Sonic Colours: Reach for the Stars

[TroisNyxEtienne]

Uh, hey. It's been a month and I've been largely uninspired, but I hope all's been well.

I did this completely on a whim — an acapella version of Reach for the Stars, the intro theme to Sonic Colours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcNRM_T0n1I

I'm not sure if:

1. I'm ever going to make an instrumental for this.

2. I'm ever going to do the full version of this.

3. I'm ever going to attempt to do the rest of the parts acapella — the only things I see myself capable of doing at this point are chords and "synths".

4. this is a work in progress or a finished work.

But for now, I'm just going to mark it as "Finished".

Please, do give me your thoughts.

Thanks!

[Norman_Steel]

You have a great voice, the harmony was great too.

The only complaint is the lack of instruments, I think that they would make this song sound super (forgive the cheesiness) epic, please you must finish this!

[Swifthom]

You did it in AUDACITY!

Amazing... I started out with only audacity and a midi composer when I started, and found very quickly although it's good for recording and quick arranging jobs, getting a good sound from the program is nigh on impossible. But you've somehow managed it...

I'm impressed

[TroisNyxEtienne]

You have a great voice, the harmony was great too.

The only complaint is the lack of instruments, I think that they would make this song sound super (forgive the cheesiness) epic, please you must finish this!

Thanks — I'll try, at some point. I hope it may be soon...

I did attempt to write an instrumental to the vocals, but I failed miserably.

[TroisNyxEtienne]

You did it in AUDACITY!

Amazing... I started out with only audacity and a midi composer when I started, and found very quickly although it's good for recording and quick arranging jobs, getting a good sound from the program is nigh on impossible. But you've somehow managed it...

I'm impressed

That, and an integrated PC mic which picks up background noise. No noise removal even.

I'm quite surprised (pleasantly surpriesd) that it impressed you — here I was, hoping to get a good mic so that my recordings would at least begin to sound professional, because I was using the same mic and software for the past two years.

But if there are any kinks to be knocked out, please, do let me know.

[PixelPanic]

I think you should incorporate the instruments vocally. Like, have a baritone "doo doo doo doo" for the bass guitar in the original, etc.

I think it should remain percussion-less. Otherwise, very very good job.

[TroisNyxEtienne]

I think you should incorporate the instruments vocally. Like, have a baritone "doo doo doo doo" for the bass guitar in the original, etc.

I think it should remain percussion-less. Otherwise, very very good job.

Thanks. That's actually a really good idea; I'll give that a shot.

I was far from expecting this, but... thanks, guys!

[Magellanic]

Really good expression in your singing. And honestly, using audacity and an intergrated mic to do this? Impressive results. I think it would definitely be worth developing this. There's no reason why you couldn't do a couple of versions and see which you like most (ie, instrumental and vocal or accapella).

The current version would do well to serve as an introduction and then kick into either an instrumental version with vocal lead or (like stated above) vocal parts imitating instrumental parts. In honesty, there are a lot of directions in which you could take this. If you're lacking inspiration just get hold of a free piano vst/soundfont and fit some piano to it. You never know, it might inspire you to really know if you want to add anything more.

[TroisNyxEtienne]

Really good expression in your singing. And honestly, using audacity and an intergrated mic to do this? Impressive results. I think it would definitely be worth developing this. There's no reason why you couldn't do a couple of versions and see which you like most (ie, instrumental and vocal or accapella).

The current version would do well to serve as an introduction and then kick into either an instrumental version with vocal lead or (like stated above) vocal parts imitating instrumental parts. In honesty, there are a lot of directions in which you could take this. If you're lacking inspiration just get hold of a free piano vst/soundfont and fit some piano to it. You never know, it might inspire you to really know if you want to add anything more.

I'll be glad to, thanks for the ideas!

My only pickle is having to mouse-click every single note into FL -- I did get a good piano soundfont thanks to Newgrounds' Audio Portal, but it seems kinda demoralising sometimes for me to have to click everything in... It either takes a long time, or sounds unnatural.

[SuperiorX]

I'll be glad to, thanks for the ideas!

My only pickle is having to mouse-click every single note into FL -- I did get a good piano soundfont thanks to Newgrounds' Audio Portal, but it seems kinda demoralising sometimes for me to have to click everything in... It either takes a long time, or sounds unnatural.

Ahhhhhh the annoyances of piano humanization. It's really not all that bad once you get used to it. I've recorded with a MIDI keyboard and with a mouse before, and there are benefits to both. Whenever I MIDI record I end up tweaking stuff by hand anyway (cause I'm not that good of a piano player). There are a lot of things you can do to mouse point-and-clicked piano to make it sound more natural, like editing note velocities and adding little imperfections (like having notes overlapping, making some notes ever-so-slightly offbeat, etc.).

As for your song itself, I'm not familiar with the source, but I like what I hear. You do have a very good voice, but (to me at least) it's quite clear that this was recorded on a poor quality mic. I think you owe it to yourself to record it with a studio mic! Adding some piano, some strings, and maybe even some hand percussion (depending on the direction you want to take it) would definitely be awesome too. I like Liam's suggestion of doing an acappella intro and then adding instruments over time.

Great start!

[TroisNyxEtienne]

Ahhhhhh the annoyances of piano humanization. It's really not all that bad once you get used to it. I've recorded with a MIDI keyboard and with a mouse before, and there are benefits to both. Whenever I MIDI record I end up tweaking stuff by hand anyway (cause I'm not that good of a piano player). There are a lot of things you can do to mouse point-and-clicked piano to make it sound more natural, like editing note velocities and adding little imperfections (like having notes overlapping, making some notes ever-so-slightly offbeat, etc.).

As for your song itself, I'm not familiar with the source, but I like what I hear. You do have a very good voice, but (to me at least) it's quite clear that this was recorded on a poor quality mic. I think you owe it to yourself to record it with a studio mic! Adding some piano, some strings, and maybe even some hand percussion (depending on the direction you want to take it) would definitely be awesome too. I like Liam's suggestion of doing an acappella intro and then adding instruments over time.

Great start!

My source was

- I sang at the same speed as the intro because I had this song playing on my headset whilst I sang to it.

I haven't an instrument to my name, despite me being able to play the piano well (by well, I mean Grade 8 in 2003), so I have to make do with FL's soundfonts, samples and humanisation. Really, when I think hard about how to make the instrumental, I haven't the faintest idea. The best would be for it to sound like it actually fits into a Sonic game -- and apart from Sonic Boom (for Sonic CD), all the other themes are rockish. And I sound like autotuned Enya!

.....I really don't know where to take this, yet. I've added a few more vocal layers, making the total twelve, and it sounds just that bit fuller.

(That, and I can't afford a studio mic yet... T_T I'm a student, and somewhat unlucky enough to be unemployed!)

[SuperiorX]

My source was

- I sang at the same speed as the intro because I had this song playing on my headset whilst I sang to it.

I haven't an instrument to my name, despite me being able to play the piano well (by well, I mean Grade 8 in 2003), so I have to make do with FL's soundfonts, samples and humanisation. Really, when I think hard about how to make the instrumental, I haven't the faintest idea. The best would be for it to sound like it actually fits into a Sonic game -- and apart from Sonic Boom (for Sonic CD), all the other themes are rockish. And I sound like autotuned Enya!

.....I really don't know where to take this, yet. I've added a few more vocal layers, making the total twelve, and it sounds just that bit fuller.

(That, and I can't afford a studio mic yet... T_T I'm a student, and somewhat unlucky enough to be unemployed!)

Well you don't actually need real instruments I record with my MIDI keyboard, but it all runs through various VSTs anyway to emulate different instruments. In fact, you'll find most people here don't actually play any instruments, everything is computer generated by just writing midi tracks in a DAW. The soundfonts and presets in FL will be a good start, but then you can always obtain additional VSTs in the future to expand your musical library.

I wouldn't try to think that the song needs to fit in a Sonic game. Music can be reinterpreted and arranged in any way you see fit. Even your mix for example sounds drastically different than the indie rock original version. Just try to think about different ways you could interpret the source tune in your own style. Just by listening to your vocal mix here, for example, I could imagine slowing down the tempo a bit, adding in some driving piano harmonies to accentuate your vocal layers, maybe some held strings to add a bass presence, and maybe a bit of hand percussion for beat/time-keeping purposes. I'm not sure how familiar you are with all the music here on OCR, but a lot of our remixes sound quite different from their originals.

If you are new, take a look around the Music Composition & Production forums. They have a lot of helpful topics from really helpful people on how to get started on all aspects of music production. It can be really beneficial, regardless of your level of familiarity with VSTs, DAWs, and other random acronyms

[TroisNyxEtienne]

Well you don't actually need real instruments I record with my MIDI keyboard, but it all runs through various VSTs anyway to emulate different instruments. In fact, you'll find most people here don't actually play any instruments, everything is computer generated by just writing midi tracks in a DAW. The soundfonts and presets in FL will be a good start, but then you can always obtain additional VSTs in the future to expand your musical library.

I wouldn't try to think that the song needs to fit in a Sonic game. Music can be reinterpreted and arranged in any way you see fit. Even your mix for example sounds drastically different than the indie rock original version. Just try to think about different ways you could interpret the source tune in your own style. Just by listening to your vocal mix here, for example, I could imagine slowing down the tempo a bit, adding in some driving piano harmonies to accentuate your vocal layers, maybe some held strings to add a bass presence, and maybe a bit of hand percussion for beat/time-keeping purposes. I'm not sure how familiar you are with all the music here on OCR, but a lot of our remixes sound quite different from their originals.

If you are new, take a look around the Music Composition & Production forums. They have a lot of helpful topics from really helpful people on how to get started on all aspects of music production. It can be really beneficial, regardless of your level of familiarity with VSTs, DAWs, and other random acronyms

Got it. Thanks for the heads-up!