timaeus222

By rigid, I just meant that most or all of the notes play at pretty much the same rhythm; it's like when you sing in unison, except it's with rhythm. I did like this as a whole, just to be clear. This has lots of potential, so I hope you keep working on it no matter how it turns out in the queue.

Yeah, this is achieving a much clearer balance between the leads! Really the only concern I have left is that part near the end at 2:36 - 2:41, where some leads are actually fighting for attention; if you focus on that part, there are two or three leads going on at the same time, and at least for me, it gets hard to follow what they're doing. It does seem to go into that "motion sickness" idea that came up earlier, but maybe simplifying one (or two) of those parts with more extended notes (e.g. half vs. quarter notes) could put more focus on the melody with the most notes. This is actually a neat remix, and despite its repetition, it personally keeps my attention to the end. Great job! =)

Yeah, it did kind of feel a little empty at times, but I'm sure you'll fill it out when it's done.

I hope this gets done, man, because I actually really liked it. Jazz Fusion is very fun to listen to when it's all polished and stuff, so I think this'll be a hit. =)

That grungy bass line is so good. It creates a rather "let's get down to business" atmosphere, and it pairs so well with those unison bends on the guitar.

The piano sounds strange to me. Not because of the distortion; that's fine. I think the decay on it is rather short, so it sounds very staccato the whole time, so I'm not hearing much dynamic contrast created when shifting to the clean tone. I don't think the lead guitar tone sounds harsh, but it sounds thin since it's missing some mids. At 1:16 though, there's a small resonance at about 11000Hz coming from the distortion according to my spectral analyzer, so it could be toned down by either EQing it down or perhaps lowering the distortion a little bit. It kind of rings on at 1:12, so you can more easily hear where the resonance is by listening there rather than in the middle of the track. I think the hi hats and cymbals could use a bit more reverb to sit in the mix. The hi hats also have a bit of an overboost at about 14000Hz, and though the double pedal kick's a little overdone, I think it's fine. Pretty good cover, man. I don't think there are really many issues with the production. The drums don't need to be flawless, IMO, unless you want them to be.

I'm a bit confused by the awkwardly wide kick, as I'm used to kicks being centered. It's kind of covering up the wide guitar chugs. Also, based on the mixing of the kick, the snare could match the punchiness with some transient shaping to bring it closer and give it some more glue, if you want to take this further. The reference track actually has a punchier snare based on what I'm hearing. At 1:01, the clean guitar tone has quite a bit of low mids, so it sounded a bit imbalanced at that volume before the electric lead came in later. Other than that, nice cover. Maybe developing the arrangement some more could add some additional nuance and acquire even more interest.

I think the snare could have some transient shaping and low end to give it more thwap. Right now it sounds thin compared to the kick. Some very slight reverb could help the guitar to sound more roomy in sections where it's exposed. EX: 1:27. Also, I think the decay on the strums there could be tighter because those rapid chugs sound blurry. Other than that, I think it sounds good. I don't really have any issues with the bass or guitars, or even the cymbal tones.

#1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 for sure are possible in other DAWs.

Platinum is not useless, and neither is Silver, if you have experience designing reverbs. If you can tweak reverbs so that those versions will sound good in any context, then they will.

I think it'll be okay if the studio is primarily against the middle of the back wall. The slanted ceiling may blur the early reflections a bit on the far left and right ends. Also, based on the room angle, there may be very slightly inconsistent reverberations (think of reflections inside a rectangular prism on its face versus a cube on its vertex, if they start essentially horizontally. This is only a theory though).

I'll be posting any videos I make on FL Studio here. (If they're still processing, it won't be long) Feedback appreciated! Length: 11:20 Just me trying out a new synth called Serum by Xfer Records. The presets are pretty generic, but the synthesis engine is fantastic. How to use MIDI CC in FL Studio 11 Length: 03:37 Quick tutorial on how to use MIDI CC in FL Studio 11. I also demo a patch from my WIP soundbank for Zebra2. Length: 47:42 * Drum Sequencing Tricks for Tightness * Automate Any Possible MIDI CC with minimal effort * Notching/Peaking EQ * Watch Your Signal Chains * Reducing Automation Redundancy * Used too many effects? * Flexibility for Dynamics * Clearing up the Stereo Field ~ Pt 1 * Clearing up the Stereo Field ~ Pt 2 * Compensation EQ

What does it mean for this to be "for novices only", while having guidelines for a star signing up, if "no one other than the participating novices may help in any way [with mixing]"?

If it's fruitful discussion, what harm does it do? We (you) can get back to singing business, but tangents can be fun. Besides, that headphone thread is recommendations, not discussion of perception.

Now, you see, that's where personal standards come in. Ironically, while my standards are high, here's how I respond in the situation you're describing: I write something, mix it on my best headphones. I listen to it on store-brand skullcandies that should sound "not good" (not bad in particular, but average). Bassier than normal, plus a little resonance in the upper highs. I accept the fact that these skullcandies are bassier than normal below 100Hz and accept/ignore that very minor resonance, and I evaluate how much more bassy is it than I expect on earphones like those. If it's within my tolerance based on the new "scale", so to speak, I don't have a problem with it. In other words, I'm just going to quote myself, as that rather lengthy post, as Kristina called it, was rather insightful, IMO, and was surprisingly not fully internalized. So before you just say "Oh wow, these headphones I really love make my song sound great, and now these common headphones make them sound terrible! Now I have to majorly redo some production!", look back, evaluate what you can expect out of those bad headphones, and "convert to its new scale". Generally, you'll find that you were imposing your standards too seriously. Also, my standards are where they are 'cause Quantitative Analysis. 'nuff said.

Yeah, reverb is technically pretty tough. I've always been adhering to the advice from zircon to mix drier than you prefer, because headphones often have more reverb than the optimal amount (possibly to compensate and make them sound like a room). I ended up just getting the DT-880's and I heard a pretty large difference in the reverb amount in comparison to the Grados. I still liked the amount, but there was suddenly more clarity in everything I ever listened to. That's how big a difference it made.

Let's take it to church! (because I do that already )

I like my standards though. It's who I am. I can relax them for other people, but for me I like them where they are.

But I don't have a treated room. >_> That and time.

It's not that you'd be using your good headphones improperly if your mix doesn't sound good on bad headphones. Presuming that you're uber good at mixing already, it's that you'd be assuming that your good headphones are representative of many good quality audio systems' frequency responses. If there's no substantial evidence that that's the case (e.g. a reasonably flat frequency response graph) or you are unsure, you shouldn't just check on bad headphones, but also other ones that are nearly as good for some purpose or another. For example, my Grados are a great check for reverb amount and treble volume/gain, while my Beyers are a great check for low-mids and treble clarity but are drier than the Grados. Checking on just the bad ones is clearly not allowing you to hear exactly what you can hear on better ones, and the only purpose they could serve is to reveal the common listening experience (which is what you had said), not the ideal listening experience. If the ideal is good enough, any worse of a listening environment shouldn't impact the quality of the music enough that you wouldn't want to listen to it. Sometimes you just have to accept some of the flaws you hear on bad headphones, because maybe they're just that bad. You'll get that sense at the moment your ears become objective. It's not easy though, so don't stress over it.

Happy Birthday!

While it's possible, wouldn't it draw some attention away from the other tracks?

I can hear your production's improving. Some minor things: - The slap bass sounds simply low passed, and notching or mildly scooping the high frequencies of the guitar where you want the slap of the bass to come through would be a step up from a production mentality of low passing or high passing things you don't want to clash. Once you hear the particular quality of the sound that you want to come through coming through enough to sound distinct, it's good. - The guitar sounds high passed as well, perhaps above around 200Hz. Same kind of idea like with low passing on the slap bass, so you could scoop the low mids to bring out the bass. - This kind of genre calls for a punchier kick, but the snare kinda works (a little high pass-y, but it isn't buried). You can hear the kick, but there isn't much high end snap to it. - At 0:43, the strings could use more dramatic emphases on the first and fourth notes to make this feel more action-like. Gives it more life. - Arrangement-wise, this seems simplistic compared to how much you actually know about music theory. Use that knowledge!

Ultimately my opinion is that our source has too few sections to draw moods from (2; 1 main, 1 'climax').

I'm honestly not 100% happy with the direction of Kenta's and my Castlevania track. I dunno, we may continue it, but we may just try either picking a new source (maybe ) or adding more sources. The inspiration is just iffy with this one. Tempo's weird, I don't have a good organ sample, lots of metal on BadAss albums already, etc. Things are much better on the Vectorman remix.