Chimpazilla

Hey Joe, don't you have a mix pending posting? (Not the Taxi you Whistled For) Like, direct post (no panel)? So yeah, your question is suprising. These are some resources that have helped me (and continue to do so): The Dance Music Manual Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio Mixing Audio Also you can always find a wealth of information by Googling or looking on Youtube for a specific topic. The advantage there is you can find tutorials using your own specific daw. Rozo's feeling saucy today, haha!

Hi T, thanks for the listen! Yeah, the attack is too slow for the fast passages... I will check all the articulations and see if there is one that better suits those parts... but again, I will most likely be using these for backing elements rather than up-front solos! I'm sure LASS is wonderful... (better be, at $999)... I'm probably not going to do tons of orchestral stuff though, and SSP should be enough for my needs, for now. Thanks, friend!

Wow T... this sounds really good... great soundchoices, great mixing/soundstaging, writing, sfx. Sounds blend very well together. Really varied and exciting too! I love it! I have NO criticisms of this one, I think it's your best work so far. I can only say best of luck with the panel!

I don't know these sources at all, so I can't comment on that or if it is too much of a medley... but your playing is gorgeous as always! I love it.

Haha, made you look! Air on the G String - J. S. Bach So I bought Session Strings Pro from the recent NI sale and I thought I would give it a tough challenge. It still sounds quite samply in the faster passages... I've been fighting with this... trying several different solutions... this may be as good as it gets, but overall I think the strings have a nice intimate sound. I will most likely be using them as backing elements, not exposed as they are here. Anyone have a suggestion on how to make it more realistic? Or is this just the nature of working with samples? This song represents several "firsts" for me. First time with SSP. First time using keyswitching. First time automating CC11 expression. And mainly, first time transcribing something like this from sheet music. I don't read sheet music and have never done that before. It was a wonderful exercise, and this is a lovely song. Thanks for reading/listening, and thanks in advance if you have any improvement suggestions!

A great friend gave me this link recently: introduction to 3d mixing I've found it tremendously helpful!

I still love this... great writing! My previous comments still stand however... I don't care for the wide-panned claps. I would prefer them narrowed somewhat. (they feel stuck-on here, like an afterthought, not part of the mix) Also your leads are all super wide (saw, doubled flutey thing, brass) or super narrow (keys, piano). I think you could make the stereo field work more to your advantage by widening some things, narrowing others, somewhat. And for heavens sake, at least widen those chiiiiimes. (or, pan left to right) Also I feel like the track is overall a touch dry. Make sure you are using some reverb sends so everything gets a touch of the same reverb (even if you have reverb on individual tracks). I have some neat reverb tricks if you want to hear about them, pm me and I'll tell you. (I won't type it out if you're not interested) All that being said, really nice work on the writing and arrangement!

Nice job T! Good luck this time around.

Well I LOVE this. Really unique soundscape, and the dubstep bass is just right. I do agree about the drums, the samples aren't bad but they don't seem to match the other instrumentation. They seem too electronic somehow, especially that snare (too much fuzz and not enough whack), and there is quite a contrast, especially against those cinematic drums in other parts of the song. I would try something a bit more organic for kick and snare, something more snappy for the snare for sure, something epic to balance out against the cinematic stuff. I'd like to hear a tight snare with a good solid whack to it, with some great delay on it.

OK... well fwiw, I think you could interweave these melodies, use one as backing for the other, maybe then have them trade places (backing/lead), or combine them as countermelodies or whatever, to make it more of a remix and less of a medley. Personally, I dislike medleys (one song after another)... but I always try to make my remixes with at least two or three themes, interwoven, with the writing/keys/etc. altered to fit into a cohesive whole. Whatever theme you start with you should also end with, like bookends, with unique stuff in the middle yet still referencing that main theme (kart select) at points in the middle. It's gotta sound like one cohesive song though. Just my two cents... (and I think I'm rambling now, sorry)... but I'd sure like you to continue this song, I truly like it. Those first two minutes absolutely rock.

Sonic, what do you mean "not concentrated to one idea?" It doesn't have to be one idea, just 50% source, preferrably from the same game, and not a medley. I'm not sure what is happening starting at 2:01 in this song, I don't recognize that part, is that what you mean? You could always bring the Kart Select theme back in after this part, blend it, make it even more epic, and it's not a medley, problem solved. I wish you would keep working on this because It Sounds So Good. That sexy piano, the cool sidechaining, "dat bass," I love it. Really.

Hey PP... check your PMs! Edit: PixelPanic has expressed extreme interest in this track and will be giving it a shot! Yay!

Hi guys/gals, I'm looking for a trombone (or trumpet) player for an album project here on OCR. I'm doing a reggae/ska/island style track. The arrangement is complete, but I'm trying to replace much of what I've done in midi with live performances. I'm looking for someone to play trombone. There are some harmony parts throughout the song, and the end will feature a groovy solo. What I'm looking for is a similar sound to the brass in this song: " . (the wicked-awesome soloing begins at 3:40)Trumpet might also work. I really like the trombone-sliding solo in Ghost Town, but something groovy with a trumpet might also be OK. If you are interested and think you can help me out (or, if you know of someone), please get in touch with me! I'll send you the track and all the details about the project. Thanks so much.

Wow T... I thought I was the only one with plugin ADD... hahahaha!!! Glad you got it solved.

I just did a quick side-by-side of versions 3 and 4, and wow, you brought it ALIVE. HUGE difference, it sounds much more 3d now. Nice job. I didn't even hear those sounds on the left and right before (starting at 1:11), in version 3. They are there now. So much better. The only thing I notice now is the bass may be just a drop too loud in the lowest end. Just a drop.

Yeah, after I posted I thought probably that little progression was game specific... guess it's ok! So, this song gets my vote. Nice job.

Wow, better!!! I like the bass much better now, and the kick too. You didn't overdo it, I'm glad, just gave it that extra oomph. Nice! That dissonance at 1:19 is still there, it is the writing I was referring to, those six notes, they are just kinda, weird. I don't have the words to describe what I don't like about it (don't know music theory), but somehow that part just doesn't flow for me. If you'd like, I can ask a friend who is great at theory and composition to help explain why that doesn't work. But this being said, it is a nitpick and not terrible. Snare sounds more natural now. Nice job overall. My son wants me to download this and put it on his sd card on his ds. He only asks for that on really cool songs.

Yes of course... but it doesn't have that trademark synchopated breakbeat of what I would call true DnB (like the Amen break or similar)... but nevertheless I really like what you've got going on.

Wow, great track T! Really exciting! And I love the different kinds of leads you used, keeps it interesting throughout. I would not call this DnB... I'm terrible at genres so I can't place it, but it's very fast and cool. There is a dissonant thingy at 1:19 that I don't care for, maybe that could be altered just slightly, writing wise. My main problem with this track (and many of your tracks) is that you are very conservative in the low end. That bass is badass... but needs some extra oomph. You've gotta be careful though, too much can lead to mud... but I would totally add a subtle sub-bass, just cut it off at around 25-30Hz sharply (steeply). Not too long a release on it, but enough to give it that "knock me back in my chair" feeling I'm looking for. Same goes for your kick drum, it's very tame. It's got a great click, but not a lot of low end... maybe it shouldn't be as low as your bass, but it could go a little lower. I can't tell if you've sidechained, and I'm not sure that would work with that many kick hits, if you do sidechain, just do the primary kick hits (the ones on beat). Or not. Your snare has a great sound but sounds a bit mechanical, writing wise. Maybe just a few more velocity variations, especially on the fills. Really great, exciting track, I like it a lot! edit: I just downloaded the track and looked on SPAN... it looks like you've cut off the frequencies above 18.5kHz which is probably a very good idea with all that high end stuff going on! (high end sounds fine) And your low end does go down to 20Hz but slopes upward conservatively... I'd say just bring in a bit more in the 30-80Hz range and I'd be happy! (and cut everything below 25Hz sharply)

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - submitted Oct 31, 2012 (all other versions deleted from Soundcloud) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks very very much for that T! I'm going to live with it for a few more days (taking some much needed days off from it) listen again for a sanity-check and sub it. THANKS.

I have been thinking about remixing this theme... I love it sooooo much..... (that sexy piano in the original)... and I really love your interpretation of it, really nice job!!! I love the piano together with the electro elements.... bass is excellent... please keep going on this!!!! Why no plans to sub? Good lord (listening again) this is great...

But I have one! It's the big red button in the middle of my keyboard that says "come on and push me, you know it's ready." It's five inches in diameter and flashes brightly at me full time. It's sooooo annoying and hard to resist....

Hahahaha hilarious! Looks like you've gotten at least one "yes."

^this^ is the greatest advice ever. Thank you. Thanks everyone, those are great comments and suggestions and kind words too! I also have one rejected track, it seems to be beyond hope at this point (collab partner agrees). I also have one track in the queue now that I've already found fault with after submitting. I'm going to take the above advice on my current track! Thanks again. Good luck to us all.

Hey folks, so how do you judge when your track is really REALLY REEEEEEEAAALLLY ready to submit? I've written a track, wrote the basics pretty quickly then took my time adding the details, I've had it in the wip forum for awhile now, got some great suggestions and made some really great improvements to it... I can't imagine doing anything more (I'm even shy about posting it again, as I'm not sure I have the heart to do anything new to it), I'm at that point but I just can't seem to stop tweaking it and I'm making myself crazy! What is your personal cutoff point, how do you know it's ready? (or, maybe it truly never is, but you hit the submit button anyway) Thanks. (feel better already, just typing this out)