XPRTNovice

Thanks guys! Between re-reading Rozo's guide and the stuff you all have provided, I've been consuming stuff for the last 24 hours. I'm still an idiot, but I'm getting there...

You've given me a lot of food for thought, thanks. I also just found an electronic copy of a cubase manual at my local library that I am reading on my computer, and each section gives an intro with some basics before talking about the actual interface. I use Cubase almost exclusively, so this helps a lot. Thanks

Hey, thanks for those resources. I'll grab them when I have some extra money in my pocket. They ain't cheap! I have 3 mixes pending including the 2 from the FF6 album, but I still needed a lot of help on the production side from some of the project directors. I still listen to OCRemixes and think "Wow, I have no idea how to make anything I do sound like that." And when I watch youtube tutorials and stuff, I myself flopping back and forth between understanding complicated subjects and balking at the most basic terms. That's why I'm looking for a "baseline". Not the Taxi You Whistled For was 100% instruments, recorded live and modeled after a live performance so there wasn't much production for me to do. I think I had reverb in there, and maybe some EQ. When you get into producing synthetic music, I very quickly start to become at a loss for how to do anything beyond hitting the record button

Well, having already read your guide, and having already gone through the G&T forum, I wanted to see if there was something that was more baseline. Titles like "Chiptunes Without a Tracker", "Guitar Amp Buyers Guide" and "A Gear Guide For Multiple Budgets" aren't going to answer the questions I was just talking about.

So, you know how some pepole grew up fluently speaking Russian, for example, but then when they take a Russian class they fail? That's me with music. I've been doing music since I was 8, but now that I'm getting into the remixing side of things I'm finding that I am asking those questions that make a room go silent. Questions like "what's a limiter" or "what's a compressor" and those sorts of things. I'm an instrument-player, not a remixer by trade, and the remixes I've had success with so far have largely been by accident. I'm looking for a resource to bring me up to baseline. When to use EQ, when to use reverb, the difference between different types of reverbs...what the hell does mastering mean, vs. mixing...what's automation and how do I apply it...what the hell is quantizing? etc. I can go out and search youtube tutorials for the next three years, but that's a crapshoot. Any suggestions?

Holy shit, this site is a dream come true. I've always wanted to audit classes if I'm interested in a topic, and if these are any quality at all I am going to spend all of my free time on the site. Signed up for both courses you recommended and I'm hunting for more. Thanks for posting this!

I think the most important thing to do is listen. Different styles have different characteristics that make a solo distinctly "fit" inside that genre. As a jazz musician, I'm speaking primarily from a jazz perspective, but here's what I've noticed over the years about some different stlyes as an example: Django (1920's gypsy jazz): heavy influence on the 6th, both in major and minor keys, give the style it's wacky tonality Prog metal: Modes and arpeggios, modes and arpeggios... Blues (and a lot of rock): relies heavily on the pentatonic for composing melodies Those are just a few examples, but you might notice that while it's hard to tell why somtehing fits, if you try to play a prog solo over a gypsy jazz background, it sounds really weird. I hope that helps.

I'll bring the Novice Saxophone and jam

I just found out about this, and I'm new to OCR (first mix was accepted in April and still hasn't posted, but I have 3 more coming out soon I hope). I live <45m from this location, and I think I'll be making an appearance to meet you all but I'll have to see how it goes. I actually can't even get to the webpage right now to see what it is, but I love music, and I love conventions, so it can't be too bad.

Hey - does anyone know of any great black Friday deals for music gear that can be accessed online? I got a mic stand and some guitar stands at Sweetwater/Musicians friend but mostly the music industry is bringing it weak from what I see so far...

Easily one of my top 5 favorite remixes that have ever been made. The Hebrew singing is redonkulously fitting and there's just so much power in this mix that it makes my brain hurt.

Love this one. The lyrics are very cleverly done and well sung with a good, rough voice quality that's sort of punk but not enough punk to make it tacky. Absolutely love the drum work and the drum production, the way it's panned really adds a whole lot of depth to the mix. And I love the part that leads up to the singer screaming "Let me out of here." Pumps me up every time.

I've listened to this four times in the last few days because it's just awesome. As a jazz musician and piano player, I bow down to Shnabubula and his keyboarding skills, and the intricate drum work is fantastic. It is easily one of my favorite OCRemixes of all time.

F@*K YEAH Larry. Thank you. This made everything so much easier.

Hey, don't worry about it. This song is already done and on its way on to FF6 Balance and Ruin. There's no need for a mod review I'll change it to finished here in a second.

Dude, this is pretty bangin. The only thing I would say is that your guitar and arranging work is so good that I would have liked to hear some better orchestral sampling behind it, just something that sounded more realistic, but I understand everyone has constraints when it comes to that sort of thing. The core of the prog-metal stuff is just great. Other minor critique is that the drums sound a tad out of time at 6:15 ish, like they might be dragging behind the guitar a bit. Or maybe the guitar is rushing.

Definitely pretty much sobbed at the FF Distant Worlds concert. But there was more to it than just the quality of the music (though it was awesome)

try this link: http://soundcloud.com/xprtnovice/gobble-snarf-snap Thanks for the praise! I'm excited about this track and another one that is going to be on Balance and Ruin.

Have a happy!

That's not any fun. I think Squaresoft is actually going to hire the entire Balance and Ruin team for a billion dollar contract. Nobuo Uematsu is getting old, so they need us to fill in the gap. That's really what this is all about. Or...OR...Square is suing us because some of their employees that inadvertently stumbled on some of the works-in-progress had their faces melted off. Then the guy who delivers the inter office mail came around the corner and slipped in a pile of liquid face and twisted his ankle, so we're getting sued for negligence.

Awesome, thanks.

So I recently bought/downloaded a "World" sample disc from Image-Line, and it basically dumped a bunch of wav files on me. I know with other sample discs that have Kontakt associated with them, they will map the samples that are closest to the pitch you are trying to play and make it play that particular wav in conjunction with your midi sequencer. My question is: with a bunch of samples that have no joining file like kontakt, how can I map them out so that when I play a Bb (or a pitch that's close), the Bb sample is played, when I play the G (or A, or F), the G sample is played? Or am I going about this in entirely the wrong way and asking the wrong questions...

Easy answer - play the FF victory theme when they announce you as a married couple for the first time.