timaeus222   Members

Nice long breakdown section. I thought the lead was a bit buried at 0:55, but that's not a big deal. Nice job. =)

The mechanical rhythm guitar strumming and piano sequencing. If you don't have a guitar sample library, it's kinda hard to get rid of the machine-gun effect. The piano is easier to fix. Just add more variance to the velocities (slightly increase the deviation magnitude from each other, but not randomly. Slightly lower the quieter velocities), partially overlap the notes, and very slightly offset the note start-timings. This could be helpful to hear the difference between entirely humanized piano and not. https://app.box.com/s/vg1qxcnbc1wx6vpdmrm4

Limiter No. 6 Reviews MLimiter Reviews Elatua Limiter seems good, as it can do M/S limiting too, though it's apparently 90 euros. ThrillseekerVBL is free, so it couldn't hurt to try it. It looks great and had a lot of technical know-how behind its programming.

Soft-clipping: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/522822-post2.html Similar to soft knee limiting, but more tolerant, I believe. I actually prefer soft knee limiting because I find it a good balance between hard knee and soft clipping. Lets me mix loudly without overcompression. This is probably the piece of info I found most useful to illustrating what I just said above. The "secret" to mixing loudly: So, in short, my recommendation is TLs-Pocket Limiter. Free, simple, effective.

I still need to make a template too, but I still need to process my strings until I like them, and mix-and-match with EWQL.

Man, this is slick! Awesome square bass and other chiptunes. I also like the occasional drops in the rhythm. That cello blends right in. The string trio breakdown was cool, and actually doesn't feel out of place. Very nice!

I'd just say the nice thing I think of and say downplayed nitpicks (I've been doing that since the new year started). Let's both do it. If we have something nice to say, why not say it? =D

Since you're talking transitional, you *can* use a cymbal as a distinction between sections, but leading up to a new section, you could use snare rolls, tom rolls, reverse cymbals, risers, other types of reverses (I feel like reversed kicks or snares are most commonly overlooked as possibilities), etc. By risers, I mean something like any of these, or others that I haven't listed: - resonant FM filter modulation (a bubbly pitch rising-esque sound) - Filter LFO with an upward-modulating envelope on the LFO rate on, say, white noise or some other medium - white/pink noise band pass/low pass filter sweep (you've done this before) - a simple volume envelope/automation on a sound you find interesting for the context. EX: an inharmonic bell, a glassy FM sound (an FM oscillator acting as a carrier placed in serial with an FM oscillator acting as the modulator creates these two types of sounds), etc. - a relatively long sound of any sort that makes sense, reversed.

An easier approach could be to just EQ down the treble a bit with a shelving EQ (e.g. limit-to-growth-style curve). Or, you could try some very light chorusing to blend the harmonics together a little, which could make harsh frequencies more pleasant. The main purpose of reverb is to let the instrument fit in the mix and sound natural, like the natural ambience in a room, but if you make the instrument sound more pleasant before it hits the reverb application (e.g. dry signal), you shouldn't have to raise the wet signal or lower the dry signal in the reverb to fix harshness. The basic premise of transient shaping is that it is like sculpting a sound. All things have form, and similarly, all sounds have an associated waveform (<-- this is of a cymbal). A transient shaper's purpose is to adjust the length of the sound (the sustain), starting at a certain moment in time after that the sound has played (the attack, basically controlling the nearness of the sound), and optionally boost the sound's loudness (via the gain). With this you can either make a sound tighter or longer, and it's up to you what sounds good to you in certain contexts, though in some cases it may sound out of place. i.e. ambient music doesn't call for dubsteppish snares with long sustains. The reason why I say this is a suggestion and not necessary (but helpful) is that many 'good' transient shapers are commercial. My favorite is Transient Master from Native Instruments ($99). Some free ones are Transient, dominion, and Bittersweet III. I haven't tried the second two yet, but I think I'll try them later too.

Now, don't be too hard on yourself---this arrangement is actually really great. It flows well, and it has some nice change-ups.

This feels empty. It's lacking some sort of harmony to add to the main body of the soundscape. All you have is bassy, leading, and a little percussion up until 1:37. In fact, 1:37 - 1:59 is quite good. If you can fill in the soundscape in other places in a similar way, whether by production means (reverb + mixing loudly yet in a controlled way) or by adding more instruments for harmony/filler/padding, it'll be much more cohesive. Also, this arrangement needs more direction. The drums seem to be doing their own thing at times, and at other times they fit. I'm liking the ending at 4:01 - 4:51. Just needs some fine-tuning on the mechanical piano there (especially the right hand) and maybe the mixing if you think it's necessary.

Holy crap, I'd be pissed to get Bingo Highway as the other source---no offense if it was your source, but wow, it's just fast trance with insanely dissonant chip sounds. xD As for the actual remix, I'm finding the strings to be a little weak on the sequencing side. On one hand, they're falling behind the rhythm, and on the other, the notes that were meant to be emphasized for the action aesthetic seem relatively close in intensity to the other notes. i.e. The velocities are relatively flat at times. Also, there's definitely some overcompression throughout caused by the cinematic percussion. The arrangement is ambitious, and it's pretty cool. I do hear the sources, so I don't think this is too liberal. I hope to see this polished up!

Welp, probably the first and main thing that would give this a NO would be the fake FL Slayer guitar. >.< Other things: - Levels are wonky (bass is too loud, piano is too quiet, can't hear the drums). - Everything is dry. No reverb that I can hear. - It's clipping (no limiter). - Piano is mechanical. - Drums seem independent of the other instruments. The first thing you could do to improve this is to simply put on a limiter on the master track in the mixer. That would probably make this sound pumping due to loudness based on how you have Fruity Limiter for free, but it's a step forward. It'll also help to listen to music that uses guitars and pianos. You probably already do that, but do it more intently. Guitars don't play lifeless, loud notes like that, and pianos aren't played stiffly like a robot would do it. I know you're just starting, but everyone starts somewhere.

He was joking. That's who he is. A kidder.

I read it. Many of them happen to be taken over by their opinions. They can have their opinions, but generalizing about OCR and pretending their opinions are fact... not cool. There comes a point when opinions are just opinions.

Yeah, it was looking fuzzy there, but that's really the only reason why I pointed that out. (And pixel-centric just means the characters in the font are made with lines of one pixel thickness.)

Nice intro. The strings sound static, though, as their volumes stay relatively level, and whenever they stop playing, it's an abrupt silence. i.e. 0:23 and 0:33. I think if the kick had some transient shaping to tighten the timbre, it would help a bit more with the repetition, but it's really not that big of a deal. The lead at 1:20 seems to have a fairly high amount of reverb, and it sounds distant. It could be dismissed as stylistic choice, but I think it can be a bit more upfront since it's a lead. Also not a big deal. Probably the issue you could start focusing on is the breakdown section at 3:07. It goes on for a minute, so it's a nice long time that can be polished up for maximum effect. I'm finding the piano's higher notes to be noticeably mechanical in the velocities and note timing, and like before, the strings have a static volume. Their volume could be automated to add swells for realism. The sounds chosen have some clashes, especially at 4:47 and on. The piano gets buried behind the sidechained supersaw, so the saw is either too loud or it has frequencies that can be notched to make room for the frequencies of the piano that would bring out its desirable characteristics. Overall, the progression for this is less repetitive than a lot of trance music out there. It can be less repetitive, but it doesn't bother me that much, at least. The production has some room for improvement but is not bad right now. The piano and strings need some humanization like mentioned above, and some EQ to clear up some muddiness and clashing would really help. Good job so far.

I'd actually identify 3:20 - 4:00 as the most problematic section right now due to some sequencing realism, and other than that this is great.

It's private right now.

This sounds pretty good, though I found the first minute plodding due to the repetitive bells on the right speaker. Nice dynamics, but this gets pretty loud. At 2:44, the bells make that apparent. Some of the treble above 16000Hz gets cut off from pushing the 0dB ceiling too hard. At 3:47, it's probably clipping. Are you using a soft clipper? Even though you won't get overcompression from those, you'll definitely get clipping if you boost too loudly. Soft knee limiters are similar but you don't get clipping quite as easily with those. ...and I'm not sure the electric guitar at the end actually fits in an orchestra. Other than that, great start.

Songs are, by definition, something that is sung. Composition is not restricted to vocal music only.

Thanks! xD So, this sounds like some chillout downtempo, which means fine-tuning the drum pattern writing and the bass would really help keep the arrangement flowing. Currently, the drums sound loop-like aside from a few fills. Not only that, but I couldn't find many cymbals. Also, since repetition plays a big part in enjoying a track of this genre, subtle changes in other aspects could help, if only to transition in between sections, such as snare rolls, synth arpeggio lines, descending bass lines, etc. It's partly my opinion, but I think the snare could have some of the lows filtered out to make this sound lighter. The harmonies and chord progressions sound like something to relax to. This is a good adaptation of the original in a new genre, though there are some arpeggios and fluorishes in the that can be added in here. Nice work so far.

Haha, he's actually really funny.

I kinda do the same thing, but I just hum the bass line for the heck of it.

So, guttural/gritty bass/baritone? (I'm not volunteering though)