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0x000000FF

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  1. I'm experimenting with an "electro-acoustic" cover of a song by Mr. J. Medeiros, and I'm curious if there are any vocalists that would like to collaborate. I really like his more recent song "Weight", and I've begun sketching out a cover. Here's the original:


    And here's a very short sketch:


    Fair warning: I'm not an experienced ReMixer or anything (probably obvious). However, I'd like to improve this mix and incorporate some ideas. I've already gone ahead and given the chorus to a pulse lead and plan to keep the digital and acoustic elements blended. I thought it could be fun to work with a vocalist to create a more complete cover. I'm also willing and interested in changes to lyrics and structure. Please let me know if you'd like to work on something like this. Thanks!

    Oh, and I'm not entirely sure this is okay to share here since it has nothing to do with video games. I'm not aware of any other awesome music communities like this, so I thought I'd try here. :-) If this isn't okay, please let me know and we can remove this.

  2. Thanks for the feedback! I have a few questions and comments. :-)

    On 7/10/2017 at 8:34 AM, Albert Fernandez said:

    First of all, nice outfit!

    Ha ha, thanks. I'm actually a Scottish country dancer and also play folk tunes from time to time. The source material definitely seems to have some Celtic influence, so I figured the garb was appropriate.

    On 7/10/2017 at 8:34 AM, Albert Fernandez said:

    The harmonium (I'm not sure if that's the correct name for the instrument, it enters at 0:10) and the guitar at 0:44 sound too roomy.

    By roomy, do you mean that it sounds as if the listener is hearing them in a small room (reflections, etc.) or that they reach into too much of the frequency spectrum? Getting a good sense for EQ and filters has been quite a challenge! (The wind instrument with the keys is a melodica, by the way.)

    On 7/10/2017 at 8:34 AM, Albert Fernandez said:

    The thing here is to make more consistent the sound of the main melody...

    Agreed. As the melody moves from instrument to instrument, I think the character of the mix changes too much. I'll need to work on that.

  3. Hi, folks. I actually shared some earlier attempts of this track more than a year ago here. I haven't changed too much since the conclusion of that thread, but thought I'd share the final track. I had to rush filming the video, so there are some minor mistakes hidden in there. I've also learned a lot about the instruments since recording the audio, especially the pennywhistle, and regret some of the flat playing and technique. That all being said, any thoughts or criticisms are welcome; I'm done with this track, but always looking to improve my awful production. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it.
     

     


  4. Thanks for all of the helpful feedback, everyone. I'm sorry I let this thread die! I've put together another mix (embedded in this post).

    I went back to the drawing board. I applied more panning and completely changed the mastering, which ended up pulling back the middle frequencies quite a bit. I also recorded a bass track.

    I actually dialed back on the reverb. I'm not sure if that was a good idea, but I had an easier time mixing without it. Any thoughts on that? My feeling is that I should throw some reverb back into the mix. How's the panning?

    So... better or worse? :-P Thanks for all of the help!

  5. Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping that pulling together all of these different instruments would give the mix a "real" feeling, even if it sometimes comes from subtle errors like the tuning.

    On 12/27/2015 at 3:15 AM, T- Ape said:

    If you want to create space, use a reverb. EQ is used to manage frequency in music. Reverb simulates a room or space.

    Hmm, I'll see if I can make some improvements by adjusting the reverb. I'm also using a bit more compression on the master than I usually do; not sure if adjusting that would help.

    On 12/27/2015 at 3:15 AM, T- Ape said:

    Tip: don't excuse yourself upfront in the description box. It gives away unnecessary information and it doesn't even have to be true.

    Great tip. I'll keep this in mind.

  6. Amateur hour. :-) I'm really not sure how to approach the mixing of this track. It's an attempt at performing Another Termina as a sort of acoustic ensemble, mainly using guitar, melodica, and penny whistle. There are most certainly more problems than the mixing, but right now that feels like the most frustrating part. To my ear, the melody doesn't seem to fit into the mix and feels "subdued". I've also listened to this too much, so I may just be crazy. In any case, I'm not sure how to handle that; I've tried carving some more space using EQ, but my initial attempts have gotten messy pretty quickly. Does anyone have any guidance on that?

    I think this track is comprised of the most recorded instruments I've ever tried to work with, and I think that's making it a bit tougher for me since the mix is "crowded".

    Anyway, any other thoughts, advice, or help is appreciated. I apologize in advance for trying to play the penny whistle! Thanks!

    https://soundcloud.com/0x000000ff/termina-5a

  7. Sorry for posting something so short, but I wanted to get opinions on this.

    I really like the harmony in the source material, so I played around with it a bit and slapped this pensive introduction together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l12ch8n7dko7hf2/cathedral-mix-r1.mp3

    I'm using some heavy reverb here since I was going for a sort of "chamber" sound. It interacts a bit strangely with the close mic'ing of the guitars, but I prefer it to a more dry sound.

    I think the dynamics of the piano could be more expressive. Also, the piano just drops out at the end; that is not the long-term plan. :-P

    I'm not sure this works or gels. Thoughts? Thanks!

  8. Thanks! I think I've been getting a bit better at mixing the acoustic stuff I record, but I'm still not good at it in general. I'm mostly happy with how this track is sounding though.

    I hadn't considered "Sealed Door". I agree that it could fit in nicely with this tune. I'll have to play around with it.

    By the way, the reed instrument is a melodica, and I was actually stoked that I had found something in which to use it, even if it is just two notes. :-D

  9. Just played around with this tune last night. Maybe a bit messy, but I like the acoustic sound applied to this track: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8a24hc2hsye43xb/will-mix-r1a.mp3

    There's not much more to add to cover the entirety of the source material. I'll likely just loop it as in the original with some changes to the ending. This is one of my favorite darker tunes from Chrono Trigger. I had a lot of fun messing around with it.

  10. Okay, so I wrestled with mixing this one quite a bit. Here's a very short snippet of a take on "Snake Eater": https://www.dropbox.com/s/4j2pq4llspppgez/eater-mix-r3a.mp3

    I already recorded some bits for the next part of the song (after the pause), but I've been slicing and dicing it to heck, so I've just looped the intro for now.

    I think I got the mixing to a decent place, but I'm not sure. For one thing, the shaker really helps fill things out, but to my ear it doesn't seem to mix terribly well. If I remove it, things suddenly sound "cleaner" or "clearer", which I usually take as a not-so-good sign. I can't often trust my lousy ears though. I really have no intuitive grasp of this at all. Thoughts?

    Also, I'm curious if something like this would be too conservative for a future submission. Any guidance on this?

    Any input is appreciated! Thanks! :-)

  11. I found a little time this weekend to mess around with this. Here's a sparse update to the arrangement: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nen68z5kxin0yg/gridania-mix-r5a.mp3

    I think the mixing has improved since the first version, but more insight or advice is very welcome!

    I managed to work in a little "intermission" before moving into the theme's second movement. I tried to stuff in a motif from Limsa Lominsa's theme too. :3 I don't intend to ever have no percussion or such a sparse sound, but I'm not sure; I actually kind of like the non-melodic passage with just the guitar and piano. Any thoughts or ideas there?

    At some point, I gotta bring the bass back. I want to make the second movement part sound "big", I think. I don't know exactly how I'll do that though.

    Thanks!

  12. I didn't get a chance to add more over the weekend, but I did fiddle with the bass. Here's the latest: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t0u3qfnk4n5gvcy/gridania-mix-r4.mp3

    I managed to compress the bass so that I only get about 0.5dB variance between large and small transients. To my ear, I'm also getting bigger sustain (stays within threshold) and a loss of sharp, crisp attack.

    I'm really not sure if this works well or not. After listening to it many times, I'm starting to become numb to the whole thing! Thoughts are appreciated! :-) Sorry for the small delta.

  13. Bass is booming quite noticeably, on certain notes more than others.

    I agree! I only have a very subtle compressor on that track. I'll try tweaking it to normalize this. The dynamics of my playing are pretty varied here!

    Now you just need to milk the source for what you can and get it up in length.

    Yeah! I'm planning on varying the repeated melody (right now, it's just copy pasta of the guitar). In the original track, it sort of "picks up" on the repetition, and I want to try something similar, maybe letting the piano take the melody. After that, I want to jump into one of the later movements with a long(ish) transition, which should give me a chance to improvise a bit.

  14. Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'm glad you like it.

    And thanks for the suggestions, Garpocalypse. Here's a tweaked version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/02pjqyqu66mcnpw/gridania-mix-r3.mp3

    I agree that the bass was really aggressive. I pulled it back quite a bit. I also pulled some of the lows out of the finger picked guitar and the piano. I also boosted some of the highs on the piano, then picked up the track gain a bit too. I pulled the melody guitar towards the center, so it isn't panned so hard.

    If you get a chance, please let me know if this sounds better or worse to you. Thanks a lot!

  15. Hey, folks! I've been experimenting with my recording setup and mixing in virtual instruments, namely piano. At the moment, I'm just using the grand piano packaged with Live 9.

    My latest attempt is a take on Gridania (Daytime) from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Here's a link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2r17dz9newf9f4w/gridania-mix-r2.mp3

    I just wanted to get some early thoughts. For one thing, I'm finding it challenging to get the piano to sit in the mix. The introduction sounds very muddy to me, and my ear gets a bit "confused" until I swing into the melody. That could just be the arrangement's problem though. Not sure. I've tried some mild notching, but I'm really not sure how to go about it. For notching, what's a good way to find the frequencies to kill or punch in each track?

    Thoughts? Tips? Thanks!

  16. The mic'ing feels a bit like some instruments are playing in separate spaces, maybe adjusting the vertical height pf the mic on the violin and the drum could bring out some interesting blends. Otherwise I would try to play the violin in a deader space. I have a hell of a time recording my viola without getting too much room sound.

    Great ear! :-o The fiddle, guitar/bass/shaker, and percussion were all recorded in different spaces.

    I plan to completely replace the percussion recordings (using the same space as the guitar/bass/shaker). I originally recorded them for an earlier attempt at this same tune when I was first learning to play music. They were recorded with a close mic. I think I should try some more distance.

    The fiddle is tricky. The room reflections are obvious when listening to the raw solo track. I'd like to record in a more dampened medium-size space, but if I can't, do you have any more suggestions for how I might approach this? This was recorded in a home. I captured it with a mid-side array (to allow for a bit more movement) just above the instrument with a slight downward pitch.

    I haven't had a chance to work on this for awhile, but I'm looking forward to adding more. I'm also curious if something like this would ever be on par for submission to the website. My primary concern is the general quality, followed immediately by arrangement (perhaps too conservative). Thoughts?

  17. Thanks for listening. I'm glad to hear you think the mic'ing is good. :-) I agree that mic'ing is more than half the battle for acoustic tunes!

    The final version should be at least twice as long as this. I'm playing around with Gato's theme now, since I think it makes for a nice change of pace before I hop back to the source. If only I knew some brass players... :razz:

    I feel like this sounds a bit sparse. I tried mixing in some mandolin bits, but then it sounded too crowded. Still gotta tweak it.

  18. Hi there! I'm currently working on an acoustic arrangement of Guardia Millennial Fair from Chrono Trigger and wanted to see if I could get some general feedback!

    Here's a link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0uaw8nyvcypgpme/faire-mix-r2.mp3

    This is far from complete; I hope it isn't too incomplete to be sharing yet! It's quite sparse at some points, especially the beginning and end. I have some mandolin parts that I haven't recorded yet that should help, along with new percussion parts. The bass drops out too, as I was unsure how I wanted to arrange those parts just yet.

    This breaks into Gato's theme at the end, which was kind of an accident, as I kept playing stuff while the mic was on and thought it actually sounded a bit neat. 8-O It's way too soft and I played it sloppily, so if I keep it I will probably replace it entirely.

    Anyway, I'd love to know what you think so far. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome! Thanks a lot. :-)

  19. Cool, thanks so much for taking a listen. :-) I'll go ahead and drop this in the WIP forum.

    I agree that the panning could use some work. I'm using Ableton Live and just dropped one of the pre-baked mastering racks into the set and tweaked it a bit. The rack uses some stereo EQ to widen the output and pushes panned tracks further to the right/left. I diminished this effect, but not very much.

  20. I posted awhile back asking a similar question and now that I've finally recorded some new stuff, I'm back.

    I'm trying to put together a few acoustic versions of tunes from Chrono Trigger. Most recently, I started playing with Guardia Millennial Fair. I decided to take what I have so far (not much) and attempt to mix it a bit for the sake of experimentation. I'm not sure how I've done with this so I wanted to ask for opinions and help here (because you guys are awesome). :-)

    Anyway, here's a sample: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtpakzyvzdc0aal/faire-mix-r1.mp3

    Please bear in mind that this is far from complete. The opening is sparse and the bass drops out at the end, for example, but it picks up a bit in the middle where you can get a good feeling for the mix.

    Thanks, folks! Specific feedback is great, but so are general tips for mixing acoustic stuff like this, as there are others I'm working on as well.

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