Ridiculously Garrett

Despite my lack of hardware, it isn't stopping my interest in this project. I'm getting a new computer for school sometime this summer probably, so that helps. I have an 88 keyboard and it has a decent built in piano/electric piano sound. That being said, at the school I'm going to, there is a recording studio, so that might not be as big an issue as my empty wallet makes it out to be. All I'd have to do probably is just book recording time, if I was a performer that is. I guess my question is, what's the idea for game/era or what have you?

Thanks! I certainly will, though I just left for vacation today so I won't be able to work on it until I get back, but when I do, I'll certainly try to bang this out.

I'm working on getting actual guitar in there, I just gotta finish arranging it and then I'll probably be able to find someone to do that, so by the end it'll have a lot more life to it, my only thoughts on that synth was that I was gonna use it as either a layer to the guitar or not, or I might just take it out entirely. As of right now, it's mostly a placeholder. I'm gonna arrange a guitar melody part, and a rhythm part, maybe 2, I've gotta figure out how I'm gonna do this. It'll be much more lively by the end, at least I'm hoping, and I'm glad you share the same concern as I do lol. If you've got any advice of arranging guitar parts, I'll take it, as I've never done it before. Not to mention that ending section is empty because I intended that to be a solo section for the guitar.

Yeah, with that pad that's in there, I tried to make it as open and airy as possible as if it'd be the wind from the ocean or something. Given this is a relatively short source, I'll probably do some sound design changes and more ambient stuff further along. I did some more editing on it but nothing overly substantial yet, so I'll update it when I get more of it done. I had an idea of, because there's so many different parts, doing some call and response thing between the different bell stuff and what not.

Alright, I can't stop with all the ideas, I'll never get anything done at this rate. I'll make this into an arrangement of History Unfolds from Soul Calibur 2, and hopefully I'll find someone to do guitar for this. Remix: Azure Lightning Strikes (History Unfolds ReMix) Source: EDIT: I'm editing the drums now to make it more interesting, I know the arrangement is fairly short, but so is the source, I know the source usage here is sparse even though that part that I wrote uses the main chord progression just very very different rhytmically, I dunno hopefully this'll be good.

There was someone in one of my classes who was a complete nerd (obviously accepted). But he came into class one day with poke ball headphones (which he said were a bit small). And then he pulled out some pokemon sun and moon Z crystal or whatever bracelet thing. And he was like, "Yeah and it cuts off the circulation." I do not think he realized that when he bought that stuff from Toys R Us, most 19 year olds don't buy that kind of stuff. Because they're made for kids. And he's 19. Shopping in Toys R Us. But he came into class acting like he was all rad because bought this stuff. :/ That's what this situation reminded me of anyways. Kinda sad to see.

Well, it being your first remix, I can probably say, you shouldn't worry about getting anything onto the site yet. How much do you know about music? If you don't know a lot, I'd suggest reading up on music theory, at least the basics. From there I'd say start with Garage Band. Garage Band is great to start, not the best DAW, but certainly worth it as a learning tool. I'd say given you only have less than 24 hours, that's not really enough time to make anything spectacular, albeit your first stuff is never gonna be spectacular. Especially since it seems like you haven't used a DAW before, it's gonna take some time just to learn how to use it. On the other hand, though, compos are what help you to get better. If you wanna try, I'd say go for it, but don't be hard on yourself or discouraged if it doesn't come out amazing. That'll come with experience.

*apologizes for pestering* *pesters about remix again*

This was a song I remixed a while ago, but frankly, it wasn't good by any means. So I'm deciding to "use tackle" on this one again with a little more style. ReMix: Bubbles Shining Over the Sea ReMix Source:

For me, a huge transitioning tool is, like some people already mentioned, is in the drums and sound design. Using the drum fills, and of course taking sounds out and possibly replacing them or adding them back in, this time with an evolved rhythm/chord progression.

I hadn't thought of using star road or anything, that might be a good idea. I was thinking about doing reharm because of how short the source is and because of how elementary it sounds as well. That's a good idea, though, I didn't think about it quite that way, thanks for the advice!

This is just a rough draft but an idea I had while fiddling around with some hip hop/lo-fi sounding fonts. Feedback, ideas, if anyone wants to rap to this? I'm not done with it yet, but I'll hopefully get the full thing done soon. ReMix: Mario World - Map/Star Power Themes ReMix Source: Map Star Power

Yeah, if I were to write that chord, I'd call it an Emaj13(b9). Because as written it's E, G#, B, D#, F#, (which is an Emaj9), then you're bringing in A# which is the #4 (11), then C# is the 6 (13), and then finally E#... theoretically, it would be the #1??? I think? I would just think about it as the b9 because the enharmonic of E# is F which is just the b9. So I would write it that way. But since you're using a polychord with 2 major seventh chords stacked on top of each other you could always just write it like: F#maj7/Emaj7 like you said you were. Either way. I love chords. EDIT: Aw wait I just realized that The #4 is just the 11th lol. And C# is the 13th (6 and 13 are the same thing lol.) That's what I get for trying to think about that right when I get up. So I'd actually write it like Emaj13(b9).

I can tell you, I don't think this arrangement is too conservative. I think this arrangement is great, actually. I think you've got something good going here. The transition at :42, to add to what Smooth4lyfe1987 said, I don't think it sounds bad, but with sounds that are present imediately after it, adding something in the low end would be cool, maybe not something like a huge impact, but maybe something subtle, something with a bit of snap to it maybe to get that sudden jolt of "This is the reality." that you're looking for. I think if you were to post this as is the judges might mention the fact that some of the fonts are a little mechanical, and what stands out to me the most is the piano at around the 2:18. Sound dry to me for the type of roominess that you're looking for with that echo feel in there. Try adding just a touch of reverb, not too much, but just enough to wetten that up, and I could say the same for the 4:05 point in addition when it's just piano. BY THE WAY, LOVE THE ENDING CRESCENDO. I dunno what chord that is, but it's so lush and beautiful and the tail of that crescendo with the fade out is phenomenal. Aside from that, the (clarinet?) soundfont in there does sound a little fake, but it's not contrasting too hard with any other hyper-realistic sounds, so it's not horrible, but still noticeable at the very, very least. The bass I can tell is a soundfont, but my issue isn't the realism but rather the bass seems a little too present whenever it's in the soundscape, maybe just turn it down a bit. All this being said, I love the attention to detail with the dynamics. I'm not an official reviewer or anything, but these are my takeaways. Arrangement is phenomenal in my eyes. Nice work on this so far, keep at it! I'm getting chills listening to some of the chords in there. Beautiful, beautiful chord work.

Ooo, this is pretty alright, actually. I dig it. I like how use used the "future" voice clips and such as sort of a vox layer. I'm into it, man!

So, I wrote a song a while ago for a friend but I never really had the resources to make something AMAZING until now. This is not done yet. There will be changes, and tweaks, and additions, it will be longer. However, the story here is that my friend has been pretty much my best friend since the beginning of high school, and with graduation soon coming I thought to actually produce this song as a graduation present. Dreams of Nostalgia Any feedback is appreciated.

I'm very glad you spelled all that out for me lol. I'll certainly work on all that. As for the synth... I'm hoping to use my school's Juno and record with that, because it is just top quality. Right now I'm using some half decent samples, but if I got the Juno in there, it's all over lol.

@TCHLE Thanks for pointing that out! I tried layering the synth with a pad to make it more moody I guess, I dunno lol, I see what you mean though, and I was going to add vibrato, especially in that first B section, after putting it in once I did notice the plain-ness of it. I did try to change the tone of that first lead but it still sounds a little weird to me. Maybe it's just too much sine lol. I might try to find a different sample. I will be getting a drummer to do the drums for me so it'll be more interesting, so that'll really help to make it less repetitive. I'm making small changes here and there, and hopefully I'm gonna make this really interesting. The thing I was worried about, you mentioned heavy, and I want to know, is that a result of the bass, or is that guitar too much? Or maybe just some things are layered too loudly? This sure as heck ain't final, though.

Recently, a mix I posted back when I knew very little about production was just recently reviewed by the judges, and I'm fixing the issues that were prevelant. Knowing what I know now, I hope I can fix all the issues and resubmit it. Reviewed Mix: New Mix (In fixing progress): The Boss is Back in Town ReMix Source: If anybody could compare the original to the new remix and see if you think I improved on the judges critiques or not, that would be awesome. Thanks to anybody offering insight! (I'm not done with arrangement or production just yet.)

This was actually really cool, I loved it when the guitar came in later in the track.

I knew this one would get in, and I'm glad it did. Great job, @Mordi! Loving the soundscape.

Oh wait lol wow, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you updated it, ignore my last comment, I didn't listen to the updated version. Sorry lol, didn't realize until just now lol.

No problem, man, I'm no professional myself, I'm still learning, and certainly I agree with you on the masterpiece of the original song, I could personally play it for hours and not get tired of it. To add some more info, I really did like when you brought the percussion stuff in, it came in at the beginning there and I was like, "Ooooo." Lol I think this has some pretty good potential.

The problems I see with this is how conservative it is. Not much here in terms of arrangement. Towards the end, the chords way overpower the lead, and I feel overall the chords could be taken down just a smidge. Love the sound design. These are my thoughts. It's a good idea, but I feel like the arrangment needs to be spiced up a bit more, (I know the song mainly only focuses around an Fmaj6/7 and Cmaj9 chord, but I'm sure there'd be a way to spice it up.) Considering you really only used the A section of the song, and left out the whole B section.

Gotta, keep working on this to fix the flaws that Gario mentioned, and I think it will be great, I love the idea.