Villainelle

Agreed with Avaris and Altus - it sounds both like you're straining outside your range, and the staccato delivery is awkward in many places. But! The first two chorus sections that start "You're not alone" are much better and sound more natural, with the lower, smoother delivery. It still sounds like you're straining on highs there, so yeah, I think lowering by an octave in most places will help--also restricting the amount of high notes, and being more selective about which ones you keep: those you can hit with power instead of strain. In general, there is a nasal and tense tone to the singing, which I think comes at least in part from straining outside your range. Try singing from lower in your chest, and perhaps as aforementioned at a lower pitch. That's just generic advice remembered from church choir many years ago, so please take it with a grain of salt. To me, your pitch actually sounds pretty good for the most part--the only parts that stuck out are the very strained highs, and some of the dips towards the end. Anyway, this has a lot of potential overall imo, but it's resting on your vocals. Find the spot where you can sing in a more relaxed way, which will let more of your strength and expressiveness come through. Right now when I'm listening to this I'm focusing on how tense you sound instead of the whole song itself, which makes listening uncomfortable. But again, there are parts where you seem to be singing more naturally, and those are great! Keep at it, you definitely have the talent to pull this off.

Wow. It's inspiring comparing these to your current stuff, thanks for sharing. You had some great choices of source tunes. The FFMQ ones really deserve a rehaul, such a great OST that doesn't get enough remix love. Oh, this is weird...did you have a WIP of the PSIV Oblivion mix in this forum years ago, or maybe on VGMix? I've definitely heard this somewhere before... Any plans to cover any of these tunes again someday?

Hm...the title of this thread is a different question than the one in his post. To answer the title question: create a layer channel, set the channels you want as its children, and assign each one to a different range on the keyboard. There's a video about that and other layer stuff here: It's long though, and IIRC the part about splitting the keyboard of a layer channel is towards the middle or end. No idea what the MIDI CC to change channels is though (if FL has one set by default?). If you have the step sequencer selected you could just hit the up and down arrows on your computer keyboard to change channels...

Lol, you're crazy. This one is free and has native sidechain routing regardless of whether your host supports it: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2054.html

Cool, just saw this and joined. Will probably do more parodies in the near future.

Thanks bro, you give some great commentary on this forum. Appreciate it. Good call on the low range, the bass is just one repeating pattern...it should probably switch up and follow the chords but I'm lazy. And yep, already have a breakdown in mind with ethnic drums--you must be psychic. Thanks again man.

Haha, thanks man. I'll check out that section you mentioned...all the notes *should* harmonize okay, but there might be weird clashing harmonics or something because of all the detuned instruments...who knows, but thanks for pointing it out!

Edit 04.02.07: WIP #3! More clarity, less half-assed ending (more like...3/4-assed). link: http://leah.johnsandford.org/music/seekrit/Zelda_64_Book_of_the_Dead_OC_ReMix.mp3

There's already an excellent partial orchestral medley (Bolero, Requiem, Song of Storms) by Unknown (Tyler Heath): http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01153/ He's done more in his "Artifact of Power" series, but no idea where you can find them now...they were on VGMix and SoundTempest.net, neither of which is up. I'll also be posting a Spirit Temple/Requiem of Spirit WIP later today as well, but it's more akin to Middle Eastern-flavored electronica/dance.

Don't forget Remix:ThaSauce! I like this piece--you already know it lacks polish, but it's fun and enjoyable for what it is. Creativity is a huge asset, man. You can gradually learn the skills to polish up and refine your vision, but creativity is hard to fake. Keep at it.

Yeah, there are some decent free soundfonts with orchestral percussion samples, amongst other things. Check out DarkeSword's soundfont page: http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/ Obviously you get what you pay for, so there are better libraries, but that should be enough to start you out.

No offense, but this is tantamount to a MIDI rip with nice drums. There's very little new notation in it aside from some power chords and a bit of counterpoint on the bells. I don't think there would be any point submitting this to the site yet, as it would likely get rejected for being a cover. Have you listened to some of the more recent mixes that have been posted? Those will give you an idea of the level of rearrangement/reinterpretation expected here. But hey, your drum sequencing is great, and the guitar doesn't sound bad either (out of curiosity, is it sampled/VST/etc., or did you record it?). You've got some good sounds here--just need to work on the personal reinterpretation aspect. Good luck!

The whole four minutes sound like an intro (or a bridge) that doesn't lead to anything, and is mixed too low and muddy. The voice is beautiful, but beyond its similarity in tonality and inflection to Thom Yorke, this comes across to me like an imitation of Radiohead, rather than something inspired by the group. It sounds like a bridge from a Radiohead song: specifically, it's very similar to the bridge from "Paranoid Android" (e.g. "Rain down, rain down... / That's it sir, you're leaving" etc.). I love the concept here, and I think the voice is gorgeous in a flawed, haunting way, but this doesn't feel finished. There could have been more harmonization of vocals to make it more interesting, or more deviation from and interpretation of the source, or more sound effects as one of the judges mentioned--or any of a number of things that would preserve the stark, haunting tone of the whole piece, while pushing it to the level of completeness and quality we've come to expect from OCR. This is a lovely piece, and like many great WIPs I've found in the forums, I'll keep it on my hard disk, but I don't get the sense of it being complete, interpretive, or polished enough for the front page. Just my opinion. To the remixer himself: your voice is beautiful; I'd love to hear more vocal mixes from you that push beyond imitation.

Second what Red Shadow said about bouncing tracks. And if you have a lot of effects going on, try using sends creatively instead of inserts. Anyway, to the actual song: drums are excellent, use of effects is great, tons of little ear-candy things in this, and I love the synth sound design--it really captures the sound palette used in the Metroid Prime OST. Great WIP overall! Gotta agree with Avaris like usual, this just needs more personal interpretation. Good call on the resonance of the high-pitched leads too. In its current state I think this would very likely be criticized by the judges for not being interpretive enough, but you could fix that by adding new sections instead of necessarily having to rewrite what you've already got. Throw in some more breaks and transitions, maybe write a new section changing the main melodic line or adding new harmonies to it, whatever. Great start, keep going with it.

Haha, nice contest subtitle. Can't wait to hear the entries.

Sorry for not being clear, it was late. By sonic texture, I mean the various layers of sounds, how they fill up space and interact with each other, the overall impression they give of either fullness or emptiness, etc. Think of a landscape--if it's almost empty, whatever is in it should be highly expressive to be interesting (like a solo piano piece). To me, it sounded like the song needed more layers of sound to make it sound full instead. Anyway, new version! I think this is definitely improved, it seems to have much more of your personal stamp on it. Drums fit the song better. There is still a swell in volume around 2:30ish--it's from the low phasing pad that comes in. You're filling out the "texture" of the song more too, so nice work there. All I can suggest at the moment is to keep developing what you've got, add little touches here and there--some effects, some new harmonies or little melodic flourishes, whatever. Personally, the section that starts at 2:19 is what I like best (despite that loud pad )--it has a neat industrial sound to it. Keep at it!

Whether something "is art" is such a stale, uninteresting question predicated upon infantile assumptions of absolutes. Anyone gravely contemplating this either a) is still in college or needs a brief introduction to quantum relativity. Rigid definitions are for intellectual wanking and legal matters. Yawn. We live in an age where someone can take a piss in a toilet, put it on a block in a gallery and call it art, and others will agree. Debating this inevitably results in reductio ad absurdum. Someone will think feces smeared on a wall is art; someone won't. Who really cares? What I have to wonder is (assuming the interview was conducted in another language) whether something was lost in translation, and whether the question is actually about high art. Example: are (most) comic books art? I think the general consensus would be yes. Is (most of) that art in the same league as (most) classical painting? Consensus: probably no. (Obviously there are exceptions on both sides.) The more interesting and relevant question isn't whether a thing is art, but "high art." In that context, are most video games high art? I would say no, most of them are not. Whether they are "vulgar" art is irrelevant; again, virtually anything could be propounded as some crude and/or visionary form of art. But I contend that some games transcend the mundane trappings of commodification and enter into a league with the best of classical art. Games contain most forms of art (narrative, music, visual arts) within a singular experiential entity, with the unique dimension of interactivity, which itself has artistic qualities. Stuff like Ico et al is high art, in my opinion. To argue otherwise exposes one's incomprehension of modernity. However, the ratio of art to high art is certainly widening in favor of the former, as a direct result of commodification.

This gets really loud around 2:45 or so...I hit stop. What I heard before that was okay, but had some issues. Intro is too long without much happening. Drums are hollow/synthy and the fills are too loud and a bit sporadic. Leads are too quiet. Sonic texture is kinda barren. You started to reinterpret the theme finally at 2:19 and it sounded like it was going in a cool direction, but shortly after there's that huge rise in volume. My main suggestion is to cut the fluff and emphasize your personal reinterpretation of the source more instead.

Wow, this is really coming along. Awesome work. Agreed w/both Avaris's and zircon's latest advice. I'll just add that I think the snare should be a bit louder and really smack. Finally though, I have one thing to recommend trying. This sounds pretty awesome overall, but I think you could polish it a little more by adding some very light tube saturation/distortion to the master buss, or selectively across a few groups. The mix still has a kind of digital edge to it, and there are some things that stick out a bit (the very airy/hollow sweep near the beginning, for instance). I've heard this called "gluing" the mix together--giving everything the same sort of warm, lightly distorted overtone to make it mesh together better, and sound less digital/sampled/whatever. There are tons of plugins you could try for this. Here are two free ones I know of: Camel Crusher Luxonix LFX-1310 Or any compressor that gives a warm distortion would work too, like Blockfish, Endorphin, Vanilla Compressor etc. (all free). Just an idea that I think might work well with this sort of mix.

Dude, that was completely unnecessary. The only way he's going to learn or improve is by practicing. There are no quality standards on the WIP forum.

Personally, I do the bulk of my listening while working/studying at the computer or surfing the web. Because of the way we're forced to multitask in the modern world, it's hard to find time to sit down and just listen for listening's sake. Kind of sucks, honestly. We hear about people a few generations ago having these meticulous, reverent rituals regarding music--taking a new vinyl home, carefully setting it up in the record player, sitting down in the big comfy listening chair (listening chair! oh, the luxuries of the past, when objects had singular uses!), and blissing out with a drink or other favored substance. I haven't had time to do that since way back in early high school. Listening while doing computer work gives me a sort of cerebral connection to the music, especially if it's conducive to thinking rapidly and focusing on tasks at hand. Depending on mood, of course, it can vary from anything with a strong, driving beat and propelling melodies, to virtuoso stuff with a component of brain or ear candy. However, there's also the music that makes it to portable players, CDs etc., and gets listened to while in the car, walking, exercising, and what have you. There's a more physical rapport for me in that case, where the body subconsciously moves in time to the music, and thoughts are set free by repetitive low-maintenance motion and the transporting qualities of the music itself. I think that's the closest I get to listening for listening's sake, and probably the most enjoyment I get from music overall. It tends to be stuff that has a strong emotional impact, as opposed to music that is more technically impressive than emotionally stirring. When I'm gathering stuff to put on a portable player or CD, it tends to be an easy choice--there's an emotional resonance with a song that makes it leap out when browsing through tons of tracks. Similarly, I guess that colors my reviews of music. Stuff that's moving leads to simple, gleeful reactions, and whatever flaws the piece might have pale in its overall emotional presence. The reverse is true for pieces that are more technical--it's easier to detach myself from the music and try to articulate what I think are its strengths and weaknesses. Of course, there are also the extreme exceptions--stuff that is such a marvel of technique that it reduces me to a slack-jawed "wow, teht is gud"-type response, etc. Anyway, to finally answer the OP, I suppose both of those listening modes are somewhat ritualistic; and yes, context does play a part in my enjoyment of music. For me, though, I think there has to be at least the seed of a certain quality present in the music for it to make the cut, so to speak, into the stuff that gets listened to in a more intimate way. One thing I've found true--even terrible live music can be enjoyable in a good setting, with friends, great ambiance, or what have you. When you incorporate other facets of life into the experience of listening to music, it certainly enhances your appreciation of the art itself, if perhaps just by blurring the divisions between different sensory phenomena. My 2c.

Yup, I voted. I really liked yours Xela, the chorus-like parts mostly. Cool stuff. Wish it was longer! Yeah, there was some interesting dissonance (or very nearly) in this tune, and I'm wondering if that's why there weren't that many entries. I feel bad for throwing most of it out, but it was just beyond my current knowledge of theory (read: virtually nothing)...and it didn't really work for a dance tune anyhow. It was a good challenging source though, and it's interesting how different the three entries turned out because of it. And Xela...from the handful of entries I've heard from you--and it applies to my crap as well, I'd like to think--at the end of the day, the votes don't mean much. Your stuff has shown tons of creativity and a huge range of styles and ideas. By entering and experimenting with new ideas, you're improving your skills as a remixer and musician/producer in general. That's why I started entering at least--there's no substitute for practice, and PRC is like a little remixer exercise every week. Win some, lose some, whatever--in the end, you take some sharper skills away from it, and hopefully have a little fun by pitting your creativity vs. the limitations of the contest. All I care about personally is that I learn something new each time, and improve a little bit in comparison to my previous stuff. Anyway, I've had a source tune in mind in case I should ever win one of these, so I'll PM that right away. Hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks everyone; I'm just happy I'm creating slightly less embarrassing "music" each time.

Hey Anso, this is pretty cool. Love all the different sounds and effects. Those drums are crazy. The harder beat around 1:30 = kickass. One thing I think could be improved is the way the synths playing melodies don't fit so well in the mix. You've got these really processed drums and SFX up front, a strong bass fairly close, and then the other synths all kind of stranded near the back sounding distant and tacked-on. You could integrate those better and give the song some drive. I don't know the FFIX OST very well so no comments on the arrangement, but it should probably be a little more cohesive melodically if you're going to submit to the site. Keep at it, good ideas here!

If you still need someone, I could do it. Edit: check yer PMs.

This doesn't have a good ending. Kidding. Um, it's an AIFF. Forget to encode to MP3?