Chimpazilla

Update: song was submitted to judges on Nov 29th. Kindly requesting moderator review! (second request) The intro has been slightly reworked for a little more drama. http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/a-stormy-affair-mod-review-2 We hope you enjoy it. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

"Worth it" is a matter of perception! At this point I am just enjoying the sequencing, as I said I am learning more than what is apparent to everyone else. For example the song I'm doing now is forcing me to learn to read music for the first time. So for me, it is totally worth it, at this time. Please don't worry about my wasted time people, to me it is not wasted! (but thanks for the concern) As for making a remix out of the two piano songs on soundcloud, I really hadn't considered it, but yes that is a possibility! I liked your suggestion! (I'm not gonna attempt a piano-only remix, so no worries about picking it apart!) *puts up umbrella to avoid vulture droppings*

Thank you Rozo!

I realize I'm never headed for Carnegie Hall with my Fruity Loops program, haha! I'm just practicing. I have piano parts in two of my remixes, they can both use improvement, so I'm just trying some stuff out. I'm taking a little "detour" into piano, just because I'm finding it fun at this point. Also I think there are concepts here that are helpful to me in all my sequencing endeavors. One day, and seriously one day I will just wake up and say "today's the day," I will get a midi keyboard and really try to play it. Look for my post entitled "why did I wait so long?"

Hey SnappleMan, you are totally right, it does sound forced. I did some work with note lengths and even added a tempo automation clip, but I can hear now that it still sounds mechanical. I'm working on another practice piece that is much more detailed, and I'm not sticking to the grid at all, and snap set to "off," just putting the notes where they sound right. It will probably never sound as good as playing the piano for real, but hopefully it will be better. This is a very good learning experience for me. Thanks for your honest feedback! Did you at least like my jokes?

Where did everybody go? "hello?" *hello-hello-hello* "echo?" *echo-echo-echo* Well, for anyone still here, I did another piano practice today and I would just adore some feedback! http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/piano-practice-2-midnas-lament

Working on my humanization skillz... "Space Junk" from Super Mario Galaxy I Critiques requested! How is this sounding? Specific comments? Thanks in advance! http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/piano-practice-space-junk-from btw... I can't read music... all picked out by ear... *runs off to put icepack on sore ear*

I wagner what debussy he is even talking about...? Oh, haha I get it!!! *rolls eyes at corny jokes* *smiles at snappleman's delightfully piquant sense of humor* But seriously folks... yes I am planning to look into getting one of those handy-dandy midi controllers! Do they also grill the piano steaks, or is that an extra attachment sold separately?

Easy for you to say! *wanders off in search of piano steaks*

Hey there Rozo! I haven't done anything with the pedal... not quite sure how yet... was hoping the *almost finished* tutorial would address that... other than that, what I have done is alter the velocities, panning and note lengths... I really took my time and addressed each note the way I assume it would be played in reality. I initially tried some of those randomization settings and quickly abandoned them! I don't like using features where I can't see the logic of how something was done! So each note has been given the royal treatment. I'm sure it still sounds somewhat mechanical at this point... arg it may be as good as it gets... Prophecy is still working on the tutorial, let's see if the magic answer is there! *damn why don't I play the piano... mom was right... gggrrr!*

Still looking very much forward to seeing that tutorial when it is done... but in the meantime, the song has been bumped for mod review. http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36851

"A Stormy Affair" is ready for an official moderator review! We have made every effort to address all the arrangement and production issues that Rozovian has been kind enough to address. Some of the suggested revisions have not been made as it comes down to a matter of individual taste. David and I are very pleased with this song! Thank you Rozovian for spending so much time and effort helping us with this song. Your words of advice have pushed the song, and the artists, to the next level.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yippee, woohoo, yeah!!! Between you and Monobrow we should have a fairly comprehensive database to work with! Finally some REAL help with this!!! *runs off shrieking with glee*

Hey Monobrow, thanks for writing all that out, I'm gonna print it out and read over it a few times. Really appreciate that! Many of those things I have already been trying: different velocities, panning each note depending on which hand/finger would be playing them, varied velocities within chords, moving notes *slightly* etc. You're right about reverb, easy does it, and a little more decay does push it into the background when needed... so I've done a tiny bit of automation with that... all of this I am learning. I'm going to re-read this and play with it a little more. Confession - I have two songs going that have piano parts... one nicely polished and almost ready to go (will post link here in a day or so, partner adding more to it), and another wip that's much rougher... focusing mainly on writing/arrangement on that one... if I get brave I'll post that one too and you guys can let me know how bad it sucks, haha! (or better yet, offer arrangement suggestions )

The song has been in the remix forum for quite awhile and has been reviewed multiple times by Rozovian. As of this moment, I am waiting for my collab partner to approve some changes I made, when he does I will update the post, bump for mod review and post the link here, tomorrow if all goes well. So please have a little more patience for the best possible version. Thanks for asking about it, I'd love to share it and get further feedback! *yeah!* And seriously thanks everyone for your opinions!

Calm down everybody. Can't we all get along? There have been some great points made here, and I totally respect every one of you who can play an instrument. I haven't played an instrument since I played the flute at age 10 and that was *mumble mumble* years ago. I have heard wonderful things about midi keyboards, and I absolutely plan on looking into getting one. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the promised tutorial on piano humanization, as this is the last "icing on the cake" finishing touch on my collab remix that is just about ready to submit! Thanks to everyone who commented here! *gets garbage bag to collect remnants from huge water balloon fight*

YES PLEASE!!! I have been looking/asking for this info for months! I would appreciate it greatly (and I'm sure I'm not alone). THANKS in advance!

I'm sure it's not gonna be perfect... but it's not a solo, it's a backing track, and with good humanization, it will be good enough for me, for now. When I have an extra year lying around I'll learn the piano!

That's awesome... yes please tell me what you did, in detail! You can pm me if you like, or just post it here for everyone! Really nice track too.

Oh geez... I've got no midi keyboard and NO piano skillz... I've sequenced a pretty hairy piano part... I like it, but I can see how actually playing a piano would be a plus... haha! I will try the panning trick, I can see what you mean there... and I guess it's time for me to at least investigate midi keyboards. Thank you very much!!!

Hi all, I am trying to make a piano part seem more human, less mechanical. It is part of my mix, not a solo. I've tried several things: - different velocities on every note, including each note of chords - moving each note slightly right or left - alternating the lengths of each note, some a little longer, some shorter, some overlapping, some with a gap between. I tried the articulator but that didn't seem to change the sound, just made all notes shorter by differing amounts. I looked at the "humanizing presets" but I'm not sure how they work or how to apply them to my song. I've also posted this question on several other forums and only received variations of the above answers (by well meaning people of course!). Is there something else that I am unaware of, anything else to try? Some change to the actual piano timbre or something? Any suggestions would be so helpful. Thanks.

Congratulations and nice work!!!

Yeah, another Plack Beach remix!!! http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/dark-beach-40

WOW that's gorgeous and so moody! LOVE it! What about adding some strings coming in around 1:30? And maybe a gentle, filtered drum pattern coming in around 1:50 and fading out at 2:10? Something as simple as just a brush pattern? Strings again at 3:50, or some moody solo string instrument to accompany you? It's a tad repetitive... but really gorgeous. What about some different chord progressions? My friend and I have done a SoS remix, see the post below called "A Stormy Affair." We are still soliciting feedback on it, before mod review and submission!

All issues have been addressed and hopefully remedied. Some new subtle melodies have been added, and some nice effects. Zelda's Lullaby should now be more clear during the bridge as well. We love it... what do you guys think? We would love a few more opinions, then it's a bump to mod review, after that it's off to submit for judging!