lazerblade

Alrighty then, I officially declare this track done! I want to thank the both of you for being patient and putting up with it for so long. I learned a ton doing this track, and look forward to doing more of them soon. I haven't 100% decided whether or not to submit to the judges, but I'm leaning towards no. I'll show my hand now: I used LMMS to produce this track and Ardour2 to master it. I used open source synths, open source FX, and mostly free samples as well. LMMS has become my DAW of choice, even over FL Studio. I'm hoping that this and future tracks of mine will serve to help dispel the stigma that "LMMS is a neat little idea, but it has a long way to go before you can do anything pro level."

Ready for mod review. After a 48 hour break I don't hear a bunch of glaring issues listening to this track again, so I'm hoping it's up to snuff.

Yay! Coming from you, whose music I recently listened to and adored, that is very encouraging. Status upped to finished. Mod review to come in 48 hours if there are no other fixes to make.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/n6ybmmgfxd4nrka/Cybernetic%20Acid%20Groove%20-%20WIP13.mp3 I only hope I can make this awesome before I get really sick of it. My creativity and inspiration have gone elsewhere, and this isn't exactly a style I've heard on OCR before. I'm not feeling optimistic, but please do provide criticism and feedback anyway. I think I've squeezed just about enough out of this interpretation of this track, so I'm wanting to finish it and move on. Maybe I'll come back in the future and spin it a different way.

This update is mostly micro-improvements. I added some slight vibrato at some parts, increased the pulse-width LFO depth on the main sync lead, changed instrumentation up a bit near the end(although with very simplistic sound design,) and other stuff. This version has an audio glitch right as the drop effect happens before the bass drop. It will certainly be removed before the final submission. (outdated link removed)

I decided to take the sync on the lead from "a bit for flavor" to "a crazy ton" and layer it with another synth lead and a supersaw/organ thingy. Also, lots of mixing improvements. I think I may have overdone the DRC during mastering, but I'm not sure. At any rate, I think the overall sound has improved as well as the lead, although now it feels even more like it should be a different instrument during the jam section. (Trying google drive as a host. Please let me know if this does not work for you.) (outdated link removed)

'Tis a young and humble studio, but has served me well so far. Not pictured: HP Touchpad used for PAD emulation.

Gotcha. There are definitely more commercial VST's I want to collect. E.G: Zebra2, which looks like a sound designer and synth hacker playground. It's true that this track lacks a lot of the complex layering and synthesis techniques of other modern EDM, and it's true that that will negatively effect the number of people who come to it for the interesting sound design. However, I chose a retro style for this track and intentionally limited myself to simple synthesis techniques because I have an uncanny love for 80's acid House. If that means this track doesn't make the cut for OCR, so be it. My next remix targeted at OCR will be in a more modern style with more obfuscated sound design. I am omni-genre in both taste and production. This track is still going to be the application of my idea for mixing classic acid basses and arps with breakbeats and synthpop leads.

I was a bit suspicious of that panning. I'm very new to stereo imaging, (I used to do only LRC or total center not long ago) so I'll try to balance them out. At 0:53 and several other parts of the song is a reverse clap/snare sample. I use it when I want a more harsh notable transition. Perhaps I should tone it down or replace it with whitenoise at that part. I'm not sure why you keep asking me to find more sounds. If I need a certain sound, I usually dig into my VST collection and create one myself. Most of the sounds in this track are my work. Only some of the drums and the drop sample are not. I also have growing sample, preset, and vst collections. I always keep my eye open for more sounds to download and try to keep learning more about sound design though. I definitely agree about the freq muddiness. I kinda liked the idea of a really ambient distorted synth guitar for that part and wanted to try it, but it needs work if it's to be used at all there. The arrangement and structure are what I need inspiration for now. Kind of like what you're saying. Maybe new beats, new instrument, new timing, maybe just end the track sooner, or whatever. When inspiration sneaks up behind me and stabs me in the thorax I'll start on the next update.

I think you might be putting undue emphasis on number of sounds as opposed to composition. However, in a progressive track like this, especially one where the arrangement is starting to get old during the jams, more instruments would probably help. Besides, you gave me an idea I wanted to try. Anywho, this version contains better mastering, better lead vs. kick mixing, jam tweaks, an extra lead instrument for some parts, improved dynamics on a few sections, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting. (outdated link removed)

It has been awhile, but I spent a lot of the time benefiting from the awesome critique. I decided to out the time constraints and free the track to spend as much time on the progression and structure as I felt necessary. The mix has been greatly improved because the mention of removing the compressors led me to go back over them and see that I had somehow left the makeup gain way too high on all of them. The main things I'm unsure of now are the performance, (I tweak all parameters live) and the structure esp at the end. (outdated link removed)

(outdated link removed) Plausibly done IMO. Time to up the status to mod review. The thing I am the most unsure about is if the lead instrument too loud. Other than that, it sounds good to me. That might just because I've spent so much more time on this track then I usually do trying to make it perfect that I got used to all of its flaws.

Sounds good. Reminds me of various mastering checklists I've read, but still good advice. About the hipass though: what if I have a woofer?

Alrighty, I'm going to call the structure, arrangement, and instrument selection complete. Now I'll be adding finishing touches to the mix and considering the mastering. I usually use mastering in extreme moderation, but anything that anyone thinks is essential should be mentioned. (outdated link removed) Any show-stopping problems or needed final touches?

Ah, I can definitely see your point on making it more expressive. I'll see what I can do. However, I'm not going for a newer "agressive sound," like DnB, Dubstep, Electro, or other more modern dance genres, although I know exactly what you mean. I have no quarrel with those genre's, but that isn't really where I wanted to take this track. Perhaps the problem lies in my needing to communicate more clearly within the track how exactly it is to be perceived. Maybe the drop should seem less like it's trying to be that type of drop and failing and more like it's supposed to be what it is. I know a bit about creating glitch-step and I know a bit about composing orchestral parts, so I wouldn't say there is no way I could do it. I've never done it before, so I would have to put a bork-ton of work into it, but it would be possible. Again though, that's not really what I had in mind style-wise for this track.

Could you elaborate on that a little? I'm not above hunting down samples and presets or researching new synth programming techniques, but I usually build the sounds in a track myself. IMO the mix kind of lost power at some point, but as a result of the FX and mixing not blending the existing instruments in a powerful enough way. Any suggestions for that? BTW, I have a idea for the name now: Cybernetic Acid Groove.

Version 6: (outdated link removed) In this new version, I created a sound I've been looking for an excuse to use and added it in. It gives it more of an industrial or technologic feel in my opinion, which is good because that reinforces the feelings of the original. The mixing and FX still need a bit of work to make it fit properly, but I'm thinking it fits in pretty well instrumentation-wise. Yes, it's still not a very long track(it's about 2:40), but I'm kind of wanting to keep this one to ~ 3 minutes. And ideas for penultimate adjustments or notes of significant problems before the finishing touches stage?

I've been looking for an opportunity to give my own take on Organic Electro in music form, mainly because I discovered it after dubbing a very similar genre I created as "Epic Cyberfunk." (I have since embraced the name Organic Electro instead;) However, I wanted to take the direction of this remix more toward classic Acid, since I love it so much but haven't had a chance to really use my skills in it yet. Something more toward modern Dance Electronica and Organic Electro is not out of the question, but I'm not sure I can maintain my inspiration that long since that would be the fourth reinterpretation and refocus of the same remix of a track I already made the mistake of overlistening to. I think you're right about extending it. I just need to start carrying a voice recorder with me, because all of my awesome ideas come while I'm doing something random away from my studio. Especially the arp thing, since I've kind of been noting that this sound is missing something that an arp would probably fill nicely.

This track is coming along nicely in my opinion. Here is the next WIP: (outdated link removed) I have most of the content and mixing done, but I'm a little unsure of the intro and ending. It's also pretty short(2 minutes, ten seconds) because the original did not have that much material to draw from. I'm thinking after I get critique from this I'll do one more WIP before moving on to "finished" status and adding the final touches.

This is NOT written from imported MIDI. I will try mixing up the arrangement a little more though, as now that you mention it it is pretty rigid to the original. I meant the original Jazz Jackrabbit isn't in the library and has no remixes, the sequel is there. The envelope problem you mentioned was right under my nose but I couldn't put my finger on it until you mentioned it. I know what a sync lead is, so I'll give it a try and see if it works. I kinda like the funky retro brass sound, but it isn't necessarily the best for this mix.

While this is my first post and first serious remix, I think music would be a better introduction than anything I can write. This is a remix of one of the first videogame music tracks I fell in love with, from a game OCRemix surprisingly does not have in its game archive, Jazz Jackrabbit. Here is the original: Here is my current remix version(link always kept up to date): https://dl.dropbox.com/s/n6ybmmgfxd4nrka/Cybernetic%20Acid%20Groove%20-%20WIP13.mp3 I need some harsher, higher standards critique on this, especially on the mixing/mastering side. This is mostly because I've been working on this track for enough hours that my ear for whether it's mixed properly or not is gone.