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hewhoisiam

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Everything posted by hewhoisiam

  1. Ah... Hello N.E. I have also been absent from OCR. (blame the GF) But it's good to see a familiar face. Lets see whatchaweegotshere?! > Well first off, the old standard of me picking on your drum track. It's not human and it doesn't sound human. Consider accents and instrument changes (to a splash cymbal) to give variety. Instead of 32nd notes. These new headphones make the highs pretty bright, not thru the mandatory 100 hour burn in period. But see if the hats in your drum kit don't come off as needing a little bit of high end EQ reduction to someone else. (I hit Blue Magic with some high end offending freqs a bit ago. I might just have an ear for harsh high ends, who knows ) Also, it's the same drum riff thru the whole thing. You'll have to change it up. You'd be amazed what just the simplest of changes in the drum track do for the whole piece. Give it a shot. (insert mandatory ONLY 2 MINS LONG WTF remark here) (insert mandatory -cop out- ending remark here) The piano sounds fairly mechanical. Should meybe give some dynamics or embellishments to make it flow in a more human way (or to follow the scape a bit) I wanna hear more life in your pad sounds. As of now, they fill the space with good sustained notes, but they bore me. Consider a softer attack so there's some space in there. (I find this odd cause... I just told Blue Magic that his panning and volume on his pads left the sound too open. Find the happy middle ground! do ett! DO ETT NAO!) The guitar sound is top notch. I can think of no crits there. Cept you don't have a super SHREDDING SOLO YET?! GET ON THAT! You're close, but I want me some bwahwiddleywahwiddlewahwahwahwahwiddleywiddleywiddleywahwahwahahahah! Not awful by any means, but it'd be nice to hear this fleshed out some more. If you're really looking for a direction to take this, my first thoughts always seem to center on rhythm. It to me is the fundamental 'lay down the law' or any track. Give this a break. At the end of a phrase, break into something new, half time, slow relaxed, less frantic section. Change keys, do some writing, use an idea you've had on the back burner in another project. Just look for 8s and 16s in the track, cause that's where it'll go. Then play with it. MAKE ETT HAPPON!
  2. is werkn The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen the message to at least 10 characters.
  3. mmm coming along nicely. I like the changes to the drum. This is more of an observation than anything, take with a grain of salt. The pad sound that you have to kinda fill in the space throughout this piece is panning pretty heavy. It also comes in and out volume wise. This makes it fun and interesting to listen to, but it also means that it can leave the sound scape emptier than you may intend in places. Don't get me wrong, this has a nice full sound to me. And I'm not talking any huge boomy major new pad sound needs to be added. But might could use some little something to kinda fill in the space. EX: 0:53, 1:15, 1:24, and so on. Hope that helps -He
  4. I'm just going to throw this out there. There are some problems right off the bat here. 1) YOUTUBE sound quality is awful, you should get a better host. Tindeck is a good one, and free. 2) You have... uh. 7... Songs. Usually for me to do a SHORT critical review is 3-5 playthroughs. Plus stopping for specific points of interest or critiques. To review this would take me like 4 hours if I were brief. The again, others might be better at teh quicknezz. In the future, go one at a time, or with specific interests about each EX: Is this too close to the source for OCR? How is the production at 1:03? How do I clean up the muddyness at 3:10, etc. I listened to the first link briefly (5 times through, 25 minutes) -It sounds a bit muddy in places. Like the sound scape could be cleaned up and some EQ used to give you a more clear sound. -Panning is a bit extreme at the beginning for my taste. -At 0:45 the pad sounds kinda bland to me, play with it and make it wow me. As is I kinda fall asleep. This trend continues throughout the piece meaning it can never really build up to a place where it needs to be. -Bass is weak, you really need something to fill that sound there. The pad is in no mans land, not high enough to fill a niche there, not low enough to do bass sounds. -2:45 the drums are just mechanical and obviously sequenced. Go for a more natural sound to that fill. As well as just later on. Mechanically sequenced drums have their place in music, but not a piece that almost sounds human until a big drum break. -The EQ in the whole piece needs to really draw your sounds apart more. It may be good to re write some parts on different frequencies (up and octave, down an octave, transcribed up a third) or something to give this some space, upper frequencies are just missing in this. Even bass heavy pieces have something in the highs to draw away from the lows. Draw away in one place, so you can emphasize later. -Lots of these parts need some humanization in terms of volume and velocity. The quiet intro is a nice start, but the repetition could do with some accents or more defined accents so it's not so meh. Hope that helps, and hope I explained why I only reviewed the one track. Keep at it
  5. Got some new headphones... I now hear EVERYTHING. They're pretty amazing. Grado 225s ^____^
  6. I like it, I hear glitch in there, I've been playing with that myself, but it doesn't sync up right in cakewalk which is kinda a bummer for me. Anyways, I don't like the tapestop effect that I hear a few places on those bells at that quiet section. tapestop can be a neat effect, but it just feels off there. 1:14 & 1:21 That's pretty much my opinion tho. Take with grain of salt. I like the wubwub bass. It reminds me of dubstep type bass with the automated cut off. Thing is, it's so powerful that it makes your bass drum from the snare/bass intro sound kinda weak. It's got a great sound (bass drum) maybe tweak it so it has some more punch in the lows. 1:30 There's... Something there in the high frequencies that hurts is much ouch. Kinda quiet, but very high frequency. Not sure what it is. EEEP! It's at 0:18 also! I'll try to follow this track, good stuff!
  7. Cause I like CC (though havn't been to OCR in a while...) I bestow on you my drunken first thoughts. I love the source. I just do... There's a reason it's made so many A lists here on OCR. I actually when I beat DCK2 and was recording things from TV speakers onto a TALKBOY recorder in MONO made this track a must have. That harsh buzzy lead is no way to begin, you gotta tone it down and get into that a little later on. You don't want something like that up front leadin the way. Just before 0:56, you could use a more powerful lead up to that real heavy bass sound. To this point, you havn't had much in the way of that frequency in this track. Consider adding a transition or a bass part to the intro to help ease us into that powerful bass part. The lead you have is overpowerd by the bass sounds. Consider lowering them when the lead comes in. That's it for this episode. Tune in next week for...
  8. Well. I like it. But to post one of those 'well I like it' responses to a blue magic track is pretty useless as far as crits go. So Let me poke out what I don't like. You have a great intro here, Nice and full. But you need an idea to really set this off flying. You gotta nail something down~! The snare and bass give you a real concert feel to the piece, rather than a drum set feel, maybe run with that, bring in a nice full sound in orchestra/band forum. Also, the aux perc. group (<3<3<3 AUX PERC.!) has a huge roll in this... I want that to continue thru the production phase! Give me a bell part! or a vibraphone part! MAKE IT happen! <3 LOVE the panning. It just need that explosion of THERE IT IS! at this point. Sound is good, balance is good, eq is good. Amateur stuff fer you I'm sure <3. Just a short WIP.
  9. hey wait a sec? does that black mage have a hard on?
  10. I will see what I can do, with my drunken antics. Really this is a nutritious thing. he's all into the orchestral thing. I'm more of a 'these are my opinions' kinda guy. Also, most of the left ear of these cans don't work right. I'll still see what I can do with this. The snare that you're using for the largest portion of this is too harsh and piercing, I'm speaking of that heavy backbeat. I like that you have something up front. But it's too much. Consider like a snare with a heavy echo effect there. Something to really help with the ambiance. That that you have there now is just loud, with no redeeming qualities. Consider changing some of the 16th notes on the drum set to ghost notes or light hits. It's almost overpowering that section right after it comes in from the 16th notes. (they're fine in position, just make em ghosts) Tone down the 16ths on the bass at 3:25 ish. This isn't really a drum and bass track that needs that sort of double bass feel. It's a more orchestral track. If you want presence there, think of low strings and brass to bring that up. The genera swapping isn't really working there. This track has got a lot of neat ideas in it, now it's just a matter of making them mesh together.
  11. Okay, it's a great atmosphere right off. I really like the intro. That being said, it could use some work to sound more human. I'm thinking mainly in volume. Wingless does some great Metroid piano arrangement stuff if you'd wanna check it out for inspiration. (he has actually 2 tracks, almost the same name. Clever bastard ) This could really use something to lock down some energy, a drive and focus. Right now, it's the melody, and the sounds you've got I really like, but it isn't where you want it to be as far as arrangement. You gotta think bigger. And smaller. Don't be afraid to get whisper quiet and stupid loud; or to lengthen. I can easily see the intro 0-4 seconds played for an easy 30 seconds if you really nail some tempo and dynamic changes. That's just what I like, you might do whatever else with it. It needs a drum part. I'd say start with some Latin percussion. Do a conga part or something, and take it from there. But it needs a drive, some unf. Overall, it's coming along nicely though.
  12. Yeah, I had to record 2 tracks for mine because I wanted to effect just the kick drum, so I played it twice. A hands only track and a kick track. The heads are just worn, I've replaced them many times, I'm just lazy and broke/cheap I like Evans clear and some Aquarian rings to deaden them a bit. I'm just looking to record multiple tracks at a time, then use a DAW do edit and mix them. I don't really want a mixer as much as a multi-line recorder.
  13. I've had the same kit for years, since high school. Old starter kit, I have added 2 cymbals to it, but. In all honesty, I'm biased to that cheap sound that I've got. I have an AAX splash and a weckal O-Zone crash... And the B8 starter set. I tried some 13 inch AA hats, and some 15 Ziljan As, hated them both. How obvious will it be that I'm using a cheap kit and starter cymbals (and need new drum heads Q.Q) will it seem if I mic it well? I haven't done any recording except the thing for a secret projekt, and I did it on the desktop mic. Or I'd give ya an example. I may ask the project director anyway. We'll see. Anyways, thanks. I'll be looking into these for sure 70$ isn't bad at all. EDIT: Oh hell, I'll need something to run them through. Prolly the EMU 0404 that I have won't be substantial. 4 mics and it only supports 2 inputs? I think I'm going to need a cheap mixer/recorder... Welp, research time.
  14. Not bad kid. I got recruited to do a drum track for something sekret. I'm trying to talk myself into buying mics. That, and staring at the thread where I posted my recorded track on the guys song and salivating... Any recommendations on how to mic a set and what to buy?
  15. I say depending on what yer doing now (my or Escape's crits) You should pin it for mod review. It's just not getting de traffic. I'd like at least one person to disagree with me, if for no other reason than on principal... I OBJECT, SIR! Usually roz or nutritious have good things to say that I seem to miss.
  16. As stated before (elsewhere), this will be one of my finest drunken reviews. by request. Mostly opinions, so... Take with grain salt, etc. Well, right off... There's something about the beginning that feels like it comes in at mid thought. It could be partially because I like my intros, but it feels like it's starting mid thought. I could really see that low rolling piano that you have with the beginnin playing a few times as a low intro before the actual beginning, just 5-10 seconds would be enough. The whole track makes me kinda have a MOAR!!! feel to it. I like the ideas and sounds, but lots of them feel under developed. I catch myself doing that in stuff that I do, maybe it has something to do with listening to it over and over and going 'yep, that's good, but I don't want to make it too long...' At just over 3 minutes, I could really see 1 or 2 of those ideas being drawn out a bit, to bring the length of this dood up to at least 4 mins. Just something to shift focus and make the listener go 'AND THAT'S where it shines!' Pick the section you like most, and extend it until it borderline gets old to you, and it'll be just right for the listeners. For me, that killer section at 1:30 is it. But lots of places in this track shine, so it's up to you. Make it wow people! Along those lines, some of the transitions need to have a fuller sound to not drop the energy in the track all the way down. This almost suffers from 'intro-itis' a term I coined. *bows* While it can sound great; the track still has to flow. This is one of those things that ends up being 90% opinion, because I'm not disagreeing with any sounds or ideas, only presentation and order. That being said, it still feels worth saying that doing this well will really make a track nice and smooth and flow through ideas, and doing it badly makes a track start/stop/start/stop... This isn't a huge factor in this, but some of the transitions could stand to be fuller. I guess you could say nothing is a deal breaker in this, but it's worth thinking about. The transition at 1:28 feels unnatural, might do something to smooth that out. It could work, but it's pretty obvious right now. It feels like it's changing ideas in 2 notes, when it needs a full measure. There are a few places where you use some fast drum hits and fills that are not humanized very well. With anything in 3s, the emphasis is still on beats and off beats. I hear some triplets that sound kinda robotic. Also, accent snares and low toms are going to be slightly louder than hi toms when hit for a real THUMP!!! emphasis. The drum track is everywhere. I personally love it. I'm actually going to steal it for something I'm working on... Till then, props on that. That's really all I got, the sounds are great, I didn't listen ultra close to EQ and verb, but they sound okay on ye olde busted headphones.
  17. That intro is pretty piercing, might consider turning it down a bit. I actually liked the guitar better on the other version of this. I'm a fan of that kinda dirty sound more. Also, and it may just be me. The dirty guitar sounded more real than this one does. Though it was a bit on the loud side in the last mix (not this one) Also, I think some reverb would help smooth them out a bit maybe. I could see some embellishments on things. Pitch bends on long notes in places and stuff. Just polish and preference really. I'm really bad at this sort of thing (also these headphones are broken:banghead:) but I think I hear clipping at places. Check your levels.
  18. Right then. Stuff and such was done and said, we've got a newer version. As far as being a noob and clarification. This is the intranets. Wikipedia is your friend, and pretty much 90% of my musical knowledge is wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_note Coming back to your thread and complaining about how people help you is going to frustrate you and the critics who are trying to help you. That statement about wanting helped like a noob... you don't think we're intentionally saying things you won't get, do you? I'm flattered, but come on now. I'm going to harp on the drums for a second. The nature of the beast as far as this source and atmosphere is pretty ambiant sounding. This track would actually sound fine with no drums at all. Your drum track locks in with hats on all the beats. It's interesting, but not meshing well. It's too full sounding. Try something with a long sound like open hats, or a crash cymbal on just 1 and 3. (half what you have now) Putting some embellishments on the snare (ghost notes, rolls) And see if that doesn't work out better for ya. Another thing I could really see working well would be to have a brush kit, and doing lots of snare work. It's pretty short as is. Pick a part you like and play with it, expand it. Lots you can do.
  19. This link is to like, everything you've done on that site. There are 6 tracks. Jo gotta be clear what you want listened to.
  20. I see your crits as pretty uh, intuitive. But here we go. Smashing: Powerful, lacking dynamics. A very full sound with little or no velocity changes. Overpowering other sounds. Creepy: Yes? Texture: You know coconut? People like the flavor, but not the texture? It's like that, but in your ears. Up front that shouldn't be: Those huge bass/string sounds, while your melody is playing on the guitar. They're a background supporting sound. Rough instruments: Things need humanized and livened up. The strings are bland, the guitar is all the same velocity. Some echo effects would go a long way in places. Etc. Strings: Loud, all the same volume, no changes in the attack, tis all short attacks. Long attacks IMHO are better for pad sounding strings. Beats: The best thing to do is look at other work and see what other people did. Showing you a remix is about the best thing you can get because a song is worth 1000 words. Kinda like asking what the Mona Lisa looks like. It's a picture of a lady. Drum beats put bass drum on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4. I mean. I can help some, but it's a hugely broad question. This is a slow song. Consider very ambient kinds of drum sounds. Cymbals, bells. Ghost notes on the snare drum. All that stuff'll help. I pretty much echo their concerns. Rozovian is pretty good. Gario is a slacker, but eh. What can ya do.
  21. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=tWQDnuzdReE&feature=related
  22. Wow guys, come on. http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Phantoon ALSO: I was disappointed with the soundtrack overall. Lots of nice ambiance, but very little it seemed in the way of memorable tunes. I've yet to 100% the game though, so maybe on a closer inspection it'll shine more.
  23. Gario did not vote! I must find hiem and kiel heim nao!
  24. To counter this: I named my link Theif. My logic is uninfailable.
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