Chimpazilla

That would be hard to do as the kick pattern is complex and changes all through the song. I spent the entire morning trying to replace or layer the sample. Nothing sounds as good.

Thanks Rozo, as usual, for your extensive and helpful post! I have spent most of the morning on this, and come up with almost nothing. I did the eq boosts/cuts to kick/bass as you suggested and that helps somewhat. Added some overdrive, yeah that's nice too. I've worked with the sidechaining as well as regular compression, and again, a slight help. I tried (and tried and tried) replacing this synth, and/or layering it with something else, bus compressing etc., and that was a dead end. This (the sample I posted) is the sound that the song requires. But I'm just not getting that "bump" that I want. It's too loose. I've eq'd everything else to not play below 200Hz so muddiness really isn't the issue. It's the lack of definition in this bass sound, no punch. It is a Sytrus preset that doesn't use a global adsr envelope, and I've tried tweaking every parameter in there, only to reload the preset and start from scratch. Gggggrrrrr. I know the sample I posted sounds weird and weak on it's own, but it works in the song. It just needs to, somehow, PUNCH. How. Hhhhmmm. Blah.

I have a sample of it with all the instruments... I'm planning to post it in the wip forum fairly soon. Great, thanks. What about the release? Long or short? OK great, will try that too.

My bad. I forgot to make it the "secret link." Should work now. I'm thinking maybe I can layer two basses, this one and one with a better attack? secret link

I've already sidechained with my kick. This sample is compressed already, 10:1 threshold of -30db with an attack of 15ms and release of 400ms. I'm thinking these settings are wrong. Eq settings are steep hp at 60hz, 6db cut at 200, and slight bump at 4khz for click. Maybe I just need to replace this sample?

Oops, sorry! I changed the title. Here is eight seconds of bass. Thanks for any help!

Hi everyone, I think I have my leads under control... time for the next question... I'm finding that my lower end is an ill-defined mess! What are your suggestions for getting nice tight bass with a nice punchy attack sound? Is compression the weapon of choice, and if so what settings work well? Thanks again guys.

I'd like to post my wip in the forum, I just want to give it my best shot first, then you guys can listen to all the leads and make some suggestions. I'm not quite ready for all the tomato throwing just yet. I have FL Studio so I'm using Sytrus, Harmor and Toxic Biohazard primarily. Of these three I like Toxic the best so far, as it is easy to use and understand the parameters. (a good friend referred to Toxic as the "perfect noob tool," haha!) I also sometimes use Tal Noizemaker and/or Elektro.

Excellent advice guys... all worth trying out. Awesome posts. How wide is too wide for a lead? I have some presets I've used where I actually have to rein it back in with a stereo shaper (cuz I don't understand the synth well enough to fix it there)... when is a lead too wide? I mean, a lead should be kinda centered and not "everywhere" am I right? Or... (idea brewing) would it be cool to have a way wide lead, followed by a more focused one? Hhhmmmm ideas...

That's a great tip, thank you, I'll check into that. Just to clarify, I'm not looking for a typical "screaming saw" type of sound, I'm looking for many varied voices, but they've each got to be rich and full.

Hi all, so I have a decent arrangement made, and some fun backing grooves going, some nice pads, even got some fairly groovy drum patterns/fills/rolls done, but my leads (apparently, so I am told) suck badly, and they sound vanilla and preset-ish. The song has several leads, my plan was to change them up as the song progresses, some will have more attack and be more plucky, others have more sustain and/or more gliding legato. As it stands there is only one lead in my song that sounds dynamite... and I need about six of them. Each will have a different "voice" in the song, as they hand off the melody, one to the next. What are your best words of wisdom for choosing and/or creating really great leads? Do you start with a preset, and change things in the synth? Do you layer? And if you layer, do you use just the portions of each sound that have the qualities that you want, so each instrument is playing a different frequency range? (or one more up front, with the other supporting it?) Do you bus and compress this layer together? Do you pan the instruments to the same place, or one slightly left and the other right? What is the best way to make two (or three?) instruments into one cohesive sound? Also regarding leads, it is my understanding that a lead should always be the closest thing up front in the soundstage, but I've also heard great songs where the lead (clearly the lead as it is the loudest) has more reverb than the drier backing groove. Any thoughts on this? I'm sort of stuck until I can get a better understanding of leads. Any advice you can offer will be appreciated!

Don't be discouraged! This is a very good track. I recommend your starting another track, with Rozo's comments in mind. (if you're working towards getting posted here) Post your wips along the way and ask for specific ocr-worthy crits. Write your song in such a way that stuff can be moved around easily if need be. Make sure the arrangement works first, before filling it out too much. I'm sure your next track will be just as awesome as this one is, but with more postability potential. Looking forward to it!

If you're going to get Producer anyway, you should spend the extra $100 for Signature because you get Sytrus which is a great synth ($179 on its own). You also get Maximus (multiband compressor, $189 on it's own), their soundfont player ($35) and Directwave sampler ($99). Worth it I think. And once you start using their convenient automation clips you'll wonder how you got along without them. FL has some other really nice synths and plugins that are worth buying. I have Harmor, Gross Beat and Toxic Biohazard so far. I use Fruity plugins whenever I can because they are more easily automated and take less cpu power and you can usually use their "slide" notes and just work well with Fruity. (hey do I get a commission, haha!)

This is a very old thread. I'm reviving it (rather than starting a new one). I love this game. Love love love it. Soooo addicting. And the music is phenomenal I think. It was composed by a woman! (Laura Shigihara) I don't see any remixes of it... seems this would be hard to remix well, it is so good as it stands. Absolutely no new melodies or rearrangements come to mind as I listen to it. Thoughts?

It can certainly be done well on a daw. This is me doing Clair de Lune on my daw (I can't play the piano for the life of me!). You can make a huge automation for the tempo and speed it up or slow it down that way (although in my Clair version, I did it within the patterns, I had better control that way). I think your song is great and can only get better with more feeling added. Can't wait to hear it again!

Hi Darren! I don't know this source at all so I can't comment on source usage. The arrangement sounds pretty good, although it's quite static and never really develops. It's a bit overly reverbed in some spots (like starting at 1:10) and a few instruments are too loud (oboe and triangle). That piano needs to do something different after awhile. I do like the dramatic panned intro! Orchestral stuff is tricky... most of the instruments sound really fake (I can say this after having received similar comments on my hybrid electro/orchestral Ganon remix, and not knowing how to begin to fix it, haha!). It seems that unless you really know your stuff with daw-based orchestration, this genre is really tough to pull off. Maybe someone more versed in this can help. You mentioned you only have Fruity Edition and this is going to limit you severely. You need at least the Producer Edition, and I recommend the Signature Bundle because you get a lot of nice vst's with it. You need the Producer Edition to be able to use automation clips which are crucial to pulling off orchestral arrangements (or, really, any arrangements!). There is definite promise here... I hear it... so keep going, get good advice if you're going to go orchestral, or try some synth stuff too!

Tempo variation would be nice, I just think it could flow better... maybe with more velocity variation... even though this is played by a human, I can still hear it in my head with more feeling... speeding up and then slooooowing down... louder then softer... aaaaahhhh... and maybe with the chords rolling a bit more often, but wow what you've written is so nice, those themes are made for each other! (have listened 3 times now)

It's just a tad long for my taste, especially since the tempo and feel remain unchanged throughout... BUT that being said, this is absolutely LOVELY.

I still love this song. It has such a great feel. But those drums still aren't working, sorry to say! I love the ethnic sounding samples, but I still feel that they should be accent drums and not main drums. You still need a real kick (or, maybe use that low tom as a kick substitute?), and a snare or some sticks to establish the groove. The patterns being played just go nowhere. This song could be so groovy... but as of now it just isn't. Also I think some kind of low-volume continuous shaker thingy (used here and there) would add such a nice touch. Also there are areas in the song that are instrumentally too sparse. There is so much more that could be done with this song, it all sounds so promising to me but it just isn't there yet! I don't mean to sound harsh... I'm only telling you this 'cuz I really dig the song.

This, exactly. But I usually hear it in my head first, usually it'll slam me awake at 3:00am, then I fine-tune it while in the shower that morning, then off to the keyboard.

*listening* Yes, drum variation for sure. (this is something I struggle with as well) There is a slower part in the middle where the drum pattern is just too fast... then the drums drop out and the following section has a slower pattern, nice. I am loving that square lead! It sounds a tiny bit dry for my taste. Give it a bit more delay. Same for the square grooveline that is under it, reverb that back just a bit more so it isn't competing with the lead for center stage. Also I think you could center the main lead, or put it slightly right, it is on the left and so is that gooveline. Or, have it on the right when it plays together with the grooveline, then move it center when it is by itself. That other lead in the second half is pure joy. It could move forward just slightly (longer predelay?) When the song stops completely I think it is over... maybe let something, anything (hats?) play here? As other have said, the arrangement is really nice. I like this! (ok so I've just listened through twice)

Sounds like you should be giving out this kind of advice then, not requiring it, haha! Hope it made you smile anyway. And congrats in advance on the nearly posted mix, I'll keep my eyes open for it. With any luck I'll be right behind ya.

Hey Hobo, I know exactly how you feel. I feel your words! I just went through this myself recently too. You will get a thicker skin if you stick around here. Just remember that if people are giving you crits, they are trying to be helpful, not trying to tear you down. If you can look at it that way, that's half the battle right there. And if they used sweet, sugar-coated babyish words, they would be treating you as a noob and not a peer, this is not what you want... so thicken up that skin and get used to it, 'cause it's all good. I know sometimes the crits sound harsh and they hurt. That's OK, I think everyone reacts that way. Here's what to do after that cement truck dumps on your head. Go for a walk, feed the cat, whatever, but get away from the screen and let the words settle. After an hour or so, the sting fades and the suggestions made will stick in your head. Then the next morning in the shower, "aha!" you'll suddenly have an idea of how to implement that suggested change. Dry off, proceed to your computer and implement the change. I have a new strategy for composing. Start with a basic idea, and lay out the very basic groundwork for your arrangement, then post it here or ask a good friend who knows what he/she is doing. Get crits on that part first, as this is the foundation of your project, and once that is working well, only then work on other aspects, then get more crits, etc. until you've put the frosting on the cake and it's finished. If you work (and get feedback) in stages, you'll have an easier time fixing what is wrong before getting so deeply into it that it's a huge pain to fix... make sense? Anyway, this seems to be working for me. Also... if a remix just isn't working for you, if it is causing you pain even if it seems pretty good so far, don't be afraid to put it to the side and try some other ideas. Sometimes this will kick start the old project, other times the new project may just be better in every way. And a few days break in between all of this is a really REALLY good idea, even if you feel desperate to keep hacking away at it, your brain needs the break, go do something else for no less than 24 hours. The main thing to remember is that everybody feels this way at some point or other, regardless of skill level. You are not alone! We all get past it. Happy thoughts!

Interesting! I'm gonna briefly hit the highlights here. Others can expand on it. 1. Those themes go together surprisingly well. Nicely woven together. 2. Production is not too bad so far. 3. For OCR you will need to remix just one game, primarily or at least dominantly. Too many various sources here. 4. Melodies need to change up. Most are just established and looped verbatim. Song of storms plays simply and repetitively throughout. Mario overworld too... and it needs some notes altered to fit in, a few of the Mario harmonies don't fit into this mix. My favorite loop is DK, it would make a great background for something else over it. Suggestion: once you establish a melody, let the next few repetitions of it be different in some way, then different again. Let some originality branch out from the basic melodies. 5. Pace is plodding. Drums are auto-pilot and repetitive. Needs much, much more variation. 6. Needs some solos and original material playing over looped stuff. Sounds like you are on the right track but more work to do. Keep at it, I hear potential here.

The ultimate Key Mod song. Anyone care to count them?