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Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora - A Final Fantasy Album Project Director: @Darkflamewolf (Director of Arcadia Legends and Mizar Attacks!) Co-Director: @Jorito (Director of Resonance of the Pure Lands, Paths Less Traveled and Sonic 25th anniversary: Speeding towards Adventures) Art Director: R. Hoffmann Sound Designer/Masterer: Performers available: - John Stacy: French horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone (3 varieties), bass trombone, euphonium, tuba - GameroftheWinds: alto flute, flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, recorder (soprano, alto, tenor), tin whistle, soprano sax, oboe (if simple parts), shakuhachi (and maybe some more woodwinds), garklein - Earth Kid: vocals, harp, piano, recorders (all except bass), accordion, Irish bouzouki, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, ocarina, kalimba, percussion such as djembe, tambourine, shakers, otamatone - Siolfor the Jackal: chunky bass and guitars - Jorito: synths, e-piano, organ, bass, guitar and a mish mash of other instruments - Tsori: Trumpet and Flugelhorn - Audio Mocha: Electric guitar, rock n roll, slide guitar and chonk - Manji: Heavy metal guitar and bass guitar - SableProvidence: dizi, xiao, piccolo, flute, bass flute + possibly access to other chinese instruments - Donut: clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, recorders (Sopranino -> Bass) - Cecil: erhu, guzheng - MooglePower: Irish bouzouki, Irish tenor banjo, Irish whistle (and low whistle), mandolin, seljefløyte, anglo concertina, bodhrán, kantele, ukulele, Scottish smallpipes, synth, guitar (DADGAD and standard tuning), and bass PROJECT HISTORY: Hello, everyone! This is Darkflamewolf - Director of albums: Arcadia Legends and Mizar Attacks! for the games: Skies of Arcadia and Jet Force Gemini respectively. There was once a Final Fantasy VIII album launched and attempted back in 2016 that has since fallen off the map and never touched again. I was recently approached by @djpretzeland @Liontamer to head up and direct this album and hopefully get it completed at long last. After much research, delving into past threads and posts, I figured the best way to do this is to relaunch it anew under a new brand and theming. Trying to build something from the ashes of a previous attempt would be a struggle and I feel providing something new and fresh for remixers to sink their teeth into would be best. Final Fantasy VIII was always the dark horse of the PS era of Final Fantasy games - it being the last of the bunch to get a proper remake for current consoles. Also makes sense that it also be the last to get a proper OCRemix treatment! So let's make it happen and bring something fresh and original to the table. Which leads us into... PROJECT CONCEPT : Part of my research led me to Pixel Mixer's full album take on the soundtrack as well as the Materia Collective and their album release around the time the OCRemix album was trying to take off. Listening to all their interpretations of the source material, I knew that for this album to sit apart from previous releases of the soundtrack, we needed to bring something new to the table. Something fresh and exciting - and that's where this concept comes into play. I am splitting up the soundtrack into 3 different genre styles: CALM - CRAZY - OFFBEAT/GOOFY. Let me explain each one: CALM - These are what you'd expect. This CD concept will have tracks that can typically be expected to be more soothing and calming. However, I wanted to add a neat addition to the theme: Since the entire game revolves around exploring the world and exploring different cultures (and there are a fair bit in Final Fantasy VIII), I wanted each song on this CD to have a cultural flair added to it. It can be either an instrument or two from a culture or just the way the song is structured. I don't care if it is Japanese, African, Norwegian, Russian, Indian, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, Australian - it just needs to be audibly recognizable as having that cultural vibe throughout the song. How you do that is up to you. Complete freedom beyond this theming. CRAZY - These are what you'd expect. This CD concept will have tracks that can typically be expected to be more upbeat, pulse-pounding, high octane affairs. It can be metal, rock, shred, EDM, you name it. I don't care which of these toe-tapping genres you put it in, I just want to feel it. Make it hard, fast, loud, crazy - go wild. These are the tracks I want to really turn up my speakers and just rage out to. Let the walls pound with the beat! Complete freedom beyond this theming. OFFBEAT/GOOFY - This is where things get interesting. Complete freedom of genre and style. The weirder and more off-the-wall interpretations you have of these tracks, the better. I want to be surprised and expectations of what the song could be blown away. I want to hear something nobody would expect going into a remix of these songs. Go wild, have fun, sky's the limit. Complete freedom in every sense of the word. Don't repeat what has been done before - do something fresh and new with these tracks! ALBUM UPDATE!!!!!!: So, Jorito and I do feel a bit bad about numerous folks being super excited, eager and motivated to claim multiple tracks - however, previous claimants from the first time this album was launched do have priority over those tracks up until Sept 12, 2021 since they claimed it first. It's the right thing to do to reach out to these remixers and see if they wish to still participate in something they were so passionate about joining back in 2016. When discussing the theming of the album and how the three main CDs were to reflect the nature of each of the Gardens: Balamb = CALM, Galbadia = CRAZY and Trabia = GOOFY/OFFBEAT (because Selphie!) - we came up with a question: What will happen to the Lunatic Pandora disc? Because Jorito and a few others liked that idea and theming as well. So an idea struck me: WHY NOT BOTH?! Why not have 3 primary GARDEN discs and then a fourth LUNATIC PANDORA disc where any genre from the first three discs can go (so no limits to interpretation there!) AND the 4th disc can be where any duplicate tracks can go! Now, for those who still are hyped to remix a track that a former claimant has reclaimed but instead have it be on the PANDORA disc, the three GARDEN discs take priority. I really want each remixer to pick songs not claimed to fill out the first three GARDEN discs. That's priority. Once that is finished, you can then go back and remix the track you also wanted to do that'd be a duplicate. Make sense? TRACK LIST As of 9/21/2022, we are finished with taking remixers and applications to claim tracks. Listed before is the current track line-up of completed tracks. TRACK STATUS Finished Unmastered Arrangement submitted - 69 Finished and Mastered Track - 0 BALAMB GARDEN DISC 1 - The Jellyfish (Fisherman's Horizon) - DJPretzel 2 - Aroma of Sugary Warmth (Balamb Garden) - Clement Panchout feat. Facemeltingsolo, GameroftheWinds & SableProvidence 3 - Moonlit Night on a Calm Lake (Waltz for the Moon) - ChriskAudio 4 - Where is My Fault (Tell Me) - BlueLighter feat. Anna Hanabi, SableProvidence, Khoo Sze Ning, Guitarsvd, Ian Martyn, & dpMusician 5 - Garden's Destiny (The Oath) - Deedubs 6 - I Belong (Where I Belong) - Cyril the Wolf feat. Jordi 7 - Roses, Wine and Gentle Smiles (Roses and Wine) - CarlosEdge 8 - Gaofar (Breezy) - Ian Martyn 9 - The Annals of Truth (Junction) - RebeccaETripp feat. GameroftheWinds & Ian Martyn 10 - Find Your Way to the East (Find Your Way) - Sorven 11 - Take My Squall Away (Love Grows) - Hemophiliac 12 - Tears in Rain (Silence and Motion) - Zack Parrish 13 - The Infested Arena (Fear) - BlueLighter 14 - Long for the Horizon (Blue Fields) - Zack Parrish feat. Ian Martyn, Kestrel Girl & Jesus Chic Acevedo 15 - Moments (Fragments of Memories) - Jorito feat. JoyDreamer & Christ~Amaterasu 16 - Your Smile (Julia) - FeralDreams feat. Juan Medrano 17 - Friends Under Different Stars (Ami) - Cecil feat. James Perretta 18 - Lost in Time (The Successor) - Meldecision feat. Metamoogle & Cyril the Wolf GALBADIA GARDEN DISC 1 - The Galbadian National Anthem (Cactus Jack) - Blake Inc. feat. Cyril the Wolf 2 - Two Scars Matching (Don't Be Afraid) - Tuberz McGee 3 - Dancefloorphans (Truth) - Pixel Pirates 4 - Skadooshin' (Movin') - jdamashii!! 5 - Filthy Lies, Wasted Virtue (Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec) - Vodou Queen feat. Rockos 6 - Queen of Cards (Shuffle and Boogie) - GlacialSpoon 7 - Dead End Blitz (Dead End) - bLiNd 8 - Turn Those UP (Starting Up) - Rockos feat. Siolfor the Jackal 9 - Downtown Run (Never Look Back) - Drakeld 10 - Stuck in My Mind (My Mind) - Jorito feat. Sirenstar 11 - Theme of the White Hole Prevention Agency (Ride On) - APZX feat. Jabo & Tsori 12 - The Marshall (Martial Law) - Rockos feat. Zack Parrish & Tsori 13 - Final Force (Force Your Way) - Ivan Hakštok 14 - Witch Hunter (The Man With the Machine Gun) - Gario 15 - Warheads (Retaliation) - Drakeld 16 - Only A Hot Dog Between One and the Sickness (Only a Plank Between One and Perdition) - Siolfor the Jackal feat. Jabo & Serrin's Toes 17 - You Got Me Dancing (Dance With the Balamb Fish) - Treyt TRABIA GARDEN DISC 1 - Even Ill-Omens Need a Break (Premonition) - Vodou Queen feat. dpMusician, SirCorn, Shea's Violin, GameroftheWinds & Tsori 2 - Swagger de Chocobo (Mods de Chocobo) - GlacialSpoon 3 - La Victoria de los Bùhos (Timber Owls) - Deedubs feat. Sean Hardin, Wurtzel, Tsori, CNDRSamus & Travis Kindred 4 - Proposition and Clamor (Overture) - APZX 5 - Willingly Sacrificed (A Sacrifice) - MkVaff 6 - El Gran Salar (The Salt Flats) - CNDRSamus feat. GameroftheWinds 7 - A Scar to Match (Rivals) - colorado weeks feat. Chromatic Apparatus, Flake & Shea's Violin 8 - The Oscar Goes to Laguna Loire (Slideshow Parts 1 & 2) - BlueLighter 9 - Night Shift (Jailed) - DJ Orange 10 - OH!! DEKA-DE-JAZZ-DE-CHOCOBO ~ Dirty Contacts Mix (Odeka de Chocobo) - HeavyViper 11 - For a Few Draws More (The Mission) - Flake feat. Sorven, Audio Mocha, Cyril the Wolf, dpMusician, Zack Parrish, Ian Martyn & Calem Destiny 12 - Still Under Her Control, But With New Management (Under Her Control) - Jean Of mArc 13 - Impressions From Unrest (Unrest) - SirCorn 14 - Into the Singularity (Compression of Time) - Sirenstar feat. Jorito 15 - Concédeme Un Momento (Eyes on Me) - CNDRSamus feat. Earth Kid & Chris Kohler 16 - Deling City Nights (Galbadia Garden) - Lucas Guimaraes feat. Dionte George, dpMusician, theBitterRoost & MegadudeXD 17 - A Wounded Spy (The Spy) - Vylent 18 - Succession of Magical Girls (Succession of Witches) - donut feat. John Bishop 19 - Smooth Heretic (Heresy) - KalS 20 - We Are the Winners (The Winner) - Jorito feat. Numoon, Sirenstar, Cyril the Wolf, Tsori & Dewey Newt LUNATIC PANDORA DISC 1 - Voces Maledictionis et Spei: Children Fated to Lead (Liberi Fatali) - Heavenwraith feat. JoyDreamer, Bonnie Bogovich, Vodou Queen, Ian Martyn & colorado weeks 2 - If Time Stood Still (Eyes on Me) - Earth Kid feat. Erika Richards 3 - Set the Stage on Fire (The Stage is Set) - Zack Parrish 4 - The Sorceress' Knight (Force Your Way) - Deedubs 5 - Heavy Residents (Residents) - Rockos feat. Zack Parrish & Cyril the Wolf 6 - The Tolls of Stringent Obligation (The Landing) - Zack Parrish feat. Chromatic Apparatus, Alex Parrish, Cyril the Wolf & Angel Hernandez 7 - High Tides and Lunar Cries (Lunatic Pandora) - Audio Mocha 8 - In Horto Dormit Nuntius (The Castle) - Fishy 9 - SeeDs of Pandora (SeeD) - Jorito feat. Sirenstar, Chromatic Apparatus & Juan Medrano 10 - Make Them Bleed (The Legendary Beast) - Zack Parrish feat. Earth Kid & Viking Guitar 11 - Maybe I'm a Lion or Maybe I'm Not (Maybe I'm a Lion) - Ian Martyn feat. Darby Cupit, Ian Cowell, Leo Martyn, Carrie Wood & MegadudeXD 12 - All Existence Denied (The Extreme) - Vodou Queen feat. Cap'n Shred 13 - Succession of Power (The Successor) - ChriskAudio feat. GameroftheWinds 14 - And That's the End (Ending Theme) - Rockos feat. ChriskAudio QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: QUESTION: There are 74 tracks - are all going to be needing to remixed? ANSWER: No. I do not expect to have a full complement of 74 tracks that comprise the entire soundtrack to Final Fantasy VIII - however, I would like a minimum of 12 tracks for each CD theme - making a total of 36 tracks. I know it isn't a high bar to strive for, but trying to start up an album that has been languishing for years is a tall order, so I'm setting my sights on a more attainable goal. It would be nice to get them all, but I'm only asking for 12 per disc theme. QUESTION: I would like to remix a track, but not sure if I can meet the theme of the disc on my own. Can I collab with another remixer? ANSWER: Of course! In fact, I encourage many collaborations with this album! If you're awesome at piano, but need someone to give your track that cultural flair that I am hoping for in the CALM disc, then seek out someone willing to provide that for you! I'm excited to hear many collabs on this album. Likewise for the other two discs, if you feel you need to seek out other musicians for their talents to complete it, by all means, go collaborate! QUESTION: Some of the tracks don't seem to be in the right genre - like Eyes on Me is in the CRAZY theme? ANSWER: You're right! I deliberately put some tracks where they were for a reason. For example, I feel Eyes on Me has seen so many slow or smooth remixes and for once, I'd like to see us bring something new to the table with this OCRemix album by spicing it up in a way people didn't expect! QUESTION: What if I have a great idea for a GOOFY/OFFBEAT style, but the track is in the CALM theming. What do I do? ANSWER: Pitch the idea and more than likely, we can swap that track over to the disc of your choice and theming! Just because the tracks are in that theming doesn't mean they have to stay there! My only requirement was AT LEAST 12 tracks per theme. As long as I meet that bare minimum to make a full disc for each theme, I don't really care what tracks comprise what theme. So we can mix and match and this track line-up doesn't need to stay static! You wanna do Silence and Motion as a CALM waltz with sitar? Go for it! All I'm really asking for is to keep the themes so we, as a collective group for OCRemix, can bring something new to the Final Fantasy VIII remixing spectrum. QUESTION: What if I was a part of the previous attempt at this album? Does my claim and/or my track count? ANSWER: It sure can! Get with me ASAP and let's figure out together where we can fit in your track and if it is possible to update it to match the themes proposed above. You are more than welcome to submit the track to see if it fits in. Who knows? It might fit already in the three existing themes without much editing needed! But unless you tell me you want your old track claim back, I won't know if you're still on board. So let me know ASAP if you still want to do it and if you still like the theming your track is under or if you wish to change it to one of the other two. I'm willing to work with you! NOTE: I will be referencing the old forum post about who claimed what and will be giving those remixers priority over the next 3-4 weeks. After that time has past, I'll just assume you do not wish to participate anymore and will give the tracks to interested parties to remix. But I'd love if those who claimed before would want to come back to finish. QUESTION: Is there going to be a place to collaborate all the details of the project while in production? ANSWER: Yes! There is a discord server specifically set up for this album! So expect to get an invite when you join to come to the server on Discord! QUESTION: With the addition of this new, fourth disc - if a former claimant comes back to reclaim their track, can I still remix their track too? ANSWER: Of course! But your track won't be on the primary 3 GARDEN discs, instead, it'll be on the fourth 'bonus' disc, if you will, LUNATIC PANDORA. That and the priority requirement is to remix tracks that aren't going to have duplicates first for the 3 GARDEN discs. We need those filled up first before we start discussing claiming additional tracks that'll ultimately be duplicate remixed tracks for the PANDORA disc. Make sense? ---- Last note: I know this is such a huge shake up and everything regarding this album and I know some people won't be happy. I get that. However, I was personally asked to resurrect this project and this was the best way I've decided to breathe new life into this album. I hope you'll agree and be excited to bring something new, fresh and unheard of for Final Fantasy VIII! Let's be the darkhorse album this game deserves!

High-end headphone amps for optimal use of high-impedance studio headphones like Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro and accurate mixing/mastering via headphones ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This one might be interesting for all those who live in ordinary flats and who want to compose or just listen to music and other media most accurately at all thinkable times of the day at which you can't listen to your studio monitors without annoying your neighborhood. When I started mixing music and listening to several audio stuff with my first high-impedance headphones Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro some time ago, I still had my very first Steinberg UR22 USB audio interface at which I had connected these headphones. The listening experience with this combination of audio equipment was really not that bad. But for accurate mixing and mastering I was afraid that the DT 880 Pro wouldn't get enough electricity just from the USB connection to work properly at their full potencial. The first things which might indicate I should be right with my assumption was the fact that the legendary DT 880 Pro obviously couldn't handle the bass and lower mids that well at this USB audio interface. It felt like the bass and lower mids lacked a bit in definition or as if there had been some kind of damping curtains at the lower frequencies - while the reproduction of the mids and higher frequencies seemed to be pretty good, compared to the sound reproduction of my studio monitor system or my Sony MDR-7506 studio headphones connected to the UR22 audio interface. And since I've read some comments of obvious Beyerdynamic DT Pro series users, in which they mentioned that these high-impedance headphones might not get enough electricity from most of the ordinary audio interfaces (guess they have especially meant all those audio interfaces which don't have one of those larger IEC/C19 socket connections for getting much more electricity into the electronic device), I thought about getting an additional high-end headphone amp. After gathering some information about good headphone amps for a few months, I finally decided to go for the G109-P from the German company for professional high-end audio equipment Lake People. It's also the company behind the legendary Violectric and Nimbus audio stuff. >>> https://www.lake-people.com/product-page/phone-amp-g109-p It's one of the headphone amps which can reproduce a very large frequency range from around 0 Hz to 150 kHz, while many other headphone amps seem to start with their frequency response at around 10 or 20 Hz. So, it should be a great device for reproducing the deepest sub bass frequencies. The Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro can technically handle a frequency range from 5 to 35000 Hz - so, it would be a pretty nice combo for the full listening experience with even a much larger frequency range than ordinary listeners might perceive. And with the stylish black colour and sturdy design it was like perfectly made for my small but totally decent home studio which already has a pretty stylish black design (don't like it if the studio looks like a happy rainbow - already have a beautiful and colourful little forest in front of my flat - but for the studio stuff I prefer the modest, spartan and uniform style). Don't worry too much about the technical information about the frequency response "0 Hz - 150 kHz (-3 dB)". I've phoned an employee from the company Lake People and he told me that the divergence within the frequency range from about 0 Hz to 50 kHz is just around 0,5 dB (just like the HPA series, the F series and the other products from Lake People) - so, it's a pretty linear frequency response. At first, I wanted to go for the G103-P - but after the employee told me, that the G109-P can reproduce still a little bit better sound quality with a slightly better definition than the other G models below the G109 and together with the fact that the G109-P (not the G109-S!) is one of the only G models which has a safety relais with power-up delay (with these you can leave the studio headphones always connected to the headphone amp without risking technical damage when turning on the headphone amp - although the employee mentioned that even the other headphone amps from Lake People wouldn't damage my permanently connected headphones), I finally decided to spend a few more money and bought the G109-P - as well as some TRS-to-XLR cables for balanced audio. According to the information of the employee, this headphone amp won't need much more than 6 W - so, you could say it's a kinda energy-saving electronic device as well. But for connecting this headphone amp to my home studio in the best possible way, I also had to buy a larger audio interface with more line output ports than my good ol' Steinberg UR22 USB audio interface had to offer. And before buying the headphone amp, it took me also a few further weeks to make a good decision for an appropriate audio interface. It was a pretty close battle between some several audio interfaces from the companies Roland, Tascam and Steinberg. But since Steinberg (belongs to Yamaha in these days) has an excellent reputation and a long history of German & Japanese cooperation/development in things like producing professional audio interfaces and software, I decided to stick with the Steinberg audio interfaces and went straight for the bigger brother Steinberg UR44. It has more than enough possibilities of connections, a completely separate power supply, furthermore 2 separately volume-adjustable headphone outputs and it's pretty well-known for its flat frequency response reproduction and its ultra-robust build quality. Of course I've tested the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro studio headphones also with the Steinberg UR44 - especially in direct comparison to the UR22 USB version. Although there shouldn't have been too much differences between the UR22 USB audio interface and the UR44 audio interface (both supposed to have the same transducers), I could perceive a few differences. Besides the fact that you have to turn up the headphone output volume knobs at the UR44 a bit more to get the a similar volume as with the UR22, the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro seem to perform slightly better at the UR44. The bass and lower mids sound a bit more defined and cleaner on the UR44 with these headphones - and also the higher frequencies seem to have a perceivable wider range and obviously sound crispier as well. And even my studio monitor system sounds apparently a bit clearer in connection with the UR44. I'm not quite sure - but it could really be because of the better power supply of the UR44. But after connecting the Lake People G109-P headphone amp to some of the line output ports of the Steinberg UR44 and finally putting the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro into the new G109-P headphone amp, some kind of desired dreams and audio miracles started to happen. In one of the worst case scenarios I thought the headphone amp would only boost the original signal from the Steinberg UR44 interface just as an employee of a nearby music store told me. But that doesn't seem to be fully right - there's obviously much more audio magic going on. With the help of the G109-P the formerly perceived effect of damping curtains at the lower and lower mid frequencies vanished completely. The reproduced bass of the DT 880 Pro headphones doesn't only sound crystal-clear now. It also seems to drive the sub-bass at much deeper levels. The mids and higher frequencies seem to be even more crispier and much better presented at the DT 880 Pro in connection with the G109-P headphone amp. And yeah, the stereo panorama is kinda a (freshly polished) stage now. All this could really be because of the massive power supply of the high-end headphone amp that seem to drive the DT 880 Pro quite optimally. So, if you don't already own a professional headphone amp or one of those really expensive high-end audio interfaces with integrated high-end headphone outputs (as audio interfaces like Antelope Goliath HD or several RME audio interfaces are supposed to have) and if you want (or you are forced) to compose lots of stuff with high-impedance studio headphones or if you just want to enjoy audio with those headphones on a new, much clearer and more detailed level, don't hesitate to intensely inform yourself about several high-end headphone amps und get one. For composing via headphones, I'm really sure I'll get excellent mixing results in the future with my new trinity of professional audio equipment, consisting of: 1) Steinberg UR 44 audio interface -------------------------------------------- >>> https://www.thomann.de/gb/steinberg_ur44.htm 2) Lake People G109-P high-end headphone amp --------------------------------------------------------------- >>> https://www.thomann.de/gb/lake_people_g109_p_highend_phoneamp.htm 3) Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro studio headphones -------------------------------------------------------------- >>> https://www.thomann.de/gb/beyerdynamic_dt_880_pro_black_edition.htm >>> https://www.thomann.de/gb/beyerdynamic_dt880_pro.htm If you additionally want to connect your studio monitor speaker system with an external high-end headphone amp as well, just have a look at the products from SPL (Sound Performance Lab), for example the SPL 2Control: >>> https://www.thomann.de/gb/spl_2control_black.htm If you are unsure about which audio equipment you want to buy, make sure to find a professional music store where you are allowed to order, check out and compare different audio equipment in a silent atmosphere by yourself. ---- PS: And always make sure to primarily invest in vital food and life force before making investments in good audio equipment. There is absolutely no reason to starve for high-end audio stuff. But you can sell your expensive car and get a nice bike or season ticket for public transport instead. And of course you can flee from those mostly unnatural, noisy and unhealthy environments of big city centres with paradoxically some of the highest rental costs and pay much less for a cosy flat at the more natural outskirts, smaller towns or romatic villages instead. Anyway, most of those shady rent sharks, racketeers and big profit-over-life investors which make your easy 'n' carefree life usually harder without any meaningful reason, seem to shun the vital areas close to the forests and wild nature - you might increase the effect by creating urban legends with all the dangerous wild animals, nasty monsters and cannibalistic tribes, that might dwell in those lovely natural environments. In this case, you might be able to enjoy high-end audio equipment as well as a pretty modest, healthy and joyful life close to vital nature (including free tickets for high-quality and truly realistic philharmonic bird sound orchestras which might become your enhanced and naturally well-timed alarm clock). Good luck. ))

I've noticed all the tracks submitted to Ocremix have pretty ridiculously loud mastering. Sometimes it really works for the piece, sometimes it doesn't. Is it possible for me to submit more dynamic work? Talking around -16 RMS-ish.

Hi, I wanted to let everyone know what kind of rig I've been using and ask other members of the community for some advice/feedback regarding iOS recording and production. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to hear about mobile music production from people other than YouTube. lol As far as my rig goes, I have an iPad mini, running through a Focusrite iTrack Dock (anyone familiar with Focusrite would like to know that it is a cousin of the Scarlet as it uses the same mic preamps) with lightning connector allowing me to record at 24-bit/96kHz and get some really good sounds. If there are any other users on the forums that produce with iOS tech, I'd love to hear about it! I'll list my setup (with links) as it stands below so you can get a better idea of what I'm working with. Tracking/Audio Capture: 2 Samson CL8 Studio Condenser Microphones (I use other mics too, but these are the ones that get used the most) Focusrite iTrack Dock iPad mini Harmonicdog MultiTrack DAW Final Touch Guitar Amp Simulation: BIAS Amp BIAS FX Synthesizers: SoundPrism Caustic Drum Machine/Loops: Caustic Now, at this point, I could get pretty redundant as there any many different ways to use each of the apps to get a different result, but the main thing I wanted to share was that I use the inter-app audio support of the Positive Grid apps (BIAS FX and BIAS Amp) within Multitrack DAW to get my amp sounds and often use the effects bus in the DAW for reverb/delay as they are relatively high quality. I can use BIAS for guitar and bass guitar. SoundPrism does not have inter-app audio support nor does it have AudioBus support (I don't know about SoundPrism PRO, though... haven't used it) so I am using an external device (iPhone 4, baby!) via 3.5mm to 1/4" cable into my line-in port of the iTrack Dock. This comes in handy for a lot of things like my chaos pad (SynthPad, which also does not have Audiobus support). Those of you familiar with recording via iOS will know how valuable AudioShare can be, and that is the main way I take drum loops/samples from Caustic or other DAWs (like GarageBand) and import them into MultiTrack as it is a much better DAW with good EQ, Reverb, Delay, Compression, and editing options in a very simple, user-friendly setting. Not the most complex or feature-packed DAW on iOS (not like Cubasis or Auria) but it does a good job for very cheap. Once my project is done, I bounce the track, export it to Final Touch, and start with several of their mastering presets and tweak them to my specs. I have the option to export the whole track in many different file types, bitrates, and have the option to upload directly to Dropbox, SoundCloud, email, etc... BUT Final Touch is also great for mastering tracks BEFORE they hit the DAW. Sometimes I'll send my drum track from Caustic (which may include live automation, synths, drum samples, etc...) and want it to sound a certain way before I mix in my live tracks (guitars, vocals, saxophones, hand percussion, etc...) and will give me a better idea of what to listen for and edit properly. THEN I'll bounce that, and master the whole track, making less-drastic edits to my master, and have a more coherent sounding track. This is just scratching the surface of what is available to artists via iOS and I may have said a lot of redundant things but I wanted to share what I do with others who haven't experimented with iOS music production/creation before and get some ideas from others who have been doing it longer/differently than myself. Thanks!

When you are producing material with a wide stereo field, you are bound to lose some gain due to stereo phase cancellation. I try to mix my stuff so that the gain is lost more or less equally across the frequency spectrum, so I get a similar sounding mono track to my stereo one. Generally (and I say that because as you know for every rule there is an exception), I have a mono kick, a snare that's close to mono on the low end and a bit wider at the top (but not much), and everything else is mixed to taste but so that the only real change when converted to mono is that the drums are a bit more prominent. Obviously, things in the sub ~74hz range are completely mono so that I don't end up with no sub bass in the mono mix. I use "Haas effect" (delay based) widening sparingly, and only on the full frequency range (excluding drums and sub bass because they get funny). Most of my prominent delays are 1:1 time wise for L/R For this same reason(mono compatibility and delay complications), I try not to go crazy on the 'verb as it leads to mono mud. Occasionally I will pan things (for an effect or what have you) but I My question is,, as far as electronic stuff is concerned: 1) amidoinitrite? 2) what is an acceptable level of overall gain loss? I try to lose no more than 3db of RMS gain MAX and generally am able to get more than a wide enough sounding piece, but I'm always looking to improve....thoughts/tips/tricks for a wide mix?

Hi, I am brand new to the forums and recording (I have been messing around with Mixcraft 6 for the last few years, even manage to produce a few covers and originals). My question is: What is the standard for producing remixes. I have read the forums and watched tutorials and the main program that I have seen is FL Studios. Is there some specific stuff you can do in FL that you can't in other programs? (I have used a demo of fl years ago but only poked at it) It's also more affordable than the mainstream programs such as Logic and Pro Tools which I would understand why it's used the most. Also what is most used for mastering? Any help will be accepted Thanks! - Matt

Might already be a thread about this but I have to ask. What is your stance on the loudness war? Sure, most of us out there don't mix our tracks to clipping/overcompression levels, but I bet most of us get the track sounding as good as possible - while being as loud as possible. There is a volume knob. Why not use that? Is it to fit in with other track volumes? It is just because its "common practice"? In some cases, are we slaves to what are considered good production practices? Does that cloud our judgement? What do you guys do?