"The Island" - From Crysis: Lost World Returns

Hi everyone!

I know I have a separate thread for this project, but this is a longer piece than most of the fragments that go in there so I decided that it deserves its own thread.

Essentially, the project has nothing to do with the plot of Crysis or Jurassic Park, and is all about an island that gets discovered with some very interesting characteristics, not the least of which is the presence of living dinosaurs. There's a whole lot to the story and the island, but it's not worth getting into for the purposes of introducing this piece.

What I've written here is a piece that's meant to go with the opening cinematic for the game, or a similar sequence where the island itself is discovered and explored by the team. The beginning is dark and foreboding; it foreshadows later conflicts and terrors that remain un-encountered at the point in the game where this piece would show up. There's also a bold statement of the main theme partway through it, and a number of hints at other major thematic material from the soundtrack.

There's a lot of weird but deliberate percussion in here, as well as some murky harmonies in the brass to help create the mood I was looking for. Hopefully my sonic imagery is effective. Take a listen and let me know:

The Island

Thanks, and I look forward to your thoughts!

Incredible, buddy! You're always so thorough with your work.

Great percussion, as always. I enjoyed the rhythm at 1:59, very catchy.

Im not too sure about the solo clarinet beginning at 3:32. This part is kind of flat, in my opinion. Maybe if you were to play around with the dynamics it might help. In fact, I felt the entire piece itself was lacking in dynamic changes in the non-percussive instruments. For example I felt at 1:59 the whole orchestra should have swelled and not just the percussion section. Bring those horns to the front man! Again at 2:26, perhaps the strings, I feel, should be more noticable than they currently are.

I was really hoping that the little part at the end (starting at 4:14) had developed more. Haha. Maybe in another piece...

Heya Tol!

Thanks again for your comprehensive comments. I'll see what I can do to address them.

I'm glad you enjoyed the percussion, since I put a lot of work into it, it's very deliberately sequenced. As for that clarinet part at 3:32, it's funny you should say it lacks dynamic change since the entire solo oscillates from one extreme to the other of the mod wheel's range, with it set to control volume and expression. On the other hand, I do agree that it's a bit hollow there all on its own, especially after the rest of the piece's fairly thick-textured sound.

As for that section at 1:59, you're right. I actually have the horns doing a very dramatic swell to flutter-tongue playing even, but I made a mistake with my mixing so they're not really apparent, I'll have to go back and fix that - thanks for pointing it out!

I can also boost those strings while I'm at it, though I deliberately had them fairly quiet so they wouldn't clash with the trumpet part soaring around over them...I'll try it again and see what I can do to balance them.

Again, I'm not sure I agree too much with you in terms of the dynamic range of the piece, considering the horns, the strings (especially the sul ponticello tremolo violin parts) and the bass clarinet, as I mentioned, all explore their full dynamic range throughout the piece. I think the problem is that you can't really tell because the percussion is dominant in the mix. I could turn it down, but it's basically the key to the feel I was going for, so I'm not sure what I can do to make the dynamic variety more evident.

Any thoughts on where you would have liked to see that little ending phrase go? I can definitely do things with it in other pieces, but I hadn't really considered it until you mentioned it just now, so let me know if you had specific ideas or if it was just a general "Hey, you should develop that more" kind of thing.

Anyhow, I hope that covers your comments, I'll go back and put in those edits I mentioned as per your suggestions.

Thanks very much for listening!

Marius,

Great work, as usual. I enjoyed the main theme, but moreso the surrounding, uneasy music, which was more distinctive.
I think maybe the percussion was a little too heavy in the middle -- it in itself is great, but there's too much or it's too loud in the mix. In your case you don't need lots of loud percussion to cover up a lack of musicality, as in the case of someone we know. Your music is solid; let it be heard!
Very professional job on the sequencing.
The last chord / bar I think could be extended to maybe twice its length, and maybe have a timpani roll with a swell, and then have everything die off. I think it just ends slightly too soon.

Great job!

Hahaha, oh Daniel. I specifically mixed down the percussion a bit to avoid getting that comment from you! Alas, not enough. I think I just like my whack-y instruments too much...must re-mix and shut them up a bit.

I'm very happy that you noticed the precise sequencing and that you liked the murkier parts of the track, they actually took longer to produce. I think I agree with you about the ending, although I might not literally double its length...I'll go back and check it out, see how it sounds a bit longer and with a roll, and I'll post the re-done version including the edits suggested by you and Tol.

Thanks for the response, as always!

Okay folks, how's this for quick response time?

I've worked in the edits suggested by Tol and by Daniel, and I've done some more minor edits that you may or may not notice. See what you think of it now!

The Island - Take Two

H Marius...

I don't post much in listening forums anymore. I simply don't have the time. But with your piece I had to make an exception!

I like what you've done here, but I'm here to be picky and not "I like it WOW". good thing that some people have already commented on the track already!

So here are my thoughts...

The percussion in the beginning are from a different library than Gold? Cause they sound to me to be a little out of place (reverb wise).

Percussion loudness at this point is fine by me and my ears...

On the contrary the strings in the very beginning, simply start off too loud I think. I do understand you want a crescendo, but not sure, since they start rather loud. Maybe try a little audio fade in at start? Or crossfading 2 different velocity layers (audio again)?

Clarinet at 3:32 seems a little out of place, since it falls completely empty! There's nothing and I would suggest orchestrating it a little. Maybe doubling a few notes here and there, maybe creating some other tricks on the back. Do something, because right now it seems a little out of place, rather empty and the midi is not really interesting (too square).

Mixing after 0:50 falls very well into place imho.

1:25 the melody is great, but it is missing some development in orchestration. You use the brass only, what about adding the strings (you do add them later on but with 'stabs' and so on), the trumpet seems a little poor choice on 2:05, and I would really hope to hear some woods in there. It would really make the piece shine in that place and give that more "Williams" vibe maybe. Create the various variations needed to make it look a shine great!

Production is great, mixing is great as well i find (except the tremolo strings in the beginning).

Percussion are great and fit very well (if it is a different library, watch for the reverb).

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Orchestration it seems a little lacking I'm afraid, and this IS an orchestral piece after all.

I know you can read score. Have Sonar (you're a Sonar user, right?) create a small score and see for yourself, that your orchestration is based on doubling mostly, lots of empty spaces, etc, which seems a pity for such a musical talent of yours, a musical piece of music that's worth a lot, and the time you've put into it.

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Not to sound too harsh, but I've been listening to this for 15 minutes now (which should be 4 1/2 times I think). It's very nice and very very full to what it is and you've used the samples very expressively most of the time!

Well done and thanks for being around and showing us your great music! Sharing with us what you do!

Awesome, Nik! Thanks so much for the in-depth look!

I'm curious to know which version you listened to, as I actually turned down the tremolos at the beginning for the second version because I thought they were a bit too loud coming in as well. Maybe they still are, I'll go over it again.

The percussion is indeed different - it's mostly StormDrum and I didn't add any extra verb to those instruments, so maybe I should although most of EW's samples play very nicely with each other in mixes without too much work.

For the second version of the track, I've popped the tremolo violins back up top over the bass clarinet solo and tossed in some subtle cymbal effects just to give the clarinet some company, but if it's still too thin I'll think about bringing in the rest of the string section too, with some subtle background textures.

In terms of the orchestration, I recognize that it's not very thickly orchestrated, but some of that is because I have to try and emulate the sound of the original Crysis soundtrack and other stylistically similar ones like Lost and so on. Those ones are inherently thin, so as much as I might like to go a bit more John Williams-y on the stuff for this project, I technically shouldn't.

I actually recently switched over to Logic with my new studio setup, having been a Sonar boy for a while, and I'm still getting used to all the neat features and tools, but I know what you mean about the scoring being too thin - like I said though, it's at least partially the result of production demands for this project.

In any event, I've always got lots to learn from your comments, so I really appreciate you taking the time to provide a comprehensive critique - even if I don't end up making more edits to this piece (already submitted to project director, who loved it), I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind for future tracks!

Thanks a bunch for listening, Nikolas, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!

By all means Marius.

No need for further edits, didn't expect so. I mean, not everything I post here or elsewhere gets edited, on the contrary!

I listened to the 2nd version (2-3 posts above this one). I honestly didn't hear anything with the Cl. solo, so not sure there bud. Will have a relisten after I come back from shopping (meat, milk, etc, don't expect new samples).

The perc indeed might need a tiny bit pushing towards the back, just a little bit. Especially the higher pitched stuff (the tenor drum, or snare drum with snares off, whatever this is).

I'm not aware of the Crysis tracks, so if there is an effort towards that end, I have to say I'm sorry that I didn't know, and that maybe you are right... I'm judging from a purely compositions/analytical point of view!

Logic huh? I should've known that you are in Mac now! Damn me and my short mind (and long arms actually, but this is another story! )

Keep us posted (as I know you will), about this project and best of luck!

No, I'm going to have to say the mixing (or in this case the lack of mixing) is really not having a good effect on your resulting sound.

Because you're using EW, and a lot of EW, you may think you can get away with just adjusting levels and adding some light verb to SD.

Not so.

Not everything is Clarinets and Trumpets.

At the bottom half of the second minute you slowly introduce some kind of brass choir with a solo trumpet amidst some chord-work. The problem here is you waste an opportunity to provide us with any substantial orchestrational ideas to emphasize the shape and strength of your main theme.

You write better than you orchestrate, and that's really problematic.

It's okay to start out with a lonely trumpet in the beginning, but at 2:00 you have some kind of shift that really demands an orchestrational shift as well. Again, at 2:25 as well, you have a major shift and an attempt to be bold but instead it's all limp and lame because there isn't any orchestrational power behind the statement. It keeps it far less than bold.

The incedental parts are tedious, mostly because there isn't any kind of orchestral diversity but also because the solo clarinet just... meanders.

Mixing-wise, man, there is a lot to do here. First of all, place your instruments, place them on the virtual stage. There is distance involved, that should be reflected in verb and low-pass filters.

I think you have your BOMBO player sitting on top of your second chair violin.

When you start treating this like an actual orchestra, you'll start hearing one.