timaeus222   Members

I agree on the sax, although it already has vibrato. Perhaps some "hard" playing versus "soft" playing on the sax. i.e. hard/soft blows. I think the strings could be too loud after 1:40, because it's somewhat overpowering the percussion coming in at 1:40. You can still lower the amplitude/mix level and raise the "stacking intensity" (basically the volume knob), and then lower the velocities, and that should work out if done correctly. If you can get a new bass tone, that would be nice too, but that's just personal taste. Right now, it's missing some in the low mids and it has a bit much in the 30-60 Hz range.

Good sound, low quality samples. Try replacing some instruments with some better quality ones. For example, synth guitar -> real guitar, piano soundfont -> more realistic piano. In other words, more realism! The piano's timing is a little bit off in the end, too.

I liked this back when it was posted on your channel. I love it now. Goddamn it, you made me change my mind for the better.

Alright, cool. I'm not saying I don't like it though. It's a good start. Good luck! Oh yeah, and the JJR2 being in the library was a half-joke.

On the contrary, there is one Jazz Jackrabbit 2 OCRemix that I know called Jazz Castle Adventure. I like this source, I've tried remixing it before. Well, here's what I could hear: The initial bass is too loud. There's also some unnecessary delay. Try not to stick to what the original does. The snare is weak; try layering some snares that add up to the all the characteristics of a strong snare: low end punch and high end snap. Same with the kick. You need low end punch and high end thwip. Not much happens until 0:41. See if you can have something there that progresses to build it up. The 3o3 arpeggio that comes in at 1:18 has an envelope that isn't having an intense enough effect on it, so it feels like too long of a sustain between notes. The decay of the envelope creates the main sound of the 3o3 (the "eoh" sound of it), and the envelope mix (the extent to which the 3o3 is low-passed during each note) is too little. Because of that, it sounds louder than it might actually be, and it's distracting. You should also see if you can find new leads. Right now, the brass-like leads you have are pretty static and not more meant for backup or something. Try doing some research on sync leads, and see if that gives you an idea. The mix as a whole also sounds really close to the original; see if you can write it without an imported MIDI. Not too bad so far, keep it up!

Maybe the attack on that xylophone is too long (before 0:50). Try reducing it if possible.

It's not the amount of reverb that's an issue with this track; it's the reverb preset you're using. Perhaps you can spend some time experimenting with more reverbs? This sort of sounds like hall reverb, just a guess. Maybe you can try something else and compare?

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)