timaeus222   Members

The way I do it is fairly simple. I have a MIDI keyboard in front of me, which I recommend to anyone trying to figure out notes. I hum to figure out the melody and play it back to check, then try to put it to memory and play it out on keyboard. Humming it is easiest and is what I would recommend to figure out what is going on. If there was harmony in what you listened to, I would track and hum the bass line, then that will give me a clearer picture of what the chords might be.

Hey Here's my take on this with a fresh listen, just so you have someone else on this as well. In a short summary: Robotic intensities and rhythm going on in the leads (important!) Add transitions to smooth out connecting sections (important!) EQ the pads midrange down a bit to make room for the leads to be heard after you lower their volume too, so that the overcompression is lessened. (not crucial but would be nice to fix) --- ARRANGEMENT / SEQUENCING As a general time, when you write parts for instruments that are seen in the real world, you'll want them to have velocities (playing intensities) that vary, so that they resemble human playing. Currently: The bells at 0:03 (probably the same ones at 0:33) are noticeably rigid because the intensities are the same all the way through The bell-like lead at 0:27, 1:13, etc is also the same way. It's especially noticeable at 1:13 because there's pretty much nothing hiding it. The plucky synth at 1:24, same thing with that one. Also, since it's a lead, it would help spatially, as a rule of thumb, to make it mono instead of stereo. It will give room for the bells and pads to breathe. So what you should do is imagine yourself playing the part on a piano, and vary the intensities (velocities) accordingly. Or, if you don't know how to play piano, then some rules of thumb to make it more human are that ascending and descending sequences tend to get louder, and every other note tends to be slightly quieter than the note to its immediate left. To give you something for ear training, here are 3 ways NOT to write the following piano snippet: https://app.box.com/s/pmwybgad4who5679p9xvuxdnnmqshas5 - Robotic rhythm and intensities https://app.box.com/s/lr9nxha1zbg5vfcxufqqvuiz9vjnliyu - Robotic rhythm only, with human intensities https://app.box.com/s/ndt9vz26mjhdul6sreqgkvf6eqlp2qfy - Robotic intensities only, with human rhythm This is the ideal result you want to get: https://app.box.com/s/jjapuupib9zfypwoew1ecr31nlq8siw4 - Fully humanized This feedback applies to other instruments in the remix as well, not just those bells, but those are what I picked for examples. One other note is to add transitions, or smooth any out, between major sections to smooth out the structure. An example is at 0:56, there could be a reverse cymbal with reverb to connect you to the lower-dynamic section after. Another example is 1:23, which you could argue has a transition, but it's clunky and I would suggest something smoother like a reverse noise fall or something of that sort, while keeping the descending bass line there. Yet another example is 2:09, which sounds like it should come close to the ending, hence a reverse cymbal there would more-clearly indicate it. PRODUCTION / MIXING At 2:09 and on, the leads can be more tame, to go with the bass drone. As it stands, they stick out, especially the trance synth at 2:12 which is... not calm. It would help if the pads have the midrange frequencies EQed down (maybe 2-3 dB), and that will give you the freedom to lower the volume of the lead sounds a bit. That will then decrease the overcompression that is going on right now. Other than those bits, I think the production, albeit fairly rough, is not that bad. There isn't much low midrange muddiness going on which is nice, and I can hear everything I need to hear. --- Hope that helps!

Bit of a tough listen at first because of the thinness of the PWM bass until 0:45. Then it's pretty sick bass work paired with the TB303-like kick.

Ayo, good to see this see the light of day! I had so much fun discovering Zebra2.5's new distortion module when I added to this. That came up around the 1:05 mark for example with the dancing FM bass.

This is the first time I've heard this. I hear sparks of his first moments of genius here. So many fun riffs.

Hey, this was a nice gem to hear. It sounds like something beyond 2010. Sometimes the cymbals get too loud/upfront, but for the most part this is surprisingly good.

This cover of Layla

A clever arrangement that ensures the 8-bit vibe doesn't necessarily mean basic.

Looked around, wasn't sure where that was. Feel free to DM!

I can return to doing this. Lemme know!

jnWake and Hakstok? Heck yeah. Long progressive tracks are rare nowadays, always love to see them. I didn't know @Ivan Hakštok played brass in the first place. Cool to hear "prog rock" that doesn't adorn electric guitar very much. This was quite the piece, and shows how much @jnWake has grown in the past 8 years!

I dig it. A minimal soundscape that basically has the occasional ear candy to maintain interest. It had to have solid production to justify it, which it does. I like the breakdown at 3:25 - 4:39, although I would maybe have liked a bigger payoff afterwards, like a larger lead sound than one that is low-passed plucky, or one that is more interesting than a supersaw. Something to keep in mind for the future!

It isn't a general solution, but I still do it on the Master Track because I will never hear or feel below 25 Hz anyway. 20 Hz is too little impact to pick. It will cut out room noise on vocal recordings, and excess low end on poorly-recorded samples. But low-end clutter to me describes low-mid-range as well, which this does not solve. You simply have to solo each instrument that is occupying that range and decide what you want to be prominent, then scoop the others at that range (140 - 300 Hz or so, above kick drums and below regular midrange).

I feel the midrange (and to some extent the upper treble) here is fairly cluttered when we get to 0:46. It seems like the brass, FM pads, and vox are competing there. What I would recommend is to scoop the midrange a few dB on the brass, and try low passing the FM pads (the buzzy part) a little so that the vox can breathe. The cause of the muddiness that Hemophiliac hears is the clash of the sub bass and the low end hit like at 0:30 - 0:32, in the 20 - 120 Hz range (although the low-mids don't actually have much going on). I would try sidechaining a small amount so that the low end hit there pushes down the sub bass when it strikes. I would also consider high passing the sub bass so that you cut out anything below about 20-30 Hz - it usually won't make a difference on what you hear, but it'll help with the overcompression by clearing up some headroom. Hope this helps the mixing!

I just released this as an early look at my new album, "Peace Be With You". This is a cinematic arrangement of "Peace I Leave With You" by Barbara Bridge, inspired by Will Bedford. It features instruments like PEARL: Concert Grand, LA Scoring Strings, and Friedlander Violin.

I just finished this middle-eastern progressive dubstep ReMix of Dungeonmans' " Enmired Herpetology" by @zircon ! Hope you enjoy (Note: Soundcloud does make the treble have some aliasing issues so don't worry about that.) Here's the original: A writeup about it below: --- Hiya! It's been a while since you guys have had a Dungeonmans ReMix, eh? This time I arranged "Enmired Herpetology" in a progressive middle-eastern dubstep style, featuring the Turkish Oud (Impact Soundworks), Santoor (East West Quantum Leap Ra), and Sitar (my Zebra2 preset collection). This takes inspiration from Mervin Matthew's "PetiStep" Bollywood Harmonium demo, and has some scattered influence from zircon's stuff (the sine wave bells in particular). I had so much fun writing this; it only took about 10 hours to compose, and then another 12 hours to polish the details, overall spanning 3 weeks, and I think that that tells you how this is one of my more "patient" pieces---it takes its sweet time to evolve, but doesn't necessarily try to be too flashy. Even at the climaxes, there isn't a ton of stuff going on at once, just big harmonies. Nonetheless, there some cool things to mention here: - The distorted lead sound (such as at 1:02 - 1:12) is actually one of my electro house basses that I pitched up a few octaves. - I tried some new, FREE effects plugins from kiloHearts Essentials, using their Transient Shaper, Filter, and/or Ring Modulator on the drums! - There is a LOT of sine wave bell action going on, which was the backbone for the entire ReMix. It outlined the chord progressions for me and became an apt way to end things as well! I really liked it because since it's only a single harmonic, it's almost always audible no matter the context. It's been over 5 years since the release of Dungeonmans, but it seems to be going strong, and I hope that that continues to be the case! ...By the way, see if you can spot where I put the key change. Extra Info: Source Breakdown: 0:00.00 - 0:31.47 = Intro (0:06:22 - 0:38.19) 0:31.47 - 0:52.34 = Harmonium Dubstep Drop (0:38.19 - 0:59.54) [loose] 0:52.34 - 1:13.20 = "Chorus" (0:59.54 - 1:10.22) 1:13.20 - 1:34.08 = Bridge A (0:59.54 - 1:10.22) 1:34.08 - 2:05.38 = Bridge B (1:10.22 - 1:20.89) 2:05.38 - 2:15.83 = Bridge C (1:20.89 - 1:31.56) 2:15.83 - 2:47.12 = Breakdown A (1:31.56 - 1:52.89) 2:47.12 - 2:57.55 = Breakdown B (1:52.89 - 2:16.89) 2:57.55 - 3:28.86 = Climax (2:16.89 - 2:38.21) 31.47 + 20.87 + 20.86 + 20.88 + 31.30 + 10.45 + 31.29 + 10.43 + 31.31 = 208.86/223.29 = 93.5%

I love it! Quirky, cheeky, and playful!

Cool source tune, actually. I can see there being 3 distinct sections in the original, very remixable. Not sure if you wanted an official mod review here, but I'll just give my general feedback. Arrangement There's a good semblance of structure here. As far as implied dynamics go, it's in a good spot. My main concerns would be in the production aspect. Production/Mixing I would focus on addressing the drums throughout. To me they seem like placeholder samples before you put in the actual ones. - The first moment where the drums are iffy is 1:04 - 1:15; you are using the same drum sounds here as in the main sections, whereas the dynamics here are meant to be lower. I'd swap these drums out for something more distant with a longer reverb tail. - At 1:15 and in similar spots, I thought there would be a cymbal to mark a major transition. That would do a lot by itself. - The snare rolls tended to have similar velocities, such as at 1:40, 2:47, and other major transitions. Try varying the velocities so that they sound like rolls (alternating intensities), as opposed to just maximally hitting the snare. It's very apparent at 3:04 where the military-like rhythm doesn't make too much sense unless you actually used an orchestral snare --- Basically, what I've just said above boils down to: - treat the drums with more TLC by addressing their mechanical rhythm and intensities - take the time to choose more drum samples that are more appropriate for the implied dynamics of a given section - mark your transitions a bit more clearly with cymbals

Some remarks from me on the first listen: - I agree on the guitar being mechanical; other than varying the velocities (intensities) and rhythm of the notes to make it more realistic, I think another aspect is that it's overcompressed. There's a limiter that is pumping it. That's maybe not so obvious before the drums come in, but that's what's going on. To fix this, just lower the input levels of the instruments (before they get to the limiter), then raise the overall volume post-limiter in the FX chain. That way it isn't pushing against the limiter, but you still should get a similar final loudness. - The drums don't really fit the vibe you're going for - they are meant for trap/hip-hop-adjacent music, but if you used a more-acoustic kit, I think it would fit better, based on your hang drum and guitar as your main instruments. (This may come off as a subjective thing but objectively it just fits a different genre.) Hope it makes sense!

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MOD REVIEW Has kind of a Dragon Ball feel to it at the beginning! I didn't hear the previous version, but the mixing seems good/intentional to me! It has kind of a vintage, kinda 90's vibe to it. Thanks for the source breakdown as well - easy enough to make the connections there. I don't have much else to say; if this is the newest version, I'd go for it and submit!

Cool atmosphere! Hefty amounts of delay and reverb going around. I think some tips I wanted to mention would be: - The kick felt a bit weird in stereo - if you narrow the panning on it (just use a Stereo Enhancer and put on the inverse action), it would feel like more conventional panning to me. - The snare could maybe have a longer transient (it feels 'too' snappy). Something that would help is to layer on a snare that does have a long tail, to compensate. - The drum sequencing feels a bit mechanical. You don't have to slightly vary the rhythm to address that though - you could just vary the velocities, especially on the hi hats and kick.

Truly one of his best works! (if you got a ping, there was a temporary bug and the video was unavailable. It's back now, odd...)

I like the chord changes that differentiate the Invincible theme from the usual repetitive nature of the original. The Overworld Theme's melodic contour being changed to fit the uplifting musical mode works really well too! A refreshing take on a classic that actually is exactly what we are looking for when it comes to personalization from the arrangement end. I just wish it didn't fade out.

Loved the odd time signatures! Maintains a similar rhythm throughout but has great dynamics.