The news listing 1st try

[steini]

Hiya, I'm trying and doing trial by error on some of these listings, some are pretty hard for me cause I'm used to just playing mellow on the piano. This here is my first try at TV intro or news stuff for theNew Listing A NY-based Music Publisher/Library (with studios also in Nashville and Los Angeles) needs great and very current-sounding DRAMATIC NEWS INSTRUMENTALS for placement as underscore for News-type programs. Think along the lines of shows such as 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Extra, etc. Sixty seconds to 3 minutes is the recommended length for this pitch. I know it isn't dramatic but could I pitch this type of stuff somewhere, and also is this close to broadcast quality?.http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... anksSteini

[pesmitty]

On first listen, and I am no expert for sure, your piece sounds like a theme song for an 80's primetime soap opera (e.g., Dallas or Dynasty or something). I do not think it is right for that listing (I am not sure if you intended to use it for that particular listing). Others with more experience in this area (I have none) will be able to help you more.

[ibanez468]

Hey steini,To answer your question, I'm pretty sure it could be pitched to some listing (sounds more like something for possibly a corporate/business listing). But, the brass patches are gonna' get critiqued for sounding too MIDI. Little too obvious. They want instruments to sound as real as possible. Your trumpet gets up in the higher registers, and you can really tell it's MIDI generated. Might have to beef the production up a little more, IMO. The overall concept sounds nice. The realism of it might get ya' though. I know, it's a tuff nut to crack. But that's what a lot of us struggle with, including myself. Keep at it though. It's something we all have to overcome at some point.ibanez468

[steini]

yeah, cant find trumpets that sound good

[ibanez468]

To take a page from mazz's notebook, try First Call Horns virtual instrument. I just purchased myself, but haven't had time to load it up just yet. He's probably gonna' cuss me out for givin' away his secrets, but check his tune out. Awesome horn section. Can't tell the difference.http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... 1ibanez468

[mazz]

Thanks ibanez for linking my piece (I got the forward on that one by the way). It's no secret that First Call Horns sounds good. The secret is knowing the strengths of the libraries and the weak parts of the libraries and how to play up the strengths and minimize the weak spots. There's things I wouldn't attempt with First Call Horns because they just don't sound good doing those things.If your trumpets don't sound good, then don't use them or use them blended in with something else. In your case, the trumpets don't sound great up high so don't write for them up there.This piece sounds a bit dated to my ears. You know how to write and put stuff together, that's obvious and that's a great place to be. I think watching some more TV, particularly the a la's listed will help you get closer to the listing. It's not a dramatic piece at all as far as I'm concerned.As far as broadcast quality, again, the style and the production don't sound current so I think you'll need to work on that.Here's a news piece that is more of a theme than an underscore but I think it sounds more like what you'd hear on TV these days. The French Horn is from SAM Orchestral Brass:http://www.johnmazzei.com/song/16Keep going, you're a good composer, just time to update the style and sounds!Mazz

[matto]

Steini,it doesn't sound much like news music they use here...I don't know what your news themes sound like of course, but since it's for a US library it has to sound like US news music.Mazz is right about the orchestral stuff. You have to write for the sounds you have. I have a friend who used to write very believable orchestral music solely using a Proteus 2. It still sounds decent even by today's standards. He succeeded because he was a really good composer, wrote to the strengths of his samples and tweaked the hell out of every CC in sight... The worse you're samples, the harder you have to work. I have an orchestral piece that was used on PBS Masterpiece theatre and several Spanish soaps which was done entirely with an Alesis S4 and Yamaha TG500, in other words generic "workstation" type synths. I had to do lots of tweaking and layering, but it still sounds okay...So in other words, I don't think the piece is at the broadcast quality level. The brass is (the biggest) part of the problem, but even without iot the piece sounds a bit stiff and midi generated.I'm also with pe and mazz in that it sounds somewhat dated.

[keithl]

Also, take a careful look at dynamics...so everything is not hitting the same velocity. Makes it sound very MIDI if they are all the same velocities.BTW - great piece Mazz!

[ibanez468]

Quote:Thanks ibanez for linking my piece (I got the forward on that one by the way).HA! I knew you would. You knew you would too. That song was too funky not to get forwarded. Congrats my man!ibanez468

[steini]

Hiya, thanks for the tips, I think you are all right, the thing about the stiffness is hard to deal with, I did play it all in but did some quantinizing. I listened to some stuff I found on the net and that did also sound kinda in the same direction as this although the musical material was different, I couldn't pull out the dramatic aspect. Like I said I'm trying to make music that does not come naturally so I need to "construct it more". Thats something I need to learn hence I will be dumping things in here to get feedback, because I was kinda happy with the piece per se... shows I need to be more of a critic. The horns I did know though.. they sound crap.Thanks againSteini