instrumental Caught in the Sandstorm

Caught in the Sandstorm

Hey everyone, long time user. I haven't posted since the site has been updated. I hope you guys can offer some feedback on my latest piece -

Taken from my website,

Quote

"Caught in the Sandstorm is a piece I wrote after seeing a picture of a solider looking into a storm ahead of him. There is a reoccurring low brass sound throughout the piece that represents the solider keeping his pace while traversing the wild storm. The piece fades away as our hero is no longer visible due to the storm."

I have received a few requests from friends to do more quasi- soundtrack/film/game pieces. They seem to really like them, but have opinions from other composers is 100x better in terms of useful feedback. I hope you all enjoy. YouTube link below!

https://youtu.be/vzkmm_RTXTI

The Hans Zimmer explosion effect is a little bit overused I think. Like, when he uses it, it's normally at a tension point or resolution. The first time was okay, but the subsequent times felt a little bit unwarranted. I get what it means in terms of the piece, but there are better ways of implementing it, since audiences become jaded to the power of the effect after a couple repeated instances. 
The motion in the first melodic part was pretty good, but the orchestration could help this out more by rising and falling, more consideration to other instruments being the control of volume, etc.
The second melodic part seemed a little less sure of itself. The melody was a little bit weird, jumping from chords tones (which always sounds a bit weird) and was slightly rhythmically odd too. It just didn't really have that drive it did the first time, I guess.
The ending sounds more like a track fade rather than a piece fade. I would make that a little bit more clear with a slightly more defined ending, not necessarily ending on the tonic chords though (that was interesting).
Good job! 

4 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

The Hans Zimmer explosion effect is a little bit overused I think. Like, when he uses it, it's normally at a tension point or resolution. The first time was okay, but the subsequent times felt a little bit unwarranted. I get what it means in terms of the piece, but there are better ways of implementing it, since audiences become jaded to the power of the effect after a couple repeated instances. 
The motion in the first melodic part was pretty good, but the orchestration could help this out more by rising and falling, more consideration to other instruments being the control of volume, etc.
The second melodic part seemed a little less sure of itself. The melody was a little bit weird, jumping from chords tones (which always sounds a bit weird) and was slightly rhythmically odd too. It just didn't really have that drive it did the first time, I guess.
The ending sounds more like a track fade rather than a piece fade. I would make that a little bit more clear with a slightly more defined ending, not necessarily ending on the tonic chords though (that was interesting).
Good job! 

 

Thanks for your feedback! I think the melodic content in the second part does seem a little timid. It could be more secure, like the first time. I do not utilize ww or high brass in this piece, but perhaps they could help in terms of the orchestration and to provide a bit more contrast.

The Hans Zimmer effect, I cannot help it. I think ever since I started listening to more of his music, it's just become something I like. Perhaps it was a little overused, but in terms of my story, I thought it went well. Perhaps I could have used percussion or something else instead of that loud low brass ensemble. I'll mess around with that and see what i can do.

Thanks for your input =)