thebitterroost

I think this is the only one for me:

Mix in general: I’d lower your orchestra sounds and pump up the guitars some more (with some more low/low-mids). After all, the title has “Thrashin’” in it

I have no personal experience with ground-up construction, but know a few basics about acoustics that may help some. First thing, consider using cement flooring (rather than plyboard) and cinderblock filled with sand for walls, rather than your more typical wood frame + siding/drywall/corrugate approach to sheds and so forth. More mass = less vibration, and helps isolate sound much better. Not sure about what an equivalent roofing solution would be on this scale. If possible, avoid 90 degree angles in the interior space, which make standing waves easier to accumulate. Doesn’t have to be drastic, a slight trapezoid or parallelogram shape should help. Lastly, maybe consider going windowless, or otherwise use double (or triple?) panes. Again, for sound isolation. Might be overkill depending on if your neighbors are decent and you actually have some reasonable space between one another. I’m operating from the assumption that neither are true. That’s all I got. Good luck man, this will be a hell of an undertaking, but will feel awesome when you finish it!

Can relate to these points for sure. Sorry to hear about your dad. I’m got a mixed bag version of this feeling as well. Mainstream social media platforms are more depressing to me than anything else, and discord often seems too fleeting/shallow for real conversations and connections to be had, and has lately also been kinda depressing. Most of my closest IRL friends live a ways away, but they've actually stepped things up on the virtual front, and that definitely helps. I share your hope about busyness and slowing down.

Very much this. The whole situation has made me have to really take my existing side hustles and hastily convert them into main hustles. Thinking I might try drumming on a freelance platform, but hoping it won’t be the potential nightmare situation I sometimes envision it being. Also, congrats @TSori!

If anyone was curious about Streets of Rage 4, here's my general impression. Has a lot in common with Double Dragon Neon. Gameplay in SoR4 is a faster with much more comboing and such and thus has the edge on gameplay, but DDN is better in terms of graphics/music/design (imho) due to really leaning into the inherent cheese factor. Single run of the story mode with a second player on normal will take about 1.5-2hrs Not that you can’t find gameplay video of it just about anywhere else, but I streamed a gameplay session of it that I did with a friend over Parsec:

The Discord server was probably not the best place to ask this, since things move fast and get buried quickly, so apologies if you saw this question there and it’s redundant to you. Could there be an option for text-only, character-limited forum sigs instead? Considering the rationale given, it should reduce clutter while bypassing the whole issue of non-SSL (and other problematic) images. I ask because my sig contained an invitation to collaborate, which I’ve gotten a few replies to recently.

The instrumentation/arrangement is perfect for that grand ballroom vision. Really enjoyed it! Only thing I would consider for future projects of this type would be to upgrade your strings to a nice sample library to punch up that realism. They aren't cheap (generally $200-500), but even some of the free ones around now can be used to great effect: http://musicproductionhq.com/free-sample-libraries/

This topic is related enough, so I won't make a new one. Regarding sending reminders, the admin folks may want to update the text in the submission receipt emails. In that, it says to check back and send a reminder to one of the judges if you haven't received an initial review within 2 months, as opposed to the 8-month timespan mentioned in the forums/faq. My submission was back in March, so if you've updated between then and now, please disregard

Will do! And unfortunately, turns out I assigned the same input to the other OH mic Big derp. So I’m stuck with the experimental mono overhead. (Not motivated enough to redo them entirely )

Yeah, I will sometimes implement a small experimental approach with a project. Last time was the junky kit, and this time the centered OHs were a sort of experimental aspect to the mix (based on vids/articles like this), but I recorded with an XY config in case I changed my mind, so I think I'll go back and split them up (the mono OH mix can just continue to live on that one YT vid). I agree that it may be making the kit muddier and smaller than it could sound. Might hopefully kill two birds with one stone, thanks for the feedback! And sure, I'm down to play!

Another piece I did for DoD, but unlike the last one (which was a mostly straightforward cover), this one is a mashup of 2 songs from the OST and has a much more original arrangement. Haven't submitted yet, but I think I may sometime soon. Let me know if there's some mix tweaks or anything else that could improve it before I do! Originals: Now, smashed and banged (smanged!) together and turnt to 11:

This sounds great! Very balanced mix that doesn't skimp on the low end. Drum programming and samples are spot-on (though watch the open hi-hats during those fills, that was one of the only cues that it was indeed a sampler). Keep it up, looking forward to seeing it on the front page

I mean, Kai Hansen was represented by the Helloween mention, at least

Thanks man. What you say makes a lot of sense, and I don't really even think of that as being selfish. If I had wanted to create variations on the themes from this song, then that's how it would've gone in the first place. I'll probably pass on submitting this one, since it likely doesn't align well enough with OCR's mission. Agreed, but I guess that with the landscape being what it is, some stuff will just have to live outside the OCR sphere. Kinda makes me miss vgmix...

The first piece I submitted here was made partly as an experiment with recording cheap drums with cheap gear and still coming away with a decent sound. For anyone interested in the hows and whys, I made a blog post about it: https://thebitterrooster.wordpress.com/2019/04/13/acoustic-drum-recording-on-the-cheap/

Did this for Dwelling of Duels this past month. Haven't submitted here yet, because I figure it might be considered too conservative. I can always go back and insert another part or two, but as someone who sometimes just enjoys listening to a straightforward take on a tune, I'm kinda reluctant to. So if anyone has any ideas, or thinks it's good to submit as is, I'm open to your 2¢.

Definitely a more interesting take to have composers interviewed. Thanks for the suggestion!

Will do, same goes for any other stuff of yours in the future. As someone who put together enough of a recording rig to record drums right around the same time that EZD/SD/etc starting hitting the scene, I kinda saw the writing on the wall, and opportunities to work with others really plunged. A lot feel like live tracks aren't worth the trouble of working with, and seem to be fine with the canned sound they often wind up with. So if you're one of the few left that's into it, I'll gladly dish out some tracks. Good luck on this one, looking forward to hearing how it comes out!

If your drummer guy flakes out, I'd be down. This is a good jam, but is definitely in need of some drum TLC. This sounds like either a built-in keyboard drumkit patch, or maybe MT Power Kit?

Really dig this! Relaxing and energetic at the same time. I don't think the guitars are too far up, and your bass and drum levels sound fine. I think you can definitely trust your ears. Also dig the detail put into your drum programming. Most folks don't seem to bother with having syncopated/dynamic fills and such, but you've got a really good command of them. Just watch out for the "third arm" effect, where some of the hi hat work overlaps with fills and whatnot. And you can trust your eyes, too, for that matter! I'm a bit taken aback by the effort put into the accompanying video, since I'd have nowhere near that level of drive. Also never played this one, only the Goonies II, which, by looking at your video, looks like it was an inferior game. Definitely gonna check it out. Kudos! Looking forward to more

Dang, sounds like xenomorph diarrhea. This does sound neat, especially since the Turbografx just never really got any momentum over here in the states (not sure about how it fared for the rest of the globe) despite being pretty huge in Japan. Everyone I knew growing up only either had a Sega or Nintendo console, and I only ever got to play one at a Sears store display or something.

Solid stuff man! Quite catchy. Upon reading "industrial dance metal," I was reminded of Disharmonia Mundi. Hadn't thought about that band in ages. Small production note: you have some double triggers at 1:32, should be easy to snip out.

This piece was really fun to listen to. Super genuine recording, skilled yet folksy with warts and all. The piece choice for this instrumentation was spot on, though I would've probably never thought of it. Arrangement was great, too, making the track sound like a vaudeville score or something. Looking forward to more!

\m/