Ark Wars - Epic John Williams - Comments Please

[fusilierb]

There is a listing that is due tomorrow. They want Epic Orchestra pieces, but they list 3 John Williams tunes as reference, so its fairly obvious they want a John Williams piece. I've never tried to really nail his style, but I'm so familiar with it I figured I should give it a shot. I started writing this late Monday night and its been a mad dash to try to get this all written and orchestrated correctly. (sorry full time job, I'll get back to you later) I'm buried under massaging the performance right now. After work tonight, I can stay up with it till the sun comes up, but I'm moving so fast that I'd like to get some feedback.I still have to work on the swells and smooth out the quick lines. And add more percussion and the mandatory John Williams harp sweeps and do a mix, so with that in mind, anything that sticks out or that you would change please let me know and I'll try to get this nailed down by tomorrow night.Thanks in advance!Ark Warshttp://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_id=2035 ... anfusilier

[mazz]

Hi Bryan,Cool piece, nice composition and orchestration. Very "Jurassic Park" classic Williams influenced to my ears!Your mix will make or break this piece. Right now there's no front to back depth, everything is in the same plane. What will help with that impression is pulling the brass and percussion behind the strings and woodwinds. The brass will naturally come forward when they get brighter, that's just the laws of physics at work, so they can be way more textural when they are playing those rhythm parts.Percussion is always at the back of the orchestra and so having things like triangles and snare drums much softer and further back will help with that illusion and will still provide the color you are looking for.One thing I realized when I picked up a few of the John Williams study scores is that there's a ton of stuff going on but it doesn't sound like it because most of it serves to create a background texture for the melodies. So a lot of your string movement when they're not playing the melody can be woven in to the background. It's not important to hear each part clearly, it's more important to have each part well thought out as to it's function in the overall texture. I think you've done that, now let the mix make that happen.Good luck!!Mazz

[fusilierb]

Thanks Mazz, that is a huge help!B

[carlosgomez]

I like it and would like to hear what you submit

[fusilierb]

Just uploaded the first actual attempt at the mix. Will be tweaking details from here on out.

[ideascapes]

Bryan,Mazz is the pro here and I'm a newbie orchestrator, so take my comments with an entire grain silo of salt...The blend sounded pretty good to me, but fairly dry on the strings--not very atmospheric. Also, there were several places where the percussion sounded a little out of time (or the other instruments out of time with the percussion). I do hear that with real orchestras too, so maybe that adds realism. And it's probably the sense of time/swing in the jazzman in me...Good luck with this!Vince

[geo]

Hey Bryan,Got a Jurrasic Park vibe as well... very nice piece.... cymbals sound a little hot to me.... very cool..Peace, Geo

[fusilierb]

Thanks for the listens and comments everyone. It's basically "finished" now. And everything said was incorporated into the "final" mix. You guys are great!B