Topic of next tutorial?

[zircon]

Hey guys. I'd like to write another ReMixing tutorial, but I'm not sure what topic to cover. I would appreciate some opinions. Here's what I'm thinking of:

* Production (Part 2) - Additional topics related to general production approach and methodology. Eg. how to make a mix sound good.

* Arrangement - Deals with creating an interesting and engaging arrangement.

* Interpretation - Tips on how to take a source tune and vary it so it counts as an OC ReMix. Adding your own personal touch.

* Other - You specify! (NOTE: I WILL NOT COUNT YOUR VOTE UNLESS YOU POST IN THE THREAD EXPLAINING WHAT YOU WANT)

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

ps. If any morons from unmod want to post again and stretch the screen, restrain your urge please.

[Skrypnyk]

I want a tutorial on how to make glitch music

....=D

[Souliarc]

I'd like to see one on arrangement. Mainly because arrangement is more of a personal thing, as the aspect of "interesting and engaging" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm always interested in seeing the creative views of different musicians.

My second choice would be production.

[avaris]

I picked production, but I think something alot of newer mixers and even some people have bee doin it awhile kinda screw up on is the soundscape.

1. Being able to pick instruments that have a character and feel similar to that of the source tune or style the remixer is choosing. The emotion of the sound the instrument needs to match the emotion of the composition.

2. Talking about picking the applicable sounds. That it's a good rule of thumb to choose instruments that don't naturally don't take up the same frequencies.(of course that's where panning comes in)

Also depending on what key the instrument plays C1-C10 it will change the frequencies that the instrument will be putting out.

All that's about is getting high quality emotive sounds that sit well together. Easier said than done though.

I'm guessing maybe those are some of the thinsg you might talk about, if not then maybe some things to add?

Oh yeah i'd love to hear about glitching all that shite too. Of course that's a more advanced technique?

[about:blank]

Here's my two cents.

I definitely think that another production tutorial would be the most helpful. I liked the first one, and while I learned a lot from it, I still feel that I have a lot to learn in terms of production. Another tutorial would definitely help me (and just about everyone else who reads it) out with production.

I'm not too crazy about the idea of a tutorial on interpretation though, as I think that the concept for a remix is something that should come to the musician naturally. In my opinion, creativity isn't something that can be taught.

I'm a big fan of all of your tutorials so far, in fact I have them all printed out, and usually read them (along with other tutorials) in my spare time, or while making music. I know that this next one is going to be just as good as those, if not better.

[OverCoat]

I'm gonna be the cool non-conformist rebel and vote for "interpretation." I think it's a topic that's come up quite a bit lately, and I think guidelines on the different ways to interpret the original song would be helpful to put in the site FAQ, or something like that.

It's a simple tutorial to write, and you could probably just put in a few hours and cover at least the basics: covers, remixes, and arrangements. Arrangements being the thing OCR accepts of course. It'd also be nice to showcase prime examples of all 3 [say, a Minibosses song, a DJ Seith remix, and... one of your OC Remixes, respectively].

[Anorak]

I want a tutorial on how to make glitch music

....=D

Like this:

rrrrrratatata zim ZOOOOMM!!! Unnnnntttzzz!

Umm.

Anyway, question. I'm not sure if it's just the way the "Interpretation" point is worded, but it comes across as a bit strange. How would you help someone else add their own touches to a remix? Isn't that something each mixer learns and does themselves that makes them unique? Hopefully I've just misinterpreted though.

I voted for production, by the way.

[Skrypnyk]

I want a tutorial on how to make glitch music

....=D

Like this:

rrrrrratatata zim ZOOOOMM!!! Unnnnntttzzz!

Your tutorial sucks =(

[zircon]

Thanks for the input so far. A few points of clarification.

1. soc, DJSeith's music would never make it on to OCR today, and the Minibosses would be a really close call. I wouldn't use those artists as examples of anything, when it comes to current standards.

2. The overwhelming majority of ReMixes we get are rejected on creative grounds - eg. they are not interpretive enough. Every time we "NO" these mixes we are essentially giving the artist a brief lesson on how to be creative. So, an expanded tutorial on the subject isn't really anything special. This is probably the #1 issue for mixers in general. There is just massive confusion on the subject.

Keep the comments coming! I see numerous "Other" votes, but no one actually specified what they wanted, so I'm not going to count them until they do.

[OverCoat]

1. soc, DJSeith's music would never make it on to OCR today, and the Minibosses would be a really close call. I wouldn't use those artists as examples of anything, when it comes to current standards.

Read what I said again: "you could probably just put in a few hours and cover at least the basics: covers, remixes, and arrangements. Arrangements being the thing OCR accepts of course."

I'm saying you could talk about the other ways to tribute old game tunes, they might not be allowed on OCR but offsite or on the forums people might enjoy them.

[zircon]

Sorry, but I wouldn't write about those topics. Everything I write in my tutorials pertains to OCR and ReMixing. Even if it can be broadly applied to original songwriting/production (etc) it all ties back to OCR. So something that doesn't apply to OCR will not be written about. If I did do a topic on interpretation it would have to do with passing the OCR standards.

[OverCoat]

You're no fun :[

[Dave Harris]

Almost-mirrored from vgmusic.

I reckon you should write up some more production techniques. From what I can tell, it's easily your strong point, and it's a large blind-spot for me.

Also, I think arrangement/interpretation are more personal things that are harder to teach in such an objective way. You could try, but what I expect would happen is lengthy volleys between people arguing over things they disagree on. Plus I suppose I can only speak for myself, but I'd personally find it a lot less useful.

I'd like to see one on arrangement. Mainly because arrangement is more of a personal thing, as the aspect of "interesting and engaging" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm always interested in seeing the creative views of different musicians.

Actually, that is a good point - it is cool to hear about other peoples outlooks, though it raises the argument of why is Andrew's creative view any more omnipotent than anyone else's?

I'm all for sharing compositional viewpoints, but I think it's a very hard thing to take authority over.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Almost-mirrored from vgmusic.

I reckon you should write up some more production techniques. From what I can tell, it's easily your strong point, and it's a large blind-spot for me.

More specifically?

The thing is, a lot of what we think of as production is something that you can't really write a tutorial for, because it varies so much depending on the style and feel you're going for. You just sorta gotta practice until you develope an ear for it.

[The Vagrance]

I feel that teaching interpretation just defeats the purpose of it all. Production *MIGHT* be nice, especially if you get into the more creative side of it that is rarely traveled (creative EQ'ing, creative compressing/sidechaining, just basically thinking outside the box with everything). Matter of fact, doing a full-fledged think towards the mastering side (EQing, compressing a bit more, limiting, exciting, making individual sounds big) would be helpful to a lot of people for giving tracks that extra "oomph" that it may be lacking. Arranging would be an interesting tutorial but arrangements can be picked up fairly easily from just listening to the styles they want to do and incorporating their own style into it.

[Malcos]

Arrangement please!

As digital music increases in terms of audio fidelity, we may find out more and more about the human ear, things can always get crisper. However, what makes a song timeless is the arrangement.

I personally think that making a production sound better takes time and experience, whereas making a better arrangement helps almost instantly, especially in terms of getting your remix on to OCR.

Just listen to those classic 70's and 80's songs you love. Production is a bit swag by todays standards, but the arrangements are great. A nice sounding song can only take you so far. It needs a soul!

[M@DM@X]

I'd like to see one on arrangement. Mainly because arrangement is more of a personal thing, as the aspect of "interesting and engaging" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm always interested in seeing the creative views of different musicians.

My second choice would be production.

Exactly what I wanted to say.

[lazygecko]

Just listen to those classic 70's and 80's songs you love. Production is a bit swag by todays standards, but the arrangements are great. A nice sounding song can only take you so far. It needs a soul!

I don't think production was much worse on a technical level in the 80s. Rather, we had all these new digital effects and used the hell out of them. Sort of like when you first discover the lens flare in Photoshop.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Same question, though: how can one possibly write a tutorial on arrangement? To an even greater extent than production, arrangement is completely different for everybody.

I don't know how y'all do it, but I either have an idea or I don't. There's nothing I actually DO to come up with an arrangement, I just sit down and record when I think of one.

[Souliarc]

Same question, though: how can one possibly write a tutorial on arrangement? To an even greater extent than production, arrangement is completely different for everybody.

I don't know how y'all do it, but I either have an idea or I don't. There's nothing I actually DO to come up with an arrangement, I just sit down and record when I think of one.

If arrangement and production were so individualistic then there wouldn't be so many books, tutorials, and classes on them already.

There are certain principles that can be taught, and there are certain things that just aren't black and white. It's our individuality that sets us apart from everyone else, but I believe everyone needs a foundation.

[zircon]

Yeah, Souliarc is right.

And again, the judges routinely critique people on their arrangements (in the traditional sense) and interpretations. If you say it's something that can't be taught, or if teaching it defeats the purpose (as Doomsday said) then we would just stop writing out votes.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Teaching and critiquing are not necessarily the same thing.

Nevertheless, if you think you can write a tutorial on arrangement, feel free -- I'd definitely be curious to see how you approach it, and if you do it any differently than I do.

[zircon]

It would probably look at things like how to change the texture throughout the course of the song, proper use of tempo and key changes, structure (eg. intro verse chorus verse chorus outtro kind of stuff), dynamics, production complimenting arrangement (subtly fading in big bass pads before the climax)... you know what I mean? These are universal concepts. I'm not going to say stuff like "first write this note, then this one, then work on the chords".

[JoyBoy]

How about combining all these choices in one by making a tutorial in DIY song in any style of music you prefer... I mean how about an interactive step by step tutorial this time ...I'm not saying a tutorial on writing notes or chords but explaining detailed things going on in a song, like the things that you mansioned in your last post. just a suggestion.

And by the way thanks for your past tutorials it's really helpful.

[The Vagrance]

How about combining all these choices in one by making a tutorial in DIY song in any style of music you prefer... I mean how about an interactive step by step tutorial this time ...I'm not saying a tutorial on writing notes or chords but explaining detailed things going on in a song, like the things that you mansioned in your last post. just a suggestion.

And by the way thanks for your past tutorials it's really helpful.

I like this idea but I have another one:

How about a tutorial where you show us step by step how you made/are making one of your songs? One of the worst parts about starting out is your hear all of these different techniques and such but you never really know where or when to put them, or how, or what it will sound like if you do. Its like having a treasure map with no indicators on it, you know what to do to get a good sound, you're just not sure how to get to it.