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My finals ended on the 18th. Some people's ended on the 22nd because Rutgers is sadistic like that. But my main issue with that is that I have a grand total of one week to figure out what my folks want for Christmas, and then deliver. Now with my brother it's easy. Neither of us really know what the hell we want, so we just give each other a gift card to our favorite location and leave the deciding part for later.
Now my dad always wants something involving programming because he's one and I'm a CS major so it benefits both of us, right? I already got that one planned out from the get-go, I'd make him a basic workout app where he could put in workouts and remember how much weight he has to get through for the day. It would take me some time, but with Google open in one monitor and Android Studio open in the other, nothing backbreaking.
Now my mom wants an album. As in, make one.
And I had personal plans to upload an album as a general Christmas present to my friends and to pass the time while I find people to play in my rock opera. So time to get two birds stoned at once and put out something beautiful.
So from the time I got home I already had the whole concept in mind. I'd make an album focusing on dreams and imagination and fear and all the other fun stuff associated with them, and to "enhance the dreamy image" and pretend to be a badass, I'd record the whole thing start-to-finish in a single 65-minute-long take. Or multiple, in the case of fucking up. Then later I could split it into 17 songs that all interlock with each other. My final count was 9 takes and a tenth to clean up some of the improvised bits.
Got a workout from it too. I haven't done arm day at the gym in a while because three or four takes would completely burn out my biceps, triceps, shoulders and upper back and constitute a good workout for me. Once that heals, I'll put arms back in there of course, but for the last week and change, the feeling of dragging around two stone clubs has been a mainstay.
So by the 23rd I finally got my ten takes done. I had all the MIDI files, now just to clean them through Sibelius and then send them to Audacity for refinements. "Just".
The whole process was about a third of the way done when I realized "holy fuck it's Christmas Eve and I still haven't started on the fucking app yet." So the logical part of my brain which is usually silenced whenever I'm in proximity of an unoccupied keyboard comes on and has me put the album on the backburner while I figure out how Android Studio works and realize everything is out of date because the last time I used this stuff was in March for my dad's birthday.
All-nighter time. I'm counting down the hours to when everyone else in the house is going to wake up, and I'm not even a bit tired as 10 PM turns into 5 AM in the blink of an eye. Finally at 7 AM I get finished with something with my two basic requirements (1. Be at least marginally useful, 2. Actually run on a phone).
I was gonna have an app where you could build workouts consisting of whatever exercises you want, and how many reps/sets/weight you plan to do them with. It was supposed to be so you go through a workout, realize you improved on a given exercise, quickly increment the reps or add 5/10 to the weight, and carry on. I got almost none of that done. Just a form where you write in an exercise and the numbers for it, a list showing all the stuff you already put into the app, and the option to delete existing exercises. There was also an edit button but it was just there for aesthetics.
But it was SOMETHING. And it actually worked, which took me like 3 hours to find LG's stupid ass drivers and figure out why they weren't installing, and also to update half of the Android SDK to get rid of all the errors because I had no idea what specifically it didn't like. It was an hour of work followed by 20 minute break of South Park, for 9 hours in a row. And then at the end I finished all of Season 18 going into 8 AM before I realized "oh fuck still haven't finished the album" and got back into Audacity.
So I decided to package the first eight songs (which I already processed) to two of the unprocessed songs, and a bit of material from my first two albums. She's happy, and I give myself a short time extension to finish the album, we all have fun on Christmas, and on the morning of the 26th I get back to work. I polish up the remaining nine songs, and then rework the final track completely. I didn't like my original plan - it was a barely adequate closer which I just shoved in so I could play a nice conclusion with my tired hands, but with a two-day break and fresh hands, I re-recorded the last two songs to a much better result.
The new recording actually exceeded all my expectations. In the climax, all the sound interacts with itself in such a way that it almost sounds like someone's playing a cello in the background.
And despite the eight days of hell I went through for Christmas and the album, I really enjoyed the process. I might even put out a fourth album for Valentine's Day or sometime in the spring between opera recordings. Got nothing to lose other than my GPA.
So here's the final product of all of it: https://soundcloud.com/mikhail-garrievitch-soumar/sets/somnia
I'd love for you all to listen to the whole thing, but if you're running on a tight schedule or just want to see the best bits, I'd recommend tracks 11, 15, and my beautifully rerecorded 17.
The final image of the drafting board in my dorm before I threw it away (couldn't show it at home, had to keep it a suprise ofc)
+ Show Spoiler +
Merry Christmas, Team Liquid!
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I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something?
Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it 
An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course.
I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly.
After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music 
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On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music
I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there.
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On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:Show nested quote +On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there.
:O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted.
Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST.
If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something
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On December 28 2014 16:00 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there. :O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted. Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST. If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something
Not using it, but I did find the offending notes. But I'll leave this one as is. It's much less of a hassle for me to just write a new album with different audio settings.
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Holy shit you're fucking amazing
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On December 28 2014 17:23 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:Show nested quote +On December 28 2014 16:00 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there. :O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted. Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST. If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something Not using it, but I did find the offending notes. But I'll leave this one as is. It's much less of a hassle for me to just write a new album with different audio settings.
Ok, fixing the distortion is actually really simple. Basically just look for parts in your workflow (from the instruments to the effects) for parts where it's peaking in the red, and turn it down. I remember that the last time you posted an epic long song it had the same thing ...
Good luck
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On December 29 2014 02:26 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On December 28 2014 17:23 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 16:00 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there. :O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted. Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST. If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something Not using it, but I did find the offending notes. But I'll leave this one as is. It's much less of a hassle for me to just write a new album with different audio settings. Ok, fixing the distortion is actually really simple. Basically just look for parts in your workflow (from the instruments to the effects) for parts where it's peaking in the red, and turn it down. I remember that the last time you posted an epic long song it had the same thing ... Good luck
With that one it was worse because I turned everything all the way up to 11 and half the song ended up being static. I still keep a few things above 0 dB because otherwise they're completely inaudible, but I have to mess around to see what I can get away with without it hitting the red.
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On December 29 2014 03:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:Show nested quote +On December 29 2014 02:26 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 17:23 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 16:00 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there. :O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted. Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST. If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something Not using it, but I did find the offending notes. But I'll leave this one as is. It's much less of a hassle for me to just write a new album with different audio settings. Ok, fixing the distortion is actually really simple. Basically just look for parts in your workflow (from the instruments to the effects) for parts where it's peaking in the red, and turn it down. I remember that the last time you posted an epic long song it had the same thing ... Good luck With that one it was worse because I turned everything all the way up to 11 and half the song ended up being static. I still keep a few things above 0 dB because otherwise they're completely inaudible, but I have to mess around to see what I can get away with without it hitting the red.
What program are you using? You should watch Youtube videos for that DAW about mixing and mastering and I'm sure you won't regret sitting through it. There's so much lost potential here!
The problem you mentioned is so simple that I should fix it within 5 minutes for Ableton, since it probably has less than 5 tracks. However, although I have no experience with other DAWs, feel free to PM me if you're still having problems for your next album and I'll be happy to try to help
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On December 29 2014 04:51 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On December 29 2014 03:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 29 2014 02:26 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 17:23 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 16:00 JieXian wrote:On December 28 2014 15:35 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:On December 28 2014 14:42 JieXian wrote:I'm listening to the first track, it's nice so far but the distortion is disturbing me.... Sorry but are you recording with your phone or something? Maybe if you're on a tight budget you could play softer? Your piano skills are definitely amazing and you should be able to do it An alternative would be to play with a midi keyboard or good keyboard with a good soundbank connected to the computer.... but that has its obvious downsides of course. I enjoyed the second track much more. Without the distortions the sound of the piano -- the music -- comes out way more clearly. After listening to track 17 I'm positive that the recording process is inhibiting the full potential of your music I did do it with a midi keyboard, although I doubled some of the bass tracks the second time around because otherwise they're inaudible so it might be there. :O If you did it with a midi keyboard then you shouldn't have any distortion at all, not even if you doubled bass tracks, not even if you quadruple all the tracks. Hans Zimmer has so many tracks that it crashes his DAW and his music still isn't distorted. Somewhere in the process the volume is higher than 0 dB (going in the red), try checking for the levels, most probably at the first output of your VST. If you want I can help you with it (definitely can fix it if you're using Ableton), upload a private video to youtube of your song playing in your DAW or just PM me and we'll figure it out something Not using it, but I did find the offending notes. But I'll leave this one as is. It's much less of a hassle for me to just write a new album with different audio settings. Ok, fixing the distortion is actually really simple. Basically just look for parts in your workflow (from the instruments to the effects) for parts where it's peaking in the red, and turn it down. I remember that the last time you posted an epic long song it had the same thing ... Good luck With that one it was worse because I turned everything all the way up to 11 and half the song ended up being static. I still keep a few things above 0 dB because otherwise they're completely inaudible, but I have to mess around to see what I can get away with without it hitting the red. What program are you using? You should watch Youtube videos for that DAW about mixing and mastering and I'm sure you won't regret sitting through it. There's so much lost potential here! The problem you mentioned is so simple that I should fix it within 5 minutes for Ableton, since it probably has less than 5 tracks. However, although I have no experience with other DAWs, feel free to PM me if you're still having problems for your next album and I'll be happy to try to help
Audacity, although most of the stuff is done through Sibelius.
I understand what you're saying completely, I'm just telling you it would be way less effort for me to just write another album and get it right that time than to dig into this one and remaster it.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fljosr9.jpg)
