audio fidelity

just wanted to respond to this - i am big fan of infected mushroom - and even though its psy-trance (from Israel) - these guys have four on the four beats with lots of complexity and are fantastic musicians - i remember reading the keyboardist was a big fan of Dream Theater - anyway - for you naysayers, here's some tracks that did it for me and made me a believer of trance http://www.imeem.com/jackhaal/music/Y6-Q0sP8/infected_mushroom_deeply_disturbed/

ahhhhh - just imagine the amount of people whose heads must have exploded in the process of playing that solo. i hope you've seen the psycho petrucci vids - will link for those who aren't familiar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evTTHS9hwvU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAGDRDds3tw&eurl=http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?p=452853 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKMYeXkYcgs&hl=en&fs=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKMYeXkYcgs&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pJ1ccnC1GI and for a solo that gets me everytime http://www.imeem.com/dreamtheater/music/QPqv4PX-/dream_theater_this_dying_soul/ the clarity @ 0:45 gets me every me everytime

yeah - there are definitely good parts to all of them - some of the production and soloing are some of the cleanest and best. its just the music doesn't excite or grab me like it once did. I used to always expect for this musical growth with these guys. its not so much anymore like that. but yeah train of thought has some jams for sure as well as octavarium which is a ridiculous track in itself. but yeah, the bar is kinda high for me after albums like scenes and 6 degrees.

atelier natural drums is a good one - but its only for kontakt i'm pretty sure - they still have the free one on the native instruments site for kontakt users. Addictive Drums or Superior aren't that much more. i would save up a bit more to get one of those.

i'm with fishy; scenes was the best - but it is best in its context with the whole album - i sure wish they would get back to writing stuff like that instead of going nuts on the prog/metal stuff. but its still a solid set. they should have a dvd where they play every dt song ever in medley style. no one would be upset and i would buy that the day it came out. and looks like rudess is getting some keytar action happening on this - poor guy - still trying to out do petrucci on the rockstar solos i also wonder how long the strauss goes on for do you guys think they are overdoing with all the live album stuff lately? its great and all, but i would rather hear more diverse and quality albums than another live thing after ever LP - or even more side projects from all the members. its just dream theater world has been kinda stagnant for me ever since after 6 degrees. i have enjoyed OSI, Transatlantic, and Neil Morse a lot more than the past albums.

saturation like distortion amplifies the overtone spectrum so thats why your seeing the freqs more pronounced.

congrats nutritious! this is a very deserving piece for a first mix on ocr. I am most impressed with how you captured a realistic and moving performance of your arrangement with a synthetic orchestra and your live playing. I really like the sax as the lead voice for this and I don't think how it sits in the orchestra is that jarring at all. Some of the contrast between the sax and the brass that comes is maybe a little a weird, one after the other, because of the disparities of live and synthetic instruments, but it is what is it is and you can't hide that. I can also hear how your were trying to get the sax to sit in with the orchestra in the mixing and its done rather well but is still maybe a bit too direct. Maybe if you mic'd the sax from a bit further away - but then you deal with the sound of the room - so its never easy. but anyways i digress... solid work!

i think a common rookie mistake for metal guitars is having too much gain - you just lose the clarity - the real chunk comes from playing - not gain. but still it sounds tight and works pretty well with the track. the cymbals and programming on the drums sound good but the actually kick, snare and toms could use some work to bring more power to the mix. good stuff

come on mono. why haven't you joined us yet?! i thought you would have jumped on rydia.

i'm not too clear if this could work out - but this new streaming site imeem.com offers high quality streaming. no 30 seconds cut yet. but clicking on the dl tab to listen is just as easy - so its no big deal.

while there are variations going on here - nothing besides the source really stands out to me. the more liberal stuff from the piece is sometimes too busy or notey to come off as clear and impressionable. i would rework some of the parts and try to add more to the fold. i think you can also make this more sinister for the tone you have here. the organ and production are good to me. this definitely could be something great. and you have a pipe organ here...why isn't there more fugue going on?!

easy you should be able to take other plug-in formats - AU/VST depending if your mac or pc but check out kvraudio.com for free plugs i recommend you get a soundfont player like this for pc http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1258.html or this for mac http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1062.html now scour the net for soundfonts - http://hammersound.com/cgi-bin/soundlink.pl - http://www.soundfonts.it/?a=soundfonts&c=7 i found a cymbal already for ya to try http://www.soundfonts.it/exec/zkdownload.pl?file=142-Cymbal_Roll.zip not sure what it sounds like - but good luck

you should be looking for a suspended cymbal - or something that says swell - i'm not too sure what finale gives you - so good luck

naw, thats not cool - all keys feel dif - if they tell you try something else tell them no.

+1 i never get to see any DT banners here - this site needs more prog!

man...i swear that the first song is from one of the first Breath of Fire games. I went through the OST's and heard likely candidates but they encompass that same melody. I don't have all of the 2nd one so maybe its still possible.

crap - i just spent 10 mins looking for an answer for you, and i couldn't find it. i remember i downloaded a file from the ni website and swapped it out with one of my my preference registry files...but i can't find it again. try updating your instruments and the kontakt player https://www.soundsonline.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=12&pcid=0&nav=0 if that doesn't work get in touch with their tech support at the site.

just what is it you are you trying to do sonically?

great work for not being too experienced with orchestral works. please get some castanets in there! your mix is extremely right heavy on the volume. its usually good to think about where all the instruments are in relation to each other in stage with the usually violins on the left and all that stuff but its not absolutely necessary. i'm not sure how realistic of a sounding orchestra your going for here, it sounds pretty synthetic to me, but i think its good for the track and works well. if realism is the goal, more dynamics should be stressed because there isn't much happening dynamically in the instruments, apart from the end where instruments start bowing out. but the all the somber bell stuff in the back is great and adds a dimension to the brass and strings thats needed. overall its very musical and a good take on the source. need more!

aw man - headaches from mastering - that was me today - took 6 bounces. your ears and mind get fatigued after awhile - you just have to stop and know when to take breaks, or nothing you do after that will be very productive. i have to bring back my alexander technique so i can go longer. and just like zircon said - the trick is experience - so you just gotta keep doing it to till it becomes 2nd nature. creativity is a muscle you can learn to flex as well. but yeah, you'll hit roadblocks guaranteed - so just do your best and get better doing it, and remember to try to have fun.

solid work OA! you nail this light-hearted stuff so well. I love the gated guitar stuff, and the piano stuff is the best with its catchy hooks. Its very well played and arranged in the tune. I did wish I could hear those pizz strings a little more. There were some cool things going on there. I also thought you lose some excitement when you fade out those guitars so the piano can come in and I kinda figure your doing that for clarity's sake but still its a just a tad abrupt. My ears tell me that the acoustic is really an electric with an effect. But its an interesting tone and works here for contrast.

budget is the biggest issue - but it really depends on what your trying to do. you may not need or even know how to use all the articulations that comes with VSL(Vienna Symphonic Library) or EWQLSO (East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra) Platinum. I think GPO (Garritan Personal Orchestra) is one of the best bang's for bucks. Its like 200 bucks, sounds great, and gives you just about everything you need. Kontakt 3 is another option. They give you VSL instruments and the ability to load soundfonts or other sample libraries plus tons of other instruments.

terranigma or earthbound are good rpgs that change it up

check out rydia i'm planning on getting an "our town" WIP in soon. the project needs some more light-hearted remixes to carry the load. and someone please do the final battle theme! this is my fav battle theme - i hope to hear it make the cut.

OA does great album artwork - but he's a busy man, especially with the ff4 project coming up.