Sonic 1 Star Light Zone Remix (WiP)

[jordanm434]

So I refound this in my uploads and im wondering if you guys like it and if I could/should improve it in any way possible.

[Rexy]

Okay, let's be blunt with this.

Sorry, but right off the bat I am going to say there is nothing good about this mix. Now I know this is your first track, and you want to get off to a good start, but this is the kind of stuff that would get direct rejected.

Let me list a few points to help you get on the right track:

* When doing arrangements, please don't MIDI rip and loop it. It's fine to use MIDIs for reference, but it's not fine to use it as the entire basis of the song. It's a good idea to just think of your own creative ideas and add them to what you've got, or even just recreate it yourself from scratch and add any personal touches that way.

* When assigning instruments, at least know what they should be doing and what you intend to do with them. You've got a drum track trying to do a melody part, which is completely off, as well as some horrible grating bell that's too far out of its range for comfort on headphones. If you're using VSTs and soundbanks it's generally not a problem as they've got an assigned range to go with it, but MIDI devices are freeform and can sound terrible when not used well.

* Finally, if you want thinks to sound like what you intended, at least listen to some reference music to get an idea of what you want it to sound like. You wanted it to be relaxing? Listen to other pieces of downtempo music, pay attention to what's being used in it, and see if you can write a track in that particular style. Or if you want an aggressive rock track, listen to lots of rock music and see what inspires you. Heck, you can even listen to folk music and write something inspired by what you hear.

I hope you get what I mean by this. My best advice would be to ditch this track, start over with a clean slate, and see if you can do something that's closer towards the OCR guidelines. It takes a while to get there, but I've seen people grow over time. Don't give up

[Garrett Williamson]

entirely what Rexy said.

yeah.

she stole my never-existent thunder.

[timaeus222]

Hey Jordan,

Rexy might have been pretty harsh on you, but that's only because she cares. Here's what I would say after listening to this though:

First of all, even though it's not immediately obvious, YouTube compresses any and all videos uploaded to their server into FLV, which in turn compresses the audio and makes it sound worse. To what extent depends on the video encoding (240p, 360p, etc.), but anyways... the point is, try using a dedicated sound hosting site, like soundcloud or tindeck. Heck, even box.com can work well.

Sounds like you're using FPC from FL Studio and some basic sounds from the FL bank with a MIDI RIP, like Rexy said. Yeah, you would have to start over with a clean slate, and it will certainly help to learn about how each instrument sounds best in terms of how it plays out in the song.

However, the first thing I would suggest is that you learn how to use FL Studio more efficiently. Teach yourself the basics for writing melodies and harmonies, and basic EQing, then go from there. soundonsound.com is a great resource for teaching yourself these basics. FL Studio tutorials are all over youtube. Try those.