timaeus222   Members

The Damned, can you check your messages? I sent you the almost-final version of my track last Wednesday.

Cool, the arrangement sounds good. I think the mods might still say something about the sounds you use, though.

Haha, thanks a lot! Yep, I try to listen to many different genres, as long as the production is acceptable. If it's completely ear-splitting, of course I'm not going to listen to it. But yeah, I tend to like lots of genres, like dubstep (sparingly), ambient, electronica, hard rock, metal (sparingly), world, chiptune, etc. I tend to stay very flexible. Exactly. Usually my best ideas are while I'm away from my house. Like my Tornado Man remix---I thought of that while grocery shopping, and I couldn't go home for 3 days because my parents took the car. I'm surprised I managed to keep that idea intact and finish the whole track. I did replace a section, but what I had inspired me enough to replace a section with a new and better one. That sometimes happens to me. I tend to think of ideas that require some types of synth sounds that I don't have, usually ones that I don't even know how to make or know where to find in what plugins I have (like those crazy wobbles zircon can do with FM synthesis in Massive; actually, I haven't touched Massive in a long time because it just loves to crash on me and create random rendering muting glitches). I just want to someday have a go-to whatever for any song I choose to write. Like a compressor for drum punch. FerricTDS and TesslaPro MKII are decent, but I need a better one, like The Glue ($90) or Rough Rider (apparently, free!). Thanks! That's the more conventional answer I was looking for.

If you have a subwoofer, I'm sure it'll still give enough sub bass. Generally, things below 35Hz aren't really that audible, and subwoofers allow you to feel it; hearing it is difficult without isolating it.

Sounds pretty good so far. Here's what I found: The intro might be too long, but I'm not entirely sure. It's 2 minutes long out of a 5:30 track, which is about 36% of the track. You might want to look into that. The bass is louder than the saw wave arp, so raise the volume of the arp a bit, and lower the volume of the bass a bit, then add a bit of treble frequency to the bass to get it to pierce through (or layer on a simple detuned saw wave). Then you might hear that 8-bit arp more. Nice automated low pass filter on the kick. 2:16 - You should look into the drum rhythm. It feels weird there, and I was expecting a kick on that first beat. Instead, it's on the 3rd beat out of 6. Maybe you can make the bass less staccato. Longer impact, more power. You could benefit from changing the snare, both in general and over the course of the track as well. The bitcrushed snare isn't working as a constantly-used snare. The arrangement is, as people here say, "plodding". You're going to have to change up the rhythm at some point to pump up the energy to more than just a swing-like feel. It's be great to hear new, more expressive sounds later on in the track too.

Just a few minor things. - Sidechain the kick, since I can't really hear the kick. If you have already, try finding a few kick samples to layer on there, to get the kick to be more audible. Layer the snares too, or increase the volume on the snare. - Add some compression on the kick and snare to give them some "glue" (so they'll be heard for longer, presumably, is where the term came from). - Add an EQ module on the Master and high pass out everything below 35Hz. You will never need that, since when you turn up the volume enough, you'll get a sub bass frequency in there somewhere. - Check to make sure no reverb is unnecessarily on an instrument (like a kick in a non-ambient track). - Check to make sure reverb is on things that should have it, like leads, arps, etc. (not most basses), and see if you can create a reverb that sounds right for each instrument. i.e. A really excessively long decay on the lead will be horrible. ;D - EQ out any unnecessary frequencies on certain instruments that have clashing frequencies (like leads vs. arps, or similar). You could even notch filter (band stop/reject) the bass where the kick is to be extra careful. - If you happen to have a favorite compressor that somehow ties things together really well (like the "summing" preset on Density MKIII), use it. Just evaluate how it sounds with and without it, and if it makes enough of a difference, use it.

The harp at 0:15 seems to be out of sync with the rest of the instruments. You should quantize that. At 0:35, there's that piano. Hm, maybe you should add a lower octave part to it. It seems too bare with just a high end piano. You might also want to touch up the sequencing a bit if it isn't live or live MIDI. At the end, try changing the final notes to signal that there's more coming up. Right now it sounds like an ending.

Where do you find your musical inspiration?

Of course. I'm just saying beef up the sound!

By expressive, I mean, for example, more vibrato where appropriate, or a more dynamic, modulated synth sound. You gotta pull out all the stops and make each and every note sound like it has feeling, if you get what I mean. Aggressive is like dirtier, more powerful, mind-blowing stuff. Kind of like this, but in the context of your remix (because there's no way you or I can do this kind of stuff at this moment): @ 11:30 and 12:01

Well, your ideas are pretty good, you just need to get some better sounds. See if you can find some more expressive synth sounds to use, or even more aggressive sounds.

This will be a bit harsh but not mean. It'd be nicer if you do some automation to cut out unnecessary, overlapping frequencies during certain sections and bring them back later when they won't clash with other instruments' frequencies. I'm also not really liking the noise thwip thing at 1:22 leading into the key change. One, it's too loud, and two, it doesn't fit. Maybe more of a reverse thwip? 1:35 - the saw wave arpeggio seems too static to me. Maybe put an LFO on it to modulate an internal cutoff filter? 2:45 - the sync lead is too dry, and it makes it pretty annoying, and it clashes with the polyphonic saw wave arpeggio. Add some reverb on that sync lead, and low pass that poly saw wave a bit. You might also want to try putting the sync lead an octave lower to see how it sounds. Overall, upgrade your sounds. They're very generic right now, and nothing too special. You've gotta grab people's attention with interesting sounds.

Things are getting really muddy in the low mids. Good sound, but EQ out the unnecessary overlapping frequencies. It's most evident at 0:34-0:50. 1:28 - The "choir" sounds really fake. Maybe some other instrument there? There's a lot of low end stuff going on. It's tough, but you gotta make sure you don't have any unnecessary frequencies clogging up the mix.

Okay, some more updates: - I fixed up the section at 2:04-2:16. It was getting cramped, so I loosened things up a bit, and it should sound cleaner now (whatever that means ). It also has a stronger kick. - Better balance between drums, guitar, bass, and leads. If there's not enough bass, I don't really know how I can add more. It's very loud and packed, and if I were to add more, I'd have to lower the volume on everything. https://www.box.com/s/7j1jcftj1pxtivsdjy8v - V4 https://www.box.com/s/b9n2y5skr1gr480dnhri - V3 https://www.box.com/s/x3vy70mv77ux3xgoyrdj - V2 https://www.box.com/s/47ba3cnfomt1n2myzs5m - V1 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvjc12new0

You're not alone, I get a lot of my ideas away from my studio too. The sounds are nice, but the writing seems to make their frequencies clash a bit.

Source length shouldn't be an issue; you can expand on it if you're really inspired. I've managed to make a remix combining two sources, that are 1:04 and 1:13 long respectively. One 1:51 source shouldn't be too difficult. I have an idea. Maybe you can rewrite the intro, and start with an arpeggio, then add a bass, then go for a hardcore dance/electronica song? Your sounds seem to match that. Sort of like this but not exactly: Hm... Or maybe my old (kinda bad) remix of this will inspire you? I like the kick and snare. Maybe decrease the predelay on the snare reverb a little bit.

The Damned, I sent a message to you, in case you somehow didn't get a popup notification.

Let's pretend I didn't say anything about "it".

Cool! Actually, I took a look at some spectral analyzers, and it turns out adding more bass frequencies in in the 65-75Hz range for the low pad would really strengthen this remix, so I'm rendering a newer version doing just that!

Haha, this is hilarious. Great take on this FF7 track!

Keep in mind that sometimes when you think there's too much reverb, it could just be that the reverb preset isn't effective, realistic, or consistent among your instruments.

I recommend chimpazilla's #2 option.