answer is YES. If your video is monetized, being sold in any context, or you're generating revenue from ads, the answer is NO. In those instances we recommend getting individual permission from each artist.
Can't say about the companies.
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Tracklist updated, and We are now _7_ tracks from having an all-blue tracklist (the flute jingle thing doesn't count), and we have no more red tracks (again, flutey no county). Guys, you kick ass.
7!
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...and I'm back from all my xmas/newyears stuff. To do:
- Crit/mark tracks. I have a few.
- Send our audio preview stuff to our artists. Yes, plural.
- Finish Frenzy.
Work begins on Monday. Spent my vacation alternating between Sweden and Vice City. Should have bought my own 3g modem thingy.
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Was listening to a playlist with all of ocr on it, and this one came up after Joren's Simian Soirée on the DKC2 album. Perfect combo.
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0.02
Some questions took a few steps forth and back to figure out.
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REAPER isn't actually free, but the demo is only limited by an annoying message when you start it, there are no missing features or anything. And it's dirt cheap.
Mixcraft should get a mention for being equivalent to Apple's entry-level DAW, GarageBand, and its full version is 150 bucks. If you're serious about music and can handle the probably higher learning curve right away, getting a more advanced DAW from the start is probably better, even if it's one of their cheaper versions, but from what I can tell, Mixcraft is a pretty good place to start.
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If you got Kontakt via Komplete, I would recommend using Battery for your drums instead. It's a lot easier, altho it doesn't have all the morphing options and scripting and stuff that Kontakt libraries can have. Acoustic kits, use Kontakt, route stuff to different outs. Non-acoustic kits, or kits that doesn't need the realism and finer details of the fancy libraries, go with Battery. The out-routing is so much easier there, as is sample layering and other stuff useful in designing the drum sound.
Because I loop drums a little too much, I like having snare and kick on one midi track routed to one drum instrument, and hats and other things on another, going to another drum instrument. Even then, I separate drum and kick, crashes and hats. If there are other elements, like toms, more cymbals, reverse crash; I usually give those a separate tracks as well, depending on their needs.
I actually use Superior Drummer, Addictive Drums (albeit just the demo for now), Battery, Kontakt, and Logic's own Ultrabeat as my drum samplers, depending on the kits I wanna use. There's also DrumSpillage and a fun little CamelAudio freebie drum machine I got from Computer Music or something that I also use occasionally, obviously depending on style. I usually don't have all my drums on the same track anyway, but when I do, I usually route them to different channels.
The best way to deal with this stuff is probably to just get used to setting up a multi-out on your drums so it's not a matter of figuring it out half way through the mix every time. Build presets with this routing already there.
When I do work with a single drum track, I usually just put some soft compression on the track and do subtle eq things to the kit, like finding the fundamental of the kick and snare and boosting those, and if there are big balance issues I can't get around with EQ alone, a multiband compressor can provide some additional control.
If I'm concerned about having a clean drum sound, I might set up a low pass filtered bus signal for side chain compression of other tracks to get the drums out more without messing with their sound. If not, I can go with overdrive on the main channel to grit up the drums. Then there's reverb, which I might wanna process separately as well. I might end up with three different buses from this single drum track. You can probably figure out ways to work with these options and find more options as well.
There's some thoughts on the topic.
Are there any free programs like Sytrus?
in Music Composition & Production
Posted
As convenient as built-in arpeggiators are, you can do pretty much the same thing with just plenty of notes in some interesting rhythm on any synth. A few hints:
- make sure the synth responds to different velocities, eg with changes in filter or waveform; and vary your notes' velocity
- start off with short attack, short release notes, and experiment from there on, maybe a longer attack on either amplitude or filter fits the sound you're looking for
- legato / a bit of glide/portamento can be just as cool as clean and distinct notes
- use chords where appropriate, either in sequence in a one-note-at-a-time arpeggio, or as what ends up as a sustained chord with a lot of rhythmic changes to timbre and level
- you can also use the modulation wheel and other midi cc as well as effect automation to change the sound, eg in a build-up to a chorus or when going into a softer part
- if you aggressively filter out the frequencies of the sound, you can get a fair amount of variation just by writing an arpeggio melody spanning several octaves
- you have more control of your arpeggio when you write it yourself, in that you can control how often each note is used, and when; maybe the root of the chord isn't that important
- some DAWs come with their own arpeggiators that you can route your midi through
- random notes quantized and adjusted to the appropriate scale can make for really interesting and inspiring rhythms and melodies
Unfortunately, I have no synth suggestions with built-in arpeggiators.