Ragnarok Online 'Ancient Caves of Payon'

[Kuriko]

I just got FruityLoops a recently, and this is my first attempt to do a full song. Any feedback would be really helpful.

http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/tdjl/Ancient-Caves-Of-Payon-WIP

[Rozovian]

Not familiar with source, and too lazy to dig it up.

Soundwise, this is pretty good for a newb. Some compression and boosting of the drums would be nice, shortening the attack of your lead strings would also improve it somewhat, methinks. Some other minor tweaks might also be necessary. The flute in the intro and outro is pretty noisy, there's a noise loop in there that doesn't sound good. I hope it's not part of the instrument, but it seems to follow key.

The writing is pretty good, so I suspect much of it is straight from source. If you've just upgraded the sound in a midi file you don't get any writing credit. I could be wrong, tho, in which case it's pretty good.

For a first song, this is pretty good. I dunno how much you've rewritten the source, and suspect it's not much, so I would suggest writing a few original pieces to get the hang of writing/arranging. Good luck.

[Kuriko]

I did write a lot less than the accepted remixes on the site for sure, but at the same time, also did do more amount more than just upgrade the sounds. Anyway, this a source:

Do you think you could go into a little more detail in how to improve the things you said (the minor tweaks you mentioned for instance, and the "noise loop"?). Thanks for the reply.

[Rozovian]

Well, upon relistening, the most annoying thing I hear is how strong the bass is. On good speakers, you'll hear the bass regardless, and on bad ones, it'll just screw up the sound. EQ the bass and the strings (esp. the bass) to not be so heavy on the lows.

Another thing is how the drums sound dry, as well as their failure to break through the soundscape. You would have a more clear sound if you'd drop the volume of your strings and your lead. The bass needs some dropping too, but the EQ fix I suggested should take care of that. Reverb on the drums would give them a bit more volume and make them fit in better, but don't add too much or too long reverb. Try some preset room and small hall ones. Compress the kick and snare, and give the kick a bit of an EQ boost of a few dB in the 80-150Hz range, it'll give it more "punch". Also, vary the velocity of the snare, since you use it a lot.

You've significantly changed the rhythm of the track, which is good. I can easily hear and recognize the source. Not sure this is a substantial enough arrangement, but soundwise, it's certainly a step away, and there are those intro and outro sections that add to the interpretation quota of the mix. I'll have to re-evaluate it when it's a bit easier to hear the melodies and not get distracted by the loud bass and other issues.

The noise loop is this sound within the intro/outro flute sample, most easy to notice in the outro when it's solo. It sounds a bit like running water inside the notes. If you have another sample of that same or a similar instrument, use it. If not, leave it. Not much you can do about short of trying to redraw the waveform by hand (not realistically possible). EQing it would just cut some of its precious high frequencies.

The strummed string instrument could use some stereo placement, but since most of what you've got is kind'a upfront, some faint panning might be enough. It could use some EQ cuts, it's a little strong on the lows. Be subtle, don't cut more than a few dB, from around 400Hz and lower. That's my guess, do what sounds best.

There's some "minor tweaks" that turned out to be pretty big. Whatever, I think this could be great, so good luck with it.

[Kuriko]

Wow, I didn't expect something so in-depth. Thanks a lot... I'll definitely take your suggestions into account.