Chimpazilla

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.

Now THAT'S what I'M talkin' about!!!!! Those echoes just make that transition utterly perfect. I think it's ready. I'm not a mod though... maybe you could ping a mod, just for the final blessing and throwing of holy water on this? I'm really wishing you luck with this but wow, I think it'll pass. edit: I see you did get a mod review. Do fix the velocities if you can, it can certainly be done, if I can do it, certainly you can!

That reverb is perfect, wow... pianos coming from every which where... gosh... lovely... I have only one crit now. In the middle, no wait, about 1/3 of the way through just as the fast part ends (sorry no time marker), right before the *gorgeous* slow part begins, it feels a bit like an ending! I'm guessing the judges won't care for that... I suggest making those last 10 (I think) forte staccato notes trail off into continuing echoes instead of ending abruptly with just reverb. The keyword here is "continuing." I think that would fix it, and connect it, and make it sound like there is more to come which there definitely is. Ending = perfect. Love love love this track. Best of luck with the judges!

Well I like the whistle! Let's see if others do too. If the concensus is that it just sucks, I'll delete it. As for the "grotesque" strings, you mean the detache strings, before the oboe begins? Do you just not care for the sample? We can switch that out. edit: I'm having a friend record wavs of those strings using EWQL Hollywood Strings. (the string pad that follows is already recorded in Hollywood Strings) Should be good! another edit: I appreciate these crits! But please be specific. "The snare could use some tweaking" means, what? Is it too woody? Too thick, thin? Pitchy? Tail too long/short? What tweaking do you mean? Also, "instruments too low" is probably a valid crit... but specifically which ones? I agree the piano is low and I love it so I'll bring it up some. I've been very careful to make sure the leads have their space... but if something is really too low, I'd love to know what exactly so I can fix it. Specifics are always more helpful than generalities! Thanks so much.

Thanks very much! That "bird" tweeting at exactly 2:19 is not a bird at all, but Link's " ," followed at 2:24 by Epona's whinny reply. I always like to add some sounds right from the game (although I made the Epona whistle myself, couldn't find a wav anywhere)I can certainly add some hat fills, I'll look into that. Thanks for the kind words!

Forest of Purple Mist - Jordanrooben / Chimpazilla collab version 1 I am very pleased to unveil this new version of Jordan's Faron Woods remix. I have loved this song since he first posted it here. Jordan has been kind enough to allow me to take the reins on this song for awhile. Quite a bit of loving care has been put into it. As you can tell, I did a little more than just drumming! Jordan and I are both very pleased with this version and would like very much to submit it. Constructive criticism is requested and appreciated. We will leave it in a "wip" status for awhile before bumping to mod review. Please tell us your thoughts! And enjoy!

But that is an easy fix! Just select a complimentary theme, and write a bridge or interlude using that theme, then back to the original theme and voila, instant remix! (with some personal interpretation, of course) Please keep going, this really sounds terrific.

Wow, cool and cute!!! Yes it does have an intimate "crazy orchestra" feel. I like the purposeful "mistakes." I didn't find the bass too loud on my monitors. Very nicely produced. The choir however seems better suited for a darker piece, even with the staccato phrases, it is reminding me of the Even the attack is wrong on the choir, too slow, not keeping up with the super upbeat instruments. Hhhmmm, something is needed there, but maybe something more lighthearted. Nice track! But probably too coverish if you are planning to submit it... can you add some original stuff, or throw in parts of a second melody?

I believe that reverb, panning, and volume are all taken care of naturally by the amount and positioning of the different performers within a given space. The performers can vary their playing style and velocity throughout the performance to let leads have their space at the right times (which is what we are attemtping to emulate using eq to avoid the frequency clashing that happens in computer compositions). When you are using a computer to try to replicate this situation, you have to do it using effects and automations. It is never going to sound as natural, and it does take more effort and knowlege (and plugins). It may not be perfect but I think it can sound pretty good. It does take some practice to learn how to use the tools of eq, reverb, compression, and other things to get these effects, but with time you learn to do it faster and more effectively. (if there was a "make this sound realistic button" no one would need to learn the skillzzz) I know nothing about Sibelius or Audacity so I can't comment on them at all. I use FL Studio and I have all the necessary plugins and the ability to do automation clips. So I'm not sure how to advise you to do this using your software, maybe someone else can jump in here and help you with this. You can also pose the question in the "music composition and production" forum here. If you want to learn more about making music on the computer, a great book to start with is the Dance Music Manual. You will learn all the basics of synthesis (and dance music genres which you may not care about), but also how/when to use eq, reverb, compression and the like. It has been like a music production bible to me. Clearly you have excellent writing skills. Your challenge now will be applying those skills into a computer environment. You've come to the right place, you'll get lots of help and advice here! Oh, one more thing, please do a proper ending! Fade outs are a cop out!

I agree with this mostly. I don't know the source, but the remix sounds awesome. (I don't have time to listen to the original and comment on coverishness, but more interpretation can never hurt) Needs note velocity variation. Maybe instead of slowing the whole thing down, just drop some of the quick parts out here and there, or make some of them half-time. Since those quick notes play through the entire song, it feels very fast, and causes the track to lack some dynamics. So do some quick and some slow parts. Piano tone sounds great, and each part is coming through clearly, nice job there. So adjust velocities, vary the speed, and I'm happy. Nice work!

The melodies are really, really nice. The arrangement as well, is very pleasing. Good job on those! I like this song very much. But the biggest things I hear in this track are: 1. You need to eq those sounds apart and/or do more aggressive panning so the instruments aren't fighting for frequency range. Here is a thread I started a couple of weeks ago about this issue, it is full of golden advice. I am still working through this issue myself. 2. The drums are very dry, very far in the background, and lack energy. It sounds like the drum track is being played through a thick layer of insulation, no clarity. That early ride cymbal is playing too often, it messes up the laid back vibe... and later you have a stick (or hat or something) that is playing too upbeat a pattern when it should really have slowed down. You could add a gentle shaker here for fill instead. If there is a kick drum there I cannot hear it. The kick needs some oomph, and the higher elements (hat, stick, cymbals) need to come out more... eq them so they only play in the higher frequencies, and for something like a hat, you could use a stereo separator so they stick out of the left and right instead of getting drowned out in the middle. And Dafydd is right about the toms messing up the lower regions... make sure you high pass them so they aren't interfering with kick and bass (no less than about 200Hz) (and for kick and bass, make sure they aren't playing anything below 30Hz and not much should be going on above 250Hz unless it's "click" related) 3. The samples do in fact sound quite fake... not so much because they are, but because they aren't humanized. Vary the note velocities first, then for the longer sustained notes, use a volume automation to "swell" the note: start at one volume, raise slightly toward the middle, then have it gently decline to a much lower volume before ending, then start the next note at a normal volume, rinse and repeat. Your volume auto clip should look like a bunch of roundish bumps. This applies to nearly every instrument you have used, except for maybe the piano, you can do most of the piano humanization within the patterns. 4. The track is lacking in lower frequencies. I hear a bass, but it is nondistinct. I want to feel it. Make sure it is playing just in the middle (no panning or stereo separation), and again, be sure to eq out most of the energy above 250Hz (except "click" frequencies) And no reverb on bass. 5. You can also use reverb to set the soundstage, more reverb for background instruments (and minimal predelay), less reverb (and/or longer predelay) for foreground leads. Your leads are getting mashed in with everything else. The soundstage should be sort of three dimensional, and just now yours is very flat and one dimensional. Reverb is a great tool. Set up some sends (main and lead), and apply some to each instrument, for better cohesion. 6. Wow that ending is abrupt! How about one more *brief* slow passage with a soft final repetition of the main melody, played on a high instrument like the flute? I think this song could be great if you sort out these issues! Keep at it.

Yes I agree. I got more out of this response (Vinnie's and yours) than even the answer to my original question. Thanks guys, I feel enlightened and empowered.

Awesome, awesome, awesome advice. Thanks for that. I have in fact sent this particular song to three friends whom I trust immensely... one said there was some masking at the climactic portion (although he said he was admittedly tired when he listened), another said (without being asked about this) that he was impressed at how I had gotten each sound to be distinct. So two completely different opinions. I have totally lost objectivity! I am waiting for the third "expert" opinion, and then I will post this in the wip forum for even more "expert" opinions, haha! Thanks again, this was especially good advice.

That's some really great advice. Actually it is the piano that gets a bit buried under everything else... the oboe is fairly clear... I'll have to play around to try to bring it out somehow, just enough. Yeah, it will be easier to judge within the mix... it's not up to par for me to post it yet in the wip forum, but soon. Thanks, guys.

Yes, I was referring to separating the frequencies... but thanks anyway, great info!

Hi all! I'm hoping to hear some great words of wisdom on this. I have a remix nearly done, and I'm trying to really separate the sounds during the busiest part of the mix. I've looped the section and opened all eqs, making cuts and boosts such that each instrument can play in it's own strongest frequency range. I try to cut no more than 4db at any point, and boost no more than 2db, fairly wide q. I've also got things panned to different places, gently (not overpanned). I've done this so carefully but it still sounds a bit cluttered. The two sounds I'm having the worst time with are my lead which is an oboe that plays around 800Hz, and the piano which seems to live primarily at 600Hz. The other elements are either much higher (bells, plucky things) or lower (bass), and for pads I have scooped out much of the midrange to accomodate the leads. Still fighting for presence. Any advice is appreciated, what are your strategies for this?

---not a mod---- The good: Sounds are gorgeous. Piano is sexy. No crits on that at all! Nice ambient feel. Doesn't seem too repetitive. Drum sounds are pleasing. I like it a lot! The crits: Song has no intro? I just... starts. Hmph. Song has no lead at all for first full minute... needs something, at least to hint at things to come. When lead guitar first comes in, it is a bit buried. Snare is a tad loud. Drums need some more writing variation and fills. Snare fill at 0:38 sounds machine gun-ish, vary velocity low to high. Same with other snare fills. (low > high, high > low, up-down-up, etc) Guitar has a few too-loud notes starting at 1:40ish. Tone those down for better smoothness. Electric guitar is way too loud!!! And too dry, doesn't seem to fit well in the mix, easy fix though. Very, very nice overall. Just a few fixes and it's good to go, if you ask me. But again, I'm ---not a mod---