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Hope you get a chance to listen to "Pirate's Cove." I know the audio isn't quite perfect, but this is over 40 tracks thick and this is all the mixing I can stand for now. I'll put in a couple more hours, but would like to have some feedback so I can zero in on problem spots. Please excuse the "Close Encounters" quote a couple minutes into this. I'll take it out. Thought it was funny at the time. Pirate's Cove6:33http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm ... 498460Kind Regards,Andy

Very nice work. Great use of the orchestral libraries. What are you using?I'm listening on my crappy little speakers at work so grain of salt time here, but overall the mix sounds good. I think some of the solo instruments stick out a bit too much. I know that the Hollywood sound is lots of spot mics so they can accentuate the solos but I think you could bring them back a bit and we'd still hear them. Piccolo usually doesn't have much of a problem making itself known, particularly in the register you're using it in!! Overall great work. Would like to hear more about your studio and your process!Mazz

Andy,Sounds GREAT! As far as feedback, anything mazz says. Mazz according to his soundclick profile, he's using EWQL Gold Pro.ibanez468

Excellent in all respects! You are very talented.

1st Good writing, and pretty good use of the libraries, do you fit em to sibelius?2nd Did you mix this at all, or is it straight from EW like this, I think it could benefit from some mix touches, add more bass etc.(edit: probably my crappy speaker system on the computer) The part that did not convince me was the central part with the french horns, they sounded like they had different reverb or something than the rest and were therefore a bit strange.However you obviously know how to orchestrate very well and you are pretty close to being able to send out these orchestral pieces I think.Cool homepage.

Andy,very nice work!Compositionally speaking this works extremely well for me, keeps me interested and entertained throughout. I thought the "Close Encounters" quote was fun as well, however it kills the marketability of the piece so it's definitely better to take it out.I think the mockup is quite good, for the most part it sounds believeable. Where it's lacking for me is in the dynamics, the piece sounds quite "flat" dynamically and lacks impact. The dynamics between the softest passages and the loudest tutti sections would be several orders of magnitude greater in a real orchestra, and while you may never quite achieve that with samples, I think you can squeeze quite a bit more dynamics out of Gold XP.What's more, the dynamics in your piece are generally quite "stepped", i.e. louder passages are followed by softer ones, then louder, then medium etc What's lacking for me are the continuous dynamics, particularly the big impactful crescendi.The only significant one you have is at the end, and it's quite "tame" considering what's possible.Personally I would go in and apply much more liberal amounts of the expression controller (or modulation of course if you're using DXF patches) to your existing parts, and maybe also tuck in some of the prerecorded brass crescendi in opportune spots to really breathe some extra life into this mockup.The composition certainly deserves it, beautiful work!matto

Wow! is all I can say .. very impressive!You guys going for the orchestral pieces are running with Huge Ears!All comments above seem extremely thoughtful and articulate and I really do not have the experience with any of that stuff to comment on production enhancement.What I heard sounded like a movie bed thats for sure, yet something lost me momentarily, I think rhythmically around 1:30, peculiar timing or funny poly-rhythm, hard to put my finger on. I also wanted more melody and thematic development. It was definitely there, yet i was interested to hear it more often.Last thing, The Title.... Sets up mystery and gallantry, even spooky and kind of dark. This was a much more uplifting vibe or the "scenery" enhancement: panoramic views of waterfalls and lush foliage as the scene is setting up plot development through imagery and location. I actually just watched "Dead Man's Chest" last night, and although there was plenty of uplifting stuff, the recurring themes had a minor quality to them. Fantastic stuff. I'll listen to more on your page soon.Good luck!Monty

Thanks for the comments . It's so helpful to know what other people are hearing when they listen to my stuff. I actually use Finale for my renderings, and open the midi in Sonar for final recording. I never get quite the final end product I want. I probably need more gear and knowledge of mixing and mastering. Andy