H36T   Members

Took a break from my more uhh, finicky projects to try my hand at Cid's Theme. I think there are some rhythm issues that I could never get fully quantized but it mostly works out. Mostly though I wanted to do a little quiet part and then bring it really big haha. Thankfully YouTube saved me with compression to hide some of the faults with my EQ abilities. I hope you enjoy it!

Hi there! I'm not big into the super loud epic stuff but I wanted to try some stuff for a request I got on my channel. One problem I'm always running into is getting things as loud sounding as I want or present as I want without clipping hard or just jacking up the sound stage. In the track in question I think I've come a long way from where I was at. Mostly doing easy automated eq panning with the solo instruments and lowering/raising the volume on certain instruments when I need them to back off or come forward. Still, I know if I wasn't an absolute EQ noob I'd be able to free up some of the soundstage here and there. Any tips for EQ settings or even just simple panning that may help? Listen to Suikoden 2 - Neclord Battle Remaster (Preview) by 先輩王子 on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/zoGFb

Thank you for the tip! Problem I'm running into is I'll definitely need to make decisions on the loops I'll keep so I can freeze em. If I want to change something later I'll need to reload and change stuff. I think though for the percussion since I solely rely on loops (I kinda suck haha) I'll make executive decisions and freeze em up! Long live my ram space~. Thank you for your thoughts and tips!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTI2jiT6mbB7F2idA63X-PxT3C6Rk3q7/view?usp=drivesdk Think I've just reached a point where I'm currently lost. I've also heard some feedback about the transition being out of sync with the guitar which I don't hear but maybe because I'm too deep in my mind is playing what I want to hear as opposed to what is being heard. I also haven't done the proper EQ (which I'm bad at anyway) and balancing yet so maybe that would help. Regardless, I'm not really sure where to go from here. Maybe I need to take some time away from it or something. I kinda have this slow part in my head as a brief pause before kicking the harmony back in but I can't bring what's in my head to the actual program. I'm also having problems making the harmony pop more without just doubling parts :/. *Sigh* this won't be easy haha.

Started to dig more into part 2 and trying to flesh out the direction I'm going. New link in the original post.

Thank you for the lovely comments! I'll keep working to try and make this something I can be proud of going forward. As far as vocals are concerned I really like searching for new vocal packs and goodies. I think primarily I use Heavyocity's Vocalize 1 and 2 and 8dio's Jennie for solo female stuff. For full choirs I use 8dios studio sopranos and Strezov Sampling has a few choirs I like. I think personally I get way more bang for my buck on vocal libraries than anything. There are a few more I want but money is tight and I am not able to really demo things to determine whether it's worth a dive. But yeah Heavyocity's Vocalize series is just gorgeous. Lots of cool pads too which I always like to fiddle with! edit: https://www.asoundeffect.com/sound-category/instruments/vocal-instrument/ I forgot these! All of these are super duper fantastic and highly usable. I tweak the settings some, and in my head many times I think I want a certain type of vocal sound. Then if its a legato type phrase I'll mostly try and do it on my own with those patches but if I am feeling somethhing more virtuoso then I just spend some time listening to different presets they have and when one I like stands out, I program it in with timing, filters, etc. I'm a vocalist myself (though I never use my vocals on my tracks lol) so I can imagine a lot of stuff and this helps me get through the plethora of settings I think. You also thhough need some theory knowledge because sometimes I'll play a song in one key but the presets dont have that key. So try to find a nearby key or at least a phrase that can scoot in nicely in whatever given chord progression during the point in the music. Takes some getting used to and maybe not the best workflow but I like it enough!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ANhsfBOceY_ZcAMzc6bSl2GDTMRHAiBk/view?usp=drivesdk updated 10/9/22 I actually started this awhile ago but never really did anything with it. I guess recently I had some new ideas that came to fruition and I can finally post the first part for feedback. I know the second part will just be the first part but with a more aggressive vibe but I'm unsure how the whole thing will go after that. Hopefully I can do something interesting haha. Edit: This was asked for resubmission earlier this year by the judges. After some time and thought I finally took back to it and it's almost ready. Asking for a new review before I send it back.

Honestly I really dig the approach. I especially like the horns and what you did with em. Really funky and I'm getting almost like a marvel vs Capcom vibe or some type of late 90s early 2000s Capcom 2D game. Personally the staccato notes you added don't do it for me or maybe it's just the instrument/synth being used for them. May I suggest something like Spitfire Labs' mandolin or moon guitar? And maybe make it less straight forward? Like a eighth and two sixteenths type of beat with maybe some twang on it as well. It could definitely just be my ears but as it is now it just sounds distracting. Besides that though I like this. It's definitely got me jamming a bit. Thanks for sharing and I'd like to hear more!

Needed an outline before I start doing more funky stuff with it. Unfortunately I'm running out of RAM at this juncture so I need to figure out what to do about that first. 16GB isnt enough! In the meantime I'll work on instrument balance and EQ and developing more unique ideas to make it my own/a proper remix. But for now, a nice sketch.

Sorry I didn't give feedback! I saw a section for comments but I was worried the comments would somehow show up in public if I made any in the box when I voted. But now I see they only show after the voting period is ended. I'll give my comments here soon and in the future I'll do them where they are supposed to be!

I just wanna make it to the finish line properly this time haha.

Yeah I figure it has to do with the conversions and stuff. I'm thinking of using davinci in the future to see if it helps me get better results. That's a nice setup btw! Can't wait to get my old setup back. Couldn't bring it with me to Japan.

Vote in!

One thing to keep in mind is conversions, mastering, and such. Even though YT technically supports a higher nitrate, I seldom get good sound quality from it personally. Even at 128 sound cloud still gives me decent enough depth in audio that I want to share with others. I dunno why, it could just be how I make videos and uploads but it always manages to sound like somehow the soul of my music got sent to the shadow realm on YT.

I haven't listened yet but fit wise, I think so. I don't see why it wouldn't and there are plenty of more classically oriented arrangements that have made it. As long as it fits within the rules and standards, why not?

I got really busy and tired so I couldn't finish 100% but here is my submission. I also got locked out of registration and then realized where the answers were posted haha...Oh well. The link should be okay for download. https://drive.google.com/file/d/166qewkUBGGLapLYh_8dnHzStdGnmcvOL/view?usp=sharing

Thank you! The woodwinds actually showed me a lot in sound profile. I am really enjoying working more with them after I got spitfire woods.

I'll be entering this one! Never played the game but I like the feel of this song

I don't...know what I was expecting but it wasn't that hahaha. This was cool though, thanks for sharing. What were the instruments/synths used?

Thank you for sharing the track! I think it was a really good effort and I like the production values. To be honest, I'm not a fan of this kind of music in general (even though I take a lot of inspiration from it personally!) but I think I always appreciate the effort that goes into it. Here, I really like that you keep it more melodic and less just...wave of sound and add X cool effect here for "epicness." Great job! Some personal critiques that just come to mind. Highly subjective things mind you. I personally would have liked to see some variation in the string run motif that goes on in the back. Mostly harmonically. I think from what I hear it mostly stays the same. I am a fan of sort of a static pulse that builds and is always there but I think this one could benefit from some variation. Like instead of using what sounds like an arpeggiated modal chord of some sort, maybe add in a major or minor arpeggio once in a blue moon to go with the overall harmonic progression? I think it could add a really powerful effect, especially when the intensity changes in the song. Another thing to mind, and this is really subjective, is the adding of the choir toward the end. As is, it just seems kinda thrown in toward the end. Now, I think this would be more palatable for me personally if this was a part of a bigger motif in other songs? But since this is a trailer song it seems kinda just...thrown in? But maybe that's actually kind of hard to rectify now that I think about it. Still, to me, they kinda just come in for a bit and then the song ends. Maybe give them some simple chords earlier? Some really warm "Mmm" vowels with some pretty chords would be nice? Just something to think about. Anywho, take this with a grain of salt haha. It's just my opinion and I'm no pro. Even if I was, it is your song and it is well made. Thanks again for sharing!

Yep! I would be interested as well. Always looking for new goodies to mess with. Edit: I only use Kontakt w/ Pro Tools so if there were a way to get it to work in those that'd be great ;-;

Hmm, keep in mind I am unfamiliar with the source material but I'll try my best. Things that are worth thinking about. 1. The one big agreement I had with the above is that this just seems like a hell of a journey. Like at no point was I able to sort of...pin down a melody or a sort of feeling. Maybe put another way I felt like it was a rollercoaster of a journey and I had no time to stop and appreciate some of the more beautiful aspects of the track. There were some really beautiful chords and moments but I think I needed more time to process them. 2. Speaking of those pretty chords. Around 2:42 starts this beautiful play on this chord progression. I'm unsure if it is supposed to be open fifths with a hint of the thirds just aren't coming out. Maybe you purposefully don't want them to be strong? I feel like here it would really benefit from that time slowing down and being able to let me gush over that little progression/motif. The same thing with the ending of that section before the next vocals. I almost feel like...it is meant to be a major chord but the the full triad is being suffocated there somehow? If this is a stylistic thing though then no worries! 3. There is a bit of an issue with the lower frequencies...which is a bit odd since the lower range seems like it isn't really being hammered a lot...I wonder why? EQ or a filter would help but I'm thinking maybe it is one instrument that might be the culprit. Maybe a bad sample...hm, curious indeed. Try EQ first or a pass filter and see what happens. Don't want it sounding empty though so be careful. Lastly though, I wanna praise the amount of work that has gone into this. Obviously you put an immense amount of time making a lot of wonderful instrumentation and taking us along this journey. Surely a lot to see and take in and some real beauty there. I wish I knew more about the source so I could comment on what is being done exactly, but as a song in and of itself it surely has a lot of substance and I think you and Souperion are to be commended for that. Still, I think I come away having wondered what was it I listened to because it was so much! Give us some time to chew on a few things I think. More than anything, I think doing more with a little less here will let me really just dig into this more. Congrats on a wonderful start and I look forward to hearing more soon!

Ahh, that makes sense now. The orchestra samples sounded familiar yet...not like something I've used before. I have BBCSO discover. Despite also having my fair share of other orchestral libraries (Ark, Nucleus, Albion, and Spitfire strings) I still find myself reaching for it a lot! Great product. Look forward to hearing more.

You've gotten a ton of advice on orchestration and I think I'll let that be for now until you drop a newer version. I just want to say that all the suggestions were great there and I second them. I think to add to what has already been said, I would have appreciated maybe a little more subtlety in certain parts. I think one that really stands out to me in right before Lavos' iconic scream. I think maybe a dimenuendo would have been great right before. i guess it depends on your image though! Speaking of Lavos, while that scream is iconic, maybe you could try your hand at making your own sound for it using the orchestra? I've actually been trying to experiment with it and it is well, hard haha. Depending on your VST library you may be able to pull it off. in the battle section I was actually quite surprised by the synths there. Didn't expect it to be added to the mix. I think the panning you've done with it is really great and the balance seems good enough. I'm wondering though if maybe you could add more effects throughout to maybe hint at the synthetic element being added later on? Depending on how you feel about it, there could be an opportunity to add a little motif here and there. Just something to think about to maybe help connect the two sides of the track some. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to chime in!!

I can't wait to return home today and see what is going on here! From what I can hear on my headphones it sounds good! But I would like to give more useful feedback haha.