Gario

If you want some room in your car I can split the load. We're all going to the same place in the end, after all.

Perhaps it's too mechanical. Try varying the frequency of the cycles as well as the amplitude and see where that takes you. For example... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~... (Pretend the ~ is a cycle) Making it come in slow and build into the faster part will make it sound more realistic for orchestra instruments (they generally need a little time to adjust to the bend). For guitars samples it's probably better to start somewhere closer to the faster cycles, but try to vary the pattern, even (and preferably) a little at a time.

Heeeeere's some comments from me, before you submit it . First, before you submit anything you think is ready, give it a day or so with the 'Mod Review' tag. It helps to have one of those guys come in and tell you what they think. The mixing is pretty strange on the latest version of it. It seems as if you want to emphasis some random elements in the track... randomly, at the cost of more important instruments. For example, the guitar seems to be in the middleground for the track, then when the piano comes in it takes the foreground over. Perhaps the piano was even intentional, but if that were the case then you need to separate the important notes on the piano itself. Things just sound like a wash of sound, atm, because of the strange mixing. While it seems you've played it safe with the production (not really a bad thing) I suspect you could use a bit more in the highest & lowest end of the EQ, to give it some flavor. Not too much, though - as you know, clipping is bad . The arrangement isn't bad, although a touch on the conservative side. I think it's passable, though - no need to worry about it. The guitar + piano were really quite nice. I likes it. The mixing/mastering of this track will take it to new heights, if you work on it. Clean it up, put it in Mod review and see where that takes you.

WOAH! Great job on that one! I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep up with your episodes, there - I've loved those videos for some time now. Glad to see it'll be a consistent thing from you, from now on. Woot.

Pitch bends would be nice, and unlike the 'Modulation' button it's a fairly consistent function. Try using that for the slides + bends. I used to do it all the time for my old MIDI's, and do it now for my RSN files.

Yeah, Stevo's with me. It seemed to work out well enough. Now to figure out the travel plans with everyone so we can all start organizing that stuff from our ends.

This is where we're getting that idea. If you're exporting MIDI's then all the functionality you're asking for should come with the package. GM =/= MIDI. GM is a soundfont that interprets the MIDI - the MIDI itself is in fact what everyone uses when sequencing in FL. It's a standard computer code that tells the computer how to play the music. You should realize that most sequencers use a MIDI format and supplement it with VSTi's and other plugins. If you're using FL then you are, in essence, using a MIDI interface, but overlaying it with better effects and sounds. That's why you deal with 0-127 as your limitation in just about every field you can manipulate. Onto your primary point, is it perhaps one of the plugins that you're trying to apply to single notes? If so, then you can't export it as a MIDI, no matter what you try. If you're talking about the modulation function that comes standard on all MIDI's then it can only affect entire tracks in the sequencer. Otherwise, it should be exported with the track and thus not a problem, to begin with.

Really? I'm not doubting you; I'm just surprised how similar they are - just compare the two and see what I mean . I don't think it'll count against you, either way, so don't worry about it.

Mmm... I've made so many MIDI's using the Overdrive/Distortion guitar instrument. I don't know how I would've gotten around without em'. As for your original question, in my experience with MIDI there is no way to modulate individual notes, only entire tracks. You can adjust 'Velocity' with the individual notes, but that's it. I don't see why, given you're extracting a MIDI, you can't extract the Modulate program along with it. That's a standard MIDI function, along with note, velocity, panning and volume. I don't know anything about the FL demo myself, so I don't know what the limitations on the MIDI exporting are, but they sound strange, if not nonsensical, to me.

Not bad at all! I'm liking what you've done with this classic, here - the changes, the source usage, the instrumentation, etc. are spot on, here. I hear what Emunator is saying here, and I pretty much need to simply agree with it, here. Some of the samples seem a touch simple, to me, considering the sweet texture from the track overall (Malstrom Ebm Lead, if I'm not mistaken?), but I suppose it's all a part of the genre. I use it from time to time, so it's all personal taste, here. Waitin' for the OCR edit; don't let us down!

T'was what I thought . Alrighty, give us something good, Divine Wrath .

Off of your recommendation I went out to watch it. It was pretty darn good. Ending - should've left it in the air, no camera toward the... For those that haven't seen it, I'm not revealing more than that.

I think that's the rule for PRC. I don't know if the rule posted is dated, but the rule Doulifée posts on every compo is... He'll post in here and/or send us a PM, if he wants each of us to send a source, so I'm not going to worry about it.

Um... lol, I guess I called it, earlier. Both mixes were really great. So much so that they got the exact same score . I think Divine wrath gets the source, though, according to the rules. If I'm wrong (or he wants me to post one) then let me know - I had something neat in mind for the next round

I waz here, waitin' for your WIPz. Rawr. I also feel for you with the limited capabilities on a laptop (that's the ONLY thing I have to work on, at this time - I feel the pain). A trick around that is to use the same instruments for different purposes, using filters and such to make them SOUND like they're different Pending on how you submit it you might still be able to make changes to the track before it hits the panel. If you can replace the upload with a newer file on Tindeck then you're in luck. I'm not sure you can do that with Tindeck (box.net lets you do that - it's why I use it ). It's worth a shot, though.

... that looks delicious.

Haaaaappy birthday, you two May Paypal cooperate with your terms as a birthday present, DjP .

Urgh... some music posting etiquette would be nice, here. Asking for feedback on a song using a video that waits a minute before getting to the track is rather wearing on the listener. Furthmore, Youtube is a terrible place to host, since it hurts the sound files with it's compression. It's understandable if you'd like people to listen to your music on Youtube, but if you don't need to host there (like, say, for us here) try hosting an Mp3 on Tindeck.com or Box.net as well and link the track in this thread as well as your signature, please. Now that that's out of the way, let's see what you've got... Actually, I'm pretty impressed with this track. Clean production combined with a traditional metal style that I oh-so love. Needless to say, it's terribly short (at what, 1:30, total?), so I'd recommend making this longer, if at all possible. I hear some overcompression at the end of the track, but again I can't tell if it's youtube's fault or a fault in the track. Hence why we prefer links to mp3's rather than videos on youtube. It sounds like the drums are live. Nice work on it, but it needs some more 'snare' on the snare. Right now it sounds like a marching band - tighten the snare on that set for a crisper sound. To be frank, it's a great track, but it's too short. Expand on it (getting it to... ~3:00 would be great) and perhaps add some more original material to fill that time (it's a bit conservative) and this could have a shot here on OCR. Good luck.

I use Reason 3.0, so I can't really remix the tracks, from my end (unless anyone has Reason 3.0...?). If and Reason remixers want to take a stab at one or two of my tracks, I'm game - just let me know here .

A variation of the 'How do I remix' question... but hell, I'll help, anyway. Musicianship skills that are required: Dictation - The ability to hear music and replicate it via score or through another medium. You cannot possibly remix without this skill. It's an easy skill to practice, fortunately. Even better, a good way to practice is to listen to VG music and recreate them on your instrument... sweet. Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) - While making music doesn't require this, if you want to clean up your work (or even write it from scratch) and share it with people on the internet it's mandatory. Competency with a DAW is mandatory. Proficiency in an instrument - For the sake of this topic, a sequencer will be considered an instrument. You can have the greatest ear for music & remixes in the world, but without any instrumental competency you have no outlet. Musicianship skills that are recommended: Recording - While the ability to use a good DAW can make up for this, sometimes, and the ability to use a sequencer can make this less important, it's certainly a good thing to know how to do well (and have the equipment to do effectively). It's pretty tough to deal with poorly recorded samples, making for much more work than is worth most of the time, for a remixer. Form - People guess their way through remixes often enough to where it's possible to make music without this skill, but it's generally obvious when a person does this (and not in a good way, either). Having some skill in shaping the overall structure of the track makes remixing much, much easier. I highly recommend learning about form and applying it. Basic Interval/Chord/Scale/Harmonic Theory - While not necessary by any means, it's nice to be able to communicate with other people about the music. Theory does close to nothing while composing, believe it or not, but it DOES allow you to explain a problem/understand an explanation of a problem with far greater ease. For example, instead of fumbling with words, like 'That thing you did at about 1:29, with the notes moving pretty quickly to make up the harmony', you can simply say 'The arpeggio'. It's quite nifty. Sight Singing - You don't need to be able to sing lines you've written in order to remix. It speeds up the process immensely, though, by allowing you to skip the step of playing back the project to 'hear how it sounds'. The less time you spend listening to your track the more time you can spend writing it. Singing the lines to yourself while writing them (or knowing what you're going to play before playing it) saves more time than you can imagine, when remixing. Musicianship skills that are nice, but specialized: Counterpoint - It's a great tool to use when trying to compose independent lines against a precomposed melody, and remixing provides this opportunity all the time. It's also an excellent tool for creating flowing harmonic motion rather than blocky, clunky harmonies. It's a tool that doesn't need to be applied to everything, but it's nice to have an understanding of it. Pantonal/Modern Dictation - Most songs you'll deal with are not atonal, so this is a specialized tool that won't be used often. However, when you do come across a song you like that doesn't follow any conventional harmonic structural theory you'll be glad to have this skill under your belt, since without it these songs are completely inaccessible to the normal remixer. It also give you an alternative way of listening to conventional songs, possibly providing alternative interpretations to normal tracks when listening to them. Like I mentioned before, though, this is a skill that rarely needs to be employed. Proficiency with Multiple Instruments - It's pretty obvious that the more instruments you can play, the better. It's not as important as you'd think, though, since it's not hard to find willing musicians, either. The convenience is excellent to have, though, so the more the better, in my opinion. Here's hoping that helps a little bit.

Solid work as usual, Jewbei - needless to say, the production is tight as hell, and the overall sound is simply solid. I think there's room for improvement in the arrangement, though. I feel after a certain point the music seems to drone on rather than keep me at the edge of my seat. From ~2:50 minutes (when the melody becomes prominent) to the end I can skip through the track and hear virtually no difference in the soundscape or melodies. I understand that Trance is naturally a repetitive genre, but there really does need to be some variation, even if it's minimal (or hell, even if it's returning to older soundscapes from the track). The bass drum is awesome in this track. The rest of the drums are quite bland (and hard to hear, but that's understandable to give room to the other instruments). It's not as big of a deal in this genre as others (clear bass drums > everything else), but it could be an opportunity you're not exploiting to help with the soundscape issue I'm having. Give it some thought. It's a great track. That last half could be much better, though. Keep up the good work here - MM8 really doesn't get enough love, here .

They had police on their side to protect them. Cardboard fantasy weapons < guns. Without the police there I'm sure the group would have been engulfed by the nerd's constant barrage of Fire 3's, Thundara's and Attack commands.

You did... I fired your ass so long ago. You just do what I say now because you're still scared of me, Hewhoisiam.

Not too bad. Not OCR, though - almost certain it's too conservative for OCR. I hear some I hear sine original stuff in there too, though... I personally think it's a borderline case, here, but I think they're tell you to expand on it some more. It feels pretty short, considering the source is close to 1:15, itself. Short isn't always a problem, but OCR probably won't accept it, based on that, too. The EQ is pretty hot, throughout. Lower the highs/upper-mids on the master track a bit, there. It's cookin' me, and I don't like it . Otherwise, it's pretty good. I enjoyed it quite a bit, there - when you fix up the EQ it'd be a perfect track for remix.thasauce.net. I'm sure Rama would take it in with open arms, since he doesn't mind conservative, shorter tracks. I mean, most of the 'problems' are very OCR oriented, here. Thanks for postin' him up, there. Oh, and if you want to have one of the workshop people look at a track before you try to get it posted on OCR changing the label from 'Finished' to 'Mod Review' will get their attention better. Just sayin', there - I don't think everyone is used to the new system, yet, so I'm just pointing you in the right direction, there.

Dire dire docks + Level 99 = a very confused Gario - why aren't people checking it out...? I'm not sure what draft it is, but it's currently messy with the soundscape. Combine the fact that the acoustic guitars are mixed so powerfully (not a bad thing, in itself) and the accompaniment is fairly thick, when the orchestra plays, and you get a soundscape that is hard to listen through. Trust me when I say I know what it's like mixing your guitars with a full background, and it's not easy at all. The synth accompanies the guitar quite clean, though The mids are a bit too powerful for the distorted guitar, for me. Perhaps it's personal, but I feel it's just too much. Tone the mids a bit. I like the idea of the arrangement - a calm, soothing guitar arrangement with some ballade distorted guitar (and a hint of awesome orchestra). It's a good track as it is, in fact. It can be better, though - I expect an update within the week. Don't be late.