THIEF

.... you are now my favorite person. Oh and the other advice is great, haha. I'm about to just re-record the cajon altogether. Before I was just copying and pasting fragments together because either my AC would come on, my roommate's cat would come in and ruin everything, or my upstairs neighbors would decide to start using the washer and dryer right above me, etc lol. recording in an apartment SUCKS! ---EDIT--- http://picosong.com/9T8v Ok so I haven't re-recorded the cajon part, but I was playing around with some different stuff. I filled some glasses with water for the original stickerbush ostinato, which I think could sound cool, it goes with the "Tropical Freeze" theme, so I may experiment with putting water in bowls and pans for different sounds, especially in the water level part. I also wanted to know what it would all sound like once I finally got cymbals and hi-hat in the mix, so I just used my mouth for now hahaha. Again, this was really just me playing around and trying to get new ideas,so no one kill me for it! lol ---Edit AGAIN!--- http://picosong.com/9TzL I added some more percussion to change things up toward the end, beginning with a throwback to Donkey Kong Country's DK Island Swing I think now my biggest concern is a few dirty beats here that just don't line up right, but I intend to completely re-record most of the tracks once I have a nice rough draft

I wish I could afford studio monitors. I'll definitely look into it and save up for some though. All I have right now is a usb mic and a laptop running Audacity.

YES! Feedback!! I went ahead and toned down the bass a little bit. Maybe its my headphones (I'm using some decent $130 bose headphones) but the bass actually doesn't sound too overbearing to me, so if its still too much let me know. The drum is my cajon, and the mic is at the back since it picks up too much of my foot sliding across the playing surface when I bend the pitch. But there will be other drums of some sort eventually, and I definitely want a hi-hat and/or some shakers, so maybe it will all balance out. I'm actually not looking to make this into a strictly soothing, relaxing piece, I want it to stay pretty upbeat, and I want to get into some jazzy flute, ukulele, maybe ocarina solos later on (nothing crazy because I'm not amazing on any of these instruments, since I'm percussionist at heart). I added some ukulele chords to the main melody section (taking the place of the piano in the original). I want it to eventually be guitar, but my D string is currently broken (it happened right before I started to record) Anyway, here's the update: http://picosong.com/9DxT ---EDIT--- So I was messing around earlier, and decided to add "Amiss Abyss" to this track, and I feel it transitions nicely. The ukulele chords are only temporary once it switches to the new part of the song with the Dm chord and on. I want to have it sort of "flutter"/"swell" into the new melody if that makes any sense. Anyway, here is the Amiss Abyss version!: http://picosong.com/9D7A/

I decided to scrap my other stickerbush symphony WIP and instead try and do another based on the completely bad-ass version at the very end of the credits for Tropical Freeze (that unfortunately fades out WAY too early) This is as far as I got before my upstairs neighbors started doing laundry (my mic picks up everything...) http://picosong.com/9t53 Here is the original from the game (that someone edited to make it seem more complete): http://youtu.be/nmOAuImh1XY Of course I'm going to re-record all of these parts once I get a general idea down, and once I get new strings for my guitar. Anyway, let me know what you think.

http://picosong.com/9nkZ I was able to get rid of the noise, at least as far as I can tell. I also played with some of the gain levels on some of the instruments, and panned the ukulele more to the right, and guitar to the left, just until I am able to to record again anyway

Thanks! I actually haven't tried any noise cancellation, since I'm using Audacity. Unfortunately I'm recording in the living room of my apartment with a USB mic that pics up EVERYTHING. I can't even record when my upstairs neighbors are doing laundry.... I'm not sure what you mean by "delays". If you mean the flute melody at the beginning, it actually is 2 different takes. I like the idea of throwing them left and right though, I'll definitely give it a shot when I record again! The "kick and snare" are actually a cajon, which I've had trouble recording. If I have the mic too close, the bass "pops", or whatever its called when it picks up too much and sounds staticky/scratchy. I also tried moving the mic to the front of the drum, but the bass doesn't pick up nearly as well, and it picks up too much of my foot when I bend the pitch. One solution might be to just record another take with only the main "bass and snare" grove, leaving out the filler, and layering it on top to bring it out some more. I agree about the flute, now that you mention it. I'm not a flautist, or at least I was never taught how to play. I was a percussionist through high school, but realized I would never be able to afford a marimba or set of marching tenors and started making instruments, and trying to learn them... Something I've been meaning to do though is record some staccato accent notes, to mimic the sound of a panflute, so that might help with- at least the allusion of- forcefulness, lol. I'll also just record more flute parts of course. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!! I've been eager to hear from someone and from what I can tell I've gained nothing but awesome advice here!

I think the biggest problem is timing, so if you can shape it up some I can see it growing into something pretty nice. It sounds like you're switching up the melody's rhythm, which is great, but I think you might try having the piano part, or maybe some other instrument, reflect that a little better, to make it sound less awkward, if you know what I mean. I can't say much when it comes to recording, since I'm incredibly new to that myself. Good job though!

-original upload- http://picosong.com/c76x -update 1- http://picosong.com/9nkZ I have another song I've been working on alongside the others I've been throwing out. This one is one I've wanted to play for years, just never had a mic. A Link Between Worlds used a lot of the same instruments that I've always wanted to use with this song, especially my doumbek, so I guess I'll try to keep it from sounding too similar in the long-run, but for now I'm just getting an idea of instrumentation, and just how to record these instruments in general, then I'll play around with melody variation and solos. In this piece I'm playing guitar, ukulele, the C major bamboo flute I made, ocarina, copper doumbek (with a brand new head, so its still a little rough sounding), and cajon. I also have some other percussion instruments I'm going to use here and there. There are a few places I'm going to through in Hilda's Theme from A Link Between Worlds, probably plucked on ukulele, and a few other themes, most likely including Song of Storms included. ANY feedback is more than welcome as I hardly know what I'm doing, and advice from someone who does would make the whole process a LOT easier on me! Thanks for listening!

Its been a LONG time, but I've finally taken up interest again in making this into something. I basically have to re-record all of the tracks, but I guess for now I can throw stuff together for arrangement ideas, then write out what I like. All I've done here is add a few bamboo flute tracks for the melody, but its giving me an idea of where I want to go I think... idk. http://picosong.com/cr5b

I know Gerudo Valley is a popular theme, but I guess there is a reason for that haha. I assume I don't need to link the original to this page right? The idea here was to mimic/reference the version of "Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood" somewhat that plays in Kill Bill. There will be a lot more percussion obviously, especially in the intro, but being a percussionist I realized I should probably work on everything else first, so there is mostly just bass quarter notes from my cajon for now. The intro is actually going to have the intro melody to the original LoZ theme on one of my homemade bamboo flutes I made, and I want the end to jump into the rest of that theme, which you can hear the chords for at the very end I plan on having more guitar melody, but I'm not exactly a guitarist, so its taking a while to be able to play melody at all. I don't even know my scales yet! http://picosong.com/cUbk/

thanks evktalo. I sometimes overcompensate in my head for the melody, or the parts I'm focused on and can't tell how it sounds sometimes, And that;s why this forum is awesome! I see what you mean about the whistles. As for a bass instrument, I will be living with an upright bass starting next month that I have some ideas for haha

I just recently bought a USB microphone and can finally FINALLY play all my instruments together! I plan on doing a bunch of similar songs from different games, and hope to submit at least one of them and try and get it on the site (I'm working on a Stickerbrush Symphony as well). Anyway, In this track I'm playing guitar, ukulele, ocarina, my bamboo flute (that I made myself!), high and low Irish penny whistles, as well as bodhran and a cheap bean-filled practice pad from when I was in the 6th grade hahaha. I'm probably adding a trashy sounding tambourine once I find one, or at least some shakers of some sort. I do plan on doing more arranging of course, and it will definitely sound more clean and more interesting once I can sit down, write some things out, practice, etc. But for now I'm just posting the very first recording just to throw out the instrumentation for some basic feedback/suggestions. I haven't done much with effects/mixing, since I'm just using audacity and really don't have a clue how to work most of the features. http://picosong.com/YxU4 -----my track http://youtu.be/5W_bFLwB0WY ----source

I got frustrated with trying to get my project in FL Studio to play right and started messing with my mic in audacity. This is the sort of feel I wanted to go with, obviously mixed better, and I want some of the other instruments from my FL Studio version, especially the drums and kalimba, and pan flute if I can make it work right. Anyway, I thought I'd share this to give a better idea of what I'm trying to do in case anyone has suggestions on how to mix this with.... whatever you call non live instruments. http://picosong.com/YNXX Its sloppy yeah, but I didn't really plan anything out, and I've never recorded before

That actually makes a lot of sense lol I'll have to do some studying tomorrow! Thanks. Its actually a kalimba (thumb piano). I used to play marimba/vibes in an independent drumline so I'm pretty familiar with the instrument(s). I'm using FL Studio, mostly just because I had it a few years ago and at least know the basics. I don't even know of any other DAWs to be honest. So the piece is eating up my CPU so much I can't get a good playthrough anymore. I did some reverb and humanization work and I want to update the thread, but I guess I have to figure out a way around this problem first. I'm probably buying a mic tomorrow to record the ocarina melody, and the ukulele and possibly guitar, which may have to replace some of the instruments I have so far in order to free up some space, if that's even how it works. I know EWQL samples use a lot of power. There's even a banjo here in my apartment I could use, but the highest string....peg.... thing.. is broke, so I'm not sure I even want to go there. Actually, here's the newest version anyway: http://picosong.com/YuTM Excuse the slight glitchiness.

I see.... I know what you mean about the staccato pan flute chords, they were bugging me too actually, just couldn't figure out why I couldn't change the volume levels. I decided it was the particular instrument, so I chose a different panflute sound, which I can't tell if I like or not, even if the volume is better- the reason I'm unsure is that it automatically emphasizes different pitches/notes, which helps humanization, but it also means I'm not entirely in control of what it sounds like.... so idk. I added some more reverb to everything. I think I'm pretty set on the banjo, I like the raw, thuddy.... banjo-ness... of the sound. Of course that means I'll need to find a way to pretty it up in parts, specifically the chords, whether I just find something else to layer under it to make it more warm, or add some effects or something (once I learn how). Speaking of the banjo, when I added some dynamic changes to the chords it also took over the ostinato, so I'm looking into a way around that. I don't necessarily want to replace any of these instruments with live ones, but I want to add ocarina melody for sure, and work in my low D whistle as well which would fill up a lot of the sound. I think the whole project will start coming together a lot better once I understand how those live tracks fit with everything else, then I can concentrate on the rest of the music complimenting and carrying the melody... at least that's how its going to work in my head, haha. I'm about to start writing out some more auxiliary percussion parts that should make it a little less dull, then I'll post an update. The more I think about it, the more I want to add some electronic sounds, maybe some dub-step style bass stuff and effects, but try not to stray too far from the feel of live music if possible. Actually I'm thinking of having a bass drop to break into the drumset stuff, and that's probably where I'll have some live upbeat ukulele strumming or guitar Thanks for the replies! this is already proving helpful

if by "handle" you mean my username then yes, yes it is! Glad someone caught that haha It may be your earbuds that makes it sound so off. All of my sounds so far (except for the strings) are live samples from EWQL RA. Or maybe the headphones I'm using are just really bassy.... I'll look into it. As for humanization I try to do it as I go along. The staccato panflute is the only instrument that I can't seem to change the volume level for each note for some reason, so once I figure that out it should sound a lot better. I want to have each measure start out at a good volume then decrescendo. Oh and the "guitar like sample" is a banjo, lol. I may need to mess with the settings to make it sound more distinctly.... banjo I haven't panned anything right or left, its all set to center

I'm incredibly new to this and am currently trying to tackle some of the basics, so I thought I'd dive in with a piece I know really well and try to make it something special if I can. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome!! Of course this track is in the VERY early stages. I'm basically just trying to get the instruments I want involved so I can figure out what I want to play over it, and to see if its something that sounds like it would eventually make it on the site. The instruments I have in mind so far are: -ukulele (for strumming chords) -ocarina (melody) -low D Irish whistle -bamboo flute (that I made!) -cajon (possibly) Once I find some samples I like I'm also adding a trap set for some tasty grooves and obnoxious rocking out toward the end, naturally. Here's my WIP:http://picosong.com/YmAK Source: