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Xenon Odyssey

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Posts posted by Xenon Odyssey

  1. 3147109276-1.png

    My debut album: a love letter to the Nintendo Entertainment System soundtracks of old! Features every expansion chip used during the system's lifespan (save for the Sunsoft 5B, however).

    Yes, I did release this a while ago; however, due to some mishaps with the album art, it's finally being promoted for mass consumption! Get it while it's lukewarm!

  2. Anything and everything.

    Pretty vague, yeah? Well, it could come from an lick I hear on the radio, or from an idea I stumble upon while doing something like taking out the trash. I could be at work and have to keep an idea in my head long enough to locate a piece of cardboard/paper/something to write on to assist me in transporting the idea to a location where I can flesh it out into something tangible. I could be inspired by listening to the latest release from any profilic artist, mainstream or underground, or simply from playing some video games, from the past to the present. Inspiration can strike at any moment, and it's up to you to be able to capture those moments via paper, recorder, or some other medium so you may be able to flesh out those ideas into pieces that inspire other people.

    In a perfect world, obviously, inspiration would strike when it is most convenient. However, we don't live in a perfect world, and therefore, we must handle our inspiration the best we can, even if that means sacrificing an idea or two in order to live our lives.

    But in my experience, enjoying life is what spurs my creativity. And sadly, that's advice I need to follow myself.

  3. So over in the music section of reddit, someone posted a link to a website called Drinkify. You put in an artist, and it'll match them with a drink to enjoy.

    Thus:

    The Zircon

    • 1 oz. Vodka
    • 1 oz. Rose's lime juice
    • 10 oz. Club-Mate

    Combine in highball glass and serve. Garnish with fresh berries.

    The halc

    • 12 oz. Whiskey

    Serve neat.
    The PROTODOME
    • 1 oz. Bacardi Rum
    • 1 oz. Coco López
    • 4 oz. Lime juice

    Combine in highball glass and serve. Garnish with pickled carrot sticks.

    The djpretzel

    • 8 oz. Fucking Rum

    Serve neat.
    The Xenon Odyssey
    • 4 oz. Fernet

    Serve neat. Garnish with wedge of pineapple.

    I had to look up what fernet even was...

    The site's acting kind of wonky since it hit the front page of reddit, but oh wellz. Also, apparently some drinks repeat, so that's unfortunate.

    Post your favorites!

  4. Thanks for all the comments guys; I'm flattered to say the least. I kind of agree the arrangement goes on for a little bit, but after each section I did, it didn't feel like a good place to end, so...it took a couple of sections to finally get there. The piano at 5:50 is actually me playing, albeit it with a little quantizing.

    All this praise not withstanding, Bobby, the challenge I set in front of you is this: How does one take this excellent music and transfer it to a live performance?

    In general, probably an EWI or

    hooked up to whatever flavor of synth is needed for melodies and harmonies, and a regular ol' synthesizer could be used for chords. The issue would be the arpeggios...either they'd have to be already programmed, or maybe you could attach a synth or pedal to a harp's amplifier, so when a string is plucked, the resulting pitch would also sound. That'd make the arpeggios somewhat plausible to human capabilities, but the more I think about it, the less I think it would work since acoustics don't work like that. I mean, there's always the route of having everything electronic-wise pre-programmed, and then just played alongside the acoustic instruments,
    .

    For this particular piece? Ha, who knows; I'd have to go through again and make sure what I did would be physically possible to play. Plus if that opportunity even arose, I'd probably re-write the tune or just write a new one.

  5. Oooooooooooo, right in the feels. This is excellent.

    I can't say too much about the realism aspect since I have no expertise at that, but I'd say you pulled it off very well. As for the orchestration, I thought the B section was a very nice blend of being piano-driven yet keeping all of the other elements involved without bogging the piece down. Strings sounded great to me, but I haven't delved into the world of orchestra reproduction in a DAW, so take that as you please.

    My only complaint is it's TOO SHORT; I WANT MOAR!

  6. Usually, drafts or outlines can help you gather all of your ideas in one place before you actually start to write, but there's really no 'correct' way to do a draft or outline. You could start with a chord progression, a melodic passage, or even a simple arpeggio that you really like, and then from there see how you would want to continue. You don't even have to have anything of worth produced; I've written at least one outline for a piece basically spelling out what I wanted to do within it, without writing a single passage of notes to accompany. Usually, unless you have a really crystal clear idea of what you want to do in your head, some type of draft or outline is a good thing to have, so you have some type of home base to return to in case you end up not liking where the piece is headed. That also helps you isolate what you liked and what you disliked, and then separate the two, helping you further improve yourself as a musician.

    I will note that when people say you should allow yourself to make crap, that more or less means not to be worried that every single piece is your magnum opus. You don't have to write something you like all of the time, and by just writing every day, you'll further hone your technique and skills as a writer, which will help you figure out what you like and don't like, so that you'll be able to write music that you enjoy more often.

  7. People complaining about Wiz Khalifa

    Never Been was released on a mixtape called Kush & Orange Juice, which is available for free. The legality of it is no more than what we do here and the millions of tributes on YouTube. I'm sure he's probably gotten some schmucks to give him money for it, but it was released for free.

    Same for this track (source), which is was released on his latest free mixtape, Taylor Allerdice.

    However, he was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2009 when he released this track,

    , however I feel as if he actually sampled the Sonic tune in question, rather than his lazier attempts with Never Been (whether or not he released the record for free is debatable; I can't find too much info on that).

    He also did

    (
    ), however, this was after leaving Warner Bros. Records earlier in 2009, and we all are pretty familiar with Nintendo's stance on music usage.

    That concludes your Wiz Khalifa video game sampling lesson for today, since this topic comes up all the time when these threads are posted, and this honestly took me 5 minutes on wikipedia; it took longer finding links for everything.

  8. Fratto, are you playing bass trombone as well? If so, Wiesty, you should specify that in the first post. Just like an alto sax and a tenor sax are two different instruments, so are trombone and bass trombone.

    C7, thanks for the range info! I would suggest to the other horns to post theirs as well, so any arrangers won't have to write too conservatively (the saxes can be cut and dry, but anyone with altissimo capabilities should say so, unless they'd be more comfortable only utilizing those notes in an improvisation).

    Now, time to pick a source! Choices, choices...

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