fernfreak Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Hi everyone! We're an indie team working on an oriental themed real-time strategy game for the iPad-- the idea is that the battlefield is a chinese painting, and players get to direct their armies using brushstrokes-- it's a bit hard to describe, so I'm attaching three images and a video at the bottom to provide a better idea! Gameplay video (slightly long!): Our composer Stantough (http://www.youtube.com/user/stantough) has put together some great tracks for it, but this is his first videogame project and he is completely new to sound engineering-- so we're having some difficulty in converting his midis to good mp3s and finding suitable patches for the chinese instruments. Unfortunately, as a programmer, I have next to no knowledge on this, but I've always admired the work that everyone puts up at OCR, so I figured I'd post here to see there's anyone around who might be willing to help guide him closely, or directly take on the conversion process. (He would very much like to post here himself, but his forum registration doesn't allow him to start threads yet) Here are some of the current tracks in midi which we are trying to do conversions for: (as well as our mp3 results) http://www.autumndynasty.com/Music/Theme.mid http://www.autumndynasty.com/Music/Theme.mp3 http://www.autumndynasty.com/Music/Trailer.mid http://www.autumndynasty.com/Music/Trailer.mp3 Particularly, Stan feels he needs 1) advice on how to tweak EQ and settings in Cakewalk 2) advice on how to place notes for taiko drums, so they sound less muddy 3) recommendations for patches for reverse cymbals, choirs and oriental battlecry patches (stuff like 'hah!' that one would hear in martial arts films) 4) suggestions on how to reduce audio dropout and distortion while playing the song in Cakewalk If you might be able to help out, or would like to know more about the project, please do drop me a note! The tracks are already composed, and we are hoping to complete the music production for the game by end February. As an indie team, we don't have that much money, but we could try to work out a token sum if anyone is willing to take over the mixing/mastering directly. Best regards, Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederic Petitpas Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 The material is pretty cool. You will find a lot of people that can do the job here The game looks cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Nice looking game, burning forests ftw. It's hard for me to miss some of the problems with the mp3 versions. The music itself ain't bad, but the production stuff is in really newby territory - the kind I'm used to helping ppl out of. I could help you guys with needs 1, 2 and 4. Hit me up on aim (rozovian) or email (rozovianmusic at gmail) for details and we can work something out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staresfromstrangers Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Travis, I'd be able to help out directly with mastering if needed. I can help directly with mixing if it happens to be the same program I use or if he is willing to do a stem bounce. I could also give general EQ and mixing suggestions for him to use. As for #2, it's not about note placement as much as it is about EQ and compression, likely. #3 for patches, I'm sure there's lots of programs out there. If you're talking about what's included in cakewalk, then I haven't got a clue. But I'm sure there are some cheap programs out there with this option. If need be, I can maybe run some of it through my own software. #4 this sounds like a soundcard issue to me. Make sure you are running ASIO drivers and have an ASIO capable card. Last I check (which was a while ago), pro audio software and native windows drivers do not get along well. I'd also suggest increasing the audio buffer and making sure you have a well organized, fast hard drive (or a solid state drive, which works wonders). Listening to the MP3s, I'd also recommend he lay off the single band compressor a bit, I can hear it pumping. I think the compositions are good and the game looks great in motion. If you want to get in touch, you can email me at NHC at Bubblepipemedia dot com . See same site for examples and more information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannthr Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The problem you have is not a mastering problem, the problem you have is that the production sounds terrible. Your composer is not a producer. That's okay. I am often hired by composers or game companies to produce a composer's original work. I have done this work for some pretty big companies, check out my website: www.musicianeer.com Email me, I may have a proposition for you: dan@musicianeer.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The problem you have is not a mastering problem, the problem you have is that the production sounds terrible.Your composer is not a producer. That's okay. I am often hired by composers or game companies to produce a composer's original work. I have done this work for some pretty big companies, check out my website: www.musicianeer.com Email me, I may have a proposition for you: dan@musicianeer.com Dan is awesome. Songs are catchy and game's lookin' good. With amped up production it should be mind blowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShrackAttack Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Sent a pm in case you end up still needing some help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernfreak Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks everyone, for the warm response and all those kind offers and pm-s! Stan and I are pming you guys to see if we can work something out-- perhaps helping him learn how to produce the tracks might not be so feasible within this timeframe. I'd love to work with all of you who've offered, but our token budget can probably only fit one person (if any!) (our team is largely made up of volunteers and students, which is why we're a bit raw) We'll most likely work with one person for the producing-- we can only offer credit after spending that token sum. It is hard for us to offer percentages at this point because these have already been worked out for existing team members. Since everyone's been really kind though, I wouldn't want to close the door on other conversations, so we're still open to the following scenarios: (Note: these may not be suitable for everyone, but based on some responses we've received, some people might be keen on these) - if you'd like to try remixing any of the in-game songs, just let us know and we'll send you the source songs: if you send us the remix, we will credit you in the game and include it with the soundtrack. - if you -already- have an oriental/fantasy sounding track which you would like promoted in/with a game, we can try to find some way to include it, and credit you in the game for that. - if you'd like to contribute to the production in a non-musical role (testing, sharing etc), do message me and we could try and work out something! - also, in return for the advice we've received on this forum, if you'd like to ask anything about this project, or our experiences in developing a game for this platform, we're quite happy to share information. Thanks again, and it's been great hearing from you guys-- hope that we might be able to work together someday, even if it might not be this time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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