timaeus222

It just sounds so lossy and garbled. Why in the world is it 32 kbps?

Haven't written a geetar solo in a long time, but I'm so pumped up for you guys to hear this one!

I think it's mainly your idea of structure and your intuition in sound selection. Your "Thing Scrap" sounds like it could be a Drum & Bass track with jazz chords, if your sound choices were more cohesive. That sound at 0:24 just sticks out too much (lacking reverb), and same with the one that came in at 0:36; they're both very basic saw or square waves as well, and lack the interesting expression your chordal synth suggests that you need. The bass at 1:00 doesn't really fit though, timbrally or compositionally IMO, and feels randomly placed. Try finding time to learn how to synthesize your own sounds and learn how to decide what sounds go with what. Build up your sound library and have sounds you keep going back to, and you'll eventually find "your sound". Also, study the structure of music you like and see what kind of structures you naturally gravitate towards. "Thing Scrap" doesn't have much structure, and having structure would have helped you decide what to do next.

The Wrap Remainder file actually takes the tail of the track and pastes it onto the beginning. Even if you do a small fade and remove the click, the actual pasted part is still there, so if you have a compositional issue, you should check that first. Ironically, if you imitate the Wrap Remainder algorithm manually, it's less prominent of an issue.

Done with my first batch (ready for the next 20)!

If a song is definitively orchestral, would we check any orchestral instruments under "Extra Instrumentation", or is that not necessary? I figure if it's "extra", it means instruments significantly used other than those in a typical orchestra. Also, would you be willing to put some sort of comments box in the form so someone could, for example, write a short overall description if words that they expect to find on the form aren't there, and their synonyms aren't available? (like "pleasant", "heroic", "yearning", or "evocative")

Why is there so much phaser on the violin? Phaser is sometimes OK, but using it for so long makes it feel overprocessed to me. Why not just play a clean tone on the violin and every now and then do something with the phaser? If it's a stylistic choice, I don't really get it. I guess my other confusion is, why are you a silhouette the whole time?

Sorry to say, but I would keep working on both of these. The Mega Man track had a lot of copy+paste, but the Metroid track had more textural development. The Metroid track can also use more arrangement development, variation, and dynamics; it feels like it doesn't really change gears past 4:04. The Metroid track is overall a bit better, but on both tracks, there seems to be a weird phaser effect on the violin, which felt like a muffled recording as a result. Both tracks had a strange, strained, overprocessed feel IMO. Dial back the effects and let the instruments breathe more.

Well, it still has a lot of odd bass writing decisions but there isn't pervasive clipping on loud parts anymore (see 1:40).

Mine is about 1:36 long so far. I've sort of done this glitch metal style before, but haven't really embraced it fully until now. Currently at the crazy part.

The drums don't have to feel real, but I think the sequencing should be less machine-gun-like to at least be more realistic. I say this because you do have the resources to do so. I did hear velocity variation in the strings, hi hat, and clean guitar, but it didn't come off as realistic to me; if you do vary the velocities, try doing it manually, rather than using some sort of pre-programmed humanization function in your DAW. You could add a few portamento notes here and there, pitch bends, filter motion, more intricate sequencing, or any combination of these. Vibrato really helps at the bare minimum though.

Yeah, I was doing some chemistry programming today and now I have an idea of what to do next on a track for the SFRG compo. =P

Try listening to new music and seeing what suddenly makes you smile. Maybe some of the following? https://soundcloud.com/isworks/plectra-series-2-highland-3 https://soundcloud.com/tonydickinson/mighty-wings-with-connor-engstrom-aaron-petersen https://soundcloud.com/isworks/juggernaut-alash-kala-dressed https://soundcloud.com/zircon-1/no-regret-ft-chris-gordon http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02939

timaeus222 ~ Zero Tolerance Laser Power (Shield Sheldon in X-Hunter Stage 1 [X2]) (Don't Wanna) Hurt You (Gravity Beetle in X-Hunter Stage 1 [X2]) Caffeine Shoveling Hunter Turtloids (Rainy Turtloid in X-Hunter Stage 1 [X2])

You can highlight all your notes and do Alt+[Mouse-wheel-roll] to adjust their velocities all by the same amount at the same time. If you have any questions about FL Studio, I'm always available!

Drum & Bass is listed as "dnb" in there.

^ that

Question: Would the filename this week be something like this? Team Name - Artist Name - Title (Maverick in Final Weapon).wav

I tend to think of it this way: if you write it and you know you can mix it, even if someone else couldn't conceive of making those sound selections, give it a shot. You CAN mix a supersaw, noise sweep, and detuned saw pad together, but it can be difficult to pull off. I just don't do it because I have a bias against supersaws. Sometimes I hear "don't write two bass lines at the same time!", but I've layered the sound of a slap bass and a dubstep bass together before; I couldn't just use the Layer tool in FL since the slap bass had keyswitches (meaning I couldn't write one bass line and assign the same exact one to two instruments without clashing), so I had to EQ them manually, and y'know, it worked IMO.

I think you should listen more closely to real instruments, because everything here needs more realistic velocity variation. The open hi hat on the right is rather loud, the clap-snare at 0:15 and elsewhere is quantized with no velocity variation, the synth leads all throughout are only sustaining with no expression, the synth guitar and strings are lacking realistic velocity variation, etc. As a result, I just hear a lifelessness to the track. In other words, it sounds like you downloaded a MIDI and replaced instruments, keeping the velocities all the same (which you didn't, but it sounds that way). Try listening for the expressiveness of everything in here. There's motion, vibrato, a purposeful stereo field, tonal variation, interesting chord progressions, a full soundscape, etc.

Well, I guess it works for me because I've been refining my sound selection instincts over several years; I've been mixing as I go since 2013. I just pick sounds that I feel go together in EQ, timbre, and stereo width. For example, I wouldn't pick a supersaw and match it up with a noise sweep and a thick detuned saw wave pad. Too much treble going on.

Yeah, it actually IS supposed to be used to explain music after-the-fact, to get an idea of what the composer did and how one could accomplish something similar. I don't actually formally think about music theory while I write. Also, @ GLL: I tend to mix as I go, so that I can hear things in context. I feel like if I mixed at the end, it would drastically influence my sound selection.

I agree that it's C minor (besides in the dissonant section, where it's less clear). The scale used as the main melody is a minor scale that definitely contains Eb and Ab. Eb major is Ab, Eb, Bb, so we're in the C relative minor, before 1:02. There, it switches to Eb minor, containing Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, and Gb. On the repeat at 1:15, it sounds like it should go to Bb to resolve into a Bb relative minor key, but the composer decided to use what sounds like the 2nd in the Bb minor key at that point as the root of a C minor key on the repeat. Seemed forced to me, but ah well.

Oops, you guys are gonna hear more dubstep this round. =P