Moritz P.G. Katz

Hey, thanks guys.

I'll check out your music as well.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

I'm not looking forward to the day when we're replaced by algorithms like this - but I'll have to agree, very impressive!

Cheers,
Moritz

Hey Calum,

Sounds great so far!
Distinctive and fresh arrangements and just the right amount of skillful licks and fills to mix up the catchy themes.

I've only got two small things regarding the mix:

• The sound is a bit "harsh" to my ears. Might just be me, but I could imagine your music being somewhat tiring for that reason - plus a game like this will likely have a lot of sound effects which will need some more space.
• I feel you're using a bit too much panning, especially for recurring sounds like hihats / shakers. This shifts the whole track a bit too much to the left or right from time to time. Again, leave space for the sound FX to be panned - just pan the percussive elements a little and use more panorama on fills etc. instead.

Again: just my personal thoughts. You're well on your way to creating something really awesome. Keep us updated!

Cheers,
Moritz

Thanks Kryzon, appreciate it!

Regarding the behind-the-scenes, could you list the hardware\software you used for this project?

    
Sure, why not - I've got nothing to hide.

• Main DAW for this was the Ableton Live Suite 8, running on a MacBook Pro. I mostly used Live's Compressor and EQ8 for mix and master because I know them very well.
• Most prominently featured AU instrument is probably the EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold XP. I used a lot of pizzicato strings, solo woodwinds and tuned percussion.
• Drums are XLN Addictive Drums, percussion is the Ableton Suite's Latin Percussion set (e-instruments), I'm pretty sure I recorded a shaker and a few claps myself though.
• In "Waltz for Annie", you can hear my trusty Seagull Mini Jumbo steel string guitar.
• The Gremlin voices were recorded through a budget condenser mic and then warped, pitched up and modified with a Grain Delay in Live.
• Most of the other sound design was done foley-style with a Zoom H2 and edited within Live.
• For reverb, I used the Lernvall LAConvolver with Voxengo impulse responses.
• My audio interface is a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40.
• For studio monitors I currently use a pair of ADAM A8X, though during the final master stage I also listened to both music and sounds through a lot of smaller speakers, including those of my MacBook - for obvious reasons.

That's pretty much it.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

The samples you provided sound like a mixture of the aliasing that occurs in digital FM synthesis (or possibly phase modulation synthesis) and downsampling / bit reduction.

Especially the percussive2.mp3 clearly uses downsampling on some percussive instruments. (toms / snares - either sampled or FM synthesized)
You should be able to find free VST / AU effects that do this - combine those with lowpass filters and top it off with some tape / filter delay and a roomy reverb. You'll get a similar sound in no time.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

That's some textbook FM synthesis - at least the plucky sound is! (coupled with some reverb / delay)
DOS games in the 90's used a lot of FM synthesized music, too.

Try FM soft synths like Native Instruments' FM8 - you can find decent free alternatives if you search sites like KVR.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

What GeneralQuery said!

In regards of your music sample: You used a lot of long bassy notes that take up a lot of headroom.
You might want to make them shorter so they don't resonate that long or cut off some of that "oomph" with an EQ. Rumbly sounds like this can be very hard to mix without proper monitoring, but this will be a good first step.

Remember that a good mix already starts with the arrangement: too much wish-wash and too few percussive notes with nice transients and you'll have a really hard time getting it loud without turning the waveform into a muddy-sounding sausage.

Nice ideas in there though, keep it up!

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

We've had quite a few threads about that topic, which may be the reason people aren't responding to your question.

Here are links to a few of them:

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/626183-recommended-daw/
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/619460-decisions-dawcontroller/
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/619243-what-software-and-hardware-should-i-get-on-a-tight-budget/

In a nutshell: No one will be able to give you a definite unbiased answer. Check out videos and demos of Cubase, Reaper, FL, Ableton Live, Logic (if you're on a Mac), Presonus Studio One, Samplitude, maybe Pro Tools and whichever DAW I forgot and buy the one you feel will compliment your style and workflow, the one you will be most comfortable with.

All tools I've listed are great tools and they're pretty much all able to do the same things like Audio/MIDI/Video playback, VST/AU hosting, automatization... most of 'em come with synths, EQs/Compressors and modulation effects to get you started. The biggest differences are in the user interface, which is just a matter of taste and what you're used to.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

Yea, I agree with Nathan!
Networking is fun and profitable.

Another thought: Just recently, I went to a 3-day GameMusic MasterClass with Chris Hülsbeck (Turrican, Star Wars: Rebel Strike, Great Giana Sisters) and Michael Stöckemann (CEO of label Sound of Games) - and this question also came up.

Their answer was something like: "90% of the jobs probably just aren't for you, that's the way we approach these things. Be it for financial or for creative reasons. And that is actually quite reassuring: if you get turned down, it just wasn't your job. There are many good projects out there and some of them need exactly your music - rather do less jobs and do them right."

I think that makes a lot of sense. If you feel a job is going to be a constant fight that will eventually wear you out, maybe you should just reject it. There's no shame in that!
On the contrary, if you do it in a friendly and professional way, the client may even be impressed and tell his peers about that composer guy who doesn't take on just any job.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

Here you go!

;)

If you use the forum search, you'll see the topic has been covered quite a few times.

Cheers,
Moritz

So, if the term is "gain", one question then: what would be 100% gain? Would it mean the volume remains unchanged or would it mean the sound would be double as loud? (always talking about perceived sound, that is)

Actually, it depends on whatever soft- or hardware you're using. Using percentages for something labeled "Gain" is pretty rare though, in my experience.
Either it's labeled with dB or - like on guitar amps and pedals - with a knob that just goes from a minimum to a maximum value.

When it's indeed labeled with a true relative value, it's like Brian said:
1 (or 100%) means the Gain stage isn't changing the volume.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

For me, it is probably a combination of all the things you have mentioned.

Forcing myself to be creative hardly ever works and I hit the same concrete wall like you do.

But the best ideas usually hit me when I'm not near the studio at all - I try to compose as much of the music as possible in my head so I can just sort of "pour it out" when I get to the studio.
This isn't completely involuntary, though. When I'm doing music for a project, I spend much time just thinking about it and trying out different ideas with my "inner ears". That's why you'll hardly ever see me leave the house with headphones on, I'm listening to my own radio.
When I think I've got something good, I put it on loop in my head until I can put it down somehow, if I fear I could forget it. I carry a mobile recorder with me for that purpose.

Of course, this doesn't always work. But it's the most fun way of working for me because when I actually sit in front of my screen'n'speakers, all I have to do is assemble the music that's already there!

Also, this probably wouldn't work if I hadn't done (and still do) dozens, probably hundreds, of "4 or 8 bar riff" songs where I've experimented with sounds, rhythms, harmonies and melodies.
You have to know your tools or you'll be slowed down when you strike oil with a great idea.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

We should share more of our musical output, be it video game music or other tunes - you guys regularly sweeten my afternoons!

So here's some of my random music: I was playing around with some new Rhodes samples the other day and somehow ended up with a jazzy jam and a scat solo.

Sleazeballs

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

Thank you, the demo sounds great!
Guess, I'll purchase a minor version next week

I'd rather save up some money and go for Gold instead of the Silver edition.
The amount of instruments and articulations more than makes up for it.

Only thing that bothers me with EastWest is the dongle... the Play engine is pretty solid now.

Cheers,
Moritz

Hello,

It might be like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut (in Germany we say "shooting cannons at sparrows"), but give Sibelius a try.
You can download a 30-day trial from their website: http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/get.pl?com=sh&prod=first&page_language=en

It's all I use for writing my choir arrangements, making layouts for orchestral music or providing note material for other musicians.

When producing, I do most details directly in the DAW of course - and sometimes I grab the good ol' pencil and paper when I sit at the piano, mostly just to gather ideas though.

Cheers,
Moritz

@jbadams: You beat me to it! ;)