Monobrow

This song came up today, and the first thing I thought of was "Wow this sounds a lot like Michael W. Smith Jesus music" Take that for what it's worth lol

Post your game remixes super fun turbo 3000!

WIP update from norg :J

So are you going to record live instruments with this? Is that a sitar or a guitar? haha My best advice is, the more organic the feel for this, the better. Don't be afraid to be more liberal with the beat. I am not sure if timpani is the right choice for percussion... Maybe bongos or toms or something? I kind of like the beat, just needs a little looseness.

Kentucky Miyagi Honeydew, CA Crater Lake p.s. I looked through this thread and I think this is awesome. It's always great to see other people's perspectives... And photography is the closest thing we have to seeing out of someone else's eyes.

"Hi guys, I'm no Photography but here are some cool pics I have taken" Grand Canyon Mexican Sunset Fossil Springs Savannah These are the low-res facebook versions *_*

The drums and bass line are too repetitive. For as particular as that pattern sounds, doing subtle things to the beat would probably help a lot. I'd also recommend layering newer stuff sooner/faster and keeping them in, this song is too minimalistic in a bad way. I also think you wait way too long for the melody to come in. A minute and a half intro (even if it is dancy) will probably not sit well with the judges. You really could just bring in the melody way before 1 minute in, doesn't seem like it would change too much. When we get to like 4:45... I feel like you should have done this about 2 minutes into the song. Some of the synths sound very default-ish, but that could just be a stylistic choice. You have some very interesting stuff going on later in the song, but it just takes too long IMO to get to them. Gotta keep the listener interested enough to stick around. Good luck, nice interpretation so far.

Yeah dude, I meant drumkit :J First, no I didn't want you to make the synths longer, I actually like how they were short and stabby. What I DID want you to do was to turn off the delay effect on them (the echo)... They don't need it IMO. Since you are new to this, just search around on whatever synth you are using for a "delay" effect, and turn it off, or mess around with it to make it a LOT less prominent. Sorry for assuming you knew what I was talking about though, yeah it can be confusing for someone new to this, with all these terms (I was new once too so I know what it's like to be on the outside looking in on all this stuff) I like the newer kit. A trick you could use is, when you get to a part of the song that is more exciting or climatic (like I said at :34) you could possibly layer two drums on top of each other, not like copying and pasting the exact notes from one drum channel to another, but using both and integrating them together to become a bigger whole. Also layering snares and highats etc. can add emphasis as well. I also think your drumkit needs some Equalization and Compression, which are effects you can use on them through the fx channels (what program or DAW are you using?)... This can help you bring out the drums so they aren't so drowned out. Also some EQ on your synths could help give the rest of the instruments you use (in general this is always a good thing, to leave some room in the "mix") to keep things from getting too muddy and drowning out things in the background. You basically want everything to sound loud and clear, and flow well. Good luck.

I will probably review these later but I just wanna say these are trippy and pretty awesome :J

Not a huge fan of metal myself, but color me impressed <3

Check out some sites that can link you to some good free samples such as http://www.kvraudio.com/ Do searches and basically you have to sift through a lot of crap to get to some of the really cool free ones. I also think there are threads that point you in the direction for good free samples in the workshop forum. The problem with non-commercial samples is that you usually have to tweak them a lot and really push them to get the sound you are going for. But in some ways this is really good, because you learn a lot about how to make instruments sound exactly the way you want them, with things like EQ, Compression, and various effects channels. A lot of commercial vsts have a lot of prefab settings that kind of do the work for you, but can lead to a lot of reliance and laziness on the musician's part. It's best to intimately know what you are working with. The rule of thumb about choosing samples and instruments for your song is to have a goal in mind about your soundscape. This is really hard to do IMO because sometimes I just start a song and wing it as far as how I want to sound, it's a lot of trial and error (more error lol) When you start a song, pick out a lead that you will stick with, something that stands out, that expresses what you are going for. Then pick your bass and any accompanying instruments out, and when you pick these out, you want instruments that will both compliment and contrast your lead, as you will write a song... You want to focus fitting everything into your soundscape seamlessly, like how you want the song to feel... Do you want it to have a lot of warmth to it? Do you want it to sound sad? Is it electronic, is it dancy? Is it gritty? Questions like this help a lot in centering in on what you want to go for. When you pick your instruments, just focus on what you really want to use them for. Stabby synths sometimes can help with emphasizing the rhythm of a song, long attack pads can add depth to the soundscape and mood... Your main focus when you start writing is to kind of look at all your instruments and make decisions on what is most important (like your lead, or the kind of song you want it to be, or how you want it to sound) and then build around this. When I write drums for example (and I just wanna say that this is my IDEAL way to go, I am by no means an expert on any of this, I am still learning myself) I try to usually treat the drums and the bass as all part of a bigger whole, I emphasize on certain beats in a measure to convey emphasis on something important (usually within the melody) or a lead into something else (a changeup or a break)... Anyway this is really really just touching on a long subject, but it's all really that intimate. The more direction you have, the more you know what you want to accomplish, the easier it will be to convey your thoughts. This by no means means that you should start a song only if you know exactly what to do, because experimentation is awesome and sometimes you really come up with stuff that surprises you through just not knowing what you are going for... But once you get into that zone and can focus, organization is really important.

Yo Hoboka. Overall impression with this song is that it needs a lot of automation for it to build correctly. Really think about your climaxes and build your padded (orchestral or otherwise) instruments with automations in volume and tone. Your piano is too dry IMO... Also it needs some release and sustain IMO... I think your piano writing is way too blocky too... Try to put notes in other parts of the beat other than 1-2-3-4... Use the ands and uhs *as* in the beat too. Your whole song could afford to sound less blocky... Your drums are emphasiing beat 1 and 3 every time and kind of make the song seem really slow and boring... I might not even use the snare or bd in the way, and go with a more organic kit... Maybe some glitchy drums? Maybe some Toms? Your drum writing is very bare and needs help. By about 1 minute in, your piano work needs a serious overhaul, it's just too boring, IMO I'd erase what I have there and try to think about a more free-flowing piano section, where you get some creative thoughts out. It's your solo instrument, so use it as a leader, don't let it be stifled by the four beat measure. Hope this helps, good luck.

What I mean by blocky is how everything you have written is derived by sections. It's very standard in most music, don't get me wrong, but I feel that it is a little limiting for a musician to think in this way. You get stuck in the format you've picked, when writing a song. Most songs are like this: verse chorus verse bridge chorus/verse things like that in between these sections you sometimes have breaks (drum or otherwise), sometimes pauses for effect, etc. etc. What I mean by being blocky is how if you limit yourself when writing music to a formula, you often get stuck and your creativity can sucked into the vortex of what you've already created. It's hard to break out. And I mean, it's all well and good to make music within the limits you have set, to really push the barrier, but often times, things don't work out that way (when you have first started music especially) and things (to the listener especially) get boring after a while because they are so used to it. My suggestion is, you want to balance your song having a formula, and flowing well, with keeping the listener interested, and most importantly, expressing yourself through your music in a way where you don't feel limited and creatively stifled by the type of music you've chosen. Some things that can beef a song up: key changes, extra sections, solo sections, drum and bass sections, false endings and starting a completely new thought, (in remixes) nods to other music from the game, slow cool down sections where you can build to a climax again, breaks for half a measure or so in between sections (usually drums) etc. etc. etc... You just want a feeling of musical freedom even though you are making a 90s dance type song lol... Hope that helps... I may have tried to explain this too much, because it's not really a "rule" or anything, but a perspective on music, one that took me a very long time to actually grasp in any way. Areggiation = what you said... But you don't always need an arpeggiator, you can write them in yourself, going up and down scales, etc. etc... For me when I say arpeggiation, I really just mean fast eighth or sixteenth notes within a measure, doing the lead or otherwise (they are usually in the background of the song)... So yeah, you got it right. Anyway good luck :J

And then save his father as he falls out of a tree which accidentally stops his parents from meeting and has to fix up this time travelling mess before preparing to jump to 88 mph in his DeLorean during a freak lightning storm!

Happy Birthday dude :U

Art has been updated in project forums, wizard is WIP now and colored retardedly *_*

Well, hey this is pretty cool... Your instruments sound fake but you do a good job projecting that "hardcore standard rock song" It's very much like the original should have. Too bad you don't have a better setup with live instruments, and this would be quality. I think the only that this is lacking for the most part is crazy soloing... It doesn't break free from the format that it is set in, and that's my only concern, you could stand to have some more creativity, more breaks, and things of that nature within the song to beef up the arrangement. Other than that, kudos on your song, and good luck with your music to come.

Hey, I am not very familiar with the source. This is totally 90s dance music. My first impression is, your song is all about layering, that's cool, but I think you could do well with not trying to think about the music in such a blocky fashion, try to give yourself more freedom (it's all about perspective, and sometimes it just takes a lot of work and practice to get your music to sound less limited)... Then again the dancy drama does kind of limit you to the blocky format. Your song is way muffled. The drumkit is very ... well it kind of sucks. It makes for a great quirky intro kit, but you need to step it up and put another kit in there later, something cleaner and it would help if it had a better bite to it. Your synth choices for the lead are kind of muddy and don't stand out (in a good way)... Put some fx on them, mess around with them, layer them, EQ them. Right now, most of them sound really defaultish. Also that synth that comes in and does a couple notes on the right speaker gets on my nerves a little bit after a while, I'd turn it down a tiny bit, or do other things with it (some arpeggiation, anything) to lead back into those two hits. Basically, your writing isn't bad, but you need to step it up, in both arrangement and quality of sound. Try to really really hand pick your sounds, listen to other people's works that you really like, and start trying to emulate their sound, until you eventually find your own. PLEASE, keep it up, its a long process of trial and error, and learning from experience that makes people better at producing this kind of music. I enjoy the groove you've established... Just next time, hopefully you can remember some of the pitfalls you fell into (it's really just you have some bad instrument choices and need to experiment more)

Haha, this is crazy. First, is that kit that muffled by choice? I think it may be a good starting kit, but I think you should switch it up with another kit (or add another, less muffled kit in) at around :34 I like your synths... But the delay is killing me. They are stabby, so why put confusing delay all over them? Why not instead, keep the cool thing you have going with them, their strength (the cool fast attack and quirkiness of them) and take off that delay. If you want that atmosphere, put it in the background with other synths that are different from your leads... This will keep that wet sound you are going for, but without the confusion and crazy (not in a good way) This song is hilarious btw, I am laughing... You captured the mood really well... It's just the execution needs some work. As you go on, don't keep the same lead throughout the whole song, add other elements, other instruments, other synths, anything. Think wacky and crazy. After about the 1 minute mark, this song starts to get dull on the ears, because we as the listener are too used to it. The song needs contrast. It needs some breaks, and it needs some more fresh air after a while. Hope this helps.

My first throught... I am not sure if I like that phased instrument that comes in, it's not that I have anything against phasers, but that it could be a little more subtle. I think your drums could be a bit more exciting for the source material for the first minute. I understand that you are layering them in as the song progresses, but a highly compressed snare with some fills and rolls could help add a lot of dimension to this song, or something that does that. The lead is pretty cool when it comes in, but it doesn't stand out enough on these headphones. Maybe try layering it with another synth with a subtle chorus fx on it... Something to give it a little more meat. Your flutey synth that comes in is pretty cool, but be careful about the resonance it creates, I'd cut it back just a tad on certain notes when it seems to clash. Also it creates some dissonance with that other pad/synth (like at 1:27) that can be a little distracting. Maybe use some sort of filter FX on that other synth (or choose something less similar to the flute) so they don't clash in resonance so much. The choir that comes in at 2:34, I honestly don't think this is a good choice for some reason, it just kind of makes the song have this wall of noise that I don't think you need, with such a clean sound coming out then (finally)... Maybe just use the flute there instead? Overall, I think this song just needs some EQ, compression, and soundscape choices to make it stand out. It's just a little too muddy for my tastes, and there is a slight clash in the lower mids, competition of frequencies that do your mix more harm than good. Other than that, I really enjoyed a lot of cool things about it... Neat subtle stuff going on, synth wise. The drums are pretty neat when they pick up, just think you don't have to WAIT to make them cool.

First thought. The piano is pretty, but it's too tinkly. Can you mess with the release, sustain, resonance? (Does it have these options) The strings all suffer from the same "slow attack" each chord syndrome, which isn't very good. They are pretty but, every note should not be a slow attack note. I recommend either getting another string sample where you can use automation to do this on your own in specific places, or layer those strings with a synth that you can do automations in volume with too, and put the strings in the background a little more. Your drums are pretty weak... The highat needs a lot of help, needs more sizzle, and a longer one at that, it's just too small gmish tissy, and is kind of distracting. I'd actually recommend you drop that kit entirely (or at least that highat) and go for a more dnb or glitchy type of beat, something laid back with some detail, filter fx (the setting is a cave) I'd concentrate on the atmosphere you have going. You have a nice arrangement, but now I think you kind of need to decide really where these instruments are set... What kind of soundscape you are going for... It kind of seems like you can't decide. Some of the instrument choices you have, I don't know if I agree with just because they sound like they are kind of trying to be super realistic in a setting where they are not written as so... You may have more luck trying to replace some instruments with others (like maybe that piano if you can't get a better sound out of it, with something like a rhodes or vibes ((or maybe just place the piano at certain parts))) Anyway, as this thing progresses, it gets really cool, I love your synthy guitar soloing and the drums that come in later. I also enjoy those very subtle glitchy drums that come in. Here are the problems I have: 1. That highhat sucks, please find something better, or do a different drum style alltogether. I would recommend something cavey, something filters, something more electronic. 2. Those strings, the slow attack... Also I think your chordwork is too basic, make them work for their chords, go for subtle and beautiful *_* 3. When that low string? horn? comes in at 1:00... It really doesn't sound very good, and I can't tell what kind of instrument it is. Maybe you could look into having someone play it live for you? Or replace the sample with something else. (I'm sorry I keep saying this) 4. Your piano arrangement gets kind of dull by the 2 minute mark. It's soloing, but it really just seems like it doesn't know what to do, like the piano player would be bored by now. 5. The bass needs more meat IMO, maybe layer it, and try some EQ/lowpass filtering. 6. I would recommend some reverb on that piano, some sustain, some release, anything to make the piano sound nicer. It's just too plain for this song, when it should give the listener a more intimate feeling. Mess around with fx, I hear some on it already... But it's just not sounding stellar. Maybe EQ the higher FRQ up around 30khz a tad, just mess around with freq some to see how it sounds. 7. At the end of the mix, everything gets muddy somewhat. Cut all unnecessary freq from your mix, you don't want any competition... You really need to parse out where each instrument sits in the mix, which freq they take up, and EQ what you don't need in their sound. After all is said and done, I really like this a lot, and if you need any more help PM me. I may just PM you with more advice as I listen to it more. I really want this to succeed. Keep up the good work :J

I don't know if this would help zircon, but when I can't go to the gym (like during Christmas Break) I would do a lot of pilates workouts in my room. Basically most pilates works on legs and core, but they also work arms a great deal if you know what you are focusing on in each exercise. If you are still trying to gain lean muscle and lose weight, I would do about an hour of pilates on your floor, put some good music on, and go to town with situps and leg lifts etc. Pilates mostly focuses on core, but it basically extends into strengthening all of those muscles you never knew you had, and do it in a graceful and easy way. Your biggest resistance is gravity (and your own weight) Here is a list of the exercises I do: I do a crunch exercise that involves bending my body in a V belly up, back on the floor, with my legs pointing up at an angle, and my head pulled up to a crunch, holding this position, I thrust my arms straight in front of me, palms down and cupped, and move them up and down, up to around my knees, and back down to the floor, barely touching. I do 100 steady reps of this. I lay down on my stomach, and I alternate lifting my head and holding, and lifting my legs and holding. I do about ten reps of each. I then finish with lifting my head and neck off the floor as well as my legs as high as I can, and then "swimming" for as long as possible, (moving legs and arms up and down in a steady motion, gaining speed as I go) I usually do this for about a minute before I get too tired. Don't forget to breathe. Also it looks really silly so hopefully no one else will be watching. I do bicycle crunches, about 30 reps each focusing on one leg and then alternating. I sit on my back with my hands to my sides and lift my legs up to a 90 degree angle, keeping my legs straight, then back down. I alternate exercises based on this, lifting my legs up, bringing my knees to my face, then thrusting my legs out and vice versa. I also hold my legs up for counts of ten, and then do a swimming kick with them for ten reps (each leg counts as 1/2)... And I do a scissor version of this as well. If you have too much trouble, put your hands under your butt for more support. Straight pushups are great. But if you do about ten, and then alternate holding for ten seconds at certain intervals during pushups (at the highest point is easiest, at the lowest point possible is hardest) you will go further with it. I also almost always am standing up straight before I go into a pushup, and "walk" my hands into it, and when I am done, I walk back out into a standing position. Dumbell exercises are pretty much a good thing too. Basics to work your triceps, lats, biceps, etc. The amount of weight you use depends on what you are going for, as do the amount of reps. Less reps = more weight, is the rule of thumb. Always keep it intense, slow and steady though. Plus a bunch of other stuff, mixing and matching. <--- 2:00 shows an alternate (easier) version of the exercise I do (V body one) <--- Example for Arms <--- Arms again <--- This is kind of similar to the swimming one I do <--- LegsSometimes you just have to get your ass to the gym though... I reward myself every time I go to my gym with getting in the sauna and pool. I love it and it feels good after a workout, so that is my motivation. Also sometimes we go out to dinner at this chinese place or at a cool thai restaurant after working out as a little reward. (But yeah don't go to a buffet and gorge yourself!) It also really helps to have someone go with you. I go with Ari and some roomates (and Ash and Justin lately) most of the time.

Hi! I have been going to the gym on a regular basis since about May of 2009. I do weights about twice a week and usually do cardio 2-3 times a week as well. I do that crazy zumba dance thing and pilates as well because I am a gurl and like to do all those typical gurl workouts. I also enjoy hiking and just restarted martial arts 2 times a week with my dude. So far within the last year or so, I have lost about 8% body fat and have gained big arm muscles. I can now do pushups without complaining too much, and can hike mountains without HUGE complaint. While I wouldn't consider myself a fatass a year ago, I was getting there after hitting my late 20s, and basically like everyone else, I found myself slowly hitting a metabolic wall, where my body is telling me "It ain't what it used to be..." so I've turned that around. I'm not at my goal I set out to have about six months ago, but am close, and I want to go way past that. So basically I am going to make 2010 the year of being fit and setting a trend for the rest of my life. I'd also like to add that there are many ways to burn fat. Cardio (getting your heart rate up) is good. Also a lot of people say that getting your heart rate up for a while (at intervals), cooling down a little bit, and then getting it up again is a more advanced way to go about doing it (I am not an expert though) Also my trainers at my gym have basically told me that the best way to lose weight is to do a cardio + weight training routine: The cardio burns fat immediately, but the weight training makes it so your muscles have to burn calories to rebuild themselves over time, over the long run. Like I said, I'm not an expert, but that's what I was told. So I do both.

Like has been said before, we will be figuring out the best deals on hotels. I think what would be better is for everyone to let us know their budget, so we can figure out the best hotel for the best buck. It would be preferable that we stay in the same hotel, or at least hotels that are very near to each other, so no one has to drive around and pick anyone up, or take cabs etc. And yeah, afaik, that is the set date for now. AUG 7th-ish It's still FEBRUARY and this is in AUGUST, so it is all subject to change (though it most likely won't) but I just want to stress that it is still very early.

Hey, do you guys remember that one time when...