Archaon makes a remix.

[Archaon]

And it only took me six and a half years to decide to give it a try!

(NOTE: This thread rather blurs the line between "Works in Progress" and "Remixing". I do have a clip of what I'm working on, but I'm going to be asking questions on how to improve it. I don't know. I'll just hazard a guess and set it here. Move it if it needs to be moved.)

Anyway. So far I've just been using Reaper and some other free stuff. I'm not doing too horribly in the actual composition/arrangement area (I hope), but besides having read a few of the tutorials here, I'm pretty lacking in musical and technical know-how, and things like compressors and equalisers are new and foreign concepts to me.

That said, I do have a clip of what I've done so far. The song is "The Grim Angel" from the GBA game "Riviera: The Promised Land."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ek-y_wjANY

I haven't put the whole thing up because if I can get this portion just right then I can incorporate what I learned into the rest of the remix and upload an actual draft of the finished product for folks to critique.

Problem number 1 is that the Hammond B3 organ (yes, that's what it's supposed to be) sounds...well, listen to it. It's terrible. I need to get this whipped into something you'd actually hear in a jazz tune; off the top of my head, Still In Your Marble Zone is one mix that actually uses this instrument properly. I'm not sure if it's the soundfont I'm using (It's from www.soundfonts.it and it's called "Hammond B3 Slow Leslie" or something like that) or that I haven't used effects properly or that I need to have chords rather than just single notes or what. I was hoping to get away with playing this by ear, so if chords are going to be a major (ahaha) issue then I'll have to do some research.

I also think the sax could sound better, although at least it's not as glaringly awful as the organ is. Any tips on how to "optimize" brass instruments? (I'm using the Tenor sax soundfont from DarkeSword's website. Thank you, Mr. Ansari.)

As for the clip as a whole, I realise that it does sound rather empty. I am planning to get one or two more instruments in there, but I'd like to know how I can make it sound a little less hollow as it is right now. I've applied a bit of reverb to the instruments and it did make a difference, but not really enough of a difference, as you can probably hear.

Of course, I don't want to feel like I'm just asking you folks to write the remix for me, but as this is basically my very first foray into anything remotely musical, (aside from listening to it) it'd be a huge help to have some basic guidelines to build off.

Any suggestions unrelated to the topics I've asked about are also more than welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Rozovian]

I like it. When you expand on it, you could stray a bit more from the source melodies/harmonies/arrangement. You've successfully given this a very different feel. I'm not hearing a bass, tho. Bass is important, especially in a style like that.

The organ could be a little more elaborately written, you could add left-hand writing, or just give the right hand two notes at a time. A real organist/keyboard player wouldn't play like that, he/she'd probably add some melodies to it to back up the sax. The organ doesn't sound _that_ bad, considering the overall level of the remix.

I suggest you focus on the writing for the time being, and worry about optimizing the instruments later. If not else, you'll end up with a more elaborate midi that you can ask someone to handle production for. Good luck.

[Lie Mf B]

Yeah, the organ is ok. The drums sound worse. Sax sounds fine.

The clip is so short that it's difficult to comment on it. But you seem to know pretty much what you're doing. Rozovian's advice is good -- focus on the arrangement and, well, improvise some and don't worry to much about instrument sounds.

Good luck!