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Hi all, welcoming some feedback on this sad piano/strings piece. I'm a little concerned it evokes some other emotions than sadness, but I'd like to hear what you think. Also, any general feedback about production, mix, form, etc. is welcome too! Thanks in advance!

https://soundcloud.com/brentisom/despon ... al_sharing

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SAD, MINIMALIST PIANO & STRINGS INSTRUMENTALS and/or INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a NEW International Music Licensing Company started by highly experienced, successful founders!

This Company is searching for Instrumentals and/or Instrumental Cues in the general ballpark of these references:

"Reminiscence" by Ólafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott - https://youtu.be/Ktp2Tjfi5ko

"Compassione" by Cavallo - https://youtu.be/fKWcfb4GsY0

"Into The Abyss" by Jackson Mullane - https://youtu.be/F8HDPqVcuXw

Quoting the Company: "We are looking for greatly produced tracks with excellent performances that are representing the style and genre very well, while still staying within 'production music' rules."

Please submit modern, minimalist Piano and String Instrumentals (or Cues) with an overall sad sound and feel. Your submissions should have compelling melodies and a combination of Piano and String instrumentation. If you plan on using virtual piano or string instruments, they should sound like the real thing – anything that sounds synthetic, low quality, or obviously MIDI-driven won’t work for this request. Please be sure that your production is high-quality and modern, as well.

This is sad enough. It evokes a little bit of hopefulness in the sense that some of the phrases go up, but maybe that's a good thing depending on the placement. I have a piece with the same title that was written for a brief for the show "48 Hours". They would most likely use it for a scene reflecting on a victim so there is no hopefulness. It's just piano.

https://soundcloud.com/user-913241419/d ... al_sharing

karafinman wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:51 am

This is sad enough. It evokes a little bit of hopefulness in the sense that some of the phrases go up, but maybe that's a good thing depending on the placement. I have a piece with the same title that was written for a brief for the show "48 Hours". They would most likely use it for a scene reflecting on a victim so there is no hopefulness. It's just piano.

https://soundcloud.com/user-913241419/d ... al_sharing

Thanks for the feedback and for sharing your piece. Very nice piano playing!

I would say it's too mechanical , the piano just sounds like it's nailed to the grid so it removes much of the emotion even if the chords / notes are the right sort of thing.

I don't think the string part really has much expression either, it just sounds like it's been played on a keyboard most of the time.

It all really needs playing properly with some real human push / pull and dynamics, expression controllers etc.

Mark

karafinman wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:51 am

It's just piano.

https://soundcloud.com/user-913241419/d ... al_sharing

This is much more expressive and human sounding - nice track

cosmicdolphin wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 10:59 am

I would say it's too mechanical , the piano just sounds like it's nailed to the grid so it removes much of the emotion even if the chords / notes are the right sort of thing.

I don't think the string part really has much expression either, it just sounds like it's been played on a keyboard most of the time.

It all really needs playing properly with some real human push / pull and dynamics, expression controllers etc.

Mark

Thanks for the good feedback Mark! I always value your input.

I did play the piano part (although I admit I quantized it afterwards). And I did try to add motion and expression to the strings. Is there something else I should be doing, or does the expression just need to be more dramatic?

BrentI wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:03 pm

I did play the piano part (although I admit I quantized it afterwards). And I did try to add motion and expression to the strings. Is there something else I should be doing, or does the expression just need to be more dramatic?

The quantization has totally killed it, so it sounds more llke it's been trigger by an arpeggiator or something. I'm no great piano player either but I took that Piano4All course which is pretty cheap and after about 6 weeks I got noticably better. I didn't even complete the whole thing to honest but I can lay down piano parts that are good enough now and it's really helped my in generally.

https://pianoforall.com/

As for the strings, I mean it may just be you need a better more responsive string library but yeah it doesn't sound like the expression is dramatic enough to me.

Try this https://youtu.be/JUmStR0kWh4

cosmicdolphin wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 2:55 pm

BrentI wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:03 pm

I did play the piano part (although I admit I quantized it afterwards). And I did try to add motion and expression to the strings. Is there something else I should be doing, or does the expression just need to be more dramatic?

The quantization has totally killed it, so it sounds more llke it's been trigger by an arpeggiator or something. I'm no great piano player either but I took that Piano4All course which is pretty cheap and after about 6 weeks I got noticably better. I didn't even complete the whole thing to honest but I can lay down piano parts that are good enough now and it's really helped my in generally.

https://pianoforall.com/

As for the strings, I mean it may just be you need a better more responsive string library but yeah it doesn't sound like the expression is dramatic enough to me.

Try this https://youtu.be/JUmStR0kWh4

Sorry for the slow reply, but thanks for sharing those resources. I watched that video during the Road Rally last fall, but honestly forgot about it.

I re-played the piano without quantizing and tried to add more expression to the strings. Just curious if you think this is any better: https://soundcloud.com/brentisom/despon ... al_sharing

Thanks again!

BrentI wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:34 pm

I re-played the piano without quantizing and tried to add more expression to the strings. Just curious if you think this is any better: https://soundcloud.com/brentisom/despon ... al_sharing

Thanks again!

Better than it was but it still sounds stiff on the piano - there's no push and pull which adds the emotion - strings are better ( not sure about the part where they cresecondo ), I think if the piano was right you'd get away with the strings...the best bit is the from 1:46 to the end ..that sounds more emotional