Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2013

[SuperiorX]

You ditched me to work on your mix, and now you're not even WORKING ON IT?! ...asshole...

I should have clarified... I NEED TO CONTINUTE WORKING ON MY MIX. I'm at that point where I have 30 seconds and it's really cool, so I keep listening to the same 30 seconds over and over instead of moving on. This happens to me a lot

[DrumJ8]

funfax: I named my track "Detrusian Bliss" after my fiancée's middle name cuz I picked her up at the airport last Friday after not seeing her for a year and I was like "I'm so happy to see you now I gotta get home and finish my mix"

If anyone feels like feeding back, here's my mix on soundcloud

moar funfax: I was stressed/freaked out for my round 1 entry so I heavily referenced the MIDI's but I did not do so at all for round 2 so I would like to celebrate this small victory by being sleepy

[Garpocalypse]

I should have clarified... I NEED TO CONTINUTE WORKING ON MY MIX. I'm at that point where I have 30 seconds and it's really cool, so I keep listening to the same 30 seconds over and over instead of moving on. This happens to me a lot

ain't that the truth...

Happens to me alot too.

[shadow24]

So you were basically trying to figure out, if the aux send with the parallel compressor was before or after the light compressor on the track itself? iinnnteresting.... I imagine this could actually depend on your DAW and the settings on the track & send themselves. I'll toy around in Logic and see what happens, although I want to say that in Logic, any effects on the track itself are processed before the signal is sent to the aux send/bus.

You can change the sends to pre / post / etc in Logic. Option click it or right click it. Can't remember off the top of my head.

[MindWanderer]

I imagine this could actually depend on your DAW and the settings on the track & send themselves.

I should think. REAPER lets you choose whether to process the sends before or after effects and fader/panning. Of course, sending before your VSTi is pretty dumb, but you can always add another bus in the middle.

I'm afraid Zero didn't inspire me a whole lot, I was in college and broke by the time most of the Mega Man X games came out and was never much of a fan. I would have gladly traded it for a couple of Stardroids or Mega Man Killers. My mix is coming out OK, and it has its moments, but I'm not thrilled with it. Sorry for disappointing.

[Tuberz McGee]

Goddamnit the week I wanted to add vocals and I have a cold. :/

Had to sing down the octave... if I get to fix it I will, but it's in a near sub state.

Hope y'all like Megadeth.

[Garpocalypse]

Hope y'all like Megadeth.

Early or Late?

Not Risk-like I hope.

So Far So Good So What? my favorite album.

[timaeus222]

Goddamnit the week I wanted to add vocals and I have a cold. :/

Had to sing down the octave... if I get to fix it I will, but it's in a near sub state.

Hope y'all like Megadeth.

Take advantage of that, man. Sing some deeeeep bass vocals (1:47)! =D

[Sir_NutS]

Hey, thanks for all the info on parallel compression! When people talk about running effects "in parallel" I had just never heard that term before, but I do understand the idea of running an effect on a send so you can easily mix the dry/wet signal... I have a tendency to simply use the "dry/wet" knob on my effect, assuming it has one. After reading all of this, however, I may start doing more things with aux sends instead, it seems like I can get more control that way.

Also, the idea of using a compressor in parallel to control the decay of things is something I never knew about, so thanks for sharing that great tip I usually run all my drums through a bus with a compressor so that they all stay cohesive; would it be a good idea to run a compressor in parallel to that bus (which already has a compressor on it) so that I can manage the decays, or should I use that bus in parallel? (I'm guessing the former option would give the control and mix management desired but I want to make sure)

It's fine to use your effects as inserts and manage the levels with the dry/wet knob. Parallel compression isn't useful in everything. Actually, I don't use it in every drum and very rarely use it on a whole drum bus, and since I compress a bass once every 1000th mix, I never use it there. (I do use compression on the bass but just sidechaining, not to actually shape it with compression, and again, not all the time). It's something I do in selected cases.

[DrumJ8]

I do use compression on the bass but just sidechaining, not to actually shape it with compression, and again, not all the time.

I insert a compressor on the bass, enable the sidechain, and send the bass drum to that sidechain, because that's how I "learned" how to make the bass drum clearer. But as with all things, I do it in a haphazard and random manner, and I actually can't hear any difference. I just do it, basically, just to do it. SHRUG.

[timaeus222]

I insert a compressor on the bass, enable the sidechain, and send the bass drum to that sidechain, because that's how I "learned" how to make the bass drum clearer. But as with all things, I do it in a haphazard and random manner, and I actually can't hear any difference. I just do it, basically, just to do it. SHRUG.

Sometimes it's a good idea to have a way to check whether it worked or not. FL Studio's limiter has a visual display, but I dunno what Cubase does on that aspect. I'd like you to try not sending the kick to the master and then checking with a spectral analyzer to see whether or not the bass looks or sounds like it was pushed down. If it does, then your sidechaining worked. You can compare it with an instance where the kick's instrument slot is turned off so it literally doesn't send any sound to your DAW, and it should look like nothing happened to the bass.

Edited August 24, 2013 by timaeus222

[Tuberz McGee]

Early or Late?

Not Risk-like I hope.

So Far So Good So What? my favorite album.

Rust In Peace buddy. <3

Not my favourite album, but my god it has some killer riffs.

My favourite is either Youthanasia or Countdown to Extinction.

Actually, I really like 'The System has failed' too.

Kick the chair is such a cool song.

[Garpocalypse]

Rust In Peace buddy. <3

Not my favourite album, but my god it has some killer riffs.

My favourite is either Youthanasia or Countdown to Extinction.

Actually, I really like 'The System has failed' too.

Kick the chair is such a cool song.

When they came back after breaking up I didn't think Dave was much more than a shell of what he was. I listened to The System Has Failed alot but that last one, at least I think it was the last one, I listened to maybe twice and never played it again.

Now I really can't wait to hear these remixes tommarow.

[ectogemia]

I do use compression on the bass but just sidechaining, not to actually shape it with compression, and again, not all the time). It's something I do in selected cases.

The best basses to compress are usually acoustic/electric basses (and by electric, I mean bass guitar, not synthetic basses) since their decay is very rapid. A mix will almost always benefit from a little compression on basses like that, but you've got to have a very long attack, as long as 60-80 ms, to preserve that characteristic pluck on real basses. Layering them with a sub works wonders, too. But yeah, I'm with NutS_Man in that synthetic basses usually don't need compression since you can solve a lot of presence issues with just their volume envelope. And god, yes. Some light sidechaining of the kick (and perhaps snare in some genres) into the bass + notching the bass at the fundamental of the kick and/or snare is a super transparent way of adding just about all the kick and snare clarity you need apart from compression for additional presence. You may have to notch your pad or other low-mid-heavy instruments as well to get maximum snare clarity. I reaaaallly can't overstate how important notching eq is in the grand scheme of fitting all the parts of your mix together best in the frequency spectrum. If ya ain't doin' it, you people, do it.

Edited August 24, 2013 by ectogemia

[timaeus222]

The best basses to compress are usually acoustic/electric basses (and by electric, I mean bass guitar, not synthetic basses) since their decay is very rapid. A mix will almost always benefit from a little compression on basses like that, but you've got to have a very long attack, as long as 60-80 ms, to preserve that characteristic pluck on real basses. Layering them with a sub works wonders, too. But yeah, I'm with NutS_Man in that synthetic basses usually don't need compression since you can solve a lot of presence issues with just their volume envelope. And god, yes. Some light sidechaining of the kick (and perhaps snare in some genres) into the bass + notching the bass at the fundamental of the kick and/or snare is a super transparent way of adding just about all the kick and snare clarity you need apart from compression for additional presence. You may have to notch your pad or other low-mid-heavy instruments as well to get maximum snare clarity. I reaaaallly can't overstate how important notching eq is in the grand scheme of fitting all the parts of your mix together best in the frequency spectrum. If ya ain't doin' it, you people, do it.

It just so happens that if you look at the waveforms of acoustic and electric basses, they often turn out to be somewhat wavy (often most evident ~1.5sec in). In many cases, on a C4, there's a 64-ish Hz natural resonance on the string that was plucked. Now, this is not always the case, depending on the amp, sample, or articulation, but it sometimes is. This particular graphic is of a 100% amp signal with no compressor on it, internal or external (this round robin shows it most at ~1.7sec). If you look in a graphic analyzer, it should show loads of bass at ~60~70Hz. Here's what that waveform sounds like.

As you could see, it doesn't look like it could take up that much room in a mix, but sounds will stack up. Ecto didn't articulate this completely, but I believe the compression he is talking about is the kind to lightly push down on those natural resonances to "control the dynamics" (which is why there's a preset on Cytomic's The Glue called "Gtr Bass - Controlled Dynamics"). It lets the bass fit in the mix better, but it only transparently affects those resonances, which isn't significantly harmful to the tone overall.

Edited August 24, 2013 by timaeus222

[ectogemia]

It just so happens that if you look at the waveforms of acoustic and electric basses, they often turn out to be somewhat wavy (often most evident ~1.5sec in). In many cases, on a C4, there's a 64-ish Hz natural resonance on the string that was plucked. Now, this is not always the case, depending on the amp, sample, or articulation, but it sometimes is. This particular graphic is of a 100% amp signal with no compressor on it, internal or external (this round robin shows it most at ~1.7sec). If you look in a graphic analyzer, it should show loads of bass at ~60~70Hz. Here's what that waveform sounds like.

As you could see, it doesn't look like it could take up that much room in a mix, but sounds will stack up. Ecto didn't articulate this completely, but I believe the compression he is talking about is the kind to lightly push down on those natural resonances to "control the dynamics" (which is why there's a preset on Cytomic's The Glue called "Gtr Bass - Controlled Dynamics"). It lets the bass fit in the mix better, but it only transparently affects those resonances, which isn't significantly harmful to the tone overall.

The compression I'm talking about is intended to control the dynamics, not to "control the dynamics." What other kind of compression is there? What point are you even trying to make here, man?

[timaeus222]

The compression I'm talking about is intended to control the dynamics, not to "control the dynamics." What other kind of compression is there? What point are you even trying to make here, man?

I'm just elaborating on what I believe you said, that's all. The quotation marks aren't supposed to make any difference; it just makes it correlate to the preset I named.

[ectogemia]

I'm just elaborating on what I believe you said, that's all. The quotation marks aren't supposed to make any difference; it just makes it correlate to the preset I named.

Ah, ok. Gotcha.

[Garpocalypse]

The compression I'm talking about is intended to control the dynamics, not to "control the dynamics." What other kind of compression is there?

I had a good laugh at those quotation marks. Real Talk.

[Jivemaster]

Ah, ok. Gotcha.

BTW ectogemia, congrats on your recent mix post status.

[ectogemia]

BTW ectogemia, congrats on your recent mix post status.

Thanks, man! Hope you liked the tune. I have an alternate version here which I prefer over the album version in case you're interested.

[Phonetic Hero]

BTW ectogemia, congrats on your recent mix post status.

Yeah dude, that remixer profile badge looks good on you

[SuperiorX]

Yeah dude, that remixer profile badge looks good on you

I want mine

Wrapping up my mix in the morning. It's been a craaaaaaazy busy week, so I just started it late last night. I'm not quite sure what it ended up being exactly, but I suppose it's interesting

[Cash]

Thanks, man! Hope you liked the tune. I have an alternate version here which I prefer over the album version in case you're interested.

Yeah, congrats on your first mixpost! I had been wondering for a while when you were going to get a mix posted, after all you are pretty damn good...for a dentist.

[Brandon Strader]

attention herps, prepare to derp