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I am in Midi hell, and I can't get out!Actually, I did get out, but I need your help. Here's the deal....I posted this before for the Olympic listing (The Olympian) and I don't have all the cool samples - yet - that you folks are using. Can you hear my shoes squeak???I have Logic 8 and I really believe in this theme for the listing. Any Logic users out there who might be able to give me some pointers? Yes, the strings sample sucks, but I've toned them down. Please help. Thanks!!! 2 days and counting.......TRIUMPHANT OLYMPIC INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a great Production Music Library/Publisher that has signed tons of TAXI members over the years, and has made money for many of them. Think of lush orchestral pieces that put a lump in your throat. These would get used during playbacks/highlights of Olympic winners. Tracks should ideally run between :60 and 3 minutes in length. Broadcast quality is needed here - excellent home recordings will work. http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... tream=true

hey Song....Yes.... I think the only issue that you might have is with the samples... With that being said, this has all the makings of a strong contender for this listing -- and with some new samples it would be a hands down forward! Only other critique I can give you might be to watch your piano levels, as it gets a little overbearing in the mix from time to time... Overall though, this is a great composition and I wish you the best with it!

Aug 6, 2008, 11:47am, zoom wrote:hey Song....Yes.... I think the only issue that you might have is with the samples... With that being said, this has all the makings of a strong contender for this listing -- and with some new samples it would be a hands down forward! Only other critique I can give you might be to watch your piano levels, as it gets a little overbearing in the mix from time to time... Overall though, this is a great composition and I wish you the best with it!Hey Zoom!Thanks Zoom for the comment. The samples are on my list. I'll review the piano levels.Cheers!Steve

Hi SongStream,Our friend Zoom gave you some good tips. I'll just add that I think you can get away with a touch more reverb on powerful, emotional tunes like this one. This would also smooth out the tails on your MIDI notes (like at around 01:18). You can even experiment with fattening up the orchestra with a delay plug-in with settings that pan the original tracks hard left and then pan the delayed signal around 10 MS hard to the right (this trick is up to you & your ears ).When you don't own a sample library with multiple articulations you can always resort to creating slower attacks here and there by splitting off selected notes onto separate tracks and drawing fade-in envelopes. That kind of variety helps to avoid ear fatigue and can give a touch of realism where actual instruments would normally not jump in precisely at the same time.Good music btw! I'm lovin' it! -Allen

Thanks Allen! Good advice....still working on it!

Very nice melody, songstream! A little of the right kind of reverb would go a long way towards making this sound more real. The trick is to get the samples to sound like they're in the same room, which can be difficult when mixing samples from different sources. The best way to do this, IMO, is to add different amounts of the same reverb to various instruments. Your piano, in particular, sounds more than a bit too dry, I'd add some early reflections to that as well as a nice lush chamber or hall to the overall mix; you want just enough to make it bigger without it getting "washy". HTH

HTH,Thanks for listening and your support. Seems the reverb is a big factor in this. Steve

songman!being a big fan of a strong melody, i find this just friggin' beautiful--screw the midi problem, what you have here is a very good song, the whole enchilada--what it needs is for some (NOT ME) the easy part, the mixing. but the song is there man. maybe it might cost you a few bucks if you had someone demo it for you, if you can't yourself. that's all i got for you. oh, wait--on 2nd listen, what i MIGHT do at the end is revisiting the quieter beginning of the song, this can sometimes have a huge emotional effect. just a thought...but man, great job (kinda reminded me of the end of the first jurassic park as they're flying away in the helicopter...john williams-like, a compliment...the best,warren

Wow, Warren!Thanks for the compliment! The fellowship and support on these boards really keep me going!!