All Activity

My dear friend, thank you so much for this information. I had no idea you could do this! I’ll look into it properly and will definitely keep it in mind for my future works. Thank you once again, and all the best to you!

Hello! This is my first post here and my first larger piece. Consisting of 18 quite short parts (everything is written in the score) cantata - "De profundis" (Ps130) is for SATB choir, SATB solo, 2 violins, 2 violas, cello, flute, oboe, bassoon, 2 trumpets, trombone and basso continuo. Unfortunately, this is the best I can do with the "recording" (there is no text and BC is just bass line on harpsichord) with musescore. I know my contrapunctal writing needs a lot of practice and study to improve, so please excuse any awkward moments in the music—to my ears, it sounds reasonably decent overall! Since it is my first "publicated" score, I would really appretiate any kinds of tips/feedback about music, score and sound :) Thanks in advance De Profundis.mp3 De Profundis.pdf

Thanks for clarifying, Vasilis — I misunderstood the obstacle as the audio recording rather than the video's room sound. Since you already record into GarageBand/Pianoteq, one option is to film the same performance and use its GarageBand export as the video's soundtrack. Align a clear first key strike in both recordings, check alignment again near the end, and mute the camera audio. That keeps the actual performance while leaving mechanical keyboard noise out of the finished soundtrack. If you use iMovie on Mac, Modify > Detach Audio separates the camera's audio so it can be removed after alignment: https://support.apple.com/en-mt/guide/imovie/mov267936bb2/mac A short test would tell you whether that is practical with your setup, without committing to filming a whole sonata.

My dear friend, first of all, thank you for taking the time to help me. However, regarding what you suggested, I’ve actually been doing that for quite some time already. I use my Clavinova together with GarageBand and Pianoteq 9 to record my performances, and that’s how I export my pieces. Lithl had actually suggested that I make live recording videos, which is something I can’t really do because the noise from my Clavinova would be audible. In any case, thank you so much for your time and for trying to help me. I really appreciate it!

No, this is not a live recording. The pedal sound you hear comes from sound libraries that imitate pedal noise. There are live performances of it too, but as the author I didn't like how this étude came across in them, so I chose to play it by hand on a virtual piano and record it for the vinyl. Due to health issues, I’m now finding it increasingly difficult to perform my compositions live. why I build all my music with MIDI files, even pieces that could be played. This étude is very easy to play, but unfortunately I can't play even that anymore, so I only write it in the software. This one, however, is a live performance, though the recording quality is very poor.

Is this a live recording? I ask so because I hear the pressing sound of pedal, and if it's so it's a really good playing. On the piece itself it has sentimentality and melodic fluency, and it reminds me of piano music from @UncleRed99 and @MK_Piano . Thx for sharing! P.S. Thank you! Henry

Hi Vasilis — on your point about recording your own playing: if the Clavinova's sound is the obstacle, the Pianoteq setup you already have could give you another route. You can use the Clavinova as a MIDI keyboard, record the live performance in Pianoteq's standalone MIDI recorder, and then export that performance as audio with your chosen piano. That keeps your actual timing, velocity and transmitted pedal movements, rather than relying on a notation playback. The connection depends on the Clavinova model (USB-MIDI or conventional MIDI), and a short test of the velocity response and pedal is worth doing before a full take. Save the MIDI performance as well as the audio so you can try another sound later without replaying it. If it is the action or pedal feel that is holding you back, that is a different limitation. Which Clavinova model do you have, and is it mainly the sound or the feel that you would like to improve?

"I listened to your sextet and also left a comment on YouTube, but in Georgian :) I liked it very much"

Dear Lithl, Thank you so much for your kind words and for listening to my sonata! I’m really happy that you recognized the main motif and enjoyed the contrasts and dynamics. And hahaha! 😂😂 I can’t believe I made such a terrible mistake with the spaces around “Binary”! I’ll have to be much more careful next time. Perhaps I should revise the whole sonata because of this serious problem! 😂😂😂😂😂 As for recording myself playing, I would really love to do that one day. Unfortunately, my Clavinova is not exactly the ideal instrument for presenting my music, but hopefully I’ll have a better piano in the future. Thank you again, my friend, for your kindness and support. It means a lot to me! 😊 Warmest wishes, Vasilis

Hi Vasilis, I'm glad to listen to your latest piece. This sonata has a particularly strong motif to me: I immediately recognized it and dived into the whole piece. The change of pace and dynamics is wonderful—there's great contrast that makes me excited for what comes next. But there is a big problem! That is, the topic title is "( Binary)" not "( Binary )"! No, it's not even a problem, haha. In any case, it's always so nice to listen to your piano pieces in this forum. If you have the opportunity, please record your own playing, like Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff. Thank you for sharing, I like your pieces 😊 Best, Lithl.

<font dir="auto" style="vertical-align: inherit;"><font dir="auto" style="vertical-align: inherit;">B2 (Op.25 Etude 4 hand).mp3</font></font>

Hello. First of all, thank you very much for liking my piece. For any composer, the most important thing is that the energy and the part of the soul that the author wove into the work reach the listener. I’ll try to answer your questions. I don’t work in Sibelius. I work in Studio One with MIDI files (whether I build the music artificially or play it by hand on the keyboard makes no difference here, since the MIDI files are recorded on the screen). So when I was asked for the score, I had the program print out part of it. It is only a copy of the notes and contains no other musical markings. I haven’t needed to prepare this piece for a live orchestra yet, as it is a brand-new work. Of course this is not the final score. It will need a great deal of work when (if) it is prepared for an orchestra rehearsal. That’s why I don’t have the strings split out by individual instrument, and so on. So please don’t be too hard on me about it. Think of it as a rough draft of the score, with only the notes marked. Sponsors help me with vinyl pressing. It isn’t very expensive, but it depends on how many copies you press and how you design them. Pressing 300 copies with good packaging costs us about €3,000-3,500 on average. Prices differ from company to company, and where you press matters too, as do shipping costs and taxes. You are absolutely right that my music stands closest to film music. Yes, that’s so, and it’s a sharp observation. Excessive grandiosity? I would rather call it heightened pathos. I love pathos-filled works (and romantic ones too. I’ll soon upload my Adagio, which has not a trace of pathos and is entirely romantic and melancholic :) ). In general, I have works in many different genres, from rock and jazz rock to classical. I love working in different genres. Now, the main point about this piece. Yes, when writing it I chose, for example, the structure of Tchaikovsky’s ballets. I still tried to carry one common motif (sometimes played by a flute, sometimes by another instrument) through the different parts, so as to keep a sense of unity. The outline of the piece is written above. It consists of 7 parts, and each part is meant to express the specific content of that outline. Take Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker or Swan Lake, where every part is an independent piece. I approached it on the same principle. Whether I missed something or it didn’t work out is another matter, and only the listener can decide that. For example, the fifth part is solely the attack of the sharks, and there I deliberately gave up the principle of a single, clearly pronounced leitmotif. So yes, that is a structural choice in my piece. Your view is close to mine. I also planned to make an animated film based on this piece, but so far no sponsor has appeared. As you know, film requires a huge amount of money. We’ll see. It’s a new piece, and someone may turn up. And finally, thank you once again for the kind words. All the best. The translation was done with Google, and I hope it says what I meant to say :)

Hi @Mamuka Chkheidze ! Do you have the full audio of the piece? I don't have a spotify account and in this preview of your piece it just allows me to listen to some seconds of it. Thx! Henry

When a singer wants to try a song a tone lower, an existing accompaniment recording can be useful for checking the new range before you revise the score or reopen the full project. Example: D minor to C minor D down to C is two semitones, so shift the recording by -2 semitones and leave tempo at 100%. The key changes but the rehearsal pace stays the same. Transposition keeps the intervals: D minor becomes C minor, not C major. Check the whole vocal range before choosing a key. Lowering the highest note also lowers the lowest one; a comfortable top note alone does not make the whole song comfortable. Agree on the target key with the singer, and label the rehearsal copy clearly so nobody rehearses against a different version. A simple file workflow I own Pitch Tempo, a free browser tool that can make this kind of rehearsal copy. Nothing needs installing; you upload an audio file and download the processed audio. 1. Use your own accompaniment recording, or one you have permission to upload and edit. Keep the original. 2. Set pitch to -2 semitones and tempo to 100% for the D-minor-to-C-minor example. If you already know the source key from your score, use that; automatic key detection is an estimate. 3. Listen to the preview. Check sustained chords, attacks and any guide vocal for unwanted changes in sound. 4. Export the full file, listen through it, and give the download a clear name such as C_minor_rehearsal. Keep the score and the rehearsal copy in the same key. This shifts the whole recording. It cannot move only the singer or one instrument inside a mixed file, rewrite a score, or correct individual notes. If you have separate parts or the original project, transposing and rendering those again gives you more control over the arrangement. The tool accepts files up to five minutes and 100 MB, with pitch from -12 to +12 semitones independently of tempo. Preview covers the first 20 seconds of the source. Full export finishes that editing session; a different version needs a new upload. Guests have three uploads per rolling 24 hours. Processing is on our server, and guest audio expires 24 hours after the original upload, so save the copy you need. You can try the workflow here: https://pitch-tempo.online/

The deadline is 10/30, so two weeks from now really. I am currently working the such optimizations you included above, as well as others (weird tempo/mood marks, slurs, consistent rhythms, etc.). I will post an updated PDF of such basic optimizations before the weekend. Your time and effort is greatly appreciated.

Hi, I am interested in looking over this work in depth to give annotated feedback. On my first analysis of the score, there are numerous engraving errors like dynamic info on rests, crashing slurs over note runs, and the overall Harp playability. This said, I cannot get to a good review until Sunday. When is the deadline for this competition? I hope to give some before the deadline.

Thanks! I'll check it out!

I think I have the score somewhere. I'll look for it. Until then, enjoy my A.i. opera I just posted while I look for that for you: Lucent - An A.i. Opera - AI Music - Young Composers Music Forum

I see! That is interesting. Alas, I cannot comment on the score. I can say it was enjoyable to listen and watch. Next time, please post the score.

The setup is very unstable. The software updates constantly, so it's hard to find a consistent method. For this, I used Flow by Google, Suno, Finale for music writing, and ClipChamp for editing. I also use Audacity for music editing, then Claude in the terminal for music mastering. The natural reverb is acoustics from Notre Dame, all A.i. assisted.

Very convincing works! I think the biggest challenge with A.i. music is how tropic or cliche it can be. However, I'd rather have a robot write cliche's and stuff, do you know what I mean? Great work, and am glad you compose the original source for the A.i. The good melodies translate well to interpretation! Do you ever reverse the process to humanize the production?

Hi Mr. Chkheidze, welcome to our forums. The overture sounds wonderful, as well as the second movement, but I was revising the score of the first movement you submitted and I see that it gets cut off. In the last page (78) you can see it clearly. I suppose that it goes attacca but if it does, I have no way to know just from the score alone. It seems like the movement does not finish there. My suggestion —in case it was cut off— would be trying to export it as A3 or even bigger paper so there's enough space. It's true that even in that case, it's not easy to follow a score of such dimension. If this was not cut off, I would suggest a double bar at the end or a double final bar, marking "attacca subito" if you intend to keep going to the second movement without pause. Maybe you do know about this, but just in case! That you release this (or the final, recorded product, I suppose) in Vinyl is surprising to me, just as a note. Is it costly? Now on the piece itself, I would say that you have a lot of ideas, and you sure know how to make bombastic stuff that could fit very well in a soundtrack. I normally listen to the works twice or thrice before emitting some judgement, because often a single listen is not enough for me to grasp enough details or places I would like to stop and comment. While writing this comment I'm listening to the work for the second time and as I progress in the piece I see that this great music you have brought us may err on the side of excess, in my humble opinion. Excess of bombastic fortissimo moments, of tutti, of fast contrasts, and of lack of elements that would make the piece be perceived as a whole. Of course, there are very good transitions too, like the one you do from movement 2 to movement 3, and a whole lot of enjoyable moments, but I don't really get the impression of listening to a cohesive multi-movemented work, but at well crafted environments or atmospheres, or even excerpts of music that do share instrumentation in common and that would, as you suggest, work as part of some cinematic product. There is, in my opinion again, A LOT of material here that could be further developed to make a whole suite of itself. Finally, I hope the translator doesn't fail. My favourite part of this work is undoubtedly the clarinet solo part on movement 7. It reminded me a lot of "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAXE-lczgu4 Many thanks for submitting your work here. Best regards, Daniel–Ø.

JB The Super Bass - Tournament Schedule (Super Famicom):

"This is the first composition of my third vinyl "Triptych", which opens this album. One thing that should be noted here is that the guitar part was recorded as a live performance, while the rest of the orchestra was, naturally, programmed using MIDI files in Studio One. Generally, the guitar is probably one of those exceptional instruments whose non-live recording always yields a terrible result." The translation is from Google