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New Super Guitar Bros video!! - SONIC 1 MEDLEY!!


Super Guitar Bros.
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Hey thanks guys. I'm glad to see that everybody likes this one so much.

  Garpocalypse said:
Could you detail some of your recording thoughts/techniques?

Sure, I'll try:

Well with the first two videos (the Ninja Gaiden medley and Gerudo Valley) we just recorded those directly from Sam's laptop so the audio/video quality aren't that great. But Sam's dad has a little recording studio in the basement so he decided to start helping us out by recording us so that our videos could actually start sounding good. ;-)

So the room you see us in from the Super Mario video onward is down in the basement just outside the studio room. We each have a microphone set up off to the sides and the cables run through the door into the studio (I honestly don't know what kind of microphones they are. I could ask if you want but they're pretty standard looking mics like SM-57s or something like that). From the Castlevania video onward we started putting a divider in between us as an attempt to prevent Sam's guitar from getting on my mic and vice versa. There's still a little bit of bleeding through but its not as bad anymore.

The recording process itself is usually pretty frustrating because we're recording the audio and the video at the same time and we insist on having one solid take rather than editing different takes together. So we have to play the song from beginning to end without messing up (or at least messing up as little as possible). This results in us having to do the song over and over and over and over etc. again until we finally get it right. The worst is when we play everything perfectly right up until the end and then one of us just totally blunders the crap out of their part... So frustrating!! Notice how we usually look exhausted in the videos (especially me on the right)? That's because its like 3am and we're STILL trying to get a good take that we're satisfied with (and I have to be at work at 7am).

The Mario and Castlevania videos were especially frustrating because we had to come back a 2nd day to try again because we just couldn't get it on the first day. I remember the Castlevania video being a total of like 60+ takes between the two days before we finally got one we liked. I had to go out and buy more candles for the 2nd day because all the ones we had burned down to little stubs... The Metroid and Final Fantasy videos were surprisingly easier to do and we managed to get those ones in less than 10 takes. I was really surprised.

As frustrating as that was it was still really enjoyable looking back on it. We really tried to just have fun and not to get too serious and frustrated with the whole thing. Sam's dad has been really good with keeping us motivated and making us laugh and reminding us to have fun. Though there were times when he was just as frustrated and that didn't really help.

After the recording the only thing left is the mixing and mastering which is mostly Sam's dad working with us standing behind him giving our input. The only things that we would alter in the song are the volume/panning (to make sure both guitars sound balanced), the EQs of the guitars (since different parts are played differently and sound better with a slightly different tone), and adding reverb. This part takes a long time because when you change something on one section it tends to affect the way the rest of the song sounds afterwards. Its almost like a domino effect. So you have to listen to the whole thing to make sure everything sounds right. There were many nights where I fell asleep on the floor while Sam and his dad continued to work on the mix :sleepzzz: Once that's done we master the final product to make it as loud as we can without it distorting and thats it. Song finished!!

The recording and mixing process takes a long time but the longest part of the whole thing is actually learning the songs, making the arrangement and practicing the songs which I'm not even going to go into right now.

I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for exactly but I just started typing and words just kept flowing so thats what you get here. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them.

Thanks again for watching our videos and for all the kind words. I'm really glad that all the hard work is paying off.

Edit:

  SwordBreaker said:
Also, you guys should start subbing your stuff to OCR and participating in projects. I know one which needs a pair like you (coughshamelesspromotioncough).

Well we did submit the Castlevania one last year and they accepted it recently. However it seemed some of the judges were reluctant because it was too much of a straight cover and not enough originality put into the mix (I should note here that Dj Pretzel came in and convinced the other judges that they shouldn't reject it). Seeing as how they almost didn't accept that one I'm not sure that they would accept any of our other tracks. Honestly we're just trying to pay tribute to composers who have inspired us, not create half original-half video game songs. I don't know... We may submit more songs in the future but it just doesn't seem to be what the judges here are looking for.

Baten Kaitos huh? I've honestly never played it but we've gotten some requests from people to do that one. I don't know though... We have a lot of other songs we're trying to do right now and we're also already committed to another project so I don't know if we could really join another one right now. I'll let you know if things change but best of luck to you either way.

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  Super Guitar Bros. said:

Well we did submit the Castlevania one last year and they accepted it recently. However it seemed some of the judges were reluctant because it was too much of a straight cover and not enough originality put into the mix (I should note here that Dj Pretzel came in and convinced the other judges that they shouldn't reject it). Seeing as how they almost didn't accept that one I'm not sure that they would accept any of our other tracks. Honestly we're just trying to pay tribute to composers who have inspired us, not create half original-half video game songs. I don't know... We may submit more songs in the future but it just doesn't seem to be what the judges here are looking for.

Baten Kaitos huh? I've honestly never played it but we've gotten some requests from people to do that one. I don't know though... We have a lot of other songs we're trying to do right now and we're also already committed to another project so I don't know if we could really join another one right now. I'll let you know if things change but best of luck to you either way.

I'm most likely the one who requested Baten Kaitos on your YouTube page. :)

Yeah. I get ya. Perhaps OCR's standards don't fit your style of remixing currently. Either way, don't let it bother you much. You guys are doing a heck of a job. Plus, you have DOD as a current outlet. Maybe later you'd like to try making an OCR-style track if you have the time.

BTW, the project I'm running has expanded to include all games from Tri-Ace and Tri-Crescendo not just Baten Kaitos, which includes hits from the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Proifle series. Hit me up with a PM if you have the time. In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing.

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