ngc2440nucleus

I'm not the biggest fan of power chords, but when they drop out after the intro, it starts to sound like something is missing. Just my two cents.

Youtube: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/darianharman/mega-man-ii-metal-man-theme-guitar-cover

You can either watch the music video/playthrough on youtube, or just listen to it on soundcloud. This was my first time attempting something of this level of technicality, and also my first time ever editing video. Critiques and opinions are welcome---my skin's pretty thick. Anyway, here are the links: https://soundcloud.com/darianharman/mega-man-3-wily-stage-boss-guitar-cover

I don't have proper studio monitors, so please let me know if this is too bass-y. I'm trying to strike some semblance of tonal balance with the setup that I currently have, because I have no money to spend on equipment right now. As it stands, I have to wrap my computer in a blanket every morning just to make it boot (yes, I have disassembled the machine and re-applied the thermal paste to no avail). It is what it is...

Regarding the ending, it was supposed to just be a fade-out, but when I went back and made some changes, I forgot to re-enable the automation like an idiot! (Didn't notice until last night. Always proof-listen, kids!). I'll take your advice into consideration, though. It's just that I noticed on some laptop speakers that the higher harmonics of the guitar were really, really cutting through. I did some slight subtractive equalization on said harmonics, but I couldn't really drop them more than 2-3db without taking away some of the "air". I'll listen to it on a few more sets of speakers. The reverb on the kick is probably getting squashed into the kick drum, making them almost one instrument. I suppose I could either drop some wetness, or EQ-carve the reverb. I need to start using the Convolver for my reverbs since it comes with its own built-in EQ. Or maybe it's just that, at that particular part, both the toms are being hit at the same time, along with an alternating kick. I guess that's a lot of low-end! And, yeah, I always try to keep the tracks almost exactly the same, give or take a few drum embellishments. I like these old tracks so much that I don't have the heart to make any changes to them. The composers are geniuses, and I'm just a nerd. I'll sleep on this for a few more days, finish another track, then give a listen to the things you pointed out.

I actually store every EQ change in a spare state for A/B comparisons once I get deeper into a mix, but thanks. The objective, here, is to create another mix with some wide-Q boosts 3khz and up, HF exciters etc, export, and A/B both wave files in my DAW.

Hmmm, I'll tinker with the drum bus a little, I guess. The individual pieces of the kit are all quite bright, individually. If you listen closely, you can hear the snap of the kick, snare and toms, but I probably didn't bring the highs up enough in my drum submix which has Maximus powering (see: obliterating!) the drums. I'll mess with it a little more, and see what I can do. Perhaps even an exciter like ThrillseekerXTC or something might do the trick. In fact, I almost put that on the master channel for some subtle, last-minute texturing. Thanks for the input.

I give up on this. I've tried everything I know, but I just don't think it will ever sound the way I want it to. For better or worse, I decided to post it here in case anyone might enjoy it, or perhaps share any critique they might have. Personally, I think it sounds compress-y and whoof-y. I tried everything to get the bass to sit properly in the mix, but it just doesn't. In this version, I used a multi-band compressor to stereo-separate the mids and highs of the bass, whilst keeping the low-end centered. Despite the fact that the center guitar (which is also stereo-widened) doesn't have too much below 200hz, the bass guitar is just cutting through, even though I carved at about 800hz on all guitars to make room for the bass. GRRR! It's been a month since I started recording this, and that's too long to be working on one thing, in my opinion!

Just a faithful, guitar remake of this awesome track.

Thanks, man!

I was unable to find a 100%-exact replica of this classic (one without power chord progressions, pinch harmonics and string bending), so I made one. This may not be the final mix, as it is my first time experimenting with multi-band compression via Maximus, and I have quite a bit to learn regarding that tool. https://soundcloud.com/darianharman/contra-stage-1-jungle-guitar-cover

Thanks, man. I did toy around with using some delay as a makeshift reverb for a bit, but I ended up attempting to create a super-crisp guitar tone. I do think the intro harmony needs delay, though---that's one thing that bugs me just a little bit. I think having you point out the dryness will prompt me to go add the final-final-final touches. I think I'm just a little snake-bitten by the brightness of another track I did last week (but never uploaded), so I probably over-corrected and ended up with a sort of lo-fi type sound on this track. As for structurally rearranging video game tracks, I'm not interested. Nothing against the people who get their jollies from "remixing" other people's compositions---it's just not for me. I feel like I would be stepping on the original composers' toes by going too far with their work, so I just try to give them the same respect that I would give Bach or Ravel. Remember when Kenny G dubbed himself soloing with Louis Armstrong? It's like, "wait, who do you think you are?". If you're some super-established, brilliant composer like Olivier Messiaen, then I feel like you're "allowed" to mess with other composers' works via "variations on themes", etc. As for me, I'm nobody; and if I'm going to get all "creative", it'll be with my own music. Adding power chords to Contra tracks and shred solos over Bloody Tears or whatever---I just feel like it ruins the original music. That Jean-Luc Ponty track had Holdsworth on guitar, didn't it? It was either him, or a very, very good impression of his phrasing. Going to have to check that out. Makes me want to blast some old Soft Machine. Also reminds me of Lye By Mistake's "Fea Jur" album, which obviously came out way later. I'm just referring to the "looseness" of the musicality. Really good stuff.

Two guitars via Guitar Rig 5. Slap-style bass. Programmed drums. Executed entirely in FL Studio 11.

I agree with Metal Man that the panning is too hard---and to reiterate my earlier post, it just leaves one of the channels feeling empty when there's no direct output. I wouldn't suggest exclusively going with the built-in knobs of your DAW, though---I think you would have a lot of fun toying with a stereo-shaper VST of some sort. If you combine stereo-shaping with reverb-panning and delay-panning, you can create a lot of pseudo-warmth which makes stereo-oriented stuff a little less jarring.

It's only right that I give you as much of an in-depth analysis of your track as you did mine. Since I'm not really qualified to say much about anything other than guitar, I'll try to keep my commentary centered on that. I think you need to drop the gain or overdrive a bit to tame the picking sound. I'm not sure if you're going for a scrape-y lead-in to your notes, though. If you're going for that Slash-style dirtiness, then disregard what I said about the distortion and rock on, as that's just a matter of personal preference. Remember that where you play a series of notes on the neck has a huge impact on what type of tone you're going to get. If you want richness and depth, shift it to a lower string and play it higher up on the neck; conversely, if you want brightness and a better harmonic range, play it on the higher strings. Also, where you pick has a huge impact on tone as well. You want those pinch harmonics to scream, I imagine. Speaking of pinch harmonics, the left-channel guitar harmony sounds like the mids have been scooped, old-school death-metal style. I think it needs some mid so it can punch through. The left channel feels a little empty in general, so maybe you could re-transcribe it so that the left guitar is playing the right guitar's part most of the time, with the addition of the harmony being worked into the transcription. That, or find a way to get some more of the right-channel guitar into the left channel without it drowning out the left guitar when it comes in. It sounds like you have either reverb or delay being panned to the left (or both ways), so maybe you could boost that up a bit. I don't know if it's your intonation, your tuning or your bending/vibrato, but something's making the main lead sound off-pitch. Check your intonation on the guitar by hitting an open note, and then the 12th-fret harmonic. If you'd rather not do it by ear, then plug into a tuner, hit an open note (make sure it's in tune) and then hit the 12th-fret and see if it's sharp or flat. As for vibrato, it sounds like you're using your hand/fingers, when you should be using your arm (well, at least, that is the accepted school of thought). It allows you to do what is called "circular vibrato" (Steve Vai style), giving you more range in pitch whilst still having control over the rapidity of your vibration. If you know any cellists or violinists, ask them about their approach to vibrato---it's one of those things that we, as guitar players, have a tendency to just write off as being something that we just naturally get good at. A lot of dedication goes into developing a good vibrato. Look up some videos of arm vibrato techniques. I think the drums need more presence, but I don't want to say one thing or the other, because I could totally be wrong. They just need more "oomph", I guess. The guitar is loud enough volume-wise, so there's no need to drop that down, in my opinion. Hope this helps you on your journey to the perfect mix.

Thanks for the thorough critique. I'll have to respond on a point-by-point basis: You're right---despite the transient controller, there's still no velocity on the initial attacks. I think what I need to do is tighten up the bottom and compress it more, like you suggested (I just don't want it to be too "fat" due to compression). The bass is using the Soundgoodizer preset in Maximus, but tweaked a bit. I'll go into the low-end portion of Maximus and see what I can see. Yeah, the fourth repetition is there specifically for the purpose of the fade-out. I didn't fade it out yet because I wanted to give critics another rep to find more things to hate. Wow. Thanks for the compliment---I've been playing for a while, and I always feel like I suck, so thanks for the validation. If you want, I can show you the approach I took to the trickier parts of this track---I'm not sure if you were specifically interested in learning to play this particular song on the guitar, though. (the secret to playing it cleanly is a very low gain/overdrive, and a combination of picking/legato. I made a couple of exercises out of the main riff, and they kind of serve as "etudes" of a sort). I agree about the guitar tone needing a little more brightness. I was trying to find ways of doing that without losing smoothness, but every time I brightened it up, I ran into problems with formants from the distortion. I just found this "Colouring Tool" that lets you apply tube-style saturation to keep bright stuff sounding warm, so maybe I'll try that when I finish recording the other stuff I'm doing. Yep, the drums do need to be a little "fatter". I actually just learned this "NY-Style Parallel Compression" approach, so I'm going to try that. I got frustrated with the mix because I felt like I couldn't contain everything the way I wanted to. I'm not sure what tom you're talking about, because there's only a kick. Are you really saying that the kick sounds like a tom? Lol. It's actually a kick from the Drumkit From Hell samples. I guess I need to take out some of the ring-out from that kick, because it's apparently making it sound like another instrument! What do you mean by "60 cycles"? I'm not sure I understand what that means. You obviously know what you're talking about, and we're on the same page about most of this, so your critique is definitely appreciated. When you say, "better than my song", are you stating that you have a version of this track, too?

Agh, you're right about the bass---I actually hadn't even noticed it. Thanks for the heads-up. It's probably that the guitar and kick Parametric EQ's' bandwidths are wide in some of the same areas. That, and the transient controller on the bass is set to like 2X-mode to give it more punch. I'll put that on the checklist.

Thanks a lot for the support. It's good to know that there are people who enjoy these kinds of covers as much as I do. I'll probably go back to this as soon as I finish the others that I'd like to do: Contra Stage 1, Shadow Man from MM3, Password Screen from River City Ransom and Stage Clear from Xexyz. I toyed with the arpeggio being played on bass, and I think a baritone guitar would be the happy medium there.

Go ahead and check the "Too Conservative" box if you're not into exact replicas. I enjoy learning and playing these video game tunes as an instrumentalist for the purpose of developing my melodic repertoire, as well as developing as a sound engineer (yes, I know I suck). Lastly, I just enjoy hearing the songs get an "update", as it were.