Albuquerque

This is a little different from my usual, being very tonal with little dissonance

To compose this, I sat down and thought about flying. This is however a special kind of flying, as those from Albuquerque know.

The piece uses GPO and EWQL rendered in Sonar 8 Pro.

Here it is

Albuquerque.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Ron

Ron,

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one as much as the Mad Hatter piece. You probably know why, because I enjoy your dissonance much more!

It was however very picturesque. I imagined hang gliding for some reason, although that's probably not what you had in mind. One thing that might suit this piece better if you are looking to add dissonance is when you have your chordal progressions, maybe keep some drone notes in there for some flavor. Keeping one or two notes constant in the midst of progressions is a nice touch, but if you like the way you have it then by all means keep it the way it is. As you know, I try and nitpick :D. If you would like, Stravinsky "jazzed" up old music in this way, I think it sounds cool.

The middle section was probably my favorite with the ethnic vibes I got from the altered scales. The orchestral color was awesome as well.

Keep posting music Ron, I'll PM you when I finally post something lol. Don't be afraid to PM me when yo upost new music as well, since I'm not on this site that much anymore. Best of luck!

Vince

Ron,

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one as much as the Mad Hatter piece. You probably know why, because I enjoy your dissonance much more!

It was however very picturesque. I imagined hang gliding for some reason, although that's probably not what you had in mind. One thing that might suit this piece better if you are looking to add dissonance is when you have your chordal progressions, maybe keep some drone notes in there for some flavor. Keeping one or two notes constant in the midst of progressions is a nice touch, but if you like the way you have it then by all means keep it the way it is. As you know, I try and nitpick :D. If you would like, Stravinsky "jazzed" up old music in this way, I think it sounds cool.

The middle section was probably my favorite with the ethnic vibes I got from the altered scales. The orchestral color was awesome as well.

Keep posting music Ron, I'll PM you when I finally post something lol. Don't be afraid to PM me when yo upost new music as well, since I'm not on this site that much anymore. Best of luck!

Vince

Vince

The whole purpose of this piece was to prove to myself that I could compose a piece that was interesting and yet not full of dissonance. It sounds like you thought I succeeded in that manner.

The piece I am working on now has quite a bit more flavor to it I think and fits my style much better.

Send me a PM and tell me what's going with you, how's school,etc.

Thanks as always

Ron

The whole purpose of this piece was to prove to myself that I could compose a piece that was interesting and yet not full of dissonance. It sounds like you thought I succeeded in that manner.

I agree that you have succeeded! It isn't as dissonant as the last piece I heard form you (with the polytonality), but it was still a very interesting listen. I really love the ascending motif that you use, especially when you invert it. It sounds quite Debussian. Also the repeating 'rain-like' motif weaves seamlessly throughout, despite the fact that you change your harmonies a great deal.

There is something quite unusual about the middle section of the piece (with the 1, 1, 1, 3b motif in the bass). Have you occassionally used two time signatures because every now and then there's a pause before the motif repeats. Sounds really cool, I'd like to know exactly what you did to get that effect if possible?

There's something really distinct about this piece. You have quite a unique style and I enjoy your music very much. It would be nice to hear it live of course :)

I do have one slight critique to add if I may. I thought your ending could have been a bit more emphatic! Perhaps ending on another one of your ascending semitone motifs making use of the full orchestra?

Well Ron,

Another interesting side of you. A less dissonant one. I think that it is very picturesque and "tells a story" (no idea what story though). But I really enjoyed the piece and listened to it more than once, if this tells you something! ;)

Now onto my observations and feedback.

The strings ostinato in the first 4th of the piece sounds a little unsynced. I've no idea why this is happening, but if it is you who's playing it then maybe try to quantized it. Or fix it somehow, cause it sounds somehow broken.

The mix, on my headphones (monitors are of) is very nice and very balanced I think. Of course other mixes are better, but it really is about the music and what music. EW libraries are more fitting (not that they can't do other things) to huge epic ba ba boom sound. so if you do compose that you would automatically sound better.

some times your orchestration is a little weird and "unrealistic" (in the terms that normally composers and orchestrators don't use the instruments in such ways), but you've managed to create your own style there, which is "easily" distinguishable through the rest of the forum, this and the other forums you are on, so it's to your benefit. However the strange lines in the instrument means that it takes extra effort to make it sound real, since the music itself is not lending itself to such goals.

Fast notes, again, feel weird in their timing. I'm not sure what could be wrong, but some things just sound off time wise.

The piece now is marvelous:

It is on the edge of being a bit boring, but it never gets there for me. It changes and changes and varies enough. Your harmonic language is also very nice, very Rolifferian and keeps things interesting. Your orchestration is rich and varried as well, you are not using the whole orchestra all the time. Dialogues exist. Ending is outright bizare! :D

I do think that most of the times its the wizard and not the wand. You can do wonders with EW Gold and your new i7. (hope it's going ok, I'm also having troubles with kompakt player libraries).

Another good one, Ron. Thanks for sharing.

almacg

That middle section is basically a measure of 5/4 thrown into the mix. It was not intentional, but worked out and did make it a little different. That's one of the advantages of composing in a sequencer. You do some things without really thinking about them.

Nikolas and almacg

This piece is about a hot air balloon trip. I could have ended the trip back on the ground or with a crash, but decided to end it in the air with the rest of the story untold. That is why the ending doesn't really sound like an ending.

Nikolas

First off, thanks for taking the time away from your hectic schedule. When studies are near thier end, time can be very precious.

That ostinato at the beginning and everything else was all entered via my Casio, so I know there are synching issues.

When I compose, I turn off the metronome and I have never used the quantize feature, so I am not even sure how it works. I guess it is because I am a bit too lazy to do the fine detail work to get it all dead on.

Irving Berlin (a self taught musicain) was once asked what would happen to his music if he was taught all of the correct ways to do things. Without hesitation he said "Ruin It".

I don't believe that if I knew the right ways my music would be ruined, but there is some benefits to not always following all of the rules.

I am still teaching myself and am even taking a composition course this semester. I like that I have a style that is unique. I have never wanted to be a cookie cutter style of composer.

"On the edge of boring"

The whole time I was composing this, I was thinking the same thing. I think the middle section is the part that saves it from being outright boring.

But all I wanted to do is show my professor at school that I could compose a simple theme, vary it some and keep the interest of the listener without becoming bored.

It looks like I did what I wanted.

Thanks guys

Ron

Some thoughts on your working process. (and some info about quantizing).

Quantizing means that the computer (software) automatically moves all the events (notes), usually without altering their length and certainly not the pitch, to the closes "spot on" note there can be. IT basically latches all the events on a grid, set by you. Problems are that it becomes too mechanic and that it may latch to the wrong beat, if the note is too far of the focused point.

Still it does make sense some times.

On the way you work. You could sit down for half an hour, before starting to write, and set out the tempo map. This way you could add the metronome and still have the fluency and flowing you want. Of course with the way you compose there's little point in doing that, since you generally, I suspect do not know what will happen next (which is good).

I agree that knowing the correct ways may ruin things, but when we are talking about tools, it might be useful to have an idea of what other ways there are. After all we don't drive the same way, we don't f*ck the same way, we certainly don't compose the same way. There's no right or wrong, but it's worth noticing what other people have done, or how they have done it, and see if they may have some right there. :)

Nikolas

If I didn't think there were advantages of knowing the "Right" way do to things, I wouldn't ask for your input, take a composition class or read the books that I have read and am still reading. I am about halfway thru Rimsky-Korsakov's book now and am reading Keenan's as well. I also have lots of scores that I study.

I know what Quantizing is, I just have never used it or read about how to use it. I know that when I use ostinatos, I really should lay that down first and then quantize it. But when I first start up a piece, I am usually going so fast, that I hate to slow down for anything. Same way with my women...hehe (and cars)

One of my major problems has been with EWQL and Tempos. If I change a tempo near certain notes and always if I change a tempo in a note, EWQL will not turn off some of the instruments. For example, if I am using a certain Bassoon patch and use a F#3 (I think) and then do a tempo change near that note, the bassson will keep playing that note until the end of the piece. Sonar blames the problem on EWQL, EWQL blames NI, NI doesn't care now, but used to blame Sonar.

So I do all of the tempo changes either in empty spaces in the score away from EWQL instruments, or I do it with the placing and length of the notes in the score.

This is a problem I have learned to live with but I still hate it. When I want to change the tempo after I have everything entered, it can be a real pain.

That is why I don't map out tempos in advance.

Ron

I really enjoyed listening to this. I agree, you have a very distinct, original style. It's quite refreshing. So many composers are so generic.

I'm with you on quantizing, i try to avoid it at all costs but it can be very helpful sometimes. You can also change the effectiveness of the quantization, add swing and human error element.

Some of your patches sound a little synthetic...i'm not sure why, perhaps try EQ/reverb. Other than that i have not much critique.

What i was thinking of while listening to this was riding on a hot air balloon...hah i thought of it straight away, i don't know why.

Hey Ron,

I am suprised when i heard about this tempo change problem..I would never guess such a thing..Well, personally i can say " Finale 2008 is safe with tempo changes while using VST instruments " I hope you will sort it out in general.

When it comes to your piece, I would point on technical sides: You should definetely use reverb on some patches. You can use EWQL NI players reverb option despite of the fact that it increases CPU usage. Or you can use the option "release" of Volume Envelope, so the instruments' sound can go little bit further as if they are played at a concert hall (reverbation efect). You can use EQ at some parts to give some specific range importance. Your mix is around 6 db, after using reverb, use little bit "noise" for background, so it can give a feeling as if it is played at a real environment..But it shouldnt be much. And to increase its level, you can use maximizer little bit (with limiter). I dont think it needs compression a lot. However, you can use compression to make it smooth at overall before maximizing.

Usually people approach the piece in a musical way. I approach it in a technical way:) For me, getting a quality outcome as natural as I can is more important, because it would be pointless to compose very well unless a real orchestra plays it. (It is my personnal view).

Best wishes,

Hakan

www.hakanyurdakul.com

Duncan and Hakam

I have just upgraded my computer. One of the reasons that I did not do more to my pieces than I have was due to the lack of CPU.

Now I have some power and a ton of ram to add all of the effects needed to get these to sound better.

Thanks

Ron

Hello,

I just wanted to say I enjoyed this piece alot. I have listened to some of your other works and can say that you have a very interesting style of writing.

Very nice job.