blue.nocturne
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Posts posted by blue.nocturne
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The sidestick sounds out of place at the beginning and the steel drum roll at 0:11 sounds very mechanical. The atmosphere is not bad at all, I'd have to say that the main fault of this song is that it feels repetitive.
I can tell that there's new stuff, but it just feels very repetitive.
The left panned violin hits are pretty nice, but it should play other things other than the violin hits.
The lead at 1:40 is too much, need to cut down on that.
But yeah the song is actually quite peaceful, not bad.
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Ahh, I know they don't get paid, but it's been quite a while. I hope Larry gets his stuff up soon! I'm glad he wasn't shot or something.
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1:11 and 2:17 sounds a tad too loud, it sorta hurts because it's so high pitch. It sounds pretty awesome so far, but I would say to watch the really high pitch square noises, especially the ones that are held for a long time. Also, the flute's tone quality annoys me, it's so prominent but it sounds fake and it could sound a lot better with a better flute. However, I really liked what you have so far, keep it up!
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It's pretty good, but I would have to say that percussion seems a bit wimpy. Some of the instruments sound a tad midi-esque sadly, especially the taiko and pizzicato.
There are some moments of note discord, some work well, but I will try to mention all the spots where they are too off the wall:
0:55, the entrance of the flute seems to be in a strange key compared to the rest
1:25, the flute sounds odd
1:50, the piano has one of the middle low notes off
1:53, the piano again, the transition feels off key
2:08, the high piano before the da-duh transition, the transitional chords work
The piano sounds off because it's lays out the chords, but it actually may be the flute's fault. Everything else sounds fine.
It has an interesting feel to it, and is pretty catchy, but in terms of quality it needs some work. Great potential though!
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I noticed that it hasn't been updated as much, so little in fact that only 5 or so threads are shown.
Is it because DJP is on an straight accepting/rejecting spree..
or if Liontamer is overcome with life at the moment...
or any other crazy reason?
I like reading it occasionally to see what the judges are looking for, so it'd be nice to know.
Also, there are like thousands of threads shown in the "Judges Decision Forum" if viewed from the forum main panel, but only in actuality very few threads that can be seen.
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I would say not to use midi files unless you absolutely have to because if you use it as a base, your remix will sound too much like the original and you can't be creative if too much of the foundation is set. Like I see people grabbing midis off of VGMusic and "remixing" in 8 bit, afterward posting them on Youtube. Usually the results come out terribly.
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@kobuu: I never did a KH remix here, the most I ever did of it were midis and arrangements. I am considering to do one eventually though. Maybe you got me confused for BlueMagic?
@Glitch: I believe the flute boy song is not in the SPC archive of the game, so I had to base it off midis and memory. Plus I find situations rare when clapping sounds cool, so no need to worry about that.
Oh yes, I ninja updated it awhile ago. It should now be a total of 2:54, with a violin solo and the main theme added.
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My my, quite the violent type.
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Well the first thing that caught my attention was the title, "I wuv Eve" and all I can say is that you can do better than that!
About your song.. very good atmosphere, other things need tweaking.
The weird fake saxophone at 0:40+ doesn't work and it's too random in my opinion.
It seems you are remixing "Arise Within You," and I would suggesting remixing more off the Choir Pad's notes from the original. Your background does that, I notice, but it's not prominent like in the original so I had trouble recognizing it at first. This song has a lot of potential though. Beef up the percussion and melody's presence in the song and It'd be awesome.
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Very nice! Great instrumentation, balance, etc. Only negative thing about it is that is repetitive, and the same percussion can be found throughout the piece. Other than that, pretty much flawless.
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It's surprisingly good! However, it's very close to the source, so even though it is cool, it will not pass with the judges since they would consider it more of an arrangement or a remake instead of a remix. I think you should still attempt submitting though, they might still give it a chance. You have some really nice atmosphere and good use of reverb. Pretty much no areas where I can detect bad chords.
Pros: Keeps your interest, beautiful, good flow and atmosphere.
Cons: Seems too close to the original with updated synth. Orchestral instruments are noticeably fake, such as the pizzicato and clarinet.
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I used to sequence a lot of midis at VGmusic, but I'm starting to like just making mp3s now. I mainly did midis for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Kingdom Hearts I and II. I'd say my best one was the very last one I did, which was Gusty Garden from Super Mario Galaxy. Although sadly, forum activity seems to be dropping quite a bit in VGmusic.
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At the exact moment of 3:33, I hear the pads playing G minor, and even though it was playing that before, the pads don't have a clear cut pitch like the harp and ocarina, so B and B flat doesn't sound too bad if the chord is sorta blurry. The problem I find with the intro of the ocarina at 3:33 is that both the ocarina and harp are fighting for melody, and when two melodies are playing different keys, I find it hard to ignore. I mean, it doesn't sound that bad, but whenever I hear things like that in my own music, it drives me crazy, since it sorta sounds cool, but it disrupts the atmosphere at the same time.
By the time the harp plays B, the ocarina is playing G, so B and Bb are not played at the same time on the same octave. But does it really sound that off to you?You have to remember your pads in the background are playing G, B flat, and D. So it agrees more with the ocarina than the harp; the harp sounds like the odd ball. Even though the harp and ocarina aren't playing at the same time, the background pads are playing a clear cut chord. It's a blurry sounding chord, but when it is reinforced with a B flat, it sounds clearer and the harp's B sticks out.
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I remember when playing that game, there was this weird kid in the forest who would play the flute and disappear when you would get close to him. I always thought that the flute melody would make a great remix, so yup, I did one based on it.
http://files.filefront.com/Sacred+Flute+Finalmp3/;10499773;/fileinfo.html
It's not quite done yet, but I hope to transition it to Saria's Song and/or the main theme of Zelda games. I usually don't do non-orchestral songs, so any comments on how I could improve the percussion and beat would nice. Like, I'm most concerned about the choice of the kick, because it seems to fit in some sections and other sections it feels too exposed.
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Ooo, very catchy. Nice job so far.
It's spunky, calm, and cool at the same time.
Although, if there's anything to improve, I'd have to say:
a. It's a little weak, like the percussion really lacks that oomph.
b. It could use a little more energy, some parts need to be EQ'ed to sound sharper and to sound out more.
c. It's very conservative, it sticks really close to the source. It might not make OCremix for that reason, however I think it's a well done remix.
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The pad used for the first two minutes makes the song a bit dry in my opinion.
It sorta works and doesn't at the same time, because it loses my interest after 30 seconds, and after that it seems to just drag on.
I honestly like the parts after 2 minutes a lot better.
There's some harmonic disagreements with the harp at 3:33 to the end. Some notes of the harp clash with the mood. This is most noticeable during the entrance of the ocarina at 3:33, the harp plays D, C, B, C but the ocarina plays B flat---held--, G. The B flat of the ocarina and the B of the harp clash at that part. This happens again at 3:42, where the harp plays the same sequence, but the ocarina is D and B flat instead. That section seems to be mainly in G minor, so I would suggest changing the harp to D, C, B flat, C.
That end part is actually quite nice though, but it can get repetitive.
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It sounds midi-esque and it makes everything sound really awkward.
Sometimes even good ideas can sound terrible without proper balance, orchestration, and/or atmosphere. It might sound decent with proper synths, but at its current state, it really doesn't catch on.
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Grats to everyone! (including HoboKa)
It's great to see how much everyone improves over each CMC.
That's why I keep entering, so I can polish up my compositions.
Also I use Garritan Personal Orchestra, which is why my songs are mainly orchestral.
But next time, I'm going to use more of the FL synths hopefully, since I'm starting to think I'm a string-a-holic.
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This it the WIP forum, I honestly think not responding would be a more common form of hate since then your post just sinks out of sight.
Anyways, I don't think you should let "bad" comments bring you down. Technically every song has bad points, but if you at least realize what the bad points are, you can cover it up with awesomeness.
Don't confuse constructive criticism with hate!
I think you just need to find your "groove." If you truly are happy with your song, then no one's comments can bring you down.
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The claps aren't that bad in my opinion, they just need to be fuller in sound and less "weak" sounding. The bigger issue is that the overall beat and rhythm stay consistent throughout the whole song. Yes the percussion changes, but it is hardly noticeable, so it feels the whole song plays the same beat. If you really pronounce the melody and harmonies, I think you can hide that though.
The melody is sometimes played by a delayed synth or one that is way too wimpy to play melody. This is especially true at around 1:50+, the melodic synth is way too weak and the song loses a lot of power at that point. I'd say either boost the middle-high EQ's of that synth, stack orchestral strings onto it (on an octave), or to change it completely.
Now for the happy comments.. I think your atmosphere is really well done, so no tweaking needed there. Good integration of tunes from SotN, best Castlevania made yet imo. Transitions are well done, and I enjoy the end fadeout. Despite my comments, I feel it could make it with some tweaks. So keep at it.
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What VST's did you use for the orchestra-instruments?
I use Garritan Personal Orchestra, it's a decent orchestra library. It's fairly cheap, yet it can be a huge pain to use sometimes.
Also, I decided just to submit it to see how it'll do. I tried changing some parts, but it did not really sound any worse or better. At first, I was considering at making the ending a little less abrupt, but then it makes it less mysterious and more generic. But oh well, I just hope the judges like it.
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Yep, I agree with sephfire.
Another thing I would note is that if you are truly happy with what you make, then it's a major success. If you aren't happy with your song, then you can listen to your favorite pieces and analyze their songs, finding out "how" they do certain things.
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I feel you need to do more panning, it feels a lot of the instruments are in the middle area.
Also, remember that a lot of the Sytrus pads stack on fifths, so for instance if you put in a "C", it may sound like a C and a G, or even a different note entirely. Some portions seem too dense because of this, so be careful with the background.
The percussion is pretty well balanced, but the pads are what bugs me. Also when writing for orchestral instruments, long held notes rarely stay the same volume. It makes it seem really synthetic if it is held the same volume, this is especially important for strings and woodwinds.
Despite this, your atmosphere and overall quality seems to be improving with each song you do. Probably the main criticisms of this song are that it does not change enough, could use better synths, a little boring, and too dense of a background. It would make a good background song for a game or something, but it's not active enough to be put on an ipod in my opinion.
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Personally I feel the neck pickup has better tone, but the middle pickup works better with the current structure of the song. That could change on later sections, depending on what you're aiming for. Too little work to critique on at the moment.. but so far it's pretty good.
Strange Popping Noises in FL 8
in Music Composition & Production
Posted
Well, ever since I installed FL 8, I'd get strange random popping noises and it's really annoying because it stays on the rendered mp3 too. It was not like this in FL 7.
-I adjusted my buffer size in the audio settings, no luck there. (set at 50)
-I opened old FL 7 projects, popping sounds are in them too.
-It's random, I can technically render 50 times, and there will be different instances of popping in each mp3. It's not severe, but very noticeable popping and it happens in areas that are high in pitch more often than low pitch areas. Does not seem to be linked to CPU usage, although I tend to hover around 60-80%.
-It happens in certain parts of the song more than others, but can still occur in any part of the song.
Anyone know how I can solve this issue? It really sucks because I did 80% of this song in FL 7, and the last few parts in FL 8 and I can't open it in FL 7 anymore.