Chimpazilla

Oh my... wow... *head spinning* It's going to take me awhile to absorb everything you just said Rozovian... but I wanted to say thank you very, very much for that incredibly detailed and thoughtful critique, and thank you for the words of encouragement (much needed after incredibly detailed and thoughtful critique). All suggestions are excellent. Whew. We shall see where this goes from here! Thanks again. Oh, and your SoS is, of course, amazing!

It seems this little gem of a song got buried under a landslide of other posts... Come on mods, give the gentleman the review he requested so that he can move on to "submit!"

OK so who doesn't love "Song of Storms?" This remix is meant to really impart the feeling of a storm brewing... weather changing almost imperceptibly at first, sense of something coming, sky getting darker, thunder in the distance... rain begins but then fades... then suddenly a crack of lightning and thunder... the storm is in full force! Wind howling, rain driving down, run for cover! But then as quickly as it began, the storm recedes... leaving a sense of calm and the earth refreshed. Written in 4/4, a new twist on an old favorite! "First some wind, then some rain......" A Stormy Affair, resub version updated 3-5-12 A Stormy Affair, original submission (submitted to judges 11-29-11, rejected with suggested resub) By: Chimpazilla & Anterroir Comments are requested and appreciated. Sources: "Song of Storms" "Zelda's Lullaby" (bridge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPtuOfQbyI (seriously, if you need to look at these source links, hang your head in shame, what are you doing on THIS forum?)

Ooooh I like that... the highs could be brighter, more twinklies.

Thank you very much Gario! I will see about tweaking some of my harmonies and levels. Sorry about the jarring... I appreciate the review! Oh... this isn't my first remix, but I am pretty new to this (4 months). This is definitely my best remix so far, and I'm working very hard to improve every day, learning all the tricks and skills. Anterroir gave me lots of good feedback and advice, especially in the area of eq.

Hello? (hello-hello-hello....) *looks around* *tumble weed blows by* *crickets chirp* Echo! (echo-echo-echo...) Dang it's lonely in this post...

Hello fellow remixers! This is a remix of "Plack Beach, Act II" from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. A happy, bouncy little tune made just a bit darker and more mysterious. http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/dark-beach-40 Here is the source: Special thanks to Anterroir for helping me learn how to arrange and mix. You are a good friend indeed.

I had that same problem!!! About a month ago. ***FACEPALM*** I thought my song was ruined and I didn't know why. It appears my fader is moved down, half an octave. I had adjusted every single pattern but it still sounded weird (drums, cymbals, etc were all off too) so I abandoned the project. Now I would have to re-adjust every single pattern to revive the song. Maybe I'll do that someday... Glad to know what the issue was. How stupid!!! Geez. Glad you left the post here! Mystery solved.

Anterroir I wrote you an email on your website. I really love what is on that mp3!

Oooooo more help, wow, thanks soooo much! I'm so glad you wrote again Anterroir because I really still don't like the snares! Thanks for making an mp3 for me, gonna give it a serious listen and try to make the changes. Will do it tomorrow, busy today and will be interrupted. I do need practice developing my "listening ear." I just love the Batman reference, yeah that's accurate! If I can get this fixed, using your advice, I am going to be so very grateful (I'm already grateful). Gonna try putting the delay on a send effect (watched some tuts yesterday). Also will check out your site as well, tomorrow without interruptions. Thanks again so very much for taking time to help me!!! I hope you won't mind giving my song one or two more reviews here shortly! I'm very grateful indeed.

Hello again! http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/vine-valley-ed9 I've made the changes suggested and I think it is sounding pretty good! I brought the bass up a bit and compressed a bit more, can you hear it now? (is it too bottom-heavy now?) I compressed the kick, toms, and snares a bit more and centered them more. I added a tiny (I mean tiny) amount of delay to both snares. (I did it separately as I'm not up on my send effects yet.) Not sure it I like it better... what do you think? I lowered the shaker. I lowered the two arpeggios and added a bit more stereo separation on the one that doesn't change volume. I eq'd the two leads, that was a very good suggestion. I think I took the mud out of the one, and hopefully made the attack of the other one a bit more tolerable. Is the drum pattern pleasing? Any suggestions for improving it?

"It isn't that bad - it isn't that good." Hey in my book, that's about medium. At this stage in my learning curve, if I'm getting a C+ on this song then I'm very happy with that, haha!

Hello anterroir, thank you for your review! Your comments are wonderful. Bass is there... it coincides with the kick/tom combo so doesn't really stand out on it's own... more of an accent than a unique element. Not sure if there's a better way to write the bassline for this song, or bring it out without overpowering the low end. I have the bass pretty low in volume, any louder than half and it sounded very muddy. The two main leads are separated right and left but not much (1 o'clock and 11 o'clock). I will move them more. Will eq as suggested. Snares are compressed... will compress more, and center more. Will lower the shaker. I haven't worked with send effects yet, that will be my next "lesson." (this song was intended to be a study guide for me full of lessons!) Will try to add some delays to the drums. Will work with reverb staging. I know it's not the world's most exciting song... it's a practice song for me. Trying to get my "sea-legs" with my daw. Thanks for taking the time to review my song, I appreciate it!

remix: http://soundcloud.com/chimpazilla/vine-valley-ed4 source: (song begins at 0:30)Hello! I'll start by admitting the obvious, I am new to remixing. I've only had FL Studio for 3 months. I've been studying, reading (two books on production/mixing), watching tutorials, and lots of practicing with FL. I set out to copy the song, to use for practice in every aspect of FL Studio. I added some unique elements including a nice drum beat, pad, and extra melodic elements. Please don't bust me for originality, it is still basically a copy! Also I realize it is repetitive. What I would like is a critique based on what I've done so far: Mixing: - PEQ2 every instrument separately and gently. - Mild compression on kicks, snares, and bass. - Varied velocities for humanization. - Panned some instruments left, some right, some in the middle. - Added bass "drop" using slide notes. - Used stereo enhancer on background groove. - Used volume automation on background melody, and on strings to create swells. - Used effects sparingly (one instance of reverb, one instance of flanger). - One instance of cross-panning using a duplicated portion of melody. - Carefully positioned volume of each instrument in mixer. - Main volume fade at the end. Mastering: - PEQ2 very gentle curve. - Fruity Limiter set very gently. - Created WAV version, normalized in Edison, copied to MP3. - Listened to MP3 on several different systems including car stereo. Studio monitors are Mackie 5's. (husband has Rokit 8's, I'm stealing those next!) I really want to get good at remixing. Any helpful advice is appreciated! Is anything missing? Should anything be removed? Does anything sound muddy or tinny? Is anything conflicting? Does it suck? Or does it make you feel like dancing in the jungle? Thanks in advance!

drums - agreed! Something I need to work on, gotta learn to eq properly. Drums were also repetitive. bass repetitive - yup, got me. I liked the bassline but wasn't sure what else to do with it. changing instruments for interest - busted! It's a total newb mix. But hey I'm a total newb, haha! I am just glad I could put anything together and not have it suck terribly, as I really have done no music before. I am obsessed with it though, ordered two books today on mixing, and I've been reading Rozovian's excellent newbie guide. You will definitely see more from me, as my style develops. THANK YOU for your kind words of encouragement and helpful comments!!!

Hi Rozovian, Thank you for your thoughtful reply. At this point, "pretty good" and "I've heard worse" are compliments! I am very new at this, I just got FL Studio six weeks ago, and before that I haven't made any music at all. So I'm just discovering this for the first time, testing to see if I have any potential at all. I'm enjoying it so much and I'm soaking it all up like a sponge. I will check out the resources you mentioned, thank you. As for the 4/4, there are many other remixes of this song out there, one in particular that I really liked, (and I prefer it in 4/4) so it wasn't hard to emulate what had already been done. I added my own touches. I know it sounds newbie, it does to me as well. But ya gotta start somewhere. I love Zelda songs so much, I will pick another one to remix next, and hopefully it will sound just a tiny bit less newbish. Thanks again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPCX9GQpt4Y Hi everyone! I made this using FL Studio. I'm fairly new at this, still learning how to eq and mix, and use effects. Constructive comments are appreciated! Thanks.