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TheFixx

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Everything posted by TheFixx

  1. I'm not the biggest metal expert who ever lived, but in most forms of metal, you want the kick drum to be kind of "clicky" without a lot of low end but tons of attack and have the guitars and bass provide the bassiness. This works especially well when the bass drum is very busy like in double bass-heavy styles. In some metal styles, the bass is pretty inaudible, but if you do want it to be heard, cut the guitars' bass frequencies as well and boost the bass at 250 and 500 Hz, which will give it a nice "body" so it won't be just rumble. Plus, I'd advise against using any mastering effects that are supposed to "excite" the low end, in my experience this will only cause mud when it comes to songs of this type.
  2. You know, I get the feeling this may have something to do with my (ab)using Cubase's "Gain" function when I feel certain parts aren't loud enough. This might just be a bad, bad, thing to do. As I'm really new to this I don't really have developed an ear for this yet. I'll see what I can do to fix this.
  3. Man, I love the MP data select theme, good to hear a remix of it. Personally, I think the arrangement is a bit too chaotic, and I'd make the different parts of the song more distinct and different so one part doesn't seem to bleed into another. I think one of the best ways to do this would be giving each part a markedly different drum beat. At least that's what I would do, I really like 6/8 time for its versatility that allows for cool snare patterns.
  4. Is there a free VST with a decent cello solo sound? There's one called "CelloFan" which is supposed to be decent but it won't output any noise on Cubase LE, which is what I use.
  5. Hmmm, do you mean the lead samples or my samples in general? Which ones do you think are the most glaring? Here's a rundown of the stuff I used: Production program: Cubase LE Bass drum: TR909 setting of the "DSK Mini DrumZ" VST. Snare(s): Guitar Pro 5.0 (pitched up during the D&B parts) Shaker, cymbals: Guitar Pro 5.0 Bass: Guitar Pro 5.0 Stingray model, with an extra layer of filter/distortion on top for more grittiness/definition Synth Arpeggio bass: Krakli Karnage VST, with a step filter Strings: DSK Stringz with a slightly flanged mellotron mixed in low for more definition (Not too happy with the cello solo part, which is several layers because Stringz is terrible with low notes, I may throw something new together. Wurlitzer: MrTramp VST Low strings near the beginning of the "Rock" part, glassy fading in/out pad: Krakli Karnage VST I use the following mastering effects: XCita (set to "medium excitation") and the "endorphin" VST, which is a dual band compressor, set to "Loud and Punchy". Do you think the mix is maybe too loud overall? Maybe my VSTs just suck, I'm gonna have a look at the sample/VST recommendation threads. By the way, is it me or is the mix kind of low on treble overall? I'm currently experimenting with mastering plugins to make it sound less dull. I'm really not that great at this mastering thing or music production in general, no wonder my band never lets me help with mixing. :/
  6. OK, how's this sound? Any advice is much appreciated. Click here to listen to Tokiredone.mp3
  7. OK, I'm rebuilding this as I found the reason for the questionable timing of the drums and percussion instruments -- Geetar Pro likes to spit out WAV files that have a split second of silence at the beginning. I'll post the results when I'm done.
  8. Thanks for the feedback. By "better samples", do you mean the strings or other instruments as well? I haven't been able to find better string sounds (for free) for the life of me. Also, there is some mastering going on, on mixdown I'm running the whole thing through Kjaerhus Classic Compressor and Limiter, setting to "Mix Down" and "Master CD" respectively. As for having more stuff going on in the background -- I'm not sure. I was generally going for a sparse feel but I suppose I could make the Wurlitzer a bit louder and maybe add an arpeggio or two. One thing I'm doing that may cause a bit of a midi-ish sound: the violin lead sound sounds decent (to me) but is having trouble with note definition when it comes to fast lines which is why I doubled it with a Mellotron sound, I'm gonna try turning it down a bit. The "off-beat instrument in the background" is probably the shaker which has always been causing me grief in the past. >_<
  9. As for the drums: while they are sorta unconventional and I wouldn't consider them show stoppers, I'd prefer a normal "foor on the floor" groove, i. e. place a single bass drum hit on 1 2 3 and 4. What you're doing kind of reminds me of the so-called "steppers groove" that's pops up in a lot but it makes the song sound a bit busy overall. Plus, why not add more snare hits? They Overall, I liked it but a couple more dynamics would be nice.
  10. Hi everyone, I usually do what you could call guitar music and may have bitten off a little more than I could chew here as this mix contains my first time dabbling with a drum'n'bass-ish groove/arrangement. Also, this is my first time working with strings but I think I got them to sound okay using a couple tricks. Bass/drum sounds were done with Guitar Pro, except the TR909-esque bass drum. The rest was done with Cubase and a couple of free VSTs. My mix is based on the Amiga conversion of the arcade classic "Toki" which for some reason contains a couple original music tracks. The track I remixed can be found right at the beginning of Youtube video. Even though it's really simple harmonically, I think it's a really strong piece of music and kinda just HAD to remix it. I'm particularly worried about the D'n'B style groove I came up with as the snare is pretty busy which might just be be a tad too much.Please tell me what you think and feel free to rip me apart if you feel like it! Thanks for your time! Latest WIP is here:
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