Something's Wrong!(Improved)

Hey everyone! I did another short piece... took me about 3 hours of work. I had a scene in a movie in mind where spontaniously something unexpected happens and ends up with a climax of some sort.(Now improved, I took some of the advices here into consideration) Remade once again, now using EWQL SO silver. Something's Wrong!(Improved)

Very dramatic opening. Samples generally sound good except for 0:21. It sounds like the midi is repeating the same note at the same velocity. And the final few seconds don't sound very realistic. The notes are a little to dull; they're attack and decays are not fast enough for a believable staccato sound.

The synth works well with the orchestra.

I think the mix starts to peak around 1:08 and you start hearing the choir sound distort. Also during the loud section from around 0:53 - 1:20, the volume is kinda going up and down really quickly. Do you have any compressors or limiters on this track that might be working too hard? Something seems off.

Musically, this piece is really cool. I think you do a lot with the samples you have. I like the instrumentation and how you slowly transition from the opening to a heavier electronic feel to the epic feel of choirs and brass counter melodies. If it's a very hip piece.

Lastly, the track got cut off too early; we should hear the full fade out of the final chord.

Is this piece by itself or are you making more in the same vein?

Peace on Earth,

-John

Very dramatic opening. Samples generally sound good except for 0:21. It sounds like the midi is repeating the same note at the same velocity. And the final few seconds don't sound very realistic. The notes are a little to dull; they're attack and decays are not fast enough for a believable staccato sound.

The synth works well with the orchestra.

I think the mix starts to peak around 1:08 and you start hearing the choir sound distort. Also during the loud section from around 0:53 - 1:20, the volume is kinda going up and down really quickly. Do you have any compressors or limiters on this track that might be working too hard? Something seems off.

Musically, this piece is really cool. I think you do a lot with the samples you have. I like the instrumentation and how you slowly transition from the opening to a heavier electronic feel to the epic feel of choirs and brass counter melodies. If it's a very hip piece.

Lastly, the track got cut off too early; we should hear the full fade out of the final chord.

Is this piece by itself or are you making more in the same vein?

Peace on Earth,

-John

Thanks for your kind words John. To answer a few of your questions:

Yes I did have a limiter on this, it kind of messed up the sound, but I noticed that only after the rendering and I was too tired to mess around with it more today. I will do something about it tomorrow and put up the better version.

And thanks for the constructive criticism, it's nice to see people giving opinions that can help instead just saying "I loved it, keep it up" :)

I will probably expand this some more, to make it at least twice as long, I really didn't have the time today and I wanted to put it up and see what you guys think. That's why the end cadence maybe sounds a bit too forced.

Phant

This is a great start with a very nice build up in the beginning. It does need some midi work done. Some of the velocites need some major alterations. The hat sounds like the typical machine gun but it is easily fixed with putting in the time. I am also hearing some distortion here and there so it does need a limiter and some more midi work to bring down some of the volumes before it hits the limiter/compressor.

Ron

this is badass! I love when the drums come in.

Really nice piece!

The part whith just the bass line and the short string chords is great! (it's really good that you keep the choir quite quiet there, afterwards it's nearly a bit too loud)

From 0:55 on, the short string melody should come out more clearly, i think. (Maybe you even add a short trumpet, or flute, or whatever ;-))

But good work, would be cool if you made it a bit longer!

I really enjoyed the orchestration in the beginning. (I would really like to see the score so I can learn from you there, it's really authentic sounding). when the thumping bass comes in, I can hear the confusion in the melody very well and how it gets quieter for the second note and the grace notes. I love how awkward it is, it really gives it the feel that something is very wrong haha... then it all comes together with awesome drums and choir, it's just an all together great job. the choir sound is sooo haunting and beautiful like they are actually screaming it's really cool. i listened to it about 7 times so far... very well done. please put up a score.

Thanks! I'm not very good at scoring, it takes a lot of time and effort... that's what happens when you focus on sequencers and electronics... I'd try to produce a score from midi, but that always gets messed up. I can put up the midi if you want, so you can play with it in your sequencer.

Nah, I'd rather just look at a score. I really like the orchestration I don't know how you can say you're not very good.. I mean it sounds really authentic, I'd be lucky to write something that authentic sounding. Do you study famous scores of movies and stuff or do you just write what you hear? If you so you must have a great ear.

Well, I don't study scores, but I do study the music of movies, but I mostly do it by playing it on instruments. That may have something to do with it, I play a lot of instruments, and I also spend a great deal of time just thinking about the music. And I found that actually looking at an symphonic orchestra playing helps... it kind of connects it all together in my mind. I used to do score writing, until I discovered keyboards and sequencers, now I all but forgot how its done.

None the less, I'll try to make something for you.

yeah phant, way to go :)

the build up for the start didn't sound at all like edirol, ways better! i think the piece is pretty solid, i would change the velocities on the rhythmic violin staccatos, it gives the piece a mechanical sound. i know its cumbersome work, but its worth the effort if it makes your music more natural sounding.

edit:

it would usually work as breathing, not always, but usually, as i'm guitarist i know the down picking is sounding less "natural" then up&down picking. same thing with violins, if we look at eighth notes, the off beat one is abit lower on velocity.

Wow... I really like this Phantom. The dramatic opening, the percussion, and the string hits... very brilliant. I sooooo want to play a game to this soundtrack!! Thanks for posting this.

phantom this sounds great! it grows also when i listen to it again, the ending with the violins though, would be perfect to variate the velocities to avoid the mechanical sound.

Thanks guys!

To J: I forgot to humanize the strings... bummer... :D Meh... can't be arsed again.... just imagine I did it :P

;)

This is simply epic... It's so dramatic and powerful!

I like how you mixed classical instruments with electronics.

This is simply epic... It's so dramatic and powerful!

I like how you mixed classical instruments with electronics.

Thanks mate... Yeah, electronics and orchestra work well with each-other if used properly. I've liked that combination for ages, and finally lately I started gradually to understand how it is done, I've been wanting to do something like this for... forever :D

Phant

I think alot of us started out with Notation of some sort and then once we got into the world of sequencers, let our notation program skills go away. I know how to transfer from DAW back to notation, but what's the point? I don't see Tim Burton giving me a call today asking me for a score.

This version does show more work and that unfortunately is what is involved in getting a piece finished. I usually spend 6-10 hours work on each minute of music, with 90% of that time just doing the midi work.

I still think the high-hat hits in this one would benefit greatly from some more velocity work and maybe even a touch more reverb to set them back a little further in the mix.

What programs and Libraries are you using? Are you adding reverb to each instrument or just an overall reverb? You want to set up some sends in your DAW so that you can add reverb to each individual track at different levels of intensity to give your pieces more depth.

The last 13 notes all need some velocity changes to get it to be more realistic. That's one of the problems with copy and paste.

It is getting better.

Ron

Well I mostly use FL studio (i know most of you will say its for electronics, but I find its incredibly versatile in any type of music, out of all sequencers I like this one most) and ableton live.The samples are Edirol, with EWQL Voices of the apocalypse, and EWQL orchestral Percussion. I use all kinds of effects, and reverbs, i'm totally aware how to set up individual channel effects in the mixer... I think the trouble is that the samples I used on this one are really bad, effects can't do miracles. I ordered EWQL silver, when I get it, I will do a remake of this.

The Hi-hat sounds is intentionally left very dynamic-less since I wanted to create an electronic feel... but I guess that if someone notices it and it irritates them, I haven't succeeded in my intention.

Thanks!

Hey phantom, this is lovely!

Very dramatic cue here, you've captured the Zimmer sound nicely in every way except production quality, which always takes the most work to polish and perfect. I think that your MIDI needs more sequencing polish to really squeeze out every last bit of realism from those samples, and once you've done that you can really bring it all together with better mixing. At this point, the instrument placement is sketchy at best, the levels are all over the place and sound VERY squashed (whatever you're doing with that limiter, stop it — bring down the levels of the individual tracks and mix it all together so it ends up at the correct volume). With some extra love on the production side, you'll have a fine track on your hands here.

Can you tell us a bit about the samples you worked with

EDIT: Nevermind the samples question, I didn't read the posts above! :P

Edited February 15, 201016 yr by Marius
Whoops, Ron already asked that...

Hey phantom, this is lovely!

Very dramatic cue here, you've captured the Zimmer sound nicely in every way except production quality, which always takes the most work to polish and perfect. I think that your MIDI needs more sequencing polish to really squeeze out every last bit of realism from those samples, and once you've done that you can really bring it all together with better mixing. At this point, the instrument placement is sketchy at best, the levels are all over the place and sound VERY squashed (whatever you're doing with that limiter, stop it — bring down the levels of the individual tracks and mix it all together so it ends up at the correct volume). With some extra love on the production side, you'll have a fine track on your hands here.

Can you tell us a bit about the samples you worked with

EDIT: Nevermind the samples question, I didn't read the posts above! :P

Thanks M! Always great to get feedback from you :)

:o Wow......

The composition is exquisite here, production others have already already mentioned. This sounds epic with the electronics and orchestral(Edirol orchestra looks so much more bang for the buck here than on the demos :rolleyes: )

*Runs to look for more of your works*

:o Wow......

The composition is exquisite here, production others have already already mentioned. This sounds epic with the electronics and orchestral(Edirol orchestra looks so much more bang for the buck here than on the demos :rolleyes: )

*Runs to look for more of your works*

Hehe, thanks mate. I did a remake now, using EWQL So Silver, should have more oomph now :)

Ahhh EWQLSO again. I see everyone's getting these awesome libraries, while I compete with my mighty freebies :phones:

It does add the wow factor with all the choirs and brass and strings. And I finally noticed the ending.....Phantom of the Opera style :)

Ahhh EWQLSO again. I see everyone's getting these awesome libraries, while I compete with my mighty freebies :phones:

It does add the wow factor with all the choirs and brass and strings. And I finally noticed the ending.....Phantom of the Opera style :)

Maybe it's better that way... I think that working with freebies teaches you not to exploit the soundlibraries and hide in orchestration, it actually makes you write good music. With this expensive libraries, you kind of hit 3 chords and you sound like Hans Zimmer, I mean when I tried out Project Sam Symphobia I was blown away with just a riff I played over and over again on a String-Brass ensemble... its crazy.