j.astbury

Thanks Ron. I'm using Garritan on this particular piece and to be honest I'm not overly fond of them. But the work was done very quickly for a catalogue submission and really while I prefer vienna samples, or even better, a combination of samples and layering techniques, sometimes all the fiddling in the world I find will actually take away from the potential of the sample. For example I find Garritan samples fine, a little thin compared to vienna say, but most specifically I find their 'design' best suited to commercial / Hollywood type contexts. That's where you're hearing the "odd reverb" I think. It's like a fellow who prepares wonderful programming tutorials on this kind of thing says: 'There's the real sound and then there's the sound we get used to hearing in films, tv productions etc. and for better or for worse much of our programming is done with the latter in mind.' thanks again! p.s. Incidentally, reviews where this particular little piece is referred to specifically can be read at the following sites: http://www.fpcforpopularconsumption.com/bio.html and http://www.reverbnation.com/fpc

I appreciate the comments on this one folks and am glad you enjoy it. I'll be honest on the "power" of the guitar part: This really came down to a kind of commercial decision. Before the track was mastered in the studio I put this out to literally hundreds of folks on the net looking for feedback. Given some of the wonderful responses I got I just didn't think it would be right to tinker with it. It really does seem to appeal to a listener of rock / Morricone taste... so the over the top thing is pretty much for the purposes of crowd pleasing and not so much in line with composer sensibilities if you know what I mean. (you can see some of the comments at my reverb account [send me a message for link] if you like. my aka there is fpc (for popular consumption by the way). I don't think you should find too much copy/paste in the piece. The pieces I've uploaded here are all done very quickly though so there may be a little. Normally I just play in all my parts to try to avoid too much tinkering. But sometimes to trim up parts that have gone in live, especially when working fast, I'll resort to the evil temptation of copy/paste. (My current 88 key is old and has lousy velocity control and contributes to this as well...something I would like to look into upgrading when cash flow allows) Anyway, thanks again for listening and the comments they're much appreciated!

I'm glad you appreciated this piece. Thanks very much for taking the time to listen! I compose all kinds of music. lately I've been doing a lot more 'commercial' type stuff that I submit to various catalogues. But I can also compose more traditionally classical orchestral stuff, atonal work, jazz, rock... I try to cover pretty much all the bases. This piece actually follows very conventional scoring and could easily be realized for live orchestra. take care!

There's some very nice ideas going on in here and some of them even quite complex. I'm not much on playing the critic so anything I say PLEASE just take as suggestions from one musician to another to be used or ignored as you see fit. There's a couple of spots where you seem intent on getting some contrapuntal melodic lines working. Great idea but maybe could benefit with a little more planning. You also interchange vocal and string choirs a little too freely for my taste. Personally, I'd choose one or the other as I think this would give a more sustained direction to your dramatic curve. I also find that specifying the ensemble makes it easier to exploit good old tried and true techniques like octave doubling in certain voices etc. while maintaining a consistent sound and thematic continuity. The only other thing I'd suggest is the same thing I tell myself constantly: develop those mixing skills. I don't know if you use Logic or not as I do but constantly improving your skills in this area, especially in todays soundtrack world, is always a plus -- even if it is also a pain at times. Great work! Take care!

There's some nice rhythmic and melodic ideas in this piece and quite a few contrasting sections. Good work! It might be a fun idea for you to upload both the original rock version also so we can compare versions. take care!

music for string orchestra combining minimal and conventional classical writing techniques. Should fit comfortably in certain film contexts. fantasy for strings

a blend of spaghetti western/ progressive rock and orchestra. remember mickey

a piece hopefully well suited to Gladiator-ish, God of War-ish contexts or to be enjoyed in its own right. the rising