Hayeser

Oh yeaaaaaah Branding/Artwork is dope, tracks are retro groovy as hell but with slick production...digging that second track the most, such a deep dirty groove. I'm also a sucker for disco/all things funk and soul. I'd love to hear you and Solitaire collaborate on something. I'm not a big fan of the gated pumping effect in general, but I know that's the EDM staple, so I totally get why it's in there. I think this stuff would still groove just as hard without it though

I wouldn't mind hearing it a tad more wet/live sounding with a bit more distance (personal taste), but the arrangement is stinkin' beautiful. I'm loving everything I hear of yours, I gotta say!

I think maybe just a low velocity on a passing note? I'm not sure if I'm picking up on the same thing. This is gorgeous. Masterfully executed, great control over dynamics, has damn near all the expressiveness of the real thing; you know how to use what you've got! Makes me nostalgic for home- growing up a few minutes away from Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. John Williams would bring the Boston Pops up every summer and play this and countless other classics while we sat out on the lawn and watched on the big screen. Thanks for sharing.

I think you're looking for an Audio Interface. OR, you can use 2 USB hubs on your computer, and just run a free DAW like Garage Band for all of your mixing/editing, keeping track of your sessions, etc. Even though a podcast is straightforward audio-wise, you'll want some editing flexibility. You could also keep an eye out for PreSonus' Studio One Prime, which is supposed to be a free, feature-limited version of S1. Assuming it gives you the option to export your audio how you'd like, it might be worth looking in to. I'm sure there are other free, limited-feature DAWs out there, just do a little google research. Here are some cheap options for an interface, if you decide to go that route (in which case, you'd get XLR cables for those mics): PreSonus Audiobox USB ($99) Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 M-Audio M-Track II

I'm into this idea. I say you stick with your gut and keep it to NG2. I think there is definitely enough music to choose from (and people can get mighty creative with interludes, etc. You never know). Keeping tabs on this!

I must now reassemble my face, as it just melted off.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Very helpful. Hadn't really felt the lack of midrange presence until you both mentioned it, now it's glaring at me. Doubling most of the melody lines an octave down and adding a gentle overall boost in the 750-2Hz area to lessen the disparity between the lows and sharp highs.

This is vibe-tastic. Really great attention to detail. The subtle variations and persistently percolating, glitchy arpeggios are tasteful. Really enjoying those chord subs/extensions as well, they add some great flavor.

Do you find that you're a 'rewards-based' learner or incremental? I've been the former until recently, and we tend to be encouraged by demonstrable results and discouraged by not seeing immediate progress; it was a tough mental habit for me to break, and one that I still have to work on regularly. Easily caught up in 'broad strokes' learning, where you're getting a little bit of everything instead of perfecting the rudiments in each skill set. Not a seemingly direct answer to your question, but check out Josh Waitzkin's "The Art of Learning"; it definitely took away much of the anxiety/overwhelm I was experiencing trying to learn multiple new skills, especially while balancing work and personal life. Since time (and how much of it I needed to be spending on any given task) is what seemed to be stressing me out the most, I started using a Pomodoro Timer app, and would break my skill building and all tasks into (up to 4) 25 minute chunks, punctuated by 5 minute breaks. So say I didn't want to go down the scale warmup rabbithole, I'd give myself maybe just one pomodoro on scales, then break the remaining 3 in to other things (one on jazz standards, one on shedding sixteenth notes, etc) still in the wheelhouse of improving that instrument/overall skill. And then maybe my next Pomodoro set will be tackling something in my DAW that I need to fix/figure out, or getting through a chapter in a composition workbook, or watching a tutorial video and taking notes, etc. Giving myself a limited time on this stuff made me get to the crux of techniques much quicker. I don't usually like time restrictions competing against creativity, but since it's more about developing vocabulary and efficiency in order to be able to express yourself to your fullest potential, thus contributing to your creative output, they go hand in hand I think. That said, I agree that if you're really engrossed in something and making progress, you don't have to cut yourself off...see it through and dig in.

Whoa. All I've got to say. Masterfully arranged and executed.

down to the hand-string noise in between chords, fret noise, the hammer on around @2:00, etc....sounds like a nylon piano, but still authentic. Beautiful!

Great nylon sound

I bought S1 Artist as an 'entry' DAW about 4 years ago in order to better backseat drive on sessions with my band, and to be more informed while communicating with producers/engineers. I had all intentions of moving up to Pro Tools/Logic, since there aren't many (if any) studios here in NYC that use Presonus. I have long since upgraded to S1 Pro, and had such a positive experience that I've been able to take up producing on my own. The crew at Presonus seem bent on learning from other DAWs' shortcomings, and creating an environment conducive to fast, intuitive workflow. I enjoy it for all of the aforementioned reasons; once you get intimately familiar with the shortcuts and true functionality, the workflow is damn near unparalleled. I haven't dug in to the macros, but there's a lot to choose from there, as well. Ableton is definitely the standard for EDM given its fast workflow with looping, but there are ways to get similar work done in S1 with the right layout/approach. I just starting toying around with the S1-3 demo; it seems absolutely next level, but it's taking some getting used to with the different UI, so I haven't dug too deep yet. I can't speak for the FL midi roll, but I agree with all about S1 being a top contender in editing/functionality. Studio One wins my vote. I've also been integrating Presonus' Notion as my notation software. I think it gives Finale and Sibelius a run for their money.

Man that sounds so much better! Now that opening is really kickin'! I love the way is gets you anticipating the "all in"; Great ebb and flow. The panning is a little much for me in headphones, I'd be interested to hear that kick more center, and I'd tighten that cymbal crash transient up with the downbeat, but dude....sounds really good. I'd say you're pretty much set on this one.

Thank you! Really appreciate that

I know nobody really hangs out in this forum, but I'm new and want to share as much with OCR as possible so I can start making friends here already, dammit! I play for a living in NYC as a session bassist. But I sing, compose...and play other things. I'm spankin' new to the Remix world, but ain't a stranger to the music or the games. Here's part of my first solo EP; one man banding it, self produced from my modest home studio using Studio One. Unmastered, otherwise as is. Bass-centric singer songwriting? Electro Soul? Indie Funk? I don't know. I've heard comparisons so far to anything from Peter Gabriel to Zap & Roger and Prince. I'll take that, for sure... I'm curious to see if there's any love for this sound here @ OCR. I promise it's at least worth 3 minutes of your day. If not, I'll give them back to you. Don't worry about how... Lovers In a Digital Age SONG: https://soundcloud.com/ahayes1/save-me-from-myself

Oooooooooh! I'm only 10+ years late to the party... I'm catching up on years' worth of Remixes, and somehow missed this version of one of my favorite songs (and my first OCR submission) from the head honcho. This is my favorite version on OCR for the diversity alone. The juxtaposition of instruments did it for me

Maybe you can layer another crisper one in with a stronger attack, to preserve the original effect but also cut through a little more?

This is dope. Well done. Dig that dirty Nord during the wolf showdown. Points for the extra effort with the video.

Such a cool piece, I never actually played Xenogears. This is making me want to. The beginning is particularly murky. Sounds like you were going for a filter-opening effect but it muddies up the piano/bass drum a little too much. I'm not a marvelous producer by any means so I'm sure there are quicker fixes, but my first inclination would be to EQ the REVERB on that bass drum, put a High Pass Filter on it to remove the ambient boominess that is muddying it up and making it feel under water. (Create an AUX channel just for the reverb, send your BD to it, and then you can apply your EQ directly to the reverb channel). Maybe just use that effect on the synth line that starts creeping in, not on all 3 tracks? The whole thing could use some emphasis on brighter frequencies, since the parts are already pretty dark in composition. The snare in at 2:17 could use some beefing up/snap/verb (for my taste). I'd go as "80s" on that drum part as possible. Verb the shit out of it! And I'm always a fan of altering original parts....since that part gets repetitive, perhaps get some motion going with the drums and alter the pattern ad nauseum? Hope that's helpful.

Hmm...looks like I've had a fair amount of views, but no feedback on this as of yet. I'm pretty confident to move this forward to Mod-Review, I'm happy with it, but as a n00b to the community here I was just hoping to get some wisdom shed and perhaps introduce myself a little before diving in. So anyway, let's do this thing!

You're right as well, there. I tend to compose directly via MIDI/piano roll in order to streamline what I'm envisioning; for the more accomplished orchestral arranger, I'd imagine they would want more direct control over their individual parts than something such as Symphobia provides. That's why I use a combination of ProjectSAM w/ Cinematic Strings or something similar, to give me a little more clarity/control on individual sections. I guess it really boils down to your compositional approach. Different strokes. I recently started using Presonus' Notion, which has a pretty nice sounding library recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. You can ReWire it directly into your DAW and convert [to midi] a fair amount of dynamic control directly from your notation, which is helpful. While it takes me longer to notate traditionally, it seems to be worth the extra effort so far.

Very good point; I suppose they are best used for coloring after composition, not necessarily as the source.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Symphobia yet. I like their articulations and the patches are high quality... layered with something concrete like cinematic strings, it's almost gold. I only use Symphobia 2, but there's some great sounding stuff in Lumina, as well.