DarkDjinn

Like I said in your other post, this one is amazing. I can't wait to hear more from you, especially if it involves Chrono Trigger. I'd totally be interested in doing some kind of collab wth you shredding on that accordion.

I added the timpani because I'm not a big fan of songs just starting with no warning. It works sometimes but a lot of the time, especially with heavy guitars, it startles me if I have the volume up too loud. A good example of this is the song "Redemption" by Shadows Fall...used to make me jump every time I'd put the CD in because I would always forget how loud my car stereo was and how loud and suddenly the song started. I agree that the timpani adds a little "muddiness" as you say, but I still can clearly hear the timpani, and I think it's just something that goes along with using it in the first place. I might take it out later, I'm undecided. About sidechaining - I actually just learned what that was but I was unaware that I could do it in Garageband, so I'll have to look into that. In that last version I took the reverb off the solo/lead guitars almost completely and I think that was the best decision I've made regarding those. I'm going to wait a bit and see if anyone else has anymore comments that could help out before I label this one for Mod Review. Thanks for the hundredth time for your tips!

I would like my forum username changed to DarkDjinn please. I am now trying to avoid using my real name when possible. Thanks in advance.

Kind of a symphonic remix of the Final Fantasy 9 boss battle theme. This is part of a larger remix that I'm doing in two parts with the intention of putting them together later, and features a music box. This is the kind of introduction to the whole thing and it's my first attempt at using nothing but software instruments - I usually like to let my compositions be supported by my guitar playing but I'm determined not to do that this time. I would appreciate any comments, mostly regarding tips to make software instruments sound more realistic. Almost the entire thing was made with Miroslav Philharmonik, and a couple of tracks were done with SampleTank. https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8es1uhsw2xc0vj/FF9%20Boss%20Music%20Box.mp3

Timaeus, you've been great helping me out with this...I can't thank you enough for all your advice. I'll probably never be satisfied with it, even if I ever get this on the site, I'm sure I'll immediately notice something else I should have changed or fixed. That being said, I took everything from your last post into account and made adjustments to a lot of those things. Completely took out that tremolo effect, it was kind of dumb anyway. I still can't fix the volume issue (it's much louder than the first version I made) but I'll work on that later. Check it out: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h395cb37h99xlkz/Chill%20Out%2C%20Smithy%20010914.mp3

Holy Hades, I just realized I skipped over the part about you mentioning your Battle theme cover. You're awesome! I hope this isn't a dumb question - are you actually playing the accordion or is this sampled? I'm assuming you played it but I'm not familiar enough with accordions to be able to tell by ear.

Chrono Trigger is my favorite game EVER. To the point of...both of my arms are covered in tattoos, and one of those tattoos is Frog. This is awesome. I love this game and all of the music from it, I would love to hear more of this kind of stuff, keep it up!

This is probably spookier than the original. Awesome!

This sounds perfect for jumping over lava. Unless of course you were to fall in, then it might not fit so well. I like it!

Hello everyone - I'm working on a remix of this tune: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - Terrarium of Terror (Day) I started on this last night. It's going to be a "prog rock" kind of thing (something along the lines of "Wedding Nails" by Porcupine Tree - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To4sAz2g1Aw). I'd like to find someone with a lot of keyboard skill to handle the leads on this. I thought about just doing it all myself, but I'm not a keyboard player so I'd be just programming the parts. I'll be doing all the drums, bass, guitar, and a few other things here and there. I need YOU to blaze on those keys and bring this track to life! I have the general idea recorded, though it's not finished. I will send it to you upon request - I would rather keep it somewhat under wraps until it's done. Thanks in advance for your consideration

Finally got started on the Terrarium of Terror (Day) track! Hope more people sign on for this sooooon...

Newest version as of 01-06-14: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uss2m4ghxog308/Chill%20Out%2C%20Smithy%20010614.mp3 Biggest change in this is the guitars. If anyone has anymore EQ tips (especially regarding guitar/bass) I would love them. There are some other issues I noticed with this latest version but I'm actually just curious to see if it's just me or if anyone else hears them too.

Dude, these are great. You need to find a new game to get these into! I really like "Into the Wilderness."

Listening to a couple of these right now..."The Island" definitely makes me think of Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario type stuff in the beginning. I'll post more feedback soon, when I get time to listen to more. Good stuff!

This makes me think of a game trailer for something really (forgive the overused word) epic...I like this a lot.

Haha this is a fun song. This isn't the type of music I normally listen to but it sounds good as far as I'm concerned. Definitely weird like you said, but good stuff!

Yeah compression is new to me and I haven't fully grasped what it actually does yet. I just turned on one of the presets in Garageband and didn't change any settings on it. It sounded "better" to me so I left it. Still have to work on figuring it all out. I hear that stupid glitch at the beginning but I can't figure out how to make it stop. It's been there in every mixdown I've made. I just decided to ignore it until the very end because it seems like a simple problem that I just personally don't know how to fix. Also - that link you shared for your metal mixing guide does not work for me. I signed up for a Box account and it still says that the file is unavailable or that I am not allowed to access it. With the drums being too quiet - I can hear that the kick is too low now, but I'm not really hearing it with the snare. At any rate, the only thing I did for the drums was mess around with the EQ and boost a few things, mostly in the lower frequencies. When I take those EQ settings off, the drums sound really weak compared to the rest. I imagine that I can mess around with it some more and figure out something that sounds good, but I'm really doing a lot of trial and error instead of relying on actual knowledge. SO MUCH TO LEARN! Thanks for all your tips so far, by the way.

Updated version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t60it7jtun0sczp/Chill%20Out%2C%20Smithy%20010214.mp3 Didn't really change all that much, a few drum things here and there. Biggest noticeable difference is that I used compression on the master track. I still have no idea what I'm doing but it seemed to fix the volume problem. Uggh so bad at this part of it.

Yes it is certainly quiet. I don't know how to fix that issue though without causing other ones. I'm using Garageband, and when I raise the master volume, it starts (correct me if I'm using the wrong word) clipping (I mean it sounds all boomy and crackly, forgive my lack of terminology).

Thanks for the kind words. I don't think you were harsh enough though I'm always looking to improve! Thanks again! -Brad

Updated 01-14-14: -made the lead melody a bit louder (thanks for the suggestion Gario!) -brought the master volume up by 1 dB Hello everyone! I've been working on this track for a few months for the Super Dr. Mario RPG remix project (here: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42802) I feel like this track is essentially done, but this is my first VG remix and also my first time really paying a lot of attention to mixing, so I really need the feedback on that. You can see in the link the general premise of the Super Dr. Mario RPG project, but this track is supposed to serve as a "final battle" theme. Let me hear what you guys have to say! https://www.dropbox.com/s/3g3s7di61ff1nsn/Chill%20Out%2C%20Smithy%20011414.mp3 Source tunes: Super Mario RPG - Battle with Smithy Dr. Mario - Chill (and a little tiny bit of this...) Super Mario Bros 3 - Airship Thanks in advance! -Brad

How did this concert go? I didn't see this post until just now, I wish I had because I probably would have been able to make it.

For users of IKMultimedia's SampleTank, they're having one of their group buy promotions right now and for the next 4 days - buy one XpansionTank set for $15 and get 3 more for free. http://www.ikmultimedia.com/xtgb/

Wait, so what's the pun with the FFIX Battle Theme track title?

Yeah, it was the cello part that sounded pretty realistic. You played the various parts though?