Geoffrey Taucer

RFB I didn't see you at all this year

Recording and production. It's where I'll be making remixes. (and also where I'll be doing my PC gaming) Will take a look, thanks!

So my fiance and I are preparing to buy land and have a house built. The house will not be huge, but it will have a space set aside specifically for use as a recording studio. The room will be 8' wide, by up to 13' long (I was thinking 10' room with a 3' deep closet, but that's flexible). The ceiling will be somewhere around 9'. Anyway, given that I have this opportunity to build a studio literally from the ground up, what advice can you give me? Obviously the space is fairly small, but I can do pretty much whatever I want as far as building materials, wiring, windows, etc -- basically, the structural planning of the room can be whatever the hell I want as long as it fits within 8' x 10' by 9'. Either advice or links to useful resources would be awesome.

Sarah and I will be there

HAHAHA holy shit a 55-minute mix? Some time when I have more time, I'm definitely going to give this a listen. Got a long drive this weekend; that will be the perfect opportunity

Consent given to monetize my mixes

Submit as in submit to OCR for judging? This is a fun cover, and some good work after only a couple months of remixing, but this is very unlikely to make it past the judges' panel. The arrangement is far too conservative, and the instruments sound very midi-ish. Don't get me wrong; it's a fun listen. But it won't make it past the panel.

Boy, I seem to be in disagreement with the rest of the people commenting on this, because I just. Fucking. Love. This. Mix. As-is.

I suppose I should clarify ehat I mean by using the same reverb on everything: Each individual sound should have it's own space, it's own feel, it's own "distance," if that makes sense. While you're doing your general arrangement, you're choosing sounds for each part. Choosing each synth, getting your settings dialed in, etc. Picking the right reverb is part of this process, and it's individual to each instrument. This reverb might be really in your face and noticable, or it might be subtle, or anything in between, depending on what fits. Now, after all this is finished, it's common to also use a more subtle reverb on the whole thing, which means it's the same on each instrument. However, this master reverb should generally be subtle, and not change the feel of anything too much other than to make it sound like it all belongs together in the same room. Hopefully that all makes sense

It's not that you SHOULDN'T use reverb; it's that you should maybe go a little lighter on it, and not use the same reverb settings on every instrument. Reverb is usually best when it's subtle (though admittedly there are many exceptions to this, especially when deliberately going for an 80's vibe). Variations in tonality can definitely work to vary things up; again, this issue isn't THAT you changed the tonality, it's that the changes sometimes feel a bit awkward in execution. As for cleaning up the mud, just decreasing reverb will probably do part of the job, but not all of it, and the rest could probably be done with EQ and possibly compression dynamics. I confess I have zero experience with production in this style, and there are probably other people who could give you more specific advice with regards to EQ and compression than I could.

Any chance I could talk you into sending me the lute part isolated? I recently acquired a bouzouki, and if I can find the time I'd love to play around with that lute part and see what if I can make it sound good on bouzouki, and if so (and if you don't mind waiting an indeterminate amount of time but probably at least a month or two) I might be down to take a crack at recording the part.

Production: A little bit of midrange mud at some points, and a lot of the synths sound a bit bland. Perhaps a touch too much reverb (and it sounds like you used pretty much the same reverb settings on every element). The orchestra hits sound kind of weak; I'd use a bit less reverb on them, and probably use them less in the mix in general. These are all fairly minor complaints; the mix is definitely listenable and enjoyable, and you really nailed that 80's feel. Arrangement: I dig it. Kind of mellow and cool, and definitely captures that 80's vibe. Vocal samples are used a bit too much imo; I think less is more here. But there's some odd dissonance at some points that I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. The intro seems dark and brooding, and then you go straight into a much mellower and more cheerful-sounding section, and it feels a bit disconcerting. It gets dissonant again at 2:48, and I can't tell whether or not its on purpose. After the breakdown, things come back in at 3:04 with a really different feel, suddenly much more cheerful than the earlier part of the track, and again its a bit jarring; it feels almost like a different track. However, the transition back to a more minor tonality at 3:51 feels a bit more natural.

Production: I like it. Very tight and clean, every element has its own space, I can clearly hear every detail. Good EQ balance, good choice of synth tones, everything blends well. Each element feels like it has exactly the right reverb. Arrangement: I love the overall feel of this track. Dark, creepy, a little weird, very Kefka-esque. I think you really captured what was great in the original track, and emphasized all the right pieces. Cool pizzicato intro. Love the textures. The pacing is spot-on; every time my ears start getting tired of an element, that element drops out or changes at just the right time (particularly important with sustained bass notes like this). I love the glitching on the arpeggio synth, and would love to hear even more done with this. I think the length of the track is exactly right. A bit on the conservative side as far as structure, rythm, tempo, etc, but I think there's just enough variation for this to make it through in that regard; if I were on the judges panel I'd still give it a YES, but I can definitely imagine some NO votes for being too conservative. Regardless of what the judges say, I'll definitely be keeping this track on my playlist. Awesome stuff.

Normally, I'd break it down and comment on production and arrangement separately, but I think with a mix like this, the line between the two can be pretty blurry, so I'll look at them both together. First off, I don't think the intro works particularly well. Right now, you have the full punch of the arrangement coming right out of the gate, with percussion, bass, melody, and a phasing/filtering effect on the the whole thing, and it's a bit jarring; after the intro, you then town it down and bring in individual elements, but.... the best way I can describe the feel of this is that it feels like I'm reading a book that tells me the entire plot in the first few pages, and then introduces me to the characters and setting afterward. You can occasionally pull something like that off in the right context, but it's hard to do and I don't think it really works in the context of this arrangement. I'd try to make the intro less busy. I'm not wild about the percussion samples; they sound a bit dry and don't sit all that well in the mix. This may be fixable with EQ and effects, without actually changing the samples; if you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out Zircon's percussion tips. Percussion also needs more variation in general. The mid (particularly upper-mids) feel a bit busy; I'd try to EQ out a bit more space for your leads. The arrangement is fairly conservative; aside from instrumentation, very little is changed form the original. I think this alone would prevent it from getting past the judges were you to submit it. Now, having said all that, there are a few aspects of this that I really like. At 1:14, you have a cool little mixup in the percussion. This is a cool little flair, and I'd love to see you more of this sort of variation, as well as some changes to the bass and the other instruments to accentuate this little mixup, rather than keeping it almost-hidden the way it is now. When you recycle the exact same mixup a few bars later, this sort of takes away from the novelty of it; as I said above, more variation in the percussion would go a long way. I like what you did starting at 2:08, though the jury's still out on whether I like the distortion I can hear in some parts of this section (particularly at 2:18). I can't tell if you've got clipping somewhere in your signal chain or if the distortion is deliberate; I'd fiddle around with this a bit, but I'm not sure what the ideal solution would be. Also, this mix is, on the whole, just plain fun! Despite all my criticisms, you definitely capture the fun, carefree feel of an afternoon playing Mario Kart. Are you planning on extending the mix past it's current end? The section at 2:08 would, I think, work great as a bridge of sorts, but I like it less as an outro, and I'm not wild about the fadeout; this would be a moot point if you extended the mix past it's current end, obviously. Overall, the mix is fun, but I don't think it's likely to make it past the judges' panel in its current state.

Medieval folk style.... fuck yes! Conceptually, I love what you have going here! Instruments sound a bit mechanical! This sounds like it could be a track from a PS-era game with Mitsuda writing the soundtrack. Compositionally, I love it, but as far as production.... iunno, the guitar/whatever sort of plucked string that is sounds a bit mechanical. Also, the low percussive hit (not quite sure what it is) could use a bit more dynamic variation. The higher hits aren't too bad, the but the bass hit sounds too mechanical. As far as arrangement goes, I love it! Really cool and creative direction to take this track!

Fuuuuuuck those strings are nice in the intro. Guitars are.... I mean, they're not going to fool anybody into thinking they're real, but they sound nice enough. They do their job. Brass at 0:55 is a bit mechanical. Once the beat comes in, again, you're not going to make anybody think the instruments are real, but they work well enough together, and the beat is compelling. Throughout this whole section, though, I keep waiting for a main melody come in, and the whole thing just feels like accompaniment. I feel like the stage is set, but nobody's on it... hopefully that makes sense? I mean, nothing here sounds like a lead, and I'm not sure what instrument is supposed to have my attention. Lead synth is nice, but I feel like you took too long to build up to it. Ending is a bit lacking. Percussion is a bit repetitive. Best way I can describe this is that it feels like a good backing track which is still waiting for a lead. Some cool stuff going on, but no central part to really hold my attention.

So I'm sorry I can't find a more diplomatic way of saying this, but.... The percussion is so distractingly repetitive that my ears feel exhausted by 30 seconds in, and it's difficult to actually listen critically past that. The unchanging powerchords on rythm guitar don't help. Having said that, the lead work is pretty nicely done. You're clearly both technically proficient on your instruments. But.... I'm sorry, the percussion is just so repetitive it distracts from the rest of the performance.

Ok, so as an ocremix, this definitely wouldn't make it because it's way too straight forward/cover-ish (not to mention too short), but outside of that, here are my thoughts: I feel like all of the guitars have exactly the same stereo effect on them, rather than each one occupying it's own space in the stereo field. That complaint aside, it sounds pretty awesome. Some really cool original soloing, excellent tone on the lead guitar (though, again, I feel like it would be better if it were more centered; whatever stereo effect you're using on it makes the center feel sort of empty, and the lead is just at the extreme sides). As far as quality of performance, it's top-notch. Great guitar playing.

I've been on a 90's pop kick lately, so I decided to do a Shawn Mullins-inspired arrangement of Star-Stealing Girl https://www.sendspace.com/file/8n2jwe Stuff I still need to do: -Re-record most of the guitars (the clean rhythm guitar will be replaced by an acoustic) -Add vocals/lyrics (ya rly) -Spice up the bass and percussion -Spice up (and hopefully live-record) the piano -Write an ending -EQ, compression, general production stuff (at which I'm WAAAAAY out of practice)

Regarding how much stuff there is to do on the map: https://zeldamaps.com/ Yeah, there's a LOT OF FUCKING SHIT TO BE DONE. This game has zero wasted space. Every tree, every rock, every bush has a purpose. Complaints about audio aside, the game is a masterpiece, the benchmark against which future open world games will be compared (most of them unfavorably, I suspect)

Usa's back! This mix oozes the 80s out of every pore, in the best possible way

Much appreciated! My posting-of-videos has been greatly slowed down by extremely poor quality internet, but I'm hoping to get the first tutorial video up in the next week or two. I also have enough material filmed for another highlight reel, but I haven't had a chance to edit it together yet. @bustatunez: donate and I'll juggle torches topless in my next highlight reel

Don't think I've run into Molduga yet

Funny you should mention these things. One of my rewards tiers includes request-a-trick (juggling torches while shirtless, for example, would be a fine request). One of my goals if I make enough money is to buy a set of chainsaws. Dead serious, not kidding: if I make enough money from this, I will buy chainsaws and juggle them.

I love how rewarding exploration is in this game. I've spent hours just exploring Hyrule for exploration's sake. The shrines are clever, the battles are delightfully punishing, and the physics allow for creative solutions to many of the puzzles. BUT The audio is awful. Most of the music is unremarkable at best and irritating at worst, the sound effects (especially when approaching a shrine) are annoying, and the voice acting is downright painful. The game is dramatically improved by turning the sound off, which is a really sad thing to be saying about a Zelda game.