zircon

Moved to ReMixing forum. "Induction microphone"? There are only three general types of mics... dynamic, condenser, ribbon. Cheapest way would be a $5 crappy PC mic. You don't want the cheapest, you want something that is at least halfway-decent. I suggest: Samson CO1U USB condenser mic. High quality, no other gear required, hooks up directly to your computer. Use a free program like Audacity.

For simple synth programming, yes, my tutorials are good but I also suggest looking around for basic guides on "subtractive synthesis". You want a general understanding of what different knobs do. Then, you can analyze preset sounds on synths you have, tweak the knobs, and see how they affect the sound. With time and practice you will be able to listen to sounds and re-create them on your synths. This takes a little patience of course FM = Frequency Modulation synthesis. RM = ring modulation. Physical modeling = using complex algorithms to emulate the behavior of physical objects (circuits, instrument bodies, strings). Basically, they are all different methods of generating more complex sounds. However, I have yet to hear a popular hip hop beat that really used any of these extensively. Thus, you should start with subtractive synthesis, which is easier to learn and more practical for your needs. Also, many principals you will learn can be applied to other types of synthesis as well. FL may be SEEN as a toy but I didn't say it was a toy. Many people on OCR use FL and produce pro-quality music with it. I use FL exclusively and prefer it over Logic, Pro Tools, etc. as an all-in-one studio program. In other words; ignore the haters!

Yes, VSTs are compatible in FL. There are only a handful of plugins that DON'T work in FL, in my experience. The only reason it's not on lists of "officially supported hosts" or whatever is because FL itself is viewed as an amateur tool, or even a toy, rather than a serious program. BTW I wouldn't buy a library like that. Build the beats yourself, rather than from construction kits, which almost never sound as good. Get Smoker's Delight from eLab first, or maybe even Smoker's Relight if you can afford it. Then just learn simple synth programming since rap beats never really use complex sounds anyway (eg. FM, RM, physical modeling).

Yeah, that pretty much summarizes it. Also one thing people keep missing is that record sales and popularity with "the masses" really has nothing to do with success, sometimes. Licensing music for film, TV, commercials is FAR profitable than record sales. ES Posthumous is probably rolling in cash from their licensing deals. They don't need to be "popular".

Cool!!! Again, good updates. There are only two things I'd suggest now. One would be toning down the bass instrument just a tiny bit more, like 1-2db. Then, if you could pimp it out with any additional synths, even just one well placed pad or gated effect here and there, I think it would stand a much better shot. Besides that I'd say it's OCR-quality and would have a fighting chance on the panel even now.

$1,120 on Zircon Studios somehow.

Yeah the value is incorrect. I'm pretty sure Google's front page is FAR and away the most valuable. It gets what, 100,000 searches per minute now? At least? And there are NO ads up on it.

Not really. I don't know of anyone who would care about a degree in recording from X school. At least in America they're not worth much - after all, the degree just shows you did the coursework and didn't totally screw up. How hard is that? Almost anyone can do it. It doesn't say anything about your real talent or musicianship. The education of course is worthwhile.

A lot of the samples here really don't sound too bad, really. The strings and piano for example sound quite good. I think the writing is the problem. Even with great samples if you don't write something interesting and dynamic for them to play... it's going to sound lame. Considering orchestration is something that some people study their whole lives it's not an easy task, and even the best samples won't fix a lack of practice, knowledge, or skill in that area. The arrangement of this mix is good in that it does do a lot with the original. The interpretation is clearly there. But the execution is lacking. As I said, I think the samples are easily good enough (they sound much better than free samples, which we pass regularly) and that the actual writing is the problem. The level of humanization is good enough, and the texture works.. there are no real problems per se. However as Larry and Vig noted, the piece just meanders. There's no real direction. The introduction was promising but it simply had no interest after that. You need more. I can't really give any specific advice on how to improve upon it besides just making the overall structure more interesting. NO

This is a solid, well-done mix in terms of performance & execution. But it sticks very close to the original in almost every way. Unfortunately we need more than just a cover or rock adaptation here. 1:26 to 1:45 or so doesn't really work for me either. The sounds aren't interesting enough to merit that big breakdown. Maybe if you did some crazy gating or rhythmic sequencing. The soloing over the original progression was of course welcome but you gotta go for more than that. Add more of your own riffs, change the chords, write an original intro or outtro, vary the melody, change the texture, etc. Production seemed OK but somewhat bland in terms of the sonic choices. I hate to say it but we've heard this exact setup on hundreds of mixes with most of the tones being nearly identical. Not a deal killer if the arrangement is really superb, but that isn't the case here. Also I recommend EQing the highs up on the master track as the whole mix sounds filtered or slightly dulled. NO

Nothing wrong with your opinion on this mix. I just disagree that we've rejected arrangements that were "significantly better" than this. If it happens, it's rare and the production has to completely suck. That or it's just a violation of our standards to begin with (eg. Shnab's chiptunes, while great, are basically against the rules).

Also while I'm going for a degree in music, it's not even classical music or music theory. It's more music business than anything else. Anyway, I don't think we (as judges) are elitist - especially considering that you agree to have us critique your stuff when you send it in, and there is a public, well-defined standard for what we are looking for. But I do dislike music elitists. Lots of people at school here won't even listen to a song if it uses samples or MIDI parts. Then there's the opposite end of the spectrum, the really hardcore electronic music fans who insist on correcting you every time you use a genre incorrectly, or shit on a track because it did something you're "not allowed to do" in a particular genre. Dumb.

oc.ormgas.com The problem with streaming for us is that it would waste massive bandwidth. What if you want to listen multiple times? You're better off just configuring your browser to play MP3s on the page.

Mixing is definitely way better. A few comments; 1. Hats are a little too loud, reduce by maybe 2-3 db and attentuate the high freqs slightly also. 2. Snare has a bad phasing sound to it, but otherwise the timbre is good. 3. Tone down the mix's low end in general, as well as the bass instrument itself. It's only slight but the bass is crowding a bit. 4. I like the new synth additions!!! 5. The various different theme quotes are awesome. 6. The new mixing pushes the lead guitar solo down a little bit, try to bring it up a bit more. Great improvements overall though. Keep polishing it

Assuming this was face-to-face, in person, maybe $20-30 to start? I'm not a big shot producer or anything. Beginner piano lessons start at that price range IIRC. Higher end teachers are $60/hour to up to $100/hour. That's what I'm comparing it to.

It would SEEM like there's a market for this considering the amount of schools out there with programs in recording arts & production. Generally speaking with lessons the teacher and student both have to have the same kind of gear. It wouldn't make sense for someone to have Orion while you're using Reason. You would have to teach what you know. If they want to learn, they oughta get the right stuff.

So can you cite those other mixes rejected with "significantly better arrangements"?

Using automation clips is easier than the old event editor blue for anything except precise tempo changes. As multiple things can be controlled by the same auto clip, you don't even need to copy anything.

Yeah, but it is definitely worth it. Gold + Gold XP Pro combined do have ALL instruments + articulations that Platinum has. The only difference is 16bit vs 24 bit, and less mic positions. However, the stage mic positions are probably the most-used anyway, and you can always edit out the release tails to customize the reverb. I got in on this group buy and it was well worth it.

OLD!!!!!!!!!! Happy birthday, Karl

Yeah, I agree with Snapple. Other things; * NORMALIZE IT! It's like 10db quieter than it could be. Just normalize it and it will sound better. * Roll off the low end on the lead guitar a little more and try to bring it to the forefront of the mix. Could be more cutting. * Try some simple pads or synth arps at different points in the song. More "stuff" to fill it out. Really though... this rocks. Listened to it about 15 times tonight already. Edit: Here's what it might sound like with some hotter mastering. I can master it for you if you want this kind of sound (it's not hard, but some people have an aversion to mastering for some reason). http://www.soundtempest.net/wasteboard.mp3

This is actually really cool stuff.

Yep, this addressed the mixing issues that I had. Not only that but the harmonies add a lot too, good choice to include them. As Larry said though you could bump up the vox volume by about 3-5db. It's not a big deal but it wouldn't hurt. Anyway; YES

ProTrax Classical Guitar soundfont. Best free acoustic guitar IMO.

Well, they said they loved the action and all the fighting, but according to them, the forced & cliched dialogue dragged it down. He said he would have preferred more fighting.