Into The Light

A simple symphonic piece I've been working on some time now. All instrument patches aren't that good but but...All sounds are from Korg M3 and edited in pro tools 7

Into The Light

Hello, Welcome to YC, I hope we can provide you useful feedback.

The initial motif is very Pop Music, and I think a melody is expected, then the real orchestration begins to show up, with the strings+trumpets, but still sounds like something is missing, one waits for something, then the waltz is very out of place, I think you have to learn to develop and expand you ideas, before introducing new ones, but don't worry, you do have the ideas, you just try to create more with less, for instance the waltz part you did develop a little, with the piano and then the melody over the 3/4 beat, and then the trumpet, that's nice, I can say now the initial segments are the ones "out of place" and you should have started with the waltz from the beginning.

Did you create an score of this ?

Hello, Welcome to YC, I hope we can provide you useful feedback.

The initial motif is very Pop Music, and I think a melody is expected, then the real orchestration begins to show up, with the strings+trumpets, but still sounds like something is missing, one waits for something, then the waltz is very out of place, I think you have to learn to develop and expand you ideas, before introducing new ones, but don't worry, you do have the ideas, you just try to create more with less, for instance the waltz part you did develop a little, with the piano and then the melody over the 3/4 beat, and then the trumpet, that's nice, I can say now the initial segments are the ones "out of place" and you should have started with the waltz from the beginning.

Did you create an score of this ?

Hey and thank you. This is the kind of feedback I've been waiting for :) I tried Soundclick but there people are just trying to get as many listens as possible and they only give you full stars.

Let me start by saying that I am a self-taught pianist and I can barely read notes. I do know "all the basics", chords and signatures and all that but not anything professional. I usually write the chords down which I've used in a song but not melodies or anything. Usually the thing is just in my mind, "living all the time". I believe that I can understand the feedback given but sheets would make things so much easier...

Edit: oh and I don't play midis at all. that would be an easy way to get scores :)

I'm a self-taught too, but I've been composing for ~15 years.

If you find a little difficult to create the score, I'd say your priority is the development, in orchestra you won't be able to play it all in piano, you have to "imagine" things, for instance, the initial pop motif, you could compose in piano what we could call "the background", more or less what you did already, but more "patterns":

chords: Eb2-EbM, Eb2-EbM, Eb2-EbM,Eb2-EbM,

bassline: Eb--------C----------Ab------ Eb-------

that's good, you only need more of those:

chords: Cm2-Cm, Csus4-Cm, FM2-Fm, Csus4-Cm,

bassline: C---------Ab----------F--------- Ab-------

then perhaps modulate to G Major (e minor), just more, to make it less repetitive.

once you have more "background" you have time to add melodies based on those chords, you can compose them in piano. Etc etc, you do more and more, and only when you feel you really can not add more of this, you take out of your pocket the next idea, it will make you slower composer at the begining, but then you'll find it easy.

YOu know ? I think Orchestra is not for you yet, why don't you try smaller ensambles, like strings+piano+violin solo (background+colorful motifs+melody)

Keep it on, didn't sound bad :)

It is clever considering you have multi tracked recorded this. I've just got a new M3 at school. Awhhhh. Anyway, your piece-

I agree with the comment above that it it's quite 'poppy' but sometimes that can be a nice little flare. I think that you would greatly benefit from learning how to write scores. I'm 90% there is a score writing add in for Pro Tools, I have never used pro tools, but I know there is this facility in cubase and logic. But I would still recommend using sibelius. It is by far the best piece of software for the job. By a clear mile.

Keep going, there is some good stuff in there.

Hi stumppi,

I like your ambient ideas. I have to agree that the waltz sounds out of place when it enters, but the waltz is my favorite section because you start to use more instruments and colors there. What is the idea behind this piece? Is it melodic ideas that you wanted to get out of your head, are you thinking in terms of background music for films/games, is it something you'd like to get performed at a concert hall, or is it something else? My suggestions are going to be different depending, but for a start I might think about a smoother transition into the waltz. Next, how about some more instruments? If you're using midi then you have the whole orchestra at your disposal and you can mix sounds together and experiment fairly easily. The piece is very sparse, and if that's not what you're going for then as an exercise you could slowly build into an orchestral tutti (all instruments of the orchestra playing together). I could hear the waltz starting to do that, or at least the winds started to come in there.

My main motif is to do cinematic music. Not(at least yet) to do the more complex orchestrations. I like the challenge of doing quite simple yet musically interesting things. M3 Is quite a machine when used properly I'm trying to get the best out of it and it gets better all the time.

Thanks for the replies and sorry for the late comeback