Chimpazilla

The violin and brass are plenty realistic within the context of the mix, neither sticks out enough to cause the average ear (or, even a pretty good ear) to say "hey, that's fake!" This is of course expert level work. My big complaint that applies to all your pieces is that they are just too short!!!

Another friend of mine makes music for smaller video games for a living. He uses Cubase and has humongous templates set up, including hundreds of instruments (to include every articulation for every instrument). I think he feels this could not be done in FL. But you have obviously done it VERY well... highly impressive.

I'm hoping FL comes up with a fully-functional 64bit version soon (although the first pass will probably be buggy as hell). I find problems with the 32 as well as the 64 bit "bridged" versions of plugins. Quite often, when my file decides to fail or freeze, Kontakt (and sometimes Omnisphere) dumps my multis. I've learned to save those multis every time I add a new instrument... but it's frustrating. Keeping your libraries on a separate drive is sounding like a better idea. I just bought a huge drive (1.5tb)... maybe I'll move them... but that has its issues as well (moving stuff after it has settled in somewhere). Arg! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Oh and yeah, I'm starting to do multiple bounce-downs as well... but those wavs eat up cpu as well... it's always something! You finish your songs in an hour??? Oh man. It takes me weeks.

This is utterly amazing as usual... thanks for sharing that! Will you be finishing and submitting it? I am so curious, since you use FL... do you have trouble with memory issues when using all those plugins? (Kontakt and EWQL stuff) I find that even when using the 64bit versions of everything, sometimes FL just fails/chokes/crashes (due to its 32bit limitations)... what are your tricks for making it work? Do you bounce everything down to wav before it has a chance to lock up?

WOW. That is a-ma-ZING!!! Really nice, great ideas, refreshing arrangement with varying moods. Nicely done! I feel like the piece could use a *tiny* drop more reverb, and I'd like one final note at the end, and yeah, let it die away totally (reverb and all) before your recording finishes. Just lovely!!!

Hi there, I got your pm too. Here are my thoughts *listening*: In the intro, those string-ish chords could flow together better, they are all starting (and stopping) at the same point and the attack is a bit distracting. Try varying the start times of the notes within the chords, and even varying the velocities within the chords, and overlapping the ends of the notes too... do this randomly (but don't overdo it!)... that will give it a more natural flow. Think about how a group of voilins would play, they wouldn't have perfect timing. Fade-out of strings is nice, though. Bassline is boss. No complaints! Kick too... and they work well together. Good job on that. Keyboard sounds excellent, placed well mainly center. The saw that comes in and the brass sounding synth after that both sound panned a little to hard to the sides. Take one or both and place them a tiny bit more centered. What you have here gives it a "big" sound but it sounds a tad unnatural to me. Tame it a bit, at least one of them. This would be especially noticeable when two things are playing the same line (one more centered, one more on the sides, creating a huge yet balanced sound) Think of your song as making a "V" shape as it comes out of the speakers toward the listener, like 3D. Also, that saw is a little too loud overall. Yes that keyboard work is very nice! Nice writing, awesome soloing. The claps are also a tad wide for my liking. The side stick sounds good, but Flex is right, it's over there on the left by itself and that becomes irritating. How about adding another complimentary sound on the right, playing here and there to balance it out. Or, you could just narrow the claps and put them slightly right to balance the stick. Chimes.... nice, *they* could be full stereo wide! Stretch that out, that can be huge! Another idea for chimes is to quickly pan them left to right. This is some quality work. Nice chilled-out song. A few tweaks and I'm 100% happy!

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - submission version - 10-31-12 Hi everyone! I didn't start this with the intention of making a Requiem of Spirit remix, or any remix for that matter. It began as an experiment, using my favorite new playtoys (Omnisphere and my Damage drum library), to see if I could create an enormous soundscape, with some sounds close-up and some very distant. I came up with a drum and bass groove that I Iiked one evening, and the next morning I awoke with the six notes of Requiem playing over it in my head in a rather unique way. So I sat down at the computer and this just flowed out. Requiem of Spirit leads Link to the Desert Colossus in OoT. It was only after my mix was complete that I realized that all that industrial clanking in the first half is an excellent reference to the Lanayru Desert in Skyward Sword. So, that's cool. This song makes me feel emotional... it is haunting and even a bit disturbing when I listen to it. It starts out fairly badass and electronic, then morphs into something softer and more orchestral, with the Damage drums bridging the sections. The song could tell the story of someone who has made some bad decisions in life, but as time goes on he realizes his mistakes but wonders if it is too late to change his ways... I plan to submit this soon. Thanks in advance for any comments, and I hope you enjoy this track. (track will remain "private" until I submit it) edit: oops... I darn-near forgot to post the awesome .edit again: changing to WIP as I am adding another solo and doing some tweaks.

I suggest this to get you started: take what you have here, play it on loop and noodle around on your keyboard over the various parts. Audition various instruments to see what works where. Something quick and plucky? Something long and bendy (portamento)? Something distorted (a saw) or perfectly clean (a bell)? This can be so much fun. This is what I do. I've just written an entire background track, now the next step is to audition leads. So much fun!

God do I love this source... one of my favorite vgm tunes of all time... this does sound cool, I like what you did with the slices... why not try to add MUCH more of your own stuff and just use those slices as accents? The bass is a good start, add much much more of that, add some grooves, and some kind of cool solo lead instrument... all those sample slices should not be center stage. I'm hoping you give this another try as this is the most wicked cool source there is. Here is a great example: And another great one:

Wow great sounds for the ambient portions... please tell me what vsts you are using for the drums, lush pad and sfx? That ambience rocks... But when Saria's song begins (and it takes quite a while to get to Saria), it is in such a totally different mood, way too happy... it doesn't go with the dark, minor-toned background, the transition and juxtaposition of moods is a bit jarring. If you rewrote the Saria portions to be minor and dark, it would work, but like this I'm not feeling it. Even the instrumentation doesn't match... the flute vst is nowhere near as epic as the backing stuff. And those 4 plucked stabs at 2:02 don't work at all... Overall this feels like two songs jammed together! But that being said I really love the soundscape... I think with some revised Saria writing (using darker instrumentation) this could be epic.

covers it pretty well!

Great tips and ideas here, thank you!

Oh boy a new mix featuring PI511 on piano... this is gonna be good... *listening* yes it it! I love this soooo much!!! My only crit is that I think the piano could be a tad brighter, it seems to be just a tiny bit too dull for how awesome the writing is. It blends in quite well... too well? I wonder if anyone else agrees or is it just me? Otherwise it is produced beautifully. I enjoyed it! Nice work guys.

Nice Moseph... I'll look forward to your review of SSP! Hey C&C, nice to see you, interesting blog!

Did you end up getting Session Strings Pro, and if so do you like it? I was looking at that too, a good friend told me it is a very good small ensemble library, he said it was similar to Lass First Chair. I just got Komplete 8 not long ago, so I figured I'd fool around with the Kontakt factory instruments first before venturing into Session Strings... but I'd like to know more about them too. I didn't miss out on the sale though, I bought Damage. It's fun. What did you end up getting from the sale?

Or join the masses of us using good old FL Studio!

I just bought Damage this afternoon. (half price plus $30 coupon) Should be interesting!

You did this in half an hour???????? Wow... completely lovely... what string library are you using? I can't find anything to complain about... at all... so nice. Possibly too coverish... not sure though... (and I love SPM) Really, half an hour? *impressed*

It was a vibraphone, and it has now been tamed, thanks! Sorry you don't like the oboe... I love it, it is what initially drew me to Jordan's song. I can push it back with some more reverb... Rozo said it needed more brightness... arg, I don't know what to do with it to make everybody happy... I guess I'll just strive to make myself and Jordan happy. And no, not pointless... I appreciate it.

If you could describe specifically what sounds "off," that would help (I know that can be tough to do). Too much/little of any particular frequency? I've already tweaked this sooooooo much... played with eq, effects, extra reverb, etc. I want it to sound like it does, but GOOD. I'm just now playing around with some mild compression and may have it sounding a tad better...

Thanks so much... will fix those bells... ah the oboe *darnit*... it has been a sticky point because it is a real sample layered with a soundfont, and the soundfont is the weak link but must stay because the other samples drop out on the low notes. I'll have to try to improve the overall timbre... any suggestions to try?

Forest of Purple Mist - possible submission version OK friends... this will be the submission version unless someone can point out a real dealbreaker! Any fine-tuning mixing crits would be appreciated... writing is completely finished. Thanks, and wish us luck!

Pokie, don't be down on yourself, I know you do have some great samples already, and you are really good!!!

Thanks guys for these very kind words and really great ideas! I will absolutely try them all when I do make the time to get back into this mix. I'm so glad you guys liked it. So, Emu, you're a judge... is the first half too coverish? Does part 2 make up for it? (purely an arrangement question there) And Emu... gosh an Arizona remixer... I was just thinking this morning how much I would love to have a local remixing friend. That is truly fantastic! Friend request accepted! And Eradicate, yes I hope we will be hearing some new stuff from you. People like you (and everyone who has commented here) are what make this forum such an amazing place to be.