Malcos

What version of Cubase have you got? I have Cubase AI which came with my Yamaha XS, and I've made 2 albums with it, so if you have the same, you won't need anything else.

Did you have a play around with any other keyboards at roughly the same price point? Then you can be 100% sure about your decision. I love Yamaha stuff (I have a motif xs 8, so I would say just open the box! lol. Have a look at reviews (at places like http://www.harmony-central.com/), play around with some keyboards at your local store. Something like an Korg M50 could be within your budget if you're willing to compromise on the number of keys, or there is always the possibility of getting something like a second hand motif es8, MO8 or s90es which would have slightly better sounds than the MM8. However for your budget, if you want a new 88 key synth the MM8 imo is the best way to go.

I've had my ADK A51 for a few years and it sounds amazing, and I've used it on male and female vocals. Sounds fantastic imo. I had a Shure SM58 many years ago, good for live stuff but not so great for singing in the studio.

You will be missed...

Happy Birthday DJP!!!

Thanks for the feedback guys. For those who haven't already, check out the track previews, let me know what you think...

Your sound design is fantastic, all the best

You only had a month to do this? Wow. I think the last track is my favourite; a very interesting and engaging album as a whole.

Just found this page which rounds up the best free vsts on the net. There are 7 pages in all, I've linked to page 7 which has links to free sample packs from pro vsts. http://lesitedeburnie.free.fr/lalistedeburnie7-en.html I'm gonna be downloading a whole load of these and trying them out, this will take time! I've already got the Kore player, the drums from that are fantastic.

http://twitter.com/Malcos

Nope, if anything, I'd more likely be guilty of ignoring someone.

I don't know who would even bother to impersonate me, but I have to post this anyway just in case the person gets malicious or tries something. Someone added me to msn, with a malcos@live.com email, with my full name. So obviously someone has signed up using my name. I have checked and the person seems real, when questioned the individual went offline. Now this could be a friend of mine playing a prank, however, I cannot ignore the possibility that this person may add members of OCR and pretend to be me. If someone adds you to msn with malcos@live.com, please ignore it. My real msn is malcos@btinternet.com, has been for several years now, if it changes I will of course inform you. I don't know why anyone would be sad enough to impersonate me, I don't know what the person could gain from it. This is the only place I can think of that would be vulnerable to such a thing. That the person was stupid enough to add me is ridiculous of course. I hope that this is a friend of mine playing a silly prank. Edit: Just realised that I could also be impersonated over xbox live. GRRRRR who would be that sad?!

Djp's studio looks like sex.

I can't hear any clicks or pops through my speakers...the arrangement is very good indeed, although the hard quantization does take something away from the emotion of the piece. The piano sample did cause the mix to sound muddy at times (this could have been helped by eq), however for a free sample it sounded good. Normally I would say this could be a quick resub/cond yes, but this would have to be re-done from scatch, which is a shame really. My advice would be for the mixer to invest in a full version of fruity if possible - because there are some real skills being shown off in this submission, even if this current version would need some tweaks before coming up to the OCR bar. NO

I personally only get writer's block when doing music that isn't for a particular purpose. Try to focus on what the music is for and what feel you want to go for. If you don't have any deadline for the music, take a break, just stop for a week or two to let the musical energy build up. There have been times where I have told myself I will not touch my keyboard for a week, and just let the musical ideas develop in my head till they all come bursting out.

I think the arrangement here is very good, however the execution doesn't quite do it justice. A lot of the melodic lines could have been beefed up with unisons - like you did with the part at around one minute in and the ending. There were too many solo instruments playing on their own for much of the song, and because they stayed at a low volume (the same volume as for the unisons) certain sections ended up sounding very weak. Instrument sound levels definitely need to be worked on here. I'd really like to see this one posted. NO (Good candidate for resubmission)

The issue I have with this mix is that it sounds like it's in the background, far in the background. There wasn't really a lead instrument in this whole mix until 2.40, and the repetitive nature of the previous sections weren't really helped by the voice samples. The sampled lines themselves sound really cheap and tacky. The only one that sounded ok was at 1.25, due to the delay and reverb helping it to fit into the soundscape rather than just being dryly placed on top. The original source isn't that varied in itself, however that gives more scope to really expand on that and create something with a lot of original material that blends with the source. In that respect I think this could have had a lot more elements added to keep the listener engaged. This mix has been a little overcompressed, which is evident at around 2.40 when the drums come in. The texture is rather thin for a downtempo tune with regards to drum timbres and sounds, in particular the snare in the second half of the mix.There is also around 6db headroom which is not being used here, the mix peaks at around -6db which means that the mix could have been turned up considerably whilst still having that creative pump sound to it. Perhaps giving most of the compression to the drums first would have made it sound better. This would need a total rework for OCR. NO

Congratulation!

Nice remix, we don't get these kind of mixes much. The bass on this is STRONG, it's actually vibrating my spine and my whole abdominal area! This balances out with the high frequencies on the percussion, however I do feel that the mix sounded a bit heavy on the low frequencies with regard to the melodic instruments. I wouldn't necessarily call the mix muddy overall, as the high end does give it shine, however, some more mixing and perhaps different octave choices would have given the instruments some more room to breathe. I listen to a lot of DnB, over the last year or so lots of people seem to be following the Pendulum style beat and not giving it much variation at all. These drums have been given enough variation, considering the feel that this mix was going for. The arrangement is done well and is a good transition to DnB without feeling like it was forced, and this is helped by all the original elements. The good certainly outweighs the bad here. A nice addition to the OCR catalogue. YES

Hmm I really hope this doesn't turn out like the DOA movie.

We have had loads of Icecap submissions over the years - it is one of the most popular themes to submit to the panel. Because we have excellent Icecap remixes already on the site and the number of subs for this source is so high, to get an Icecap mix posted is really something. The synth programming here is great and is by far the best element, and the pads give this a ambient cool as well as filling up the soundscape. Arrangement is good, with lots of solos to keep things moving along, although there is a distinct lack of a groove. The drums and bass sound very washed out, the drums in particular having a lot of reverb applied to them. They are also sequenced in a very repetitive way, in stark contrast to the synths. This is a good sub, needs to be worked on some more NO (resub)

I agree with what the others have said, as far as I know a flat fee is paid to video game musicians. If you had done this for a film, you could also be getting paid every time a copy of the film was made, and every time it was played in the cinema, then paid again for each copy of a dvd made. Hmm paid film work is sounding good! 50% is a hell of a margin for them to be taking - if they did all the work for the album release (packaging, sales, shipping etc) then maybe - but since you are going to be doing all that, seems a lot. Let us know what you decide...

My new studio - Yamaha Motif XS! I took out a 0% interest loan especially for this, more details for UK people here: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/takeitaway/ Software wise I've still got Reason installed but I'm not sure if I'll be using it much if at all now (I just have to find a good free rex vst player). I'm using Cubase AI that comes with the keyboard and I'll be getting T-racks 3 soon for mastering (I could use Reason for mastering but T-racks demo gave me a better sounding result). Amp is Cambridge Audio azur 340A SE, silver box is a Behringer MDX 4600 that I use as a permanent send effect (parallel compression) - I got it half price at Cash Convertors, they didn't know what it was, hahah! . The top box is just a cheap fm radio, looks good though. The mixer is a Tapco blend 6. Speakers still Eltax silverstone 200s, had them for 7 years now and they still sound great. I've still got a long way to go before I really learn the ins and outs of this board, but damn these instruments sound nice: Deja vu again