Phonetic Hero

JIN?! No way. Kazuya

I'm just going to pop in here for a sec... I saw that you're using Sibelius. You had questions about automation and effects, and Chimp and Dafydd both said they know nothing about the program. I have EXTENSIVE experience with Finale, and Sibelius is basically nothing more than the Apple equivalent. I can tell you this: those programs are for scoring, and are AWFUL for audio/production. Even if you have high power sample libraries, you're not going to be able to process things the way you need to in order to get a passing mix on OCR. I can tell you this from personal experience; my first remix was made in Finale with some Native Instruments stuff, and looking back on it, it's nowhere NEAR what I can do with FL Studio, even with lower quality samples. Processing is hugely important. A huge majority of the patches I use are actually single cycle waveforms plugged into VERY basic synths (3x Osc, for FL users). How you process a sound has everything to do with how it fits into a soundscape; for non-synthetic, sampled instruments, this still applies. EQing frees up sonic space for other instruments to cut through, and panning/stereo separation do the same to an extent. There's loads more to cleaning a mix and all that good stuff, but sadly, you won't even be able to scratch the surface with Sibelius/Finale... If it's in your budget, I'd recommend getting a higher power DAW (FL is fantastic, and only $200 for the producer edition - if I remember correctly, Sib/Fin are both a lot more than that ) Just had to jump in to say that. I'm only saying all this to help, because I know how frustrating it is to be able to do less than you want to do with the audio. I'm not bashing scoring at all (I have to do quite a bit of it myself), but as far as sound goes, there's far better programs to be dealing with. I hope my wisdom will help you in some way, best of luck my friend! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, or friend me on Facebook or whatever since I basically live on the internet pH EDIT: Oh, and now that I've read a little more extensively: EQ is used mainly for productional work on a piece. Freeing up frequencies clears space for other instruments that may need those frequencies more without muddying the sound. Theoretically, you actually COULD use EQ in a live performance (which is what I assume you meant by choosing freq ranges etc.); all you'd have to do is plug the mic or whatever into an amp and put an equalizer in the effects chain. Obviously, it won't filter the actual sound itself (like the person's voice or the actual strumming of a guitar, etc.), but the post-processed sound will have those frequencies boosted/cut Yes, high power samples have excellent velocity ranges; however, when you talk MIDI, there's a difference between "velocity" and "volume." I'm not sure you actually have access to the velocities in Sibelius, just the volume... (dynamic markings, piano, mezzo piano, etc.) You hit the nail on the head with automation: it's used to make instruments sound more human (or synthetic instruments do what you want them to with filtering and all that in order to sound cool ). A lot of the work is a lot easier than it sounds if you have a DAW like FL Studio; the velocity track is all right there in the piano roll when you write notes, so you can hand pick what velocity each note plays at as you enter it in, instead of having to make a bunch of clicks in order to adjust things. I'd really recommend checking out FL or another good DAW (if you have a Mac, I'd look at Reason or Logic, I know there are users of both on the site, and a lot more - just find what YOU like using). And these aren't stupid questions. Trust me, I was in the same boat, and asking is an absolute necessity. I refrained from asking questions when I started posting here because I didn't want to come off as stupid, and it really only hindered my progress. Plus, nobody here will ever call you stupid or make you feel dumb. So if you've got questions, ASK THEM!! And all this being said, your mix does still sound pretty good. Don't get discouraged!

Forgot how awesome this is, went back to listen. You fucking killed it man Around 1:13, when you've got the filtering and crescendoing, things get real piercing (coming from someone with shit headphones that cut treble), and then the drop feels a little underwhelming. Maybe it's that the bass isn't overdriven enough, or that there's no cymbal crash or humongous drum hit on the downbeat. Not hats at first makes things feel a little odd to me too, but that's probably personal preference. 1:32 kind of exploded my ears with highs too. Sampling is freaking awesome, and I love the second drop, it just fits the piece instead of feeling crammed in like a lot of pubsteppe. I mean dubstep. Nothing you haven't heard before, overall awesome, just stop stabbing my ears with the highs EDIT: LOVE that intro

OH god, how could I forget... you just seem like such a big league-r The Lunar Whale is for sure one of my favorites from the entire thing <3

Someone needs to be patient

I guess I haven't subbed anything in a while, and it's been even longer since I had a piece in this forum. This one's really grown on me. Plus, if it gets accepted, it'll keep my streak of temple-y/jungle-y jams to-be-posted on OCR I put this together in a night for the Street Fighter compo a few months back. Throw me all the crits you got. Thanks a ton Sources: Remix: Demon Syndrome pH

YAAAYYYY DAMONZ!! I'm happy to see you posting again. Verby bass in the beginning is a bit heavy on the lows; I usually cut EVERYTHING below 30 hz. Stuff below that just adds mud without really adding to the sound. Also try cutting some of the reverb's lows, that could be adding to the mud of it. Once the song gets going, it sounds like everything is sidechained, but it sounds really awkward on the lead. If it's not sidechained, that bass really needs some work I'll have more in a while, kinda busy atm. But sounds pretty cool so far, I always dig your synth work

Got my shit sent to you fellers, sorry it took so long

How does calendar

Yeeeaaahhh man, cool stuff. Some of the sequencing sounds a little awkward, and the soundscape in general seems fairly dry for the environment you seem to be trying to portray. First of all, organs, especially church organs, have a pretty long attack and release. For that reason, quick sequencing is pretty unrealistic. The sixteenth patterns you've got going on sound really inhuman and strange. My suggestion would be to use the organ for some dark backing chords, and pick something else for that lead part. Also, stereo separation and reverb work WONDERS for organs (especially screwing with the wet/dry ratio on the 'verb). At :45, I'm hearing a GIANT verby synth lead taking that melody, and again at 1:09. Might be fun to mess around with The drum programming is pretty badass, I suppose that's where you're name comes from Even the orchestral snare sample is awesome itself. However, the sequencing could use some velocity alteration (I'm also a percussionist), especially on the rolls, just a little bit higher velocity on the first note than the second. Given the nature of the source and the remix so far (and because I'm a whore for this sort of thing), some glitching would be wicked awesome. Particularly for the drums, but the transitions could be pretty cool with a bit of glitching. I use GrossBeat from Image-Line, but dBlue glitch is free, and I'm sure you can find it around the internet pretty easily. This thing is sounding pretty cool so far dude. Needs more spices though, some big cymbal crashes, noise sweeps on the orchestral snare breaks for transitions, anything you can come up with to make the thing more tense and hectic. Great start though. Also, since you seem to be pretty new around OCR... welcome aboard

*like*drunk

I'm drunk as shit right now, but I loved KC. I'll give this a listen when I'll be more useful to you

I went the majority of the week thinking I was gonna be good to go, and then I got trucked the last day or so. If this compo's taught anyone anything, it's that the voting is never really completely solid, and upsets are 1000% possible. I'm totally not saying that Amph beating me was an upset at all - I certainly felt the truck coming as soon as I heard his track - but there have been some match ups that didn't end anywhere NEAR the way that I thought they would. Any pre-conceived notions, especially at this point are... a little dumb!

Wildfire, you can't see it but I'm wagging my finger at you for using the preset FL drums... But Underground is fucking awesome so I'm gonna let it slide

Voting's not done, but you seem to have creamed me Amph Nice work man, may we meet again on the field of battle in days soon to come

I'm pretty poor, but damnit, I'm a PRO with PoiZone

Ecto, if you send me a WAV, I'll take 'er out back for the ol' GrossBeatin'. I won't over do it, I promise EDIT: What the devil? Is my 'verby bass panned left in the beginning? Could be my headphones, but it sounds odd. Also, the flute is almost lost for that first flute melody after the piano. Maybe switch it out for a more cutting lead. And hell, while we're here... The stuff you did with the square tom sounds badass. I'd be alright with even just glitching that, if you sent me a stem Pads at 2:45 are too loud. They may be ok after a few bars, but when they come it, it's awkward and overpowering God that granulizer part is cool Filter is a bit rezzy on the outtro, 'specially on the piano

Jazz flute? I'm not prepared...

Underground is so awesome what are you I don't even And god, now that we're talking about it, I'm sooooo tired of Hill Top. I got several wtf-were-you-thinking's while I did my last track in Indy EDIT: Matt, you've got 3 Hill Top Zone remixes now... can I switch if I move on?

The arps leading into the Kakariko village interp section are actually the ones from the source, just sped up and modified for 4 as opposed to 3. The beginning has the verbatim (c'mon Nathan... first search I did for the theme ), and theres some Sanctuary interp going on in the background almost constantly after the raw flute section in the beginningEDIT: Lol, even work split my ass! I'd say about 60/40 your favor, if not worse on my part... I was a little burnt out after my one-nighter for the Sonic Compo... apologies

Yeah, that!

Documentation complete

I am drinking and watching Tim and Eric with Ben Briggs. Yesterday, I started a track with Ecto. And I met Drew when I arrived. Things in Indy are good EDIT: Drew's here now too

I seem to be missing a vote somewhere (EDIT: found it), but I'll blame it on sleep deprivation; it doesn't affect the outcomes, so I'm not gonna hunt 'er down. And... yeah... my song... right.

SLACKER?! I'd been up since 6:30 AM yesterday, drove an 8 hour straight-shot, and finally was able to REALLY sit down with the mix after getting settled in indy at about 1 AM this morning. No fucking sleep... not sure how I feel about it, but it's music damn it... At least it'll stick out EDIT: And stick out it will. Different was the name of the game; taking to sources to different places harmonically as well as quirky instrumentation make my mix... well, different. We'll leave it at that. Almost blew up my computer after multiple frustrations, but hey, I got SOMEthing for you guys! DOUBLE EDIT: Weirdest fucking song I've ever written in my life. Yet somehow, it doesn't feel as long as it is