"Firelight" Orchestration Final

Hey Everyone,

This is a piece I just finished up as my final project in orchestration class. Let me know what you think!

Jared Kraft Music - Home

(It's the featured song on the front page.)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Johnwilliamsfan

Score?

Jeez! You can tell your a John Williams fan. And I don't mean by your screen name.

Actually, the way that a great deal of the phrases end by going from the seventh scale degree to the first scale degree is a little bit more reminiscent of Hans Zimmer.

I was also reminded of Howard Shore at times.

Nice job, I liked what I heard. I'd love to see a score and give you some feedback on that as well.

Very nice. I especially like the brass part 2/3rds in or so. I always have trouble using brass in a remotely lyrical manner.

EDIT: Score plox?

Nice!

I liked the climatic part with the fff brass.

Overall, I felt like it needed a bit more dynamic range though. It felt like it was all on one level before that part. Not sure, if you've compressed this or something, but it would be a simple edit to just quieten a few sections or even take a few instruments out to vary the colour!

Nice job though

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll get the score up as soon as I can.

Thanks again!

Jared

sounds good.

It's pretty good. Sounds very influenced by film scores. Is that style kinda what you were going for?

What programs did you use to compose this?

Hello Johnwilliamsfan, (quite a blunt title)

This is a beautifully made piece that sounds like something right out of a film of epic proportions. I only have two complaints which would be that the recording sounds very compressed and the dynamics need some work (but that could be because the recording is compressed.)

Still, very nicely done, good sir!

Thanks everyone!

The piece is definitely a film score-esque piece. It is compressed, and so the overal quality suffers marginally. As far as programs, I used Cubase 4 with Kontakt 3 samples.

I really love getting comments and understand the time and effort that goes into each and every piece of feedback. Thank you and keep the comments coming!

I must say it's a wonderful music...

I really want to see the score...

Btw, I love the brass part started in the middle (*I'm not sure) of the piece...

(I'm not really good in writing music for brass part... :P )

sound very explosive and it really look like soundtrack (lord of the ring)

i like it very much

Thanks so much guys. Forgive me for not responding sooner. My computer crashed and I'm just now able to use the internet on my new one. You're too kind!

Unfortunately, my score had not yet been backed up when my computer crashed, so it's iffy if I'll be able to put one up, but I'm very grateful for all of the interest everyone's put into this piece!

And I shall dub thee: Little John Williams. Very impressive, you sure do have a good command over the multitude of timbres an orchestra can give. As with everyone else, I could give more comments with the score. But from what I can hear, your string, and brass writing is amazing. Keep up the good work!

P.S. Sorry to hear about your computer. I recommend purchasing an external hard drive. That is where all of my compositions are just encase something were to happen to my computer.

Wow. That was absolutely mind-blowing. You should publish that, let our youth symphony buy it, and let us perform it. It totally beats Overture to Candide. Man, you are awesome.

Must've taken forever, eh?

To my ear, there are balance issues.

Without a score, it's impossible to tell for sure, but..

Notably, I don't believe the harp would be heard that clearly through those huge brass lines.

Again, without a score, it's very hard to say precisely.

I certainly wouldn't set the Overture to Candide aside in favour of this piece. Musically, it has good ideas, but doesn't do much with them. Now that you master your Vienna Symphonic, or whatever sample library you're using, I highly recommend you start a good long course of study and gain the craft necessary to become the great composer you could be. Good ideas don't make a great composer. Good craft does. Right now, this just sounds like OK film score, very derivative (more Horner and Shore than anything - not, in my opinion, composers you should set out to emulate), and certainly not a satisfying stand-alone piece for orchestra.

I didn't find your orchestration particularly "inventive". Nothing stuck out to my ear as combinations of sound that were novel or exciting. That's not a bad thing, but it just means your orchestration was "ok". But you really need to be more than "ok". You deserve to be more than "ok". Don't settle for that, it just makes you another one in the pack.

Right now, this piece sounds like a demo for Vienna Symphonic libraries. Very run-of-the-mill. There are people who churn these pieces out a dime a dozen. You shouldn't be one of those people.

Hey, I realise it's abit late, but I heard your music and I was impressed. The only thing I will ask is this: have you thought of incorporating rests or silence into the work in order to increase tension or highlight phrases?

Dude it's awesome! I really really enjoyed!! 5 stars or more. Anyway I'm a JW fan too. Keep on composing! :thumbsup:

kukes:

Thanks so much! Little John Williams works for me until I can create a name for myself. lol : ) Thankfully, I now have a new computer and an external hard drive.

blackbaloons:

I am deeply honored by your words. Knowing people are loving this piece means a huge amount to me and I thank you! I would love to publish it and let your orchestra play it, although I'm not entirely sure how to go about publishing a piece, any ideas? Thanks so much again!

PS

It took me around 2 weeks to complete the piece.

QcCowboy:

Thank you for taking the time to give constructive criticism. Your faith in my potential is inspiring, and makes me want to do better! I do agree that the balancing is not the strongest point of the piece, and that the harp to brass ratio may be a little far fetched. I have to admit (As you know) I am completely in love with film scores and the film scoring industry, so often times I will be influenced by James Horner or Howard Shore (although my current biggest influence in the industry would have to be James Newton Howard.) I have been trying to broaden my areas of study and will continue to strive for excellence. Thank you, again, for taking the time to comment on my work and I look forward to hearing from you more in the future! : )

brsinnamon:

Thanks for commenting. (Never too late in my book!) : ) I have used rests and silence often in my music, albeit not so much in my latest couple of pieces.

Norby:

Another JW fan, hoorah! : ) Thanks for the comment, I'm very honored that you rate my piece so highly.

To All:

Thanks for all of the great comments! This has been an exciting piece for me as it received an A+ from my teacher and is a potential incentive for a scholarship. Thanks for listening to it (critiquing it) and enjoying it, it means a lot.