My new composition - Road of Despair

Hi, I just joined this forum, and thought of sharing my newest work .. Comments are welcomed, especially suggestion / constructive criticism, as I'm not especially satisfied with this piece.

Here is some little background of this piece:

I composed this around few weeks ago, and it took me around 3 days to finish it. My very first idea came from playing the chords on the guitar by setting the feeling I wanted (which has the despair feeling). Then later, I sat in front of the piano, and begin composing the melody. I've finished composed the first draft in one day, but I'm not satisfied with the melody, so I continued composing the second day, which I changed a lot in the melody structure, and I added the final part too. Then finally, I had the idea of repeating a melody in the final part, with another melody in the background changing. And I made the fade out effect because I wanted it to sound despair :thumbsup:

It's really one of my favorite works, as when I listen to it, I'll imagine myself driving on a straight highway in the midnight. It's kind of a special feeling to me. That might explain why I'm not satisfied with this piece, as I really wanted it to be as good as possible.

Ok, give it a listen and write back what you think!

Click the link below to download:

Road of Despair

I really liked it. As Chris said the mood was really great...everything felt very smooth and natural. I think it'd sound great in a movie, in the sort of scene you're picturing.

I love the beginning.

The chords throughout the composition deliver a very nice and special atmosphere.

Just a little critique:

I think some of the instruments kind of spoil part of the song, at least in my opinion.

The synthetic instrument starting at 00:24

The "Honky Tonk Piano?" starting at 3:11

Exchanging them for something slightly softer or in the case of the

synth sound less synthetic might improve the overall sound of the piece.

Other than that there's not much to say... It was a very enjoyable listen.

Thanks.

Thanks to all of you who had listened to my work.

Chris: Glad that you liked the mood! By the way what's "Amether"?

Charlie: Thanks for your very kind compliment. Although you said that it's smooth and natural, I still feel that there's some part with the instrument, or volume control that might not be appropriate. It might be the notation program I'm using, I really don't know.

CarstN: I'm glad that you enjoyed listening to it, and thank you very much for your critique! I really appreciate it. I do agree with you that I'm not really satisfied with the instrument. By the way, the instrument starting at 3:11 is "Acoustic grand piano", I can understand how it spoil the song, because I just used the yamaha XG to convert from the midi to mp3. And it sounded even terrible with the volume turned up. Thanks for your critique again, I will definitely improve by experimenting more on different instruments.

Good stuff, sets up a nice atmosphere.

Hello,

Thank you for your song, I like it, what I love is the idea of the hypnotic xylophone (1:17).

Could you send the midi file so we can hear it with other instruments, and see how it is writen ?

Max

Here's the midi attached below.

There's some minor changes (instruments, dynamics) between the midi /mp3 version.

I would definitely be interested in hearing your suggestion if you think of some changes that might make it sound better. :D

-->FFA_Maximus:

Yup, that's my favorite part too at 1:17. The melody there plays an important role in creating the atmosphere of this piece. In fact, I composed this section first before I even composed the main melody. The return of a key change before that adds even more to the atmosphere, to my surprise...

road_of_despair.mid

Here's the midi attached below.

There's some minor changes (instruments, dynamics) between the midi /mp3 version.

I would definitely be interested in hearing your suggestion if you think of some changes that might make it sound better. :D

-->FFA_Maximus:

Yup, that's my favorite part too at 1:17. The melody there plays an important role in creating the atmosphere of this piece. In fact, I composed this section first before I even composed the main melody. The return of a key change before that adds even more to the atmosphere, to my surprise...

I am happy to have the same favorite part than you. That means that you suceeded to express this idea.

I will try to change the instruments and send you a new. Try the Celesta, it is a cool one.

Max

Wow....I wish I could write slow stuff like that...

It sounds kind of dreamy, if you added some tinkly stuff (crotales, wind chimes), it would add to the dreamy effect.

But I think it's great how it is, I can't write slow stuff at all, so keep up the good work.

~Kal

FFA_Maximus :

Feel free to experiment with it! Do post your modified version here if you finished with modifying it.. Would definitely love to hear a different version~ ;)

Kal :

Thanks for spending the time to listen to my music. Yup, adding wind chimes is a great idea! And by the way, what's "crotales"? Is it an instrument including in the midi? Or do I have to add it by creating the sound effect myself? :D

You should check out the theme from the TV-series "The Persuaders". Its a great theme, and i think you'll be a bit surprised.

I have it in an awful midi-recording, that does not live up to the real recording but I'll post it anyway.

That is what your theme reminded me of..

Regards,

Morten

Persuaders.mid

love the composition...pieces remind me of clint mansell's requiem for a dream compositions.

i should try something slow..i hear the despair.. moving piece. :P

i'm new here, i have a few places you can here my messy compositions (below)..the "smut" project was motivated by the film, cannibal holocaust..warning, it's noisy :) kinda dada..i mean by way of composition methods.. never spent less time on a composition. :wub:

Hey Tang! Hows it going? Wow nice piece, Indeed. Your idea had carried me throughout the entire piece. In fact, I listened to it over and over again while I was working, and I listened to it about 7 times hehe. Once again, Great Job!

P.S. Did you get a chance to play Quintessence?

Best Regards

James

mpj:

I've just listened to the theme of "Persuaders", and I like it very much. I can understand why my piece reminds you of that song, I think maybe is the melody that keep repeating in the background.

butch franklin:

Thanks for listening to my composition. I'll listen to your composition soon.

James:

Hi James! Thanks for giving my composition a listen! You've listened to it 7 times, that's the kindest thing I heard so far! Thanks again for listening. I would love to play Quntessence, it must be a great game!

The thing I like the most about this is its calm mood, making it a very viable song to play in the background while working and etc.

Although I wouldn't really say that it's to the extent of 'despair'-sounding :). But driving on the road at midnight is highly imaginable when listening to it.