Creation

Here's a theme song I wrote about last fall.

www.bekleined.com/Vol4/Creation.mp3

It's probably different from what you guys are used to, so bear with me.

Edit: I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this song. It's not really a WIP; it's completely written and over with. And none of the other forums seem to be for "minor works" or anything like that. So... do whatever. I'm new here and don't really understand how everything works (and yes, I did read the guidlines.)

1. Techniques used

Just a lot of big, dramatic chords. The tempo also makes frequently changes

2. How long it took to compose the piece

Over a week, perhaps an hour a day. So, 5-8 hours?

3. Structure of your piece

Begins with a quiet intro. The rain symbolizes chaos... I'm sure you all know a creation myth

4. Obstacles when composing

Some chords clashed initially, and I'm sure some still do. Using synth strings also brings a bit of out-of-tuneness to the piece, but I don't think it's too bad. if the volume seems to shake, it's because of poor rendering. FL has difficulty with too many sytrus and oscillerators going at once.

5. Summary of overall piece

A theme that musically interprets the creation of the universe, beginning with rain and chaos, and blooming and all that stuff.

Where's the file? (don't worry, I had the same problem)

I thought I put it in with the upload browser...

Edit: At any rate, I'm uploading this song to my FTP, so if I can't get it to work with the uploader here, you can hear it anyway. just bear with me a moment...

Here ya go.

www.bekleined.com/Vol4/Creation.mp3

Ah, no wonder it wasn't working... mp3s are permitted here. Hopefully my link works for you all, then. (I have Finale but it is not my normal tool)

Hey! Here's what I think,

Excellent intro idea; the Sound Effects are a great idea and they make for a perfect entry mood given that it's supposed to represent creation. On the bad side, the SE sounds terrible; audio quality is awful so consider cleaning that up. I like the cello but I'm not very fond of the horn staccato thing you have there, sounds pretty dumb. The transition to the synths sounds a bit rushed and could use some smoothing over. The synths themselves are very waspy and again I think they'd benefit from some better recording quality because this version makes them sound icky.

Musically, you have some interesting ideas going on here, the chord progressions remind me of sacred music except played by a synth instead of a choir ;) The middle portion sounds awful. I did my best to pick out and comment on just the melodic part of it and ignore the fact that the recording sounds like it was done through a toilet. Having said that, your musical ideas are good and you have a very solid grasp of mixing things in with the sound effects; I really like that. I have a small problem in that the melodic material is very uninteresting and the development could use some more work to get it sounding nice; it really feels like it needs more of a swell to the end because it's very unsatisfying for something representing creation.

Overall, excellent use of sound effects and blending them with your melodic material; well done. Your recording sounds like scraggy, it needs serious remaking to do this piece justice. Your melodic content could use some more interesting development because it sounds too much like atmospheric background music for a game like Echo the Dolphin.

Keep up the good work! :ninja:

Thanks for you review.

I generally find the middle portion the most "skip-able" as well. It's typical of all my works.

About the rendering; some of the instruments actually are meant to sound kind of raspy, but I admit it is a bit much. Unfortunately, changing this would require more in depth-knoweldge in how to mix in FL, not really write.

I'm at school now, so when I get home I'll try and listen to others' pieces.

Hello and welcome, CK the Fat,

The Major Works forum is, as the description states, "the place to showcase compositions which are of significant length and quality". It is for the best of the best, essentially.

The forums below the Major Works forum are for compositions which would not qualify as major works. They are all split into categories primarily based on instrumentation - Orchestral, Chamber, etc. I feel your composition would be best suited to the Incidental Music and Soundtracks forum though, so I'm moving it there. Hope that's OK!

Hi,

Gave 'Creation' a thorough listening. Wouldn't say amazing; wouldn't say it's bad either. I'll be honest with you here. The impression I receive is that you have accurate SFX and instrument mixing capabilities aligned with good timing. This can be quite difficult. But, something about the intro gives me a doubt that the scene is lively enough to be real. It's something about the cello. I know that may sound like I'm contradicting myself because of what I've just stated. Like I say, it's well mixed, but just sounds......bare? I can't quite put my finger on it. The intro gets dragged out a bit too. You need to build it up slightly somehow. Perhaps bring in some extra instruments to get us focused on extra melodic elements. All we can hear at the start is the background but we are focused on the cello primarily. Also, your instruments sound kinda low quality. I have recorded mine at (44,100 hz) which is average quality where WAVs are concerned. The steel drum sounds good and suits the mood very well. Good use there. The tune after the intro fits, but then later on, the notes seem to appear unexpectedly out of place? Maybe I'm wrong here though. It just doesn't sound correct when I follow it. Overall I think it's a great effort but, clearly shows you need to keep working. It sounds like one of my songs before I did my latest one, Mystical Motion. My old ones now don't measure up to the same quality as I'm capable of now, but you only realise as you keep working.

Anyway, good work!

Well, virtually none of the instruments are actually .wav, that's the thing. They are synths (if you have Producer's edition of FL you have access to them all as well.) There are no steel drums in Creation. The only .wavs is the big string playing the bass.

When I wrote this last fall I was just trying to go for a larger, more orchestral sound. I hadn't been concerned how well it would render. Evidently, it did not render well at all, that's what happens when you make an FL piece that takes up %40 CPU usage. I could go back and render each track seperately and then recombine, resulting in a much, much "smoother" sound. But I can't do that now since my switch from FL 5 to 6 as some of the samples will no longer load.

Anyway, I don't really think that there's too much of an ability "spectrum" here. There are songs I've written before that I thought sounded advanced for the time, and then songs I've written now that I compare to my earlier work.

I'd like to request that you listen to "River Valley" as an example of a new "old" song.

I think one of the problems with the piece is the main chord progression, starting with the first notes at the beginning (do, rei, mi). Having whole tones without any half steps between the notes gives the melody somewhat of an ambiguously positive feel, which doesn't match up with the intense rain and sound effects at the beginning. I think doing something in a minor scale may help add more tension, but that's just me :)

There are no steel drums in Creation.

Sorry I mean't the horn staccato.

if you have Producer's edition of FL you have access to them all as well.

I only have the Fruity Edition so the plugins are restricted. I think I only have the basic ones.

There are no horn stocacatos, either.

The FX isn't really supposed to possess a major or minor feel. It's supposed to represent chaos, which really doesn't have much of a tone, major or minor. Overall, the piece is major except for the section just near the end with the chime-like synth, so I don't really think a minor intro would benefit the piece much.

Uhm I feel that the intro has nothing really to do with the rest of the song, I mnea you create two completely diffrent atmospheres.

And btw I aree with Marius the recording is dreadful.

I think that the middle-end is a bit repetative, bout you have some very nice melodies :)

Try to write a song that that fits with your intro and you will be laughing :)

Keep it up!

Well... the atmosphere is supposed to change. Chaos and creation. Opposites. Transition. Change. It wouldn't make much sense to keep that thunder going on through the whole piece and go do re mi with one instrument, nor would the song be the same without the element of chaos at the beginning.

I know what you're trying to say. I just don't really have any ideas on how to alter the intro without ruining the given intro atmosphere.