Another Epic Orchestral piece - feedback please

[stevebarden]

I am submitting this piece to the epic orchestral listing. I'm still getting used to the EWQLSO Gold library so some of the articulations could have better choices. I'd like to get some feedback on the overall mix. The deadline for this listing is at the end of today, so unless the screeners work on weekends then I should have the entire weekend to work on the mix. All comments appreciated. Thanks!SteveSpace Adventurehttp://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_id=131515&stream=true

[kurtkreimier]

Steve,This is a really nice composition! Very well arranged and orchestrated. I think the mix is also well done. Nice use of the percussion too. The fact that you are using samples does come through a few times. Mainly on the louder and more legato string and trumpet parts around 28 seconds. The string lines shortly after that also sound like they are dragging just a bit. Maybe a just a little bit to much swell on the attacks. You might want to layer in some solo violin and cello parts along with the section sounds. If you have already done this you might want to bring them up in the mix a little bit but not too much if you get my meaning. In terms of the brass and trumpet sounds I can't give you much in terms of suggestions. The trumpets sounded a little thin. One thing that might help is too just oh so slightly layer in some french horns with the trumpets. This might help fatten up the trumpet sound just a little. I don't do much of any material like this and what I have done is nowhere near the quality of this so take my comments with a grain of salt. I'm sure there are others here who can give you a much better set of suggestions. Overall I would say this is an excellent composition and very well produced.Good Luck!Kurt

[davekershaw]

Wow! Super work Steve.If I close my eyes, I can imagine waiting in line to go on one of those space rides at Epcot! Sound captures the anticipation and excitement.Wish I could get that sound with Gold!Best of luck with it.Dave.

[georginasaint]

Hey Steve, this is really lovely! I only wished it were longer!It's got JW's touch all over it!! Well done!Georgie

[devin]

It's not my genre, so I'm just going to listen in awe (and marvel at specific feedback where people can actually offer to improve it...holy smokes!).Great job Birthday Boy!!

[davekershaw]

Quote:"When everything is louder than everything else, you're done!" - The Reverend Mojobone.

[stevebarden]

Thank you Kurt, Dave, Georgina, and Devin. Kurt, your observations are very helpful. I am in the midst of incorporating some of your suggestions. I often forget about adding a solo instrument to an ensemble. Years ago I used to hang around some Disney cartoon sessions like Goof Troop. Mark Watters was the composer. The orchestra was primary a virtual orchestra with the addition of one live player for each section (violin, trumpet, horn, etc.). It really made for a realistic sound.The trumpet is very thin because it's muted which is thin by nature. Originally it was not muted. Now I'm going back to a regular 4 trumpet section, except for in the pizzicato section I'll keep it muted.Blending is always a struggle because you really want to hear everything! After a certain point I lose my objectivity so it's helpful to have outside ears tell me what's wrong.Thanks again.Steve

[stevebarden]

Jan 23, 2009, 10:17am, davekershaw wrote:Quote:"When everything is louder than everything else, you're done!" - The Reverend Mojobone. , indeed!

[stevebarden]

I've uploaded a new track with some fixes and changes. Kurt was right about the first violins having a slow swell in the attack so I swapped it out for a more appropriate articulation (butter legato) and it works much better. I also went back to the non-muted trumpets and blended the french horns a bit more.I experimented with the mix using reverb to give it a more realistic orchestral sound. I'm using Gold and the instruments are recorded from the stage position. Even though the sound of an individual instrument has a really nice ambience (room sound) it gets lost when the entire orchestra is being played and basically sounds dry so I'm back to having to add some reverb to bring it back to life.Since I generate a separate audio track for each instrument I am able to control the amount of reverb for each track. In this case I created two busses, one for close instruments (strings, woodwinds) and one for far instruments (percussion, brass). This way I can make the far instruments sound, well, further away.Since I'm using EWQLSO Gold and not Platinum I don't have the option of multiple mic positions. To simulate the far mic position (back of the concert hall) I copied the final mix to a new track and added a large concert hall reverb. I offset the track a few milliseconds later than the original track to simulate the distance of a far mic and blended the track oh so slightly as to give it a realistic sound.This is all a work in progress. I'll continue to experiment with articulations and reverb until I get good at it. Let me know what you think.Steve

[aldicicco]

Congratulations Steve!Locking yourself in a room for a month with EW Gold really paid off.I'm impressed. Super job.Al