zircon

Good brass is really hard to do with samples, unfortunately. It is said that SAM Orchestral Brass is the best in that area; http://www.projectsam.com/libraries_ext_05.html But you would need Kontakt or Gigastudio to take advantage of it (preferably Kontakt).

Check out the Guides & Tutorials forum, TONS of info there.

I know it's supposed to be easier, but honestly it's not, IMO. I've been playing the piano for over 13 years. I tried the "Zelda" and "Tetris" arrangements and could barely hit a single note. I can sight read sheet music of that difficulty easily. It's really just not intuitive - it would take less time to simply learn how to read sheet music properly than to get used to such an awkward system that isn't used anywhere else.

Stylus RMX - and presumably any new Spectra VST after that - works fine, no latency. 13.5ms is also a HUGE delay when it comes to timing w/ other tracks. If the kick track is off 13.5ms it will sound really bad if the bass track *isn't* delayed that same amount, for example.

Yes, we don't really have any sort of hard legal defense as to what we do. It's as legal as fan art, which is to say, not very... we could argue fair use but that is something that you can't be sure of until it has been tested in court. Luckily, all the composers we've met (including those whose music we have arranged) are supportive.

Drack: No, we don't do that. OneUp Studios does that though (as far as I'm aware) as well as KFSS.

Actually, arrangements are legal, provided they don't change the fundamental character of the work. So adapting a piano piece to guitar is acceptable, or a guitar piece to orchestra. This is NOT considered a derivative work. However you must pay a small fee every time you distribute your arrangement - at the moment, 9.1 cents per song per "phonorecord" (a phonorecord in the case of downloads is.. one download.) 17 USC 115©.

Well, I went back on my promise that I made way back in early '06 - that I wouldn't set a date until everything was 100% ready. And thus I regret to inform everyone that the release of the project must be delayed. Without going into details, suffice it to say that the actual release of a project requires significant time & attention from a number of people, and if even one person is not available, a full release is not possible. I'm sorry that this had to happen. I didn't communicate certain information to people clearly enough and didn't think far enough ahead. But don't worry. The tracks are done, and they kick ass. The new release date is going to be within the next two weeks - probably within the next week - and I will post as soon as I am absolutely sure that it is ready to go. Plus, we will have something to show on Friday, even if it's not the full project. You might say... "The Countdown Begins" again. And we'll "Hurry" to get the project out there. Better yet, we'll "Hurry, Faster!"

I wouldn't worry until I start hitting the triple digits in profit from this album.

Three.......

I just can't get this big grin off my face. Over a month ago I sent my CD "Antigravity" to pandora.com, which is one of the biggest internet radio stations in the world. They operate using the "Music Genome Engine" which attempts to quantify defining characteristics of a song using hundreds of parameters, all input by actual humans. No computerization! All of the music that Pandora gets is hand-screened and they do not take everything. After 5 weeks (or so) I hadn't heard back about my submission, and was told that they probably turned me down. But just for fun I tried typing in "zircon" today and lo and behold, I was added! Some of my "defining characteristics", apparently; * Electronica roots * Highly synthetic sonority * A use of modal harmonies * Tight kicks * A wet recording sound Good to know, eh? Anyway, I'm just really excited about this because it means significantly greater exposure. Plus, I genuinely thought they weren't going to take me. "We hate technos!!"

Later today we will be entering alpha testing. You can play on ETG OR Espernet by PMing "FFbot" with "!play". The game is played through DCC chat. Now I just need to write up a wiki...

I am encoding "Voices of the Lifestream".

Uh... maybe I don't get what's so great about this, it's like trying to read sheet music from a piano roll rotated 90 degrees.

For something like Back 2 Skala, you first want some CDs of electronic percussion. This usually means drum sounds generated via synths/drum machines, but can be specially processed acoustic sounds as well. Then it's a matter of additional FX processing (lo-fi, panning, filtering, distortion, granulization), and most importantly, sequencing. Getting all of those 'grinding' and stuttering effects just involves writing them in yourself. Insane and time-consuming? Yes. You could also just get Stylus RMX, upgrade to version 1.5 (free), and then use the Chaos Machine's "Buzz" feature to produce very similar effects. It has a large library of electronic percussion built in, which is very helpful for this kind of thing. "The Delay" has a mix of ethnic percussion, acoustic percussion (eg. the high hats), and perc from drum machines (the kick). There's no special processing I can hear, so if you have the right samples and sequence them in a groovy manner you'd get this kind of sound. Snowfall on Forbidden Lands relies on HEAVILY processed electronic/acoustic drum sounds. The most defining feature is the massive reverb on the snare/clap sample, which is tweaked in such a way as to have a slight delay/attack. There also seems to be some compression which "pumps" the drum track. The little fill sounds are sticks being hit together and bells, and it sounds like the snare hit is a processed acoustic clap or snare, with the bass most likely being distorted from a drum machine sample.

I'm pretty close to the border on this. It's definitely an improvement on the last sub. I don't have a problem with the minimal & "soundtrack" vibe, and in fact I think it's quite effective. I think this genre could be called "progressive trance". The mix of hi-fi and lo-fi percussion worked well, and I like the variation of the Heatman source that happened throughout. Really reminds me of old school OCR. I think my main problem with it, at the moment, is that it's too QUIET! It's nearly normalized (1db away) but there's basically no compression to really bring the volume up. You don't even need to totally remaster it. Just go here: http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html Put that VST on your master track after everything else. Turn the threshold to -4 or -5db. I just did this myself with the MP3 and it sounds way way way better. So I'm going to go ahead and give this a.. YES (conditional) Just do the volume tweak and you're good.

I agree the production is quite rough. The percussion in the first quarter of the mix or so just doesn't fit the mood. It's annoying, plain and simple. A softer acoustic brush kit or a MUCH less obtrusive electronic sound would have been better. In general, there's a distinct lack of enough reverb/delay to wash things out and 'glue' them together. What this REALLY needs is a pad or two playing chords from time to time. Something that simple would help immensely. Around 2:24 I hear some minor clipping, and again at 2:31 and a couple points later on.. might just be caused by compression or distortion, but either way it's unpleasant. The second half of the mix is pretty aimless. While the level of arrangement is good, the dynamic that was started earlier dies completely. The piano alone is too minimal, and really too quiet as well. I had to turn my volume all the way up to really hear anything towards the end. In general, I felt like the mix was stretched too thin, but simply adding more instrumental layers throughout might fix this. I don't know why there was never any percussion after the little bits in the beginning. To me, this sounds somewhat unfinished. The arrangement of the source tunes is great, but it's like the idea is only 75% executed. Add some pads, sweeten up some of your samples with additional reverb/delay, take Larry's advice on the silence, maybe change the samples for the percussion earlier on, and you'll get a YES from me. Good luck! NO, RESUBMIT

AVAdirect.com has the same kind of warranty/labor service offered by Dell/Alienware (with varying levels), extreme customization, and no BS bundled software unless you want it. They're also inexpensive. It's the solution I went with for my music rig.

Indeed We just moved to irc.esper.net; faster server.

One Week. ...

Tyrog, can you please make your sig about 50% smaller?

Incredible! I love the intricate drum programming, smooth textures, and Boards of Canada/Crystal Method influence. While I was definitely enjoying the minimal/chill first half, the transition into a heavier and more distorted soundscape worked very well. I do agree with Larry that the bass could be pumped up more but honestly it's not a big complaint at all. The arrangement is highly creative and interpretive, to match the excellent execution. I gotta say, this is one of the most impressive subs I've heard lately - great job! YES

A little too much silence at the beginning for my taste.. Regarding production, the mixing really needs work. For instance, around 1:49, the strings are so quiet you can barely hear them. It just sounds sparse and boring. The guitar should cut through WAY more, and the master volume could really be boosted. Some washy delay/reverb on many of the parts would help everything to gel together, as well as master track compression if you haven't already done so. Some spots, like 2:19, felt like they could have used much heavier drums - mabye something more distorted and industrial. The melody in some parts, like :47, is too quiet. I also agree with bgc's EQ critique, though I think adding another part or two filling up the low-mid to mid range would really help too. The arrangement is fine. It's creative and interpretive. However I think the production is holding it back.. with minimal tweaking to mixing/mastering it could be much stronger. Please resub. NO, RESUBMIT

I know people have been mentioning the strings here, and I have to echo that criticism. Why do these strings sound so fake in comparison to Reu's MGS mixes? Regarding the choir, I'm a big Yoko Kanno fan so I thought it was kinda cool, and it did fit in the mix well. However, the 4 second gap after when it first ended (around 1:34) was kinda pointless. Too long, IMO. Likewise, the gap after 3:11 was extraneous. It could have ended there, or it could have kept going for longer, but I don't feel like the second swell added anything. I think the mixing is weak throughout. The drums and choir are quite loud, while the horns are rather far back and 'boxy'. No trumpets/trombones to cut through the high end. The horn melody is often overpowered by strings/drums (eg. 2:01). The drums have too much low end.. rolling that off so there isn't all the sub energy floating around would be a good idea. Plus, while the taiko sequencing is good, the other 'big' drum hit is repetitious. Overall I think there are not enough percussive layers. Compared to the "Legend of the Snake" mixes the rhythms here are just not as interesting. None of these criticisms are serious, but when combined they add up to more production problems than I am comfortable with. Touching up just a few of them would make this mix much more polished. A superb arrangement would have pushed it over the bar for me, but because the most interesting non-source part of the mix was direct sampled from elsewhere, I don't think that aspect is strong enough to make for the problems in production. With all that being said, this IS conceptually a very solid remix and it is not far from the bar. Another hour or two of tweaking and it will be ready to go. NO, RESUBMIT

Thanks for all the offers guys, I think we're set now.