Skyline Drop
-
Posts
229 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Articles
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Skyline Drop
-
-
I know I've already posted in here saying how awesome this is, but I'd just like to reiterate
It's really cool to be able to follow the progression of everything as it comes together. Great reads for guys like me who are starting to learn the theory but don't really have much experience with the practice.
-
GVST's GSnap is the only free one I can immediately think of. I have yet to try it.
-
I actually like what you've got going here. It has a pretty solid groove. Some rather minor balance issues are kind of throwing it off, though. The melody is a bit obscured when it comes in, I think. Turn that up a bit, and maybe turn down that harp-like sound when it's not the feature. I'd also turn down the vocal sample, because, as it is, it draws too much attention. I'd just have it as a little flourish in the background.
-
I've never worked in Mixcraft, so I honestly don't know how it does quantization. In Reason and Renoise, the two sequencers I have worked in, there's just a button you click to turn quantize on, and it does it automatically as you record. Ideally, there's something similar in Mixcraft. If not, it may be better to just use the "pencil tool" or whatever they call it to draw the notes in by hand on the piano roll. It will be slow as dirt at first - especially if you don't know the notes that well - but you pretty much eliminate a lot of chance for error. Until your timing improves, I actually recommend this, if you really loathe playing with a metronome so much. Ever since I moved into Renoise, I don't do much of anything via live playing, since it's a pain to clean up all the extra data afterwards
Theory isn't all that necessary for writing music - not for here, anyway. A lot of these guys have only the most rudimentary theory background: rhythms, finding notes on the piano keyboard, maybe a few scales and chords. That's really all you need to have to work - that, and a good ear for what you're trying to make.
You could actually get pretty far with just an acoustic kit if you mix it right. A concert bass and some timpani are really the only things that I think you absolutely need.
I was under the impression Tindeck's 10 Mb limit was per file, but I may be mistaken.
I would break each song down, but the problems are more or less the same in each one. Awkward timing, lack of direction, a couple of flubby notes... Actually, the third song tends to avoid the timing issue the best, but it's still mostly just one riff climbing higher and higher, so it's got the meandering issue doubly hard
-
Okay, so, right from the get-go, the biggest issue I see with a lot of these isn't even the sounds. They're pretty workable as is - honestly, I'm kind of curious as to what specific virtual instruments you're using, because they sound fairly solid for beginner work.
The real issue is the timing. A lot of these sound like they're played in by hand. Do you make sure to use a metronome when you do that? It may be in your best interests. Also, if Mixcraft has a quantize setting, you should probably put that on, too, so the parts fall together as you play them in.
A slightly less technical suggestion: it might help to work out your basic sketch of the song before you even start recording. A big detractor with the songs you've put up is that they just sort of meander about. They stick to general 'riffs' for a certain amount of time, and then transition to something else, and it's like the previous part never happened. The easiest way to make a song sound more professional is to keep some sense of unity throughout - I like to base my songs around one or two main melodies and a handful of little motives or riffs, and just flesh out the rest as ideas come. If you have a good idea when you start, it's a lot easier to finish, you know?
Drums weren't horrible, but could use work. If you're going to be doing work in mostly these dramatic, quasi-orchestral things, an acoustic rock kit isn't really your best bet. I'm sure if you scour the net, better samples for orchestral percussion are bound to be around somewhere. As for actually writing percussion parts, for something like this, I'd use the snare to keep a steady rhythmic pattern going - probably something that repeats every two bars for the most part. Add a few accents with the bass drum, but generally, make sure they line up with the orchestral accents. Use crashes to emphasize the starts or ends of phrases. If you don't know what I mean by phrasing, I mean musical 'thoughts' or 'sentences.' If that still doesn't make sense, just add crashes every four bars and look up phrasing later. I'm pretty crummy at explaining it; it's really something that just clicks one day.
Don't know much about writing jazz, so I can't really help you there.
And I use Tindeck to host songs that I post here, as do many others.
Hope some of this helps
-
I think if the Capcom version had traditional quarter-circle forward commands while the Namco version had the Tekken/Virtua Fighter-style movelists, but both had essentially the same character lists, these could be very, very interesting releases.
-
I wasn't the one asking questions, I know, but it certainly helped me, anyways
-
Music from pots and pans and doors closing and the like could be called musique concrète, I think. I'm not a musicologist, though.
-
This is definitely one of the most obscure Easter eggs I've ever seen...
-
sorry for trying to help, kid.
i generally don't store downloaded sample packs - i just re-download them on new machines instead of wasting time transferring them via slow interfaces like USB. normally, corrupted file errors like this stem from improper or incomplete downloads or transfers.
I don't think redownloading this one is an option. This was a temporary promotion, and, as far as I can tell, they aren't offering it on the website anymore. It could probably be found elsewhere, but if you have to go scouring the web for it, you have to wonder whether just transferring it from one computer to the other is really all that much slower...
-
I did try that, actually. No luck.
Anyway, I only disabled UAC long enough to install - and made sure I wasn't connected to the internet in the mean time. Once I got it up and running, I reactivated it. Seems to be working fine so far - the sound is really good, even if there aren't too many.
-
I've been having this problem ever since I downloaded the darn thing. I have no idea what the problem is.
Edit: Actually, I just got the installer working. If you're on Vista, you need to go into the Control Panel and disable User Account Control for it to work. God knows why. Anyway, here's hoping I can actually get the darn thing to play first try for once...
-
This could definitely be both a lot of fun and great practice. I'd like totals a stab at mixing someone else's finished work.
-
Have to say I had been waiting for some DKR action for a long time. This mix doesn't fail to satisfy that craving.
-
Wow.
So this was definitely not what I had expected to hit the front page in this day and age. And by direct post nonetheless. Yikes.
Not really bad, per se. I could see why a lot of people wouldn't like it. It's pretty crass - although intentionally so for the sake of humor. Not my specific brand of humor, but I'm not gonna knock it for that.
The actual rapping was pretty sub-par, but again, I feel like that added to the effect. I was more amused by that than by the actual content of the lyrics, frankly.
-
Now that you point it out, it would make for an interesting sequel to Cars...
-
Gonna fully agree with you that DKR needs some remix attention here.
Um... Not feeling to well, right now, so I can't give much to comment on, but I do feel like the melody is much too obscured by the rest of the track. That's the biggest concern that sticks out to me.
I actually like the active and driving soundscape you have going, though.
-
Finally got it up and running, if only at about 7 or 8 frames per second. Feels a lot like the original Alien Swarm, which is not at all bad.
-
Doesn't look like I can run it, as suspected. Darn. Was kind of looking forward to it.
-
Yeah, I'm trying to install it, too, and Steam isn't exactly cooperating...
-
Have to agree that this is some pretty classic Sixto work. But then, I can't really see how could be bad, frankly.
-
Overcoat, do you ever get this nasty glitch running multiple instances of sfz in Renoise? For a song I was working on earlier, I had three instances going, and when they tried to play a note, they spat out this miserably loud static instead. I tried cutting down the volume and throwing a limiter on each track, but they managed to break through and still kill my ears every time until I gave up. I need to buy the full version so I can render parts down...
-
I wouldn't mind getting into it if I thought my computer could handle it at all. I played the original Alien Swarm mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 back when it was new, so this will probably be at least as good.
-
I've been meaning to see it. It looks pretty interesting, anyway. Evidently, it was quite good.
if im submitting is this ok?
in General Discussion
Posted
Another Ice Cap ReMix? Instantly rejected
j/k
Although you'd probably want a better name than "Frigid Ice Cap." Taking the original track's name and adding one word doesn't really say much in the ways of creativity. I don't think that alone is reason to reject it, but you might want to consider switching it up anyway.