Middle Eastern Flavored Trailer - 2nd Attempt

[Ted]

Tim,

This is sounding great! Those cold ones sound great too.

You're making some massive improvements with this one. I was pretty sure I was hearing the NI Middle Eastern Collection-- it's got a lot of cool stuff in there. Curious what DAW you use. Yeah, those fast drums at the beginning in the previous version-- I THOUGHT maybe they were authentic samples, hence they were OK at that speed--but it just sounded a bit too unnatural all the same. It sounds a lot better now.

That drum that comes in at around :37 could maybe use a bit of TLC in the mix-- from about :39 to :51 seconds some of those percussion transients are a bit on the loud side-- just look at sanding it down and smoothing it out a little there. Maybe apply a little compression to that track, then lower the output.

I do think the first movement could use a subtle layer or two of melodic/harmonic instrumentation-- even if it's some string pads or something to keep the percussion from sounding too much like canned loops as it builds to the end of the first movement. Actually now that I listen again to that drum part that comes in at about :35, it's got a pitch to it; grabbing my guitar for comparison, the drum sounds like it's pitched in "E" so maybe you can work with some other element to complement this.

The second movement sounds good to me. I like the instrumental handoff at 1:26. Then of course, that really nice build into the third movement.

The beginning of the third movement sounds a little better this time. Did you mix a trumpet in there to double the melody? Sounds like it to me. Whatever I'm hearing, there's more of a bridge from the high to low frequencies. Maybe the brass is still a bit "Braaaam" sounding in the beginning of the third. Not so buzzy like it was before, but still a bit. It's maybe a bit loud at the beginning. As it builds to the finale, I'm hearing a really awesome build and development of the theme; I hear some softer brass layers in there that aren't so cutting as what I hear at the beginning of the third. Maybe you could swap these out-- so the softer brass parts are at the beginning with the flute and then the "braaam"-ier parts come it as the finale nears.

I like those low winds-- I can hear that the one timing issue has been fixed-- awesome. Not getting a detective show vibe anymore, haha. The ending portion is really nice, IMO. Just keeps building and adding more layers til the end.

Again, glad you didn't mind me nitpicking-- I've heard that the bar in this genre is pretty high, so it's good to be aware of little things that might be potential problem spots. At 2:05 there is a staccato brass note that goes into a sustained note-- I don't know what it is-- but it sticks out a bit unnaturally to my ears and sounds a bit MIDI. Maybe it's just me, but I've listened back to that spot several times and it just keeps barking at me in the wrong way.

You asked if anyone thought there was a clash in the mix at around 2:23 with the ethnic instruments and brass-- it sounded fine to me.

I've played around with the NI Middle Eastern Collection-- I haven't really studied what everything is yet. It seemed like it might be a bit of a pain in the *ss to edit individual parts of some of the things that are loopy, like percussion. So good job on going in there and making fixes. The deadline is 12/26 so you have plenty of time to fine tune the mix.

Again, nice work. I'm no expert in this genre-- I'm just an extra pair of objective ears. I have no idea where the "bar" is on these things, ultimately.-- but good luck and keep it up. I like this one a lot.


Ted

[Merryband1]

Well, I was going to have a listen, but I searched your Soundcloud page and couldn't find the Forgotten City track... I'll check back tomorrow and see if you've reposted it.

Merry

[Ted]

Well, I was going to have a listen, but I searched your Soundcloud page and couldn't find the Forgotten City track... I'll check back tomorrow and see if you've reposted it.

Merry

It's been reposted.

[timothycook]

Well, I was going to have a listen, but I searched your Soundcloud page and couldn't find the Forgotten City track... I'll check back tomorrow and see if you've reposted it.

Merry

The link to his track was on his last post on the first page of this thread. Here it is again.
https://soundcloud.com/timothywcook/for ... cTRVtv5nX9

I usually embed the link with the title text. These are private files so you won't find most of my stuff posted publically.
There seems to be some debate about publishing tracks, even on Soundcloud, and then submitting to something that might end up as an exclusive deal.

[timothycook]

Tim,

This is sounding great! Those cold ones sound great too.

Maybe there'll be an in-person RR in 2021.

That drum that comes in at around :37 could maybe use a bit of TLC in the mix-- from about :39 to :51 seconds some of those percussion transients are a bit on the loud side-- just look at sanding it down and smoothing it out a little there. Maybe apply a little compression to that track, then lower the output.

Hmmm, okay. I put a little "00 steelwool" on it.

I do think the first movement could use a subtle layer or two of melodic/harmonic instrumentation-- even if it's some string pads or something to keep the percussion from sounding too much like canned loops as it builds to the end of the first movement. Actually now that I listen again to that drum part that comes in at about :35, it's got a pitch to it; grabbing my guitar for comparison, the drum sounds like it's pitched in "E" so maybe you can work with some other element to complement this.

It's a Kudum so it's not really a pitched instrument. However, the cue is in E harmonic minor. I'll look at something subtle there. Most of the Middle Eastern instruments are quite harsh and when I try to tame them a bit, they seem to get mushy. My compression and EQ skills need to improve.

The second movement sounds good to me. I like the instrumental handoff at 1:26. Then of course, that really nice build into the third movement.

Thanks.

The beginning of the third movement sounds a little better this time. Did you mix a trumpet in there to double the melody? Sounds like it to me. Whatever I'm hearing, there's more of a bridge from the high to low frequencies. Maybe the brass is still a bit "Braaaam" sounding in the beginning of the third. Not so buzzy like it was before, but still a bit. It's maybe a bit loud at the beginning. As it builds to the finale, I'm hearing a really awesome build and development of the theme; I hear some softer brass layers in there that aren't so cutting as what I hear at the beginning of the third. Maybe you could swap these out-- so the softer brass parts are at the beginning with the flute and then the "braaam"-ier parts come it as the finale nears.

Okay. I used my harshest brass there because I didn't think the BBC stuff was quite 'traileresque'. Maybe I'll revisit which libraries I am using here. Then maybe add some subtle Braams stuff from the FMG Braams.

I like those low winds-- I can hear that the one timing issue has been fixed-- awesome. Not getting a detective show vibe anymore, haha. The ending portion is really nice, IMO. Just keeps building and adding more layers til the end.

Again, glad you didn't mind me nitpicking-- I've heard that the bar in this genre is pretty high, so it's good to be aware of little things that might be potential problem spots. At 2:05 there is a staccato brass note that goes into a sustained note-- I don't know what it is-- but it sticks out a bit unnaturally to my ears and sounds a bit MIDI. Maybe it's just me, but I've listened back to that spot several times and it just keeps barking at me in the wrong way.

Got it. The midi notes were overlapping just a bit on the Trombone and Trumpet.

You asked if anyone thought there was a clash in the mix at around 2:23 with the ethnic instruments and brass-- it sounded fine to me.

I've played around with the NI Middle Eastern Collection-- I haven't really studied what everything is yet. It seemed like it might be a bit of a pain in the *ss to edit individual parts of some of the things that are loopy, like percussion. So good job on going in there and making fixes. The deadline is 12/26 so you have plenty of time to fine tune the mix.

Thanks. I have 2 more that I'm working on so I can submit a total of 3 with different feels and mixtures of ME and orchestral instruments.

Again, nice work. I'm no expert in this genre-- I'm just an extra pair of objective ears. I have no idea where the "bar" is on these things, ultimately.-- but good luck and keep it up. I like this one a lot.

Ted

Thanks again, Ted. I really do appreciate the objective ears. I'm just getting my feet wet in this world so getting this very specific feedback is invaluable.

Cheers,
Tim

[Merryband1]

Found the link! I didn't see a place to comment, so I will here. I think you caught the flavor of the listing on all points! It has a lot of good edit points, too, so I could easily see this being used in parts of a film!

Merry

[timothycook]

Found the link! I didn't see a place to comment, so I will here. I think you caught the flavor of the listing on all points! It has a lot of good edit points, too, so I could easily see this being used in parts of a film!

Merry

Thanks Merry. I appreciate the listen and comments.

[Merryband1]

You're welcome!