Chimpazilla
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Posts posted by Chimpazilla
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I think you should follow what I call the "five day rule." It comes from my observation that no matter how strongly I feel about something, there will be a greater perspective in five days.
For example, romantic rejections and breakups can seem insurmountable immediately after they occur. But five days later, you find yourself wondering what the big deal was. If you make a bad business decision, chances are that five days later it won't seem that bad, or that you'll be able to figure out how to fix it. If you embarrass yourself by choking during a big speech, you'll probably laugh about it in five days.
My advice, for what it's worth, is to get the remix to a point where you think it's good, and then do nothing to it for five days. Don't open the editing program, and don't listen to it. On the fifth day, listen to the piece again and see what you think. Chances are, your opinion will be that it's still fine and you are finished. If not, then you still have the opportunity to make corrections.
^this^ is the greatest advice ever. Thank you. Thanks everyone, those are great comments and suggestions and kind words too!
I also have one rejected track, it seems to be beyond hope at this point (collab partner agrees). I also have one track in the queue now that I've already found fault with after submitting. I'm going to take the above advice on my current track! Thanks again. Good luck to us all.
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Hey folks, so how do you judge when your track is really REALLY REEEEEEEAAALLLY ready to submit? I've written a track, wrote the basics pretty quickly then took my time adding the details, I've had it in the wip forum for awhile now, got some great suggestions and made some really great improvements to it... I can't imagine doing anything more (I'm even shy about posting it again, as I'm not sure I have the heart to do anything new to it), I'm at that point but I just can't seem to stop tweaking it and I'm making myself crazy! What is your personal cutoff point, how do you know it's ready? (or, maybe it truly never is, but you hit the submit button anyway) Thanks. (feel better already, just typing this out)
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Thanks T! And wow... that's some serious nitpicking!
I'll see what I can do. But I think I'm very close to pushing the submit button soon. Thanks again friend! -
Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 4
Hi all! Changes in this version:
1. Reworked the climax - added a synth on top of what I had already. I altered the writing to accomodate it. I think it sounds awesome. Is it loud enough? Too loud?
2. Added some more source to the beginning - underneath the two synths I had there already, I added another instrument layer playing the Requiem six notes, verbatim. Is this recognizable? And, does this help you recognize the theme in the rest of the song as well? Here is the complete source breakdown:
(song is 4:00, source total is 2:35 or 59%)
Intro:
0:36 – 0:55: flourishes using five of the six notes (I won’t count this)
First lead (70 seconds):
0:55 – 1:03: slow version
1:03 – 1:11: fast version
1:11 – 1:20: slow version
1:20 – 1:25: fast version
Second lead (9 seconds):
1:32 – 1:37: interpretive
1:41 – 1:45: more interpretive
Flute solo (all interpretive) (22 seconds):
2:05 – 2:11
2:14 – 2:20
2:23 – 2:28
2:31 – 2:36
Climax (21 seconds):
wild solo based on source (doesn't count)
2:52 – 2:57 interpretive
3:01 – 3:06 very interpretive
3:09 – 3:15 blatant
3:18 – 3:23 blatant
Outro (19 seconds):
3:26 – 3:45 blatant
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Sounds really good so far! I like it. The track could use a little more low-end oomph. That snare sounds a bit mechanical at times, maybe a few more fills and variations and velocity changes. I thought the synth solos sounded great. This will sound amazing with real guitar!
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It's a bit repetitive and generic (somewhat common sounds and structure), but really enjoyable. I do love that lead in the second half. Great start!
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Thanks Jordan!
Ok so the main things I'm going to focus on now are:
1. ending solo timbre
2. getting the source more recognizable (jeez really? not sure how I'm going to do that, honestly... is it that obscure? damn... gotta put on the thinking cap...)
As for the "fake drums," haha,
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Thanks so much k-wix, timaeus, jnWake ... more awesome comments... giving me even more ideas already... glad it is more epic. I've already changed the bass to be less boomy and more audible (thanks timaeus)... that "sick" part at 1:25 is two gated Omnisphere saws, I love it too, I'll find a way to make that shine more. Maybe I can bring the melody in more, got some ideas forming... and yeah, I'll experiment more with that final lead.
Thanks soooooo much everyone... hopefully I'll get this finalized shortly.
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Thanks J, also thanks to T for some really great comments and suggestions! I appreciate the extra ears, I really want to submit this.
Yeah, that final passage is way loud and intense. I'm toning it down a bit, and yeah, too much delay on the bell thingy. Did you mean moody, or muddy?
My main vsts these days are Kontakt and Omnisphere. Also in this song I've used Damage drums (a Kontakt library).
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Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 3
Ok folks, here it is again. Incorporating everyone's comments (especially k-wix), I've made the ending part more epic. So epic in fact, and I like it so much now, that I added 8 extra bars of epic. So tell me, is it satisfyingly epic, or have I gone totally overboard?
I added some extra reverb/delay to the bell lead. I also gave some extra attention to my compressors and master limiter and pushed up that gain. Please tell me if anything is too loud. Hear any clipping or distortion? I don't, but my ears are tired.
six-note source:
Thanks everyone!
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Thanks k-wix, glad you like it! I worked very hard to get both bass timbres sounding good. They sounds good on all my systems now (monitors, headphones, car, iphone). It took many tweaks, layerings and listens. *whew*
A remix based on a six-note source is bound to have some repetitiveness. It's hard to avoid that if you want to have enough source reference and still have some length. I did try to make varied sections.
I agree it could be a bit louder. I'll bring up the gain.
I'll see what I can do about making the ending more epic! I'll play around with some drum change-ups. Thanks for the suggestions, and your kind words.
Edit: once again changing this back to wip... still making changes. More epicness will be coming. I'll spare the mods their time until I just can't think of anything else to add. (if I add the sound of my toilet flushing into this, I've definitely gone too far)
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Getting rid of frequencies you don't want and notching ones up that you do want. What I do for my mixes (I'm a prog rock guy) is cut the mud off of virtually ALL of my instruments. If you use a parametric EQ and roll off or cut around 250 or below for, let's say, a guitar. You'll find that it'll clean it up a bit and give more room for the other frequencies above it to flow. Getting rid of mud will give you more headroom to work with so you can gain more loudness without sandwiching the shit out of it.
This, totally. Also, for your bass instruments, make sure you do the opposite (cut everything ABOVE 200-250Hz, leaving higher frequencies in only for attack or click, for example on a bass guitar) That will allow your low end to breathe too, and keep the mud out of your midrange. For bass you don't want much activity between 200-800Hz.
And if you're trying (in whatever way) to "master" your track to go above 0db, you're going to get some clipping or other distortion somewhere. Unless I'm really wrong here... 0db is the maximum ceiling you want to hit when mixing your track. (-0.1 to -0.3 is probably a safer target) Raising your track above 0db is the job of your stereo amplifier (home music system, car stereo, boom box, etc), not your mixing setup!
Another way to check your levels is to use metering. Voxengo's SPAN is my go-to meter (it's free). Put it as the last plugin in your master chain, after compressor and limiter. Play your song and watch how often it hits 0db, if it is there full time and always hitting red it's probably too loud, listen for clipping. And here's another tip... check your RMS levels. A good level to hit is between -14 to -12 RMS. Anything higher than that will probably indicate some clipping or distortion will be occurring.
You can always raise your overall volume in the mastering stage (up to 0db) by raising the gain on your compressor or limiter. But generally you want to mix your track such that the levels get close to 0db (like, -6 to -3db) before you hit your mastering tools... your compressor and/or limiter should only have to give a tiny boost to get there.
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Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 2
Back to mod review status. I've done quite a bit more work on this song. I spent a lot of time perfecting the bass timbres, to make sure they are satisfying yet balanced. Also, I've added a flute solo in the middle, and made the final passage more epic.
I think my source usage and interpretation are adequate, and I think the arrangement works. Hopefully there are enough elements here to keep things interesting throughout the song. My primary question for a mod (or anyone with a good ear) relates to mixing and levels, as this is where I have struggled the hardest. Is it anywhere near submit-worthy?
Thanks so much to my dear friend anterroir for suggesting (and then providing) the wonderful brass section and timpani at the end, making it much more dramatic.
Thanks PI511, your comment was correct, it needed something leading up to the climax. I hope the flute solo is enough of an attention-holding transistion, and I hope the climax is a worthy payoff.
source:
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Normalize? Now you've got me curious... how do you master your tracks? For example, I try to mix my tracks as high in volume as possible overall (of course without any clipping anywhere), then on the master I add an instance of The Glue for gentle compression (gr no more than 1db), then raise the makeup gain by about 1-2 db, then I use NoLimits limiter to bring the whole track up to about -15 to no more than -12 rms (with no limiting at all if possible). Generally normalization is not required after this. So I'm just really curious!
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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!!!
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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!!!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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:
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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.
When do you hit that "submit" button?
in Music Composition & Production
Posted
Hahahaha hilarious! Looks like you've gotten at least one "yes."