timaeus222

I really like the spacious vibe here. I think you nailed the style you were going for. Maybe the ending could have been more than just a fade-out. It could even have been one final hit at 3:24 that you let die out normally.

A very refreshing Chrono Cross ReMix! Fittingly puts me in a good mood.

I instantly hear the GLASYS style in this. Very consistent sound from him! #Keyscape #Omnisphere

I was jamming the whole time, major props! Definitely up to your usual standards, maybe even one of your best works yet.

I'm really digging this! The switch between what sounds like 12/8 and 4/4 is pretty smooth, and the usual chugs from PirateCrab are more than worthy of a good head-banging! My favorite part has to be the syncopation starting at 1:34. Also, LOL, Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale.

Vocals done right! The celtic instruments also evoke a sense of nostalgia for me, considering I sang a lot of irish music in high school.

Finally, this sees the light of day! One of my favorites from this remix compo, and it exemplifies your jazz theory background (iirc).

That was Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon for me. I had some gift card money on Amazon, so I was able to grab that, along with a 3DS. It's one of my favorite series of all time, and I hope that more in the series comes out! More recently, I just bought my copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun and am really enjoying it!

[This is an automatically generated message] I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that you'd like some more feedback, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and I'll review it again! Good luck!

Hey @Somewareman, sorry I didn't notice this sooner. Please, if I forget, just tell me again. I won't be mad if you pester me. Here's what I'm hearing. MOD REVIEW Summary tldr; the textures have significant clutter because the reverb on the drums affects too large a range of frequencies in the low end. there's a bit too many instruments playing at the same time sometimes, while also being similar textures in similar frequency ranges. the drums have isolated variation that doesn't seem natural compared to the main rhythm you've been using. the bass sticks out. The best way I can describe it is that it's... too funky. Some good things though, are that you definitely thought about and implemented melodic variation, there's a clear and satisfying ending, and there are distinct sections in the remix that keep it from sounding too repetitive. Right now it would likely be a NO, but this has potential, and I think you can improve this further in the textural clarity and arrangement progression department. Arrangement / Sequencing In general, I think the arrangement definitely has melodic and harmonic variation going on, but what I would do is compare similar segments, such as 0:23 - 1:07 and 1:14 - 1:58, and really consider if the variation in general feels natural or forced, and if there's too much going on. As an example, the most obvious difference I hear between those two time stamps is that you have more right-panned buzzy saw waves stacked on top at 1:14 - 1:58, but I can't distinguish those notes because there's already a similar soft 80s stab from 0:23 - 1:07 playing at the same time (as a rule of thumb, if I can't transcribe most of the notes by ear, it's not clear enough). What I would do instead, since the soundscape is already quite full, is take out those right-panned saw waves, then focus on changing the notes on the instruments that are already there. This is a concept you can apply elsewhere as well---think about when adding another sound adds too much to what's going on, and simply consider changing the melodic notes, rhythm, and/or harmonies. ----- As for the drums, I think you could go back and add a little more variation. To me, it sounds like a few patterns were copy/pasted, and then a bit of isolated variation was added just to where you were going to transition to something new (such as at 1:41 - 1:45), making those transitions sound a bit sudden. It may take some time to figure out. What I usually do is "beat box" the variations while listening back to the non-drum textures in the remix with the drums turned off, and that helps me think of ideas for changing up the rhythm. ----- You might find it helpful to check out this livestream (22:55 - 30:21) for an idea of how you might go about writing drum parts and layering textures. Production / Mixing The main 2 instrument-based things that stand out for me to address are the drums and the bass. I get that you're going for distant drums. They make sense here. Some concerns I have though, are that the reverb on the kick and snare have too much low end going on. I don't know if you are sidechaining the bass to the kick (sometimes hard to tell), but a bit of that should help subtly push down the bass and reduce muddiness. Also, if your reverb has a setting to adjust the "Low Cut" frequency that it takes in, try raising it to around 200 - 300 Hz so that it generates less reverb for frequencies below that (I did make a tutorial on reverb a while back). Once you try that, you may find yourself having more breathing room in the low end. ----- Based on the old-school, nostalgic atmosphere you seem to be going for, I would say that a slap/funky bass kinda feels out of place (for example, it sticks out at 1:10 - 1:14 and when it first comes in). Something lighter, softer, and less resonant might do the trick; maybe try something like a fretless bass as a starting point, and it should blend in a little more. ----- Regarding the mix as a whole, it actually looks like some significant compression was put on it. Compare it without and with the compression; it sounded cleaner before, but the waveform looks like a "sausage", so it doesn't hurt to check (months later) whether it helped or not. It may or may not be contributing to how the drums (especially kick) are competing with the bass. If you happen to be applying this on the master track, instead try compression on the individual channel(s) that you think needs it.

Wow, this may be a new favorite of mine from your collection!

This is an incredible demonstration of metal that actually makes you headbang in different rhythms. These guys definitely know how to shred!

I think when I first came here, it took me time to come to appreciate the tremendous amount of help you guys give (call it early ignorance), but looking back, I think I was most inspired by @zircon, @WillRock, @Chimpazilla, @Gario, @djpretzel, and of course @Liontamer, who could forget him? zircon is kind of an obvious one --- I learned most of what I know in music from studying his, from watching his streams / remix walkthroughs, etc. It has also been a pleasure and a joy to do sound design and to test Super Audio Cart (SAC) and SAC PC. I've generally found Willrock to be someone who really made an identity for himself; he isn't afraid to express himself, and he makes music that is clearly identifiable as his own. Chimpazilla has been a good influence on me from nearly the start, and inspired me to realize that collaboration opens you up to new ideas and really supports you in areas you still need to work on. Gario is like a super-mod, who is also very empathetic, and eloquent. He inspires me to express my feedback in both clear-cut and respectful ways, and in essence it's great for my character. djpretzel has a great sense of humor and writes excellent ReMix writeups, and does plenty of behind-the-scenes administration, advertisement, and legal stuff for the website, youtube, twitter, etc. while not necessarily getting the thanks he deserves. Without djp, we wouldn't even be here now, talking about... each other. Woah. Liontamer is honest, direct, and pleasantly sarcastic. If he had to, he could probably carry the legacy of OCR on his shoulders, and he really embodies the spirit of OCR, IMO. He's also damn funny. ----- If I forget anyone, it's not a knock on you, by the way.

Lemonectric's been going the more-lofi route lately; I think my first introduction to him was "Essence of Lime", which mixed in more organic flavor, but I can still dig this "new" retro (oxymoron?) palette he has going on here. A nice and full Genesis bass foundation along with the similarly-old-school leads makes for a welcoming presentation with some homey feels.

A few basic tips: Listen to songs that carry out the style you are looking for, and try to make sense of what the structure is. You can even put it into your DAW to try to tempo-match, and then break it down into how many bars until each section is over. Where's the intro? Where's the outtro? Bridge? How are the dynamics changing over the course of the track? Common transitions make use of cymbals and other transition sounds, or perhaps drum fills, but good transitions tend to connect both texture and contour (especially when writing orchestral, which has "only" organic instruments). Not just the density of the elements present, but also, the elements should feel like they're working together. Make yourself write a melodic transition sometime, and with time you'll hopefully develop that (voice-leading) as simply a core skill. You can do a simple melodic transition by writing a melody that sustains through into the next section, but later on, you could improve it by making all the little elements around the lead work together to lead up to that new section. For an example, I tend to share this, since it's what I consider my personal best arrangement. Maybe it'll help. Have your friends listen to what you have and give you advice... including us. That means post a WIP, not just "help me".

Maybe in the early part of the song, the "yeah"s were a bit overused, but this gets better as it goes on, and becomes rather enjoyable in the end!

Yeah, I hear you; I chose FF4's prelude because it had the main melody that I have on the strings here. IIRC, I could have chosen FF1's prelude instead and it would have been basically the same. Thanks all the same! This is one of my personal favorites of mine.

If you are talking about this one, then it should be able to record via USB. No recording function for FL Studio? I'm guessing you don't have the Producer Edition, which should include it. I would try to see if you can upgrade to that sometime, because that should give you that feature (which is very important to recording realistic acoustic parts). Whoops! Yeah, it would be here, and I've also fixed that link: https://app.box.com/s/lr9nxha1zbg5vfcxufqqvuiz9vjnliyu Yeah, exactly. An analogy is to make it sound like all parts were written on the same sheet of music by one person for the performance, rather than written in multiple separate sheets of music on separate days, that are then pasted together to use for the performance. I'm exaggerating, but I think you get the idea. Well, since you're using FL Studio, I figured I'd use its terminology. A pattern is what holds the notes and automation that goes with those notes. It represents a measure in sheet music. They go into the Multitrack (the big canvas where you arrange/place your musical objects) along with audio clips, automation clips, etc. If you left-click the top-left of the pattern in the Multitrack, you can go to "Make Unique", which clones it and leaves the original intact. Then you can add variation to that. I think longer patterns (say, 8 bars instead of 4 bars) should encourage you to do more to differentiate them. What I mean about emulating randomness is that you can manually shift notes a little bit in this new pattern you made from "Make Unique" for variation where the actual notes stay the same but how they line up differs. I think @PRYZM would be able to help you here. He has used CS2 before, I think. CC#7 (volume scaling) and CC#11 (expression) are pretty widely implemented to adjust the same parameters across different libraries, but CC#1 (among others) could differ depending on the library used (for example, it could have been vibrato). You should have the manual as well to look at, which might explain what CC#1 should do for CS2. Yeah, essentially it was like an actual fade-in, like a volume knob was raised on a digital piano, rather than the pianist just playing gradually harder.

MOD REVIEW Hey man, I will give you the heads-up that this is not going to pass right now, and to summarize, the primary reasons are: The instruments are mechanical, because their velocities predominantly have a quantized rhythm (stuck to the grid), and have similar intensities. This is most easily noticeable in the piano starting at 0:24, in cello/bass starting at 1:22. For example, the piano plays chords where all the notes in the chord hit about the same time instead of slightly different times. Something to listen to, to train your ear to hear subtleties like this: Robotic Rhythm Robotic Velocities Robotic Rhythm AND Velocities Humanized The accompanying instruments (particularly cello/bass and snare) fall into the trap of (potentially) being copy/pasted while playing a few similar patterns (generally multiple eighth notes in a row), instead of being written to have a certain phrasing that fits with the current musical section. Because of that, it sounds more like it was written on a computer than something that would have come about from being performed off of sheet music (if that makes sense). Frankly, this is actually pretty enjoyable though, Judges' Panel aside. Some of the good: I can hear most of the instruments pretty well, so there doesn't seem to be much of a balance issue. I might note that for example, the snare and pizzicato at 2:02 - 2:30 or so gets bit buried behind the cello/bass, which seems to have gotten louder. I can definitely hear the source in there, so anyone could recognize it if they heard the original or played the original game. It's slower, but not so slow that you can't tell what it is. It sounds like any casual listener could enjoy this, even if they didn't know the game. It's an uplifting arrangement without being too aggressive. ----- Since this would be a pretty big undertaking to revise and update, here's some advice that hopefully helps for the future: When using FL Studio to write orchestral music, try to make somewhat long patterns, so that you 'force' yourself to adjust them more significantly to differentiate them. Even subtle adjustments to rhythm and note intensities would help emulate the randomness of real players. On long notes, never leave a sustaining orchestral instrument static. If it has MIDI CC, consider CC#7 (volume scaling) and CC#11 (expression/dynamics) and modulating those. Basically, CC#7 controls the range of dynamics you can access, while CC#11 moves within the range allowed by CC#7. If the sample library is designed to use those, it's more realistic than automating generic volume knobs in FL Studio (if you did). Some miscellaneous suggestions that came to mind while listening to this back and forth: That 24-second intro probably doesn't actually have to be there, because it's very bare and somewhat meandering, but leads into a piano that fades in. Because of that, they feel separate. I know it would make the piece sub-3:00, but something to consider. It sounds as if you were automating the volume of the piano while keeping the velocities the same (0:24 and on). I'm not sure what samples/VSTs you are using for it, but instead, try to adjust the velocities (the "note loudness") to create that feel of increasing dynamics. If possible (and I don't know if you have a MIDI keyboard), try to feel it out and play it on there for a more humanized phrasing. END REVIEW

Oh yeah, I remember when I saw this as an SACPC demo. Perhaps your best chiptune work yet! Flows well, sounds good, enjoyable!

Well, I still try to ReMix... not as much anymore, but not because I lost interest. I'm in grad school, 3rd year, so by that time I just have a lot on my plate. (Officially became a Ph.D. candidate starting May.) I finished 1 recently, which I think I started in May, combining Chrono Cross and Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, and I still found a lot of enjoyment in the process of doing it. I don't have all my supplies with me in WSU, but it forces me to be more particular about harmonic and melodic cooperation instead of production and sound design, and instead I fix up the production on holiday breaks and such. Either way, I still ReMix, it's still as fun as it used to be, and I do so BECAUSE it's fun, not because I feel any obligation to do so.

Solo piano pieces are generally great. I played piano for about 8 years, so I can relate to how hard this is to play.

Thank you, I really appreciate it! That was a tibetan bowl sound from Omnisphere. I think it was "Tibetan Bowls Shaking Doppler".

Whaaaaat? How did I miss this? This is awesome!

@GuJiaXian In case you were curious, it just got approved this morning for a direct-post. Those are by email, so this would not show up in the Judges Decisions page.