timaeus222

I agree, the trumpet at 0:30 sounds extremely fake with all the grace notes. The bass is a little soft to me. I think I hear a really soft acoustic bass, but I can't hear the attack. The piano at 0:56 and 1:11 sounds really mechanical to me. The brass at 1:25 sounds synthesized. I could hear a little PWM. 1:38 and on is a loop... :/

Well, right now, since you want me to be honest: Drums are spastic and don't fully connect with the flow of the song. They seem MIDI-ish rhythmically. Piano doesn't really fit with the distorted sound at 0:20 (synth guitar?). 0:35 has some odd filtering that doesn't flow either. I think the next step you can take is getting familiar with your DAW, practicing how you can imitate other people, and then using that knowledge to build your own pool of instruments for your own sound.

Oh, okay. I don't think I actually heard the rhodes significantly other than one low note near the beginning at 0:06.

Anvil Studio is totally not practical for full-on music production. I think first, you should decide what DAW you would be best suited to, and get acquainted. Right now, the remix is too soft and plain. Less emphasis on percussion might not necessarily be good all the time, and you don't have to use the same instrument when sharing main melodies.

The writing you have is implying heavy metal, but I'm not really hearing the low end power. I think you carved out the lows too much on the bass and guitar. For example, at 0:36 and 0:44, I hear something that sounds like this: https://soundcloud.com/isworks/shreddage-2-subterrenea-by-ian?in=isworks/sets/shreddage-2-demos at 1:13

The volume issue is minor. Just set it to 36 if 100 seems too loud and go from there. Other applications should be adjusted to have the same max volume as your overall volume, and do so manually if you have to in the Volume Mixer. I currently have a laptop that works at 36% volume just fine, and of course you could just open Audacity and look at the waveform. If it reaches something near 0dB, it's fine. Your remix is way too soft... by about 7-14dB. When I normalize it, I hear a dry piano, Shreddage 2 or some other lead guitar library, Shreddage Bass, slightly dry non-kick drum samples, but right now I can't really tell because since everything's so soft. Normalizing it makes it retain the same volume balance, so lots of things aren't loud enough to hear very well.

Just to clarify, a rhodes and a piano aren't the same thing. A rhodes is like an electric piano with more "bark" on the attack noise.

Sure, it could possibly be a sitar. The string type is a bit odd though, like it's steel-string or something.

Well, it's obviously a string instrument because you can hear it's being strongly plucked often, probably by fingernails, but I'm stuck between a mandolin and a lyre, processed with a little granular synthesis maybe.

The first saw lead you have has an LFO that has a modulation depth that's too high, so it dips the LP filter down too low sometimes. Try decreasing the modulation depth a bit and raising the cutoff a bit.

It's too quiet, after looking at the waveform. Anyways... V2 is drier than V1. There is less reverb, but the only thing that suffered was the arpeggio. At the beginning, it sounds kind of like an attempt at cinematic percussion. Not bad, actually. Not convincing, but it sounds pretty good in general, if it's not imitating cinematic percussion specifically. Maybe a little dry, and it would benefit from some room reverb and drum compression. 0:30 has some pretty decent sounding choir. It seems to be lacking some treble though, from the sopranos, and some bass from the basses/baritones. There should also be a little reverb for the choir too, but it's not necessary unless you know what you're doing with reverb selection. At 0:53, the square-saw detuned arpeggio is pretty exposed and dry. It's pretty static, and could benefit from some slow modulation, like an LFO on the filter. It can also be pushed back a little bit because although it seems to be the main focus, it's too loud, or the other pads/choirs are too soft. Other than that, it's a simple arrangement. Not OCR level, but it's not bad on its own. Good effort, hope to see more from you later.

And just because... @timaeus222

It just so happens that May 9 is my last final, as of right now (it might change, because of a lame conflict between a last class and a final. xD), so I should have time to squeeze it in! I've got a really sick idea in mind, so I REALLY want to do it. Plus, I hardly ever say "sick". It's going to take a lot of creative processing, but I'm excited, because this time (I've done something similar to this before) I know how to handle it. :3

Unfortunately, I'm probably going to be like that too. :S

Damn, I haven't heard an ocremix this complex and awesome since... I guess some of zircon's past works? I loved the synth solos and glitching, awesome job.

WE NEED A BN ALBUM. I'd be interested... in the summer. Cover Battle Network 1-6 and NT and BCC, of course. We could probably manage 2 discs, 12 tracks per disc plus one bonus disc of extra content? Auditions, 1~2 remixes per track should be reasonable. I could do Web Design, but more of the programming side than the graphical side.

Actually, it's wise to think about the size of the room you're in, too, and the effect on the early reflections, decay time, etc. You can't really adjust that. Pick a room that's a decent size. Preferably not a coat closet. More like... a medium-sized room, like a typical person's room.

I actually think the first pad is a bit abrasive and static (and maybe a little dry). I can barely hear the arp in the background. It's a good ambient remix, but there really isn't much expansion on the source other than in the drums (which are actually a bit loop-like). Either that, or the melody is too obscured/non-complex.

The Zebra2 patch Vogon Vaults is pretty fun for horror SFX. This sounds really nice, too. Sets up a great creepy atmosphere.

I just finished a Demi Lovato remix! I got so inspired by this that I did it in 10 hours! Feel free to check it out, comment, etc. http://soundcloud.com/timaeus222/dl-heart-atk-timaeus-tribute-mix Here are the changes I did: - New intro and outtro - DAT BASS. - More progressive instrumentation - Much more powerful choruses - Industry standard in mastering quality (I went with VBR1 for this, and soft knee limiting) Some things of note: - I rewrote a lot of the low end instrumentation, like the bass, kick, snare, and guitar. - I added in a LOT of background percussion and arpeggios. - I filled out the climax atmosphere quite a bit! - I synthesized the bass, wobble bass, intro bells, distorted resonant pluck, and background arp myself. - A few stylistic choices were made to pay tribute to Demi Lovato's 2008 music, such as the electric rhythm guitar, the occasional stereo separation, the saw lead in the background in the climax, the distorted resonant pluck sound at 3:04 (the same sound as in Got Dynamite), and the drums in the outtro (the same drums as the intro of Get Back). Hope you enjoy! The only thing I wish I could do was legally distribute this.

I'm not sure what has too much reverb, since there's quite a bit, but I believe some pads and leads have too much. The high resonance can be reduced with simple EQ. Just find where the arp is loudest on the EQ with the skinniest reading and do a band notch filter at that frequency. The arrangement is great, and I think it would pass based on arrangement.

Bleh, the square lead is fine. The arps and solos were extremely creative. Maybe the bass is a little boomy, but otherwise the arrangement is off the charts.

Just keep in mind that people can manually mute cymbals with their hands for a rock song ending.