ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTAL --ambitious piece, please give a listen

[mikehamm123]

Just submitted. Could have used another day or week on it!

Would love feedback.

https://soundcloud.com/user-819745024/triumphant

Struggled with some harmonies and the timing of the melody at the end. I think I got most of the samples to sound OK.

Would love to hear what did and didn't work for you.

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ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a boutique Music Library with tons of credits in big Feature Films, countless TV Shows, and TV Commercials. They’re looking for Down-to-Mid Tempo Instrumental Cues that would fall within the general stylistic wheelhouse of the following references we got from our client....

Please send them well-crafted Orchestral Cues that start quietly and then gradually build to an emotionally inspiring climax. Your submissions can range from a small ensemble, to a full-blown orchestra, and anything in between. Stick with one mood from beginning to end, and give your Cues some forward movement, momentum, and a sense of building by layering instrumentation in and out as it progresses. Be sure any orchestral instrumentation you use sounds really authentic and believable. Material that sounds stiff, synthetic, or obviously MIDI-driven will not work for this company.
All submissions should be about Two-Minutes long (give or take), with Non-Faded, Buttoned endings. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine).

[PhilRey]

Hey Mike, I'm affraid you're not going to like my comment. But as you asked..

First, that's a nice piece musically speaking. But ! It definitely sounds very MiDi (artificial).
3 main issues for me:
-the interpretation sounds very rigid (very "computerized") if it has sense for you ?
-Adding a little bit of a global "concert hall" reverb or something.. would help I guess ;o)
-the samples do not sound so great/real (the tampani rolls are literally not possible.. )

As a side note, the title (Triumphant) is not very original, but mainly doesn't reflect so much what the music convey for me... (more emotional or solemn...)

Sorry to be so direct, but sometimes ... it helps ! Good luck with this piece !

[mikehamm123]

Hey Mike, I'm affraid you're not going to like my comment. But as you asked..

Phil—-thank you for listening. As for critiques, the more candid and direct the better.

I hear what you say. I don’t know why I’m having problems getting samples to sound more lifelike— I don’t have the top tier collections but have pretty good ones. There is more I need to do here and I’m not even sure which direction I’m supposed to be going with it. Like I know I need to do something different...

I also hear you about the rigidity. I actually had a version before that was more flowing but I had to cut it because the mood wasn’t consistent. But yeah that's another issue my recordings suffer from.

Actually listening it today I’m hearing a lot of harmonic problems with it—I really raced against the clock to finish/submit it. So not really ready for prime time.

Anyway I do appreciate the feedback, if everyone just said ‘oh yeah that’s great’ there would be less opportunity for growth and improvement.

Why are the timpani rolls not possible?

[PhilRey]

Hey Mike, I'm affraid you're not going to like my comment. But as you asked..

Phil—-thank you for listening. As for critiques, the more candid and direct the better.

I hear what you say. I don’t know why I’m having problems getting samples to sound more lifelike— I don’t have the top tier collections but have pretty good ones. There is more I need to do here and I’m not even sure which direction I’m supposed to be going with it. Like I know I need to do something different...

I also hear you about the rigidity. I actually had a version before that was more flowing but I had to cut it because the mood wasn’t consistent. But yeah that's another issue my recordings suffer from.

Actually listening it today I’m hearing a lot of harmonic problems with it—I really raced against the clock to finish/submit it. So not really ready for prime time.

Anyway I do appreciate the feedback, if everyone just said ‘oh yeah that’s great’ there would be less opportunity for growth and improvement.

Why are the timpani rolls not possible?

Well... First any kind of music like jazz or orchestral .. etc... is tricky to reproduce with a computer of course. It takes a lot of time, (money) and experience to achieve something (barely) credible. Years sometimes.. So no worries (as for jazz I don't even bother... my idea is that it has to be played live, period...)

The first thing is to listen to a lot of "real" orchestral pieces obviously, and pay attention to details (this alone takes time and should be done on regula basis, but like for any musical genre I would say).

Regarding your piece I would try to put a nice reverb (something like a concert hall, around 2 or 2,5 sc long) on the whole thing (like in t he real life..). That would smooth it a little bit (I can barely hear your reverb here).

Then the tampani yes. they just sound aweful sorry to say it. It's not about music, but about sound, the samples are not good (and it sounds very dry too.. reverb ! )

Like the string globaly... not the best samples for me... But again, a little bit of reverb would give them more credibility I guess

What are the sound banks you are using on this piece ?

[mikehamm123]

[quote="PhilRey"What are the sound banks you are using on this piece ?[/quote]

Concert Strings Legacy
Cinematic Strings
Orchestra Brass Classics
Symphony Essentials Woodwinds
Logic standard tympani

I had issues with the strings but didn't have time to look for a better fit. One problem is I didn't have time to program in rises and falls in volume to get the 'swells'.

I'm finding the samples can be more challenging than the actual composition, and they are two very different tasks using different parts of the brain. At any rate I need to spend more time learning that and mixing.

[mikehamm123]

I agree about jazz!

[PhilRey]

Your soundbanks should be fine for this kind of programming, so it's more (like you said) about spending time humanizing the piece (it's really a note by note thing)

Good luck with your track !