Phonetic Hero

Yeah man, I've learned so much since I've been posting here; the community is bound to make you a better writer and teach you a lot about the process. Good luck, keep remixing awesome sources!! pH

Haha, speaking of pretentious... well, I suppose it WAS good advice, albeit from a pedestal, or high horse, or other tall object. I apparently need a disclaimer on my vocabulary as well. ANYWAY, if OverCoat didn't elaborate enough, I just meant that there's not much going on, there's really only the drums, chip, and bass. Try adding new parts to make things more chordal and giving your piece a more musical progression (counter melodies, block chords, more pads, etc.) and adding layers to the sounds that are already there, experimenting with different octaves and intervals to make the harmonies more apparent. Timing-wise, I'd just go ahead and switch bass drum samples, drums are too easy to change to spend time tweaking them. I'm not a huge dubstep fan either, but the wobble bass can use a more solid pattern rather than random speed changes (and possibly pitch changes too). There's my explication. I hope my "kiddie" word choice didn't offend anyone this time around pH

The first like, 1:45 feels sort of directionless. The wub is really weird feeling at points too, like it doesn't sync up like it should. The bass drum feels out of time with the chip stuff at certain points too, especially when it first comes in; I was REALLY disoriented when those first bass hits start. That being said, I REALLY enjoy the segment that starts at 1:52. The chip drums are freaking awesome, and it has the potential to get obnoxiously chorus-y, which I'm a huge fan of. But, it'll take some filling out. The soundscape in general feels a little unnecessarily thin right now. Add some meat! Good luck dude, I look forward to seeing where this goes pH

Thanks Woke up at 2:30, couldn't get back to sleep, so I went back to work. I was just going to make an edit, but since synesthetic was gracious enough to comment, I figured I'd better go ahead and make a real post for clarity's sake. I'm pretty sure it's done now, all I changed from the last update was adding in the "Jump, Jump!!" "Slide, Slide!!" sound effects from the game, which I've been thinking of doing for a while (and glitching them out a little bit, of course). Kept the same link too, since it's a minor change. I think it turned out pretty nicely, and after some tweaking I even got it to say "Die" at the end as an added, titular bonus. pH

Alright, did lots of production work and cleaned a lot of stuff up, hopefully it's up to snuff now. I changed the instrumentation at the Grenade Man/Title melody part so the distortion wouldn't be a bother, altered velocities and EQ'ing on the solo synth, and did a lot more EQ'ing in general to clear stuff up. Also, this thing ended up with over 40 total automation clips, for the record. I also added a new ending, and hot DAMN that soundscape gets beefy. I dig it a lot, I hope you guys will too! Let me know what you think! Update vs. Previous pH

Man, SUCH a great OST. I've been planning on making a huge JFG remix, but I need better orchestral samples first... I want to do this thing SO bad. Once I come into some money... well, I'll probably pay rent. Once I can hold down a place to live and come into some money... well, I'll probably buy food. BUT, on the off chance that I can actually live AND have extra money lying around, I'll increase my sound library and give this thing a go. If someone beats me to the punch though, I won't be too upset. pH

Sweet, thanks guys! I'll get on it as soon as I can, probably tomorrow. Appreciate all the feedback, I'll absorb it as best I can. And I've been trying the "Go Advanced" option and still can't find the option to change the thread tag... ugh, frustrating

Harsh high frequencies? Damn! Is there any way I can get you (or anyone else who hears them) to give me specific locations so I can fix em soon? I hate listening to stuff that hurts my ears (and I can't imagine anyone else enjoys it), so the sooner the better. I also wasn't a fan of the ending at first, it was more of a joke and a quick finish, but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me and I kinda really love it now. Odds are I won't be changing it unless it's a huge, problematic deal-breaker, and after a couple listens I hope it grows on all you as well. Aside from that, you guys seem to be digging it, which means a whole lot to me; glad I'm finally finding my stylistic niche. Hope I can get it doctored up soon and ready to be submitted soon (I'm aiming for a couple days, since that's when my three weeks are up haha)!! I'm also contemplating adding the "Jump, Jump!" and "Slide, Slide!" robot voice sound effects from those specific points in the game, any thoughts on that subject? Glad it seems to be going well. More thoughts are always welcome! pH Edit: Also, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to change the status from WIP to anything else (finished, mod review, etc.); I guess it's different now instead of just going to edit and switching it? If anyone can shed any light on this, I'd appreciate it

Good advice on the title glad you liked it! Did a bit of production work so it doesn't get muddied up, especially towards the end. altered the solo a bit for good measure too. Not sure how I feel about the chip kick now though, it sounds a bit dirtier when I need it to cut more; might do some work with it later. Kept the same link, feel free to keep commenting pH

I love the source! SCIV needs more lovin'. That being said, I think the buildup you've got going on could be cut in half, or even 3/4... the drums also seem pretty weak, especially for the style. Beef em up! I'd like to see where you go with this; I'll crit more later. Good lux! pH

I figure it's probably time for me to post something here. So here you go! This was made for a fear themed art collaboration (my medium being music). I think it turned out pretty well. Real cinematic. And scurry! It was finished a while ago, but if I ever revisit it I'll work with the breathing SFX and piano a bit more. Followed by the Dark Let me know what you think or whatever pH

Oh lawdy, this is dripping with funk, and the snare is so punchy i'm afraid to get too close to my computer. The piece also goes great with the start up of the 90's Iron Man cartoon, if you were wondering

Thanks for the crits man, I just went ahead and finished up the arrangement haha. There was a spot where I was going to add in a synth solo, so I went ahead and did that and added a lot to the end. I probably had about 30 automation clips by the end of the piece to make everything happen, and I'm sure I'll do some tweaking, but here it is for right now. Production crits are especially welcome! I especially like how the last couple minutes or so ended up turning out, and they were sort of an experiment in recycling patterns and using them with other bits that weren't previously used together (you might call it "resourceful," you might call it "lazy"...). I wanted to see if it would strengthen the hooks of the piece and make it more memorable, so let me know if it was successful or not. Also, this is my first actual synth solo, and I'm not much for improv most of the time, so let me know how that turned out too Jump, Slide, Die, Fly The name should be pretty familiar if you've played Wily Tower levels 1 and 2 before) pH

Yeah man, I'm diggin it. I'd say maybe more reverb on the piano, and maybe more velocity changes? Then again, I'm no piano expert (at all). It's starting to sound REALLY Tekken-y, good work. If you want some suggestions for Tekken inputs, I'd take a look at King from Tekken 3 (which has some awesome guitar transition licks), Law from Tekken 3, and maybe Jin, but the other two would fit better for what you're doing I feel like. I still think Chicago would fit in pretty well (which I posted earlier) too. I'm not overly familiar with any other the music in the games past 3, they don't seem to have the same melodic influence that some of the earlier tracks had. I'd like to see some sexy Tekken additions, but these are obviously just suggestions. Take a look and see what you think! Again, good work! pH

Wow this got buried with terrible speed, anyone wanna help me out? I got some time away from drumline finally and worked on it a little more, so I even updated the link, just for you Edit: Well, the link's being updated right now actually.. it'll be done in a sec

Haven't actually listened to the mix yet, but I know that if you're using FL Studio, you can open it with extended memory; I was having a similar problem with big projects using up all my RAM, and the piece wouldn't play without fuzzing out and skipping. Go into the program files folder and check around for a way to open with extended memory EDIT: Ok, listening now, and I agree with Algamest, SUPER interesting with lots of possibilities, but full orchestral arrangements are incredibly hard to pull off, and most of the ones already out there have live performers record for them instead of using samples because of the aforementioned bad sample quality. I'm a huge orchestral fan, and I used to try and do stuff like this (mixed with more electric elements), but it's just too difficult to pull off with synthetic instruments, unless you're in the biz like Beckett007 and have an IMMENSE arsenal of sounds at your disposal (go check out some of his stuff, btw). That being said, the arrangement is sweet, and the transitions to the Metroid tunes work really well. I'm not too familiar with the SML2 OST, but SMetroid I do know very well, and you seem to have done it justice. Just get the instrumentation situation figured out and see where you go from there

Dude, I'm a HUGE Tekken fan, I grew up on Tekken 2. I'm really hearin some , I think it'd mesh nicely, but obviously arrangement is up to you. Also I'm not too fond of your string sample, the attack seems a little long. That may be fine for the longer notes, but for the faster moving passages, they don't articulate well enough. Write sommore and I'll crit sommore!pH

I really like it. I love this source, and I actually wrote a marching opener from this, Green Brinstar, and Lower Norfair (if there's anyone besides me and djp who would actually care haha). The percussion in your mix is sweet, and while at first I was concerned that it was going to be a little conservative, I was proved wrong pretty quickly. I loved the chords during the last 20 seconds or so, dark to a huge major back to dark. Maybe I'm biased because of the source, but again, I really enjoyed listening. pH

Here we go, finally got an update going after a loooong period of a loooot of teaching. I really like where the song is going now, especially the increasingly warmer chords toward the end (well, the CURRENT end anyway). I've never really written anything that emotes in this warmer, feel-goody sort of way, so I'm excited about expanding my repertoire; thoughts and critiques on the last few sections are especially welcome. Should be finished up arrangement-wise pretty soon, production hopefully soon after. Opinions are very appreciated! New Version Thanks in advance pH

Thanks again dude! Also, I'm typing this from my laptop, so I DID get it fixed. Subbing tonight when I make my return from teaching. I'd like to send out a HUGE thanks to everyone who commented and critiqued me to get this thing going, I learned pretty much EVERYTHING I know about production from you guys. So, THANKS!! For shits and giggles, check out the crappy quality first draft vs. the new one Crap Final I cringed and lol'ed at V1 Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. More to come on MM8 soon, but I've been working 12 hour days. My apologies. Take it easy, all! pH Edit: Subbed Thanks again everyone!

My friend actually introduced me to this piece in high school, and I'm still not too familiar with it myself, but I enjoy it immensely. So while I can't make critiques as to the apparently conservative arrangement as-is, I really enjoyed it as a listen. As much as I love a smooth saxophone, I might lean more toward vocals instead of sax for this one if you want to be sure to stray from the conservative approach, because I did just listen to the source and there appears to be a pretty clear midi sax (which is kind of an oxymoron). Idk, up to you, just make it sexy Also, on the second listen, I would LOVE to hear those two pickup notes that only happen like every 4 bars to be raised up a major third once in a while. S'all I got, keep it comin! pH

First line made me smile and thanks! Pretty big update coming fairly soon (although I do have to write drumline parts for 4 show tunes in the next few days), with lots of relish added to the first minute and a half or so and hopefully another couple minutes added to the arrangement (maybe even finished out). I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for the comments! pH

Balls, I meant Heart of Fire. Both sources have about 1000 incarnations, I get em mixed up a lot

Alright, I didn't have a WHOLE lot of time, but I fixed excess reverb, played with balance a little bit, changed a chord progression, and threw down a new melody which I thought was going to be Grenade Man, but the menu theme found its way in somehow and I mashed em up. I was going to cancel it and just stick with Grenade Man, but if it flows it flows. The transition needs some work, obviously, because it's pretty much non-existent as-is. That part will be filled out too, but I don't have time atm. Let me know how it's sounding, I'll throw more down when I get a break from teaching. Still unnamed, I'll have to work on that too pH

Thanks everyone! Finally got some feedback 1st time around, instead of pulling teeth a week and a half after the OP. I appreciate it @Cris: Glad you like it. It took me for-frigging-EVER to come up with a lead I was actually happy with, so I'm glad it paid off. @Guifrog: First of all, totally dug "Shiva Nataraja!" I actually took an Asian art course last year (and ended up dropping at the end of the semester.. college art courses are fucked-up-hard) so I knew a lot of what was going on in the description. Onto the business at hand, the major notes are straight from the source, so yes, they're fairly intentional And yes, good lord, after listening to it more, that intro sound effect is in dire need of an octave lowering and some additional sound and volume work. Also, can you be a bit more specific as far as compression goes? I didn't add ANY additional compression on any instruments or the master track, do you think it's a good idea to add a comp. plug-in and go below the neutral mark? I'd be happy to fix it if I knew what to fix, and I'm still pretty new to production stuff, so bear with me. I'm feeling like a lot of it's coming from certain instruments that need to be toned down and the chip drums when they come back in at 1:07 (I think the velocities are stuck all the way up for some reason, not too hard to fix) I do know how to fix the reverb though; even though I didn't add too much, the echo really plays hypes it way past "a little bit wet" to "stupid-wet typhoon." I'll probably end up keeping the reverb as-is in the intro, then toning it down when things get going around :45 @Official Jab: Promise I won't mess things up with other sources. Wily 1 has more than enough to work with, but I really like Wily 2 also, which is quite a bit shorter with less to work with, so I imagine it won't be seeing its own mix (from me, at least) anytime soon. And Grenade man is just pure 80's synth and bass badass, and it's only a half step from the key of the others, so I can't NOT put it in, right? Thanks for the crits! I'll come back to it when I can, I have to write a TON of stuff for the drumlines I'm teaching (starting in 2 days..), so I'm not sure when it'll be, but hopefully soon. If you felt inclined to crit on my other piece, Mayan Malfunction, to help me get it ready to sub that'd be awesome, but don't feel obligated. Be back when I can, and thanks again! pH