AngelCityOutlaw

Again, depends on what you're trying to do.  If you're an garage band then production isn't that big of a factor, if you're trying to be a trap producer then composition isn't that important.
I think that many directors want young people to be master of these trades because it'd be cheaper or easier to hire someone who knows everything rather than someone who excels in one field but needs training in the other.  There's also at least one person out there who knows everything and times better spent finding them rather than taking on someone who's lacking?
I don't know if I could go back in time would I have done anything differently.  I'm kinda where I personally want to be.  Not looking into getting that AAA job or film composer position, but doing my own thing on my own terms

Thanks!
It really does. The impulses are some "catharsis" ones. I think it was a fairly standard, Sm57 slightly off-axis setup.

1. Learn as much about theory and composition as you can and never stop learning it. A well composed piece is always well composed, but a piece with shitty composition and great production is still a shitty track.
2. Do every genre of music. By that I don't mean "I used to do trance, but now I do dubstep!" I mean music that uses completely different ensembles.
3. Learn how to write for specific ensembles/genres. Something that I struggled with and still do from time to time is that you can't treat an orchestra like a rock band and you can't treat synth dominated EDM like it's an orchestra. While the same theory applies, the genres all handle melody, harmony, and rhythm in their own way and that is what truly makes the genres different.
4. Learn to write modal and atonal music as well and learn what kind of style is useful to achieve the sound you want. If you have to make a really dark, evil-sounding piece, your I IV Vs and pentatonic melodies aren't going to get the job done. In that case, writing something based purely on the phrygian mode might work better
Those are some thoughts that immediately come to mind.

I'm going to offer a much different perspective - Honestly, I find it weird that you consider abandoning orchestral music to be musically "growing up" when command of an orchestra in both the real deal and sequenced is a coveted skill. Not to mention, the orchestra is the most versatile ensemble there is. With just the strings alone, you can write a piece evoking any kind of texture or emotion you can think of without actually having to change or rebuild the timbre of the instruments completely like you'd probably have to with a synth - depending on what you're going for.
 
My thoughts are that instead, you should stick to classical for the moment, but start making hybrid scores. Start integrating synths in your work - maybe take an older piece of yours and try arranging it to incorporate a synth bass or something. This way, the process of learning how to use them will feel much more "organic", if I might dust off the hipster music terms, to you than just throwing yourself completely into uncharted territory and saying "Okay, I used to write symphonies, but now I'm gonna do an acid-breakbeat track that will put the Crystal Method to shame." Eventually, you'll go from "classical with synth elements" to "electronic with some classical elements" and then inevitably "full on electronica".  I started by using synths in rock music and that made learning how to do other, completely electronic genres much easier - Worked for me, anyway.
 
EDIT: Though to be fair, when you do get to the stage of purely electronic, you'll realize that the composition of many electronic tunes of the EDM variety are a lot more "bare-bones" than orchestral. Usually, there's not much in the way of melody and the structure often follows this "build-up and breakdown" idea, adding more layers of synths and effects until it breaks down and starts again, rather than a verse-chorus kind of thing (unless there are vocals). An example, is if you listen to something like "Now Is The Time", it's pretty much the same shit over and over, but each time it repeats, it re-introduces the elements in a different order and a lot of the "leads" are more like synth-sound effects. This isn't to say you can't do more melodic stuff like what Zircon and a lot of VGM composers do, but I know I ran into the problem of my songs just sounding "wrong" compared to what I was going for and this was the most obvious thing I was over-looking.

To be honest, if you're a total n00b at transcribing, you're unlikely to successfully transcribe even a "simple" song in a short amount of time as your sense of relative pitch is yet weak. If you do successfully do it, it will be because of trial and error and memorization rather than truly developing your sense of pitch.
If any suggestion we could give you were "easy" to transcribe, you would already know it. So I would say focus on scales, harmonies, intervals, listening to lots of music and trying here and there to figure out a melody from a song everyone knows and you're very used to hearing - like Jingle Bells. Eventually, as you become more consciously aware of the intervals as you listen to music, you'll be able to play back most of what you hear without too much effort or uncertainty as long you have a reference pitch and a decent recording. 
Even then, "easy" is very subjective. For example, I consider this song easy to figure out by ear, but another guitar player I know couldn't figure it out because the key changes throw him off. Unlike me though, he was able to figure out this guitar solo on pretty much the first go.  

I think I've gotten decent at countering most of the annoying characters. Hate Mei, though.

 

I prefer my music at 24fps, anyway. 
It's more "cinematic" that way
*adjusts hipster glasses*

I prefer my music at 24fps, anyway. 
It's more "cinematic" that way
*adjusts hipster glasses*

I prefer my music at 24fps, anyway. 
It's more "cinematic" that way
*adjusts hipster glasses*

I prefer my music at 24fps, anyway. 
It's more "cinematic" that way
*adjusts hipster glasses*

Here's something interesting
http://gamerant.com/overwatch-stats-website-wins-kills/
From a sample size of 800,000 players, Symmetra tends to be on the winning side the most with Torbjorn being 2nd. Mercy and McCree being the lowest.

I'm actually going to have to disagree a bit with the notion some have that a better sample library won't do you any good unless your orchestration skills are better first.
It's hard to practice that unless you actually have a sample library that has a lot of articulations and is capable of making something realistic. For example, you will never be able to create a truly realistic sounding, expressive violin melody without legato, portamento, marcato, etc. Players generally don't play with just one articulation (a simple sustain in most crap libraries) throughout a phrase and playing with the envelope usually doesn't produce as satisfying results. 
If you know this, but your library only has something like sustains and staccatos, you will likely avoid writing melodies that use shorter notes because you'll notice the staccatos are too short and sound unnatural in your phrase - you need a detache, marcato or some other sort of short sample with a longer decay/release instead.
I've never understood the idea that lots of people have that you should start with something low-end and garbage and then move your way up when a smarter financial decision is to buy something really good and improve yourself so that when you are good enough, you won't need to spend any more money.

They announced today that they're going to be balancing the PC and Console versions differently. I shouldn't be surprised by that at all, but I never really thought about it until I read that. That may very well mean I won't bother picking the game up on PS4 when and if the price drops to play with my friends who don't have a PC.
Also, the internet is just killing it with these
 

Try to flank it. It turns almost instantly and begins firing into your face. Try to dash past it via Genji or Tracer - Note how during the .2s travel time it locks on and fires several bullets(which all hit you - it has 100% accuracy even on fast moving targets).
 
I'd like to point out your turret-destroying strategies are best-case scenarios. Remember that we also have an entire enemy team to deal with on top of this. On several maps, there is nowhere for the attacking team to snipe it without being within its 40m range. Hanzo and Widowmaker need to line up a shot/charge/etc, which is plenty of time for it to lock on and attack them. The obvious solution is to either shield them with Reinhard or have another team member take the aggro. Using your best-case-scenario logic, we have to assume the enemy team will also have a Reinhardt or other players actively guarding said turrets, or otherwise denying you easy shots at it. This means you're using at least two players to deal with an automatic mechanic created by one player. If they have multiple Torbs and a half decent team, forget about it.
I'd also like to note that as someone who plays Genji religiously, I can tell you he can't simply "E" the turret. That works against a Lv.1 turret(though his basic attack is far more effective at that point, considering its slow attack rate and the likelihood of Torb being around to repair it), but the Lv.2 turret has too much health to burst down with Deflect, especially if Torb is attending to it.
 
"Git gud" is never effective in an argument. In most cases it's the equivalent of saying "I can't git gud without that mechanic so you should git gud instead!". By the way, his rivet gun is very effective both in close range and long range. Firing rate is 2RPS and it does 70 damage. His molten core makes his turrets even more powerful while also making him a bigger threat. He is fully capable of defending himself without his turret in it's current state.

I lol'd pretty hard at this
 

I lol'd pretty hard at this
 

This post hurts my brain.
I think what you're asking, is the legality of adding vocal samples to your music. Electronic music has done this since the earliest days, but if you haven't licensed said audio clips, then it is technically copyright infringement. 
As to whether or not it "sounds good", that completely depends on the song and clips used. In general, most EDM doesn't have much in the way of melody so the vocal cuts add something to it to break up the monotony of beats and basslines. Case in point.
 

Well, Widowmaker is the sexiest smurf to ever wield a sniper rifle.
 

I think I've gotten decent at countering most of the annoying characters. Hate Mei, though.

 

Just another day as Genji...
They were kinda bad though. I'll chalk it up to that "OMG OVERTIME RUSH POINT" but the Hanzo ignored my I'M USING MY ULTIMATE LOOK AT ME cry, the Reinhardt ignored me, the Zarya ignored me and the Mei didn't bother trying to freeze me. Her first ice wall also sort of stopped Hanzo from doing his job.

I'm actually surprised people are having difficulties with Tracer as she's probably the squishiest character in the game. Clint Beastwood's stun grenade or Pharah's rockets usually make short work of her.
Speaking of, some tips in case you don't know them:
- McCree's revolver reloads instantly when you roll. That's basically all the roll is really good for.
- In most spots on most maps, you can use the payload as cover and shoot under it at your enemies' feet. Works especially well as Pharah.
- Mercy is the only character who can match Pharah's Mobility. Having Mercy as Pharah's wingman can be a devastating combo since Mercy can actively heal Pharah as well as boost her already powerful rockets and ult.

If you are into rock and metal, you spent a considerable amount of time listening to Nick's fantastic drumming - especially on classic Megadeth albums like Rust In Peace. 
RIP Nick
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-megadeth-drummer-nick-menza-dies-at-51/