Eerie Remarks

Hello everyone,

This is the first piece that I have ever written for a video, and I would like to know what you all think.

The video (I'll put the link to the download at the bottom, about 60mb) is a project for one of my classes at school, and my group has put me in charge of writing a score for it. It's not entirely done yet (there's going to be another 3 minutes or so describing stuff, it's basically a really long ad for the series), so excuse some of the things that are missing (like the blue background with red text).

Anyway, on to the music. It's all 100% original by me, except from 1:16 until 1:24 (ish), where I took the theme from Fire Emblem on the Nintendo GBA. If you watch the video, you'll see that I used that theme because the character being introduced at that point really needed recognizable video game music. I promise that everything else is original :P.

Also, I realize the ensemble is rather small (and almost odd), and there's only one part for each instrument. I wrote it with my band's instrumentation in mind, and that's what we have on the best day, so any comments you have about instrumentation, I can't really fix/change, sorry :P.

Let me know what you think about the piece, and any suggestions (besides instrumentation) you have would be greatly appreciated :).

Video Link (55.64 MB): Episode 1 Draft - March 17th.avi

Music (3.21 MB): Eerie Remarks - Full.mp3

(Also, if this is in the wrong forum, please move it, I didn't know if it should have been in the orchestral/large ensemble one or this)

Eerie Remarks - Full.pdf

Not to be impatient, but does anybody have any suggestions at all? I would really like to improve as a composer :)

(The volume is quite low, just fyi.)

I like it. The build up in the beginning was well done I think, the rhythm reminds me of Lord of the Ring evil lair-esque setting, heheh. The only thing is that after the middle, the mood completely changed and doesn't feel "eerie" as the title says anymore; although it might be intended to match the video and whatnot, so.

(oh, thanks, I'll fix that)

Thanks! I'm glad to know my compositions are getting somewhere.

About the mood change that doesn't really fit the title, I just need to find a better name for the song. The mood change does suite the video though. The reason it's called "Eerie Remarks" is just because for the opening of the video and music, there's someone talking making eerie remarks about things, it wasn't really intended to reflect the mood of the music. It was just the first name that popped into my head :P.

And thanks again!

Sorry it took me so long to get to this. I have been out of town and then feeling under the weather some. I will download the video when I have more time, so this is just on the mp3.

I can see to have the full effect. I need the video as well, but the music sounds good. You have some nice dynamics in this, which is so important.

Just as important though is tempo. Without seeing the video yet, I will say that a few tempo changes wouldn't hurt. If you get to use a live orchestra for the final project, great. If not, then some minor tempo changes will help to give the piece a more 'live' effect.

cool stuff

Ron

Don't worry about it, I'm just glad to get some feedback :).

Thanks for the suggestion about the tempo changes, I'll try to work some little ones into it to get a more realistic feel, it might be a bit difficult though just because of the fact that the music is synced to the video, but I'll give it my best shot!

About the live orchestra, I really doubt it. I'm only 17, and at my school we only have a concert band (with two string basses though, so I guess one of them could play the cello part...). Would it make for a decent live performance though? There are only 16 instruments, and each one only has 1 part. I asked my band if they wanted to record it, but of course, none of them are up to it :(, it's so hard to find people near me who are as into music as I am :P.

Thanks again for the feedback though! I'll be sure to post the final version of it when I'm done. :)

I assume you are Clarke

I downloaded the video and was impressed. This is very good. I wouldn't worry about the tempo changes unless you want this to appear to be more of a "live" performance.

You can still do it. What I mean by small tempo changes is, say your tempo is 90 bpm. In one measure up it to 92, then in the next measure lower to a little to say 90 again then down to 88 etc. No real orchestra can follow a beat exactly, so you become the conductor and make the small variations yourself. The same thing can be done when the instruments attack a note. Have one horn a 32nd behind another. Same thing with the dynamics. Have each instrument on every note be a little different. This is how to try to make a computer sound real. When I was first told about these techniques, I realized my workload would be quadrupled, but the end effect is worth it.

Hope that helps.

Ron

Well, in the video I'm Clark (I don't even like that name, the people in my group forced me to have it though, but it was a trade-off for getting to write the music which is definitely worth it), my actual name is Jordan :P.

I assumed you meant something like that when you mentioned the tempo changes, thank you for clarifying though. I'll try playing around with dynamics and entrances, maybe even very slight tuning things every now and then at the start of some notes, that might be pushing it a bit though... I'll see how it turns out.

I've shown my music teacher a few things, but I don't think we'd ever get to play something I wrote, he seems really determined to play only famous stuff that everyone (or at least the majority of people) would know. Oh well though, I'm going to Uni. for music next year, maybe I'll get to hear some of my new stuff sometime during that.

It definitely does help, and I'm going to get to work on that right away, thanks!

I didn't watch the video since I don't feel like downlaoding something quite that big when my computer is so limited on space but I did listen to the MP3. Some of the samples sound a bit questionable but for the most part, the sound quality is great. There is a somewhat sudden mood shift during the middle of the piece that I find a bit odd but I'm sure it goes along with the video. It's hard to really give criticism when this is for a video I haven't seen but I can tell you have some talent and alot of potential. Keep composing!

Very ererie indeed!! Well at least the 1st minute or so is. And original sounding too IMO. But the change at around 1:00 to woodwinds and stuff didn't sound exactly "eerie". The piece seems to change direction a few times - I suppose this is ok if it follows the pattern of the movie clip. I liked your use of whatever "bell" instrument sample it was. Sorry, didn't watch the video (slow internet)... only listened to the mp3.

I didn't watch the video since I don't feel like downlaoding something quite that big when my computer is so limited on space but I did listen to the MP3. Some of the samples sound a bit questionable but for the most part, the sound quality is great. There is a somewhat sudden mood shift during the middle of the piece that I find a bit odd but I'm sure it goes along with the video. It's hard to really give criticism when this is for a video I haven't seen but I can tell you have some talent and alot of potential. Keep composing!

Thank you for taking the time to look at it, and I understand about the video, I wasn't expecting everyone to watch it anyways, it was just in case people wanted to see what the music is being written for.

The sudden mood shift (if I'm thinking of the right spot) is when the video game geek and the "enemy" are being introduced, for both I just needed something a bit faster paced, and something recognizable for the video game guy.

That's really nice to hear (the talent and potential thing), thanks again! And I'll be sure to keep composing, I'm going to Uni. for it next year (assuming I can get in >.>).

Very ererie indeed!! Well at least the 1st minute or so is. And original sounding too IMO. But the change at around 1:00 to woodwinds and stuff didn't sound exactly "eerie". The piece seems to change direction a few times - I suppose this is ok if it follows the pattern of the movie clip. I liked your use of whatever "bell" instrument sample it was. Sorry, didn't watch the video (slow internet)... only listened to the mp3.

I'm glad to know it sounds original, I was a bit worried about the eerie bit in the opening sounding too cliche, I tried my best to avoid that.

As for how it doesn't stay eerie, the piece really needs a better name. I've always had a hard time coming up with decent ones, "Eerie Remarks" (as I've said before) just comes from how in the opening of the video, the narrator is making "eerie remarks". I suppose I could just call the piece "Cougar League intro music", but that sounds unoriginal and rather uninteresting.

You're the first person that has told me they like the use of the chimes (and by the way, the sample is just Finale 2008's "Chimes", from softsynth (that is what it's called, right?)). Most of my friends that I've shown this to think I've overused the chimes in it, and that they make the piece feel too "happy". I used them specifically because I thought they gave the piece a haunting/chaotic feel. I'm glad to know someone else likes them!

And thank you to both of you for the feedback :).