DeDeDe - hot head - Kirby's Dreamland 2

[hewhoisiam]

This was done playing with cakewalk sonar. Not much done in the way of original writing, mostly just a midi file that I'm playing with to learn the software. Questions and comments appreciated.

-HeWhoIsIAm

NINJA EDIT:

Another day's gone by, and I've been playing. I have an updated track here with various changes.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/0mmnm4mhmni/HotHead.mp3

I've decided to update these posts as I'm going along. This is just a where I'm at now and goals update. I'm going to reply (shameless bump) when I get the new stuff out. This is as much for me to keep it together as for anyone wondering WTF is he doing

1) I'm dissecting the SSBB song to pull out the harmony part (at least I hope that's what I'm doing)

2) Going over chord progressions in the song and in general (I'm admittedly rusty here. Should have paid more attention in music theory)

3) Learning the software, emphasis on: mastering and ears.

Things I'm noticing from: SSBB official music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34QL_NyYHy8

***I AM TONE/PITCH DEAF!***

1) The melody is not constant. It starts out 'thin' and is embellished with other instruments for a fuller sound at the end (echo especially) Piano, then simple brass, then full brass it seems like.

2) Flute or other highs on the 'high bass twangs' At the end of the bass line. I'm going to steal that idea.

3) Official track is at 168, I'm thinking about slowing mine down more (currently 165), maybe 155, 160 or so.

4) When the harmony part I'm playing with comes in, it comes with a marimba. And I'm not quite sure what it's doing. Copying the loud part it easy, the background little things, much more harderer

[SplinterOfChaos]

Same drums through the whole song, same background, same sound throughout.

0:51: This is a terrible guitar, but good luck getting a fake guitar to sound real.

As it is, it's actually pretty enjoyable, but it's a little long for me considering how static it is.

[hewhoisiam]

Another day's gone by, and I've been playing. I have an updated track here with various changes.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/0mmnm4mhmni/HotHead.mp3

I went down to my drum kit to figure out what I wanted on this beat which I'm much more happier with. Also, this hopefully actually progresses, unlike the first attempt.

Still under construction, questions and comments welcome/appreciated.

-he

[hewhoisiam]

Thanks splinter. I played with it today and have an update. Fake guitar is fake, is very fake. Is shame fake-tastic. I used the roland Groove Synth on the bass this time. I'm playing with it and a few other synths that do guitar much better. I've touched maybe like 1/10th of 1% of the sounds and things I can do with this. I'm still and it's I open a menu and it's got 500 pre made sounds, not to mention that I can tweak ALL of them.

NINJA EDIT: I really really need to get something set up to be able to hear this properly... My setup now is, less then ideal. I have not 1 but 2 speakers, that are designed to be plugged into a CD player. I'm using 2 1/4 to 1/8 adapters, one from my stereo, one from an old hookup I had, to have LEFT in one crappy speaker, and RIGHT in another, different crappy speaker! Once I got this to a MP3 and could hear it, it's totally different. Especially the oscillator on my chord track, which is kinda important.

ANYWAYS, thanks for your time, give this new track a listen if you get a chance.

-he

[hewhoisiam]

I'd like to have some of the SFX from the original game. Is there a good way/easy place to get them? (The track name 'hot head' is from when dedede actually gets angry, you see the jet of smoke from his head, and you get the SFX I'm looking for)

Okay, I have some questions about things that I hear people do, mostly in FL now. Mostly something in the way of smooth transitions maybe? I also need to look into panning effects. If anyone knows good tutorials for Cakewalk, that'd be pretty sweet also. I think I could stand to get better at layering some sounds.

Likewise, if anyone wonders how I did something. I'd be glad to help. Tryin to get some discussion going, comeon! Help me out here:-P

[Rozovian]

A little low on bass frequencies, a lot of intro. The track is also kind'a quiet, needs some master compression/maximizing.

Arrangement might be, aside from the long intro, too close to source. I only know the source from SSB, so I'm not sure. Also, watch the repetition. Repetition gets old fast.

Also, the track needs more harmony. There's a lot of arbitrary synth noises in there, which makes for a rich soundscape, but none of it really backs the lead, none of it supports the melody. Needs more stuff like that.

Needs moar interpretation, arranging, mixing... But if you're just playing with the midi, have fun. Hope you learn stuff. Good luck.

[hewhoisiam]

First off Rozovian, thanks for the review I've been kinda impatent here waiting. You sir, have made my day.

I'm playing with the sort of 'mastering' aspect of cakewalk and I've done a little bit with it. (Captian's log: Day 3 of exploring Cakewalk) I also found out the importance of using different buses so that you can add different effects to groups of sounds. I have a more 'mastered' version of this, but it's not changed enough to merit a re-upload.

The origional is a short intro. Then the melody you hear playing on the first instrument, then the second, then repeated. There's really nothing at all else to it, I kinda went 'yeah, this'll be simple, I can't mess it up as a first piece' If I had only known.

A lot of people (who I'm noticing are using FL, much to my dismay) are putting something like effects in as breaks. I'm trying to get some effect-like transitions in cakewalk, but so far no luck.

I'll work on this with a focus on getting some variation in there. I ought to really take a break from the work itself, learn the software here and there, and see what other people are doing with it. "Good artists borrow, great artists steal - Dom Famularo"

NINJA EDIT: And here I'd totally forgotten about SSBB! I'm looking at the old Gameboy game for reference. Dunno how I missed that! Good call!