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Flexstyle

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Posts posted by Flexstyle

    Mega Man 9 - 'Whipping up a Tornado!' V4 (Tornado Man) [Metal/DnB/Electronica]

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    <MODREVIEW>

    Right, negatives first. Let's start off with the mix.

    The first thing I notice off the bat is that there's very little discernible bass in the mix. The kick is weak, and the bassline is hard to hear during the main portion of the mix. Add that to the fact that there's very little in the way of bass frequencies throughout the mix, and there's a bit of a problem there. I suspect some compression will be your friend on that kick. What's your current DAW? I can give FL-specific tips much more easily, heh.

    The piano could really use some more quantizing, honestly. I know there's a line to balance between natural and mechanical, but you'll almost want to stray more towards the side of mechanical for a song of this genre, IMO.

    Do you have reverb on that open hat? I'd take a lot of that off, if that's the case. Honestly, the 909 open hat doesn't really make a good driving, rock-esque hat, so you might consider just putting it in for every off-beat.

    I'd take a bit of reverb off of the snare, too. You'd be surprised how little reverb is actually needed on DnB drums. Definitely lower the high-cut, as well, since those extra high frequency reverberations aren't really helping for the snare, either.

    Some of the drum fills are just a bit awkward, with the hat changing its rhythm just enough to sound a bit contrived.

    Also, just as a suggestion, I like to stick a sampled break (like an Amen break or something) or two into every DnB song I make. Just helps to fill out the spectrum a bit. Not every song needs to have this, but I like to use breaks a lot when possible.

    Now, let's get to the good stuff. I really like this arrangement, and the guitar work sounds really solid to me. Your synth leads are quite nice, and I love when you intertwine the leads together, whether they be guitar or synthesizer.

    Overall, I'd say that the lead actors in this production have really got their acts together. Now, all you need to do is focus on the supporting cast. Get a bassline in there so that we can hear it, get the drums tightened up (maybe consider different samples?), and really make this thing shine. I can think of no better example to give you than my own recently-released track from the DKC3 album, since it's almost the exact same style. Hard-driving, guitar-laden, synth-lead-toting DnB. You'd be appalled at the amount of compression I used on the kick and snare, haha, but that's sometimes what it takes. You can really change the sonic character of a drum sample by throwing it through three or four different compressors.

    Hopefully this helps out!

    </MODREVIEW>

    Among the Stars [Legend of Spyro trance/house?]

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Writing a good remix takes lots more time than a few hours. Usually it takes a few weeks.

    *cough* :-P

    So, this may come across as a bit harsh, but I promise I'm not trying to be mean! Here goes.

    Right, a few things up front: the kick is REALLY freaking bassy. Like, almost painfully so. Also, your master compression is really hurting the overall mix. There are parts of the song that sound quite distorted.

    As far as an arrangement goes, I'd rather just give a few tips. First off, to pull off a really good OCR trance song, I'd look no further than to our resident expert, bLiNd. If you listen to his take on JENOVA (here), you'll notice that not only does he have the main melody in there, but he's also added a couple different supporting arpeggios, woven in and out throughout the song. By varying the supporting instrumentation along with keeping the main melody at the forefront, he creates a really good trance mix.

    That's not enough, though. He's got clearly defined sections, and each section brings something truly interesting to the table. He doesn't pass off repetition with just an instrument added or subtracted as a separate section. Everything is interesting, and everything is evolving.

    Essentially, keep everything evolving. Don't let yourself repeat the same patterns too many times. Even if it's just a small change, always be changing SOMETHING. deadmau5, for instance, is a master of this, even at his most minimal. A filter, a drum pattern, a small change in the pad line, whatever.

    Finally, try and get some extra mixing tips. Learn how to make a polished electronic mix, and don't resort to the brickwall compressor until it's already a pristine mix. Use a high-pass EQ on anything that isn't a bassline or kick. Be ruthless in cutting unnecessary frequencies out. Electronic music truly stands out when it's polished, and I think that you really can make up for a certain amount of arrangement skill as long as the song is polished enough--see above, with my Concrete Man mix I linked to.

    Hopefully that helps a bit, sir!

    OCRA-0036 - Donkey Kong Country 3: Double the Trouble!

    in Album Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Arichnophobia

    :-D :-D

    My only complaint is that Enchanted, AkumajoBelmont's take on Enchanted Riverbank from the SNES soundtrack, isn't present on Disc 5. Any reason why that is the case?

    Yeah, unfortunately circumstances conspired to make it so that he never got to finish much besides what was heard in the previews. Jason Covenant took over from where Robbie left off, got stuck, passed the files to me, and I couldn't get past a couple of major issues, either. That said, if you want to hear all the WIPs that happened to that song, those are part of the bonus package that Emu's giving to anyone who does a full, song-by-song review of the album. ;-)

    Donkey Kong Country 3: Double the Trouble! - History

    in Projects

    Posted

    Don't get all Nutz in the Head, mate! This album is sure to drop soon. We just have some Unfinished Business to attend to before we can send it out. I would say you should Bash the Bastards who are in charge of these Shenanigans Bananigans, but I'm one of them! Just Winter the storm and Let It Beat--the team is under K'ReMispheric Pressure to release it soon, and they'd be very Vext by a Banana Revolution against the site. We don't want a Post-Apocalyptic Society up in here. Besides, you Can't Boss Us Around and before you know it, you'll see that the Party's Over There!

    :-D

    Disney's Wreck-It Ralph

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-bogia/wreck-it-ralph_b_2220403.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment&ir=Entertainment.

    I've not actually seen this movie, but I have to wonder, if true, why this is the first time I've seen anything on it from anyone, and why quite outspoken Sarah Silverman and lesbian Jane Lynch continued to record for it.

    That'd be because the writer is grasping at straws, just trying to find something to be offended by. Sheesh. No reason to ruin a great movie like this with a self-righteous crusade, like that hack is doing.

    Where to begin with producing electronic music?

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Careful, the "What program is the best?" question tends to open a can of worms. There are a LOT out there, but you can download demos of Reason, FL Studio, Sony ACID, Reaper, or a bunch of others that should get you started. The effects you named are usually included in spades with any given suite, and there are tons of freeware plugins out there as well! As far as drum samples go, there are loads of freebies out on the internet. Just make sure whatever you grab is legal to use. :)

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