Master Mi

I just came across it recently when a good friend told me that the Street Fighter series now also has a German character called Ed (who's been around since at least Street Fighter 5, though). And when I recently happened to listen to Ed's soundtrack theme with the real title "König oder Feigling" (it means "King or Coward") you will hear directly in the fight, it really knocked my socks off a bit, as it reached my expectant bunny knight ears in the form of a really stylish German rap track (a genre that is enjoying great popularity in this country these days). Here's a version of the soundtrack with English subtitles: Really charming groove, good messages, snappy rhymes and lush punchlines that keep building up, especially after the first part - plus the excellent electric guitar lines in the background. The skillful mix of rap and rock has a bit of a pretty cool RUN-D.M.C vibe. Basically a really good soundtrack that literally invites you to a workout, a spontaneous street fight or a more metaphorical battle against the adversities of life. The soundtrack was sung by Blumio, a Japanese rapper who grew up in Germany. The content of the soundtrack seems to be about both the life of the rapper and the life of the German character Ed. According to the story, Ed was abducted as a child or teenager by the criminal organization Shadaloo (or "Shadowlaw"), which deals in biochemical psycho-drugs and recruits many of the strongest fighters in the world, and was brought on the organization's course with these psycho-drugs and experiments, which apparently took away part of his soul in exchange for special powers based on "Psycho Power". He was prophesied that he would lose his ego or soul when he reached adulthood. And due to his superior fighting skills, he was destined to become the new heir to the throne of this organization, or at least his physical shell. Yet... The small spark of soul and willpower he still has left seems to be fighting back and fighting a completely new battle, the fate of which is still written in the stars. ... It is also interesting in this context that the Shadaloo organization was modelled on the Nazis or the fascist movement in general. Apart from a siegrune or a lightning bolt that appears in the skull logo of the Shadaloo organization, which is decorated with eagle wings, the Nazis also used various psychedelic drugs such as Pervitin (see "Panzerschokolade" or "tank chocolate") or methamphetamine to break people's wills and souls and turn them into performance-enhanced, disinhibited, but nevertheless obedient, brainwashed, unresisting fighting machines always ready for action (in the long term at the expense of their health and ultimately their lives) in line with their much more champagne-sipping and less combative leaders. Presumably the higher-ranking or "chosen" Nazis saw themselves as the leaders of an elite Roman state with a few leashed Celtic berserk warriors in the front row, who could be put into a fighting frenzy at the push of a button through appropriate propaganda, fear, hard punishments and psychedelic drugs and sent into any war without any bigger restance to be able to make use of the treasures and resources of other countries in a completely imperialistic manner. However, these elitist wannabes, many of whom came from high society or were at least their bootlickers, have probably forgotten something important that characterized the culture of the Celts and indigenous peoples in general. After all, a bioelectric form of energy called life force, which has many different names depending on the culture, can also - or in particular - put people into a state of ecstasy, bliss, joy and raging fighting spirit in a completely natural way. And apart from these artificial drugs, to which rather weak and small-minded people are susceptible, life force is also able to unleash one's own soul, which literally invites one to follow one's true nature or natural instincts against all odds ... ... perhaps remotely comparable to an untamed wild animal that also bites the hands of those who try to control it and keep it on a short leash for their own purposes. ... I have no idea whether, according to the Japanese game developers, this might also be a subliminal plot motif for the character Ed (who is perhaps trying to break out of the organization's control and go his own way), precisely because many Japanese developers of video games, films and anime often make such subliminal 'n' pretty witty allusions. But apart from the really good and meaningful message of always going your own way despite all adversity and following your true convictions, the soundtrack, especially in terms of composition ideas, is quite the banger. ))

Tips for the final checks of a mix and a better use of delay effects for more clarity in the mix ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good news. My Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 remix is finally finished. In terms of composition and mixing, I had already finished the remix according to my plan shortly after Christmas. I've already uploaded the finished remix to various streaming platforms. But before I share it with you here on OC Remix, I would like to spread the following information and tips on the subject of final checks of a mix and setting delay parameters for a clean mix in addition to another, somewhat more in-depth sound experiment on working with mono and stereo sound sources for the sake of cleaner mixing (this will be in my next post within this mixing thread, because this already quite long, comprehensive post would otherwise go massively beyond the scope here). I also found a really good solution for the remaining electric guitar track I wanted to compose in line with my vision of the soundscape and the mixing in the song "Everytime We Touch" sung by Maggie Reilly. This one got an incredible vibe and radically elevates the entire electric guitar section once again. I have also greatly increased the MIDI velocity dynamics at suitable points in the soundtrack once more. The whole composition and mix is really good now and I'm absolutely satisfied and confident with it. Even a friend of mine, who is by far the most critical listener of my tracks in my circle of friends, told me that he now likes my new remix version even better than the original track "The Price of Freedom" - and that really says a lot, especially for someone who nearly always finds the original soundtracks better than most remixes of them. ... The bad news is that the final checks, where I actually checked each of the 45 tracks (23 instrument tracks and 22 aux send tracks) in detail and sometimes changed and adjusted minor things until I was absolutely satisfied, took much longer than expected (ranging from a few minutes to over an hour per track). Then, after Christmas, I also met up again with a good friend, gamer buddy and passionate fan of the Japanese culture from my student days, who I hadn't met for a good 2 years because he had quit his really good job in the civil service due to some serious upheavals with a superior, moved back near his relaxed home village and this year, after several applications, found a job in the civil service again with apparently much more pleasant and far-sighted superiors. I was really looking forward to finally continuing to watch the legendary martial arts anime "Fist of the North Star" with him after all this time. In addition, another friend asked me the days after Christmas if it would be possible to have a few gaming days. And together we played through Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 Reunion right into the new year and, after several attempts, even managed to defeat the hardest secret boss in the whole game. The really funny thing after waking up on the first day of the new year was that my mailbox showed exactly 777 unread emails (mostly DAW, VSTi and synthesizer news, which I often skip because I'm pretty happy with the stuff I own, want to use it better before buying new stuff, and prefer to radically improve my composing skills these days). When the number 777 shows up during the modulation phase in Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 (Reunion), it means a level-up for the main character Zack. But I've really gotten used to such exaggerated number combinations in my life. There have been far more gnarly cases, starting with some rather trivial-looking shopping receipts with a bill of exactly 7.77 euros, plus the number 777, which I once drew at the citizens' office for the waiting list, then when I googled the world population in 2020 and it was apparently exactly 7,77 billion people or when I was on the search engine Ecosia (a rather idealistic company that uses most of its income for ecological projects such as tree planting and growing organic food in the world) when this page showed 7777777 planted trees that had been planted with the help of Ecosia. Maybe I'll start a thread someday with a title "Haunted by numbers" (especially since I've collected the relevant papers, receipts, movie tickets with such numbers or made screenshots of the relevant numbers over the years). If I wasn't so happy with my working income and down-to-earth lifestyle (I don't even bother with tax refunds - but more because I don't want all this paperwork and prefer to spend my free time doing more joyful things like making music), I could really go to the casino and try to hit a few jackpots with my Lucky 7 mode activated. ... In the last few days of my vacation, I also wanted to complete the final checks of my Crisis Core remixes in a fitting transition. But just then winter set in and I had to do winter maintenance on both weekend days, followed by the working week and then winter maintenance again on the following weekend (similar to these days, where I was supposed to chop up frozen earth and gravel with a pickaxe or do a lot of earthworks with a wheelbarrow, shovel and rake this week due to an official ban on the use of certain machines, I was eagerly looking forward to a quiet weekend and was then greeted with a full onset of winter and 2 large winter service jobs just in time for the end of the week - not exactly the most favorable conditions to focus my thoughts on creative, time-consuming music projects). After that, things slowly calmed down again. When the order situation at my company slowed down a bit, I was finally able to put in a lot of overtime and take a few days off to do the final checks on my remix last week. ... Since the final checks of a mix can be very time-consuming, but definitely worthwhile, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with a small checklist with useful tips on what you should pay particular attention to in the final production phase of the mix, including exporting the final audio file. So, let's start right away with... The final checks: --------------------- 1) I assume that you already have a reasonable folder structure for your music projects, something like: "Folder for music projects" >>> "Subfolder for a specific music project" >>> all music project files, audio files, text files (for a description of the remix, soundtrack or other audio program or the changes made in the latest updates of the work) as well as image, video and video project files (if you want to add some atmospheric visual content to your audio work and upload it) that belong to this music project... If not, I would approach it in this or a similar way in the long term. 2) Before you start the final checks, open the most advanced version of the music project file for your DAW in which you have already finished the composition and mixing. Save this version as another version of the music project file under a different name (perhaps something like "Your Music Project File - Final Checks"). If any serious mistakes happen in this new music project file during the final checks (e.g. unintentional, irreversible deletion of objects or MIDI data), then you still have at least one or more back-up versions of your music project. 3) Check all the details in a track according to a defined scheme with a corresponding sequence that seems reasonable to you. In my case, the order during the final checks was as follows: A) source signal track (track 1 with the piano intro, for example): panning >>> VSTi settings >>> direct plugin insert effects including settings of the EQ plugin >>> aux send feedback B) aux send track related to the source signal track (track 24 with the reverb for the piano in this case): panning >>> plugin effects including settings of the EQ plugin C) checking the audio and MIDI objects in the source signal track (especially position and content) D) final listening (both of the individual track with all effects in solo mode from start to finish and then again as a complete soundtrack with a good focus on the individual source signal track) The procedure is then repeated with the following source signal track (track 2 with the acoustic guitar chords in my case) and all the associated things mentioned - and so on until you have checked all the tracks in detail at the end. When I had finished checking a source signal track and the associated effects, audio and MIDI data and audio samples, I used to mark the next source signal track with the solo button for orientation and saved the project again (especially after minor and major changes and adjustments). This way, when I continued the final checks at a later point in time, I always knew which track I had stopped at last and that I had really saved again before starting the next track. 4) Yeah, you should really save your music project regularly during the final checks - perhaps also on another project file for the final checks and then always save both final check project files alternately, so that the time losses in the event of possible errors or unintentional deletion of audio or MIDI data during the final checks are always kept to a minimum. 5) When you check the panning of a source signal track, also make sure that the panning of the track with the corresponding aux effect send is in the correct or desired relationship to each other (for example, uniform panning or rather opposite panning). For the sake of clear mixing and with the help of your DAW's display and metering functions, make sure that only a few source signals from the instruments, synths, etc. (especially bass, kick drum, snare drum, toms and cymbals) affect the center area in the mix, while the other source signals (guitars, pianos, lead synths, chords and pad sounds, for example) completely ignore the center area in the mix and only play on the sides (e.g. a piano that plays with -15 dB on the left and -20 dB on the right without center involvement). To ensure a clear mix, also make sure that all aux reverb sends are only ever panned to the sides and never involve the center area (regardless of whether this is the reverb of a violin or the reverb of a kick drum), as reverb in the center area can quickly make the soundtrack sound muddy and washed out. 6) When you check the VSTi settings, the plugin effects and aux send feeds of the source signal tracks and the plug-in effects of the aux tracks, not only make sure that they are all set correctly, but above all that they are activated at all (in the arranger matrix as well as in all subordinate settings). If you still have deactivated plugins and effects in a track that you may have used to experiment with sound design, I would delete them completely at this point - not primarily for the sake of better computing power in your DAW, but above all for more clarity and a better overview in your music project. In this step, make sure that the plugin effects are arranged in the correct or desired order along the signal processing chain. 7) When you check the audio and MIDI objects within a track, check the position of the start and end points of all objects within a track with maximum zoom to make sure that they are correctly positioned in time and that you have not inadvertently moved an object slightly. Ideally, you should make sure right from the start that objects are only moved to the defined points in a timing pattern (and not at arbitrary small intervals) - there should a special function for this in every standard DAW. Once this has been done, you can take another look at the content of the objects, especially the content of the MIDI objects. For example, it may be the case that a starting note is displayed but not played if the MIDI object is subsequently edited and the note would start before the MIDI object. The last note in the object should also be checked again to ensure that it is still safely within the MIDI object and is not chopped off prematurely. In such cases, you can also extend the MIDI object by one bar forwards or backwards. Also make sure that there is no unwanted overlapping of consecutive MIDI notes of the same pitch or even accidental doubling of MIDI notes (especially if you draw the MIDI notes with the mouse). I would also pay particular attention to any keyswitch notes, which are used to change the way the instruments are played. It can happen that you accidentally set a keyswitch note outside the available keyswitch "pitch" and therefore either no change in the playing style is triggered at all or, in the worst case, an unwanted noise is heard, which may be somewhat lost in the overall soundtrack, but is still audible. Again, make sure that the keyswitch notes are also in the correct position in terms of time so that always the right notes are triggered by a change in playing style (place the keyswitch notes temporally slightly before the actual notes with the desired playing style). This is why, when composing via MIDI, you should always completely quantize and humanize the notes before placing the keyswitch notes, so that there are no subsequent shifts with undesired articulations or strangely played notes. 8) At the end of the final checks of each track, listen to this track again - first in solo mode with all objects within this track and then again from beginning to end as an entire soundtrack with a precise focus on the individual track. If it is a pure MIDI track, I would also run the MIDI editor again while playing all MIDI objects and check whether any missing or incorrect notes or inappropriate articulations can be identified or whether the MIDI velocity dynamics should perhaps be reduced or increased in suitable places or whether the velocity, loudness and articulation of the virtual instruments and synthesizers should generally be varied a little more. 9) When you have finished all this, check all tracks and the master track again to make sure that the volume is still correct everywhere and that the level peaks do not exceed the 0 dB mark at any point in the soundtrack, someting that would lead to unwanted clipping or a technically unclean production. With my own mixing system, I always mix the individual tracks in a very relaxed and forward-looking way, whereby even the level peaks of the loudest track in the entire soundtrack often just level out at -10 dB. This means you don't always have to keep such an anxious eye on the tracks and you always have enough headroom for subsequent dynamic changes in the composition or mix, which can be accompanied by a change in loudness and level peaks, without having to change the volume of all single tracks again. The loudness and level peaks of the individual tracks in the mixer should only describe the relationship between the individual tracks and not primarily generate a final volume for the soundtrack. You rather set the final volume or the target loudness of the complete soundtrack via the master track, for which I usually add a volume helper plugin to the master track in order to be able to set the desired target loudness in dB precisely to the first decimal place. If you check the level peaks of the individual tracks again, pay attention not only to the values displayed by your arranger or mixer, but also to what the integrated metering functions in the used sampler, amplifier and sound design plugins show you. Even if a completely safe level peak value is displayed in the arranger or mixer, it is quite possible that the input value for level peaks in the sampler plugin or guitar amplifier plugin in this track is sometimes slightly exceeded at some points in the soundtrack - especially if you have only switched a signal source from stereo to mono in between (despite subsequently adjusting the loudness), which happened to me once during my final sound experiment that I am still preparing these days. When checking the level peaks, it's also worth taking another look at the spetroscope or the spectrum analyzer tool in your DAW to find any excessive level peaks that might be only in certain frequency ranges (mostly in the lower frequency range). With many remixes on OC Remix, but also with numerous remasters of official soundtracks and modern audio productions, I accidentally noticed that there is sometimes blatant clipping in the bass range (in some cases around 10 dB above the limit!) or in the lower mid-range. Even if slight clipping in the bass range should hardly have any effect on the sound, it is still somehow a technical flaw in the mix. However, this phenomenon is most likely a direct consequence of the decades-long loudness war in the era of digital music production, in which the increasing use of compressors and limiters led to soundtracks being mastered closer and closer to the 0dB limit with ever decreasing level peaks, causing individual frequency ranges to exceed the limit - and all this just to be able to surpass the musical "competitors" in terms of loudness, according to the small-minded, tone-deaf adman motto: "Whoever is louder gets more attention, more listeners and more record sales." 10) Before you export your music project as a final audio file, restart your computer again (preferably offline) to clear your RAM and have the maximum system resources available for exporting the audio file, whereby no other programs that are not relevant to the system should be opened or started after the restart. This reduces the likelihood of any unwanted sound effects (such as small crackling sounds, individual, slightly blurred sound events or other errors) creeping into the exported audio file. After exporting the audio file, I would listen to it at least twice from start to finish with good studio headphones before processing it further or uploading it directly to an appropriate platform. The same applies to exporting videos with appropriate video editing software (whereby you should not only pay attention to the sound in the exported video file, but also in particular to the transition animations between images and video material). 11) Always keep your music project files and generally save all your important data every year on an external hard disk or comparable data carrier! In particular, this also includes all the custom presets for software instruments, synths, plugins and DAW settings. Especially with music project files, you never quite know whether you might need them again in the future - even if it's just to export an additional version of the track in a certain audio bitrate or because you might have noticed an unattractive sound artifact in the exported MP3 years later. But if you need all those music project files and presets and still have them, you can save a lot of time and maybe even lives. As a rule, I always have several music project files for each soundtrack or remix (the current and best version as well as various alternative versions that went in a different musical direction or that I simply used for saving and overwriting). My Crisis Core remix resulted in around 10 versions, which I also used for a stereo width experiment that I will be presenting soon. As I can also open several music project files simultaneously in my DAW, I also like to use this feature to directly compare different mixing and composition ideas in a remix or soundtrack project and to see which approach I will pursue in the course of the music project. … The last thing I want to mention in this almost book-length text is an experience I had some time ago with stereo delay in the context of better clarity in the mix, and I'll copy some of it from another thread I recently wrote about it. Better use of delay effects for more clarity in the mix: ------------------------------------------------------------------ I came across a very interesting thing with the delay effect that could be more relevant for mixing and clarity in the mix. I found this out the other days during the rather lengthy final checks of my Crisis Core remix. For example, in certain parts of the soundtrack there were tracks with instruments that were opposite each other in the panorama and both had a delay effect. And I changed the delay parameters until I found the best possible settings in terms of clarity in the mix in line with my sound design intentions, which resulted in a primarily more mirror-symmetrical arrangement of the delay parameters and a another specific setting for delay times of the left and right side in a stereo delay plugin. In this experiment I found out that I achieved the best clarity in the mix if I make the delay settings like this: 1) For the instrument that is panned more to the right side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms) on the right side (so you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms) on the opposing left side (so you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) 2) For the instrument that is panned more to the left side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms, or maybe 330 ms this time) on the left side (same purpose like in the first example above - you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms, or maybe only 190 ms this time) on the opposing right side (same purpose like in the first example above - you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) Here is a small picture to give you a better idea of delay settings like this: On the left side of the picture you can see the stereo delay settings of an electric guitar that is panned hard to the left side (stereo delay left side: 253 ms, stereo delay right side: 203 ms) - and on the right side of the picture you can see the stereo delay settings of an electric guitar that is panned hard to the right side (stereo delay left side: 203 ms, stereo delay right side: 253 ms). ... Nevertheless, if you really want to have a rather chorus-like short delay with only 50 ms on the right side where also the instrument is located in the panorama (and with the longer delay time on the other side) according to your sound design vision, then you should rather go for this setting (maybe you can turn down the feedback of the delay for the other side a bit or make the delay time even shorter on the left side in this case). But if some delay effects don't follow a more specific purpose in your sound design vision and are only supposed to add a greater feeling of distance for your instrument, voice, synth or other audio source, then try at least to balance out delay effects against each other in the panorama if at least two instruments with delay effects play simultaneously at some points in your soundtrack. And sometimes, a little bit less of overwhelming effects can be the greater blessing for the clarity of the mix. Especially in terms of a clean mix, it is crucial to know exactly what a certain plugin effect is doing in the mix in the context of the source signal and how it's interfering with the whole soundscape. ... Take special care with delay effects that they are not active during tempo automation, as this can lead to unpleasant clicking and crackling noises, because this would obviously create a kind of digital time paradox if the spreading sound wave, which later becomes the echo of a preceding signal source, were subjected to a tempo change in the middle of its sound path. Since the signal source takes place before the echo, the time-related tempo relationship between the signal source and the echo is likely to become inconsistent during tempo automation, which would then seem to produce such strange sound artifacts. ... That's it for now with the rather comprehensive content on the topic of this post. In my next post, I will present a more in-depth sound experiment, with corresponding audio examples, on the extended utilization and adaptation of the stereo width of the tracks in the sense of a clearer mix. It will mainly focus on four roughly categorized variants for a fixed and meaningful part in my Crisis Core remix, which contain stereo and mono sources in different combinations, in order to then examine the effect on the clarity and spatiality of the mix and compare the different versions on as many different playback systems as possible. The four versions will contain: 1) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends 2) Mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends 3) Mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends 4) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends The sound experiment will also include a mono compatibility check of the master track for each version. To do this, I have to set up the entire remix four times, realigning the panning and readjusting the loudness of the individual tracks to each other, in order to create the corresponding, hopefully significant audio comparison material. But don't worry. After many hours and really tedious days, I have already put a good 75% of it into practice. However, as I don't know what's coming up soon in terms of work and winter maintenance, I can't say exactly how many days or weeks it will take before I can present the sound experiment. However, I will keep at it and try to make the best possible use of free hours. ))

@Xaleph It seems to be a delay that is directly integrated into the reverb, which merges or can merge directly with the reverb signal if there is also something like a parallel circuit option. In this case, it could even be that the DAW treats the effect as a reverb and not as a time-based effect like a delay at all. This could be interesting to handle a time-based problem that often occurs with separate delay effects in connection with tempo automations and leaves crackling or clicking noises as unwanted sound artifacts in the mix. Have you ever noticed this kind of noise when using this plugin in combination with tempo automations (directly at the positions of tempo change markers) in a mix?

I have a final problem with my newly finished Crisis Core remix, where I added some tempo automations to slow down the final chords gradually from 121 bpm to 115 bmp in 6 fine steps (120 bpm, 119 bpm, 118 bpm, 117 bpm, 116 bpm and 115 bpm). But this caused some sort of subliminal but still noticeable crackling noises (in the project as well as in the exported audio file) at the points with the tempo change markers. I think I've already found the cause behind this problem, but maybe some of you can contribute some further information, experience or maybe even a solution to even circumvent the nasty sound artefacts. The problem sounds like this: Tempo Automations - Crackling Noises.mp3 It's strange that the crackling noises in the exported audio files are always in this little area with the tempo automations, but from export to export or from replay to replay the noises are slightly different (in one exported audio file the crackling noises might be less loud and much more around the first tempo change markers, but in another exported audio file the noises are louder and more around the final tempo markers). There are no hints that it could be due to some hardware issues. And my PC is also pretty powerful (i-6700 processor system - 4 cores with 3,4 GHz base frequency as well as 8 threads in total, 32 GB DDR-4 RAM, still far over 1 TB of free HDD space and a good Steinberg UR44 audio interface). I also checked the settings in my DAW, already used the highest ASIO buffer size and tried out all kinds of settings in the resampling, bouncing and dithering section - but no difference regarding the crackling noises in the area with the tempo change markers. ... The thing is, that these crackling noises seem to be only caused by the source signal. The aux reverb sends played alone didn't contain any unwanted noises, as you can hear in this audio sample: Tempo Automations - No Crackling Noises In The Aux Reverb Send Tracks.mp3 And after focusing more on the source signals of the two instruments (harp playing the melody and acoustic guitar playing the chords), I found out that only one of the two instruments causes this problem with the clicks or crackling noises - the harp: Tempo Automations - Crackling Noises Only In The Harp Track.mp3 The acoustic guitar, on the other hand, is completely free of crackling noises during the final tempo automations, as you can hear in the following audio sample: Tempo Automations - No Crackling Noises In The Acoustic Guitar Track.mp3 ... So could this be a VSTi-based issue (even with a VSTi that was created for this DAW?), or is it rather a problem caused by something completely different? ... As it seems, this phenomenon of crackling noises during tempo automations seems to annoy users of all kinds of DAWs and samplers: https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=248259#p1815867 https://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=306707 https://harderstate.com/viewtopic.php?t=13757 https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=174397 https://www.logicprohelp.com/forums/topic/122298-clicks-and-pops-during-tempo-changes/ https://forum.synapse-audio.com/viewtopic.php?p=118754&sid=9f368a4bf687d83282f07bf8d1ff33a1 https://vi-control.net/community/threads/kontakt-delay-clicking-with-tempo-changes.18614/ … And it was right in the latter links that I came across the point that these clicking noises during the tempo automations can be caused by delay effects. Indeed, this makes sense, which is why in the end only the harp is affected by these unwanted sound artifacts. In contrast to the acoustic guitar, I have activated an internal delay directly in the VSTi interface of the harp. I also use a slight delay for the acoustic guitar - but this is added via a separate aux send together with some convolution reverb. And as a separate aux send, the delay effect doesn't seem to cause any problems during the tempo automations, no matter how much I turn up the delay in all its settings. So if I deactivate the internal delay in the harp VSTi interface, the crackling noises are gone as well, as you can hear in the last audio sample: Tempo Automations - No More Crackling Noises In The Harp Track After Deactivating Internal Delay From Harp VSTi Interface.mp3 … Why it is that direct delay effects in the source signal track cause problems or crackling noises with tempo automations, but delay effects that are added via aux sends apparently work without problems at the critical points with tempo change markers, is completely beyond my technical or digital imagination. Perhaps someone can gently explain this to the readers, even if they are not the presidents of the local math and physics clubs or some die-hard computer scientists with a degree in military or space technology. This is a bit frustrating, especially since I can't really reproduce the original delay from the VSTi with a comparable delay as an aux send. It somehow always sounds different (even with similar settings), which could perhaps be due to the signal chain in the digital process sequence, which apparently produces a different sound with the VSTi's internal delay. I have also just found out that even with an aux send delay for the harp, if I turn it up properly, it can also produce crackling noises - much less crackling noises than with the VSTi's internal delay, but still perceivable crackling noises. … So if this ends up in the final question "Rather delay effects or rather tempo automations?", I would tend to go with the delay effects instead of the few unremarkable tempo automations for the final chords in this case. Maybe I find a circumvention to slow down the last chords by shifting and stretching the last MIDI notes a bit out of the timing pattern. But if you have a better solution for this problem, please let me know. ))

I think we should make a better distinction between reverb and delay. Reverb creates impressions of more or less natural reflections in a simulated space or environment with variable parameters such as room size, damping, dryness/wetness (ratio of the loudness of the source signal to the loudness of the reverb) for a specific acoustic source signal, an instrument for example. Delay, on the other hand, is a time-based effect that generates multiplications of the source signal in subsequent intervals according to defined parameters (such as the duration of an interval, feedback or decrease in the loudness of the signal from interval to interval or maybe some special behavior of the delay effects in the stereo image with ping-pong delay, for example). This thread is primarily concerned with the delay effect and its possibilities for simulating specific realistic room conditions. And I may have simply overestimated the potential of a delay effect in this respect, especially when it comes to the exact positioning of a source signal in a defined simulated room. I almost think that a delay effect is more about creating a sense of certain distances to reflective surfaces such as walls, ceilings or, for example, the heavily delayed echo in a valley surrounded by mountains without getting specific information about the position of the signal source and the direction and path of the sound, but only information about the distance that the main part of the sound travels from the signal source via the reflective surfaces back to the source signal). In addition, Delay can perhaps also simulate the characteristics of certain surfaces (for example, very smooth surface structures that emit strong reflections in many subsequent intervals or rather dull, absorbent surfaces that damp sound waves so strongly from the first impact that hardly any audible echos can be perceived afterwards). Furthermore, delay can produce a noticeable broadening of a signal or a kind of chorus effect if the interval time (i.e. the delay time) for the subsequent signals is greatly reduced. But Delay as a stand-alone effect obviously cannot create the impression of complex spatial relationships or even provide concrete indications of the exact positioning of the source signal in a room or other location, which is why delay as a solo effect sounds more artificial than natural. ... On the other hand, I came across a very interesting thing with the delay effect that could be more relevant for mixing and clarity in the mix. I found this out the other days during the rather lengthy final checks of my Crisis Core remix, which included checking all tracks, aux sends, plugins, settings and MIDI objects again and which is now finally complete apart from a small problem (cracking noises in the newly added tempo automations in the final chords). For example, in certain parts of the soundtrack there were tracks with instruments that were opposite each other in the panorama and both had a delay effect. And I changed the delay parameters until I found the best possible settings in terms of clarity in the mix in line with my sound design intentions, which resulted in a primarily more mirror-symmetrical arrangement of the delay parameters and a another specific setting for delay times of the left and right side in a stereo delay plugin. So, in this experiment I found out that I achieved the best clarity in the mix if I make the delay settings like this: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) For the instrument that is panned more to the right side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms) on the right side (so you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms) on the opposing left side (so you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) 2) For the instrument that is panned more to the left side: - put the longer delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 310 ms, or maybe 330 ms this time) on the left side (same purpose like in the first example above - you won't clutter the side of the instrument with too many echos or too fast repetitions of the source signal) - put the shorter delay time of the stereo delay (let's say 200 ms, or maybe only 190 ms this time) on the opposing right side (same purpose like in the first example above - you also get some sort of a more frequented impression of the instrument's delay on the opposing side) ... Nevertheless, if you really want to have a rather chorus-like short delay with only 50 ms on the right side where also the instrument is located in the panorama (and with the longer delay time on the other side) according to your sound design vision, then you should rather go for this setting (but maybe you can turn down the feedback of the delay for the other side a bit or make the delay time even shorter on the left side in this case). But if some delay effects don't follow a more specific purpose in your sound design vision and are only supposed to add a greater feeling of distance for your instrument, voice, synth or other audio source, then try at least to balance out delay effects against each other in the panorama if at least two instruments with delay effects play simultaneously at some points in your soundtrack. And sometimes, a little bit less of overwhelming effects can be the greater blessing for the clarity of the mix. Especially in terms of a clean mix, it is crucial to know exactly what a certain plugin effect is doing in the mix in the context of the source signal and how it's interfering with the whole soundscape. ... This might have literally delayed my ambitions for remixes and mixes a bit, but I hope this can at least help someone figure out how to set good delay parameters for a better mix. ... If it's more about reverb than delay, rather post it in this thread: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/49135-creating-a-realistic-impression-of-depth-in-stereo-mixes/ That could indeed be very interesting. ))

Yeah, I think that there 's quite a lot of passionate effort behind this work. Of course, it doesn't have the quality level of an official work developed by Hideo Kojima and distributed by Konami. But in many respects it's pretty close - especially when it comes to the atmosphere and the excellent storytelling. ... As far as the "stolen art" factor is concerned, I don't have the necessary background knowledge to confirm or refute this. At least I couldn't find any of those drawings and artworks on the internet - and even if the person didn't create it all on their own or with a team involved, you still don't know if they didn't get permission from the possible creators. But if you got some solid hints which prove this, let us know. The only thing I've noticed in this regard is that he or she obviously used some excerpts of the original soundtracks from the Metal Gear game series, which might fall under the "fair use" conditions, at least on YouTube, I guess. ... Nevertheless, the overall work is really impressive and passionate fan service at its best for all those who love to follow the deep and complected story of the Metal Gear universe straight from the very beginning. ))

Sorry for the late response - just recognized some days before that somebody could need some help with professional studio headphones. I'll give you a detailed answer, as I own 3 different studio headphones myself (closed-back model: Sony MDR-7506, semi-open model: Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro, open model: Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro) and have also extensively tested many well-known studio headphones (like AKG/Austrian Audio, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica) in several music and technology stores. For more information and recommendations regarding good studio heaphones, you can also use the search function in the upper right corner of the OC Remix webpage interface, because there are already some threads for this topic. But to make it short. The best studio headphones model I ever experienced, was and still is the >>> Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro <<< (250-ohms model, originally in the silver design - if you go for the black edition of the DT 880 Pro model, just buy and attach the silver velour pads called "EDT 990 V" for a comparable frequency response and sound experience: https://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-880-Over-Ear-Studio-Headphone/dp/B001B1QENY https://www.thomann.co.uk/beyerdynamic_dt_880_pro_black_edition.htm The Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro convince with the following features: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - one of the best and finest audio resolution in studio headphones I have ever experienced (really clear bass, mids and highs) - very even, neutral and natural frequency response (no exaggerated bass, treble or reduced mids), which is very beneficial when mixing - organic, dynamic, airy, relaxed and analytical sound image (if a piano is playing softly somewhere in the background slightly right behind the strings, that's pretty much exactly what you'll hear - and sometimes even the touch of various instruments or maybe the thumping of a fierce bunny) - very large, authentic sound stage (also good for watching films - you literally feel like you're right in the middle of the action) - extremely comfortable to wear (really large velour pads that lie relaxed over your ears, almost like pillows from the Cloudland) - I can't say too much about the longevity yet - but after about 5 years they could still be my first ones from this model if I hadn't had the reckless idea of vacuuming the velour pads with a vacuum cleaner (and damaging the membranes in the process)... Other Beyerdynamic headphone models such as the DT 770 Pro (closed-back model) or DT 990 Pro (open model) don't stand much of a chance against the DT 880 Pro because they tend to have exaggerated bass or sharp to piercing highs, which can quickly tire the ears and adversely affect the mixing quality. Even the newer models such as the DT 900 Pro X (with which I immediately had no sure feeling how to mix anything, because - presumably due to the extremely thick velour pads - somehow everything on the sound stage sounded like it was playing far in the background) somehow can't quite keep up with the good old DT 880 Pro model. However, bear in mind (especially if you want to use the DT 880 Pro for online multiplayer games) that these headphones are a semi-open model - this means that a little sound penetrates into the headphones from the outside as well as out of the headphones from the inside (at normal listening volume, however, it only sounds like a soft whisper approx. 50 cm away from the headphones). So if you absolutely insist on buying a well-shielded closed-back headphone model, I could recommend this one as the next best studio headphones model I've experienced over the years, the Japanese Audio-Technica ATH-M50X: https://www.thomann.co.uk/audio_technica_ath_m50_x.htm The Audio-Technica ATH-M50X convince with the following features: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - really good audio resolution and sound stage for a closed-back headphones model - also a very even frequency response - kinda similar sound image like that of the DT 880 Pro - quite comfortable to wear - Thanks to the detachable cable, you can even (especially for online multiplayer games) attach an additional microphone and turn these studio headphones into a little studio headset. If my closed-back studio headphones, the Sony MDR-7506, were to break at some point, I would definitely replace them with the closed-back Audio Technica ATH-M50X. ... I hope I was able to help you a little with this. ))

Using specific stereo widths for instrument and direct signal tracks for more clarity and assertiveness in the mix and for a more impressive representation of panorama and spatiality in the soundtrack -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ready for another round of text, visuals and audio samples to show how I've improved my mix? Well then, let's go. ... Recently, I finally got round to working on the remaining drum tracks in my almost finished Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 remix. In contrast to the previous drum kit reverb (one aux reverb send for all individual drum elements), I created separate aux reverb sends for each drum element so that I could finally process the reverb for all drum elements individually and place it more precisely in the panorama. I experimented a lot with this (including counter-panning the instrument and the corresponding aux reverb send), but in this specific case I came to the conclusion that the mix sounded best and most credible when I panned the reverb for the cymbals, snare and toms in a similar way to the individual drum components. I only made a small exception with the centered kick drum and panned its reverb a little more to the right side (approx. 5 dB more than on the left side - as usual, I panned the aux reverb send hard to the sides without involving the centre) in order to be able to balance the slightly leftward position of the snare and snare reverb with the reverb of the bass and its slightly rightward position in the mix a little better. That alone made it sound a little bit cleaner and kinda sorted. … But thanks to my curiosity and love of experimentation, I immediately pursued another question with the drums, namely whether I could achieve a further improvement in the mixing if I also reduced the stereo width of the drum elements in the direct signal even more or even set them to mono (and only used the reverb of the drum elements on the sides to give the respective drum element in the overall signal with reverb the spatial width in the mix) - similar to what I had already done with the bass in the previous audio samples in the last post. I had already reduced all the drum elements to a stereo width of around 50% for some time. In previous posts I've written about how the direct signal from the bass should only play in the centre of the mix if possible and can be widened through its reverb at the sides (and made into a clear, un-muddied stereo signal), while most drum elements come across fully well in the mix in their direct signals, if they are located somewhere between the sides (with the majority of the instruments and the aux reverb sends) and the centre of the mix (with the dry bass direct signal) - in case of doubt, it is better to move the dry drum signals a little more towards the centre than too far to the sides, because in the latter case the drum elements would lose a lot of their punch in the mix. Of course, you can also place all drum elements in the direct signal completely mono in the centre (this could be a consideration if the other instruments and signals are already playing very lively in the mix and are already making generous use of the stereo width). However, even with a well-designed stereo reverb for the individual drum elements, you won't be able to get much sum signal stereo width and a significant representation of spatiality for the respective drum element with its reverb in the mix in this case. … As I wrote earlier, I didn't notice any real sound improvements in the drum elements such as snare, toms and cymbals after I further reduced the stereo width of the respective direct signal without reverb, starting from an existing stereo width of approximately 50%, or even set it completely to mono. As a result, the spatial effect of these drum elements suffered rather than giving them noticeably more assertiveness in the mix. But the kick drum was a little different. During my experiments, I even came to the conclusion that the mix (in this particular soundtrack) is best enhanced if I set the kick drum in the direct signal to mono in the centre and achieve the spatial effect solely via the reverb of the kick drum on the sides. This gives you plenty of power and assertiveness in the centre of the mix and also provides really good clarity, a better fine resolution in the sound and a more finely staggered panorama with a more impressive spatiality in the mix. ... I'll demonstrate it for you in the following audio recording excerpts in a direct comparison between the previous version and the new version of the soundtrack. The old version is mainly defined by: - a kick drum with a stereo width of around 50% in the direct signal - remaining drum elements with a stereo width of around 50% in the direct signals - one single aux reverb send for all drum elements of the whole drum kit The new version is mainly defined by: - a kick drum set fully to mono within the center of the mix in the direct kick drum signal - remaining drum elements with a stereo width of around 50% in the direct signals (like in the old version) - 4 individual aux reverb sends for 4 different drum elements … So, let's start with the audio samples. 1) Comparison of the direct signals of the kick drums (kick drums without reverb) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Old version: Kick Drum Direct Signal - Old Version.mp3 For a kick drum, the sound seems pretty bold, stable and... ... dry like a huge sand desert. In the section with the metering devices on the picture down below you can see how the kick drum behaves in the stereo field: The vectorscope on the far left and the directional indicator to the right of the vectorscope show how much of the total stereo field is taken up by the kick drum - pretty much exactly as I set it, about 50% of the full stereo width. … New version: Kick Drum Direct Signal - New Version.mp3 Doesn't seem to sound so much differently compared to the old version of the kickdrum without the reverb. Maybe, with some decent studio headphones you can already hear the new kick drum sounds a little bit less blocky and more centered. Just the digital metering devices provide really good information about the considerable change in the signal of the new kick drum: Here you can see that the new kick drum is really in the centre of the mix as a mono signal, without making any effort to break out into the stereo field to the left or right. … Next, let's take a look and listen to how the two kick drum versions behave in combination with their reverb. 2) Comparison of the kick drums in combination with their aux reverb sends ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Old version: Kick Drum With Reverb - Old Version.mp3 Yeah, finally some reverb. Sounds a lot less dry, but I'm still thirsty. The digital metering devices don't show anything too exciting here, except that a medium-width direct signal merges with a really wide reverb signal and the two signals almost reach full stereo width as a sum signal: … New version: Kick Drum With Reverb - New Version.mp3 Well, now this sounds really wet, spacious but still clean and punchy. Could it be that the huge difference between the fully centered mono direct kick drum signal and its aux reverb send, which is fully panned to the sides, creates this crisp 'n' assertive kick drum sound and the imagination of this huge space? Because apart from changing the direct signal of the kick drum to a completely centred mono signal and a few minimal adjustments to the reverb signal in the stereo field, I haven't changed anything else here. The convolution reverb has the same settings in both versions, the EQ filters have almost the same settings, the proportion of the aux reverb sends that go into the dry signals is the same (-2dB in both versions). And the loudness meter also shows a similar loudness level, whereby the kick drum with reverb in the new version is displayed slightly quieter by 0.2 dB than the kick drum with reverb in the old version, but still sounds somehow more powerful and louder. The measuring instruments also show some quite interesting things here: You can clearly see here that the centred mono signal does not blend and blur so easily with the wide reverb signal. From the image, you could almost think that Odin's Gunge Lance attack is piercing a flabby Hungry (an enemy in Crisis Core and the Final Fantasy 7 universe). Perhaps in the end, this is exactly what gives the mix more audio definition and better clarity. … But let's listen to how the entire drum kit sounds with reverb in both versions. 3) Comparison of the whole drum kits with reverb ------------------------------------------------------------- Old version: Whole Drum Kit With Reverb - Old Version.mp3 Sounds really good, doesn't it? At least the coarseness of the slightly wider, somewhat blocky kick drum is not quite as noticeable here in the complete drum kit, because you are distracted a little more by the other drum elements and their reverb effects. … New version: Whole Drum Kit With Reverb - New Version.mp3 Well, that sounds like a really good delivery. Punchy, assertive drum sound that still impresses with a proper reverb ambience in a clear mix. I also like the fact that I panned the kick drum reverb slightly more to the right to balance out the reverb of the snare drum, which is panned slightly to the left like the snare drum, in the panorama of the mix. Apart from a little more clarity, this creates a really cool drum ambience. … But now the crucial question... How do both versions of kick drums and drum kits behave in the overall mix when all the other instruments are added? 4) Comparison of the old mix with the new mix --------------------------------------------------------- Old version: All Instruments With Reverb - Old Version.mp3 Sounds really good at first listen. Only when you listen more closely with good studio headphones do you perhaps realise that the kick drum intervenes in the mix in a somewhat cumbersome, dominant and conquering manner and takes up quite a lot of space in the mix, somewhat overshadowing or pushing aside other instruments such as the bass or even low-frequency areas of the harp. ... New version: All Instruments With Reverb - New Version.mp3 Sounds much better straight away. The kick drum comes through much more relaxed in the mix without overlaying the bass or robbing the harp of its stereo field or slightly displacing it from the stereo field. … And this is exactly what I wanted to emphasise and make clear with the experiences I made some time ago. Not every question about more clarity and assertiveness in the mix must, can and should always be answered or solved immediately with the use of an EQ or EQ filter plug-in. Sometimes it can be better to reduce the stereo width in the direct source signal of one or two instruments so that other instruments have more room to "breathe" or play in the freed up stereo field. Just make sure to not overdo it. So, don't tear any black holes in the stereo field so that the spatial coherence of the instruments and signals in the mix is preserved and the mix doesn't end up coming across like a solar system full of distant planets and some kind of dead silence in between. As a little bonus, I'll give you an insight into the latest remix version with a few recently composed bells (at least a small excerpt from it, so as not to reveal too many new features and highlights from the soon-to-be-released Crisis Core remix), which came to my mind after I got the strong feeling that the initial part of the continuously building mix could still get some smooth and gentle additional ambience: 5) New mix with bells -------------------------- All Instruments With Reverb And Bells - New Version.mp3 In the initial rough version, I recorded the bells with my MIDI keyboard, in a way that makes it easier to feel the sad certainty of the imminent death of the main character Zack Fair after his last heroic battle against the sheer endless Soldier forces from Shinra, which his girlfriend Aerith probably received via the life stream or by the voice of the planet. Depending on the culture, bells often symbolize death, mourning, but also resurrection, return, a new beginning, moments of peace, the element of air or harmony between the earthly and heavenly worlds. This fitted in really well with my plan to finally try out this really interesting "Vita Handchimes Bells and Glass" VSTi in my DAW Samplitude, after other instruments such as sansula, vibraphone, electric piano or pan flute, which were also under consideration, didn't quite meet my expectations in this context and were ultimately ruled out when it came to choosing the best possible instrument for this part. … Then there's probably only one major thing left to do - finalising the electric guitar part mentioned in the previous post and composing a third electric guitar track for this part. So far I'm on schedule, so my Crisis Core remix "Wings Of Freedom" could easily be finished by the end of the year. ))

Normally, I'm not so keen on fan-made projects when it comes to retelling complex Japanese video game stories. But this one really packs a punch: It retells the story of the very first Metal Gear game for the NES in a very detailed and faithful way, apparently also containing a lot of information that was only mentioned in subsequent Metal Gear parts and turned the Metal Gear universe into a dense plot full of twists and turns. The drawings here are also really on a first-class level (there are also some animations as well), so that you could almost believe that Hideo Kojima himself was involved in the project and had also written the script for the latest part of a "Metal Gear (Solid): Digital Graphic Novel". The only thing that tarnishes the professional and passionate realization of the project are a few minor grammatical errors in the subtitles, which, however, do not cause any real problems in understanding the plot. On the other hand, the extremely credible narrator role and really matching voices of the dubbing actors as well as the many atmospheric soundtracks, which apparently consist in part of original soundtracks from the Metal Gear universe as well as extremely successful arrangements (even the captivating intro with the ambient Metal Gear Solid Main Theme should give connoisseurs of the Metal Gear series goosebumps), really bring out the best in this retelling project. And it looks like the creator or creators behind the project are also working on other retellings of subsequent Metal Gear parts (or other projects such as a retelling of the story of Final Fantasy 8): https://www.youtube.com/@TheLoresmith ... I'm almost surprised that Konami and Hideo Kojima haven't yet made any major and solid announcements about making a really epic movie of the Metal Gear series (preferably animated) or perhaps even bringing it to cinemas worldwide in several parts. And before they dare to make a completely new Metal Gear game, I would also be very happy about a sophisticated next-gen remake of the first two (official) Metal Gear games for the NES and MSX2.

In this picture you can see my self-made electric guitar mount construction for the door including my Ibanez GRG140 electric guitar suspended from it. ... As you can see on closer inspection, I have already attached the whammy bar (vibrato lever) here - a part of the T102 vibrato system that also comes with the electric guitar, with which you can influence the sound of the electric guitar in many different ways by changing the string tension at the bridge, regardless of whether you simply want to play exotic-sounding clean electric guitar chords with the typical wah-wah effects or imitate the roaring engine of a racing car. Apart from the really successful paint job on the electric guitar mounting construction in matt white (a big thank you again to the passionate painter and her excellent work), this is pretty much exactly how I imagined it - the electric guitar always within easy reach in the immediate vicinity of my current studio environment and always in my own field of vision, to keep reminding myself to learn to play the electric guitar, to practise regularly and to keep improving so that I might even be able to include the one or another litlle electric guitar part in my compositions and remixes in the next few years. ... ... and finally a picture of the electric guitar holder construction with suspended electric guitar in side view. ... At this point, I'm really glad that I had the brilliant idea during the design phase to extend the over-door guitar mount construction in the lower area so that the electric guitar rests stably on the construction and doesn't start to swing or even bump against the door. This means that my first electric guitar hangs as safe on the electric guitar mount as a freshly hatched, well-protected baby in a stork bag. ... Now that this task has finally been completed satisfactorily, I will soon be able to devote more time to my real concern, namely learning to play the electric guitar professionally step by step. ))

Cleaning up the mix panorama-wise (and creating special atmospheres with narrow pannings, hard/wide pannings and the pannings in between) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good news. Over the last few months, I've made further progress with the mixing and composition for my upcoming remix "Wings Of Freedom" for the game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, which I'll explain in detail below, along with my thoughts on various approaches to mixing and some corresponding audio examples. But for now, here's a rough summary of the things I added or changed after the last audio excerpt: A) The electric bass, which I had previously given minimal latitude from the center to the sides towards more stereo width, I have now positioned uncompromisingly in the center without any further stereo width. This has led to a significant improvement in clarity in the lower frequencies as well as to an even better separation between bass and drums (especially important in the later part of the remix, where some additional instruments enter the lower frequency range). Contrary to my fears that this would make the bass sound too stiff and lifeless, this phenomenon did not occur, probably because the aux reverb send for the bass, which I've panned hard to the sides as usual, still caused a certain amount of movement in the stereo image. Since the source signal of the bass and its reverb blend together in terms of sound, the bass reverb also moves the fully centered bass a little in the stereo image - and all in one with a much cleaner lower frequency area. B) I made a few bolder EQ low-cut filter decisions at some instruments and their reverbs, for example at the viola and the acoustic guitar chords, which sound a little bit brighter und which leave more room for the instruments with lower frequency ranges resulting in a slightly cleaner mix. C) I did some changes at some reverb settings for some instuments, for example at the acoustic guitar (the one that plays the chords), where I reduced the the amount of reverb in the aux reverb send a little bit. The mix sounds cleaner, more based and powerful now, especially when some other instruments with stronger reverbs (like a harp, brass or electric guitars) kick in. It also created a different impression of depth I like pretty much. D) I drastically increased the dynamics of a few instruments via MIDI velocity dynamic settings to make them sound even more realistic, vivid and soulful, especially the acoustic guitar playing the chords. At this point, a big thank you to the guitarist @pixelseph, who pointed out to me that the acoustic guitar for the chords in the former version still sounded too unrealistic or too much like a VSTi. By the way, I've optimized the guitar strings' attacks even further so that the acoustic guitar escalates a bit more in exactly the right places, hits the virtual strings more aggressivly or produces a nice and natural-sounding crescendo in the chord progression. I would also be really happy if you could perhaps add something to my thoughts regarding the panning of the electric guitars a little further down in this text. E) To increase the artistic value, I drastically improved the composition (notation, timing and articulations) for some instruments, especially for the piano intro or for the harp parts (which are not in the audio samples here now, but which you will soon be able to hear in the finished version). When I once played it to a somewhat more cultivated foreman on the building site, who is a musician himself and masters several instruments (as he always wanted to hear what I was working on musically), he said that the piano playing reminded him of a certain composer or pianist (unfortunately I've forgotten the name that I have probably never heard it before). I took that as a compliment. And the piano intro and harp parts got indeed really good. F) I composed completely new stuff for a few more instruments. I won't reveal too much at this point. But the few new instruments you can already hear in the audio samples below are a brand-new vintage lead trumpet (always wanted to check out and use this really cool new Vita instrument from my DAW Samplitude - plays around minute 0:06 in the first audio sample) playing against the already known trumpets, and a majestic, powerful and kinda heroic sounding French horn (playing after minute 0:20 in the first audio sample) that leads from the more classic and orchestral part into the slowly raising power ballad part of the track. I really enjoy the results I finally got with the new composition attemps. G) Especially for these new instruments I created a wider panning, but I also thought about changing the sound and the panning for the electric guitars (the electric guitars that kick in around minute 0:35 in the first audio sample). And with this I will come to the main topic of this post I've already mentioned in the title of this posting. Keep in mind that I've continuously kept all (!) aux reverb sends and most instrument signals (except drums, bass and maybe the piano) out of the center area of the mix to get a clarity like this. Since the instruments also have different depth levels in the mix, I created an aux reverb send for each instrument (except for the drum elements - there's only one aux reverb send for all drum elements, but I might experiment with this a bit and also change it in the coming versions). … But first, I'll give you a little impression of the new things and improvements with a proper audio sample that kinda represents the current state of the composition and mixing for my coming Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 remix "Wings Of Freedom": 1) Less hard panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 As you can hear, you also have a little bit more clarity in this version than in the last audio sample from my previous posting (apart from the enhanced composition). ... I didn't change too much things at the panning for the electric guitars here. I've panned the already existing trumpets around 30 dB more towards the left side (this means that these trumpets are around 30 dB louder on the left side than on the right side, just to get a rough imagination of the panning and stereo image of the signal - so, no fully hard panning, where you will also hear a bit of the dry signal of this instrument on the right side), while the aux reverb send for this instrument is panned around 90 dB more to the opposite (the right) side. On the other side, I've panned the new vintage lead trumpet around 30 dB more to the right side, while the aux reverb send for this instrument is panned around 90 dB more to the opposite (the left) side. And this is the version I prefer at the moment. … But I also tried a few different panning approaches I'll show you in the following audio samples. And I tell you my thoughts about them and explain to you why I favour most of the panning, mixing and sound design decisions in the first sample. 2) Hard panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Hard Panning.mp3 In this audio sample I just changed the panning of the trumpets and the panning of the lead trumpet (but not the panning of their aux reverb sends). And I chose a really wide panning for both of them. I've panned the already existing trumpets 90 dB more to the left side. And I've panned the vintage lead trumpet 90 dB more to the right side. With the aux reverb sends of the instruments panned really hard to the opposite sides of the dry signals of the instruments, this creates a really great feeling of distance and lots of clarity in the mix. But on the other side of the shield, both trumpet sections lost a bit of their power (this really disturbed me when listening to all the different panning versions on my HD MP3 player and on other devices). Guess that's why you shouldn't put mighty brass instruments that are supposed to represent some sort of power and heaviness in the mix (similar like bass and kick drum) fully to the sides if possible. Since both hard panned trumpet instruments are kinda panned like the also hard panned reverb aux send of their opposing trumpet sections, it could also be the case that one trumpet instrument gets weakened by the reverb from the opposing trumpet instrument a bit. … But how about a much narrower panning as a contrasting mixing approach for both trumpets? 3) Narrow panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Narrow Panning.mp3 In this version I've panned the already existing trumpets only around 5 dB more towards the left side. The vintage lead trumpet I've panned around 5 dB more to the right side (and again, no changes at the hard pannings of the aux reverb sends for both trumpet sections). This one actually sounds really good concerning the two both opposing trumpet sections - this makes a really powerful sound of both trumpets. But the reason I decided to rather go for the version showed in the first audio sample of this post was the fact that the viola (panned 3 dB more to the left side) and the electric guitar (panned 3 dB more to the right side), both of which can be heard quite clearly in the first 5 seconds of the audio sample, already have a really narrow panning (and this sounds good for the whole rest of the mix - so, I didn't want to change the established panning in these sections). And a too narrow panning of both trumpet sections would conceal the likewise narrow panning of the viola and the electric guitar a bit. … If you take a closer look, the choice between narrower and a wider pannings of instruments and other sound signals may not seem so easy in some cases. For example, I recently listened to the soundtrack "Everlasting Love" as a cover by the band Love Affair in the official audio version and the official video version. The official audio version sounds like this: Actually, I would have thought that this version would sound more appealing to me. But the hard panning of the brass (apparently extremely far to the left) and the drums (apparently extremely far to the right - and then as a whole drum kit) somehow alienates me a little in terms of soundscape. It sounds very clean in terms of mixing, but because the instruments seem so spatially separated from each other, the spatial impression and the musical context are somehow lost a little, while the power of the drums and brass also doesn't come across quite so convincingly. I find the official video version with the narrow panning, which actually sounds a bit like a mono mix to me, somehow more convincing in terms of soundscape: As far as the mixing and panning are concerned, it doesn't sound quite as clean as the official audio version. But the drums and the brass in particular come across as really powerful. But one version that really convinces me in terms of panning and the overall mixing is the original version of "Everlasting Love", which was sung by Robert Knight and which I got in the following version as a reference: In this version, the panning sounds much looser, finer staged and more natural to me, whereby extreme pan settings for the individual instruments have obviously been avoided and something like a spatial coherence of the instruments in the overall sound image has been preserved. I also really like the mixing and panning of the much later released cover version of "Everlasting Love" sung by the German-French pop singer Sandra: ... But now let's go on with my own panning experiment. 4) Trumpets + reverb aux sends with identical panning & standard panning for the electric guitars -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets + Reverb Aux Sends Identical Panning.mp3 In this version I've panned the already existing trumpets (like in the first audio sample) around 30 dB more towards the left side - but I also panned the connected aux reverb send around 30 dB more to the same side (without involvement of the center of the mix, of course, but no hard 90 dB panning of the aux reverb send towards the opposite side of the related instrument). A similar panning attempt goes for vintage lead trumpet, which I've panned around 30 dB more to the right side, just like its related aux reverb send. This is a rather good example of how you shouldn't pan the trumpets, at least not in this specific case with my aspiration to get powerful, assertive and clean sounding trumpets in this part of the mix. In this case, you can hear clearly that both trumpet sections get clouded, washed out and weakened by their own aux reverb sends. Of course, there is no rule not to mix like that. If it meets your expectations and the imagination of how the mix should really sound like in your vision, it's totally fine - for the viola, for example, I've exactly chosen a pan setting like this (instrument and its aux reverb send are both panned around 3 dB more to the left side), and it kinda sounds like I wanted it to sound (because I wanted the viola to sound less relevant and less dominant in relation to the other instruments in this part of the mix). For the lonesome French horn after the trumpet sections, this panning approach also works pretty well - so, I used it for the French horn as well (until I probably find a way that might sound even better). … So, in my opinion, the composition, the panning and the mixing of the trumpet sections are considered done for now. ... Now let's go to the part with the electric guitars (the two electric guitars kicking in after around minute 0:35 in the audio samples - the electric lead guitar and the clean electric guitar). That's the point, where I'm still not fully sure how to deal with the sound design of the electric guitars and the panning. But maybe @pixelseph or another electric guitar pro can deliver some nice food for thought here. So, let's go back to the previous audio samples with the standard panning for the electric guitars as a starting position. In these versions, I've panned the electric lead guitar with some ping-pong delay from my guitar amp plugin Vandal (direct insert effect) around 5 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side). And I've panned the clean electric guitar with a similar ping-pong delay from Vandal (also direct insert effect) around 7 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side). With the sound of the clean electric guitar sound I'm already really satisfied (for the panning there still might be still some better options) - no big or even nasty pedal and effect chains there (not even distortion, just a really nice and clean electric guitar sound with a bold low-cut filter setting, a nice ping-pong delay and a little bit of reverb via aux send with an even bolder low-cut filter). ... For the electric lead guitar on the other side, I still think about changing the panning and the sound of the electric guitar. I also think about creating a much more dynamic electric lead guitar sound. At the moment (in the previous versions with the standard panning of the electric guitars), the electric lead guitar comes with an activated overdrive effect pedal (see small blue box over the pedal effect, which means that the pedal effect is active) from my Vandal guitar amp plugin, which looks like this in my DAW: As you can see, the drive knob of is pedal effect is not even turned on a little bit (for the sake of better dynamics). But the tone and level are turned up maximally (this gives the electric lead guitar its strong sustain and a slightly more assertive but still controlled sound). ... But how about making the sound of the electric lead guitar a little more dynamic, more natural and less processed as a lead setting and changing the panning of the guitar? 5) Less hard panning for the trumpets & hard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Hard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 In this version, I've panned the electric lead guitar around 90 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side. And I've panned the clean electric guitar around 90 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side. For the sound of the electric guitar, I decided to deactivate the overdrive pedal effect completely and change the settings like this: As you can hear in the audio sample, the electric lead guitar with the completely deactivated overdrive effect pedal experiences a much greater fine dynamic staging (the guitar sound becomes a little softer and quieter towards the end of a longer played note), whereby I have turned up the pre-gain knob minimally and the post-gain knob much more to make the long notes sound a little stronger and longer instead of letting them slowly fade out shortly after half of the played note (which would be rather disadvantageous for the desired assertiveness of the electric lead guitar in the mix). I also turned the Curve knob in the voicing section of the guitar amp plugin all the way down so that the low frequencies are filtered out of the signal even more. What bothers me enormously in this audio sample, however, are the occasional somewhat harsh tonal outbursts of the guitar sound in the higher frequencies, which is probably due to the fact that treble and brilliance were already boosted via timbre in the instrument editor, via the EQ plug-in and then again in the guitar amp plugin Vandal itself - a rather cutting, extreme sound setting, which was possibly softened and made a little "creamier" in the previous audio samples by the activated La Crema overdrive effect pedal. Let's see, maybe I'll be able to fix this by lowering the high frequencies a bit or by adjusting the velocity dynamics of individual notes that break out tonally. Otherwise, I would perhaps leave the sound of the electric lead guitar as it is in the previous audio samples. … But as far as the hard panning of the guitars in this audio sample here is concerned, I have to admit that - in contrast to the not entirely convincing hard panning of the trumpets in the second audio sample in this post - I really like it here in this part. However, the hard panning for the electric lead guitar still sounds a bit strange to me. But the hard panning of the clean electric guitar, which just plays as a melodic accompanying instrument, comes across really well here. Let's see if there are further advantages in the sound if both electric guitars are panned less hard, similar to the less hard panned trumpets in the first audio sample of this post. 6) Less hard panning for the trumpets & less hard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Less Hard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 In this version, I've panned the electric lead guitar around 30 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side. And I've panned the clean electric guitar around 30 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side. So, two electric guitars have a similar panning like the two trumpet section - with the only major difference that the trumpets play a little bit behind the two electric guitars (even if a direct comparison is difficult, as the two instrument groups do not play at the same time). This version with the not-so-hard panning for the electric guitars also sounds very pleasing to me, although I could also imagine the version with the hard panning for the electric guitars here. … And to fulfill all my wishes regarding the electric guitar section, I had another thought some time ago. How would it be if I mixed the electric lead guitar with the preferred narrow panning (slightly to the left side) similar to the first samples in this post, while I mixed the clean electric guitar with a hard panning (to the right side)? And to restore the balance in the stereo image, I would simply compose an additional track for an electric guitar (another one in a clean or crunch setting, perhaps with an additional wah-wah effect or similar stuff), which, with slightly longer pauses and a slightly lower pitch, would once again have a kind of dialog with the other clean electric guitar and be panned hard to the other side (to the left). With the clean electric guitars, I would simply put the aux reverb sends to the opposite sides of the corresponding instruments as usual. And with the narrow panned electric lead guitar, I could either also connect the aux reverb sends fully to the opposite side of the instrument - or to both sides. I think I'll try it out during my coming composing session. With this mixing appoach, I might be able to create a similar soundscape like in the song "Everytime We Touch" sung by Maggie Reilly - with the voice (would be my electric lead guitar instead of the voice), which has a rather narrow panning somewhere between both sides, and with one clean electric guitar and another slightly distorted electric guitar panned hard to the left and the right side. And a soundscape like this is really beautiful in my opinion: … If you have the one or other feedback or inspirational thought on this topic, let me know. ))

With this picture you can get a better idea of the purpose of the recently painted over-door construction for the electric guitar mount that I designed and built some time ago. ... As you can see, it is located on the living room door, which I have permanently blocked because I didn't want to move my home studio, including the rest of the furniture, too far back into the room - mainly for reasons of space, but also for stylistic reasons with regard to the ambience of my living room, which I like to have a little more airy and light-flooded in the area of the transition to the balcony out of habit, as in my previous apartment, and I therefore didn't want to squeeze the furniture so far into the back corner of the living room just to be able to open and close a single door that I don't actually need or that I didn't have in the same place in my old apartment. But I tried to make the best of the space available in my new apartment. And the result is a solution that I really like. Because apart from the resulting, rather spacious walkthrough-room connecting the living room with the bedroom, and which now lets in even more sunlight, the previously rather annoying door is now the future carrier of my first electric guitar. ))

If hackers already have huge rabbit ears, this is often a sign that their ears have already been pulled a few times. But no, I never had any problems with viruses, malware or any hacking attempts even after the official Windows 7 updates expired (I still get some from time to time - but they are mainly antivirus updates for Windows Defender). In fact, this has somehow felt like the most malware-free and computer-performing time in my entire life. If I have caught some nasty bugs (like some guys of the Verfassungsschutz with the stern-looking upper-lip beards who obviously still worship the ill-humoured leaders from the 30s and 40s leaders), then it's probably because I've commented "too positively" on the powerful, fanfare-like brass playing in a well-known workers' hymn: But now that you are as good as in the club, comrades, the donut hackers from the Committee Against Communist Activities will have to increase their human resource capacities enormously. That buys us all time to work on the next soundtrack against Shin-R... erm, a soundtrack for love, justice, fluffiness and a future worth living. )) (I'm just imagining how weird the story would be if Trump, Biden, Elon Musk, George Bush and Dick Cheney transformed together like a rusty Decepticon Transformer into some 5-headed mech hydra with Skynet surveillance to go into the final boss battle with their crusty elitist propaganda chants against the based beats of OC Remix >>> "Me, a god - versus you, a piece of shit." - until the hair-shifting OC beat drops and Donald gets even balder than his biggest enemy of all time, the bald eagle...... Hahaha...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_OWYrLVOU)

@WarezWolf Ah, 'kay, I didn't realize at the time that "live user" referred to Ableton, which was the name I knew the DAW by. I also didn't know that even Ableton (just like Samplitude and all the Native Instruments VSTi products) was developed here in East Germany - really interesting. But once you've been working with a good, stable, properly equipped and smooth-running DAW for a long time and you've figured out, learned and internalized all the functions, I would really stick with this DAW in the future. If this CLAP software architecture proves itself in contrast to the well-known VST interface - and the opportunities and application possibilities already look promising - then after a few years the majority of other DAW developers will also follow suit and implement this system. On the other hand, Steinberg could also develop an upgrade for its VST-based system, which will then also enable multi-dimensional plug-in parameter and envelope chains such as CLAP. So, no reason (hehe) for fitful sleep 'n' apocalyptic "the composers without the newest features die first" dreams. ... "Patience is the key to paradise." (Arabic saying) ... So, new developments like this don't really knock my socks off too much. I'm always a few years behind the times, so to speak, and I'm still completely satisfied with good old Windows 7 Professional, my still really powerful PC environment (Intel i7-6700 quad-core processor system, 32 GB DDR-4 RAM, a pretty energy-efficient GTX 750 Ti as a still useful oldtimer graphics card and a still pretty much free 2TB HDD) and of course with my DAW Samplitude Pro X4 Suite, which is 4 versions behind the current Samplitude version (all this saves a lot of time, money, nerves and you avoid those really annoying Windows reinstallations or Windows upgrades - including required mainboard and other hardware upgrades und reinstallation of all the software after every few years). Since I've already got all the software and hardware stuff I really needed and wanted during the last years, I'm really content with that. I'm much more focussed to develop some legendary composition skills and to finalize my (during the last years conceived and especially during the last 2 years further developed) dynamic mixing concept I named "Life Force" (I'll show the results with a remix I might already finish towards the end of this year). ))

If you are looking for your first DAW, also check out Samplitude Pro X(8) Suite if you own one of the newer Windows versions: https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/suite/ It comes with: - an incomparably huge amount of high quality content - a really logic and intuitive interface for a good learning curve, with some of the best metering devices on the worldwide DAW market (this also includes several stereo and surround metering devices, vectorscope, spectral measurements, spectral editing and sophisticated peak and loudness metering - or a tuner for instruments) - also a kinda flexible and user-friendly interface you can put together like you wish and also save it as a preset - several skins (would recommend the dark Carbon Skin, which looks really stylish) - one of the most complex MIDI editors - around 80 GB of really good VSTi (lots of them in the great Independence sampler) and synth content for nearly any kind of music genre (no loops - just around 80 GB of pure sample content) - and besides the standard plugins, Samplitude Pro X Suite also comes with some really outstanding plugins like Independence FX (this plugin collection alone is huge stuff - from normal reverb, plate reverb, convolution reverb with a visual interface to place sound signals within the selected room as you wish, several kinds of delay, chorus, flanger and phaser, compressors, filters, gate and distortion plugins, equalizers, preamp, cabinet and mic modelers or even a vinylizer), Analogue Modelling Suite, Vintage Effects Suite, Convology XT Complete for a large amount of impulse response presets, or the good ol' Vandal: Virtual guitar and bass amplifier plugin, with which you can form your real electric guitar or one of the included VSTi electric guitars (would recommend the excellent electric guitars with lots of articulations and editing options in the Independence sampler) into kinda any possible guitar sound (if you really want to go "rockin"). Usually the enhanced Suite version of Samplitude (if you go for Samplitude, always go for the Pro X Suite version with around 100 GB of content - it is far bigger than the standard Pro X version with just around 20 GB of content) is around 600 bucks (Bitwig Studio is around 400 bucks and comes with around 12 GB of content). But at the moment (until December 8th) there 's a special offer for the enhanced Samplitude Pro X8 Suite for just around 200 bucks. There's also a free trial version in the link if you want to check out the interface and some core functions of the DAW.