Ristar

I personally wouldn't add reverbs until you have a good mix balance. I also tend to dial back reverb about 2-3dB more than what I'd want, it helps everything sit better in the mix. I used a compressor send on the drums to get them pumping and then used very light compression on the master track to get some tightness. Then I exported the file and loaded it into a new project and used a VST called GClip. It's a really aggressive mastering plugin that really fattens and heats the mix up. Final tip: avoid soundfonts where possible try Kore or program some Synthesiser VSTs or get yourself a decent sample pack ----- edit: thought I'd go into a bit more (yeah, more) detail for those who are interested. First off, I work in REAPER, great, cheap program; demo available at http://www.reaper.fm Bassline and "Clavinet" sounds use the Oxe FM VST (http://www.oxesoft.com/). It's old and kind of weird to learn, but it's very similar to FL Studio's Sytrus. Remeber the megadrive's fm chip had 4 operators so you only want to be using operators A-D. I used a sampler called Poise (http://www.onesmallclue.com/poise.php) for the drumkit, you can use any other software sampler if you want (I think FL Studio has one called FPC) and I use various samples from http://samples.kb6.de/downloads.php For the square, "brass" and lead sounds I used Synth1 (http://www.kvraudio.com/get/214.html) which is an amazingly versatile synth vst. My reverb return channel uses SIR1 (http://www.kvraudio.com/get/736.html) which is a convolution reverb. You can download impulse responses from all over the web, use everyone's friend Google. I use ReaComp for compression (http://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/) it's nice and transparent. I added a wee bit of chorus to the bass (above 300kHz) using Classic Chorus http://www.kvraudio.com/get/648.html Finally I used GClip (http://www.gvst.co.uk/gclip.htm) for mastering. I'd just like to add that if you're using loads of EQ just to make a soundfont sound good... bin the soundfont

hahah thanks, the "GO!" sample is from this song. Couldn't think of any other samples of MJ shouting "GO!" or "YO!"; if anyone has any suggestions let me know because I'm not 100% happy with the sample. one of my fond redbook memories is Blue Mountains from Rayman I'm definitely going to do Hydrocity Act 2, I think it'd be great to get some nice hard hitting percussion and electric guitar on it. Another thing I was trying to recreate was the really nice, fat, compressed sound produced from the original megadrive hardware. A lot of "remastered" versions tend to add loads of reverb and delay effects which gives the mix a lot more spacial depth but also robs it of its fat sound.

they are all encoded as 44.1kHz stereo 16-bit PCM files. i could have referred to it as just "Bounced" or "CD quality" music or whatever, but because I was doing sonic 3 and just about every game released on CD circa '93 boasted "Redbook Audio!" on its cover I thought the title would be appropriate. same way people refer to anything with a square wave as "chiptunes", even though they're just using a square wave sample. I did touch on why it was a big deal back then when I mentioned that everything was swamped in reverb (thinking Ecco Sega CD soundtrack and the Earthworm Jim 2 soundtrack) just because they could do it. Must have felt good to break away from 9 channels.

yeah basically I'm using high quality samples, nice synths (I used oxe fm synth for the bass and clav sounds) and mixing everything nicely. I will have a go at marble garden zone! might get my friend to play some slap bass or I might just go and create some cheesy as hell FM slap bass sounds. thanks for the feedback though

have a look at this http://soundcloud.com/tunners/launch-base-zone-redbookd been working on recreating sonic 3 music. Imagine a "Sonic 3 CD" soundtrack yeah? Remember when cartridges were competing with CDs and the CD version of a game would have redbook audio (i.e. all the same instruments but fucking SWAMPED with reverb and shitty sounding electric guitars)? well I've fancied making a "CD" version of Sonic 3 without the early CD cheese if you get what I'm saying. let me know what you think of the mix and request other Sonic 3 tunes if you want that shit.

if you want. I'm not saying don't bother with it at all; just don't think that it's as easy as selecting an audio filter in audacity

or you could use Reaper (http://www.reaper.fm/) which is cheap (£35). I swear by it, I record, mix and master all my music with it. It's not as "easy" to use as FL Studio but it has a lot more versatility and customization options. But basically, in order to make those tracks sound anything near to "HD", you're going to have to recreate them by ear. In all fairness, you're best off letting someone else take on such a big project because if you try to do this as your first experiment with making music you are going to fail hard. Whether you use Reaper, Cubase, Ableton, FL Studio, Sonar, ProTools or Logic it's going to take you at least 3-4 months just getting used to the interface never mind how to use a piano roll, using midi bends, programming synths, learning how to use samplers, how to use a groove engine, optimising your individual tracks, reverb and delay settings, sends and returns, mixing, mastering and more. (P.S. this is just my own opinion here, but I do not recommend FL Studio. I used to use it, but thanks to it's "easy" interface I developed quite a few bad habits. The "pattern" idea is all fine for repetetive techno tunes but it really restricts you doing anything else with it without a fight. My personal recommendations are Ableton Live and Reaper as they allow more flexibility and more room for creativity. Just sayin'.)

DW do you wear glasses? I'm not trying to be insulting here or anything. When I first played the Generations demo I just couldn't focus on Sonic and he got lost in the imagery. Then I banged my glasses onto my face and realised "Oh shit I think I'm seeing everything in 1080p now" and didn't have a problem seeing sonic. Saying that, I've only played the demo thus far as I'm waiting for Santa Claus to bring me the game this holiday season. I could imagine Chemical Plant being slightly difficult what with the abundance of blues in the background.

is there no chance of some DLC levels for this game then? wouldn't mind playing mushroom hill zone in HD. still haven't bought the game yet.

I was baffled when I watched the interview with the character artist for ristar on the ultimate megadrive collection talk about his designs for a ristar sequel. would have been amazing. well probably not actually. also: I've got my bases covered, I have a Wii and 360 and my girlfriend bought a PS3 so I'm lucky in that I have access to pretty much everything.

@tailsena steam is a lovely little thing; I'm not really a PC gamer but I've bought a few games off it (bioshock, tf2, audiosurf, oddworld collection) and I think it's fine. Also, I have no idea why you don't go buy a second hand 360, they're cheap as chips these days and have an amazing library of games. the wii ship seems to be sinking at the moment. buying a 360 was the best thing I ever did as a total nerd.

Sonic Mega Collection does the cutscenes right too. No game though.

if you're wanting it to fade out you're going to (somehow, I'm not a programmer) work out the distance between sonic and the fan and have it reduce the volume until it reaches 0, at which point you have it stop playing the fan sound. you could also use the X coordinates to pan the fan sound effect left or right.

when I was playing Melee a few years back, I was selecting my character but I was holding L1 and Triangle on a controller plugged into controller port 5 and then I actually got sucked into the game. No shit.

holy moly. tbh it's not a cheat code per se, more like the mew glitch in pokemon red. love it regardless.

funny you should mention the music, I just downloaded the soundtrack yesterday for some reference music. I love the night time tracks so much more than the daytime ones. Apotos night has the sweetest bassline in VGM since Toejam and Earl. I found the werehog stages to be a bit clunky, but they were otherwise challenging in a good way. But the worst part of Sonic Unleashed (besides chip or whatever he's called) is the fact that Sonic is just TOO fast. They've got his speed at a good level in SG.

oh for fuck's sake now my pants are all gooey.

be prepared to pay more than you really want to. I used to own a cheap Nisis tablet about 7-8 years ago and it was absolute shite, the thing jerked all over the show and didn't offer much in terms of comfort. Don't skimp out and buy something cheaper just because you don't fancy forking out for a Wacom. Save up your dollas and buy a 2nd hand A5 intuos. HOWEVER. If you're not 100% committed to doing digital art then go for a Bamboo to test the waters. I own a Graphire3 and it's still useful to this day.

looks like an apple a day doesn't actually keep the doctor away. think about it though. he couldn't have died at a better time. the cancer was nasty obviously, but he was highly respected, his company was more successful than ever and he had more money than you could shake a stick at. quit while you're ahead.

yeah I loved the Thing, but I'm a sucker for Kurt Russell so I dunno if that's swayed my opinion somewhat. as for creepy: Session 9 - Gave me a fear of abandoned asylums and other such places Jacob's Ladder - just looking round the corner after watching the film is creepy enough.

honey i shrunk the hedgehog?

besides stevie wonder and jamiroquai, there's nothing there that really appeals to me. people ask me why I don't want to go to festivals, I tell them I'd rather have a bath and listen to my iPod. That way I'm clean and don't have to listen to bands I don't like.

you need to have permission from the original owners of the material (i.e. sega). you are committing a major faux pas here...

not to mention the fact that the special stages were as fluid as a baked turd.

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