rig1015

Sorry for quoting you Harmony but you always know your game and you make good points. 100% on this... If anyone thinks compression messes with a tracks sound (when in regards to loudness) try dithering and making alias freqs *shutters* so I target 44.1 & 16 bits as end result too. 24 bit 96Khz, I hear, is what most AES members are calling "Transparent Tape Analog". I personally stay within the 88.2 as well because of the even sampling break down and lack of odd sampled dithering in the back end. This is how the MP3 revolution CHANGED EVERYTHING. Think of one of your friends who still has a CD player for all of their personal media (besides maybe in the car). iPods and Portable MP3 players are the new standard, and what is wonderful is their only format standard is the codec (which means yes, your MP3 player is only as good as the codec that decodes your MP3 data) So Red Book format doesn't mean shit anymore! Hooray, we can make 32bit MP3 @ 96KHz. But are the samples you are using to make your track. are they 32 bit as well? No, probably 24, at most. Do we even need a dynamic range that big (32bit)? ... If you do you should probably look at your engineering skills and rearrange how you do it. As for 96khz/88kHz... This is a silly point because AD-DA conversion taught us why we need 44.1 (in case you don't know: human ear hears 20Hz to 20kHz; And in digital in order to keep alias frequencies from appearing you have to double the sample rate... so double 20kHz you get 40kHz, then add the Low Pass Filter Roll Off Curve and you get 44.1kHz. So now you know why red book says 44.1kHz). So if we think about it like a movie, in one second you get 44,100 frames shot by your eye / ear (24 fps in film, 29.97 in color TV) so if we up this to 88,200 are you going to notice a difference? If you do I want to know what you are doing on this forum and not working as world famous mastering engineer. But, there is always one. As for the MP3, FLAC, AAC, OGG, WMA, etc. anyone who records at the resolutions discussed prior, and then formats the end result into this is undoing all the frequency work! So to those I ask WTF!? In the end even lossless encoding is still "Taking data out of the original file" no matter how you cut it! So now you are relying on the codec inside the decoding app to do the just as good a job, the data isn't there but you're hoping that it will be though. If we stay on the path of PCM for our digital audio, resolution is a moot point, unless the player at the consumers end is as resolute as the tools we used to make the audio. DSD baby. DSD. Then encoding won't even matter. As for loudness... *chuckles* bigger bit depth then dither... go 64 if you need it during the mix. But when you master, master for 16. Thats all I got for that.

Yay, for soft synth's, MIDI, VSTi's and DAW's. If your keyboard has a storage drive built into it you might be able to load NEW samples for it like that (some manufacturers make cards and stuff like that). But if you want different sounds what you have is not what you are going to use to make it; unless your keyboard has a sampler tool built into it, then you might be able to rework the sounds / patches. Souliarc has the right idea for the easiest way to expand without really expanding.

Sounds sharp, resonant on the VHF. Smooth the high frequencies. Squash the guitar lead (compressor) that might help.

I've found that most creative entities go through this phase periodically. The best solution I've found is to become distracted with something else, creative or not, and slowly the impulse that has been over worked will rest and your ideas will return.

I was expecting claps cheers and hoots after a certain point. Sample & sequence THAT IN! It is awesome though. Good job.

I liked it. It was fun. Crits. Your kick... harder, bigger, more in my face... you could do this through in mix compression / limiting, post mix mastering, or square saturate your kick so it has more of a "way to distorted" sound. If you go in mix make sure to then mix around the kick; kick fader at 0.0dB, everything mixes under that. Post mix mastering; I've found that I can get a softer kick to sound really hard and in your face post mix down if the kick is left as is now but everything is turn down about -10dB (this is relative, listen to your mix and turn down accordingly). Square saturating... hmm... ever heard the Hardcore DJ Venom Tetris mix from ~1999... the way that kick sounds... more like that. Anyone of those might make your kick more "in my face." Ideas for drums: Stuttering: chopping a drum loop/sample into rolling 16th's, 32nd's, even 64th's Reversing: take the last 2 beat of a measure and reverse a few of the drum layers... maybe even a 4 count. I had some ideas for the sword FX (if you wanted); Just wondering if you've thought of using it (Sword FX) under a bunch of FX (Reverbs, Filters, Delays, etc.) and turning it into a rhythm tool. It might be tricky to nail but if done right could be awesome and "inventive." Like I said this was fun, and I'm a fan of the lead as is, if not a little more wet with FX's.

You gotta nice genesis chill with this track. Crits: Your wind sound FX has hard tailing, touch it with reverb to help decrease this. Bring more in quicker, you totally lost my attention span after a min. If the track isn't moving after a minute you could loose the audience. I understand tribute to source and progressing and all that what not... but still, way too long. Bring your drums up. They sound far thus to quiet in the mix... try turning them up a wee bit. Give an update.

Finished and subbed.

Is the EQ in the car setup any specific way or is it flat too? Also car speakers don't necessarily have the same Freq Range as your home speakers. The more boom in the monitor the harder the highs are to reproduce, so most systems cheap out by using a sub-woofer, thus taking acoustic pressure off the monitor to reproduce the frequency range more accurately. If you got a sub you got a response hole so that can affect reproduction. What I've started to notice I was missing in my mixx (besides talent ) was better Dynamic Compression with a more aggressive ARC setting. You could also try mixing quieter, that way, when you squeeze (Master) later you have a LOT of dynamic range to work with... makes your mixx explode. I guess Rozovian, I'd have to know your production procedure to see where you could do something different that might make it better.

Sounds like sample fatigue. No matter what you do with the sample engineering-wise, it just always sounds the same to you. Phase Transitioning... phase changing... maybe phase changing during a change, or note/pitch change...? What values can you alter with the plug? And does it make any traditional phaser sounds... cause that'll tell us how it is using phase. Topic: So for your orch arr. are you using your reverb as a send or as an insert. Because I've had a lot of success with using both at the same time. My FX chain: Synth (samples) > Reverb > Compressor > EQ > Send (Bus Reverb) > Main Mix Reverb (1st) - is just for warmth... a subtle verb. I just try to put it in a room. Compressor - to squeeze AFTER the 1st reverb. Bring out everything under the dynamics EQ - to clean everything up, "tighten mix." I tend to do this after compressing because 90% of compressors I've ever encountered will give you more in the "power range" (~200Hz -1kHz) of your spectrum and I like to tweek those bumps. Send (Bus Reverb) - to give the polish / "main" reverb. Using it on a send helps because I can route other instruments (samples) to it and they all sound like the are in the same space. Do what you do, but that is how I do. Hope you got some ideas.

Your piano still sounds far away.... but I think you should try and use that to your advantage rather than let it hinder the production quality. If you were to mix in some accompaniment (ie: Upright Bass, splashy "yazz" cymbals) and maybe another instrument to help with the lead; and you could have a cool little lounge performance of this theme, the distant piano giving feeling to a live on stage piano sound. I do love the interpretation that was applied here though. Very Cool.

This is a good trip. I'd love to see where you end up taking us. FB: is there anyway we can get more boom / low out of your kick?

While I was without the internet I worked, mostly for fun, on some Metroid arrangements. Made some mixes mainly for myself but I am kicking around one for possible submission. As-Is probably wouldn't get a yes. Things I would tweek before sub'd: Washes / Transitions, and EQ. I just was wondering if I should take a cue spot and sub this? AmR - 3-88 (Metroid 2- Return of Samus - Tunnel Theme)

Is this what we can expect for our work? To rock out guys like this?

Shrill...? I dunno... but I do know this you mids seemed hallow. Like you got the boom from your kick and all the 5kHz+ from the cymbals but no meat in the middle. I would say mix/EQ those tighter (Hi's and Low's) and bring your Mids forward more in the mix. I can hear your guitar but it doesn't sound "in front" in the mix. Beyond all that this is a awesome mix / arrangement, love the textures and sounds you gave everything.