timaeus222

I'd like to join this project eventually. I have a 2:27 WIP so far on a Yu-Gi-Oh Dark Duel Stories two-source combo remix.

For some reason, everything's maxing out at about -1.5dB. I think the square lead is a bit loud compared to the rest of the instrumentation. Perhaps boosting everything but the square lead by 1.5dB will help that. Hm... the snare has a good amount of reverb, but maybe you should have another snare that could sound close to it, but with less reverb for the snare fills. If you're going to keep that square lead, I suggest adding some vibrato to it.

The percussion sounds really nice. I especially liked the clap near 0:40. The phaser on the pads was a pretty good idea. It got to be too much eventually, though, so this song sounds the same throughout. The 1:02 transition was cool. Maybe you could expand on this more? It sounds like some of it looped.

You can usually find tutorials on YouTube for techniques to create effects with certain DAWs. One quick search gave me lots of results for Reaper. If what you need is not there, it's probably at Sound on Sound's Tutorials Page. There's even some stuff on specifically Reaper. I found the Synthesis articles particularly useful.

Between 8 hours and three months. If I'm really inspired, I can write and finish a song, usually a remix, within a few 2-4 hour sessions over the course of about 2-4 weeks. I sometimes end up going back to it a few weeks later, if it's not yet released, to fix it up, if I know I can do something more with it. When I fix the song up, it's usually just mastering, but there have been times where I actually replaced entire sections in some of my tracks (once). That's why I'm always looking to expand my set of instruments to find inspiring sounds.

Oh, well there you go. You had to quantize it, so it's not as realistic. The more you quantize, the more robotic it can get. See if you can figure out a workaround. Maybe export the MIDI to sheet music since I think you're using FL (totally random guess and I might have remembered wrong, but I think I saw that you use FL). Then play the sheet music (if you can read sheet music, that's a plus) in an empty project file (i.e. less chance of a latency hiccup), save as a MIDI, and import the MIDI in your original project file. Do it for each distinct section in your song, after you subdivide it into n equal pieces (just kidding, calculus joke, don't shoot me). You're also going to have to be open to suggestions, and try out other piano samples. Just because Pianoteq costs $319 doesn't mean it'll automatically be good, or that it'll automatically work nicely for every song. Even a good VST can sound bad with bad sequencing (not saying your sequencing is bad. Just not mind-blowing). It might even be worth your money to upgrade. For a person like you, I'd imagine you would like customizability. Upgrading to the non-budget Standard version is a good way to make your piano sound better. If you're really crazy, upgrade to the pro version, lol. If that's too much to pay, you might as well go look for a good room reverb plugin instead, rather than assume that Pianoteq is uber-awesome and that nothing can be done to enhance the sound. Good reverb can really make instruments sound realistic.

I can't listen to it right now, but it sounds like your velocity response is an issue. Check out what velocities you get when you record, and see if it's reasonable. Fix it as necessary. If you're playing in live with no latency issues, and Pianoteq is supposedly good, then it has to be velocities or playing technique. You might as well find more piano samples. Maybe the one you chose just doesn't work for this specific song. Have a wide variety of piano tones for use. Even some of the free soundfonts out there are good. Darkesword's soundfonts page has some good stuff.

The only way I know of that's possible is to start from a MIDI, but practically 90% of the internet wants SPC to MIDI.

The piano tone sounds good. What you could do now is offset the notes slightly, because no one lands every single note at the exact same time every single time. On the bright side, the velocities sound pretty good. 1:10 - 1:17 might be a bit too soft, though. You're at -35.1dB on that. Try bumping it by about 10dB. Overall, it's maxed out at -5dB. You can afford to bump it up to -2dB if you want. Other things are to give it more (and realistic) reverb, use panning creatively, and modify the arrangement a bit to make it sound more natural and less repetitive.

Sounds great, man. Someone should do a really good ProtoMan theme remix on OCR. I don't think I've heard one that was extremely mind-blowing.

Yeah, I know that, and that's what I just said. I had the song in the same key up until then, and suddenly I decided to follow the key of the original and from 1:17 on it was a half step down. EDIT: Hm... yeah, it doesn't sound right to me without the key change... I'll keep what I had there, sorry. If everything after 1:17 was fixed by shifting up a few half steps, it wouldn't sound heavy enough. If everything before that was shifted down a few half steps, the energy wouldn't be there. EDIT2: Ooh... Using Density MKIII on the master makes everything sound so cool. The "summing" preset is pretty good.

I didn't actually explicitly reference the song to help me stay in the same key. I dunno, it sounded like the same key to me when I played it on my MIDI keyboard. I just now referenced the song to check the transcribing, and I think the melody is apparently a half step lower than I meant to have it. Just because I'm not home. Okay, I'll try fixing it. I know, I was planning to change the HH sample. Yes, I was planning to upgrade the drums later.

I've just never taken formal music theory. Just a side thing during piano lessons.

GallenWolf, that is badass, seriously. xD Lydian dominant? Half-diminished? Haha, I've never even seen those before.

Yeah, I have that program. I never did use it all that much, mostly because I don't actually have any sound I think might sound good at 800%. xD

I have some ideas on how to expand the track ideas even further. I'm hoping I'll remember them the same way when I get home! xD Hm... I think it'd be a good idea to bring in the big guns... zircon's feedback? Let's give it a shot.

Does anyone know of a good VST or soundfont or sample library for Ouds and Zournas and other ethnic instruments? (ISW does not have those)

Ultimately, the attack on the strings sounds kind of fake to me. You're either using the wrong articulation for the section of the song, or SSP is not as good as some others. Personally I've listened to LA Scoring Strings, and I'd say that's the top so far.

Yeah, I use FL (also in my profile info). I'm mixing with a Sony MDR-7502, so I guess that's why. The crossover frequency is like 1000Hz. I'll probably choose a different kick sample or add another layer. I suspect the compression algorithm I used is sufficient with a few fixes to adjust to a new sample or new sample layer. Hm, okay. I'll just manually quantize certain notes, because I still don't want it to be fully quantized. I have room reverb on both to give them some presence, but I'll lower it a bit. Yeah, that Open Hi Hat didn't feel quite right to me either. I'll probably just go for a strong closed hat for a driving hat. What do you think I need to do with the bassline? Shift the left end of the high pass left a bit? I mainly had the bass there to beef up the guitar tone. Thanks for the review!

I just made some minor detail updates: - Lowered the volume on the guitar and bass slightly. - Processed the main snare more to give it more "glue". - Changed from a Stereo Shaped intro pad to a Stereo Enhanced Stereo Delay intro pad. - Fixed breakdown piano timing a little - Added slight saturation to the analog lead at 0:14. - Processed the percussion FX at 0:25-0:49 under a tape simulator. https://www.box.com/s/x3vy70mv77ux3xgoyrdj - V2 https://www.box.com/s/47ba3cnfomt1n2myzs5m - V1 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvjc12new0 Ultimately the lead is slightly more exposed and the snare has kind of noticeable improvement.

Haha, well, I meant to say "most of the time, for most people". xD I've seen zircon do Picolescence in 3 hours.

Thanks, guys! Actually, I already submitted something else a few days ago, so I'll wait until January to submit this.

Unfortunately I have to agree on the repetition. There's nothing happening for over two minutes. Well, nothing significant happening. Writing a good remix takes lots more time than a few hours. Usually it takes a few weeks. On the bright side, every instrument you used is audible. Most people have that problem of muddiness. Yours is just the arrangement and the instrument choice. Good start, but maybe changing the genre will encourage you to be more creative. I suggest you start over on this remix. You're not going to lose that much work, no worries.

*reads topic* ^ Now that is useful

Looks like the OP link is broken. Is this it? http://soundcloud.com/heavenwraith/nyc You should fix the gap at 1:19. It feels weird. The kick and snare don't seem to match what you're going for. The kick needs more thwip, and the snare needs punch. Maybe you can take a look at what I mean by snare punch, in this random track I made to test Cinematic Synthetic Drums: https://www.box.com/s/xcuameiu38vmhuctqbc7 @ 0:20 Maybe not quite that powerful, but it should be similarly punchy. For some reason it sounds like you have a phaser on the strings at 1:20. Why? At 2:16, the keys-like instrument would benefit from some delay and reverb, just not too much delay. At 2:30 - 2:32, make sure you have something to connect those sections. That feels like terraced dynamics to me right there. Of course, change up the drums as the song progresses. Don't keep the same rhythm throughout, and changing the kit would be interesting too, especially since it's not primarily organic. At 3:26, the polyphonic saw wave solo seems like it would benefit from being legato instead. At 4:05, the distorted phaser guitar could be crafted a little more. Right now it sounds low passed-ish and distant (and quiet). Not bad so far.