Orchestral "Hush Little Baby"

[georginasaint]

Hi All, I haven't been on the forum nearly as much as I'd like lately and I've had 2 weeks of being terribly distracted and not doing that much music. I'm going to try to post my orchestral rendition of "Hush Little Baby" for this listing: INSTRUMENTAL AND VOCAL ARRANGEMENTS of the Public Domain Lullaby "Hush Little Baby" are wanted by an established Music Publisher in Los Angeles. This company specializes in Film/TV and has signed & secured placements for many TAXI members. There are no specifications in terms of instrumentation or style, but you'll want to be sure that the recordings and performances are great. November 6, 2008. TAXI #Y081106TVI'm particularly interested in feedback about the handling of EWQL and mixing! I gave up posting things a while back because my links didn't work for anybody, but let's give it another try... "Hush Little Orchestra"http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... tream=true

[mazz]

Hi Georgina,This sounds pretty nice. The only thing I hear are certain notes sticking out in the string melody. I think it could be smoother. The accents aren't falling in natural places, at least to my ears, and it makes it sound a bit plodding. It could be the articulation you're using. If the articulation swells in when you hold a note down, then the short notes would be softer and the note would swell in louder when you hold it down. I suggest using short note articulations for the short notes and switching back to long notes for the held notes. You might need two tracks for this, and a lot of tweaking, but the results will be more realistic and flowing.Nice work!!Mazz

[georginasaint]

Hi Mazz, thanks for listening and for your thoughts. I have followed your guidlines using the two tracks already - but obviously not done a great job of it if you think I haven't!!!! This is the first time I've had a serious go at this and it's tricky. I think my choice of articulation for the long-held notes is not good then, as it crescendos throughout the note, so perhaps I need a note that stays at one level throughout? Maybe I need a crisper shorter note too? I find it very difficult to match up two articulations on two tracks - do you find from your experience that you end up knowing which two or three match well? I added the oboe to the tune to strengthen the tune in the beginning, but I don't particularly like it... Georgie

[remmet]

There are some very nice elements in your orchestration, but a few things could be made smoother. As already mentioned, the string melody could use some work. In addition to fixing the articulations and the phrasing, you might want to lower the reverb or hall ambience level of the strings (and maybe the rest of the orchestra). I'm thinking that a lullaby might be better presented in a smaller, more intimate setting.I really liked the background orchestration when you modulated to G-flat. But the transition into that section with the horn, etc. felt a little awkward. You might look for ways to smooth it out a bit. Perhaps a nice harp glissando and mallet cymbal roll could be utilized there.All in all, very good work.Richard

[mazz]

Hi Georgina,I think part of the issue with the long notes is that by the time they crescendo, they're louder than the other notes. It takes quite a bit of tweaking to get the articulations to match, that's for sure!! Try lowering the velocity of the long articulation and see if that smoothes things out a bit.Another thing you can do is to use controller 11 to make your long notes swell and fade. Sometimes that's more effective than a built in crescendo. Sometimes I'll use the fade in articulation only on a few notes, changing between legato articulations with keyswitches.You're doing fine with this, you have the right idea, just a few tweaks to make it more convincing. MIDI orchestration is the perfect opportunity to channel your inner control freak!!Cheers!Mazz

[orest]

I agree with the fellow members! If you hold the key longer, does the string sound make a crescendo in itself? I think you should change the string sound then. The orchestration is very nice and calming! If you just make a few changes, then you are there!