Chimpazilla

Not a rap fan... but wow, this is cool. And really well produced! Great writing, instrumentation, and vocal processing. Enjoyed it!

^This.^ Song is very repetitive, both in writing and sounds used. Why not try a different lead here and there, to break it up, and some varied drums sounds and writing too? Mixing is a bit dry but not awful, bass is a bit ill-defined and muddy, but it seems like you've got some talent for mixing, just need to spice up the arrangement and sounds to make the track interesting. As Timaeus would say, if I fast forward the song to the middle, and I don't know where I am in the song (beginning? end? they all sound the same) then something is wrong. Don't be discouraged. Welcome to OCR.

I'm speechless... what a unique combination of sounds, all performed flawlessly. The sounds are diverse enough to inspire a number of different emotions as the track evolves. Western atmosphere is accomplished to perfection. Very detailed, and produced professionally! edit: just a guess, but does the title "Fistful of Nickels" in any way refer to, say, a whole lotta dimes in Blazing Saddles?

Omg, Joe. Just wow. Gypsy jazz, klezmer arrangement with your super expressive and cheeky clarinet lead, and Young Frankenstein all together? I'm in music (and comedy movie) heaven. Performed and produced to your usual level of XPRTise. Nice.

Great videos... how can I watch them ALL AT ONCE??? Haha! Thanks, gonna watch these.

I just wanted to point out to Meteo that with FL11, the "extended memory version" is now the default. So just download FL11 and use the default launcher to get the highest memory usage. (with older versions, you had to select the "extended memory" option separately) Also Meteo, I took a look on my old computer (which my son is now using) to see which version of FL9 I had on there, hoping it was 9.5, but it was 9.1, same as my friend's version that I already uploaded to Box for you. I'm sure this helps you a total of zero, as your projects are all saved in 9.5. Sorry, I tried! I think this means you must move forward with FL11. I think in time you'll be happier with it, it does more. (including some new plugins, a new synth called GMS, and Bassdrum!) Let me know if I can help in any way.

Thanks Cosmic for those kind words! And thanks T, those are some excellent final-mixing crits! I appreciate that very much!

Hey Meteo, FL11 is quite nice. I barely remember 9 and I never used the legacy blocks. You can sort of emulate the blocks in FL11, . I recommend the playlist instead, though. You use it in the same way as the blocks afaik, but you can see your midi data."Get sequencer lined up in grids instead of sound clips" I don't understand what you are asking, is this about the blocks? You can still "grid paint" in the playlist, you're just painting your midi patterns (that you can see) instead of those white blocks. In the playlist you can put midi patterns, and also sound clips (wavs etc.) I'm sorry if I misunderstood your question. Bridging happens automatically when you use a 64bit version of any plugin. The wrapper will load in bridged mode automatically. FL11 seems to have corrected any bridging bugs (I have found it to be totally stable so far). The bridged plugins will operate without the 4GB limit, even though FL itself will still be operating under that limit. Good luck! edit: Meteo I have a friend who still has his FL9 installer on his machine, should you really want to go that route. Let me know. (but I hope you'll bravely venture into FL11 instead.) edit #2: Here is the installer for FL9.1, if you end up needing it.

I have to agree... writing orchestral-only arrangements using midi instruments seems to be a skill all unto itself... and a daunting one at that! Takes soooo much practice and knowledge and just plain effort to get it right. I much prefer hybrids myself. There are some who are superduper good at this though, like this guy!

Hey Big B! Here's a thought. How about you reduce your number of subs down to say.... 30 per year? Down from your traditional 85. #letsomeothershaveachance <3

Hey Joe! I have to agree with PH and T here... there are some nice sounds used, and man this is interesting, with a neato haunting/troubling vibe... but it does feel a bit rambling and directionless. I'm having trouble grabbing onto a theme here, which leaves it somewhat unmemorable. Some repeated phrases would help a lot. The percussion is very static, much more variation work is needed (ugh, I know...). And some more instrumentation is needed for sure, what about some mallets somewhere? Or some harp passages? Definitely strings could be used more than they are. Nice start, but hhhmmm... :-/

I was gonna skip the Wii U because it just doesn't look that spectacular. But with HD Wind Waker coming out soon, and a new Zelda game sometime in the future, and Xenoblade 2, looks like we'll be getting one. Whatever console the Zelda games are on, that's what we will have here, absolutely. Oh, and nothing wrong with strategy guides. Helps make the most out of your game, and gets you unstuck and moving forward again. And mommies are darned helpful sometimes, too. So says my 8-year-old son. ;-p

It will never sound as good in mono! I have no idea what they do on club systems to make it sound good! (it does, though!) My point was just to check the mix in mono to make sure most of your instrumentation is still there (and doesn't completely cancel out). Most people will play your mix on a stereo system, anyway. But for that occasional "straight out of the iPod" play, at least the entire song will be heard. I'm in no way suggesting you mix your song in mono!!! (yikes, haha)

It is still a good idea to check the mono-compatibility of your mixes, even if they sound awesome in stereo but have phase cancellation issues. It's just good practice. If your mix is ever played in mono (like in a club, but more likely on a bad system or even directly out of an iPod), some of you instrumentation may go away completely. Check this, and see if you are ok with what's left in mono. If you're not happy with that, I'd go back and check your instruments individually to see if there is another, less "phase-cancelly" way to get the wide sound you're after.

Happy Birthday, Guyzzz!!!

Happy Birthday, guyzzzz!

Hero's Rest - mod review version Finally got around to working on this again! Many, many changes and improvements. Mod review tiem!

This is very nice, k-wix, it is full of expressive layers of orchestration. I really like the marching drums. That snare in particular sounds quite good. The instruments are well balanced. Very dark and moody piece, I like it. The song takes nearly 30 seconds to get going though, I thought my speakers were failing, as I heard almost no sound until about 0:25. The intro needs to come up in volume much quicker. At 0:30 the jump in volume is jarring. It takes awhile also until I hear the source tune, and when I do, it is played verbatim. Maybe you could change the cadence of the main theme here or there, to add interest? Move some of the notes around, forward or back? Add some 1/8th or 1/16th notes even? The flute or another instrument could play the source melody verbatim in the background while up front, some variation of it is playing. The song is highly quantized with the notes always hitting right on the beat. Also, most of the instrumentation is lacking in humanization: the strings, the flute, and the brass, all sound very mechanical. It is a tremendous pain to humanize these orchestral parts... but makes all the difference. PM me if you want some tips on doing this. I also use FL Studio.

Yipppppeeeeee!!!

I had a dog (boxer) that made this "chimping" sound instead of whining. It sounded like little mini-whines strung together, sort of like how I would expect a monkey to sound. It was quite unique. Although we had named her Keli, she got the nickname Chimpie on the first day we brought her home as a 7 week old pup. I came up with many iterations of that name, Chimpazilla being my favorite. She never stopped chimping for 13 years until she died of old age last year. I have stolen her identity. I'm very happy with this particular handle.

Xenoblade is one of my favorite games ever. I think I put in 150 hours, and after I beat the game, I sort of grieved for the characters, I missed seeing them every day. Good news though, Nintendo is actively working on Part Two. BUT there is a reason we aren't seeing too many Xeno remixes... it's nearly impossible to improve on this music. I've made a couple of false starts myself... it just feels wrong... this music is so good, the remixes of it are going to have to be super high quality to do justice to the OST!

I'll chime in. I think the wubs are fine and work pretty well. I like the track, generally. There are some good sounds, good effects, and I like that outro idea. I agree the kick and snare both need to be beefed up. You need bigger drums for a DnB track! But my biggest gripe about the track is its repetitiveness. The leads (writing and sound) and chord progressions are the same throughout the track. Some of the effects on the drums are used too many times. With effects, my feeling is this: once is cool, twice is meh, and more than that is just cheating.

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!

That's awesome! I'm smiling! What a great concept, great vocals, very groovy and chill. I'm finding it just a tad dry, and maybe the beat or at least the hat groove could change up a little more often. Can't wait to hear how this develops!