timaeus222

Okie dokie, I'm gonna show you my references to loudness, so you can see where I stand on this. Loud, but controlled enough Loud, but controlled juuuuust enough, and about what I consider the max I'd prefer

Great job guys! You all put in a good effort, despite some meet-up/convening complications. Yeah, if you can tell me what it is that's feeling a bit unpolished in the mix, MindWanderer, I'll look into it. As it is, I'm not really hearing an issue, besides the buildup to the guitar solo feeling a little bit under-bassed. I forgot to upgrade the bass sound there, but other than that, I'm unsure what else there is to do. If I or Esperado were to put it up for Mod Review, I think Rozovian would be the guy to give fitting crits since he's a dedicated sound designer.

Here's one.

1) Mentioned that in my first post on pg. 1. Case-by-case, but that approach helps. 2) I tend to make sure that the dynamics flow smoothly through the loop point. If it sounds like a terraced shift in dynamics, no matter how small, I tweak velocities or automation at the end of the loop to match the beginning. The stereo image should optimally link well at the loop point too, so if it ends wide, it should start similarly wide, and vice versa. Similar to the dynamics remark. I wouldn't use that much bus compression; if any, I'd just make it transparent but still in effect (You've got that easy with The Glue), while making sure the mixing doesn't have any non-negligible flaws. Master track compression is optimally an optional thing, in most cases, even outside VGM OSTs. If the mixing is good, you shouldn't really need master track compression to get the loudness to how you want it. If you do, just check all the frequencies again, since compression definitely emphasizes frequency boosts on EQs previous in the signal chain. Obviously this is case-by-case, but that's just how I would do it. To make loops not annoying, I just make sure all resonances are tamed and nothing grating sticks out. That's kind of a given in even regular VGM remixes.

Sounds good; I just wish the portamento synth lead was less resonant, but that's about it.

Dude, I know this isn't even up for claiming yet, but I LOVE "Intermediate". Totally egyptian and totally up my alley. Regardless, I'm probably going to do this track separately on my own time, and if you want it on the album and I actually have it at least partially done, then sure.

At first I was a bit concerned about the arrangement being a list of songs in a medley, but you do have some form of personalization. It isn't just one track after another, and it actually kinda sounds like one song. That said, the pacing is so-so. The entire track is basically one mood without any change-ups in energy, and mostly little to no change-up in atmosphere (mainly Celtic dance-like, it seems). Five minutes is quite a bit to burn through without pausing the track for repetitive pacing. The sound quality is average, and the mixing is not great but OK. However, I agree with Gario that the sequencing of many of the orchestral elements is fake and/or mechanical (especially the horns and strings). They don't sound bad; they just don't sound good, for the particular quality samples you used. You can certainly automate volumes, overlap notes, and do other tricks to make free samples sound more realistic. It also couldn't hurt to get better samples. FluidR3 is an example of a good soundfont, IMO. Its harp is great, and with some careful EQ it can be even greater. The drums are a bit buried, but I'm not convinced that they fit the genre. That's an acoustic kit in an orchestra with some Celtic and Irish instruments; nothing wrong with that, but it's unconventional. The kick is pretty far back, and the snare is barely audible. The cymbals work though. I'm finding the sequencing to be the biggest issue here, followed by the pacing and then the mixing. The transitions seem OK for the most part, and the sources are implemented in particular ways, rather than acting as completely separate tracks joined by crude links. Overall, I think if the pacing was varied some more, the orchestral sequencing was refined, and the mixing was refined, this would be more engaging for longer.

The intro may be slightly too loud, sure, and just lowering the velocity value of the choir by about 10~20 or so could do it. The value should display somewhere in the upper left of FL. I can hear the formant lead notes just fine, but yeah, more motion in the timbre would add interest. It's intelligible in its pitch, but it doesn't feel extremely present. You could also go up an octave halfway through a melodic section or something, for some contrast. I think 2:28 - 2:30 has a rhythm that becomes a bit slower than the actual tempo and thus is actually slightly late in that time interval. Really not a big deal, but I figured I'd let you know. It does add to the human element of this without bothering me, so I'd say it's fine.

I actually like the vocals, even with the autotune. It would have been cool to do vocoding instead, but not something that Mike "has" to do. The kick could have been better, but these days Mike is more capable. Great, for a 3-year old mix!

My point was that the quality of the samples isn't what matches the look of the game. If it's an 8-bit game, wouldn't you expect chiptunes? It would match the feel of the game based on the time during which similar 8-bit games were made in terms of what was available, and that makes it less awkward of a connection between what the game conveys and the OST conveys. Orchestral for 8-bit IS challenging, and IMO it's not the conventional choice. Roland SC-88 samples can be gotten from Edirol Orchestral or Edirol Hypercanvas (which is not the same interface as Virtual Sound Canvas), for example. I've found Edirol Hypercanvas (though I can't get it to remember saved templates). It's discontinued but it's out there (and since it's discontinued I guess it isn't really stealing from the product provider, IMO, as they don't even expect to make any more money on it anymore).

It's also about using samples that convey the aesthetics of the game. For instance, if the game was a retro roguelike, you could try using Roland SC-88 samples, or something like that. i.e. using a full orchestral library on an 8-bit game won't sound right at all.

Ah, it's okay! Actually, what's happening is that the treble frequencies are slowly being exposed by either an automation clip (a simple module that does things for you automatically based on what you specify) or an internal synth envelope (a slope that a synth parameter [knob feature] follows to modulate/modify a property within its interface at that particular speeds and directions). Since it sounds like a low-pass filter envelope, what I'd do is either: - If it's an automation clip, lower the far-right tip of the automation path down a bit. - If it's an internal synth envelope, look at what envelope is specified to modulate the cutoff, and turn down the Attack a little bit. Presumably, since the automation lasts pretty long, I think it's an actual automation clip?

Might as well do meticulous notch EQ automation to accommodate for that limitation.

Addressing the looping part first, I find is pretty clear, at least, if you use Reaper. Maybe you can reapply the concept somehow. If you render in FL Studio as "Wrap Remainder", it doesn't really let the track start the first time through without that tail at the beginning of the first few seconds, so it's not quite that effective. For convenience's sake, I believe you can just render three options gives the programmer the flexibility: loopable OGG, loopable WAV, or WAV+no tail with WAV+tail pasted on top of (overlapping, not inserting) the first few seconds.I find that mixing/mastering VGM depends heavily on making sure sound effects can easily be heard without actually having to turning down the music; that's the "last-resort" situation IMO---to have to turn down the music. What I'd do is take all the sound effects you have access to and pretend to go through some scene(s) in the video game, if possible, and audition all those sound effects in context. Try to pick scenes that overall involve the representative (covering all the different possible frequency distributions) sound effects and scoop accordingly to let those sounds fit well. Before this process though, I would personally suggest to master it like normal, while turning the relative/perceived loudness down a notch on any tracks where you're told to do so.

Hell to the yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah REPRESENT.

#hashtag 10char

I just wanna clarify; the 5-6 minute "minimum" is just an estimate, so there's no hard-and-fast rule for that. As for 1:50, also clarifying, Gario's saying that the low-pass cutoff automation envelope sounds like it ends too high (or this could serve as some vocabulary! ).

Thirded. Anyways, for semi-casual listening I'd recommend the Grado SR-60i. $80. They look retro but they sound great. Clear bass, crisp treble. Not as good as the Beyerdynamic DT880's, but the difference between the two is minimal (big difference to me, minimal difference objectively speaking). On the go, you still have to take good care of them. Maybe buying headphones that cost more than $50 will motivate you to treat your headphones carefully. http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=393&graphID[]=963&scale=30 Typical earphones, like the store-brand ~$15 Skullcandy/Sony earbuds... don't have that much of a range of good/bad audio qualities. I've found them to be from "eh" to "okay". Makes sense---they're not clunky and so they're made for casual listening. If earbuds are more your thing, then these Skullcandies are not bad at all. They give pretty decent bass, and only slightly too much treble near 16000Hz or so as a very minor resonance. Quite sturdy. Slept on them twice before and they're still fully functional. Just don't do that so often.

I've always liked your music, SS. Keep it up man!

ACAPELLA! Get a beatboxer. Do eet.

Man, I could have sworn I said something on this. Like I thought I said, top-notch arrangement, unbeatable mixing, and I have no crits. The epicness is over 9000 (now this I know I didn't say)!

Awesome! Yeah, Vig and Zedd deserve this.

There are some very very minor production issues, but nothing that really matters. Just some partially obscured ear candy, but that's about all. I liked this when I first gave her feedback, and I still do. Great arrangement that both tweaks the rhythm and elongates or compresses the source tune. That's an entirely valid way of using the source; you're free to do it at nearly any tempo you wish as long as it's recognizable!

Example time. This is something that follows the logic presented here, just for some context. I started with the melody and drums, and built from the ground up with the bass, then the e. piano, then the strings, then the C64 arp. 0:31-0:46 is the focus of this illustration of melody following a bass line and harmony here. The bass mostly plays the bottom note in the particular chord inversions as Neblix said (0:31-0:44), and what's between the beginning and end of a phrase can be whatever makes sense, like SnappleMan said (the e. piano chords, for example, are especially playful with their movement). At 0:44-0:46, the bass plays around with the Circle of "Thirds" and goes down a major third, goes back up a minor third, then down a major third, and this could be considered the counterpoint which SnappleMan was pointing out.

Emphasizing this part. That's basically what I said, but elaborated. This is what I call helpful.