nOkbient

I really wish MAGfest didn't move to late january. I really thought I would finally be going this year, but I start college in mid January as well. Would totally be able to go and meet some of you beautiful people otherwise...MAN, FUCK.

This is a topic that irritates me. I can't tell you how many people have told me that "making things as loud as they can be is stupid because it removes dynamics." It entirely depends on what the composer is going for, and that should be obvious, but apparently some people have difficulty grasping this. Basically, If a listener doesn't need to adjust the volume after listening to other music, you're good. You don't want it to be too loud, or you might scare the shit out of someone, or give the elderly heart attacks. You don't want it to be too quiet, or someone might get into a car accident because they were too busy turning the volume up to see where they were going. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme. In either case, having a piece too quiet instead of too loud is, in my opinion, ALWAYS better. You can always make a track louder without much issue, but making an already loud track quieter is not easy if there's compression involved. All in all, make your pieces sound nice. If you think it's too loud, then turn it down a bit, and vice versa.

https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/chronus I spend a good long time making this, then forgot about it, then found it and finished it! Ahhh, the life cycle of a piece of music is a wondrous thing, no? I did some neat things with pads and other synths. Thoughts? Comments?

Alright. Thanks for the feedback n' such. I'll see if I can make some changes and add some variation to make it more interesting.

Original: I wanted to recreate the sound of the original. The only thing I'm not too entirely fond of is the little piano interlude in the middle, but I think part of that comes from me not liking the interlude itself. I'm super pleased with the way this turned out actually. I didn't do much variation because a lot of the atmosphere comes from the sinister, brooding repetition, and I thought it would mess things up if I changed too much structurally. When I initially started this remix, I thought about using some sort of neuro-bass and a ton of modulation, but after some trial and error, I actually liked the more original sound better, so there you go. Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Remix:https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/red-brinstar-remix

Original: So there has always been a few tunes from video games I have always wanted to remix but never gotten around to doing. This has always been one of them, if not the FIRST one. Well, I have finally gotten around to doing it, and finishing it! I think I did a pretty good job on it, too! After publishing it I replaced it with a version with a more pronounced snare drum, as the previous one was too soft and was getting buried. Remix:https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/yoshis-island-remix-intro Thoughts? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EDIT #2: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edit #2: https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/yoshi-start-demo-remix-ver2-wip I accidently removed the first edited version I made. Woops. Made some pretty drastic changes this time. -New intro. No longer identical to source. -I tried to do some new things with percussion. I made the kick a little bit more sub-heavy, and made the side-chain more prominent again. Also layered another snare drum, and did some EQ on it. Overall, I think the drums are what I'm having the most issue with. It's a weakness of mine, I suppose. -More variation in with basslines. -Chord changes and moderate adjustments to the arrangement. Hopefully not as hard to sit through for over 4 minutes . -Actual ending rather than a fadeout. -I replaced the strings I sampled from the source with a couple synths I made to sound similar. I initially wanted to replace them with something different altogether, but because of mixing, I had to keep them close to what I had before. Everything else I tried got buried significantly. (This is also the reason why it's been hard for me to get the snare to sound right.) I focussed entirely on arrangement for this edit, as Argle suggested, so any level issues overall can be changed 'n stuff.

Thanks, man! I think I'll need it haha

I made this for my high school talent show for senior year before I graduated. I basically performed it (partially) live while I recorded it through my audio interface. I say partially because I didn't have many options as a controller, so I controlled a majority of the automation/SFX and some levels. Basically I controlled a good portion of stuff as a partially-made track played underneath it! It's, as the name suggests, my second general Zelda remix I've done. I could have done a better job of mixing and EQ-ing some stuff, but I think I did a good job on it overall! https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/legend-of-zelda-remix-ii

Something I made a few months ago. It sounds like it could be a cross between Twilight Princess, Okami, and Metroid: Prime. I really enjoy making music like this, so feedback on it would be great! https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/wooden

I live in Indianapolis, IN. I live basically less than 5 minutes from ectogemia and Ben Briggs, but for some reason we never hang out. Other than that, I haven't seen another soul just out and about...

Hey! Not new here, just haven't been on in a loooooong time. Nice to meetcha!

Though I know it is a good game, and it has NES-ish difficulty, I'm just too worn out with this kind of thing. Indie games that try to be "retro" with all sorts of homages to the 8-bit era. If hundreds of games try and be quirky by making things "pixelated," it kind of loses its charm and gets tiresome. Maybe it's just me; that doesn't mean I think it's bad or anything, but I guess I feel like I've played it before. Is there anything this game has to offer that's new and cool that would make me want to get it?

Happy belated birthday, neighbor!

Man, every year I regret not going to MAGFest. This year was the worst. Next year I'm going, goddammit!

Oh man! Too many to list! As for oldies, I beat the SNES trifecta all in a row (Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and Link to the Past). Then I beat the first 4 Castlevanias. That was...hard, but very satisfying! I've been getting into Pokemon X after I got it for Xmas. Haven't played one since the GBA, so it's fun to get hooked into it again! Not very far in it yet though. Finally started to play Oddworld on the PS1. Really frustrating but extremely good. Mad I didn't play it sooner. I bought a couple PC games this year! Starbound, Super Meat Boy, and Don't Starve. All of them are fantastic, and Starbound is showing extreme potential despite still being in beta. So much more I'm forgetting, but 2013 was a pretty damn good year for gaming!

I second that. Also, not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but any one else think Starbound's logo is super slick? That is one slick logo...

Just for some clarification, what sort of "contract" are we talking about? I have no real experience in the legal matters of music and would like to know what I'm talking about when the occasion arrises. Is this a physical contract filled with legal what-have-you which the employer will provide, or is this just an agreed upon set of arrangements that you and your employer discuss regarding your rights? How does someone request such a contract if one isn't discussed?

Something ambient from a few years ago which I remade. All the synth patches are ones I made from scratch, so I'm fairly proud of this and how much I have improved. Enjoy! https://soundcloud.com/nokbient/infineternal

Not entirely sure if I can offer the best advice on this. I use a laptop for all my music and gaming. It's a pretty hefty thing though, and came with a built in Nvidia card. I know for a fact it's not the best one they offer, but I am perfectly capable of playing games on the best quality, even with overhauled graphical mods in some cases. That being said, unless you have a fetish for insanely high resolution on the biggest games, I'd say get something that's DECENT but not too cheap and not too expensive. Basically any graphics card now will work with modern games. Older games are different, and won always work with new ones though.

Happy 50th Dr.Who, yes. But a bigger happy 25th to Mystery Science Theater 3000!

I had a similar opportunity before but I kind of squandered it. I really regret it. Wish I had thought to ask for help...

Happeh barf day!

I would recommend IX. The art is beautiful, the characters are deep and well thought out, the story is involved and dramatic, the music is the best in the series... The one thing with this one is it's looooooong. You'll be lucky to beat this game without going over 100 hours of gameplay. There are tons of sidequests, each leading to some of the best items in the game, and many many many secrets. Very underrated, as it was overshadowed by the PS2 release. This is my favorite in the series and is one that sucks you in, but the length means that you probably won't finish it in one "run." Personally I thought X was awful. I don't get why people like it other than it was the first one on the PS2. The voice acting is SHIT and it takes away from the experience. There are too many cinematics; so much so that it gets annoying because you just want to play the game, and the villain is just...stupid. X and on, the layout became much more linear too, forcing you to play the game in a certain way. Some will disagree, but compared to its predecessors, it gets blown away.

Thats exactly what I thought at first too, but I just can't recreate it. I think there might be some subtle layering going on...

Does anyone know if the PS4 uses "blast processing"?