Strings of The Windmill

[DJSoto13]

"Oh, come on, now you're just spamming the forum."

Nah. I forgot to post this one up - and to take the other one, the "dream" one - down.

But this is, as you can probably tell, a Windmill Hut remix. Only now, it's mainly strings - cello, violin, harp, and guitars. And a piano.

So, what do you think? It begins with original content, then progresses into the well-known theme and follows up and out.

What do you think?

[No Escape]

I'm so sorry...you're just a glutton for punishment LOL. Alright, as I listened to the track, the first thing I noticed was a lack of human feel. You need to play with the velocity settings in your DAW to make it sound like the notes are being played by a human, not a triggered keyboard. Same volume issue- needs a huge boost in level to be where it needs to be. The staccato setting you're using only sounds good in the violin range (above middle C), so I would ditch those low note solo transitions in favor of higher ones. This is especially noticeable at 2:27. From the 2 track I've heard by you, I would say that you need some more understanding of sound reinforcement and what it takes to make instruments blend well together. Again, the composition is good, and you have a good idea of what you want to hear, but the combination of mechanical patches and production issues will make life hard for you unless you face them and learn about sound reinforcement and how to apply it to your tracks. Some drums might not hurt to beef the whole thing up. Btw, the tempo change at 3:50... not sure if I dig it. Good concept, but make the transition smoother. I hope I'm not discouraging you with this lengthy feedback. I'll gladly answer any technical questions you have about sound,EQ, effects, etc. I'd like to see this track go somewhere, so keep at it.

[Dafydd]

You should listen to the original song again and compare its chord progression/bassline to the one you have in this mix. Iirc, the original goes (minor/major not considered) D E F E D E F E in the intro, and then when the melody comes in, it goes D E F E A# F A# A. You stay with D E F E D E F E the whole way through. Not that you're not entitled to make whatever changes you want, I just don't approve of that particular choice. There's also a few really odd note collisions here and there.

The most glaring issue here, though, is the one of fixed velocities, which has already been brought up.

[DJSoto13]

1. The combination of mechanical patches and production issues will make life hard for you unless you face them and learn about sound reinforcement and how to apply it to your tracks.

2. Some drums might not hurt to beef the whole thing up.

3. Btw, the tempo change at 3:50... not sure if I dig it. Good concept, but make the transition smoother.

4. I hope I'm not discouraging you with this lengthy feedback. I'll gladly answer any technical questions you have about sound,EQ, effects, etc. I'd like to see this track go somewhere, so keep at it.

1. See, I just dove right into this. Sound reinforcement... Would you please elaborate?

2. Drums, like percussion creating a rhythm, or an actual drumkit [creating a rhythm]?

3. True, that was relatively abrupt.

4. No, it's all right. If it's not too much trouble, a tutorial of "sound, EQ, effects, etc." would do WONDERS.

[Rozovian]

Tutorial

So, what's been said so far is pretty much true. First third of the track is kind'a boring, the arrangement gets better. There's some nicely interpreted parts towards the end, but for most part it's too conservative. There's notes clashes which Dave already pointed out, and you can be more creative with the chords.

The sequencing is _very_ mechanical and the sounds and processing is really raw. Read up on effects and listen to the stuff other ppl on the feedback board and ocremix in general make, learn from them. We're all hobbyists here, some of us just more professional than others. You might also want to read up on music production in general, see what advice you can find. Looking for free effects and synths and samples and stuff will help you too.

Also, I've never heard of sound reinforcement. Do elaborate.

[No Escape]

I'm a live engineer, so we call it sound reinforcement, but really it's just understanding the basics of how sound works in terms of Hz (Hertz), knowing where a musical instrument should "sit" in a mix (e.g. a violin would sit much higher than a bass guitar), and being able to create a smooth and balanced mix so that the instruments blend well with each other and nothing sounds overbearing or too quiet. Also, knowing how delay effects, such as reverb or delay, work is a big plus to make the track sound pleasing to hear.

As a starting point, listen to a track that you want yours to sound like (production wise, not necessarily composition). Listen to it many times at different volumes (starting low) and see what stands out and why. If the track you like has a sick sounding piano, then try to figure out why it sounds so good. It's probably the way it's EQ'd of the effects used to give it the sound it has. Then experiment until you get close to that sound.

Good luck!

[Sbeast]

Very dry and midi sounding mix . A lot of the instruments need some reverb, along with humanization which has already been said above. Some of the original material is actually pretty good but Dafydd is right about the chord progression. You should do some good research on the use of effects such as eq, compression and reverb and what makes a good mix. Then come back to this and give it another go because I think this has potential.

As Rozovian pointed out, Zircons guide is a great place to start. Good luck!

[zikon]

This could have potential.. It just really sounds midi-ish, and not human. What would really help out is some better samples if you could find some. Check for free vst's. And also, check out native instruments website, they have a free kontakt player and kore player that come with some free instruments, the kore pack has a few nice guitars.