Rozovian

Read this. Then try doing what you say we do and get a mix posted here.

1. vgm, unlike pop music, focuses on the music, not the lyrics. I like music. Yes, there's orchestral and electronic music that doesn't focus on lyrics, but then it becomes a question of compositional complexity (with a fairly standard set of instruments) vs sound design and production (with a fairly basic compositional complexity)*. vgm can be anything. *there's exceptions to both, of course. 2. The most notable aspect of much vgm is melody. Due to how it's usually used in-game, you hear it a lot. Even if it's not the most memorable track, it sticks with you. Back in the day, the chip sounds were the thing that set vgm apart. Not anymore. I think sound design is still one of the central aspects of what vgm "is", whether we're talking about a specific set of synth sounds, use of ambiences, or a particular mix method/sound or whatever. The exception here would be non-standard tracks, whether too ambient, too generic, too mainstream/song-like, or whatever. 3. vgm is music done for a specific purpose - to be in a game. It's not standalone music, even when it can stand on its own. It's more like movie music than most other music scenes, music as _part_ of an experience. The third question is weirdly phrased. Are you talking about remixing as we do here, or mixing the tracks together/production, or writing/making music for a game, or...?

Can't figure out the rhythm, seems like you can't either. Loop the first few guitar chords, experiment with getting them to flow better, apply what you learn to the rest. It might help to write a drum track to make sure the instruments are lined up, then just mute it. That's really the biggest problem here.

Better output? Wrong idea. Short of arguing dithering and stuff on a mastering engineer-level, there's no discernible difference in output quality between most DAWs. The quality of the mix comes from the instruments and effects you use, and how you use them, and finally how you output the track (anything will sound like crap in 56 kbps). Spending money on something doesn't mean your music will get better, you still gotta learn to use whatever tools you get. Learning is something you can do anywhere. I've taken one class of basic audio production (geared towards talk, not music), and an audio workshop one short weekend. I still have stuff to learn but apparently I'm good enough to get on ocr. I've learned through doing, through reading up, through experimenting, through comparing, and through spending some more on better tools. I'm still running on a $300 DAW budget plus $1000 for instruments and effects. No college classes, just practice and research. (not saying you shouldn't make use of any music/audio classes you can get into, they're useful, probably)

This makes for an intersting contrast. -- Seriously tho, it's not fair to the OP to take the thread into lolfest/trollfest-territory. Whatever good advice we have has been said and seconded, let them make the game however they want. Good luck with the project.

You guys are forgetting that a lot of samplers these days stream from disk. In those cases, disk read/transfer speed becomes the big issue (preload size and lookahead settings can make it less of an issue). You still need enough RAM to load the samples into (the more, the better, obviously), but it can be considerably less than the size of the instruments themselves.

Where are we at now, 18? For those wondering if you're gonna join, because of time constraints, skill level, or whatever... join anyway. It's practice, you get feedback, it's internet fame, it's fun. All but one of us will be knocked out sooner or later anyway, but until then you can see how you fare against newbs or pros or whatever you're up against. I mean, the GMRB had a few surprise outcomes, who's to say you can't surprise ppl here?

On a related topic... Playlist-format output? iirc there was an ocrtags site that had that feature, it'd be pretty useful to incorporate that into the database... or to include the tags in the files themselves somewhere, but that means yet another update to the files, right? (playlist format info)

lol Also, I don't have access to the database the form outputs to, so I have no idea who's signed it and who hasn't. Because this form thing is a relatively new thing (which I've only had to sign for one project iirc) some of the project's older remixers (remixers of tracks completed long ago... you know what I mean) might not be aware of it. Most of our tracks were completed before I even saw this thing, so I don't expect you all to know about it. In other words: new thing, sign, or else...

All right, for those interested, we now have a public beta. PM me your thoughts. Link to the guide in the first post. You may not read it if you don't provide feedback. You may read it if you find that something is missing, excessive, wrong, or helpful, while reading, and let me know. (also, avaris: as you know, yes I got them)

Without getting into individual track mixing, I can instantly see the panning is causing some problems. The left channel is louder. Stuff in center is louder, as it uses both channels, both speakers. You've panned a lot of stuff left without providing enough balance o nthe right side. Since you provided individual tracks (ugh, slow download), I did a mix of my own. It's not that great, but it's louder and more clear than yours, so I gues that counts as some kind of success. Here's what I did: The guitar is a lot more clear than your clarinet lead. Time to start carving eq. I was able to boost the track 6dB without the limiter reacting much. Let's go over what I did, track by track. The Aahs weren't so bad, I just cut 8dB from around 2700Hz to keep them from interfering with the clarinet. The bass wasn't so bad either, but interfering with the cello. I gave the bass a small boost around 100Hz and a small cut around 200Hz. I also dropped it 4dB. I mono-ed the bodhran as well as limited its loudest peaks slightly. I also mono-ed the clarinet (you're probably working with mono tracks anyway, so just adjust the pan accordingly instead of monoing and re-panning), then panned it slightly to the right (+14, of 64, so slightly). The clarinet then got a boost around 3000Hz by 4dB. It is now too loud during it's higher pitch sections, but it's up to you to figure out by how much and adjust the volume accordingly. The guitar was too loud, so I dropped it 4dB, and then cut everything above 1kHz by 12dB. That placed the guitar more in the background. The cello got the reverse treatment compared to the bass; with a boost around 250Hz and a cut from 100Hz down, both of these around 4dB. I also cut a little from the 3kHz area here, but that might not make a big difference. Just to make sure the cello doesn't crowd the clarinet. The Oohs I cut at around 3500Hz by 5dB to make sure they don't interfere with the clarinet. The piano got a subtle boost around 800Hz and a cut around 3kHz. The strings I didn't do anything with. Then I was free to boost the output 6dB in a limiter. Most of the time, the limiter doesn't even have to do anything, so there's some headroom for further boosts if it's still not loud enough. According to my spectrum analyzer, there's still improvements to be done. The 3-5kHz area could use some beefing up, excess bass could be cut from most tracks that don't need any lows. I didn't bother with reverb (which could place instruments further back, if necessary - like the guitar) and other effects (like a touch of overdrive on the clarinet which would add harmonics, higher frequencies that would help with clarity). Gotta say that the instruments themselves aren't that great, but we all gotta start somewhere.

Raise the listening volume, mix it the way it's supposed to sound, then worry about getting the whole track loud. Not sure what you mean by the waves looking loud; dunno if you're just talking about amplitude or some particular shape or dynamics to them. Check to see that you don't have a lot of excess bass frequencies. Those can cause the level meters to go way up without actually contributing to the sound at all. Other than that, carve with eq, limit transients, compress. mp3 example plz. Helps a lot to hear and see for ourselves.

I don't know if you know this, but most studios have money. Most hobbyists... well, we kind'a don't. Headphones is a lot more accuracy for the money. Reflections always matter. Reverb and phase interference are gonna mess with your idea of what your mix really sounds like. If you've been in two dozen studios, you should know they tend not to have lots of hard, flat surfaces.

+1 blue, thanks Emu and gang. If you look at the tracklist, it's almost as if we've made progress in the last... years? Also, all remixers on the project: Go here, fill stuff out. Otherwise we can't use your tracks on the album.

I sequence music. I'm introspective, questioning just about everything I've done. So far so good for your theory. And I play a little guitar, a little more bass than guitar, some drums, some keyboards, occasionally percussion... and I've become more outgoing, active, focused... Which either means that learning more instruments changes you, or that you change as you grow up.

Dunno how much time I can spend on this, but I'm in. chill man -10 solar man -10 cloud man -7 commando man -10 knight man -6

Sounds like there's an event in the beginning that pans it right. Check to see if there's such an event. Dunno how FL handles panning, but if the above doesn't work, go to the beginning of the song and correct the panning before playing. See what happens then.

As do I. I'll email you later.

STOP! It's a simple brain exercise: Can it make sound on its own? Does it have usb or midi ports? These two questions answer what it is quite well. If it can make sound on its own it's either a synth or a sampler, and probably a bit of both. The manual doesn't seem to say either way, just talks about "sounds". But... we now know it makes sound. If it has midi or usb ports, you can connect it to a computer and record just the midi. The manual says it has a usb port. Additionally, if it has any audio out ports, you can record the audio out of it, whether this be single notes or entire songs. The manual says it has. Stop jumping to crazy conclusions.

If so, have a thread for all competitions stickied in the competitions forum, with links to currently running competitions. Community can move fast and bury compo threads.

A midi keyboard sends midi data to the computer. There aren't necessarily any samples, any sounds built into it. What it does is just send notes and cc data to the computer, and works pretty much as sequencing by mouse (except in real time). More advanced keyboards (then called synths) have sounds, and can send (and receive) midi. What I use. 130USD, comes with a compatible usb cable, non-weighted keys (more organ than piano), midi only (no sound, just midi, so you need a computer to use it). A quick search for "midi cable usb", for use with keyboards with traditional (old, pre-usb) midi ports reveals products that cost 30 bucks or less. Just avoid the really cheap ones, they're cheap for a reason. That guy has no idea.

Yup. Same with a few others, who are either waiting for me to notice I've forgotten to give them feedback, or somehow forgot they're supposed to send in their tracks as wavs. Also, turning zyko into an orange got me two wips, quite quickly. I should do that more often.

UPDATE! PROGRESS! FINALLY! I've removed a color (and there are no red tracks, either). The tracklist should now be a lot easier to approach to see what's available and what isn't. We want those orange tracks remixed, and we don't care who does them as long as they're good. Veterans, work faster, gimme progress. Newcomers, work, gimme progress. Progress, ppl! We also have a consent form thing that you guys _need to fill out_ if you want your track(s) on the album. This, along with 4 other things we want from you, is a bit down in the first post. Seikens.com have been having some technical problems, and not all pages are up. I've included a link to a google cached version of the page. And pu_freak still can't call 317 Long Goodbye.

Can you finnish a track without lyrics? Is mine finnished? It could be longer.