Gario

Djmokram why the fuck aren't you at MAGfest. Were all here without you to make the crowd awesomer. And yeah, something about SOPA and killer studio chops and shit. Important post right.here.

what the fuck Ph and Tensei are here why aren't you inviting me you bitches seriously

You noob, posting your music when everyone is at MAG. Shame on you.

Wow, I actually like the glitchy-gated flute in the beginning, there. Kind of unexpected, yet awesome. I've got to say, this is actually pretty sweet, overall, for what it is. I want to hear someone bring in some serious hip hop vocals over this track, as it just sounds like it's missing from the track, as of yet. Unfortunately, there's a little lack of direction, at the moment. You keep playing variations of the same section over and over, with little pattern (save for the repetitive source) to keep it cohesive. It's... funny, in that it's both too repetitive and too varied all at once. Use a bit more of the source, and try to make your texture changes a bit more consistent. I really like this, though. Nice work.

Mmm, I actually really liked the arrangement, as far as what it is. I think when people listen to a Mario remix they want to still have 'Mario' in there. I don't think the judges will nail you on the arrangement, objectively speaking. I'm going to agree with the drums on this one - they are extremely boring. They need to have a lot of variety and spice, especially on a track like this that's supposed to have a lot of zest and spunk. The bit at 2:19 is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be more excitement in the set as a whole overall. This is absolutely critical in a song like this. The brass works in a 'I'm cheesy on purpose' sort of way, but some of the other samples are really quite grating. The piano sample in particular is really bland and unrealistic. Give it some volume, give it some humanity, don't play every chord at the same volume, add a little pedal to it... There's a lot of work on the piano before I can really accept it's presence on here. The production needs some more spread. Use a little panning in this to use the space better. Everything just crowds in the middle, as it stands, so don't be afraid to pan some instruments and drum set pieces to the left & right, even just a little bit. It'll help open up the track. The bass is pretty light, in here. Throughout the main sections it works, but there are some areas (like 1:14) where you have some intricate bass going down that no one can hear. You need to give the bass more strength in sections like this. Aside from what I've said, Flexstyle has a good review of what's going on - the intro, the drumstyle, the samples and such are all spot on, as well. Also, as he said, it's still a pretty fun piece - it just needs some more work before it'll have a chance in the panel. Good luck on it.

If you want to get started producing orchestral music from your computer you need a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that can handle your samples. Finale can actually work, but it's not the best tool for that job (though for score writing it's one of the best). If you want to stick with it, though, then find some appropriate orchestral VSTi's online, or buy something like EWQL Orchestra, and try to learn how to connect the VSTi's to your different lines of your score. I can't be more specific because I'm actually a Sibelius user, not a Finale user. I would personally invest in another DAW, though, as using a scoring program as a DAW has it's limits. Many people here use Fruityloops, Cubase or Reaper as their primary DAW, and I suggest those for writing orchestral music. There's also Reason, but from my personal experience I wouldn't suggest it for orchestral music (their samples are ok, but it can't accept most of the better sample libraries out there). Best of luck, I hope that's enough to get started with. Also, you should spend some time meandering in the Tutorial section - that'll probably have more details on what you need and how to use these tools.

I like the trumpet and violin tone, in this. That guitar, though... I like the idea of a guitar in there, but that just sounds too overcompressed and over EQ'd. It makes for some fine guitar soup. The lack of bass in this song also is distracting. Better guitar sound and some more bass would make this track win pretty hard.

... wait, a burglar came into your house while you were mixing? Holy crap, if I had your level of concentration... *ahem* Anyway, I like your textures for this track (especially from :50 on). The gated textures really work well, and the extra light take on the soundscape is quite fitting. Holy crap, the harmonic trickery at 2:12 is awesome, as well... I might steal that one day. I will say you need a much stronger bassline, though. At the moment, it seems like the only thing that's taking up that spectrum is the bass drum. Since that drum is as strong as it is, you'll certainly need to sidechain your bassline a bit to fit it in at appropriate strength, but the fact remains that you're nearly missing a bass in this song. Beef it up. I think I'll withhold any other criticism until you get further in the track, though... partly because I'm lazy, at the moment. Anyway, I hear a good deal of potential in the track, so keep at it.

Calling it 'Liontamer Shrimp' just doesn't have the same ring to it, man.

I want to make 50 remixes in the next year. No joke - with every remix or song I make my musical toolset to work with grows, so I'd like to expand it as much as possible by the year's end.

Pfft, he has time to go to MAG, he has time to do a remix.

I'm coming in Wednesday evening, but I won't be at MAG until Thursday morning. So... yeah, I'll be chillin' with the early crowd, by the sound of it.

I think what I've got going now pretty much covers the bass well enough - I added some girth to my second bass and had it sidechain my first bass, so now there's some more prominence to the bass section (without adding much in the way of volume). Anyway, this is final and subbed. Thanks for the help, guys.

Oh shi- Dammit, I miscounted and now feel like the biggest dick ever ('Current Events' looks exactly like 'Cruise Control'... kept counting that one incorrectly). Er... yay, I'm winnar. ... Yeah, no recovery from this one. Gario = Prick. Sorry.

Good thing someone brought this thread back, since no mod has come in and done a review yet. Wait a minute... Princess Clairey?! HEY! I haven't forgotten that I want to write a remix with you! YOU ABANDONED ME?! That makes me a sad remixer... *sniff* Anyway, time to man up and give this a review. Gorgeous singing, Clairey - nice way to make me feel even worse that we haven't moved forward with our collab yet. The steel string guitar work was superb, as well, making for a perfect combo. I liked a lot of the Metal Gear theme stings on strings + horn that you threw in there, but they're quite far into the background with some low tone instruments. I would find them more interesting if they could be heard a little better - maybe even bring up some of the strings involved an octave, just to make it a little more poignant. The sampled instruments are relatively low quality, in comparison to the rest of the mix. They lack the shine that a little high EQ would give them. Making some of the strings an octave higher and boosting the EQ on the highs a little bit would be ideal. To be honest, the arrangement starts to plod along after about the 3:38 (even despite the pitch change - it's still the same textures, same style...). It treads all of the old ground from earlier in the mix, which is boring. I'd like to see something change up a little bit by then - different drums, maybe a new instrument to add a different color, something. Your track is really good and will probably pass the panel no problem regardless, but if you could somehow make this last section more interesting that would make this close to perfect. Great mix, otherwise. Loved it, and wish you luck on the panel when you submit it!

Nah, Cruise Control has me beat by a vote or two, according to my count. And since the round is officially over as of twenty minutes ago there's not much anyone can do about it. Eh, Willrock and Halc didn't vote, either, so it makes us even. I just like to bitch about it, 'cause I'm a bitch. Though yeah, Darke COULD make the difference... Eh, Cruise control IS pretty good - I wouldn't feel bad losing to it, if it came down to it.

^ my thoughts for these last few minutes of the compo.

To break the double-post, let me bring in one more variable that hasn't been considered yet, as to why this thread is so long in comparison to other compos. Darkesword removed elimination from this compo. Thus, not only are there more people than ever participating, all of these participants are active for the entire compo (as opposed to the other compos, where the participants were cut in half/quarters every single round). More active participants = more interest in the compo, overall. Everyone is always more interested when their own mix (or the mix of their partners) are in the running, so without the elimination people are remaining interested in the outcome all the way to the bitter end. I still think it's funny to be worried about such a thing, as right now that only shows that the compo is popular and awesome, both of which are not bad things.

Ich... well, I don't have that particular sampler myself, so I can't give you focused advice on it. However, if I were to guess there should be a way to move when in the wav the sample strikes (rather than adjusting the attack, which creates an artificial envelope on the volume of the entrance). If it's the actual sample that's creating that entrance (and that would be very unprofessional for something like EWQL) then that'd be the only way to fix it that I could see. Alternatively, the velocity might not only affect the volume, but the attack as well (that's how it works on Reason's Orchestra set, anyway). If you can find the velocity settings you can adjust it's affect on the attack and set it to zero and manually tweek the attack, at will. Sorry if this advice doesn't help much - I'm going on what works for me in Reason, so it's a little out of my field, here. If some more orchestrally inclined members who have orchestra samplers like this could give some advice that would be ideal. If it does help, though, then awesome.

With EWQL I think these things can be worked through. I mean, they should give some options as to how the instruments make their attack, right? Something with more of a sudden attack would be ideal. *goes out looking up EWQL brass* Yeah, look at the envelope options, there should be an attack value. It just sounds like it's set too high, at the moment, and lowering that value would give the instruments the punch that they need. With that it should sound loads better, in fact. Give it a shot - if that knob let's you adjust it, then it might improve the sound considerably. Or, if you want to really get the most out of it, use a higher attack for the beginning of phrases, then lower the attack while the instrument runs through a phrase. It really, really helps make the instrument sound more 'real', overall.

Oh, that worked. Dunno why just left clicking it didn't work, but whatever. Alright, the synth work is pretty kick ass, I'm not gonna lie. I love the tight leads you have going, the awesome chippy sections and the general fun you have with the sources overall. I'm honestly not feeling the live instruments nearly as much. I agree they are a part of the piece and that they need to be there, but their quality is considerably lower than the synths. The brass work especially leaves something to be desired. If there's any way to make the brass attacks more pronounced and sharper, it'd be much better, considering how you use them. Overall, the live instruments could also use a bit more reverb - the synths have a nice wet sound, whereas the live instruments are rather dry. The bass drum could use a little more punch (a compressor, maybe?), and the same could be said of the snare. Otherwise I like the energy of the drums - there's a lot of interesting things going on in them, in general. The piano at the end is interesting, but it would be nice to be able to hear it in comparison to the rest of the mix. Giving the volume a boost for that part would make it work better for the piece overall. Yeah, my biggest beef with it would be the quality of the samples used against the synth work. The difference in quality is a little grating, as it stands, and I suspect giving the attack values some work and adding a little reverb would go a long way in fixing this. The arrangement is tight, though, and the synths really are great. There's a lot of good stuff going for this, so I hope you're able to make the necessary fixes for it to pass. Good luck with it!

I'd love to help you out, here, but the link isn't working for me, for some reason.

If someone arranged that as an NES soundtrack I would orgasm a little.