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Flexstyle

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Posts posted by Flexstyle

    DJ controller suggestion

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    250$ for me is a manageable price. Plus I'm aiming to get one off Amazon as it seems the prices are more friendly. Thanks for the advice anyway :)

    Sure, I wasn't necessarily suggesting you grab the unit from the store--of course Amazon is more reasonably-priced! I'm just saying you may find it useful to touch any given piece of hardware before you buy it.

    DJ controller suggestion

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Pioneer makes pretty decent gear, as far as I know.

    I personally own the Numark Mixtrack, with a Traktor Audio 2 as the audio interface. So far so good, although I need to sit down and manually re-map some stuff in Traktor 2.

    Numark also makes an upgraded version of the Mixtrack, called the Mixtrack Pro. It includes a built-in audio interface, much like the Pioneer unit you linked.

    Basically, my recommendation is to go to a music store, find out what feels most comfortable, and then get that. Keep in mind, too, that some products come with better included software than others--when I bought my Traktor Audio 2, it came with a full version of Traktor 2, not just Traktor LE.

    You should probably expect to spend about $250 for an entry-level controller and stable audio interface regardless, though.

    External Hard Drive Issues

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Toshiba requires "written" proof of purchase - without it, they "cannot process your claim"

    What really pisses me off is that I relied on the 3TB for all my music stuff. There goes all that.

    Bullcrap. They know when they manufactured that drive. I mean, I'm not trying to discount that you're having difficulty, but that's utter crap on their part. As a guy who's spoken with many different warranty service folks, that's incredibly poor service from them (and possibly an outright lie), and they say "three-year warranty," then they need to honor that warranty. Just because they don't know where it was purchased doesn't mean that they don't know when it was made. The whole proof-of-purchase-needed bit is 100% unacceptable.

    On the more practical side of things, I'd make sure that everything important is backed up to SOMEWHERE. Sounds like you may be up a creek without a paddle very shortly here. Hard drives are probably the single most failure-prone computer component out there. One thing you COULD do--and this would DEFINITELY void the warranty, so this would be my last resort recommendation--is get a SATA-to-USB adapter of some sort and rip the drive out of its enclosure to see if it's the drive itself, or just the enclosure.

    *NO* Tetris (GB) 'Blocks of Madness!'

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Yeah, echoing what has been said up there, I'm going to say that there are several needing improvement in this track, and I'm not going to cover all of them.

    A couple of the big points to consider are as follows:

    DRUMS

    There's literally nothing in the way of transitions. You go from a tame beat in the beginning to the machine-gun kick with nothing to warn anyone of the change, and I can name probably four patterns that you've used in the entire song for drums. A real drummer definitely doesn't just play the same four-beat pattern over and over and over again, so use some creativity! Fills are nice, as is changing up the basic beat once in a while.

    Speaking of a "real drummer," gotta make sure you have some dynamics in the drumming. What I mean by that is that the drummer doesn't hit each drum equally hard every single time he hits the drum. Get some velocity modification in there, yo! Finally, make sure that the beat isn't completely locked to the time grid. A real drummer will have some slight imperfections in his drumming, rather than being machine- and robot-like in hitting every single note in time with the grid.

    MIXING

    The drums are incredibly thin-sounding, so you're going to have to beef those up significantly. I can barely hear anything but the "click" of the kick, the snare is mostly "snap," and the hats are too loud compared to the rest of the drums. I'd reconsider the kit you're using, as it may not have enough depth to it to really get a realistic drum sound going.

    The guitars are all kind of a mush of same-level-ness. The acoustic guitar would sound nice if I could hear it, while the rhythm and lead guitars are all kind of the same glob of sound. Basically, you're going to want to consider the fact that each instrument should have its own part of the EQ spectrum--a lead guitar should occupy a different place than the rhythm guitars, and probably should have a different tone as well. Stereo separation will help your case.

    Finally, the entire mix is lacking in any semblance of bass response. Whether it's the fact that the kick hasn't got any low end to it, or the fact that I can't hear any sort of bassline at all, you're severely lacking in the low end.

    There's a lot more, but you'll be best served by working on some of the crits here and then taking this over to the workshop forums, if you do choose to continue working on it. Best of luck as you continue to improve!

    NO

    OCR03003 - *YES* Mirror's Edge 'Clear Reflections'

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Traaaaaaaaaance! Also known as the best genre EVAR. Also, I love this song, so I'm pleased to see a remix here in the queue!

    Ahem.

    So, source-wise, I've got zero complaints. Plenty of usage there, even without the vocals that made the original track so great.

    Production-wise, I've got a few nitpicks. The whistle synth is a bit harsh to my ears, and I wish overall that the song's highs were higher and the lows lower. The deep bass just isn't there, and the energy is concentrated in the midrange, rather than being spread around. The drums, too, could stand to be a touch punchier. I do echo OA's concerns on the piano, too, as that's mechanical as heck.

    Thankfully though, these are only nitpicks, and not enough to make this unpassable. Let's see this on the front page and get some Mirror's Edge love!

    YES

    *NO* Super Mario Land 'Oh, Daisy!'

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    I'm gonna go ahead and echo what Kris and Andrew have said before me and say yeah, definitely gotta get that lead guitar out there!

    I'd also venture to say that your case will be helped with slightly less-mechanical drums, too, as it doesn't really sound like there's any humanization at all. Every kick sounds the same, every snare sounds the same, and you get the point. If the kit allows for some dynamics, by golly, go ahead and use those dynamics!

    Finally, I'm personally not sold on the length of the song as it stands. That is to say, I think you could probably do more with it--it's a bit short. This part isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but I was left feeling cut off at the end.

    Hope to see this one back soon!

    NO (resubmit)

    OCR03038 - *YES* Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & 2 'SZRC Anthem (Busiest Days of My Life)'

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted · Edited by Flexstyle

    Remixer Name - Flexstyle feat. OverClocked University

    Remix Name: SZRC Anthem (Busiest Days of my Life)

    Game: Sonic 2 (Genesis), Sonic 3 (Genesis)

    Source: Aquatic Ruin Zone -

    , Ice Cap Zone -

    Remix: (MP3 V1 download available)

    EDIT: okay you guys here is one with less compression ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

    So, this was my losing track in the Sonic Zone Remix Competition 2014, but it's also the one I'm most proud of at this point. Stevo (Level 99), Andrew (OA), and Deia (DragonAvenger) all pitched in and got me some excellent instrumental tracks in the span of about three days on incredibly short notice, and they all ROCKED this track. Stevo, in particular, REALLY brought the heat with multiple layers of rhythm AND clean guitars. The vocals are done by yours truly using a crummy Sennheiser e815 handheld mic--which is good for live vocals and not much else--SO MUCH VOCAL EQ. Didn't even bother to use a stand or a pop filter or anything while recording because screw you, mate. (That's the punk rock attitude, right?) :-P

    I deliberately chose the Ice Cap zone theme for this competition because I wanted to see what I could bring to an "overused" source tune. Just had to have a bit of a challenge. Well, I'm pretty sure nobody's done a punk rock spoof of the Jetzons before!

    The lyrics are a bit "referential," so basically the story is that I did this song during midterms/finals (for one class) week in my final semester of school. Since I also work on the days I'm not in school, I don't usually have a lot of time to work on music, hence this ode to FL Studio. Growing up is serious business, yo!

    Anyways. I'm aware of a couple flaws in the vocal mixing 'n such, but I wanted to let this be since it's the first time I've done this genre. Zero changes from what I submitted to the competition. I'll have something even more polished the next time, hopefully!

    LYRICS:

    All through the day

    I have no time

    To play with my F L Studi---o

    And so I must wait

    Til I get home

    To play with my F L Studi---o

    I wish I had time

    Throughout the day

    To play with my F L Studi----o

    But I am a working

    And learning man

    No time for my F L Studi----o

    SZRC

    Busiest days of my life

    How time flies by

    --------------------------------------------

    Aquatic Ruin Zone -

    Ice Cap Zone -

    The Music Software Deals thread

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Just a little side note...you do need an iLok.

    Great news! You're mistaken! :-P

    Your Little PrimalTap license and installer will now be shown in your SoundToys.com account, follow the link below to access your account. You will need to install Little PrimalTap and then follow the activation instructions when you open up your DAW. You can activate your authorization directly to your computer and DO NOT need an iLok USB key.

    Sale/Want 3.0

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For anyone looking to upgrade their PC, but don't want to spend a ton of money, I'm selling a Radeon HD 7870 video card. The exact specs can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131510

    I'm selling it because I want to upgrade to a R9 280x or 290x (can't decide at the moment). I've only had it since last Nov, and it is still in perfect condition. I'll let it go for $125.00 (US shipping included).

    It is a really good card. It can run Skyrim, and Outlast on ultra, and BF4 on high settings with no problems (I haven't tested BF4 on ultra settings yet, but I can you would like me to). The only con is, the fan is a little louder than I would like it.

    Just hit me up if you're interested.

    Oh man, that is a smokin' deal. If I was in the market for an upgrade, I'd hit that up immediately. As it stands, I can just point and say "buy that thing if you're running a few-years-old card!"

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