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Something that has actually been bothering me for the past couple of weeks - figured it'd fit right in this thread: I've been trying to learn how to compose/produce j-pop/chiptune influenced music (those songs you'd hear from anime OP's, or maybe stuff from Protodome or any similar artists on OCR) for the past year or so and I can never seem to get it right. Why? Because apparently I don't have the musical brain of some people who are able to create insanely catchy and cool melodies/chord progressions, not to mention the stuff out there is just too good and in turn it's just too intimidating (scary). For some reason I haven't manned up and let people criticize these works either, I just let them go unfinished because I don't like them and I know that they can be better, but they won't really get better until I can get some feedback, will they? What a bind.

Man, I really do want to participate in this but I have NO clues about X's music. Just the original Mega Mans and that's about it. I'll download a lot of chipamp stuff tonight and go through them. Hopefully there are some more chillax or minimalistic themes to choose from, those are always fun to mix. : D

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay good game everyone! super happy to have been a part of this compo. : D

i'm going to contribute to this popular show hate discussion to talk about how i didn't like serial experiments lain all that much. It's so weird, too, because I'm all for the DEEP and dark psychological shows and games, but idk... lain just didn't cut it for me. i'm thinking it might just be the fact that i wasn't a big fan of the characters.. but i also thought the plot was very weird and confusing a lot of the time. maybe if i watched it a second time things would be different, but that most likely won't happen in the near future. great idea for an anime though, and i can definitely see why others liked it. just not exactly my thing. cowboy bebop should be on my list soon - just curious though, which is better, the sub or the dub? i heard somewhere that cowboy bebop was one of those rare shows where the dub was actually much better than the sub.. but when it comes to an old show like that a lot of people tend to prefer dubs because of their nostalgia goggles.

Results are coming soon! Can't wait to see how this went.

It really only happened whenever I got FL Studio, which happened on January last year. I didn't really get into music writing until I was done with my first song the summer of last year. I was learning a while before that, though, from djpretzels little writeups he gives for each song - just trying to figure out what all that technical stuff by ear. Didn't really mean much until I started actually applying it, though. edit this in: Also, feedback was crucial - but I think listening was even more crucial. I love the type of music I write because I listen to it all the time, and that in turn helped me to be more dedicated in making it as good as the rest. I still have lots and I mean lots of room to improve, but I've started somewhere at least. : D Took a lot of work to get to where I am - I mean I've been pretty much obsessed with music writing, music production, and sound design etc. for the past year. But I've already found the style that I love, am playing lots of guitar lately and hoping to record it soon, and already have a remix accepted to OCR as of now. It was worth it all : D

stupid question stupid question. i have reading comprehension problems obviously. Looking forward to this. It'll be short and fun.

Really nice song. I could actually see this playing in the background of some cartoon / anime or something. Production-wise it sounds nice. Nothing sticking out to me. Really dig this. Maybe a little to conservative for OCR if that's what you're going for, but still a nice listen.

Basically this. Also it's not that hard to get your room tuned decently for monitors unless you just have a lot of stuff and not much space. I'm not sure what the "perfect" room is, but you shouldn't completely disregard monitors just because your room isn't perfect. Even "decent" or "ok" is good, and it's much much better than just mixing with headphones. (But you should always mix with both)

I'm with you on the whole harem and cute girls doing cute girls thing (don't like the former at all, but the latter is enjoyable if I just want to relax after a long work day or something). When it comes down to it, when listing the best animes ever or recommending anime to someone, story should come first. IMO. The anime like you mentioned are almost purely fanservice, and if you're not a fan to begin with then it's obviously not going to appeal to you. The only anime drama I've watched besides Clannad (key adaption series) at this point is Welcome to the N.H.K. (which imo was so much better). I think in comparing those two, I can see what you mean, but you should still try watching Clannad and see what you think. It's not exactly the "greatest love story ever told" or whatever people make it out to be, but it's certainly worth trying at least. However, if you haven't watched Madoka you should do that. It's one of the more recent animes that presents themes that are easy to get behind 100%, and virtually lacks any plotholes, which I think can pretty hard to do with the plot it has. Also, has some great character development and is well paced considering it's a 12 episode series. Kind of like a long movie. Watch a subbed version if you do though. The voice actors are great.

Yeah, gonna agree that just headphones aren't going to cut it. Professionals prefer to use both, because they're so different and you want to get a feel for what your mixes sound on both devices. It's vice versa too, just because you have a freaking amazing $2000 monitors doesn't mean you shouldn't invest in some good headphones. Oh yeah and also what shaggyfreak said: once you get those monitors, get comfortable with them. My friend had some great, top of the line professional monitors that he let me mix on for a while, but honestly I mixed MUCH better on the old crappy monitors that came with my computer because I was just used to them and knew how the music was supposed to sound on them. Only wanting to say that because I'm not sure if it's all to obvious or not. (don't have any good monitor recommendations though, sorry but going to keep an eye out on this thread because I need some myself)

That's a bit of an exaggeration Anime (at least for a while now) has always been made to cater to the fans. And the fans really dig the moeblob style for now, but I don't think that's changed the fact that there are still good shows out there and you shouldn't knock everything just because of this particular type of fanservice, or else you'll be missing lots of good shows from enjoyable ones like Hyouka to freakin' great ones like Madoka.

Really just looking for the instrument name here, and if you know of any good soundbanks to get that'd help too: Used here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUxl95mGAI as the lead I think this might be the same thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onz8RH7FdSQ just processed a little less. If it's not though then it'd be nice the name of this instrument too. Yeah I hear these a lot in music, just don't know the actual term for them..

Have already posted the source to the Starcraft theme just in case anybody else missed it I think to make things a bit easier for everyone, the OP should be updated with all the sources, that is assuming you have them all MindWanderer.

Comments: Not much to say about this one on my end. It was pretty much just the usual stuff, at first I was going to take this advantage to tackle an electronic song since Flexstyle was by my side, but because of a lot of work related stuff, I just didn't see myself having the time to try out a whole lot of new things. The arrangement probably only took about 6 hours to put together honestly, this was over a period of 3 or 4 days though, since I feel like I get more inspired away from the computer screen rather than in front of it. Fun stuff to put together, though. I sent over the arrangement to Flexstyle, and he did a LOT by upping the quality of the samples, replacing a few synths, and redoing the drums to give it a bigger more cinematic feel. The drums really brought a lot to the mix IMO. I loved them. What I learned from this? That I really should look into better samples Really though, I think this song is going to really inspire me in the future to try and expand on what I already know by trying different instruments, synths, etc. to give my songs different feels. I also should start being a little more detailed in my songs, since Flexstyle showed me a little bit can go a LONG way. Was super fun to work on. Glad I got to do this. I probably won't be on the novice side next time, unless you allow me to be (I just got a mix accepted, but this whole experience was super humbling and I think being a novice a little while longer will help a lot) source: (we used the riff at 5:13)

I'd +1 this post if I could.

Everyone get this NAO! Very smooth stuff here. I especially think the songs here "flow" a bit better than your previous stuff. Everything sounds great production wise, and each song is very different but they don't sound to different that they shouldn't be on the same EP. Keep up the good work dude, you keep getting better.

Just sent in our song. Also sent it into OCR. You guys are gonna love this song. Flexstyle helped bring this thing to life. : D

Male and 20 It ranges, but when I do game I like to set aside 2 hours to get the most out of it.

Just finished our mix.. sending over to Flexstyle for some lovin'. It's pretty short, but interesting all the same. I'm pretty sure it'll come out super kick-ass once Flexstyle's done with it. Also, right in the middle of the compo my mix gets accepted to OCR. Don't disqualify me

Congrats Mr. Willrock. I still hate British people. (joking of course)

this world has become hopeless

Halcyonspirit, if you really liked K-ON!, then seriously Yuru Yuri should be the next thing you watch. Seriously. It's too good. Of course there's such a thing as too much moe. So if you're at that point then chillin' out with some more action would be good. Nice reviews, by the way. Going to try and watch Evangilon soon, speaking of. Maybe. Really I'm just trying to get all the short, 12-14 episode classics out the way (along with a few others). Just got a external hard drive storage which I badly needed and have been on an anime craze as of late. After I'm finished with Shigofumi I'm onto Serial Experiements Lain. Then probably Evangilon. Then whatever else comes after that. Probably another mystery series.

Making good progress here. Not as far as I'd like to be, but if I'm persistent I should have a good arrangement finished off by midnight tonight. This is not a source I expected to cover, I can only hope I'm doing it a little justice 'cause it's pretty freaking awesome..

Yeah, that's not unusual at all. There has to be some way to get your creative juice running. Many good professional musicians have their ways to escape music and get that creativity back. The simplest thing I can do is just hang out. I can go out, eat with some friends, go to the park, whatever. Sometimes I just get inspired by people. I'm also a very visual person when it comes to music. From hiking in the mountains, to just simply looking at art helps a lot. I come with a lot of melodies, chord progressions, etc. just from being outside, though.