Devastus
-
Posts
51 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Articles
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Devastus
-
-
So, I was watching Spoony's Counter Monkey episode called "Circle Strafe" one day. And I totally agree, dragons in games are total pussies nowadays. I easily plastered through the High Dragon in DA:O, not to even talk about Skyrim, practicing dragon extermination like it's a garbage cleaning business.
And thus, after a two and a half month break the inspiration hit me like a sledgehammer and I went on to make a song. And as is my traditional custom, compiled a motion comic-style music video for it.
That choir is me, by the way.
-
I arm the solo track, press record and hope something nice happens
If it's only partly something I like, I remember that and extend on it until I have a full-fledged solo. I find I get more creative that way than composing it way ahead, though I play such haphazard shit that it probably shows
-
If "enhanced" really means something, like updated graphics and whatever else they can think of, then *SPLOOGE*
If it's just the equivalent of "Now in HD Resolution", which by now I've grown to expect, then they can go fuck themselves while I'll just play the originals thanks.
-
Alright, let's see what I can pick apart.
Basically, overhead (cymbals in general) is too loud, especially the crash cymbal. Bring 'em down a bit and there'll be less muddiness. Also, HiHats (and the ride cymbal?) didn't seem to be panned in any direction, so I'd suggest to use the stereo space you have and pan 'em in a logical manner (how a real drumset would be positioned).
For personal tastes, I'd pump up the rhythm guitars volume a little bit. And while the snare can be heard quite well, I'd boost it from the mid-low section a little bit to give it some more character and possibly have some mild reverb tacked onto it.
With that I think it would be all set for vocals. Nice work!
-
So here's an original progressive metal track that became more aggressive than originally intended. It also became better than what I originally intended
If you like aggressive metal music, enjoy. Also, feedback appreciated, especially on the production quality, since I'm wondering whether I should go back to try and finish an EP. This would be the example mix for it.
Listen @ Newgrounds - Soundcloud.
-
Some soundtrack work based on the coming movie Dark Knight Rises. I spent some time making a mix from scratch, trying to make it somewhat similar to Hans Zimmer while still having my own sound to it. The choirs are self-made and sung again, it's getting better and better every time
-
Am I the only one who enjoyed Batman Arkham City's soundtrack? I think it's very fitting for the game. And great. Vote that shit.
-
I'll most likely be repeating the same thing everyone else has already said, but whatever
The source indeed ain't too good in my opinion, but you've turned it into a really nice chill tune, I really like the atmosphere. With some more activity on the arrangement you'd be all set.
- Drums seriously need more variation to it. 1:20 should bring in a new pattern, like a more active hi-hat sequence for example.
- Little variations here and there would be a fine addition too.
- You could take some more of the transitions from the original to spice things up. That way you can quite easily make the song longer too.
Mix-wise, there's some things that catch my ear.
- The bass is a nicely full sound, but it's too overpowering, the leads get drowned in it. You could possibly fix this with either adjusting your compressions or EQing, although from the sound of it it's more of a compression problem.
- Also, I think you should bring up the leads a bit more in general.
- You might want to pan the hi-hat a bit more to the left to take advantage of the stereo space you have.
- Depending on the overall outcome, I might suggest having a second look on the snare and hi-hat samples, especially on the snare. It works, but a more traditional snare could work even better. Just my two cents.
It's sounding very good, especially compared to the source material, so keep it up!
- Drums seriously need more variation to it. 1:20 should bring in a new pattern, like a more active hi-hat sequence for example.
-
Alright, this got potential to it. Lemme see if I could think up some pointers for you.
Mix-wise
- First of, let's repeat what Archangel said earlier. The note velocity changes are crucial to get a realistic sound, so I really recommend to pay attention to that.
- Another is to increase reverb in the mix, or change it, it's a bit too dry. If you want to go gung ho though, you might want to have a separate reverb for every section in a logical manner, that way you'll have more control over the ambience.
- I think you should stereo widen the drums. They're very mono-ish and more of a burden to the mix in the very middle than anything else. Also, the choice of drum instrument is quite mid-frequenced, I'd recommend to have a prominent bass drum to give more oomph to the mix (be sure to have the bass drum in the middle though, bass doesn't do good when it's moved around).
- You could want to have a Master EQ taking a bit middle off and boosting some bass and high frequencies and a careful Limiter on top of it.
I won't go deep into the arrangement as you said it's still not complete, but you could try something like this:
- Not only add a prominent bass drum to give a kick, but also something to provide a bit of background rhythm, like a hi-hat or in this case possibly something a bit more ethnic.
- More string instruments, like cello and contrabass for more oomph. Also more variation to 'em, you could do much with having more than just spiccato going. This depends alot on other instrument though, you don't necessarily have to change from spiccato if you have some brass to cover up the long notes, for example.
- Some of the transitions are a bit sudden. You can fix those quite easily with some drum fills or a crescendo cymbal etc.
- More variation to everything, more instruments. That's pretty much all I can say for now
Hopefully you got anything helpful out of that. One way to get things going your way is to listen to someone else's work and then recreate the setting for your song (meaning the mix and instruments). I'm a soundtrack composer myself and got where I am by doing alot of that
I'll check in again when you got an update. Good luck!
- First of, let's repeat what Archangel said earlier. The note velocity changes are crucial to get a realistic sound, so I really recommend to pay attention to that.
-
It's on the panel now? Then it's kinda useless for me to say anything, but I'll say anyways because I'm stupid like that.
I really like the arrangement, although as Gario said, there could be an actual ending instead of a limp fade out. Generally though there's some really good stuff going.
Mix-wise, I like the overall lil' dirtiness to it, but it's a little bit too compressed, or just compressed the wrong way. It feels a bit too cluttered and the melodies sometimes tend to get drowned by the drum and bass. You could try tightening release (and probably attack aswell), or just go about it the old way and play with the volume settings throughout the song. Or do both.
Or pay attention to nothing of the above as you've submitted it already. Great job though, it was a catchy tune
-
Above all I make music for myself. When I realized that I started developing much faster. So yes, I definitely listen to 'em quite alot. It's part of the learning process, I can learn alot from my mistakes with the songs that I'm not that fond of.
-
<MODREVIEW>
Oh dear, you actually want me to mod review this? I’m having a really hard time nitpicking anything here. Drums are nice and punchy, I really dig the arrangement, the guitars are all shining through in their appropriate spots very nicely, and my metal face is in full gear.
Let’s see, I’m gonna dig a little deep here, but here’s what I’ve got for you:
- Drums could stand perhaps just a touch more velocity variation, as a lot of hits sound the same very close together. Kinda depends on the kit you’re using, really.
- Some of the guitar chugs could use tightening, timing-wise (especially at the beginning of the song and at about 0:55 or so)
- Uh…needs moar killer studio chops? Honestly, I got nothing else for you.
I’d recommend you sub this, personally. I’m also going to stick it in my car, because metalface and car goes together quite nicely.
</MODREVIEW>
Haha, I didn't expect such a warm welcome with this song. I recommend highway cruising while playing this, it has that certain tone to it
Thanks for the feedback, I'll see if there's something I can fix and then sub it.I agree, this sound awsome but the rhythm guitars sound full but lacking with low end and low mids at the sametime
<-- my expressionBut that me, maybe you already like the mix as it is.
Definatly submit this, but im not sure how long it would take for ocr judges to get to you ; (
Thanks man! The lacking with low end was actually intended; I had to EQ some away to get everything shining through since it has a dozen of guitar layers playing inbetween. Not necessarily the best option, but I like the hard rock-ish feel to it that it created, so I guess it's good enough
-
I don't usually place year-long goals since I almost always have enough further goals to achieve. I could list some though, since hopefully this year will be a turning point in my life, as I've worked hard for it.
1. Finish losing weight/getting fit. With this rate it'll happen in about 2 months, and I've been fat for most of my life, so you can guess how much it changes things for me
2. Start getting more socially active in general again. The focus on my workout and diet has almost gotten me into a total recluse. Then again, it was a price I paid gladly to finally get this done.
3. Learn new things, get better at things (like playing guitar) etc. etc.
-
Ok, I think it's ready for Mod Review! To be honest, I did more than just finishing touches, for example I had totally forgotten to actually make a decent intro from the layout
You can tell I was tired alright.Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?qwe4029wg2n6pxk
More intricate details, like leaning over to having the guitar start a duet (doubled leads etc. giving away what's coming ahead) of a sort after it picks up, and little adjustments in the mix. For example, the wall of sound really packs a punch now without too much clutter!
Updated the first post too. Time to see how it fares.
-
Thanks alot for the feedback guys! I did some updating on it, here it is (updating the first post too): http://www.mediafire.com/?46ea6l94l8j1u78
There's some new tricks here and there to wrap the arrangement up better and keep you interested. I also redid the short calm part into a ballad-esque interlude, just to give a breather between all the hard loving
I added a little bit bass to the kicks, should give more of an oomph now. Did some small tuning on the mix altogether too, though the "wall of sound" part is a bit tricky since there's two layers of rhythm guitar going, steady chugging and chords. I reduced the chugging a little bit, hopefully that was enough to clear it up.
I'll be changing this to Finished, though I'll still do finishing touches if need be before having a Mod review it.
-
UPDATED 8.1.2012
Something I started making after watching speedruns for a short while. Totally got a nostalgia overload, as a kid I played the game with a friend of mine all the time and this is one of those songs that I can still remember very clearly.
Source: http://youtu.be/_T7hdIh-gtw
Remix: Airborne (Flying Battery Zone Act 1) - http://www.mediafire.com/?qwe4029wg2n6pxk
I need feedback with this one. Did a concentrated 6-8 hour workpace and even forgot to eat anything, getting pretty tired too so fresh pair of ears could do wonders.
-
Even though I changed over to gamepad and it's certainly a more intuitive way of playing this, I found myself getting my ass kicked more than I did with a keyboard. Huh.
A damn good spin-off game nonetheless though. I might even find myself playing this through, which is quite rare with a flash game on my part. This guy should get hired by Capcom (or maybe not, what with all the jerking off over the series going on lately).
-
I'm downloading the torrent version now.
From what I can hear it's sounding really nice, another project I'm proud to be a part of. Although this did came on a bad time for me, and made me cause some grey hairs to the directors (atleast I reckon I did), I think I should start replying to things more often
Anyway, congratulations to Jade and the co-directors for going through with this, and everybody involved for getting such a large project into fruition, and with such quality too! (Although I could've done a better job with my contribution)
-
Some epic scifi-themed war/firefight/action music for your listening pleasure! This one got a lil touch of Gears of War feel to it, hence I used a relevant picture to depict that feel in the video.
Surrounded (Youtube) - (Newgrounds)
Cheers!
-
Cool, makes me wanna do some epic music myself right now :>
It reminds me of Soul Calibur music.
Heh, Soul Calibur was definitely one of the sources of inspiration for this, glad to see it shows
Which sound libraries did you use and how many different patches of the same instrument did you have to use? This sounds great man. I recently purchased some high quality sound libraries myself and was wondering how you used the sound libraries. Also, what DAW do you use?Mainly ProjectSAM Symphobia and EWQL Symphonic Gold, but you can achieve stuff like this with different sound libraries (and with less, I might add. I'm interested in testing out the Sonatina Orchestra library at some point, which is free). DAW is Cakewalk Sonar (or Reaper, doesn't really matter what you use as long as it works).
The lead french horn uses a patch from both libraries, layered. The other stuff is basically patches used logically in context of basic orchestra layout with little tweaks here and there to get the sound I want. The magic comes from placing separate reverbs for every section with the different z-depths in mind.
Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it!
-
More traditional orchestra (as in, not so hollywood-esque and loudness maximized) with epic recorded choir.
Will be getting an AMV of it's own soon enough.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/450964
-
Delicious.
-
Ok, this is a really short one, but contains things I've always wanted to try doing right, like cloning myself into a choir for example. Think I did it pretty well, had to keep the singing down a little bit though as it was getting late and doing it from the top of my lungs could've had some consequences
The lyrics are very fitting for such an epic piece of art.
-
A fine piano piece indeed, the ambience is bone chilling. Rather minimalistic too, in a good sort of way. Tracks like this seem to be a dying breed in VGM (I pulled this fact out of my ass), so it's nice to see some change, albeit a fake one.
Don't have much anything else to say really; I think you hit the description spot on!
"Unleashed" | Trailer Music on steroids!
in Post Your Original Music!
Posted
hai guise, i maed dis
Unleashed @ Youtube
Unleashed @ Newgrounds
A pretty short but delicious orchestral metal tune, designed to make you feel stronger than what you really are. Which I guess is the basic premise of Trailer Music in it's entirety.
Hope you like it! I'll try to answer any questions if there are any, but if you know me, you'll know I probably get to it after a week or two of non-responsive behaviour