Rozovian

Bumped with update. I need to stop playing CK2 and make more music. This just needs vocals, and stuff adjusted to fit the vocals. Vocalists?

Gah, I end up with the last post of the page again. Oh well... I put the finishing touches (I think) on one of my mixes, and turned it blue. Anyone else care to do the same this weekend? Also, anyone who can do art (you can be colorblind, but you must be able to sketch), get in touch. We gotta work around a little snag in getting material for the video preview (which is not the same as the trailer), so we need more art, and we want it quick and sketchy. Feel free to pm me contact info for any artists you know that might be willing to help. (somebody quote the art stuff in the first post of next page plz, I don't wanna double post just to do that.)

Sorry, no review yet. Bumping this for the other mods (or for myself, but still don't have time for a rev) so it doesn't get forgotten.

Sorry there's no review yet. Bumping this for the other mods (or for myself, but still don't have time for a rev) so it doesn't get forgotten.

Very informative post, Snap, but real music pros only use Scream Tracker.

Short answer: Reaper. Unless you have any specific workflow preferences none of us know about, get Reaper. Then get instruments. Then get practicing. Then stop being bad at this stuff. Then make good music. You won't be able to make metal without: 1) drums, which will take a lot to record, cost time and money to get virtually, and take ages to do for free. 2) guitar, which is still quite an investment of time and money to do virtually, but takes time to learn and money to get recording gear too. If you don't already play guitar, this will be the hardest part of making metal. The more electronic styles, still dark and heavy, are easier on the stuff you need, but you'll still have to spend a fair amount of time getting the right sounds and learning to write and mix it. You're, as you said, new to this, so you ought to know before you start that this isn't learning a four chord song on guitar - this takes years... and when you look back and see how much music you've made, much of which is enjoyable, you know it's worth it. TL;DR: Get Reaper. Practice. Improve.

It was bound to happen sooner or later; if not SE then some other game company would respond to ppl making money using their ip, even if that money is going to ocr. Multi-ip albums like BadAss would be especially sensitive to this kind of action, but with SE we're dealing with a substantial number of tracks and albums, a significant portion of ocr. Dunno much more about the deal than what Meteo's posted, but I'm not surprised. Also, I didn't have any moneys on my paypal for this earlier. OCR +$50. On a smaller scale, this means that the preview I've been planning is running short of video material. We have a lot of art, but much of it is incomplete and even then it's not the greatest fit for a long preview (better for a short trailer). I'm not quite sure how important visuals are in the preview, but it just feels lazy to do some basic pans over few of pics for a 5+ minute thing. We'll either get that as a preview, or wait until we've got a few more artists. I have an idea for the preview graphics, I just need a handful of artists with a couple of hours (or so) of spare time they wanna give to the project. Thoughts welcome, here, pm, whatever. We'll see. Ultimately, I don't think this changes much for the album, it just changes how we do some of the marketing/advertisement for it. Summer's over, work's started, I want tracks for my commute (and for the project).

OCR folks' winter musics. So we all know where they are. I kind'a wish the album could be ready a month or so ahead of time, for some ocr frontpage pimpage, and the months go by so fast... I mean, August is almost over already. Those of us who aim to make something might wanna start sketching and thinking about sources or whatever already, assuming Dyne doesn't have some specific direction for it this year, or if it clashes with some other winter-y project. That said, it's way too early to start asking about it, certainly if you're not a remixer asking about whether you should make something for it (btw, answer: always yes).

Apparently not. Ian, there are music ppl who are also fans of WB's cartoons out there, but this is clearly not where they hang out. If I were you, I'd focus on the WB fandom (or cartoon animation fans in general) first and music communities second. Making music isn't a half-minute thing, it takes a while to figure out what to do with a source track, and then to get every instrument the way you want it and make them all play nice with each other takes a lot of time. That's time that many of us would rather put into vgm remixes for this community than into WB remixes. That's the time that doesn't end up as work or sleep or the mythical thing called life. I don't see anything wrong with recruiting for a WB album here, but if this is the only place you're fishing, you're gonna get disappointed. Also, projects are not run in the R&C forum and an album that isn't vgm-related wouldn't get a thread in Projects, so you'd need to find somewhere else to run the project anyway. Likewise, your challenges seem more like competitions to me. That makes the R&C the wrong forum for it. Finally, almost half the paragraphs in your post are about becoming a composer for WB. Dude. In short: If nobody here bites, fish somewhere else.

I started out not being that great at playing anything and not being able to record what little I could play, so I went electronic-y, which was fine as I listened to a lot of tracker stuff (which is, for obvious reasons, pretty electronic). I've since learned that electronic is a really broad term as genre goes, and to do what I want regardless of whether it's legit electronic music or not, or if it's electronic at all. In other words:

The only pre-judge things that's actually mandatory is the screening of mixes in the inbox, where some are rejected right away, some skip the panel to be direct posts, and some are posted to the panel. I don't know how it's set up, but I think it's pretty much a manual thing. In that case, it could be more automated, maybe via some script that auto-posts emails forwarded to a specific address to the panel or a dp inbox. This script could also add a notice back to sender that the track was posted to the panel or that it'll get a direct post. Likewise, there could be a script that spreads out submissions to different inbox evaluators. Regarding mod reviews: higher-up staff, could workshop mods get a mod-review shortcuts forum, with only mod-review-marked threads? It's not that hard to command-f for "mod r" in the remix forum, but this would give a better overview, as well as make it easier to unmark old mr-marked threads. Related suggestion - a shortcut subforum to all Album/Other threads, so ppl can more easily find ppl's own albums and other releases.

Thought I'd give this some attention after that message. You still have stuff to learn; you'v egot too much bass, raw synths, and your instruments are not separate enough. The first is easy to fix. EQ out the lows from tracks that don't need it, then see if your bass is much stronger than the bass in other tracks (compared to their overall levels, thatis). If so, you either EQ down the lows on the bass, or you reduce its volume level. The second is a little trickier. Depending on the sound you want for each part, you'd probably have to do different things. Read up on envelopes and filters and you'll have an easier time doing the stuff that's best solved inside the synth itself. Give background instruments some reverb and EQ down their highs if they're still too bright ad prominent. Use multiple oscillators and detune them differently for a wider and more complex sound (eg the supersaw). Add subtle modulation to pitch or filter (via LFOs) for more variation in the sound. But most importantly, figure out what you wanna do with a sound before you make any changes you don't remember how to turn back. or make backups (always recommended). The third is about as tricky as the second, depending on how quickly you figure it out. Once you do, it's easy, as it's really just about giving each instrument their own space, their own area. This is done with panning, reverb, EQ, and most importantly track levels. Let leads be leads and background stuff be background stuff. Anything you want to pan, pan it (not recommended for bass, kick, or snare, usually not lead either), just make sure you keep the frequency balance centered with something else with about the same frequency range in the other ear. Use reverb to push some instruments further back. Pads and other backing tracks (eg your strings) do well in the background, whereas lead reverb (if even necessary) should have a reverb that predelayed enough to not muffle the sound much. EQ is used to slightly cut frequencies other tracks need more, so eg the lead can dominate the 2-3kHz area when the other instruments have that area EQd down. Gah, just noticed I listened to the linked wip7 rather than the more recent wip8. Oh well, all three criticisms are better here (tho you can still improve them). Keep working in this direction, and you'll probably have the production under control. The writing could use some work, there's some note clashes, there's a lot of repetition, it's quite messy at time (best solved with both writing and production edits), and I can't really figure out where the arrangement is headed. Keep working on it, don't be afraid to rework the arrangement if you figure out a better direction to take it, or if you wanna experiment (just remember to take backups). Just the difference between wip7 and wip8 shows you're learning this stuff. Keep at it.

Sure, it's yours when I get a wip. Just make sure you're remixing the right track, the name on youtube is wrong but the link is correct. That's why we've told ppl to use the .rsn from snesmusic.org or from ocr. Work eats most of my project energy atm, but come weekend, I'll throw a preview thing together. Just gotta pick tracks that fit. I know Dj Mokram doesn't want to be in the previews, but does anyone else have a problem with it?

Moi and welcome. You're basically doing covers of covers, covers of remixes, so the same legalities apply whether you'd be playing The Black Mages' stuff or ours. nobody can stop someone from playing covers, tho rightsholders and collection agencies might take issue with any usage they're not paid for. We're partial rightsholders to our music in that the performance, production and arrangement is ours, not unlike in a significantly different cover of any song. Check with Teosto about the royalty stuff. We can supply any real names we've got for the remixers whose mixes you decide to work with. (possibly useful link, tho possibly less so if it's all free) Dunno if it's actually the consensus, but I think it's cool, and I don't the the others have any issue with it either. At least as long as nobody is making any money off of our work when we're not. Being asked for permission is usually appreciated, tho. It makes us feel like stars, reminds us that we've got fans. Also, if this is happening in or near Helsinki, and especially if either of my tracks are used, I wanna hear it live.

If you have big changes in volume after EQ your melody must be all over the place. Consider using a multiband compressor so you always have some control over the high frequencies without getting too much change in volume. Basically, a multiband compressor would make sure you have approximately the same frequency balance regardless of note pitch. Multiband effects are usually not used on single tracks, usually just on buses and outputs, but some instruments need to have their spectrum controlled like this. It's different from what an EQ does, since an EQ just lowers the level of different frequencies regardless of how loud those frequencies are. A multiband compressor would compress different bands of the spectrum separately. It's a tricky tool to use, but it's an effective way to get tracks that vary a lot in pitch and dynamics under control. It's really difficult to give advice on audio without hearing it. Is this a track you can share with us? That would make it easier to give more direct advice, instead of having to guess what the problem really is.

Some thoughts: This depends a lot on your synth, but doubling and slight detuning works for everything. Using <100% sustains on your envelopes, both filter and amplitude, gives you a little more development in the sound, whether you're using it for a percussive effect or just to animate the sound. Giving your filter some resonance and making sure the filter moves noticeably between two frequencies in the waveform's harmonics (the higher frequencies in the sound). Sync and PWM can be used for further animation of the sound, and using pulse waves ("rectangle" wave that isn't square) can give it a harder sound (they're effectively super-distorted waves). In FM synths, which is what I've been working with a lot recently, modulating your lead oscillator with a sine an octave down does... something... good. Beyond that there's subtle use of modulation effects like phaser and flanger, there's noticeably pre-delayed reverbs, stereo spreading (you can get a huge sound by tripling a single source sound, detuning them all slightly, and panning them L100, C, R100; you can also use frequency spreading or stereo delays for a wider sound), distortion and amp simulation (which typically requires a dynamic source sound to sound good, so use the aforementioned filters and envelopes) and other effects. Using distortion after a heavy and short reverb might yield some good results for a lead... or not. I would want a pitch-controlled filter on the reverb, but that's tricky to do unless you can route the reverbed signal back into a synth. In writing, higher pitches are easier to hear, but mid-range stuff is (when loud enough) more powerful as leads. I guess you can layer a higher range lead with a low one, but that might sound like two distinct sounds, especially if the lower sound isn't a sine. If you're just annoyed at the bendy, glidey sounds, turn of portamento, glide, and whatever, and make your synth polyphonic. If there aren't controls for any of these, get a different synth. TAL has its free Noisemaker iirc, which has some cool lead sounds built in. Study those. As for me, I usually dig through the preset library until I find something I like. Leads have always been a bit tricky, but once you know what makes a good lead, they're not hard to find, or even to make by accident. You just gotta remember to save them when you make them.

I don't use Spotlight much, but I know the regular search mode doesn't actually search the libraries, which is just as well for newbs but a bit annoying for more experienced Mac folks that do stuff in the library and system. The patches could have been saved in the shared library that you find next to users and System and whatnot. It could also be that you're looking for instrument patches in the track preset folder. Check the instruments' own patch folders in a nearby directory, or make a track preset to test what actually should show up in the folder you're currently looking in.

Shreddage is a Kontakt instrument, so you need Kontakt to use it. Kontakt is a plugin and can be installed as an AU, so indirectly, the answer is yes. Dunno what other formats are offered, so check the site for details. iirc zircon has mentioned a soundfont version, tho that's not much more useful in Logic as much of the value in Shreddage is in the Kontakt patch scripting, not just the samples.

There's the deep end, and there's the sea. Everything is an experiment the first time. Putting a horrible, over-the-top, excessive flanger on the whole track is an experiment. That's how you learn that it's probably not gonna make the track sound better, but then you know both how to apply an effect to the whole track, and what the flanger sounds like. Likewise the first time you wrote chords to a melody, or melody to chords. Or when you wrote your first drum pattern. Or did your first velocity edit. Or your first midi cc edit. Or your first automation. Or your first whatever. You do without knowing what you're doing, and you learn. And whenever you wanna show us what you've done, we've got the boards for you. If you're not sure your experiments are sounding good or bad, another pair of hears can help. And we've got plenty of ears on this site. I have a remixing guide in my sig, feel free to read it. There's other resources on the site, and there's teh googles. Just remember that it takes most ppl a few years to consistently not sound terrible. Don't worry about it, just make music.

Not joining. My new job is pretty demanding, and what little time I have for remixing is currently being spent on sd3 and remixing with the stars. No time, no energy. Looking forward to the mixes coming out of this, tho.

What you should do to make a song sound good? Um... Consonance? You should be using tools that you can write and mix music in. Dunno how well Audacity does that, so I wanna point you towards REAPER, altho there are other options depending on your platform. Then you should be aware that the notes themselves are a small part of what makes real instruments sound good - the performer does a lot. This is true for orchestras as well as for rock bands. What we do is more often than not an illusion of performance - screwing with the notes and other things to make it sound like it's performed even when it's not (tho there are a lot of performers here too, like vocalists, guitarists, keyboardists...). Then you should mix it well. There's tons of tidbits about how to mix, but nothing beats just doing it. It's not about adding the right effect to the right track, it's about finding the right place for each track (by using effects to eg push things back or forward, up or down, etc). When you have something you want ppl to listen to and tell you how you're doing, put it in our feedback forums. We've got one for vgm mixes and one for all other kinds of music stuff. Once it's there, ppl can listen and comment, let you know hwat they think. Then just take the feedback you get, try to understand what they said, and see what makes your track sound better. And read whatever resources you can find, but don't take anything as the one true way to make music™. Just understand as much as possible, apply as much as possible to your music, and learn as much as possible. Then just keep making music.

Was listening to some of the tracks on my commute. It made my commute awesome. Was listening to them during some of my paperwork. It made my paperwork tolerable. Just so you all know.

Yeah ACO has it right about the mixing - you've got tracks in the same frequency range and that's causing problems. Your admission of not using EQ makes this a safe assumption without hearing any of your tracks. Read up on the basic mixing principles that every genre and style needs. You know you can't use effects as drastically in rock/metal as you could in fully electronic styles, but the most important tool is (aside from your ears) probably the eq, closely followed by the compressor and then the reverb. Learn those three (yes, the compressor is complicated, but immensely useful). When it comes to EQ, pick two instruments (eg kick and bass) and mix them until they sound good. Then bring in a third instrument (eg snare), mix that in, then a fourth, mix, fifth, mix, etc.. When you need to, decide that a set frequency range belongs primarily to instrument x and reduce that range in all the other instruments' eq. it also helps to compare your tracks to well-mixed reference tracks. Is your kick louder than theirs? Turn it down. Is theirs more clicky or more bassy than yours? Turn those frequencies up (add a clicky or bassy drum sample to the kick you already have, if necessary). Your bass too bassy? Turn down its lows. Your guitars too center-y? Pan them further. Your X too Y? Adjust accordingly. I have some more thoughts on mixing in my mixing guide in my sig. And yes, fake guitars will probably sound fakey no matter what, even if they're technically good. It's all about the performance, or the illusion of performance.

Some random themes to work from, from my previous post:: So... album, style, content, genre, origin, remixer status, game, composer, nation... Soundtracks made by ocr folks is a theme that might also work, if we have mixes of those.