timaeus222

This was so long ago, but it still remains my all-time favorite ocremix. Everything is mixed such that the emotional feel is insane. 2:35, 3:20, 4:24, and 4:35 get me every time. I always get a tear-jerking, spine-tingling sensation. That almost never happens. Although able to be challenged, this remix is irreplaceable.

Jillian's voice is just so well mixed into the song! :3 I found this on zircon's website, and it was just awesome. I know that whenever I listen to zircon's mixes, there's always something to appreciate about them, whether it's the clean mixing, the intuitive chord progressions, or the texture, or something else.

Update! This double tracks the rhythm guitar, fixes most if not all the balance issues with the drums and guitar, ups the bass (yes, it's there; it literally creates the entire low end feel at this point), and really improves the drums. Especially the kick---I'm surprised I got the sound I wanted from it. I completely reworked the EQ on the EWQL drums. Definitely worth many listens. Necessary info: Instrument channels used are one for Strings (kinda quiet), Lead Guitar (center), one for Rhythm Guitar #1 panned 60% left, one for Rhythm Guitar #2 panned 60% right, one for Heavy Rhythm Guitar (center), one for Guitar FX (i.e. certain pinch squeals [i.e. 0:59] and certain pick scrapes [i.e. 1:19]), one for Bass (center), one for East West Quantum Leap Stormdrums (Metal Kit patch + Kicks (A0-D3) patch + Dunnet Snares patch), and volume automation for Rhythm Guitar #1 channel, Guitar FX channel, Heavy Rhythm Guitar channel, and the drums channel. All guitar is Shreddage by zircon and Sixto. Remix: >>The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.4<< The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.3 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V3 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V1 Source: (bumped once)

I'm liking the responses! It looks like I'm going to buy it then. =3

I didn't make this demo, but does this sound real to you? This was made with Strawberry Electric Guitar for Kontakt 4+. Orangeholic

I've actually heard ocremixes in the past before that had questionable rhythm guitar. i.e. "Craving for Burning Blood" by Luhny, "Bloody Hell" by Ailsean and Kaijin, or others, but it's not as if I didn't like those remixes a lot. Yeah, I figured the drums might not be fitting. I'm not quite sure where I can get sufficient drum samples. I had tried EWQL for this mix, but apparently that didn't work out. Personally, I think the rhythm guitar itself is actually the sound I want. I'm going to see if I can fix up the drums and instrument balance some more then. I thought the guitar was loud, and I was hoping that it was too loud because if it wasn't, LIFE WOULD BE OVER. DDDDD: Just kidding. Well, good, so that means I SHOULD lower the volume, which means my drums have a chance of being heard. Yay. =D Actually, no one has said anything significant about the arrangement other than that it was solid or needed a more evident breakdown. Well, the guitar is Shreddage, so it might seem a smidge fake, but it is meant to sound as real as sampled guitar can sound. zircon, recording a fake-sounding rhythm guitar library with Sixto? Pfft. No. EDIT: YES, I made major progress

Okay, I've definitely improved the snare, and I've rebalanced the guitar and bass. Remix: >>The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.3<< The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V3 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V1 Source:

I actually think the drums sound fine. If there were any robotic problems with the drums other than the snare, I think Zircon might have pointed it out by now. Besides, it's EWQL, so it's on a round robin effect and its sequencing actually has very good intonation. "Robotic" implies constant velocities everywhere, which definitely isn't true. There are very small and unnoticeable spots of constant velocity, and that was completely negligible. However, I'll fix those spots anyway. I'll try to fix the snare internally in Kontakt and change the bass and guitar balance.

Thanks for the feedback! Right now I believe I've fixed the bass drum and snare instances. It turns out the problem was in the sequencing itself, and their sequencing was on an ineffective velocity layer, so the right frequencies weren't coming out. I still don't believe the snare is quite good enough in the high end though. I'll keep working on that. I think it's just the sample itself. EWQL's mapping is convenient though. I can add custom snares that actually don't overlap with other crucial parts of any drum kit (;D). I cut the low-mids some on the regular riffs and cut the low-mids on the low riffs a bit less than the regular riffs, and I believe it sounds better than before. I thought about reducing the squeals, but it seems that most of them fit where they are. Personally, it just doesn't sound as good without certain instances. I did add a bass in the V4, but it should be more evident in the next update. EDIT: Hm... the new snare doesn't sound like it fits. Maybe it's just because I don't actually play drums. Right now it seems like it doesn't match a metal kit. Does it work? Remix: >>The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4.2<< The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V3 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V1 Source: (Bumped twice)

Wow, this was absolutely fantastic! The mixing is just right, and the instruments seriously match The Final Countdown, right down to the formant bass in the beginning! Even the STRUCTURE matches! That's awesome. I think mainly what I liked about this mix was its cohesive feel. Although there were two sources, at one point I actually forgot that there were two sources, and I didn't even think of looking at the video title---it was just that awesome. What I liked most, though, was the title. It completely brings me into a state of mathematics. Recently I made a joke about counting to infinity... and it goes like this: "Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?" "Let's find out. 1, Phi, 2, e, 3, Pi, 4, ... , Infinity... I lost count." *bites* Nah, just kidding. My actual favorite parts were the overall 80's atmosphere, the guitar's tone, and the breakdown at 2:06 - 2:21. For some reason, that breakdown reminds me of whenever Michael Jackson faces a fan (an electric fan ) and feels the wind coming at him. LOL. I was slightly disappointed that it faded out as an "ending", but that certainly didn't detract from the mix itself. Phenomenal work, pal!

It's sounding really nice so far! I'd like to point you to this ocremix for possible inspiration on synth lines. In the meantime, great remix. =D

It's quite ironic, actually, because this is actually Shreddage, not real guitar. So I wouldn't have minded fixing octaves if I had to. xD However, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The mapping on regular Shreddage actually limits me to almost those exact octaves. I can't bump the lead up an octave, and I already have a layer of low riffs for the metal feel. I'll just have to mess with the EQ some more. If it helps, I have one layer of low riffs, one layer of full chokes, one layer of regular riffs, and one layer of the lead, if you look at only the guitar. In V3, the bass is actually there, but it apparently isn't as loud as you anticipated. EDIT: AHA! I figured out the main reasons why it's muddy! I usually forget the fact that the mixer effect tracks work in order from top to bottom, not at the same time. My lead and low riffs were feeding through the EQ before they were amped, so they were quieter or sounded differently than they should have. Therefore, the EQ I had was overboosting the mids. Now the drums are less subdued and there should be much less muddiness and low-pass-ish sound. Remix: >>The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V4<< The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V3 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V1 Source: Hm, it might actually be sounding pretty good! (Bumped twice)

I think Will is right, but I'm directing his critique on the reverb toward the floor toms / bass drums (it sounds like one of those). Try gradually lowering the wet and upping the dry and seeing what gives them less of a hissy reverb but more of a... heavier sound? You might see where I'm going with this. It's kind of hard to explain this type of sound, but if you can imagine a pipe band playing a bass drum, it's kind of like that. This is at 0:20, 0:29, etc. Leave some of the hiss though, but reduce some of it so it doesn't have as much of a tail. At 0:55, the wet reverb on the snare is starting to create a muddy sound, so decrease the reverb at that point a tad until maybe 1:14. At about 2:56-ish, your... vocal-like pad is kind of overpowering your lead. Just reduce it a bit. It's sounding great so far! Very cool glitch effects, actually! Letting the reverb go on so much, though, at 3:29 might make people skip forward in the mix to see when the song continues. Try fading into the next part slowly as the reverb dies away, not after. At 3:53, it could be cool to add some crackle effects. Other than that, keep working on the arrangement and production! Good luck. =D

Very nice and unique so far! Here are some things: I think the kick is a bit subdued. It feels like it has no upper mid so it's not piercing through the mix. It might be in the bass frequencies, but it shouldn't just be there. For the snare, it feels like it's in the "high end" of the mids. Try bumping it up to the "low end" of the upper mids. I also think you should make use of more wubs in the half-time sections. It could sound somewhat dubsteppish at that point and add a cool aspect to your remix. Sounding great so far!

I agree about the arp. Perhaps filter it in and out, kind of like what you thought about doing, at about 2:08 - 2:26? Yes, bump up the bass some. The high treble is a bit overpowering, but personally it's not from the hats. I think it's occasionally from the triangle waves? That's what I got for ya. Good luck!

Sounding very nice so far! Here are some things: I agree about 1:34 - 2:30. Maybe add some upper mid sounds at 1:34 - 1:42. Tone down the resonance/treble in the lead at 1:42 - 1:48. Add vibrato on the lead, perhaps? I'm hearing some sort of a dissonance at 1:42. It might be a major second in the bass? 1:48 - Yeah, definitely add some mild delay on it and a good amount of reverb on it. It also sounds a bit hard, so try playing with the velocities a bit. Starting at about 1:55, you could put a bit more variation on the piano arpeggio. The same old pattern gets a bit stale. Maybe add a few grace notes? The last thing is that maybe on the parts where the piano plays chords (i.e. 2:02), you could replace it with a rhodes or something softer. It would seem to work better there. Good luck!

I think the mixing is there, but that's just me. For now I'd suggest these things: At 0:11 - 0:14, which is the second time through of that pattern, try adding upper third harmonies. At 0:21 - 0:34, you can always have a more expressive synth than that. That decay is really low, so try increasing it and adding some delayed vibrato (vibrato with a slow attack). You could also add a small amount of portamento/glide on certain notes. At 0:35 - 0:42, I hear a triangle wave filling in some frequencies. Try playing around with its octave. Maybe one octave up or down would sound better? At 0:50 - 0:56, where the triangle wave comes back in, you could also add some glitch effects, or maybe slice its pattern some more and have a machine-gun-like effect on some notes rather than simply sustaining them. At 1:11 - 1:14, where the guitar plays the same notes twice, at 1:13 - 1:14 you could pan the first time left and the second time right. Be creative. At 1:14 - 1:17, where that pattern has repeated a second time around, again, try adding upper third harmonies. At 1:57 - 2:00, same thing as 1:14 - 1:17. At 2:00 - 2:14, you should add a really cool new synth there. Maybe a PWM lead with vibrato? Portamento/glide? The last thing I'd say is that you should create a more obvious ending. Right now it seems to end very suddenly, without warning. Maybe you can change the drum pattern there to slower, half-time drums? An irregular drum beat that emphasizes certain notes rather than playing just as accompaniment? Good luck!

There wasn't a bass. I was actually hoping the lower rhythm guitar chords would create sufficient low bass frequencies. I can try to squeeze in a bass at 20-70 Hz. For some reason I seem to get compression at higher frequencies. Well, at least I'm hearing it. There isn't much I can do about the hi-hat; it's a WAV implemented into EWQL Stormdrums's .nki, not an actual separate WAV. (Well, it is an actual separate WAV, but it wouldn't make sense to use that on its own when I could use it in the .nki and get the round robin effect) Same with the bass drum (although I think you're mixing it up with the toms). I suppose I could try changing the EQ and reverb. Remix: >>The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V3<< The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V1 Source: I don't think it sounds as good as the V2, though I shouldn't really be comparing them. The drums do sound less subdued though. Right now it just sounds like there's too much bass, but I'm not sure. (Bumped once)

This would be the V2, with my fixes to the muddiness, stereo panning on the drums (mostly kick and snare were affected at first), and (hopefully more than slightly) more evident breakdown: The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) V2 Source: Remix: The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) (Bumped three times)

It's sounding good so far. I know you want to stop working on it, but I think you should anyway. Try again on a fresh day. I do think it can be improved. I'd advise you to strengthen and brighten up the snare. Layer on some high end. Also, the instruments seem lo-fi in general. If you can, try replacing the instruments with "better" choices. i.e. The poly saw can have a slightly wider sound, similar to synth strings. The clavier (or I'll just call it a keys instrument) can have some more reverb and delay. I think you can do better. Good luck!

At first, I thought the drums should have an increased stereo width (with Stereo Shaper) in order to make them fit more easily, but I definitely see where you're coming from; I had them at the center earlier. Since there was mid to low-mid compression that I didn't hear, I'll fix that instead and return the drums to center! It might also prove useful to you that I was using EWQL Stormdrums for the drums, so the snare, kick, toms, etc. are automatically panned in Kontakt, and are in the same channel, but I'll see what I can do. 1:34 - 2:00 should have been the breakdown I intended to put, but I'll work on that more and make it more evident! Thank you for the awesome feedback! It completely makes sense, no lie! Personally, it's quite an honor to receive feedback from you!

Source: Remix: The Death of King Desmond (Metal Mix) Just wanted to show this to you guys! Shreddage rules! Currently, this seems passable. Is it?

Well, I'm going to have to clarify some things: Well, I figured starting off soft and getting louder would be an intro. o.o I may do something with that then. Also, there was a lead from 0:00 to 0:38. Really? It doesn't seem like that to me. Some mods also said earlier that it was too loud then. That was planned for a later time. That's not a snare fill, that's glitch effect #3 from dBlueGlitch. Can you be more specific? Take another listen and point out a whole range. It might be easier whenever I end up thinking of a person to collaborate with.

Here are the things I did recently: - Added some (more) reverb, and some delay on the piano. - EQ'd the timbre of the piano to a brighter sound. - Changed a few notes in the piano sequencing to make it less dissonant, as it apparently sounded (I like jazz chords). - Balanced the mix levels some more. - Changed guitar ampsim patches for a "closer to real" sound. - Edited the guitar notes to make them less dissonant on the third long sustain in ~2:40 ad simile. - Edited the guitar notes to be more synchronized with the rhythm. I guess I put the final note in fret slides on the beat rather than the first note in the fret slide on the beat, and that put it at too much of an offset. - EQ'd out miscellaneous unnecessary frequencies (or so I believe). - Double-tracked the guitar ampsim patch mods. https://www.box.com/s/57ae67e543da93e0dcda - V3 Tell me if it improved enough to move on to the drums, and later I plan to ask for a collab on the guitar, so don't talk about how real it could sound, but rather, how much better it might sound now. (Bumped once)