Sad Piano and strings

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Zaychi
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Sad Piano and strings

Post by Zaychi » Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:55 am

Would love to hear your feedback again!

https://soundcloud.com/zaychi/all-gone/s-PEOHIeuEnDQ

for;

MODERN SAD STRINGS & PIANO INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a Music Licensing Company with a large list of placements in Films, TV Commercials, and A-List TV Shows.

NOTE: This Company has signed lots of TAXI members over many years and nailed down lots of placements for them!

This Company is looking for Instrumental Cues that could be found on a playlist with the following references:

"Sad Romance" by Ji Pyeong Kwon

"Flight From the City" by Jóhann Jóhannson

"þÚ Ert Jörðin" by Ólafur Arnalds

Please submit well-composed Instrumental Cues with an overall sad sound and feel. Your submissions should contain a combination of Piano and String instrumentation – if you're planning on using any virtual instruments, they need to sound like the real thing and not stiff, dated, or obviously MIDI-driven. Polished production and moving melodies are a must for this pitch. Craft your Cues around a singular motif, and layer instrumentation in and out as they progress to create a sense of forward momentum.

TAXI Tip: Although it takes a little bit of time for the Strings to come in on the references, we recommend layering them into your pieces right away.

Submissions should be about 2 minutes long, give or take, and have non-faded, buttoned/stinger endings. Do NOT copy the references in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.

This company offers an EXCLUSIVE deal. You’ll split all upfront sync fees 50/50. They’ll get 100% of the Publisher’s share, and you’ll keep 100% of the Writer’s share. You must own or control your Master and Copyright. Since this is an EXCLUSIVE deal, please be sure the material you submit for this pitch is NOT already signed with other Libraries or Catalogs. Please send as many Instrumental Cues as you’d like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by a TAXI screener. All Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021. TAXI # S210623MN

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by Paulie » Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:52 am

Beautiful music, wonderful composition musically. I definitely hear some classical influences in your harmonies. :) With regard to the listing,a few things stand out to me.

The piano sounds muffled, not crisp and resonant. Is this a Felt piano patch? I adore the Noire Felt Piano library produced by Nils Frahm, this reminds me a little bit of that felt piano. But I would like to hear a more crisp piano to cut through the strings.

Speaking of strings, I think the string library used here is too synthetic and "MIDI" sounding as we often are warned about, and they are a little too forward in the mix. The bar is so high for string sounds today I can see this getting returned just based on that.

Compositionally perhaps the piece could use some space. For example, I was waiting to hear a nice cadence and pause after the D minor at 0:39. Perfect place for a quick edit point or breath before moving on. You'vbe got a really nice Beethoven sounding section starting around 1:09 with a D-/A then E7, then G-, I think it would be good to include a slight pause there as a possible edit point, or you could do that before you return to the main theme at 1:26.

So, give the string and mix another look, keep the piano the main focus, and add a little space. This is a wonderful composition!

Paul
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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by blakeminnerly » Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:49 pm

Love your chord progression, very original cadence with a little dissonance while still being in the pocket. Reminded me a little of Erik Satie. I agree with Paulie - the strings sound a little synthetic, esp the high violins. I could actually here just solo cello and viola with this. Seems like in general it's easier to pull off realistic cello than violin (depending on the sample set of course) I actually like the "closed top" muted sound of your piano, but the high violins did sound a little strident in contrast. That all said, this is a beautiful composition. Great work!

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by superblonde » Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:34 pm

Sounds on my speakers like the piano has too much reverb especially in the low end causing muddiness. Could also be the chord voicing in the LH is too dense whereas maybe just single bass note could be better. If you want to use a dyad or triad in the LH of piano in notes below C3 then it seems more usual to arpeggiate.
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Susanstunes
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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by Susanstunes » Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:27 pm

Hi Zaichy
I like the opening progression, and after about :20 it starts to sound like the melody is trying to find itself. There is a middle section that kind of seems ...incomplete.
I didnt have a timeline on my phone to tell you exactly where these things happen.

This has a lot of potential but I agree with the others that the string and piano samples are not exactly organic-sounding. Is it a real piano?
Anyway, I also think a lovely soft synth pad played fairly high would really help glue it all together....
That's all I can come up with right now.
Except it has the sad mood, which is required... your emotional content has a lot of presence, based on this and your last one -'We dont talk anymore' (?)

Take care- Susan

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by irthlingz » Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:49 pm

Hi Zaychi -

Wondering if adding some definite edit points might be a plus. (Perhaps fits with Paulie's comment about more space.)

Also, is this a "non-faded, buttoned/stinger ending" ?

===
Michael

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by Peterg » Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:40 am

Hi Zaychi,
There seems to be a bit of a click at the very beginning, you might need to leave a slight gap when rendering the track.
The piano sounds a bit dull, or maybe too much low mid, but it gets a bit thick sounding in places, possible due to low chord clusters, I'm not sure.
The overall vibe is very melancholic and funereal which is spot on, but I think the strings probably need work to make them as real as possible, with more dynamics and maybe some nicer reverb, or playing separate parts for violin, viola, cello etc.
Good lick

Peter

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Zaychi
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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by Zaychi » Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:59 am

Well you guys are right, I prolly have more talent for writing harmonies/progressions/melodies than for production... and yeah those strings are a bitch. They're BBC Symphony so they shouldn't be TOO bad, but still... Reverb isn't the answer, tried it for a previous listing and got shot for that by the screener specifically. Tried EQ-ing and layering this time but you guys still agree that it doesn't work. Taking out the violin and use viola/cello only might indeed be the answer, though I did take the viola out earlier (playing the same part with a 2nd cello), but the track might get too mid-centered then... musically I really like the violins. But I also agree they're the weak spot sound-wise so looking into that anyway, or simplifying/pushing back their part.

Good spot of the LH of the piano, thanks, it's a separate track and the EQ was absolutely wrong.

The piano sound is by Addictive Keys. I was specifically looking for a very soft sound for the RH piano, and un-muffling would also make it more aggressive immediatly. But maybe I exaggerated it, will certainly play around with that for a bit, the deadline is still pretty far away.

Good advice on the "breathing space" and edit points as well, I added a half-bar in two places and it was an improvement... so thanks!

I believe the button ending is about adding a clear end chord as opposed to fading the track... it doesn't mean cutting the tail of that chord I think?

Thank you all for your comments, I'm back to the drawing board and will experiment around with your suggestions!

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by KennyWayneBuffalo » Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:15 am

I think it's a nice piece overall, but agree with others about the sounds. I have those issues as well, but my software has controls for expression, attack and release (many others, too) that I have found make a big difference in the sound. I watched quite a few videos about this and some said layering additional instruments or just riding the faders on the strings. I'm still working on this myself. Good luck!
Ken

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Re: Sad Piano and strings

Post by Zaychi » Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:47 am

Been working on he sound of this one... here's the new version:

https://soundcloud.com/zaychi/all-gone-04/s-pTrMjn9ce0C

Do you guys think at least SOME of the problems have been solved?

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