Leaderboard

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu Your words always mean a lot to me. I feel lucky that you stumbled upon this site and that you're always willing to share so much with so many. There are probably few members here that haven't heard some critique or advice from you, and you freely share without ever asking for anything in return. You first posted your giant clarinet piece here, and you had to wait months for anyone to say anything about your music until Daniel finally gave you perhaps the most in depth review anyone's ever written (I still remember him mentioning he needed a dinner break halfway through haha). And while you waited for even the smallest response, you gave your thoughts to damn near everyone. This place needed you, and even though it's traffic comes and goes, you were a fire when it was in a slower season. I noticed you've regained some vigor in your reviewing here lately, and I'm happy for that. I know your personal life was draining, and that caused a brief absence from me seeing your name scattered all throughout the forum. I'm very happy you're entering a new chapter with your career, and even more happy that your composing and performance goals have reignited. Your presence is cherished and admired here, even when we don't always show you how much you're appreciated. I'm very excited to hear your completed sextet, or new recordings of the piano music you work hard to perfect. It's always a pleasure to hear from you. Ah I stupidly forgot to give credit where credit is due! Here's the snap pizz in the score. Thanks, buddy 💋

If I had the amount of followers on YouTube these audio engineers do, I'd honestly make my own video tearing these apart. The irony of these videos produced by audio engineers stating "the real reason today's music all sounds the same!" is that they are all saying the same things every other audio engineer is. and they're all wrong. This is a subject that really needs an experienced, old composer's perspective on. To his credit, Billy does passingly mention things like 120 bpm, loop packs and a lack of key changes, but his arguments are still mainly "Everyone is recording the same way." like what Rick Beato and Glen Fricker talk about. "No one is recording guitars with real mics! They're all using Superior Drummer! They're quantizing!" etc. Yet they cannot explain why so many different-sounding albums in popular music used and still use the Shure Sm57, Marshall JCM800, Celestion Speakers, 6L6 tubes, and a Gibson Les Paul or strat with DiMarzio super distortions. How come everyone who writes for an orchestra doesn't sound the same? It reminds me of how, back in my electronica phase, guys said not to use presets because "You'll sound like everyone else!", and then proceeded to plop down a four-on-the-floor (the only beat they know) with an offbeat or side chained, straight 16th note bassline just like everyone else. Guy...I don't think it's the patch you chose for the bass that is causing you to sound the same. Stuff sounds the same now because everyone is WRITING THE SAME MUSIC I don't know why this isn't obvious these guys; it should be obvious even to a layman. Like I said in the thread about "what makes a chord move poorly": This thinking in terms of "chord progressions" is one of the things making everything sound identical, as is the dominance of "ostinato". It's just crazy to me that someone out there is laying down "epic" drums and plunking in that "root-third" 8th note ostinato every trailer piece plays on the violas and thinks to himself "...I'll bet if I had my own string library, I'd sound unique!" Granted, I do think that it helps to an extent. I don't think anyone else's mockups sound quite like mine due to me having a rather unique collection, but this by itself would not be enough. I like to lean into genre tropes, but as @PeterthePapercomPoser accurately noticed in my latest cinematic-metal track, the guitar riff is a seamless mix of Phrygian and the diminished scale. Most metal bands today would stick to the Phrygian the whole way through the song. Curious to hear your thoughts. In my opinion, it is a more damning report on the current state of the music industry that everyone seems oblivious to the obvious decline in craftsmanship at the songwriting stage than it is that everyone is using Superior Drummer.

As a composer, sometimes I struggle with creating original, creative pieces. This struggle makes it difficult for me write and finish work. On top of this stress from non musical job and family stress just makes even harder. However, despite of all this, I can still take time to try write down my ideas.

I got sidetracked composing my new album, and did this arrangement of the classic opening song. Let me know what you guys think. Mocking up that sort of vocal melody with samples, with a lot of repeated notes, and where the singer deliberately isn't always on pitch and the lyrics are half-spoken is tough.

Hello! Here is a short track I recorded for a chapter of my story about three years ago; I thought I’d share it here once I’ve made the score but that hasn’t happened yet, so it might not happen soon, hehe. Track on YouTube. Any comments are appreciated! Unfortunately, I do not know anyone who plays the oboe, nor can I play it myself, so I used the built-in sound in my piano. Let me know if the oboe sounds playable! Edits: 1. I forgot to add that I am mostly happy with this because my priority is how it sounds with the scene it was composed for. However, I think I will change the oboe part from 1:33 to 1:53, because it doesn't highlight the piano and takes away from it instead. 2. If anyone is curious, here is a piano only version.

How are you so good. As I've said before, you have a way with crafting character in your music. Anyone would be lucky to hire you and have you work with their projects... best of luck in that and keep us updated as always. Also, You might not be allowed to post anymore, don't want to ruin that and all

Now, THAT is interesting, Henry! There's an irony to that!

I feel like I never lose sparks on composing because I never consider myself a composer at all haha.

Hey my buddy, Sorry for being late. I have to my 100% concentration for your massive work before reviewing it haha. It's my third listening before daring to review anything. The opening melody by woodwinds is already very captivating for me. It's in my favourite C# minor!!!!!!!!! I love all those pentatonics used! And then the development with blue notes followed by the strings is very nice too. Then at 1:30 I love your usage of brass. I love your orchestration in 1:40, sounds so magical there with the harp, and then you take a huge turn to the tritone G minor, and then modulate to E minor! Very effective there. I love the more raw sound here, especially those annoying low bass strings. Sounds like Western films to me! And then in 2:52 nice texture with the woodwind playing the themes, harp accompaniment and the bass. 3:17 sounds so nice with the brass! I feel like in 3:40 the strings can join a bit earlier but the development is very nice, probably one of favourite section. I fxxingly love the theme here as it did make cry literally. Sounds like walking through an adventure with those pentatonics. The string melody sounds so marvellous here. Then again the contrasting theme in G minor enters. Affter some depressive lingerings in 7:10 that grand E minor theme enters again. 7:50 sounds so mysterious. Even though I know it's from the opening theme, it sounds so different here!! It's so beautiful and I cried a 2nd time. Like @piajo's great saying: That's the ultimate reason why I don't really like Tchaikovsky haha. The 8:50 theme sounds fresh to me with a bit detached touch, then it starts gaining energy for the next blowup in 9:50. I love the tutti here and also the contrast! The woodwind theme is so nice here, and the B major optimistic theme sounds nice. Then the opening theme returns with variations which I love it as usual. Then that surprising C major chord in 11:25 with the snap pizz LoL! I literally laugh out loud hahahahahaha! It sounds very very familiar but I don't know where the inspiration comes from . Like @piajoit does sound optimistic even though I kind of know the inspiration behind this piece. I don't feel like from 12:50 onwards it feels incomplete. I just feel like the intensity lowers after the great adventure before, just like human being towards death. The 14:00 theme sounds nice in Db pentatonic. The materials sound fresh in a different key there. I absolutely love your ending starting from 15:25! I am shame faced enough to say that the woodwind accompaniment there sounds like the opening of my Sextet😝. The ending is so nice!! I feel like it is indeed a life walkthrough and our mind is loading is rewinding on what our life has done in a lapse of seconds. The only thing I'm not satisfied with is that the piece is too short!!! Well, Beethoven wrote his optimistic 2nd Symphony during one of his most painful period, while Tchaikovsky wrote his Pathetique when he was having one of his happiest period. I can say I feel the sadness in your music and your confrontation with it in the middle and the acceptance at the end. I enjoy it thoroughly. Thx for sharing us such a wonderful piece and journey. Really hope you would compose more pieces like this in the future haha!! Henry

Hi @olivercomposer, It sounds quite diabolical in the diabolic Eb minor! The violin part should be hard to play too! I love the hemiolas you use around 1 minute. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Aw Ke Shen, Again as a late reviewer (and copycat) I agree with everything @PeterthePapercomPoser and @Awsumerguysaid. The melody in the first section is not interesting enough as in Rach's G minor Prelude. I love your care on both the transition to the middle section and returning to the C minor March. that can be remembered Don't be too worry on that, I literally borrowed and stole from Beethoven in all of my early "works" (and still so!). Thx for sharing! Henry

I haven't posted anything new in ages: I've been busy with school work, so I haven't had as much time to dedicate to composing as before. That being said, that doesn't mean I haven't composed at all. I finished this piece just yesterday, and I felt like sharing it with everyone here. Let me know what you think! 😃

@PeterthePapercomPoser Thanks for pointing this out - especially since this is something I personally am not supposed to be very fond of and ofc wld not want to find in my own works as well, since it seems to strip away the identity of and space for the artist.

You should see the garbage Christmas music I've submitted lol. Anything you want is fine, this is lighthearted and fun.

I appreciate the comments! I agree, the second movement is the weakest. I always have trouble with slow movements and kind of approached it in the end of just completing one so I could call this a finished sonata. I am proudest of the third movement which I think best captured my intent to immerse myself in Beethoven's style.

Hey there, @Aw Ke Shen! Thank you for giving us this new work. Congratulations on publishing your first work, by the way! I'm sure it is an exhilarating thing (speaking as somebody who has never published anything before 😅). Speaking as somebody playing Rachmaninoff's prelude for an upcoming recital, I have to say it is... well, a little reminiscent, to say the least. I would have to agree with what @PeterthePapercomPoser said: it feels like your work borrows too heavily from Rachmaninoff's, while simultaneously offering only a handful of its own memorable musical moments. Just on a whim, I gave your other works a listen, and they seem to have a more developed and interesting harmonic characteristic that I feel is much more 'you', in a way. Because you were trying to 'thread' that proverbial needle, all of those little 'you' moments were swept away in this piece. That being said, I don't want to be a complete downer: it's an interesting work overall, and you took it differently in the B section and the repeated A section. That change to the original music was a breath of fresh air, and I didn't mind listening to it. But then again, we're just the critics: you shouldn't feel too bad about constructive feedback! It's always good to learn from your mistakes. Thank you for sharing anyway! It was worth my time listening to your work 😊

Hi @Aw Ke Shen! Glad to see that you're back. For me the problem isn't that it uses Rachmaninoff's accompaniment pattern too liberally. That alone is not something that can be copyrighted, neither can a chord progression. What sticks out to me is once again that you use too much repetition of the main idea (the famous accompaniment pattern). And you don't pay attention to the fact that your melody is basically just an Andalusian Cadence and lacks individuality and definition. I was so relieved once the A section ended and you brought the listener to the contrasting middle section in G major. That section was a bit better since the accompaniment pattern was not as annoying and hammery despite being just an ascending and descending arpeggio. Sometimes, simple accompaniment is good. But, what I miss is a memorable theme that isn't just based on step-wise motion. After having listened to this piece, I can't easily sing or whistle any of the tunes. I think you're writing in a style where a certain melodiousness is expected. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing!