Orchestral - drama/suspense for comments

[georginasaint]

Hi everyone, I haven't been around much the past month but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of being on the forum...I've written a new orchestral piece and would welcome feedback and comments of all sorts. "EBB & FLOW"http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... tream=true I hope that link works, I haven't done this for so long I've forgotten...Georgie

[bmete]

Hi Georgie,Nice piece, I really enjoyed it. I got the feeling that I was on an old war ship in the fog waiting for the battle, ( where Erroll(sp) Flynn when you need him. The tune makes you rock back and forth. The only minor thing I heard ( and it may be my speakers) at :37 the ascending oboe line seemed to fade out a little on the way up, Great job!Bob

[wignelson]

Hi, Georgie,Your piece evokes an emotion of something dark and pensive, kind of like Batman adjusting his suit before he takes off to combat the dark forces of the night. That's good that you convey a feeling.What is weak, in my considered and weak as well opinion, is that there is only two chords to the piece and there is no resolution.It lacks movement; however, there are many instances in film and TV where movement would be a vampire and they want stark emotive sounds that are strictly background, so I'm told. I don't know from experience, because I've never actually talked to a sound editor of films. But that's the way I would use this piece.I would also suggest that you tighten up the tympani. It's a little loose in places, but otherwise this is nicely done.Hope that is what you were looking for,Wig

[georginasaint]

Hi guys! Many thanks for listening and giving me your thoughts. Wig you're spot on there - there are indeed only 2 chords, I couldn't afford a third haha!It just went that way. And you're right that the timp need tightening up too - good ears!Maybe I'll do another version with a third chord in it... But yeah I think the rocking back and forth that you mentioned, Bob, is what came across to me too and I kind of went with it. I'm very lucky today that Bang & Olufsen have taken to my music and want to use it to demonstrate some of their stereo products and have leant me their very expesnive top of the line speakers for the weekend, so I can do some serious tweaking!Georgie

[mazz]

Hi Georgie!Cool piece, nice writing!Here's my thoughts on potential improvements (my opinion only, of course!)1. The oboe part could be split amongst more woodwinds and even doubled either at the unison or octave as the piece builds to where the brass take over. Have the oboe play one phrase followed by maybe a clarinet or flute and then the third phrase could be doubled. Just an idea.2. It seems to me this would have more depth if you used a trombone section instead of what sounds to me like a solo trombone. If they were voiced in triads just around and below middle C, even mixed back a bit, the emotion and feel of the piece would be enhanced. 3. Make the entire orchestra swell dramatically along with the brass. If you listen to an Elfman score (I agree this is reminiscent of Batman), you'll hear some dramatic crescendos followed by moments of quiet. Of course, he's got the luxury of scoring to picture, but just check out a few of his Batman things and you'll see what I mean.I can't speak to whether or not this fits the listing (I'm a bit behind on those, still recovering from my trip!) but it sounds more "drama" than "suspense" to my ears. For suspense, I would think you would want to modulate up a minor 3rd (classic film device, listen to any John Williams score for one example) at least once and make the harmonies progressively spikier (nice clashes between held notes and new ones entering before they resolve). It sounds dramatic now, but a bit too "polite" to my ears for a suspense piece.I'm enjoying hearing your music, keep up the good work!!Mazz

[georginasaint]

Hey Mazz! How lucky am I today! How did you manage to listen? You said you wouldn't be able to listen, but maybe someone gave you some headphones? THANK YOU so much for taking the time to listen and give me such detailed thoughts!Excellent ideas, as always, and I'll see what I can do to use those ideas. I'm very limited as to how many instruments/tracks I can have (16 is my absolute max and as I get toward that many the piece gets stuck more and more and I get pops and squeaks all over) so it makes it hard to add more woodwind - I had the same thought as you about other woodwinds weaving in and out but I can't load any more in. Also I feel the oboe sounds rather lifeless in this tho I've since put a bit of EQ on it. There are no listings currently that i can write for so this was just what popped out over the last couple of days. I got 4 new pieces done this week which is always my goal, seldom achieved!Thanks again for your excellent advice!!!! Georgie

[heinsite]

hi georgie--not as lucky with me...LOL..mazz is the KING--but I CAN'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING WITH THE =TRUE thing at the end here on taxi, don't know why, is there another way to post it? i tried...all the best,warren

[mazz]

Mar 14, 2009, 1:00pm, georginasaint wrote:Hey Mazz! How lucky am I today! How did you manage to listen? You said you wouldn't be able to listen, but maybe someone gave you some headphones? THANK YOU so much for taking the time to listen and give me such detailed thoughts!Excellent ideas, as always, and I'll see what I can do to use those ideas. I'm very limited as to how many instruments/tracks I can have (16 is my absolute max and as I get toward that many the piece gets stuck more and more and I get pops and squeaks all over) so it makes it hard to add more woodwind - I had the same thought as you about other woodwinds weaving in and out but I can't load any more in. Also I feel the oboe sounds rather lifeless in this tho I've since put a bit of EQ on it. There are no listings currently that i can write for so this was just what popped out over the last couple of days. I got 4 new pieces done this week which is always my goal, seldom achieved!Thanks again for your excellent advice!!!! GeorgieGeorgie,I'm not sure if I mentioned on the India thread but I'm home now, as of late yesterday afternoon.I would suggest bouncing some parts to audio to free up more tracks for MIDI. It takes a bit of time but will give you more CPU room to orchestrate with. You can always go back and re-do the bounced tracks if necessary, just bounce the ones you're done with. I do this all the time, it's not a big deal.Although limiting the palette is sometimes a good thing too! Cheers!Mazz

[georginasaint]

Warren, I don't know how else to do that. I might sling it onto my website tonight... I'll PM you if I get it done. Thanks for looking in. Seems like you can listen to the score for Batman and get the general idea of how it sounds... ha ha ha!Georgie

[georginasaint]

Mazz, that's such a sensible, logical idea. I've never done that before, but will certainly experiment with that now you've made the lightbulb go on! Also, I was thinking that, to get a trombone section, I could just record the solo trombone three times over, building up the triads, as you suggested. So glad to hear you've got home - you must be so happy to be back!!!Georgie