José the Bronx Rican

EDIT: Decided to turn this post edit into a new post, because I thought the thread needed a bump. Beg pardon. Here are the new WIPs... http://bronxrican.com/stuff/misc/jose-oc-deejayreggaeton.mp3 I have arrangement ideas now, and instruments are pretty much set. Vocals will come, hopefully, and I may want a sample scratched ("Thank you, deejay"), if I don't think it'll be a clutter. I was playing around with a synth-stab live; if I work that out, it will be quantized. http://bronxrican.com/stuff/misc/jose-oc-vega-end.mp3 Arranged; not much else, and I don't think there'll be much else, but I really won't know until the vocals are laid down.

I'm still at it, folks. Much like paying off my credit card balance, I keep forgetting I should add something here every once in a while before I get dropped. At my end, the vocal portions are being delayed until next month, and I'll have new WIPs tomorrow for the music (although I really wanted to update my site before that). I'm also asking DJSammy to please stand by, because one tune will almost definitely have an itch.

I finally have WIPs. Not much going on in these, but they'll hopefully give a general idea of what I'm after, and most importantly, I'm confident of finishing within the next two months. http://bronxrican.com/stuff/misc/jose-oc-deejayreggaeton.mp3 Deejay's theme, Reggaeton style! Another of my experiments with lowest-common-denominator club joints; just to see how well I can pull it off. No melody or arrangement yet, and I haven't decided what to do about vocals right now, or even to include any at all. http://bronxrican.com/stuff/misc/jose-oc-vega-end.mp3 Vega's ending, hip-hop, straight spittin'. Song'll be about that long; once I get some lyrics down (dunno from who, maybe myself and/or one or two of my co-worker buddies), I'll arrange.

Unfortunately I also missed out on the larger hoodies. Just like the department stores downtown - nothing but smalls left. Does anyone ever really wear small anything? Hope more L's or XL's come in before it gets any colder here.

I'm sad for the DJ. I'm not familiar with the software he uses. Especially sad 'cause I may be in need of the services of one who "cuts/scratch/transforms with finesse," perhaps on this or other projects, because I can only go so far with WaveTraveler, and would rather gain much more credibility through authentic real-time turntablism. I'm also announcing that I am officially crazy. Something really, really cool developed while I was playing around with "Vega's Ending," and I felt I should take this opportunity. So put me down for "Vega's Ending" as well.

Sorry I didn't get back to you on the weekend; I've decided - dibs on Deejay's Stage. I'll try and get something whipped up.

That's funny, I was thinking Sagat too. One less to worry about, however, so I'm good.

Thanks to Red-Tailed Fox for reminding me of this project, which I first heard about in the VGDJ podcast. I'm posting right now to express extreme interest; however, it's too easy for me to miss deadlines due to perfectionism and other projects. So I'm gonna quickly develop ideas from now to the weekend, and let you guys know around Sunday what, if anything, I'll claim. I need be completely confident that I'll make deadlines. I might be crazy enough to want two tracks.

That's funny: I tried to give as much insight as I could think of, and still came in under a minute and a half. 'Course, I wasn't addressing comments, pimping my website, upcoming projects, etc. I expect we should just talk about the tune, then split. Incidentally, I sound weird to myself, mostly because BOTH my cheapo mics died on me when I was ready to talk, and I ended up with my mouth practically shoved into my headphones, eNUNciAting in order to get my clip done. I need to get my studio mic back from my co-worker.

Done. When I get my homepage running (seriously), the instrumental will be available to others again. Double A, I just might take you up on that in future. Now, I've just noticed lyrics are available on the remix pages; how and who can I talk to to get mine put up?

Page 2.

Not even close. If there weren't other Joses contributing Mixes, I would've just called myself José here and leave it at that. I'm not into nicknames, so my screennames are generally pretty boring. "Bronx Rican" is acceptable to me because it's a fair description, it's not very common, and it makes a good sort-of brand name: I registered it as a ".com" domain for my homepage, which still shows nearly nothing (this summer, God willing). At any rate, my first name carries an accent mark (props to this forum for allowing it in screennames), so I suppose that's one way of telling us apart. And I've been contributing MIDIs to vgmusic.com for years (SOR, Sonic, others).

Note to self: that's enough lurking.... To answer Gecko, this is the José that hangs around at vgmusic.com (also a current moderator of the Visual Art board there), who really needs to get back to doing some MIDI's, but who's just starting out with something resembling a software studio, and is learning and trying to squeeze some quality music out of it. I'll get this out of the way, and offer a gigantic *salute* to Computer Music magazine, without which it might've taken me another several years and several thousand dollars. Now, some more insight on this mix than I could spare in my email to pretzel... The general idea was, in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, to come up with something sounding basically like the stuff many onliners absolutely hate about hip-hop on the radio - something funky, maybe bob your head a little to, but very cliched. The lyrics were re-written and recorded to that end, especially the vocal overdubbing, the way the chorus was laid out, and little touches such as the shouts to different "neighborhoods" (in-game zones), the "KN-UC-KL-ES" done in the style of Fabolous, and for Wu-Tang fans, a shout to "TIKAL" (the echidna ancestor's name, but also the phonetic nickname of Method Man [Tical]). The not-so-easy part was to make the track sound that way, but with recognizable elements of the original songs (the Rhodes, synth and sax); some parts were more successful than others. What was most important to me, however, was that the quality of the mix was reasonably professional-sounding to enough of you listeners. I'm still starting out, and this mix took me over a year of on-and-off effort, as I spent more time gathering sounds, samples, Soundfonts and VSTi's and effects than I did actually making music. Considering this was 85% arranged and mixed in FL Studio (vocals included, which is not kosher in a system running Win98 on a 400Mhz Celeron), I'm gratified the response is encouraging. Please keep the mix comments coming, good or bad! I especially appreciate that some of you were feeling the "funk," because I like funk more than anything, and I was hoping to have some of you feel it. Double_A_Ron's "minimalist" comments I found most interesting. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist sometimes, and even after I finish any project, be it music or a drawing or something else, I constantly have a feeling it needs a little something more, followed by another feeling of, "cut it out! That's quite enough; you don't want overkill." It's a struggle once in a while to find a perfect balance between "incomplete" and "too complete." I guess I might hang around the "Work In Progress" board periodically, although I have a hang-up about sharing unfinished work. Shouts to everyone who replied, and who will reply. I'm eager to start another one; I'm not doing rap mixes regularly (I don't even really write verses, although I've been a fan of hip-hop from the very beginning, and I like to think I'd be decent)... might be jazz, soul, might be techno. I even have a salsa/merengue idea in my head; I'm into everything. But I do know (hope, at least) it'll be funky... Thanks for pseudo-listening.... BIG P.S.: For anyone interested, here is a link to the instrumental.... (EDIT: The Bronx Rican website is finally rolling as of July 30, 2005, and the following link is 100% working) http://bronxrican.com/music/Sonic Adventure 2 - Knuckles' Unknown from MC - instrumental.mp3 and the complete lyrics: KNUCKLES' UNKNOWN FROM M.C. Yeah... y'all know me... the fighting freak Knuckles... still fearless... still got no weak spots... back once again after the Master Emerald... fools still after my jewels... I stay on point e'ry day, from da Island... gotta protect this place... do it for my race... I'm just gon' creep... stay knuckled up in the deep cut... and whoever want it, bring it... I don't care, we can do this. VERSE 1 I'm comin' through, rougher than the rest of them, brother, I'm the best of them, tougher than my breth-ren N----- call me Knuckles, cause when I swing knees buckle, nuttin' but trouble when I'm flexin my muscles, yo I'm hard as nails, it ain't hard to tell, that's word to Tails, break 'em all off, solid or frail Unlike the rest, independent ever since my first breath, first to test, feel the right then my words left It's the new porcupine on da block wit the buff chest, straight out da wilderness with the ruggedness Knock knock it's Knux y'all, the blow thrower, independent flow-er, magic Emerald holder Prone ta give you the cold shoulder, and my spikes go through boulders, that's why I always stay a loner Born with no help, so I'm just out for delf, get it on by myself, adversaries get shelved CHORUS (Echidoena!) That's what I'm representin', never seen a mic hog spit like a menace It's goin' down (Why?)... the Master Emerald's gone, somebody gon' get theirs quick my word's bond (Echidoena!) Fightin' my foes all the time, but I gotta do it, they always stayin' outta line Guaranteed I'ma find my gems and emeralds, they don't call me Knuckles for nuttin', I can't lose! VERSE 2 Yeah, the KN-UC-KL-ES was... born to live my life on Angel Island cuz... My duty's to protect the M.E. diamond, thugz... holdin' it down cause I'm searchin' for shinin' But every time I'm lookin for sun I can't find it... Is this the way? Is this the path that I chose? Damn Why am I livin' like my heart just froze, and, all that I see is a storm of gemstones, man I like to dig holes searchin' for pure gold, large pots of treasure always make me feel better If I need to fight anybody for whatever, I clench my fists tight, then we can go head-up Though I don't wanna hurt none, I'll leave ya head shattered, been lonely all my life... doesn't matter I'm here for da mission and whoever wanna bring it, n----- call me stubborn, but still I'ma live it Do anything to collect the Master Emerald, climb mountains, glide thru valleys, run down every road Wild and hungry, ain't nuttin funny, my philosophy's my knuckles, my feel kick like Chun-Li CHORUS VERSE 3 I was born like this, scared of no one, fear nuttin', straight thuggin', I'm out fo da ones and bling huntin' Diamonds and gems, yo we can battle to da end, but beware of my namesake, the knuckles dat I send 'Cause when they penetrate, death is certain, it's pure hurtin', they're hard as steel, footwork is blazin', for you it's curtains Never see me run from, never see me surrender, lay you out then fly away like there's no other contender Render opponents tender, career ender, run up in one-round wonders, end up switching their gender Put up your dukes, these mooks wanna blow up like nukes, nuthin' but flukes, I send all ya kooks cryin' to Ma Dukes 'Cause I'm Unknown from M.E., but not from G.E.N.E.... S.I.S. cause ain't no shame in my G.A.M.E. Peace to 32X and the clique called Chaotix, peace from the Island and to Bronx Rican for da remix... CHORUS Don't let it hit ya, move... shouts to Green Hill, Labyrinth, Hill Top, Ice Cap, Marble Garden, Speed Highway, Red Mountain, Lost World, Mission Street, Wild Canyon, Pumpkin Hill, Death Chamber... shout out to the old earth... TIKAL!