DrumUltimA

Sounds like the piano chords have a bit too much reverb in the beginning for my tastes. Not too crazy about that synth that comes in either. Drums have a nice groove when they come in! Once again, I think there's too much reverb--I hear the ambience crunching against itself in the background. If you can control the eq of the reverb, i would try to shave off the high frequencies it's reverb-, uh, ing. I like the use of the piano, your instrumentation is really nice. Any chance you can put any pitch bends on the pan flute? It would help make it a little more human. Especially on the blue notes. Do you have a source I can listen to? Can't say much about the arrangement without that. EDIT: yes you do, so I can! You definitely have a great interpretation going here. Right now the mix is leaning pretty strong on the liberal side, from what I can tell. So as you continue to write, try to get some more source in there to balance it out. In general, be careful with your use of reverb and delay. Audiofidelity gave me a great spatiality lesson when it comes to reverb--the more reverb something has, the further it is from the listener. Also, try seeing how things will sound with JUST reverb or JUST delay, or perhaps a little reverb and a lot of delay and vice versa. Right now, it's sounding a bit extravagant to me, and I hear that a lot of what I hear in the track is just the ambience of all the different reverbs bouncing against eachother. Skim back on the reverb and you'll be golden!

I'm listening again and I don't really get where you're coming from. The lick starts on beat four of the measure, so there's nothing "random" about it. It's a quarter note pick up. Once again, whether you like it or not is your opinion. But it's not a musical mistake, Ian should not go out of his way to fix it unless he decides he doesn't like it either. It'll have no bearing on the judging process.

I see. I wouldn't call it a problem, though. Treating those four notes as a pickup as opposed to a downbeat is a perfectly valid interperetive choice--whether you like it or not is your opinion, but it's not going to detract from the quality of work/his chances of getting this accepted.

In the beginning, before the bass synth comes in, I would have that delay go a little further. If I can hear where the delay cuts off, it compromises the effect. It sounds like you're doing a manual delay, just rewriting the notes at smaller velocities. I would do a few repetitions extra so that the fadeout is super smooth. I'm actually a big fan of the choice of the octatonic scale, as I've said before. I don't think you should change it. I find it to be a nice harmonic climax of sorts, and also is a really clever way to disguise that key change. Neblix, I don't know what you're talking about with the beat too early bit, it sounds fine to me. The updated drum writing sounds a lot better! However, the drums still sit pretty far back in the mix, and I'm really not a big fan at all of your snare drum. I think I can help you out with this, are you still in Baltimore? I'm coming back to school at some point this week, I can help you out. In the mean time, put a compressor over the snare and kick. Make the attack something small, between 2-10ms, and the release around 400ms or so. I still don't fully understand how compressors work, but I've had some good luck with that. Play with eqing the snare a bit too, figure out which frequencies help the snare, and which hurt it. You can also play with this using a multiband compressor as well, where you decide what frequencies get compressed. One snare drum can sound a million different ways. Oh yeah, careful with panning. Extreme panning is great when there's a lot going on--but when there isn't, it can become a bit distracting. In the more sparse sections of your mix, keep the panning a little closer to center. Also, some synths seem to fade in and out pretty dramatically, probably because of whatever panning patch you're using (I have a surround patch that does that too, simulating the sound getting closer and further away). It's a cool effect, but not particularly helpful when you're trying to control the balance on your own. Try putting a compressor over that or changing the patch settings so that it doesn't mess with the volume too much. I KIND of miss the metal sounds... but it still sounds good. Take em or leave em though, it doesn't do much to the track either way. Neblix mentioned finding samples online... while I'm sure logic has some fantastic samples (and I'm hearing them already), it doesn't hurt to snoop around a bit. What you've got is really good, don't get me wrong. Here are some good resources to finding more stuff: http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/ - coincidentally, neblix's brother's site. Lotta good soundfonts, really got me started. I still use many! http://soundtempest.net/the-best-free-music-software/ a list compiled by zircon (remember jill goldin from school? opera singer? it's her husband) of various free stuff. I particularly recommend Yellow Tools from Independence free. Also, http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=koreplayer - this wasn't on the above list, but should be. I use this a lot too. Free stuff is awesome, and it's all I use. Keep up the good work, Ian! It's going well!

I would do it, but I'm not a female. I think there are some girl singers on the site, like pixietricks, starla, dragonavenger, and Another Soundscape. Perhaps one of them will do it!

We are the Patient Generation! Featuring soundtrack by La Monte Young! Coming soon for Nintendo Virtual Boy Rating Pending

I knew you could do it babe! Also keep your eyes out for sonic 1! This guys gonna take no time at all (unless i fuck it up for everyone )

3 weeks since the deadline! But I harassed larry about it pretty much the entire time I bunked with him at jillnzircon's wedding so i think that helped

As a representative of OCR fame, I support this album.

10 bucks says you only typed that last part because you hit send and got the message saying you need to type at least 10 characters

get OUT, YOU! YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!

Yeah, back when I played ddr a lot it got to the point where sometimes I would close my eyes and just see arrows. Weird! Also, sometimes after playing computer games a lot, I'll go back to real world and everything will look grainy and pixelated. weird...

Yeah, larry just moved back to atlanta. Sorry, I'm only looking at this thread because I saw atmuh posted and I was in disbelief.

nice job man! I like the changes you've made since the last time I heard this. I will say that I think the kick is actually too loud when it first comes in, now--I'm hearing it interfere with the rest of the tracks. In the first section with the kit, I'd like to hear some more variation in your high hat now that you've changed up the grove a little bit. More fills throughout the track on the drums will also help the flow a lot. When the drums come in the second time near the end, they're still a little weak overall--mainly the snare. The kick at this section is fine. The fill that you used at the end was kickass! If you have drum writing chops like that, then go back and humanize the rest of the part. The fixes you've made in panning and balance aside from the drums are excellent. I like your counterpoint a lot--You may want to consider using some sort of pad to lay down supporting chords. Right now the texture is still somewhat empty, and the right pad can really set up the atmosphere you're going for. Good work so far, and good luck!

i'm pretty sure it's just gonna be free anyway... Anyway I dropped 30 on this. lookin forward to it!

if anyone is driving from/through CT, lemme know!

I was talking specifically about the second one you posted, the one with dire dire docks. Also I don't think the LENGTH should be shortened! I think the intro is fine, it's just that I'd rather not hear the main melody repeat so many times.

Nase, you got some serious chops man. Keep it up, I am falling in love with your style.

Lemme give this a go: First of all, the guitarish instrument in the beginning is a bit TOO unrealistic, though I really like the sound. Perhaps try putting a bit more reverb or eq out the high freqs a bit? Once the other instruments come in, it doesn't bother me as much. by 1:05 I'm tired of hearing the source. I think the instrument change DEFINITELY helps, but I would consider writing something original here, to better help transition to the dire dire docks theme. I really like the percussion! The dire dire docks theme itself sounds a little frantic for my tastes. I'd rather hear it at twice the tempo, like when you had it at the end of the arrangement. If you are set on having it at that speed, I recommend you find a way to set up the feel change before hand, to make the transition a bit smoother. By 2:30-2:40 I would really like to hear something new in the instrumentation/arrangement. Maybe a change in chord progression, a change in feel, maybe even a new instrument or two. The solo helps, but I could still use more. All in all though, this has a really nice vibe to it, I really like what you've got so far! Good luck!

Well, i'm all pre-registered, so it looks like I'm going!

pretty cool! Who's doing the vocals? Male voice sounds like he's singing through his nose a bit too much--it could be contributing the intonation issues, and i also find that it's a little harder to understand his lyrics. girl vocals sound pretty good! I like the lyrics too! I like the sounds you use in the beginning a lot. snare drum sounds a little too fake for my tastes. Careful of the harmony at 2:00, the change to minor didn't settle right for me at all. Make sure everything is playing in the same key! As far as the vocal processing goes, I think it sounds pretty good overall! Every once and a while though, I'll hear the white noise in the background. try putting a noise gate behind it, maybe run it through some noise removal progam, or even just trying to eq the noise out without sacrificing the vocal quality (which is pretty good actually). It's pretty noticable when you start and end a vocal clip because of the noise. The arrangement is pretty interesting. You really don't deviate much at all from the actual source, but I think the re-instrumentation, vocals+lyrics, and the few changes you did make keep it okay. I find it interesting that this never really picks up, I'm expecting it to the entire time. That's okay though! Not a bad thing. I'm sure other people here will be able to help you better than I will with the vocal processing. I think the two things that are most glaring to me are the male intonation and the noise in the clips. Sounds pretty great so far though! I love hearing vocal wips/mixes. Good luck

Woo, I'm back! That was so much fun. Wish I had taken pictures so I could post them

happy bday dave! ima drink one for you tonight

hah, well i prefer live anyday. If I get that project rolling again, I'll let you know

HAY GUYS does anybody know where i can find some good saxophone soundfonts/samples? I need soprano, alto, tenor and bari. I've got some decent alto and tenor ones, but the sop and bari are hard to find. If they're free, even bettter--my price range is pretty much $0.00