timaeus222

Man, this is some good-ass Jazz-ass! Seriously though, you just have this excellent understanding of jazz partwriting. It's so good.

"Air" is kind of hard to describe, but it sounds like there is more of the upper-treble reflections in the reverb. Here's a before-and-after example. I accomplished that by raising the High Cut frequency from within the reverb plugin.

If you mash up VGM with an original song, then if the original song is copyrighted, it is copyright infringement when the mashup has content substantially taken from the original and the mashup is commercially distributed, and still probably copyright infringement even for free distribution. It depends on whether the original's composer saw it and whether he/she acts on it. It's safer to just not distribute it. In terms of OCR standards, when a mashup (or remix or whatever) has content (either musical or directly-ripped usually count) substantially taken from original non-VGM (like Metallica, Paramore, Slipknot, certain folk songs, other mainstream/classical songs, etc), it would be given a NO OVERRIDE. Here is an example:

Arrangement sounds great! Has some cool chords and solos as usual! ------ The stereo field feels off to me though. Some things feel wider than I think they could be, seeming to be for the purpose of getting the lead and bass to come through. It can work, but in general, a lot of wide sounds could be as similarly problematic as a lot of narrow sounds. The drums could be a bit stronger because right now some parts of the kit seem unintentionally hard to hear (the toms are a bit noticeable but not very, for instance, but the rides, cymbals, and hi hats sound fine), though I get that it's not supposed to be powerhouse-compressed. I can barely hear the snare (I started hearing it at 1:55 and on, but it seems far back), even though I can kind of tell it's there. Definitely bring that up more, get it more upfront, and try to get more "air" on the tone if possible. Where's the kick drum though? It felt strange for the chord-playing acoustic piano to be so far to the left at first; and then the shift to mostly right-panned at 0:52 made me feel like the entire piano 'performance' should be narrower in the stereo field. At 1:53, the piano chord makes me think there could be less reverb on it, but I'm not 100% sure how much there is. If there's too much, you could lower it a bit, and then that should bring it a bit more upfront, allowing you to slightly scoop the mids to accommodate for being more upfront and still let the lead come through. I can sometimes hear some sounds kind of fighting each other when the arrangement gets especially busy at around the 2:00 mark. I like it, don't get me wrong, but specifically, perhaps the chordal piano can have slightly lower velocities there to keep the listener's attention on the lead. 2:09 is where I hear the bass most clearly, and I think I hear a few weird clashes. Not harmonically, but in terms of its polyphony smearing the intonation (like at 2:11 and 2:13). For instance, I know what you wanted for the chord at 2:13, but you might want to move more of the lower notes to higher registers to reduce low-frequency smearing. This is not a big deal though; just wanted to mention it. Also, I'm not entirely sure, but does the bass have some reverb? If so, it could be lowered just a bit to reduce low-end mud. At 2:27 - 2:39, I don't really have a criticism, but it's more like a suggestion; I think you have a great opportunity here to put some Jazz Fusion-esque drum fills that keep the excitement going instead of stopping the flow like it's doing now for me, but it's up to you. And this is more of a nitpick, but right near the end, I wish there was a more obvious drum fill to signal the last note. Right now I just hear straight eighth (or quarter?) note hits. Maybe end on an off-beat hit as well? ----- The arrangement is pretty well off already, so no big worries about that. My main concern is on the mixing, where the piano seems overly wide and perhaps a bit washy in the low-mids, the bass oddly seems a tad reverberant (slightly), and the drums can come through more clearly (is there supposed to be a kick anywhere? Can't hear it. Also hard to hear the snare).

All of us start off pretty bad. We've all been there. I understand that evaluating your own improvement can be hard at first. Don't worry too much about people who criticize you unconstructively. I would suggest that you find a few good people on OCR who are willing to give you honest feedback, and they can help evaluate how much you are improving as you keep writing more music. Plus, you can rest easy knowing that they mean well. It's more informative than figuring things out on your own, I can tell you that. As for keeping up the motivation? Don't worry so much about the end goal. Focus on what's next. There is no real end goal. If there was, there would be a stopping point, and assuming that invites you to slow down at some point, which doesn't help you get better.

...What? ...WHAT? ... Dude. YES. All my YES. While this can seem unpredictable at times, I still like it at each step along the way. Lots of creative drops (like at 1:36) and transitions (like at 3:21). Liked those stuttered snares. Cool use of those "YAH!" and "YAHOO!" sfx at 1:52 - 2:00. I also really liked the reharmonization at 3:32 - 4:03. It's fresh, innovative, and should be enjoyable to a large audience.

The groove is strong with this one! I usually don't know how to appreciate repetitive genres like this, but this really works well.

Yeah, I don't ever use Soundgoodizer because I don't think it sounds that good. Plus, it has four unmodifiable presets (except for how much of the effect is in effect), which inherently limits your capacity to adapt to multiple contexts. For instance, if you apply a specific distortion and compression algorithm to particular drum samples and it sounds good, different drum samples being treated with the same distortion and compression algorithm won't necessarily sound good. Instead of using Soundgoodizer, I would suggest that you should practice distortion and compression techniques using other plugins that actually have tweakable settings, then A/B compare to see if you actually like the results or if you want to change the settings to get something better. Some people have trouble accomplishing what they intend when it comes to production because they picture it one way (perhaps as ideal results) and it turns out differently, and that may be one confusion here. Since you're writing drumstep, I think these plugins can help: - Fruity Blood Overdrive (dial in the edits SLOWLY; I think you can hold Ctrl and click-drag to turn knobs finely. That way, you can hear more of the intermediate changes in the sound and hone in on ones you might not hear had you not been turning the knobs so finely) - endorphin (digitalfishphones), a dual-band compressor (treble+bass). I use that for my drums all the time, such as for this.

I hate to say it, but yeah, I would agree that the drum writing itself could have had more interesting rhythms and fills. Let's see: - The toms at 0:30 - 0:40 (and 2:00 - 2:16 or so) have a fairly straightforward rhythm; what I mean is that it's like, for example, a bunch of quarter note hits in a row, a bunch of eighth note hits in a row, etc. I think if you replaced some quarter-note hits with two eighth-note hits, it would make the rhythm more complex and more engaging (really, over the entire piece). Whenever I imagine a more interesting rhythm, that kind of subdivision tends to come to mind. Also, I gather that at 0:39 - 0:40 you were aiming to signal for a higher energy section coming in next; perhaps that second snare+hat hit can be choked after making the hit (basically holding the drum head for the hi hat after hitting it). Whenever I imagine that, I get the feeling of anticipating the downbeat. Additionally, perhaps shift that fast hi hat rhythm at 0:38 - 0:39 so that the last hi hat hit lands on the snare+hat hit at about 0:39 - 0:40, which should make the signal more obvious. - At 0:40 - 0:56, it sounds like it's supposed to be almost like a "segue" into the main part. Perhaps have some syncopated (off-beat) cymbal hits to signal the shift? For example, at 0:50 - 0:51, there could be a cymbal hit at the "+ of 3" (when you count 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ). Syncopation generally makes rhythms more interesting. The main part at 0:56 (or 1:28), I'm fine with the rhythm on though since it's like a "verse" section to me (while 1:12 sounds like a "chorus"; ironically you also called it that). - At 1:12 - 1:28 though, I would use more syncopated rhythms like suggested for 0:40 - 0:56. - The breakdown at 2:00 - 2:16 could have different drum patterns that differentiate from the intro. Also, 2:16 - 2:28 seems to me like it was intended to be higher in energy than 2:00 - 2:16, so perhaps consider changing up the playing style a bit, such as switching from playing the hi hats to playing the ride. - I'm thinking at 2:32 - 2:47, you have the opportunity to shift to a rhythm that isn't so much what I called straightforward. For example, using the kick drum on the + of 2, and then additionally on the + of 2 AND the + of 3 for variation? - 2:48 is totally the fun part, so maybe add some syncopated soft cymbals more at 2:48 - 3:04 and 3:20 - 3:36, and maybe even switch over to using rides at 3:04 - 3:20 instead of hi hats for contrast---by this point your "drummer" is basically on autopilot with his/her hands.

If I were in Taucer's shoes, I wouldn't want to change much either; there are five collaborators, so y'know, it might be best to just go for as good as you can manage without pulling some of them in for more and more fixes. That aside, I actually haven't heard this since I heard zircon's Phasma Elementum, which was like, 3+ years ago (when I heard it, not when it was released ), so let's see. Yep, Jill is still killin' it with her tone, and she only got better in the later years. Shonen Samurai makes it sound somewhat parody-like, in a good way. Almost talk-like, but not like he wasn't motivated, and not so flat that it felt unenthusiastic. A bit more like he maybe didn't understand the message of the song but wanted to sing it as well as he could anyway. Sure, I can see sometimes the lyrics are trying to fit into a large number of notes (yet a short time span), but it's not "phoned-in at best" or even "cringe-inducing". At worst I'd say it's occasionally awkward, but clearly not so bad that they might as well not be there... As it stands, it's right on the edge of the typical production standards in 2006 IMO. Maybe it wouldn't pass today, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it should have been further revised before final submission in 2006. Still holds up well today, and well worth listening to.

Okay, so now that I'm listening on my mixing headphones, the stereo field still sounds pretty good. With the stuff I said before, I'd say: - Yep, some slight overcompression, so definitely see if you can lessen the amount of compression on the master. Maybe the ratio is too high, because for some reason it's not so overcompressed that it's pumping, but it's right on the edge where you could tell something's off in the denser timestamps. - Still going to say the same things about the drums, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar. Haha, I guess I was general enough after all.

Wait, so are you allowed to use plugins other than the ones available from class? For example, you may want to give TLs-Pocket Limiter a shot. It's free, and has been my mainstay limiter for the past 3 years.

I actually like the setup that 0:00 - 0:30 does. That intro reminds me of something by Dream Theatre. I can say more later, when I actually have my good headphones on and I have a more accurate stereo field. Also, I know you said "mastering", but maybe you meant "mixing". My initial impressions are that: - I'm pretty sure I'm hearing either slight overcompression, or overcrowding plus weak/overly clean drums at 1:12 - 2:00, but I'd probably be more sure later. - The drums are decently mixed, but it's one of those situations where it's "good but not great". They get the job done, but are merely good enough. They aren't that strong/punchy. I can barely notice the kick, the snare is there but not that upfront, and the hi hats/etc could be a bit louder. For example, these drums are quite punchy, because they've had some careful distortion added, as well as some parallel compression (especially the snare). Notice the right-panned toms at 0:51 - 1:06? Yeah, they're pretty quiet, but if you know they're there, you can hear them. The little details like that should be able to be heard in a well-mixed track. - The rhythm guitar is alright. Kind of like the drums, it does its job, but IMO, it's on the borderline of not quite good enough. When 1:12 comes in, the rhythm guitars get a bit buried because of the lack of low end (near 200 Hz). - The lead guitar is not too bad (the playing sounds great); it sounds loud enough before 2:48. At 2:48, it gets a little buried, and if not for the wah pedal adding motion, I might not hear it as well. So from this, I would say to check your midrange frequencies in the rhythm guitar. There seems to be some midrange clutter that obscures the lead guitar in the denser timestamps in the mix.

Well, if you are going to be selling your music, that counts as commercial use, i.e. "not-personal" use. That points to option two: "You are an individual or business using REAPER commercially, and yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000" I know I've used FL for the past 5 years and normally I would recommend it, but if you want good plugins and samples out of the box, you probably won't get that from FL. But, do try its free trial anyways. The only drawback is that you can't save your project file and then open it up again (unless you save it, send it to someone who owns FL, have them save it, and send it back to you. Loophole! ), which isn't much of a drawback! FL Producer Edition gives you a nice beginner's collection of sounds, but you should then look for free plugins like you intended. FL can use VST (which is one of the most popular plugin formats out there), so looking for outside plugins shouldn't be too much of a problem. Some of the mainstay native plugins I use in FL are: Fruity Waveshaper, Fruity Blood Overdrive, Fruity Parametric EQ 2, and Fruity Delay 2. And although I don't use Sytrus that much, many others have found good use in that, so getting in some practice with that might show you why it can be quite useful. Some examples of free mainstay non-native plugins I use in FL are: NastyDLA MKII, Density MKIII, endorphin (digitalfishphones), TLs-Pocket Limiter, s(m)exoscope, and Sonalksis Free-G. Either way, FL gives a free trial for unlimited time; good reason to try it nevertheless!

17 minutes is actually really long for a song (especially one that is atmospheric, slow, and ambient). The fact is, only one ReMix on OCR is more than 15 minutes or so (unless you count the three-part Smash Bros. rap as one track, which is about 23 minutes). One. And it is an energetic genre. Just for some perspective.

My dad loves the Eagles. RIP.

I guess so. I think if you keep working with FL's EQ 2 plugin, that would get you further along EQing well than many other EQ plugins, purely due to the visualization.

No problem! Yeah, if there is any problem with the bitrate, the Judges wouldn't just reject it solely for that reason---they would delay it for while. If it's not the only reason, then they should contact you about it.

I still love to use Fruity Parametric EQ 2 for its visualization feature, and I'm probably not going to stop using it anytime soon. I do also have FabFilter Pro-Q, which is a more precise EQ plugin that has a standard deviation of 0.01 dB, as compared to Fruity Parametric EQ 2, where its standard deviation is 0.1 dB. I don't use that quite as much, though, for typical EQing, since it is more RAM-heavy and really accomplishes the same thing with negligibly higher precision (plus it doesn't have as good of a visualization feature IMO). Some tips I would give for cleaner EQing (less overboosts, less excessive cuts, etc) are: Pay close attention to how the EQ edit you are doing changes the sound, and try to find middle ground; don't neglect to boost very high, then cut very low, to narrow in on that optimal gain on the EQ band. If you hold Ctrl while dragging the EQ band, it drags more precisely. Check reference mixes if you feel that helps. If you synthesize your own sounds, try making their EQ clean from the get-go, and you don't have to EQ as much to get them to fit in the mix. Generally, cutting more than boosting is a pretty good rule of thumb.

The original bitrate you have is normal for a 16-bit WAV file. I wouldn't worry too much about the 218 kbps MP3. For example, I encoded this ReMix in VBR1, and on OCR, it displays as 232 kbps. VBR1 continuously changes the bit rate (how accurately your song is reproduced bit-by-bit) to accommodate for the minimum bitrate required to give a specific level of fidelity every second in the ReMix. So, having a bit rate displayed on the Properties window of your MP3 that is greater than 192 kbps (which is for constant bit rate) is totally normal.

An odd bitrate like that (as opposed to 224/256/288/320/etc kbps) may have arisen from encoding in variable bit rate; the directions ask for "VBR1", which is an alternative option to 192 kbps.

Nono, resend it as soon as possible, so that there isn't confusion as to when the original email was sent (which could have delayed the evaluation).

Resend the message early; the date given on the email would be the day that you send it, so if you send it, say, several months later, it will seem like the original email was first sent on that later date. Then, if the original email isn't examined to determine the original date, the evaluation may be delayed. I've had this happen to me before, and it took a bit of effort to clear that up, because apparently, some Judges use gmail.

This is some downright unsettling processing. Some very obscure sound design here. Distorted pitch-shifted comb filters (the metallic stuff at 0:33 - 0:42), those glitched drums, short-delay-time metallic delayed vox (2:30), some VERY upfront glitching (1:23, 1:33, 2:58, 3:04, etc), and kind of a phasered backdrop make for a slew of spooky textures.

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