colinjstewart

Thanks, everyone!

Hi all, I've been listening almost entirely to game music and remixes since I was a kid, and I'm looking to branch out. Got any non-OCR music suggestions? I generally go for music with lots of layers and an interesting structure (i.e. not too much verse-chorus-verse-chorus kind of stuff). I'm more into non-vocal music, but not exclusively. No preference for acoustic vs. electronic. Here's some of my favourite OCR tracks, for reference: Mucho Dollar: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01289/ Pachelbel's Ganon: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00753/ That's What You Get: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01729/ Cross Examination (Sudden Interjection): http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01846/ Serenity: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01685/ Short Skirts: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01617/ Dark Wind Rising: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01453/ Lore of the Ancients: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02092/ Path of Deception: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02238/ Dirt Devil: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01685/ Much appreciated, thanks. -Colin

Surprised that Sefiros didn't post this here himself. Anyway, Sefiros has put out a new version of his 2005 remix "Everything = Nothing" (May 2012). It can be downloaded here: http://music.sefiros.co.uk/track/everything-nothing I'm not sure it's necessarily a better version of the song, unfortunately. I'd really like to see someone with crazy production skills -- like zircon -- redo this track (you know, short of getting an orchestra to do it).

Having worked on a remix of this piece for nine months (insert shameless plug to rejected remix http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16805), I can say with some authority that there are definitely some little changes with the intro arpeggios. I'd also agree with Gario that they're not for the better. But there's a ton of room for variation on these arpeggios -- take another shot at 'em. An example of great arpeggio variation is in BGC's remix of FF7 Bombing Mission, starting at 2:07 of the remix. Also, the section between 0:18 and 0:32 (in your track, not BGC's) sounds weird -- I think the timing of the two arpeggios is off, like the notes aren't being played quite at the same time when they should be. Still, the sound quality overall is a hell of a lot better than mine, so good job on that. But seriously, this needs more variation on everything -- right now, it's virtually identical to the original, just with different instruments.

Simplification of the navigation system = good. But the problem with the new layout is that the amount of space given to the text of forum threads is now ridiculously wide. Reading text that spans the width of your monitor is not comfortable. This is fairly well-known -- just visit any professionally designed website with lots of text; the paragraphs will never be wider than 800 pixels, because it's just easier on the eyes to have them that narrow. I shouldn't have to resize my browser window every time I come to this site. Also, I'm going to add to the voices who think the top navigation bar looks cluttered. I'd kill the waveform image in the background, and the shadow/reflection of "Overclocked Remix." Thanks.

Here's a couple minutes of a remix of The Mission from FF8 I've been working on (in the game, it plays when you're hijacking the train). This part's pretty similar to the original, but it gets a lot more varied up later in the piece. I've got several more minutes done, but it's all in pieces right now. I'm also missing a beginning on this, but that'll come. Production's got some work to do too. Anyway, I'm just getting it out there. http://www.aquestionofextremes.com/theMissionDemo.mp3 The original is here:

You've probably already sent this to the judges, but I'm going to weigh in anyway. First, this sounds amazing. The intense sections, with the beat from the Terminator theme (1:22-1:44, 3:08-3:50, 4:36-end), are crazy powerful -- seriously, some of the most epic music I've heard coming out of my speakers -- and I've got all sorts of orchestral recordings. Great job there. That said, I think the biggest problem with this piece is that it relies too much on those intense sections. You use them too often, and without much variation. You've put in a few high strings at the end, but that's about it for varying it up (at least, that I could see). I feel like you could play around with this a lot more. Also, the section towards the end with the organ (3:51-4:36) feels like a drop in intensity purely so you can later bring it back up to full blast -- it's not interesting in and of itself. The part from 4:14-4:36 is particularly aimless. Then, when you come back to full intensity, it feels like "oh, this again" rather than "fuck yeah, this again!" -- partly because of the preceding aimlessness, partly because the intense parts have been overused. When you've got something powerful, use it less rather than more. Anyway, I'm being harsh because there are parts of this that are awesome, and I'd hate to see this be the final version. The judges will take forever to even look at this for the first time, so you've probably got time to fix this up. Good luck!

It's actually only a remix of the intro to The Extreme -- I don't care much for the main part of the original. Glad you liked it though. Re: the link -- the server that hosts the MP3s doesn't allow direct links to MP3s from other sites -- hence the stupid redirect workaround. This link should work better: http://www.aquestionofextremes.com/Colin J. Stewart - Extremism.mp3 A fair point. But the idea I had for this next remix was always fairly simple -- it wasn't a deliberate choice to narrow the scope of the project so it would be easier. And actually, there's a lot you can do with strings. In any case, if it ends up sounding like hell, I'll throw in the rest of the kitchen sink

Documentation would be great. However, the only documentation EWQL SO comes with is a PDF listing the instruments it has (as if this wasn't obvious ...). I eventually found a portamento option in Kontakt's script editor. It works over any size interval, but it sounds like hell. On a 2-semitone interval, the regular pitch wheel bend sounds better. Meh.

Hmm. I played around with it, and it seems that the actual problem is that Kompakt only has a pitch bend range of 2 semitones. Couldn't figure out how to change that -- nothing came up in a fairly extensive Google search. Kontakt 3 also seems to have this limitation. Unless I'm missing something?

I've got some East West samples and I'm trying to do a pitch bend of a major fifth (ie. seven semitones). So, I automated the Channel Pitch to get it to drop 700 cents. The pitch bend worked -- but it wasn't dropping enough. It was actually only dropping one semitone, i.e. 100 cents. I tried this again with a drop of 1400 cents, and that corresponded with a two semitone drop. OK, so everything's out by a factor of 7. But if that's so, to do a major fifth, I'd have to drop 4900 cents, and the max allowable is 4800. Any ideas? (granted, I could do some combination of the tune knob in Kompakt plus the Channel Pitch, but that's ungainly.) A smaller problem I'm having with the Channel Pitch is that it only affects MIDI channel 1 -- i.e. bright green notes. Again, any ideas?

ocremixfan -- glad you liked it. But honestly, I think it's beyond my abilities to make it much better. There's an insane amount of stuff going on it, and I'd probably need a couple more years of remixing experience to know how to deal with it properly. I bit off way more than I could chew. By contrast, my next remix will be entirely strings and percussion, which is a *lot* more manageable. Dj Mokram -- reading your comment was a great way to start off my day. The fact that a few people out there enjoy what I've done makes it all worthwhile

I love the original -- one of my favourite MM tracks -- so glad to see someone tackle it. I agree with Gario that the melody just isn't clear enough. Move it up an octave and/or make it louder relative to the accompaniment. I'm not liking the low brass (tuba?) around the 1:05 mark -- sounds kind of ... ponderous. But the overall texture of the rest of the piece is pretty rad. Keep it up! I disagree that this isn't the kind of thing OCR is looking for. Yes, the melody is note-for-note from the original, but the genre is completely changed and you've added a lot of interesting harmonic stuff. (but then again, I'm 0/2 in submissions, so I may not be an authority ...)

Well, I finished it up earlier this year. The intro has been significantly reworked, and cut down -- it doesn't drag on like previous versions did. I've also cut out and modified some of the over-repetitive piano. Here's the final version (link will redirect to the mp3): http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/music/extremismRedirect.html Turns out the judges didn't like it so much (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22504), but I'm done with it, and am busy working on a remix of "The Mission", also from FF8. Thanks to everyone who left suggestions. Hope you all like the final cut.

One more thing regarding question 2 -- I actually like it when different people say the same thing. That means there's some sort of consensus that something is good/bad. It's easy for me to dismiss someone's criticism that I don't agree with if only one person says it. But if two or three or four people have the same criticism, then I'll definitely take notice. That said -- even if you agree with what's been said by other people already, say it again. No one remembers the melody of a song if it doesn't get repeated

1. Yeah, I know about the resources. 2. I'm mostly looking for criticism (both general and specific), as long as it comes paired with advice -- not just something like "this sounds muddy, I don't like that." Like everyone here, I've got a lot to learn, and suggestions are always appreciated. A little encouragement always helps too. 3. I don't review mixes or comment on WIPs often, but when I do, it's usually because I'm familiar with the source material or the remixer's work. 4. Generally, I'm pretty happy with the WIP board. Considering that no one's getting paid to do any work on it, it's pretty damn good already.

Here's the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01mxuw31GVs&fmt=18 Thanks for the feedback, Doug. I think it's mostly a problem of the mix being too loud in general, and the limiter just squashing everything down. I'll play around with the volumes and cut down on some of the low instruments till I get it a bit cleaner.

I agree, the drums are a little hollow. But it's nothing a little EQing can't fix Here's an update: http://www.campcoop.com/~cstewart/extremismV2roughCut6.3.9full9.mp3 Regarding the other comments -- yeah, it's a slow start. But that was intentional. Have you heard the original? It doesn't get going till 1:39 (mine takes off at 1:51). The best part of the original is that slow build-up -- the adding of layers and textures, the intertwining of melodies and rhythms. I guess people are either going to hate that or love it, but it's part of the piece and it's there to stay. Interesting comment about the ending. Personally, I really like the end, but I might be biased An earlier version (http://www.campcoop.com/~cstewart/extremismV2roughCut2.mp3) had a 18-second-long power chord at the end (6:10), which was perhaps more epic than what I've got now -- but I wanted to end with the solo acoustic guitar, and having that sustained chord in there just dragged the ending out too much. Anyone else have an issue with the ending? Not sure what it's lacking in terms of production -- could you be more specific? I've already done a shitload on production -- reverb and velocity edits, like you mentioned, but also EQing on all the instruments, compression/distortion on the drums, ADSR envelope adjustments on most instruments (most obsessively with the violin solo at 3:48 ), tweaking of every guitar strum in the piece, a lot of minor humanizing tempo adjustments (notably with the acoustic guitar at the end), layering of samples (the intro acoustic guitar? it's actually four samples at once), smoothing out all the transitions between sections, and just getting so many different styles of music and combinations of instruments to come together into something cohesive. This piece has nearly killed me. But anyway, if anyone's got any specific suggestions, that would be great.

OK, here's an update -- three months since the last one. I've made a lot of changes -- too many to list -- and I think it's just about ready to be submitted. Let me know what you guys think -- is this thing OCR-worthy? Nitpick your l'il hearts out. http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/extremismV2roughCut6.3.9full6.mp3

Thanks. Here's what I've come up with: http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/pianoChord4.mp3 I maxed out the decay and lowered the sustain, then boosted at 4kHz, dropped it at 400 and compressed it. Much stronger.

Here's the fixed version. It was playing through Firefox when I tested it -- not sure what the problem was. http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/peHardAttackPiano.mp3 Here's what I've got, by comparison: http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/pianoChord.mp3 Not nearly as strong. I don't think it's going to be a matter of just cutting the waveform -- there's a really heavy pulse in the Parasite Eve one -- something else besides the piano, maybe?

I'm trying to get a very hard attack on a piano sound. An example is this one, from Parasite Eve: http://www.sfu.ca/~cjs/peHardAttackPiano.mp3 Clearly it's not a natural piano, but I'm wondering if it's possible to achieve this with some sort of effect. None of my piano samples have an attack nearly this hard. Any ideas?

As requested, here's a clip of what I've got: http://www.campcoop.com/%7Ecstewart/blueCrownTest.mp3 Thanks!

I've been playing around with Prominy (clean) and some distortion plugins (Wagner sharp, keFIR). I can get a pretty decent sound for lower-range stuff, but at higher pitches, I can't seem to get a "thick", substantial sound, if that makes any sense. A good example of what I'm trying to achieve is in Sixto/Steppo/zircon's Passing of the Blue Crown (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01723/), around 2:50 to 3:35. If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it. Oh yeah, and I know next to nothing about electric guitars

Funky stuff. It's got a good feel to it. But the arrangement is definitely too close to the source, and there's not nearly enough variation between the first and second halves (i.e. before and after 1:12) of the piece. Throw in something completely different