Chimpazilla

Hey E, nice to hear from you again! *affixes "Truly Awesome Review" sticker to E's shirt* This is the other mix, it is a collab and is in the final stages now. I'm having some friends with "expert" ears help me final-balance the low end, and I'm going to post one more version of it here before submitting. Thanks for asking. Yes, giving proper feedback is an artform unto itself. You've got it down! When someone does something right, I like to let them know. You did something right. Will you be making some new music? I hope so. I still need to listen to your older mix, will do that soon.

I like the music box-like intro! Ah, Harmor's "decimated voice," I love that! It's really easily identifiable though... as EK said, maybe you could change that up here and there. I don't find it terribly muddy, make sure you HP below 30Hz or so and carve out room between about 200-400Hz, that should cover most of the mud. Yeah, the bitcrushing could tone down, or automate on/off for a very cool effect. The drums are just a tad dry. The snare is most noticeable. Just turn up the reverb/delay a touch on that, and the hats too. The kick gets a little lost behind the bass, is it sidechained? Also where does it hit hardest, give the bass a tiny cut in that area. The other instruments/synths sound good and I like the glitching, it isn't overdone. As for repetitiveness, I'd say if the judges had no problem with it, you're good to go on the arrangement. I like it a lot! Best of luck with round 2 in the panel.

Yes PI511, you certainly DO play piano!!! (and I'm wishing you a huge success with your recently submitted track!) Thanks for that tip, I'll lower the velocity in that section. I've got a few more fixes to do, then one more post here. Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks EK, I'll check that out. I'm going to post it here one more time shortly, for a few final opinions... it's nearly ready to sub I think.

Nice to meet you, Eradicate! And it looks like a hearty "welcome back to OCR" is warranted! I have read the three reviews you have given in the past 24 hours, and I must absolutely commend you for having the ability to give a Truly Awesome Review. Few know how to do this as well as you do. I am planning to write an extensive article on how to give and receive feedback, and I'd like to use some of your words as examples of how it should be done! Your posts are friendly, thorough, encouraging, thoughtful, specific, and helpful. PERFECT. I'm impressed. Just had to say that. My handle "chimpazilla" is actually my (recently deceased) dog's nickname. Keli was a fawn boxer who constantly "chimped" (a little whiny sound that was quite annoying!) for attention, food, etc. She chimped so darned much that I nicknamed her "Chimpazilla." Then of course I liked that name so much that I stole it for myself and assumed it on the internet! So, what's up with "Eradicate?" As for my song, thanks so much for that lengthy review! Those were some amazing ideas there, definitely worth looking into when I dive back into this mix. (currently giving the final glossy coat to another track to be submitted soon) I've also just recently purchased Komplete 8, and I'm sure there are some sounds in there I could use to spiff this one up quite a bit. Thank you so much for this response, it was truly excellent. Looking forward to more interactions with you here on OCR.

Oh gosh... listening again... what a lovely arrangement, even with some instruments removed... so nice. But... I think you are only going to get so far with your software... you'll need to be able to automate and use effects to get it really sounding good. I hope you'll consider getting yourself FL Studio or Cubase or Logic or ProTools or one of the other DAWs. It will take you a little time to get up to speed... probably not that long though, I suspect (you know what needs to be done, with a proper daw you'll have the tools available!). And you'll get tons of help here. Wow, really nice composing work.

OK Rozo, I gotcha. Will do. I'm finding in Omnisphere that although the sounds are amazing by themselves, often I'm having to totally delete effects and turn of half of the patch each time. Haha! Well I still love it. (I just got Komplete 8, too... whoopee!)

Thanks so much Rozo. I knew you would be able to help with levels and mixing. I was concerned about the bass myself, now I will work to rein it in. Would you mind telling me precisely where you hear the problem with the plucked thing, so I know exactly which thing you are talking about? (I think it is my Omnisphere "glass segovia" which is a nylon guitar hybrid, but I want to be sure) And I believe this instrument is also guilty of the "overly clear" comment? And should we keep this on mod review until I am done with these fixes, or change back to wip, or how should we do that? (I don't want to be a mod review hog, haha!) Thanks again! edit: back to wip status for now. Rozo, I hope it is ok if I ping you again when the changes have been made. Really want to go all the way with this one!

Forest of Purple Mist - mod review version 1 This song is finally ready for an official mod review! Two areas of concern that I have for this version are: 1. the intro - it now contains 9 layers of strings! I think it sounds rich and full. Is it working? 2. the busy passage before the outro - I've carefully automated volumes so instruments each get a turn to play prominently (or somewhat so) before fading to the background. Is it still too busy, and if so, what do you recommend I do to thin it out? I love all those parts and don't want to delete any if I don't have to. Any other suggestions to get this song submit-ready are greatly appreciated! edit: source - (just in case someone is unfamiliar with this track)

You are really talented. This is great. Wonderful dynamics and varying moods here. Wish it had been longer, enjoyed it!

Oh wow, where's the bass? If this is dubstep I want to be nearly overwhelmed with bass and I'm struggling to hear it. I wonder if that "whinyness" Rozo mentioned would be alleviated somewhat just by bringing up the low frequencies. No wait, still a bit whiny. Maybe bring in more mid frequencies on those high synths and turn their volumes down. Cool track though!

Good point about messing up delays... so disregard tempo change suggestion. But definitely some volume autos. Rozo... nice to see you back in action!

Nice track. The entire thing needs humanization. Those strings especially could benefit from some volume automation. (think "swells") In particular, there is an abrupt (and unnatural) cutoff at 2:29. The song could speed up and slow down, go softer and quieter too, this would all help. I believe this is what Rozo means by "pretending to be a conductor."

Congrats! I have a friend whose track was accepted in December. Still waiting. Plan on six months! edit: no judges forum? wow cool... ok so I have no idea.

Wow Pokie, this is lovely! Really nice instrumentation. The only thing I hear that isn't perfect is that flute, when it leads it is too thick somehow, have you doubled it with something? Or just multiple flutes? It sounds unnaturally full. I cannot criticize any other thing! You are using EWQLSO if I recall. It's a shame it is such a cover. Why not do some interpretation, starting with the second iteration of the main melody, the one played by the horn at 0:25? Shouldn't be that hard, it could be as simple as reversing the note progression. Then at 1:02, where you have harmony, write something unique! Change the chord progression and melody, just for a few bars. (come on, you can do it!) Then the flute could play the main melody again, or change it up slightly. I think you could do a lot here with several slight variations and maybe one big variation. Nice work, I enjoyed it!

Best of luck and great job on this! edit: listening again... if this doesn't get posted I will be utterly shocked.

Lady of the Lake - updated 9-20-13 Nearly ready for submission now. ----------------------------------------------------------- Hi all! I recently got Omnisphere and this was my first attempt at using it. This song started out as a straight cover of Lake Hylia just to try out my gorgeous new sounds. Then I got the idea for the time signature change in the second half, and added an original-ish intro. I know this needs quite a bit of production work and some of the timbres would need to be changed or replaced... no need to bust me too hard on those things. (also I'm struggling with some rendering issues) My purpose in posting it now is to see if anyone likes it, and if the second half makes up for the coverishness of the first half. Does the arrangement have any potential? If not, I will just count this as good practice. edit: source -

Yeah, this is great. I still love that synth in the second part. And wow that is some groovy drumming! I do hear those clicks, are they there in playback or just render? I just learned a trick this morning, if you have rendering glitches, you can just record the song on Edison and skip the rendering process altogether. Worked for me!

Wow, this is a great post. I think by "class and status" maybe you meant skill level? (or maybe posted vs. not-yet-posted vs. not-getting-posted-anytime-soon haha) I've gotten great feedback from suprising sources. My 84 year old mother was the one to tell me my bassoons were too loud in my current mix, and she was right!

I can't believe you guys made this over a weekend... it's really cool! Love the glitching! I like that arp, maybe you could just make a unique variation of it for part of the time it plays, making it less repetitious? The bass is indeed a bit lacking. Add something, or let what you have there be louder and/or play a little lower in frequency. I found it a tad harsh in the very highest frequencies, those hats really push the limits, that's my only crit. Nice work!

Yes that is better humanized! Still more could be done I think. Some of the left hand parts still sound pretty static. (although with this style, maybe that's what works) It seems to be better humanized in the beginning and not as much later on, from what I can tell. (just listened three times) The break may be a bit *too* soft now... but it is moving in the right direction. It's a tricky bitch, I know. Also make sure your chords are not perfectly snapped to the beat. Let each note in the chord be off just slightly, leaving one on the beat (I usually let the lowest one stay pretty close to the beat). Move the notes slightly later, never earlier than the beat (from my experiments, that just makes a mess). What piano vst are you using, I don't know if you ever said what? Is it just a soundfont? I recently got TruePianos and it is quite versatile, I love it. It costs about $200 though. I sure do love this arrangement!

Ah I see... awesome! And congrats. Well keep up the good work! Your music is a pleasure to listen to.

I don't know of any... you just have to think like a piano player, experiment a lot, and also you need a vst that is responsive to note velocity tweaking (or you have to know how to use your midi cc messages, which I sadly don't). What piano vst are you using? And I think you said you played the parts yourself? And what daw are you using? This humanization issue is a sticky wicket on many many songs here... the issue is magnified for you since your entire tune is piano... the humanization (or lack of same) is really exposed... but you'll get there, I just know it.

How is that cheating??? I do that quite a bit. I think it makes it interesting! I typically select two or sometimes three complimentary themes from one game and mash them up in some way... use a backing groove from one song and the melody from another, or as I mentioned write a transition or bridge or passage using a separate tune. As long as they blend and transition well, and as long as you have personalized it all sufficiently and made it into a cohesive mix, I think this is a great strategy. For me at least, it has made creating arrangements easier and faster. Not cheating at all. edit: caveat - make sure the song isn't a straight "medley." This won't work. If you use a completely separate source tune in the middle, make sure to return to the original you started with for the ending. Your work is absolute quality... you belong on OCR! Check out their submission standards and jump in here. I predict you will get posted in no time.