MichaelTheCrow

I've noticed every month or so I get notified people have listened to this old track, I suppose some of you might want to hear a finished product. It's not OCR material but here is a finished version I entered for Dwelling of Duels last October: http://www.dwellingofduels.net/dodarchive/11-10-Free_Month/10-MichaelTheCrow-Grandia-Onwards-DoD.mp3 I don't feel I've done the track justice and if I attempt it later on I'll re-do it from scratch.

Certainly do, I plan on making it around 4-5 minutes long, I'm not so much worrying about any more production until the rough version is finished. Speaking of which I have done a lot more, not sure if the symphonic power metal vibe is really what this needs but it just came to me, still have to change the rhythm of the drums during the main melody but this gives a rough idea, all feedback has been greatly appreciated and will help further me as a musician. Added a string ensemble too. V3: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/CTFrogV3.mp3

Changed to my new 7-string Ibanez Prestige, re-recorded all guitars, changed the amp/cab combo and humanized the drum velocity and timing. The tone seems a bit 'dry' but I'm working on that. V2: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/CTFrogV2.mp3

It was fun the whole way through making it, glad you guys enjoyed it! Brandon is nowhere near like a Viking, which adds to the hilarity of the song.

It's not actually the drums but the guitars that are a bit off, I was learning the source as I was going and recording the riffs as I became familiar with the unusual drums(not perfect but still). I have a new guitar now, which is why I was waiting on continuing on this. I'll do something a bit more 'smooth' with the rhythm, but I still want to have some sort of polyrhythmic stuff going on at some point. I've got a different tone now, I think it sits in the mix a lot better, hopefully I'll work more on this as I get used to my new 7-string Ibanez Prestige. Thanks for the constructive feedback guys!

Been awhile since I've done any activity on these forums, so here goes. I've been working on a rearrangement of the Frog's theme from Chrono Trigger. It is in very early stages, so there's not much more added than the source material. More importantly I want to know if I'm going on the right track mixing/mastering-wise and what needs to be altered. Wanted to do something different with the rhythm in the main section and give it a somewhat polyrhythmic(though not a true polyrhythm) feel. This will most likely be the 'end' section, but that could change. So what do you guys think so far? Original source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMzkUriqXvs&fmt=18 Current version: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/CTFrogV3.mp3 Previous versions: V2: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/CTFrogV2.mp3 V1: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/CTFrog.mp3

Wow, it's been forever since I've posted anything here. Basically I got bored last night and let the first person to comment on my status update to have a song written about them, of course Brandon Strader won, and somehow turned into a theme song. It was a bit of fun, we were joking around and within 45 minutes it was complete. Not that Brandon is a Viking, but he complained about not having lyrics, and it went from there. Demonstray on vocals, and I did everything else. Enjoy this Metal piece, it's not quite Viking Metal, but the lyrics say otherwise . Download: http://michaelthecrow.com/files/music/BrandonTheVikingGuy.mp3

Unfortunately that seems to be the case, lack of interest and exposure created lack of motivation for the very few of us, don't think it's going anywhere. Unless someone else picks the project up, it'd be better off done from scratch under a new project director.

Glad to see this finally on OCR, hopefully it'll kick up a bit more now! Very excited for the project, long overdue as us fans say.

I've been waiting for the next version, can say you've impressed me even more with this one. Glad to hear the lead guitar is at the right volume now, it doesn't drain out the other instruments also which is good. Love the transition half way through how they key goes up by two whole steps, it works, though not entirely sure about whether or not the piano fits in 100% through the transition process, could just be me however. The guitar solos are excellent overall, the melody is great and so are the piano solos, strings are also great. Bass grooves and riffs are very suiting/catchy, drums are perfect. Are you at all familiar with Noriyuki Iwadare? This stuff is seriously making me want to play Grandia II again, don't know how but that's what this reminds me of. I have no conflicting issues with how it sounds through my speakers, you've obviously done a great job with mixing down the track, definitely near completion. Keep it up and I look forward to hearing the final mix.

This sounds awesome, checked out both versions and the recent one is definitely a major improvement upon the first one. I'm loving the drums you got going, it's a pretty cruising track for boss music, it reminds me of both Grandia II music and various Japanese scrolling shooter games. What type of boss battle is it? RPG? Action? I can feel the vibe for both. The guitar synth is a little bit too quiet, might want to turn it up just a notch. As for the overall track it's not overly complicated and I found myself enjoying the track the entire way through, would love to hear this in a game.

Power metal is pretty neat, combined with symphonic instruments turns it into Symphonic Metal. I am going for a bit of Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, JRock and Prog Metal. The acoustic guitar isn't live, just one of the quality instruments that came with Dimension Pro, all that was programmed via midi, the only things played live are the choir and violin melody on the midi keyboard. When I get a decent steel string acoustic it will replace the virtual instrument, but for now it's still very decent and very realistic. Humanising the velocities and timings of the instruments will add even more realism. Glad to see this has turned out so well, I will be sure to keep you guys posted.

Glad you enjoy it, I have indeed updated it since then and now have the full length intro before it really gets into the rest of the track. It is going to be lengthy, it now spans just over 2 minutes: http://www.box.net/shared/dp8pgb8il0 The choir bit is just temporary, so it might sound cheesy for the moment. You can write something on it if you really want to, I don't mind. Enjoy .

Well finally an update on this, I've re-written the entire thing. Added to the main melody at the start and now begins with only a Piano and Violin, as for the rest of the track, it has been scrapped. I'm going for a more dramatic approach with a hint of JRock inspiration. http://www.box.net/shared/n9p5i8vve4 Let me know what you think, not everyone will agree with this change but it will work, trust me . Also this is now going to be a track for my upcoming solo album project, I do intend to go commercial but I will supply several tracks as a free download, this will be one of them. Enjoy .

Sorry in taking so long with this. So far it as all just midi programmed except for the oboe at the beginning and the guitars. I haven't had much time or motive to work on this track, but I am going to continue working on this, I've had major guitar tone issues...it's been halting my progress on most of my tracks. I'm going to try and focus on the song instead of worrying about all that technical mumbo-jumbo getting the right sound to flow evenly within the mix. I'll be keeping you guys posted on any further progress.