Chimpazilla

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)

Thanks T! And wow... that's some serious nitpicking! I'll see what I can do. But I think I'm very close to pushing the submit button soon. Thanks again friend!

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 4 Hi all! Changes in this version: 1. Reworked the climax - added a synth on top of what I had already. I altered the writing to accomodate it. I think it sounds awesome. Is it loud enough? Too loud? 2. Added some more source to the beginning - underneath the two synths I had there already, I added another instrument layer playing the Requiem six notes, verbatim. Is this recognizable? And, does this help you recognize the theme in the rest of the song as well? Here is the complete source breakdown: (song is 4:00, source total is 2:35 or 59%) Intro: 0:36 – 0:55: flourishes using five of the six notes (I won’t count this) First lead (70 seconds): 0:55 – 1:03: slow version 1:03 – 1:11: fast version 1:11 – 1:20: slow version 1:20 – 1:25: fast version Second lead (9 seconds): 1:32 – 1:37: interpretive 1:41 – 1:45: more interpretive Flute solo (all interpretive) (22 seconds): 2:05 – 2:11 2:14 – 2:20 2:23 – 2:28 2:31 – 2:36 Climax (21 seconds): wild solo based on source (doesn't count) 2:52 – 2:57 interpretive 3:01 – 3:06 very interpretive 3:09 – 3:15 blatant 3:18 – 3:23 blatant Outro (19 seconds): 3:26 – 3:45 blatant

Sounds really good so far! I like it. The track could use a little more low-end oomph. That snare sounds a bit mechanical at times, maybe a few more fills and variations and velocity changes. I thought the synth solos sounded great. This will sound amazing with real guitar!

It's a bit repetitive and generic (somewhat common sounds and structure), but really enjoyable. I do love that lead in the second half. Great start!

Thanks Jordan! Ok so the main things I'm going to focus on now are: 1. ending solo timbre 2. getting the source more recognizable (jeez really? not sure how I'm going to do that, honestly... is it that obscure? damn... gotta put on the thinking cap...) As for the "fake drums," haha,

Thanks so much k-wix, timaeus, jnWake ... more awesome comments... giving me even more ideas already... glad it is more epic. I've already changed the bass to be less boomy and more audible (thanks timaeus)... that "sick" part at 1:25 is two gated Omnisphere saws, I love it too, I'll find a way to make that shine more. Maybe I can bring the melody in more, got some ideas forming... and yeah, I'll experiment more with that final lead. Thanks soooooo much everyone... hopefully I'll get this finalized shortly.

Thanks J, also thanks to T for some really great comments and suggestions! I appreciate the extra ears, I really want to submit this. Yeah, that final passage is way loud and intense. I'm toning it down a bit, and yeah, too much delay on the bell thingy. Did you mean moody, or muddy? My main vsts these days are Kontakt and Omnisphere. Also in this song I've used Damage drums (a Kontakt library).

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 3 Ok folks, here it is again. Incorporating everyone's comments (especially k-wix), I've made the ending part more epic. So epic in fact, and I like it so much now, that I added 8 extra bars of epic. So tell me, is it satisfyingly epic, or have I gone totally overboard? I added some extra reverb/delay to the bell lead. I also gave some extra attention to my compressors and master limiter and pushed up that gain. Please tell me if anything is too loud. Hear any clipping or distortion? I don't, but my ears are tired. six-note source: Thanks everyone!

Thanks k-wix, glad you like it! I worked very hard to get both bass timbres sounding good. They sounds good on all my systems now (monitors, headphones, car, iphone). It took many tweaks, layerings and listens. *whew* A remix based on a six-note source is bound to have some repetitiveness. It's hard to avoid that if you want to have enough source reference and still have some length. I did try to make varied sections. I agree it could be a bit louder. I'll bring up the gain. I'll see what I can do about making the ending more epic! I'll play around with some drum change-ups. Thanks for the suggestions, and your kind words. Edit: once again changing this back to wip... still making changes. More epicness will be coming. I'll spare the mods their time until I just can't think of anything else to add. (if I add the sound of my toilet flushing into this, I've definitely gone too far)

This, totally. Also, for your bass instruments, make sure you do the opposite (cut everything ABOVE 200-250Hz, leaving higher frequencies in only for attack or click, for example on a bass guitar) That will allow your low end to breathe too, and keep the mud out of your midrange. For bass you don't want much activity between 200-800Hz. And if you're trying (in whatever way) to "master" your track to go above 0db, you're going to get some clipping or other distortion somewhere. Unless I'm really wrong here... 0db is the maximum ceiling you want to hit when mixing your track. (-0.1 to -0.3 is probably a safer target) Raising your track above 0db is the job of your stereo amplifier (home music system, car stereo, boom box, etc), not your mixing setup! Another way to check your levels is to use metering. Voxengo's SPAN is my go-to meter (it's free). Put it as the last plugin in your master chain, after compressor and limiter. Play your song and watch how often it hits 0db, if it is there full time and always hitting red it's probably too loud, listen for clipping. And here's another tip... check your RMS levels. A good level to hit is between -14 to -12 RMS. Anything higher than that will probably indicate some clipping or distortion will be occurring. You can always raise your overall volume in the mastering stage (up to 0db) by raising the gain on your compressor or limiter. But generally you want to mix your track such that the levels get close to 0db (like, -6 to -3db) before you hit your mastering tools... your compressor and/or limiter should only have to give a tiny boost to get there.

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 2 Back to mod review status. I've done quite a bit more work on this song. I spent a lot of time perfecting the bass timbres, to make sure they are satisfying yet balanced. Also, I've added a flute solo in the middle, and made the final passage more epic. I think my source usage and interpretation are adequate, and I think the arrangement works. Hopefully there are enough elements here to keep things interesting throughout the song. My primary question for a mod (or anyone with a good ear) relates to mixing and levels, as this is where I have struggled the hardest. Is it anywhere near submit-worthy? Thanks so much to my dear friend anterroir for suggesting (and then providing) the wonderful brass section and timpani at the end, making it much more dramatic. Thanks PI511, your comment was correct, it needed something leading up to the climax. I hope the flute solo is enough of an attention-holding transistion, and I hope the climax is a worthy payoff. source:

Normalize? Now you've got me curious... how do you master your tracks? For example, I try to mix my tracks as high in volume as possible overall (of course without any clipping anywhere), then on the master I add an instance of The Glue for gentle compression (gr no more than 1db), then raise the makeup gain by about 1-2 db, then I use NoLimits limiter to bring the whole track up to about -15 to no more than -12 rms (with no limiting at all if possible). Generally normalization is not required after this. So I'm just really curious!

The violin and brass are plenty realistic within the context of the mix, neither sticks out enough to cause the average ear (or, even a pretty good ear) to say "hey, that's fake!" This is of course expert level work. My big complaint that applies to all your pieces is that they are just too short!!!

Another friend of mine makes music for smaller video games for a living. He uses Cubase and has humongous templates set up, including hundreds of instruments (to include every articulation for every instrument). I think he feels this could not be done in FL. But you have obviously done it VERY well... highly impressive.

I'm hoping FL comes up with a fully-functional 64bit version soon (although the first pass will probably be buggy as hell). I find problems with the 32 as well as the 64 bit "bridged" versions of plugins. Quite often, when my file decides to fail or freeze, Kontakt (and sometimes Omnisphere) dumps my multis. I've learned to save those multis every time I add a new instrument... but it's frustrating. Keeping your libraries on a separate drive is sounding like a better idea. I just bought a huge drive (1.5tb)... maybe I'll move them... but that has its issues as well (moving stuff after it has settled in somewhere). Arg! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Oh and yeah, I'm starting to do multiple bounce-downs as well... but those wavs eat up cpu as well... it's always something! You finish your songs in an hour??? Oh man. It takes me weeks.

This is utterly amazing as usual... thanks for sharing that! Will you be finishing and submitting it? I am so curious, since you use FL... do you have trouble with memory issues when using all those plugins? (Kontakt and EWQL stuff) I find that even when using the 64bit versions of everything, sometimes FL just fails/chokes/crashes (due to its 32bit limitations)... what are your tricks for making it work? Do you bounce everything down to wav before it has a chance to lock up?