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Flexstyle   Members

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Posts posted by Flexstyle

  1. The news is that I currently have 11 full final tracks, and about another five promised to me this week. I'm hoping for 18 tracks total, and there were a total of 22 claimed, so hopefully I'll have everything in my back pocket by the time MAGFest hits. Album release date isn't set anywhere yet, as that's up to staff, but I should have everything ready for them by mid-Feb, counting artwork.

  2. I just wanna pop in here and say that the Shure SM7B is a fantastic mic for voiceover purposes, especially since it tends to be MUUUUUCH better about rejecting background noise than any condenser mic, yet still has a great "deep" sound to it. I've used it to record in a noisy room with several computers going, etc., and couldn't tell that they were there at all when I listened again on headphones.

  3. This is it, folks--this is the first artist album I've released officially since 2011. As you may know, I've been staying busy--released a remix album, an original soundtrack, and a collection of all my video game remixes in between now and then. Of course, I've been busy here on OCR as well, not to mention the fact that I completed my bachelor's degree in that time span.

    This album has several original songs, and also includes several remixes I've done for other artists over the past few years, and they've graciously given me permission to use these mixes on my album. These artists include Benjamin Briggs, Jamison Randall (TheGuitahHeroe), and more!

    I've also been given the opportunity to work with gifted visual artist Edward Dennis (Final Fantasy - Random Encounter visual artist), and he's done some truly fantastic artwork for the album.

    In order to showcase this fantastic package, I'm shelling out for high-quality CD digipacks, rather than the low-end generic jewel cases I've used for past albums. Additionally, I'm having the album design done by a friend of mine who's been in the music industry for decades, and the quality of this package will be the highest I've ever released.

    This all means that this is the most expensive album I've ever put together, but fear not--the CD will cost you, the listener, the same price as I've always charged for them in the past! Ten dollars gets you this gorgeous package, as well as digital downloads in any format you like from the Bandcamp page. It does, however, mean that I'm first releasing a preorder, hopefully in order to recoup a few of my costs.

    If you want to support but don't want to order the package and pay for shipping, do not fear! The digital album will be available as always, as well, and that will also ease my financial burden in putting together this labor of love!

    Even if you can't (or don't want to) buy this album, could you consider sharing the link below with your friends? I could use as many eyeballs on this project as I can possibly get, so even a Facebook post is incredibly appreciated!

    You can preorder this new album, Perfect Getaway, at https://flexstyle.bandcamp.com/album/perfect-getaway.

    Did I mention the release date is my birthday?

  4. I know none of this matters much to anybody, since I'm some sort of ultra-lurker on the forums here, but I figured it's good to put these sort of things down in writing for accountability blah blah:

    (stuff)

    I seriously love watching the forums, and I figure it's time to dive in. I haven't felt like I "belonged" because I was out of commission, musically speaking, for months, but this seems like a really supportive community and I'd love to be part of it.

    Get on in here, yo! Welcome aboard! :-D

  5. Hrm, this'll be interesting....

    I don't really remember what goals I had in 2014, especially since I didn't post anything in last year's thread, but I did do some cool stuff.

    - I traveled more than in any other year. Got to go overseas, saw some states I'd never seen before here in the US, got to visit many friends.

    - I DJ'd at...let's see, 6 conventions, I think?

    - Didn't do anything more for official game OSTs, but did do a little work on a reality web show.

    - Finished all the songs for my new album.

    - Started a band.

    - Graduated and got my bachelor's degree!

    Here are some goals that I'd love to attain this year:

    - Play at least as many conventions as I did last year, but get paid to do so.

    - Get my band booked for at least one out-of-state show, and don't lose money on the venture.

    - Generally find a way to move my income stream less from working in the small-business IT support field and more towards the music field (recording, engineering, producing, DJing, etc.).

    Sounds doable, I think. :-D

  6. Thus far, I've gotten these things:

    - A nice, tidy sum of cash (much needed)

    - pajama pants

    - t-shirt

    - 3 packs of caramel Digestive Biscuits (UK friends will know what I'm talking about :-D)

    - carrying case for my Akai MPK49

    - Barnes and Noble gift card, fairly large

    - a couple of coffee mugs (which I collect)

    - my little sisters got me a spatula and some measuring spoons, which was quite thoughtful of them as I'll be moving out and in need of such things soon

    - black licorice wheels

    - coupon for a nice dinner (with guest) at my sister's house.

    - Iguana Deuces golden habanero pepper hot sauce

    - Coffee Bean gift card

    - four giant volumes of sci-fi/fantasy short stories courtesy of Secret Santa, The Damned.

    All of which is very much appreciated, and makes me feel incredibly, unjustifiably loved by many, many people. :-D :-D

  7. I have this awesome stuff from The Damned! Thanks a ton sir, I'm looking forward to reading all these novels. I think my posting here got delayed since there's another Michael Birch in the house (my dad, also a sci-fi and fantasy junkie) and anything addressed to plain ol' "Michael Birch" without my middle initial, and addressed from Amazon is assumed to be for him, and I live in a large family so it took 'em a while to figure this out. Nevertheless, this collection will undoubtedly be devoured even before MAGFest hits. For what it's worth, I at least opened the boxes in the correct order. :-P

    THANK YOU! :-D

    2014-12-24%2000.23.59b.jpg

  8. Hoo boy. Where to begin on this one?

    Let's list a few issues:

    - first, the source is hard to listen to, with that panning all over the place. (not your fault, of course, but worth noting.)

    - like the source, the remix has almost no structure, nothing in the way of buildup, breakdown, ebb, flow, etc.

    - honestly, this sounds very much like a direct MIDI rip, with almost no variation on the original--just a different set of sounds.

    If you revisit this, you'll want to sit down and build a proper arrangement that has a beginning, an end, and discernible structure. You'll want to actually arrange the original to some degree, rather than just copying it note-for-note, and you'll probably want to upgrade your production approach a bit as well, since that whole "hard panning quickly" thing is hard to listen to.

    There's a lot more I could say, but I don't want to do all that typing. This should be enough to work on for now. If you want extra insight, the Workshop forums are always a great place to start!

    NO

  9. Whew, this is a tough one. There are some spots where the samples and the articulation thereof stand out as being really artificial--there's some grace notes in the oboe that are pretty jarringly unrealistic, a lot of the samples just feel like they don't have *quite* enough attack going on, or at least that they should have been triggered a little sooner, rather then exactly on the grid. Some of the samples are mixed a little weirdly--some unrealistic panning that could stand to be given more of a "room sound" treatment, etc.

    That said, this is truly a fantastic arrangement that just keeps getting better as it goes on, and some of the issues disappear as the song builds as well.

    This is tough, and I'm gonna guess this'll be a split vote, but I'm going to give this one a YES based on the strength of the arrangement overpowering the other issues.

    YES (borderline)

  10. I do most of my work in FL, but I've recently purchased Pro Tools and have been borrowing a Mac with Logic X on it for a while. I used to be certified in Logic and Pro Tools way back when, and so I'm trying to see if they're adding something new to my work flow. I'll say this: I'm still convinced that FL's piano roll is the best one for writing music in, but multitracking and mixdown duties are probably best handled in Logic or Pro Tools from what I'm finding.

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