RexRed

Thanks Martsave, I appreciate the compliment on my style. I have once again just uploaded a new version of this song and replaced the one that was there. My reverb was too muddy so I went from reverb to a slapback parallel delay with only a tiny bit of reverb. This removed a lot of mud and allowed me to fine tune the mix more precisely. I am not sure if it is done yet but it is getting there. I think I know how to use something like, reverb, and then I get a mix where nothing works and suddenly I am back to YouTube looking at tutorial videos on reverb as if I am a beginner again. Each song can come with unique needs that keep us on our toes.

Was up 'til 6am revamping this song. Organ got turned up and drums got changed and turned up . I made the guitar solo trippy Still some more work needed.

It's POLKA TIME Cakewalk peeps!!!!

Thank Max and Kloon for the the compliments! Nice tips Kloon, I will work on getting the drums and organ louder. I will post a note here when the song has been replaced with a better version. Best Regards RexRed

Here is my new song awesome Cakewalk peeps! Comments and critiques are welcome. Right now it is a muddy mess (hehe). I just finished getting most of the elements in the song. Now I have to figure out what needs to be turned up, down or traded for better elements. I will work on it and replace this version with a more well thought out version as I refine the song. Please feel free to give as much commentary as you wish. Enjoy! RexRed

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiGFGjATwo6uoMZrgQKA-1r8Gl4fMw?e=9h68Ey Here is a link to a Cakewalk Bundle file for This Love I think you can send the finished file (.wav 24 bit 48 khz preferable) to this folder also. Put your name in the file name. Message me if you have any problems. Thanks! Anyone welcome to give it a remix! (I have removed all effects.) RR

[I just uploaded/replaced a new version of the song.] 12/19/2019 Changes in this version I used more convolution waves for the drums (which I am still not happy with but they are "improved") Also new convolution waves on the vocals and a few other instruments. I think the vocal have somehow become more present and fit into the song better. Many of the tracks had phase problems so I fixed them so they do not dip below the correlation trace line much. This incorrect imaging was giving the song an overall unfocused texture. I lowered the guitar substantially in several places, having it blast throughout the whole song got very irritating. I fixed the vocals in a ton of places where they were having timing issues and volume issues. I noticed I sound a little like the lead singer in the band The Kinks... haha (a little) I may revisit this song again and work some more on the drums, not sure I fixed them enough yet.. Thanks for the listens Cakewalk peeps!!! Oh, and I loaded all of the convolution impulse waves from "Perfect Space" into REmatrix, they work really nice! Gave me a ton of other great spaces to experiment with.

I am starting to figure out maybe what is going on here. It seems that many engineers put drum tracks through convolution reverbs to create impulse spaces for them to live in. These spaces give the drums a certain character, transparency and depth so they fit into the mix better. This is probably what is setting off alarms wit your ears. Sometimes less is not better. Words like "flat" seem to describe the drums well and even my vocal seems to be missing something of a space. I am going to work on this. A week ago I bought REematrix the full version and I am still trying to learn how to use it. I am going to try some of these spaces and see if i can contour the elements in this song a bit better so to stop setting off alarms. The elements of this song need more processing and maybe the overall song will finally come into focus. Thanks for the help I will let you know when a new version has replaced this version.

If I provide the stems for this song with no effects would some of you be interested in making a mix? You can also add more to the song, whatever suits your fancy. If even one of you would like to try, I cannot guarantee you I will use it, but it could potentially be used for my upcoming release of a new album that is pretty much done. My songs do not sell that well at all so I cannot promise any revenue and I may still want to remaster your version if that is possible. I can put the stems in a one drive folder if you would like to give them a whirl. Thanks for the suggestions, they are all good!!! I could actually put this in a .bun but I am sure most of you will not have the exact array of VSTs I have used in this song.

Okay, I changed the beat, I went disco with it. I also lowered the percussive guitar rhythm as suggested. I keep it loud at the beginning but lower it once it is done the effect aspect of it. I keep it lowered at different heights in various sections after the beginning. The new version has replaced the old one, the same link above at the top of the page is the new version. You guys were 100% correct, the other drum beat was feeble. I hope this one is better and meets your standard. (I also turned down the dubbing vocals a bit on the chorus so the main vocals showed more)

I am really divided on the drums here in this song. I agree they are flat... I like the patterns but I do not really care for the drum sounds themselves in this particular instance. I am thinking more like really compressed snares and toms like Phil Collins but I need to find those sounds or create them with effects and I am not sure how to begin doing that. There are some YouTube Videos on that very subject. It might take me longer to figure out how to apply highly compressed drums to this song but it will be a lesson worth pursuing. I have the complete Native Instruments Collectors Edition package.. Maybe someone could suggest a drum kit from there that I might try instead of what I have here. I will work on the drums. They need more presence and to be melded into the mix better. Perhaps some well places cymbal crashes and a ride cymbal here and there too. That would not be that hard to do also. I need specifics here. Highly parallel compress the drums? Edit the patterns here and there. Turn up the drums here and there. Change the drum kit to such and such (suggestions)... etc Thanks, you guys are awesome! This is exactly what I need, people willing to give me critical feedback. Any more suggestions would be great! In headphones I like how the drums mingle in with the guitar rhythm, but I suppose they would mingle in equally with other sounds but have more distinction. I now have the Cakewalk project saved with a new number attached on the file name and I am open to work on the drums with a few detailed suggestions. I am totally open to any and all input. Best! RexRed

I will work on the the drums more, thanks Gary. Their tone is perhaps not deep enough. I will look into some other kits I have, experiment. The rolls sound nice but the tone of the beat seems a bit weak. I used the Black Velvet kit from Addictive Drums.

New song Cakewalk peeps! Best regards! RexRed

Here is a new song Cakewalk peeps! Comments and critiques are welcome Best regards RexRed

I use multiple 4k monitors on my Windows machine and run Cakewalk on a 4k monitor also. I have to display capture rather than window capture in 4k to capture Cakewalk in OBS studio. Please fix this. Or could someone please explain how "window capture" is done in OBS Studio. I have tried fidgeting with Windows 10 program compatibility settings and nothing seems to work. I have to resort to display capture. Unlike game capture type where it captures a window or app and only that. There are resizing issues with Cakewalk. Perhaps I just do not understand it but it should just capture the window when I select the Cakewalk program in the drop down list of active running apps. Cakewalk seems to oddly automatically resize itself when used in 4k so it is readable. This is a good thing. Though, Cakewalk does not seem to pass its actual window size info to OBS Studio. 4k tutorials on YouTube are really the best way to teach Cakewalk. Display capture is a workaround but not a good one.

Turning things on and off would only add another layer of complexity. Like how Cakewalk's default state has track inputs and outputs hidden. Many people have quit trying to use Cakewalk because they cannot figure out how to link their mic or midi controller to a track because it is "hidden". Face it, making music is not easy, Cakewalk makes a very difficult thing easier. Back when I had to use reel to reels, FSK and SMPTE time code, giant mixers and racks and racks of effects with a mass of cords and connectors... now, that was not a cakewalk. Labeling mixer tracks with masking tape... Grandmothers learn to use Adobe Premiere to make slideshows of their grandchildren. Cakewalk is the easiest DAW to use as it is, I suggest not making it any harder by hiding vital functionality. It just looks daunting. Try studying a schematic for a mixer and see if Cakewalk is not easier, no cords or midi/audio cables. VSTs are all built in, all the effects you could ever need on each track. People today have it so easy, and if that is still too hard, well, maybe they need to simply try harder to learn it. Midi synths versus having to actually learn to play many instruments? Again, people have it easy today. YouTube is full of tutorials... Cakewalk needs more function, not less. Many different ways to do the same thing; staff view, piano roll or simply recording on the fly, etc... I personally never use console view.

Thank you Chuck

Thanks Jim for the suggestion about the feedback loop. I posted this in a hurry and forgot about that. Mettelus, It would be nice if mp4 was the karaoke standard but most karaoke DJs are still using .cdg because old karaoke monitors are still often in the loop. Either way Cakewalk should go karaoke. Cakewalk has all of the groundwork laid out to do so. I just bought Karaoke Builder Studio tonight. It is actually quite a sophisticated program and has improved a lot. I am fascinated by it now. It would be a gargantuan task for Cakewalk to add that kind of functionality. Even the old karaoke standard is quite rich but going MP4 would certainly make things easier in certain ways and maybe harder in others. The karaoke programs have a lot of stuff built into them to aid that very process where a program like Premiere and also After Effects you need to use a slew of effects to accomplish the same thing but the possibilities are limitless in the Adobe apps. I am having fun with the Karaoke Builder I just wish Cakewalk could do this... And export in .cdg

It would be really REALLY nice if Cakewalk would not only load karaoke .cdg files but also save and edit in that format. How many of us have songs we have made in Cakewalk that we would love to take a thumb drive to our local karaoke bar with .cdg files and sing our own songs there? Cakewalk could easily be the defacto standard for Karaoke. Some may think it might cheapen the Cakewalk experience but on the other hand it would draw a hoard of users in who would not only create their music in Cakewalk but also export their music from Cakewalk. The current Karaoke builders are so crappy (in my opinion) and a really good one might actually create a "music revolution". What would it take? Overhaul lyric view and create a new karaoke view allow for a few bitmaps to be loaded in with a timeline and video pane and export capabilities? Lyric view sorely needs updating anyway (it is so buggy). Please consider this. Thanks.

Hey David, it sounds like maybe your speakers are not in phase or set in mono. A mono switch could possibly make the music disappear or sound distant. I am playing/mixing this on a set of "Kustom" cabinets, 16" speakers with radial horns close range and it was mixed with Reference 4 turned on. It could be a problem on my end, it will not the first time I have blundered mixes. When I play it the music seems fairly well mixed with the vocals but I did not really test this mix for mono compatibility, like I usually do. I am sure some of the presets I used are out of correlation phase. I may revisit this mix again in the future just to check how my ears hear it after a break from it. Please let me know if anyone else is having a serious separation effect of the music track from the vocal in this song. Thanks for the heads up on the mix David. Best regards Cakewalk peeps! RexRed

Hey Tom, I have uploaded what I consider the finished version of this song. I took your advice and changed the bass. First I changed it to a fretless so it would poke through the music a bit more and the embellishments would be more fluid. I could have even gone further with more new embellishments but I settled for a middle path. Then I also added an electric piano to soften the acoustic piano. I panned the acoustic a bit to the right and the EP a bit to the left. I also played/added an electric guitar solo. I have placed it into a music video for YouTube so the mix now is pretty much set in stone. I debated adding drums and decided against it. I am not sure why because drums might had sounded good in spots but maybe it might have detracted a bit from the intimacy. As for the photo that accompanies my song releases, ReverbNation only allows for a finite number of photo storage and I have reached that quota. I have over 200 songs there so I have given up on the idea of having song art associated with each song release and I have settled for this static photo of me. I may write them an email asking them to increase the photo quota someday when I get around to it. AMiller, thanks for the nice compliment on my song here, always good to have your okay. And whoever bought my song on ReverbNation, thanks for that too. My songs are DRM free on ReverbNation. Best regards! RexRed

I am now sure it is not Cakewalk because it does it in other DAWs and standalones. The mid point on the PB wheel reads wrong 75 instead of 64 while the top and bottom read 0 and 127. Mechanically it is solid I took it apart and looked so I am thinking it is a recent firmware update. I guess a good rule is never update something's firmware if it is working fine. M-Audio says I need to send it to them to get the old firmware back. Really? They couldn't just post how to flash it? Well I have bought another company's product to replace it. Other than this the controller is working fine but the pitch wheel is something I use a lot. 250 bucks down the drain, out the window, arriba derchi, too bad I would buy a PB wheel to replace this one but I think it is a firmware issue. M-audio was no help at all, they were nice on the phone but all solutions led to either a huge expense or a dead end. Instructions on a flash or a download link to older flash would have been the way for them to go. Instead it remains for the most part, unsupported. Brother did this to me once where they flashed my printer so it could not use third party ink. My new controller will show up Friday and this, otherwise perfectly good keyboard, will go on the junk pile.

Is anyone having a problem with Cakewalk pitch wheel controllers? My M-Audio oxygen 49 pitch wheel won't zero properly and I have to manually put a zeroed envelope there just to stabilize the pitch. I am wondering if it is a firmware update I applied to my keyboard controller or if it is a problem with a new Cakewalk update.

Still a work in progress. Tips and suggestions welcome Cakewalk peeps. This was made totally from scratch me playing Freddy Mercury's sampled Grand Rhapsody piano! It still needs more love but I thought i would share what I have so far. Best regards! RexRed

Hey GaryBrun, thank you for the awesome compliment on my voice, it means a lot to me, and a BIG thank you for the tip on the clicks, your ears are extremely perceptive and you were exactly right. The click was because of an overlap of my loops that were not crossing properly. Some fades took them out completely, there were about 5 in the song but the others were masked in louder sections. There are still a few different clicks in the song but that is some weird snare type of instrument used in the loop itself, it is not that bad though. Your tip saved me from uploading this in a YouTube video and having it forever in the song there. I was able to edit the clicks out and slip this into the video's audio track before I published it. You are amazing and I am surely thankful your help! The file link in the header of this thread has been replaced with the new edited version. Best regards Gary! RexRed