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ShrackAttack

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Everything posted by ShrackAttack

  1. FF13 had potential...it just took too long to really get to a "fun" point in the game. It had great music, sound, and visuals. I felt like a few of the characters were really poorly done overall though which hurt the game. I haven't even played FF13-2 yet, but from what I heard it is one huge apology for the first game . I think overall FF13 was an okay game, but when it is placed up against other FF games it just falls flat. It's probably the worst one I have played, but that doesn't necessarily make it a terrible game.
  2. Thanks! and also thanks for the critiques. I definitely agree with the ending, originally I was going to build it up a lot more, so that's a part where I need to go back and add on some more to really get the right effect, plus it needs some help on the production side of things.
  3. Here's something I did for WCRG this past year. I did it in roughly a few days and never really got to fix and do everything I wanted, but figured I would start working on it again and try to polish it and fix it up and possibly submit it to OCR for the heck of it. It was supposed to use Concrete Man's theme and some of Zero's themes from Megaman, but as you can see there wasn't much Concrete man used (i.e. pretty much none) . So I'm basically just going to fix it up and keep it using the various versions of Zero's themes from Megaman X2, X3, and X4. https://soundcloud.com/shrackattack/wcrg-sins-of-our-fathers Feel free to post any critique as I certainly wouldn't mind some extra ears for when I start working on it this week! The most painful things for me personally when I go back and listen to it are how grating and just annoying the string stacs/spics are at 0:53 so I need to tighten that up and fix it a bit. Also, the ending was a bit tagged on since I ran out of time . And yeah, just in general it's a bit mechanical with the orch stuff. Thanks for any critiques/advice! edit: and yes, I was referencing Metal Gear Solid with the arrangement style .
  4. There are still countless soundtracks that come out every year that emphasize the melody whether it be in the indie scene or the AAA game industry. It's really no different except that there's also people writing some more ambient stuff now. Every time this discussion pops up it always amazes me though. People handpick the best game soundtracks from the 80s and 90s and fail to mention the ton of terrible crap that came from that era (and there is a lot of it). It really is no different now except there are about 5 times as many games coming out every year (so 5 times the garbage coming out and still a ton of good stuff). Pretty much every track Ramaniscence posted has a strong melody. If you reduced them down to their simplest forms and just remade them with old synths/soundfonts/chiptunes/whatever they would sound like they came from that era. Hilariously, I think the FF13 Retrospective trailer that just came out is such a good example of this:
  5. I can almost guarantee you whatever book you read is going to be very general and won't be very advanced. I've read the Complete Guide to Game Audio completely and a good bit of the Guide to Midi Orchestration (I skipped a bunch of the more useless information or stuff I already knew and went straight to the actual sequencing portion) and neither of them do what you want them to do from what I remember. The Game Audio one was a pretty good read though for when I was just starting out and didn't know what I was doing. But it mostly dealt with the business aspect from what I remember and how game audio is evolving, but I read it over 3 years ago so don't quote that . Any kind of DAW bible isn't going to be any different than videos you can already find on the internet (and they will likely be worse). The only two books I can't speak for are the Hal Leonard ones and MIDI Sequencing Made Easy. Just as an example, I wouldn't be surprised if Argle's Reaper hints/tips thread is more advanced than the Reaper Bible. Most of these books are made to help the masses get started. You are well past getting started and 95% of the information is going to be useless to you. You might find some random thing you never knew about, but generally they are worthless to you. I wouldn't be surprised if you find more detailed books in the next 5-10 years, but I haven't seen any out yet as you're generally going to get more book sales if you write something that your average person can just jump into. That Guide to MIDI orchestration book certainly doesn't do that for orchestral music. It is basically just a starter course and it gives you ideas on what to do. Stuff like using expression, volume, breath, mod wheel, layering instruments, etc with a few chapters on orchestration for each section if I recall. You're wanting someone to write a book on how to achieve that last 10% of quality/creativity in your music and I just don't think you will find it really. All the books I've seen out are how to get that first 50-90% down. That final 10% is usually up to you through a lot of hard work, trial and error, and repetition. If you happen to find a book that is amazing, let me know, and I will give it a read too.
  6. Honestly Meteo, there is no book that is going to do what you want. At least I have never seen one and I've looked around quite a bit because I felt I was in a similar situation as you a year ago. The best way to do what you're after is to do mockups/transcriptions of existing tracks and try to emulate them as best as possible. After you do a lot of transcription you are pretty much guaranteed to get a lot better or at least recognize what sounds good in the genre you're transcribing. Yeah, transcription can be incredibly hard especially if your ears aren't great, but it is worth it. That reminds me that I still need to do a lot more of it. I read a decent bit of the Guide to MIDI Orchestration and there wasn't much in there for what you're talking about. It was still pretty general stuff you can learn just about anywhere on the internet and mostly sort of lower end information. I actually just sold my copy a week ago. What is it exactly that you feel your music lacks? From the music I've heard from you your production isn't terrible and you are at least pretty creative musically.
  7. Yeah man, good luck with this. Your FF8 remix is one of my favorite remixes on the site.
  8. I have someone interested so it may be sold. I'll update the thread if the sale goes final.
  9. Bump. Finally installed my new copy of Komplete 9 Ultimate so I can do a license transfer on my individual copy of Heavyocity Damage now. Final price drop. Just PM me.
  10. I'll send you some music examples when I get back in town in a few days.
  11. I'm pretty sure this has happened to most people who have performed live at some point. I know it happened to me multiple times in college when I would play solo in front of faculty or do a solo student recital. Sometimes I was able to get through it due to muscle memory alone and other times I just crashed and burned. I had to completely quit a piece about 2/3 of the way through because I just couldn't go on and completely forgot it. That's how it goes sometimes. The only way to at least get close to eliminating it is by practicing something way more than you think you should and then practice it some more. And playing in a group is always much, much easier as you have someone to lean on and of course there is strength in numbers/more confidence. And honestly, usually things don't turn out as bad as you think. You focus on your mistakes way more than other people do. Most people won't even recognize that you have made a mistake unless you physically show it (by your facial/body expressions) or outright tell them. I do think some of my best solo performances were when I was panicking and just letting my body do the work when my mind had completely forgotten what was going on. Sometimes I've played music and completely made up entire sections because I had forgotten what they were in the spur of the moment. But I can definitely sympathize. I've stuttered IRL since I was 4 or 5 years old and speaking in front of people has always scared the absolute shit out of me. I would skip class when I knew I had to give a speech or speak out loud in middle/high school. It's gotten easier as I've gotten older since I just tend to care less or not care at all about what other people think, but it is still a pain in the ass when it comes to things like job interviews, skypeing employers, etc. The reality of it is though is most people honestly don't even think twice about it or notice it.
  12. edit: NI fixed my Komplete 9 Ultimate order, so Heavyocity Damage is still for sale . 100.00$ to the first person, just PM or email me. Status: Sale Pending
  13. My thoughts exactly. Had it for years and pretty much never used it. Part of this is my own fault, but it is just incredibly difficult to use well, especially in PLAY.
  14. I also am sort of interested in the Kramer tapes, tubes, transistors as well as the arts acoustic reverb. Give me a couple days to consider .
  15. It's too bad Taiko 2 isn't on the group buy, never hurts to have more percussion. I'll probably just pick it up as an individual.
  16. Like the saying goes, age is just a number. I think it certainly helps to begin composing at a young age as you will develop faster, as you are not having to provide monetarily for yourself or for someone else, but it isn't a necessity. Plenty of successful film and game composers did not start until their 20s and 30s. I know the exact feeling you are feeling though as I didn't start writing music until I was 22 (I'm 25 now) and I was thinking the same thing at the beginning of last year when I started freelancing for the first time. I was definitely feeling the burn to start making more money than I am so that I can one day fully support a family, etc. It's hard enough as it is just paying bills and going out with the girlfriend weekly . So like others have said though, I wouldn't only rely on writing video game music as a source of income. You need to have some other skills you can go to when the music can't pay the bills . Personally I do a lot of sfx work as well as music. Probably something like a 50/50 split. And like most other people have said, talent is mostly a myth. What it is really about is working really, really hard until you get out of that "holy crap why is everything I'm writing sound like shit" stage and then you enter the "why is everything I'm writing sound like sort-of-shit" stage. You keep working really hard while progressing through all of these stages of why-is-my-music-so-bad-and-why-is-everyone-elses-so-much-better until you eventually come to be able to create something that can maybe be called a decent piece of music. That is a really good feeling when you get there. Once you hit the decent music stage of your career, which I think for most people takes at least a few years, you need to stop comparing yourself to other people & their successes and just try to write your own music. This is incredibly hard to do, but very important. Be highly critical of your own work, your own successes and failures, and don't be satisfied with writing garbage. Learn as much as you possibly can about everything.
  17. I started listening to music from ocremix in 2001, though I didn't post or read many threads until years later when I started composing music in late 2010. Ailsean's "Terra in Black" got me hooked and all of the older ocremix music that I dl'd then are still on my playlists. I was 13 back then. Now I'm 25 .
  18. If only we hadn't missed 3 weeks bleh oh well. This is the first competition on here that I've done and it was pretty fun! Nice job everyone.
  19. I don't know if Concrete Men 2.0 will have a submission or not. We've kind of been out of commission off and on the past few weeks. Sorry .
  20. I'm pretty sure I was in that same room at some point (with lukas or shinnymetal) pretty buzzed watching that random jewel game. I had no idea what the hell was going on.
  21. Here's my week 8 review since I've never written one. It is a lot of just "this is nice" or "this sounded weird" so don't put too much stock into it . The actual times I used might be a bit off as well. 1.) Heated Plasma Gun - A lot of key problems all through out the song. A bit too long for how long the same instruments were used. Use of the organ was cool though! 2.) Storm the Gates! - Good energy, drums are nice. 1:12 is pretty nice and 1:49 and on for a bit has its moments. The sections like 0:38 to 1:10 feel a bit weird like there is a bunch of things fighting for space (though it could just be that synth). I feel like you could’ve picked better synths there. 3.) Wily Must Die - Nice piano sound. Lead vocals are a bit pitchy/strained throughout, but I really like the backing vocal stuff. Willrocks guitar stuff is really nice. The lyrics are really nice as well. Nice job man. 4.) For Everlasting Peace - The instrumentation is pretty good from 0:00 to 0:24. There’s a few timing issues throughout. 0:24 to 0:50ish the strings and trumpets feel like they are fighting too much for what you need to be listening to. It’s hard to figure out what to focus on. 1:30 to the end is the best part and works a lot better than the other sections imo. It was overall pretty enjoyable regardless. 5.) Blam - I really like the intro a lot. The bitcrushed bass or whatever it is feels a bit too upfront to me. Both of the vocals are really good and the distortion works for the most part. Good job! 6.) Prototype #2 - I actually really like this one. It’s sort of basic for what it is but it really works. Occasionally, I felt like your rapping didn’t flow quite enough in parts, but it is still a really awesome job. The lyrics are really great as well. 7.) UMADEON, BRO - Backing stuff is reallycool and I like the intro. The transitions are really cool throughout as well. Nice job. 8.) My Castle is Burning Down - Piano (or something pianoish) panned to the left around 0:50ish sounds a bit weird in context, like it needs reverb or to be pushed back or something. Overall your mix was really interesting though. Nice job! 9.) Amnesia - Sounds pretty good for a first attempt at the genre (and i know nothing about the actual genre). My only thing is it seems a bit repetitive for how long it is so I found myself getting a bit bored around the 4:00 ish mark. Good job though. 10.) Third Wave Roboethics - Not a fan of the intro personally, but I like everything after it. The chip stuff is all really nice. The little strings in the back doing Waveman’s theme are cool. Really good track right here. 11.) In Everlasting Pieces - This is your best track for the whole compo imo. The whole arrangement is really interesting and the end is awesome. Very good job man!
  22. I'll message you in about 3-4 weeks if you're still up for it then
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