XPRTNovice Judges ⚖️
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Posts posted by XPRTNovice
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You might want to put that as your New Years resolution for 2021. Although my reference so far is that the publishing dirge is a bit more forgiving now than it was even a few years ago, you really need to work your way further up first.
You would do better to amend it as "1. Have solo novel manuscript accepted by indie publisher and market the hell out of it." if you'd like to stand a better (i.e. actual) chance at realizing the majors. Major publishers don't "buy" novels from authors whose biggest accomplishment yet is getting on an anthology at a failing business (unless I'm mistaken and Barnes and Noble took a huge upswing last year that I wasn't aware of).
I respect the success you've made so far in your endeavors, and it's BECAUSE I respect that that I'm telling you to focus better and get more realistic sights ahead. It kinda sounds like you're trying to be an expert at... everything... in twelve short months when you've only fully accomplished one of your seven goals from 2014. Ambition only goes so far, the real world has other plans.
Little doubt do I have you could accomplish them someday, but only if you save a bunch of those items for future resolutions. Focus first, one goal at a time, and forget the time frame. That will be how you check off that list.
Oh man, if publicly telling me I can't do this isn't a good inspiration for me to accomplish all of these, I'm not sure what is. I appreciate your cautionary advice, but I plan on hitting most of these this year, and I listed them because I have good leads on all of them.
But re: publishing. Indie publisher? Yuck. That's how to get yourself stuck in low-end publishing for the rest of your career and work your tail off to get 1/100th of the exposure a major pub house can offer you. Nobody I know in the industry started there and ended up at Tor. There's a big debate going on between traditional/indie publishing right now, but as of right now the big pendulum swing hasn't happened.
Maybe I'm nitpicking because I have ego issues, but Barnes and Noble is just a distributor. The publisher was Baen, one of the biggest fantasy/SF publishers in existence. Citing B&N was just me wanting to walk into a place and be like hey, shit, I wrote that.
But you're right in that most of the big pub houses don't buy direct from authors (Tor does, but it's rare. The others simply don't accept manuscripts from authors direct). They buy from agents. Which is lucky for me, as mine also reps Brandon Sanderson
Love you, Meteo.
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Last year I said:
1.) Get a book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble (that's only me, not an anthology) - Nope. I did get a book on the shelves at B&N, but it's part of an anthology.
2.) Level up in Parkour to a red wristband, possibly become an instructor. - Didn't get my red band, but I did become an instructor.
3.) Land at least 3 video game OST gigs - I landed 2 small time gigs and one SFX gig.
4.) Write the first draft of at least 3 more novels - I wrote 2.
5.) Win a Hugo award (bahahah) - Hahaha no.
6.) Learn a whole lot more about music production and these sample libraries I have. - I'm still a moron.
7.) Expand my voiceover business and quit my day job. - DONE AND LOVING IT.
Now for 2015:
1.) Sell a novel to a major publisher
2.) Get my red band in parkour (think of it like making "advanced")
3.) Land a national TV commercial for voiceover
4.) Land a high profile video game gig as an actor
5.) Release an album of original songs.
6.) Decide where my family is going to settle
7.) Complain less, be more positive, and try to serve others more
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Hi everyone. Here's a list. Nothing too sexy, but I want to get rid of these and giving them to gamestop makes me feel like a bad person. Unless otherwise stated they have cases, but probably not the manual. Shipping is $2 via media mail. PM me with offers. Yeah, I know some of these are old and crappy and nobody wants them. I'm just listing them. Payment via PayPal only and you have to eat the fees.
PS2:
Digital Devil Saga
Digital Devil Saga 2
Dirge of Cerberus
Echo: Night Beyond
Enter the Matrix
Final Fantasy X-2
God of War
Guitar Hero III
Indigo Prophecy
Legacy of Kain: Defiance (no case)
Metal Gear Solid 2 (no case)
Metal Gear Solid 3
Odin Sphere
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Transformers (no case)
Tsugunai: Atonement
PS3:
Eternal Sonata
Guitar Hero 5
Heavy Rain
Infamous
LA Noire
Metal Gear Solid 4
Rock Band 2
Rock Band: Beatles
PC:
Baldur's Gate 2 (w/throne of Bhaal)
BioShock
DragonAge Origins
Star Wars: Empire at War
Thief: Deadly Shadows
3DS:
Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
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.... That is all.
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can i brag for a second? Plz? Only because upper-body stuff used to be so difficult for me, especially pull-ups. When i first started doing wide-grip pullups, i did 7 reps on my first-ever set (this was about 8-9 months ago). Yesterday, i did 8 reps on my sixth set. First set was six reps with a 25-pound weight. Full-extension on every.single.rep.
I was stoked.
beast mode engaged!
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I don't think it was a tear. It just needs rest. I didn't realize what I had done when I was in the kitchen (seriously, who injures their rotator cuff reaching for a dish) and I went and worked out afterwards, which was a bad idea. Been about 10 days now and it's getting better, but it's so easy to re-injure.
Edit: Here's a 10 second parkour video of me in London to depress me further at the things I cannot do right now
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So after finally recovering from two foot injuries, I'm actually pretty positive I injured my rotator cuff reaching for a dish in the kitchen. Like now I can't take off T-shirts without pain.
I cannot fucking stand being injured...
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[MODREVIEW]
Hey there, nice mix.
- Right away the mixing doesn't seem full enough to me. Your life instruments are way in the background and you have a beat way up front.
- I appreciate the American Patrol reference
- The live performances are fantastic. There's some intonation issues when you're doubling the saxes - I might also suggest separating them by panning them a bit differently to add dimension to the mix. Right now they sound both dead center, creating a strange wave effect that might not be a problem if you panned them.
- In general, the live stuff needs to come forward and the synthetic stuff needs to go back. With more nuanced mixing, this could sound really, really nice.
- There's also a "flat" sound to the mix. You might want to try some EQing on the master while listening to a reference track to see if you can't get it to develop a little more.
- I would have appreciated a little more variation in the drums. With as slow as it was, I kind of felt like I was being dragged along rather than moved along.
All in all, this is a great mix, fresh take on a cool source. I think the mixing needs some work before it'll pass, though, and I think that you can help yourself learn by using reference tracks. I might suggest Caravan Palace, but that's a little bit too much electro for this, so I'm not sure where to suggest you turn.
Great job!
[/MODREVIEW]
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To put it in perspective, the 'base rate' I have in my head for my own work is $375/min. For an AAA project I would ask more. For indie projects, I still list that rate, but I rarely get paid that much because they usually don't have a budget like that. Instead I might accept $100 or $150/min and negotiate royalties instead.
Another option you can offer to devs with low budget is licensing. You could write them a little bit of custom music, and then let them license something you've already written for $50, $75, $100, $150, etc. That is competitive with music libraries and you're still getting credit.
This kind of creative and flexible budgeting will get you gigs AND create a good image for yourself as a businessman/woman and just not being a douche. The last couple projects I've done for $$, I've done for less than my "rate" (which I list as $300/min but also make clear it's flexible) but I retained the rights and plan on compiling an album. With music you have a lot more options other than buyout, which is great.
That being said, if someone is like "dude I'm a student I can only pay you x" and then you find out they're an indie developer with a dozen properties, etc, then you call them on it (professionally). But, by and large, I find that most people are honest.
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HAVE ALL THE HAPPIES! ALL of them.
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You really want a steady second job till you become well known enough to let your music become your main profession, rather than your "career goal"
I think this is some of the most important advice. I hit it in the voiceover world (not music, but still pretty elusive career-wise) but I did it by working 16 hours a day for about half a year as I built up one career and still kept my day job so that I wasn't going to bury my family if I didn't make it in VO. Now I've quit my day job, am supporting myself solely with voiceover work, and can begin to expand my music business as well.
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Thanks! Dylan really added some spice to this track.
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Argle save me!!
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Dylan Wiest (Wiesty) and I collabed for this track like a year ago and I never mastered it. Now I mastered it and thought I'd throw it up here. Unfortunately the project files are trashed so I can't make any changes. Feel free to throw out critiques, but I can't actually make changes.
Me: Live sax and arrangement
Wiesty: Live keys and drums
https://soundcloud.com/xprtnovice/how-many-heavens-are-there
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Don't think I'm available for creating my own track here but please let me know if you want collab for live flute, clarinet, saxophones, trumpet, guitar, mandolin, or farting noises.
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[ModReview]
I'll give you your MR on this one, but I also like to encourage new folks to comment on other people's tracks. You've got 4 posts to your name total, so maybe some more interaction would have inspired some discussion before you had to use the ModReview card.
- First, err, have you listened to smooth jazz? This is like hyper techno samba!
Smooth jazz is like...Kenny G. - You are seriously missing some low end action to support what's going on in the beginning. I thought it was an intro, and was willing to let it go, but it continued for a long time into the mix. I hear it come in later in the tune, but by the time the beat drops, my tweeters are tired.
- The drum stuff going on at the 1:30 drop is a little on the muddy side, and it almost sounds like you have all of those elements in mono right in the center. You have those great bongo things going
- by 2:04 there's just too much going on and not enough mixing to taper it. I get some relief at 2:14, but between 1:30-2:14 it's messy.
- The concept of the ending is really cool. Something really weird happens in my right ear at 3:19...like something just drops out. Take a listen to that.
You did a nice job of making a relatively repetitive source sound fairly diverse. But you've got some work to do on the mixing end, in my opinion, particularly in that section in the middle. the 80s drums are cool, but they're muddy. I'm not sure you could find something comparable to reference, but try listening to some other stuff in this style and hear how it's all put together.
Good luck!
[/ModReview]
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[ModReview]
I'm a little disappointed that this spent a couple of weeks on the forums with no comments, and I'm sorry you didn't get a lot of community feedback before the mod review. Regardless, here goes:
- The bass feels a touch dry/in my face at the beginning. Perhaps consider adding a TOUCH of verb to see if you can't get it to blend better with the plinky plinkies at the beginning; or maybe just turn it down.
- That bass in your face problem continues for me at :55. Still seems to forward to me, and the melody takes a back seat. I'm not a back seat melody guy.
- I was starting to get pretty tired of that bass riff by 2:00, even though you were adding in other elements.
- By 3:23 on my first listen, when it finally gave me a break from the 8 measure thing, I was starting to feel like this was an exercise in looping. From an arrangement standpoint, 3 minutes of the same progression is a bit much, especially when there aren't VARIATIONS, there are only ADDITIONS.
- The little ethereal break at 3:30 ish is nice, but by 4:00 we're back to the beginning. At least it makes me think we're back to the beginning. So I'm noticing immediately that my major beef with this piece is going to be the arrangement side.
- The mixing, in general, with the exception of my comments about maybe the bass being a little too flat/dry, is actually quite good. Things are panned nicely and everything is in its right place, so to speak. I never feel like it gets overloaded or muddy.
- Another similar woooooshhh break at 5:30 to the one at 3:30, though I have to say I like this one a lot.
- Buuut then we're right back at the beginning at 6:00. And it kind of goes out the same way.
- The repetition is made worse by the fade out at the end. With how much you leaned on the source, you could compose an ending completely from scratch and still be well within OCR's requirements for source.
So, my final word on this is that the arrangement is far, far too repetitive. I won't rehash what I've said above, but you basically have 7 minutes of the same 8 measures with different layers.
The good news is, you have 7 minutes of material. Cut this song in half and mix it up a bit, and the repetition problem will largely be solved, perhaps. I won't try to tell you what to do artistically, but you might consider writing some kind of chorus/bridge using another Halo source. The source itself is kind of repetitive, so I can see how you'd fall into that trap.
Good luck!
[/ModReview]
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The sonar-like distant sound? Try this:
I'm curious...did you sit down at a synth and try different stuff until you replicated it, or did you seriously just jot down those settings by ear?
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All links to remixes are broken.
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[MODREVIEW]
- SFX at the beginning is really full of all the frequency spectrum in not my favorite way and heavily weighted to the right side in the panning, which makes it really disconcerting to listen to. And it doesn't go away until almost 1:00 in to the song. Definitely needs to fade out way sooner.
- In general, the first 38 seconds could be compressed so that you get to the actual music quicker.
- The drums sound very...flat to me. Like there's just not a lot of dimension to them. I can't really hear if you applied really heavy compression or the drum patch you used just doesn't have enough oomph. Try layering different samples to get a drum sound.
- The vibe is cool; I like the washed away feeling that you get. But you have to be careful with how much you've got going on at once. At 1:50 it starts to get really saturated in the mids...and again, panned way too hard to the right. My ear was very tired after this section.
- The "dive" at 2:29 is really interesting. A great idea, actually, and very cleverly done; but I think you can do it better. The "splash" noise needs to come back in the mix a bit, either by volume or adding a touch of reverb (but with an effect that wide in the EQ spectrum that could be dangerous). Right now it feels too abrupt, and I might even choose a different splash...something that resonates for a minute, and then leaves behind the feeling of being underwater, rather than BAM transition.
- Again, the reintroduction of that SFX at 3:33 just doesn't work IMO...and it drops off way too suddenly. The piece itself could use a much smoother fadeout.
You've got some really cool ideas in here, very unique take on the source that I really like. It just needs some cleaning, I think. Best of luck.
[/MODREVIEW]
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[ModReview]
- The beginning 3-4 guitar notes sound a bit out of tune.
- The bass in general could use some EQ trimming at the extreme low end to make it fit with the rest of the mix a bit, but it's a taste thing, too.
- You blended the flute thing and the steel drums very nicely to create a pretty nice texture during melody lines.
- The flute gets a little shrill at 1:40 ish doing those turns on top; careful with that. I couldn't tell if you added a doubling instrument or not, but it got significantly more piercing to the ear.
- Arrangement wise, I would say at 2:19 I kind of felt like I was just hearing the beginning again. By 2:42 I was getting really tired of hearing that introductory melodic line on the flute. If I were to make a suggestion, I would say cut the part from 2:20-2:42. You would prevent the feeling of being dragged back to the beginning and driving more energy toward the end. The ending is nice.
Really I would say my major problem with this is the arrangement; it's a shorter piece and we hear that main line an awful lot. The mixing is pretty solid, and so is the instrumentation. I can't really give you a good gauge on whether the judges will hit on it or not, since arrangement is a little more subjective than you having a bunch of mud in the mix, etc.
[/Modreview]
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[MODREVIEW]
It really isn't necessary for me to comment on this, as the best I can do is severely pick nits, but...
- In general, I think the melody is a little buried. It might be a taste thing, but I like my melodies to be pronounced. I noticed it most after the drop at 1:25, but it was prevalent earlier as well and is a sort of reoccuring thing I heard.
- Maaaybe a touch more bassline support? +1-2db maybe.
- the drop at 2:55 is reeeuuhhl nice
Other than that man, nice arrangement. I like the way it kind of feels like a bubble bursting at the end; had I been arranging it I might have dragged out that ending a little bit but it's good as is. I don't see the judges having any major problems with this at all
[/MODREVIEW]
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Rest, rest and more rest (and food and sleep). Foot injuries SUCK. Depending on exactly what you damaged, there may be some therapy options, but it's basically going to boil down to staying off of it, IME.
....but parkour...
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Hey guys, I'm been absent from this thread for a while now, due to an injury which has gotten much better to the point where I feel I can work around it with light stuff, and exercises that don't engage my forearms much. My Occupational therapist said that eventually I'd need to strengthen my forearms.
So, I started cardio, core stuff, and legs along with the forearm exercises I was shown!
It's a year contract at my gym though. Wish it was month to month!
Welcome back!
Speaking of injuries, does anyone know the best way to deal with a bruised heel? Well, not the heel, but the part of the arch right against the heel. I made a bad landing on the edge of a stone column two weeks ago and it seems like it's not getting better at all. No visible bruising.
2015 New Year Resolutions!
in General Discussion
Posted
ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
Seriously though don't be afraid to chime in and hang around even if you don't have a musical bone in your body. People who listen to music always belong with people who make it. Unless they're jerks. Then they don't belong with anyone.