Garrett Williamson

Hello, once again, fellow OCR people. As I had said before, I have really been in the mood lately to just go all at it on Zelda remixes. Well, I finally did one for the actual theme of the series, or at least the Overworld theme of the original game, as many people just like to say. The simple story behind this was that I was just randomly playing some rather jazzy chords one day. I randomly started singing the theme melody over it, and it seemed to work. I then began to sing more of the melody and write more chords under it and I ended up doing this pretty cool jazzy arrangement. This is a work-in-progress, and is, I think, slightly repetitive, and is not mixed at all. All reverbs and EQ stuff are just presets when I chose the instruments and I just messed with them a bit to make the tracks sound a little better. So yeah, what do you guys think so far? P.S., may want to turn your speakers up a little. It's a little quiet because of its unmixed-ness. Link: http://soundcloud.com/gwilliamson/legend-of-zelda-overworld

What he said. xD By the way, SnappleMan, that song sounds very Sonic-y. ^-^ He is very correct, though. I always start with volume and panning. Since stereo obviously is a thing and we're not in 1942 where the new stereo thing was "Hi-Fi" or whatever (stereo probably didn't even exist then... I'm getting off-topic), putting specific things in one ear and other things in the other ear (sometimes not even completely; sometimes I put it +32 or -18 in one ear rather than +64 or whatever). Volume also helps. Not enough kick? Turn it up (that's a little logical lol). But obviously, as we've all said so far, volume and panning isn't going to do it. It's a great starting point and should be the base of the mix, but that isn't going to always help the kick (for example) pop out, obviously. Which is when EQ and Compressor always come in handy for me. Compressor always helps stuff pop out and it'll bring out sounds that aren't easily heard when the track is raw. EQ is the same way, as it brings out frequencies that probably need to be heard to bring out sounds in the certain track. Does FL Studio, by chance, have preset EQ adjustments? Like, for example, a preset that says "Electric Bass Boost" or "Acoustic Guitar Brighten" or something? In Logic, there are presets, and lots of the time, I use them and then tweak them and change them to sound the way I want it to sound. Another thing. What I actually do most of the time is also EQ the master track, when I'm done mixing the individual tracks. Sometimes it helps because it will pop out or smooth out the sound of something that I honestly don't think I want to lower that certain frequency of (I worded that horribly haha). I know many people who don't do this because they will take it to a mastering engineer and he'll take care of that. Sometimes they just don't feel it's needed, period. But I don't ever take my stuff to a mastering engineer (mainly because I don't have the money) and I don't master stuff myself, so I just EQ the master track. One other thing I do to the master track which I believe always should be used (though with my latest original record, I didn't use it because I had no clue it was useful when I was working on that album haha... honestly I'm still learning a little bit of mixing myself) is that I put a Limiter on the master track. It makes the whole track louder without causing the volume to go over-the-top, which would result in distortion and many sounds not being able to be heard (which no one likes hearing). Though, when I started using the Limiter, I had no clue what I was doing, and some of my first stuff didn't sound great. You just have to go into what I call "what-does-this-button-do" mode and start messing with stuff and, after a few failures (which is totally ok), find the sound that you'd been looking for. Limiting tracks is never the same. Sometimes you'll need the nob turned up more on one thing than another. One other important thing. The Limiter should always be the first thing you do when you start mixing. It's hard to work with the Limiter when you've already mixed everything else, because then you'll probably end up having to go back and tweak some stuff because the Limiter made it sound different. Putting the Limiter in first thing will help you because then you can base the rest of the mix off of what the Limiter's doing. You can obviously tweak the Limiter along the way when mixing everything else, but the Limiter should be the first thing done (other than the volume and panning, of course). But yeah, just work with it. Find out how to use it and what sounds best for your work. I've obviously said to much (me and my A.D.D... lol), so I'll shut up now.

Oh, well, whatever. I'm cool with that. If it that analogy sounded good to everyone else, then I guess it wasn't that dumb after all lol.

Do you use compressor? That tool is one of the most helpful plug-ins existing. I almost always use compressor in some way, and I almost never go without having EQ on every track. I mean, I have learned how to EQ my stuff fairly well, though hardly do I ever mix rock stuff. The closest I have to a song I recorded and mixed that is rock is this original: http://soundcloud.com/gwilliamson/dreamer But Rozovian and ACO are correct on the EQ assumption. You can't have too many tracks with the same frequency range. Too many of tracks having the same frequency ranges in the EQ will just keep anything from popping out. I mean, how easy is it going to be to find a leaf on a tree you're looking for when they all look the same? Dumb example, but you get what I mean.

I know nothing of FL Studio, but was there a Send on the track? Like a Bus 1, Bus 2, or something? Was the delay on that? Again, know nothing of FL Studio. I use Logic.

Um... what? How to choose the best? By knowing what works best for you... That first post didn't make much sense... Um... I use Logic Pro.

Well I like this remix.

It's ok. You didn't know.

I though I recall hearing that only one remix can be posted on a single thread...

I don't master, but I do mix, and, from my opinion, and I don't suck. But I cannot speak for myself. Check out my SoundCloud in my signature to listen to some of my stuff. My originals are probably best mixed but you can listen to all of it.

Ok. I haven't done rapping or anything on it yet. I've been busy with other things. Like with remixes (I'm also currently working on a remix for a Paper Mario album), my own original music, YouTube, and my actual life. xD

Now I want to go play Sonic Adventure again. Ok, so it was off to a pretty cool start. But I feel it started getting too repetitive (as you noted yourself) and I was just hearing the same thing over and over again. I felt that kick and it was sweet (I honestly love it when the kick is big and loud), but I don't recall ever hearing much of a snare, and I was sort of waiting for that, honestly. I think that maybe you should somehow combine this with the part where Sonic's on the snowboard. You know, the rock 'n' roll sounding song. Maybe add in the guitar riff in this remix and like do a solo, and just make it more chill? I don't know. There were some really interesting things in this remix, I just feel it's too repetitive, and I felt I was skipping through too much of the song, waiting for something to happen.

I don't think I ever have that problem. I have a song in my head to write and I do it. Whether it takes me 52 hours or 20 minutes, it's normally gets out sooner or later. I mean, if it doesn't work out, then I just scrap it and try something else.

Hmmm. Meh.

Sorry if I am being annoying. Do I have permission to try wippin' something together for that "Wish of the Princess" song?

That actually would be pretty sweet.

I can totally try putting something together for "Wish of the Princess". I like that song a lot and I have an idea for it.

Indeed. That one.

Amen. I figured that out the hard way. That place is the worst just because it's closed in. Though the first time I got a game over was because I stood in the same spot. And I hadn't even gotten the first page. So note this: DON'T EVER STAND IN THE SAME SPOT. The only way to keep him from sneaking up on you is to keep moving. I played the game twice and was done. Couldn't do it again. Deleted the file from my computer. I think the worst part that makes it so freaky is the audio. That's what makes this game so freakishly scary. I never actually screamed when playing the game. I only sat there stunned. Couldn't get to sleep for 2 nights. Had to turn on my radio and I was on my computer at like 3 in the morning hoping it would finally put me to sleep.

Is it that "Her Greatest Wish!" song? I don't see a ReMixer by it, so I'm guessing that's it.

Wait, is there still a track available?

I have to agree with Cash here. That pop noise does sound like a production problem; like the volume wasn't properly adjusted or something. Distortion is the word I'm looking for, really. I like this, but I don't think it would be accepted onto ocremix because you are heavily sampling the original track, and just took the pitch down a bit. The idea of this track is great, though, and that beat is pretty sweet. But this is a really hard song to remix, so the fact you were able to pull it off this well is impressive (that wasn't a mean comment, that was a compliment).

Ok I will work on some of it. Honestly, some of it I have to disagree with you on, because I personally like the sound of it. But that's probably just because we have different ears. The piano thing I'll probably keep the same, because I am sort of looking for an artificial sound. I wasn't really attempting reality in the tone and velocity of the piano.

If the sound is only in the low end, I'd say EQ it out. If you're a male doing male vox, then lots of the bass should be taken out anyway. Bass and sometimes guitar and piano, on the other hand... I'd get that device Metal Man's talking about if it helps.