Rexy Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 So my original thought was to see if I can get this sent off to the panel before the New Year, because I felt I did a more stellar job than any remix that I ever did for this competition. (And I know I need to finish off the other one as well, but I won't have time to work on it again for another week yet) Here's how it stands. I received great equalisation tips from Jason Covenant, took OA and Deia by surprise, secured appraisal from all 3 of the Concrete Men and blew SnappleMan out of the water. But is this enough to secure a pass from the panel? That's what I want to know :s Different direction from me, hint of cheesy disco with some chiptune elements, try and provide a more silly side of myself in the works. I need everything I can to make sure it's in a passable state. (Or if there's still major fixes... yeah, I guess I'll send Red Chamomile off tomorrow even if I didn't share it with anyone outside the team *_*) Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I'd love to help you out, here, but the link isn't working for me, for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 Right-click, save target as. Works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Oh, that worked. Dunno why just left clicking it didn't work, but whatever. Alright, the synth work is pretty kick ass, I'm not gonna lie. I love the tight leads you have going, the awesome chippy sections and the general fun you have with the sources overall. I'm honestly not feeling the live instruments nearly as much. I agree they are a part of the piece and that they need to be there, but their quality is considerably lower than the synths. The brass work especially leaves something to be desired. If there's any way to make the brass attacks more pronounced and sharper, it'd be much better, considering how you use them. Overall, the live instruments could also use a bit more reverb - the synths have a nice wet sound, whereas the live instruments are rather dry. The bass drum could use a little more punch (a compressor, maybe?), and the same could be said of the snare. Otherwise I like the energy of the drums - there's a lot of interesting things going on in them, in general. The piano at the end is interesting, but it would be nice to be able to hear it in comparison to the rest of the mix. Giving the volume a boost for that part would make it work better for the piece overall. Yeah, my biggest beef with it would be the quality of the samples used against the synth work. The difference in quality is a little grating, as it stands, and I suspect giving the attack values some work and adding a little reverb would go a long way in fixing this. The arrangement is tight, though, and the synths really are great. There's a lot of good stuff going for this, so I hope you're able to make the necessary fixes for it to pass. Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 It all comes back to the things that are most unlikely to be "fixed" x_x When Deia first heard the track, she had wanted to hear more punch being given towards the trumpets' attack. I had already sharpened the attack as much as I could go (it's the EWQL brass - NOT some "low-quality sample"), so I then decided to duplicate it with a layer of staccato brass to help that. Any attempt to fiddle with brass "attack" is going to come down more to boosting the staccato layer's volume. I had that many instances up that I just had to keep on bouncing parts individually as wave files JUST to stop Cubase from crashing. The piano's also maxed up as high as it can go as well. The only option I even have with it now I'm presuming is to export that as a wave and normalise it, which means having to fiddle around with things even more. I've no idea if I'm able to boost any reverb, and even what type of it for that matter, but at any rate, I'm definitely calling defeat for this round. I know that my limitations are never good enough to break the mould, so maybe sending this track here wasn't a very good idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 With EWQL I think these things can be worked through. I mean, they should give some options as to how the instruments make their attack, right? Something with more of a sudden attack would be ideal. *goes out looking up EWQL brass* Yeah, look at the envelope options, there should be an attack value. It just sounds like it's set too high, at the moment, and lowering that value would give the instruments the punch that they need. With that it should sound loads better, in fact. Give it a shot - if that knob let's you adjust it, then it might improve the sound considerably. Or, if you want to really get the most out of it, use a higher attack for the beginning of phrases, then lower the attack while the instrument runs through a phrase. It really, really helps make the instrument sound more 'real', overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 I am aware of the envelopes, and this is how my trumpets stand: The attack is already as sharp as it can go, on both the sustained AND the staccato layers. I honestly don't get this at all >_> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Ich... well, I don't have that particular sampler myself, so I can't give you focused advice on it. However, if I were to guess there should be a way to move when in the wav the sample strikes (rather than adjusting the attack, which creates an artificial envelope on the volume of the entrance). If it's the actual sample that's creating that entrance (and that would be very unprofessional for something like EWQL) then that'd be the only way to fix it that I could see. Alternatively, the velocity might not only affect the volume, but the attack as well (that's how it works on Reason's Orchestra set, anyway). If you can find the velocity settings you can adjust it's affect on the attack and set it to zero and manually tweek the attack, at will. Sorry if this advice doesn't help much - I'm going on what works for me in Reason, so it's a little out of my field, here. If some more orchestrally inclined members who have orchestra samplers like this could give some advice that would be ideal. If it does help, though, then awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OfficialJab Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Haha, what on Earth is with the Yakety Sax all of a sudden? Outstanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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