frXNter

Thanks for listening, really appreciate it! To be honest, I almost feel the same way as you. The main reason I think it's acceptable (and why it got the OK from the director) is because it "sounds nice". That's not much good for me personally, however, because this could easily just be stock music. Maybe that's too harsh. I dunno. As for using i and VI, I initially did that just to sketch out the cue. Then, when listening with the dialogue, I couldn't find anywhere it could change. Like you said, "it's hard to get a sense that something is growing." I think that's the problem I found with the dialogue. It started with a certain sadness, then moved to the older woman snapping, then coming back to apologise over and over again, before a final "I'm sorry, let's go back"-kind of line. Maybe I'm making excuses here, though. Surely I can do something better than this. I'm glad you've made me think about it further. The Picardy cadence — the only real "interesting" part of this. I used this on an earlier scene as well (attached that)... Listening back it felt like it worked better in that cue, maybe because it just went from i to I, rather than VI to I. It definitely sounds a lot more awkward in this piece. However, if I go VI > bVII > I it sounds so predictable. Also the other cue did a loop of IV > i, making it easier to resolve to the E major (maybe?). Anyway I'm just thinking out loud... Again, really appreciate the feedback. Love hearing stuff like this, it makes me think about what I'm doing a lot more deeply.

Thanks Maarten ;) there aren't horns in this piece at all. There is a synth drone underneath everything, as well as a static string line. Also I added a high shimmery synth in the pulsating string phrases (there must be a real term for the cresc-decresc thing...). Maybe that makes it too dense, but I tried removing some notes and it left it feeling too open. Glad you enjoyed it!

Hey peeps, Another draft scene I put together today... because it's so fresh, there's probably a whole bunch of stuff I've missed. All feedback is welcomed!

Thanks Maarten ;) You're right about the cymbals. They're mental. I didn't really listen to this properly before I put it up. But I'll get rid of most of those cymbals. As for the second half, I thought the gamelan sound fit there because it has a nice dark, mallety sound. Glad you liked it ;) Sorry about the choppy audio bounce as well. For some reason Logic decided to not bounce properly and it sounds terrible. I'll try to get another version up at some point.

Hey peeps, Put this together today for another scene. Starts with a girl getting off a plane, montage through the airport, before catching an uber and having an awkward conversation. Looking for any feedback you might have!

The biggest thing I think this needs (apart from switching up that ostinato as mentioned above) is some breathing room. There's no real introduction. It just feels like we're going straight into a loop. I did up something quickly to show you how I would approach something like this (this is very rough, but hopefully it gives you some ideas). It's just about letting the parts breathe, so that the listener won't get bored, and so that you can hear what's going on. Hope this helps.

Another little something for critique (please rip it to shreds!) I'm not particularly happy with this at the moment. Feels like it's all over the place. I think my main issue is probably the strings — they just don't feel like they're working. It's probably a combination of the writing and the orchestration (and maybe the samples I'm using as well), but maybe some more seasoned composers can give me some tips here (especially at mark D...) As an aside, the director loves it, and is going to use it, but just for my own purposes I want to see if there's anything I can do with this to polish it up a bit. Score is attached, if that's helpful. Anyway, here it is in context (ungraded first cut):

Thanks for taking a listen! For context, this is how it would've been used (ungraded first cut of the scene):

Thanks! Definitely what I was going for. I think I may know which interval you mean here, but I'm not sure. I've attached a rough score if you wanted to tell me exactly where. (I'm not very experienced with written scores, but you should get the idea). I'm thinking you're talking about the first pass of the melody where I've put a B-flat and a C-flat on top of one another (bar 19)? Because that sound took some getting used to, but I kinda like the dissonance. Let me know if you mean something else, though. As for bringing out a melody line, I think you're right. The final "climactic" string line doesn't really feel right to me yet. The harmonies seem ok, but there isn't really any melodic theme at all. I'll have another play around with it. Thanks! Funny you should say that. I wrote it originally for a reflective scene where the main character drives up a snowy mountain and looks out over the city, before drinking too much whiskey and falling asleep in the car. It felt quite isolated to me too.

Hi peeps, Recently started composing again. Forgot that I even had an account on here from nearly 10 years ago, I feel old. Been trying to put together a sound for a film I'm working on at the moment. It's set mainly in the Australian bush, so I'm trying to go for a very raw, exposed sound. I've put up just one example. I've listened to it so much lately, it would be nice to get some second opinions. Please be as harsh as you like. Still trying to find "my sound"... Thanks!

I think you should look at Guitar Pro again. It has a great feature set that is ideal for composing for rock. Also, I find it easier to actually record what I play as sound when I'm writing, in which case you might want to look at something like Sonoma RiffWorks T4 (its free!) or the full version of RiffWorks standard. That way at least you can get your ideas into an audio format, which may make it easier to TAB later.