LPA Monthly Mix-Up October: Dance Pop/Dance-Hop/Electro-Pop

thank you very much mr gardiner, yes i would agree, it sounds much better through nice hifi speakers as aposed to pc desktop speakers, Cyber punk....who me lol

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/jas0n39#p/a/u/0/57QDixJPnrU
alternate link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57QDixJPnrU

This is a very early draft of what I plan to submit. I am still playing with the arrangement, individual layers, and mastering. It is an original remix of Burning in the Skies built from scratch in FL Studio 10. Having said that, does this fit in with this month's genre? Constructive criticism is welcome!

 

I like it.

 

I'm not a fan of the echoing of Mike's verse parts and the chorus feels off. The instrumental is really cool though.

 

I had a feeling the echoing would be polarizing for most people... I've had a handful of friends say they love it, and just as many say that it's "too much". If listened to in headphones, the vocals go from left to right if that makes sense. Gives it a kind of "bouncing" effect. I'll keep this in mind as I continue to make tweaks to the track. I could possibly use them a bit more in moderation, like only in the second verse or something like that. But thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. Just being able to share my stuff with people and have them listen to it is a reward in itself to me!

And Super Sonic, thank you also!

 

I think its fantastic but the L/R editing got on my nerves. Especially around 1 minute into it, it got kinda annoying. I realize what you're trying to do with it but I think you overdid the L/R. It's just my opinion though, wait for someone else to comment on it before you go around changing it. Maybe its overdone for my taste.

And, Mr. Derek, I'm almost done with mine but its not exactly any of the genres mentioned. I'm sure it could fit into that but its more pop or pop/rock. Could I enter it anyway? I bet you could argue it into Electro-pop but its not as genre specific as the other entries. I'm pretty new to remixing so I have no idea how they make those awesome entries. Enter it anyway or leave it out? Not sure how Dance Poppy/Dance-Hoppy/Electro-Poppy it is.......


EDIT: I just realized others have said the same thing I did for Jason's entry.......stupid of me for not reading the entire page first lol

 

No sweat, the more opinions I have the better! Like I said above, I have gotten a variety of reactions on the L/R verse stuff. I'm thinking I'm going to decrease how frequently it is used. When I first decided to use it last night, I absolutely fell in love with it and thought it was the coolest thing, but I can certainly understand how it could get annoying. However, I am definitely going to leave it in the ending where the chorus and verse are playing simultaneously...

 

Jason, hope you don't mind answering this but how many vocal tracks/layers do you have in that song?

Also.....nice bowling fail.....

 

That's a difficult question to answer...
The amount of vocal layers varies in different parts of the song.

In all, I have 17 samples that I cut from the acapella version.

Throughout the song, there are two samples of Mike and one layer of Chester that I have reversed for texture. These can be heard at ~1:00 in the bridge [chester in reverse] and~ 2:18-2:25 [mike in reverse], leading into the verses.
Currently, the verses have two layers of vocals, one routed to the left speaker and one to the right; with an occasional third layer of reversed texture vocal.

The ending of the song has 4 layers [chorus, left verse, right verse, and texture]

There are multiple instrument layers as well... However, this is going to change somewhat because I am starting to tweak the song already. I am working on making the chorus not sound off-beat, and finding a remedy to the echoing-verse problem.

I hope this answers your question somewhat, and yes, that was an extremely embarrassing bowling incident. I did manage to get a strike, if you didn't happen to notice

 

Do you have any tips for a complete newb at remixing (look at my entry last month and you'll know). Especially syncing a drum loop to the vocals, I can never get it to sound right... is it just trial and error? Can you give me some tips please?

 

download Sony Acid Xpress, find the BPM to the songs or play with the tempo to find the bpm yourself. Find some acidized loops (they are everywhere) and start experimenting! Just know that basic drum beats have snare that hit the 2s and 4s, but experimenting is valuable. You can also use a fruity loops demo to play whatever kind of melody you want. record your melody, export it as a wav or mp3 and integrate it in Acid.... That's what I do except I have a full version of Acid.

 

This is my first real attempt at getting vocals to match a beat, so if I was to tell you it would be like the blind leading the blind. I've already apparently made an error on getting my chorus to sync up right, and I'm still having trouble. It's just trial and error for me...

 

Ok, I decided to just finish it quickly. It is kinda out of sync (especially in the synth solo and crowd vocals) but I can't change tempo mid-song in garageband so...here it is:

http://soundcloud.com/jkhc/new-divide-lpa-cover-remix

I really hope it fits one of the genres, not too sure though. It was pretty bland so I added a lil' something at the end, Mike Shinizzle

 

Jason, consider having the vocals center and do the echoing thing lower in the mix with some reverb on it to make it seem distant. I guess I'd have to actually be working on the track to convey my idea but I hope you understand what I'm getting at.

 

That is a great idea! I know exactly what you mean by that, I'll try it out

 

Happy to provide my production services, get at me if you need more

 

I received plenty of constructive criticism on the early draft of my remix, so I'm gonna dish some out here

I'll lead this comment off by saying that the extent of my formal musical knowledge is limited to what I was taught in an elective Fundamental Music Theory class, so I am by no means an expert haha. But, in my humble opinion, it takes way too long for your drums to come in. The kick and snare are largely absent for the majority of the song. At one point, there was a tamborine/hat or something that seemed to suggest a buildup to where the beat would drop... but the beat never dropped. With a basic kick and snare pattern driving behind your vocal tracks, this remix could be improved greatly.

Alright, I'm taking off my criticism hat now. You were helpful with your comments about my remix, so I thought I would return the favor

 

hey guys, i've been offline for a while because I was busy with school. =p
fuck school.

anyways, this is my entry! http://snd.sc/sGzXZh I've edited and added some little things. I hope you guys like it!

 

I like this. I actually don't mind the L/R. The bass is a little bland though. The echo isnt very suitable on some parts but mostly it waas awesome

Instrumental needs to be louder. Nice job though. I like the synths.

hey guys, i've been offline for a while because I was busy with school. =p
fuck school.

I loved the drop. It's really uplifting and I love what you did with the vocals? What DAW do you use?? It's great It has a really different mood than the original.

I'm a really picky guy lol.