Orchestral Action

[glenrhodes]

Hi everyone.

I'm writing strictly orchestral stuff lately, and my own ears are becoming too saturated to hear the quality and know if it's good or not.. I'm writing all different styles, but I'd like to first ask for some feedback on the orchestral action piece "Dragon Chase", which I think could equally be a fantasy or sci-fi / star-wars esque piece.

www.taxi.com/grhodes

(Dragon Chase)

I look forward to your feedback!

Thanks

[mikeymike2000]

Hi Glen,

Welcome to the forum!

I listened 3 times. Not sure what you are looking for in terms of feedback. The only question I see is the ol "is it good" and that will have as many opinions as there are replies.

What I think you may be asking is about the overall production and quality of... does it sound real? Not sure just guessing but here is what I have to say after 3 passes.

Sounds like a film score. Good stuff.

The very first chord seems pretty abrupt. To me it sounds like a computer thing. You may want to check to see if you have a measure of blank piano roll before the first note. It sounds like you are starting several samples all at once without the extra measure in front. (This can be taken out later once it is in a wav form) if need be.

I would be interested to hear what it would sound like if the strings were more staccato or even with 1/4 or 1/8 rests between notes and in some cases tremolo (like 0:38 - 0:42 for example) . Legato strings are tough enough to do period but in this piece I feel like they may be weighing down the momentum.

Hope that helps.

[Salty]

First of all its a really nice and exciting piece- and could easily be used for a bunch of stuff.

Im hearing at the beginning (first 10 secs or so) that the strings and winds (not brass) sound sort of synthy. I 'think' its because they are in the same range under the horn which is masking the overtones of the strings there. After that I think they sound nice and authentic. Excellent Brass swells- if you dont mind sharing your methodology there, that would be great.

What I also like is that compositionally you brought the motive back at the end

[mazz]

Glen,

Hello to a fellow former Oprah composer!

Wow this sounds really awesome. Overall I think you're really great on the realism aspect of the orchestration and the usage of the samples, top notch!

The only thing that struck me on this particular piece is that I think you could have more variation in dynamics. I realize this is an action piece but for instance at around 25 seconds you bring it down and the strings are driving a bit and the brass are swelling and then it builds up to the big tutti repeated chords. I think you could actually come down at least one dynamic level at 25 (approx) which would make the brass swells more dramatic when they come in and would give you a little more room to build up to the big tutti chords (which seems to be one of the "hooks" of the piece and a very effective one at that).

My impression is that the brass players, even though they are at the back of the orchestra, sound like they're playing at least forte at all times. I think if you use more of their dynamic range, the piece would be even more dramatic than it is already. Right now dynamically it's a bit "flat", in that everything sounds a bit "pushed" to the front. I understand the modern aesthetic of that, but I think if you were to just put a bit more dynamic contrast in this piece, it would really have more impact. The fact that the trumpet players are always buzzing their bells tends to wear a bit after a while.

Great stuff, I'm being very nit picky because everything else is in place and I think more work on the dynamics could just put it over the top!!

Woo Hoo!!

Mazz

[glenrhodes]

Thank you all for your feedback.. I try really hard to get the strings to sound authentic - it's great having an outside ear, because in reflection, I can really hear the parts you're all referring to... the opening hit is a bit too abrupt.

Here's a rendition of Bach's Air on the G String I did - I'm wondering if you think the strings are more authentically produced:

http://soundcloud.com/glenrhodes/air-on-the-g-string

Thanks,
Glen

[Salty]

Hey Glenn-

Great work there; I think overall incredibly well done.
2 things stand out to me as being different from your other piece;
One is that its a much quieter strings alone sorta piece- so they arent competing with brass winds and percussion getting in the way and killing overtones- and you can really hear the quality of the string sound itself, generally beautiful.

Very small thing here:
The only thing that caught my ear was a few of the slides. Some of the portamento was really perfect, but there are a couple of spots in the violins that I think a real player wouldntve slid quite that way, almost makes it sound like a mistake that was quickly corrected.

Anyway Glenn- if you ever want to come by my crib and show me whats up Id love you forever, just dont mention my love to Mrs Salty.