Epic music soundtrack new!

Hello guys this is my new song! i hope you like it!  Any criticism is welcome!🎹

@mark styles @Monarcheon  hello guys! what do you think of this? 

Hi Emanuel

I think it is quite good, excellent ideas, good pacing, moving from motif to motif.  I would assume this might be for a video game.. Compositionally/arrangement wise - it is very good

Ideas to ponder  -  overall there is a lot happening in the same octave.  the sound get’s a bit muddy (low mids) you could EQ the lows/ mids out of a few things, and some hi end boost on other tracks. Do everything subtlety  though. Not extreme.  Maybe in a place or two use a different articulation on strings and brass.

Now-a-days.  I spend a lot of time choosing new instrument patches for the  midi I’ve already laid down..  Many times, this makes the difference, instead of EQ’ing..  Or ‘open up’ some voicing.  move the third an octave higher.

Think in terms of water color painting.  You have to be very careful when overlaying two or more water colors together cause it turns to muddy brown..  Same with instruments.  If too many are playin in the same range, especially if they are playing different motifs, notes,

it gets cloudy or muddy..  Sometimes you might want this as a ‘wash’ as they use in water colors, in which case they would be slightly softer so the instrument doing the heavy carrying can ‘cut thru’ without relying on EQ

You use some ‘war drums’  through a fair amount of song and a section of strings/orchestra playing a syncopated rhythm..  You make good use of the re-curring rhythm, it anchors the piece.

At ending you might consider drums doing a volume building up on the last two bars, with perhaps drums going into steady 16th notes (possibly some other instruments climbing a scale or to make the ending more grand/shocking.

Depending on it’s use - game video, soundtrack, or just listening, more use of dynamics might help.  You quickly get to one intensity level and stay there a lot.

The composition, arrangement, choice of instruments is fine.

I think you might have a situation with your monitor speakers.  On my system (Genelec 8040’s) the whole piece is dark, Not enough high end,  you have a section with a gong/cymbal build-up roll.  They have very little high end.

First you might play some commercial CD’s MP3’ of artists/material you aspire thru your DAW system. .  Is your Sound matching them..

I’m not saying you need new monitors, you need to learn and understand how they respond.  Once you know the quirks of your speakers/room you can adjust for that, and then you won’t have to EQ that much

You could very easily put final mastering plug-in or just EQ and add a little hi ‘sheen’ to it.. I believe all the instruments, cymbals have the sound data there.  Also try to take your mixes and play them on as many systems/speakers as you can,

This are points important to me, others may not feel that way,  like for instance, I don’t like grunge metal music, yet others love it.

If any point make sense to you explore them. or at least understand what I said, then decide if you need to do that.

Pat Patterson, at Berklee Music, said ‘There are NO RULES, only TOOLS..  It is Ok to break the rules or to follow them to the degree you feel comfortable.   John Lennon said later in life, he would have gone back and re-record 2/3 of what the Beatles recorded, with the knowledge and sense he had 20 years later

18 minutes ago, mark styles said:

Hi Emanuel

 

I think it is quite good, excellent ideas, good pacing, moving from motif to motif.  I would assume this might be for a video game.. Compositionally/arrangement wise - it is very good

Ideas to ponder  -  overall there is a lot happening in the same octave.  the sound get’s a bit muddy (low mids) you could EQ the lows/ mids out of a few things, and some hi end boost on other tracks. Do everything subtlety  though. Not extreme.  Maybe in a place or two use a different articulation on strings and brass.

Now-a-days.  I spend a lot of time choosing new instrument patches for the  midi I’ve already laid down..  Many times, this makes the difference, instead of EQ’ing..  Or ‘open up’ some voicing.  move the third an octave higher.

Think in terms of water color painting.  You have to be very careful when overlaying two or more water colors together cause it turns to muddy brown..  Same with instruments.  If too many are playin in the same range, especially if they are playing different motifs, notes,

it gets cloudy or muddy..  Sometimes you might want this as a ‘wash’ as they use in water colors, in which case they would be slightly softer so the instrument doing the heavy carrying can ‘cut thru’ without relying on EQ

You use some ‘war drums’  through a fair amount of song and a section of strings/orchestra playing a syncopated rhythm..  You make good use of the re-curring rhythm, it anchors the piece.

At ending you might consider drums doing a volume building up on the last two bars, with perhaps drums going into steady 16th notes (possibly some other instruments climbing a scale or to make the ending more grand/shocking.

Depending on it’s use - game video, soundtrack, or just listening, more use of dynamics might help.  You quickly get to one intensity level and stay there a lot.

The composition, arrangement, choice of instruments is fine.

I think you might have a situation with your monitor speakers.  On my system (Genelec 8040’s) the whole piece is dark, Not enough high end,  you have a section with a gong/cymbal build-up roll.  They have very little high end.

First you might play some commercial CD’s MP3’ of artists/material you aspire thru your DAW system. .  Is your Sound matching them..

I’m not saying you need new monitors, you need to learn and understand how they respond.  Once you know the quirks of your speakers/room you can adjust for that, and then you won’t have to EQ that much

You could very easily put final mastering plug-in or just EQ and add a little hi ‘sheen’ to it.. I believe all the instruments, cymbals have the sound data there.  Also try to take your mixes and play them on as many systems/speakers as you can,

This are points important to me, others may not feel that way,  like for instance, I don’t like grunge metal music, yet others love it.

If any point make sense to you explore them. or at least understand what I said, then decide if you need to do that.

Pat Patterson, at Berklee Music, said ‘There are NO RULES, only TOOLS..  It is Ok to break the rules or to follow them to the degree you feel comfortable.   John Lennon said later in life, he would have gone back and re-record 2/3 of what the Beatles recorded, with the knowledge and sense he had 20 years later 

 

hello mark!  many thanks for this help and for taking the time! I'm going to take everything you told me and let's hope my next soundtrack is better. 

PD: Does not matter that my speakers are computer?  I do not have monitor speakers... my speakers are the ones that come with the pc 😞 

You should listen with your headphones.  Computer speakers are usually pretty cheap.. Read reviews online of speaker systems.   Their are some fairly inexpensive pretty decent speakers, to very expensive.  Do you use a Mac or PC..   - an audio interface?..   I'd read thru the internet on reviews, and videos about  speakers, production etc.  There is a ton of information out there.  Of course on the internet not all is truth, but there are some very dedicated guys/girls making videos who want to share their knowledge.  Making music if something you will learn at for the rest of your life.

Several years back, in Keyboard Magazine there was an article about this very accomplished award winning jazz pianist, Fred Hersch. In his mid 60's he was still studying with his 92 year old teacher.  Keep composing, recording, you're doing great

Production value stuff I won't really comment on, since all things considered you're probably a better sound designer than I am. @mark styles has provided good information to you regarding some engineering stuff.
There are some parts that overlay in diatonically polytonal language that confuse me sometimes. Around the 2:30 mark, you retain your i - iv vamp but your melody goes to a iv - v vamp, which creates a im11 and a iv13(#11) sound which can be distracting. I know the point is to retain to lines at once, but sometimes it doesn't work for me.
Horns playing high C at the beginning is a difficult thing for them to do, the highest of most player's tessituras. Careful writing concert F's.
The sections are quite nicely flowed through, though when it comes back down to the chants, it never seems to leave that portion of the dramatic arc, leaving the ending feeling rushed.

On 6/26/2019 at 5:48 PM, mark styles said:

You should listen with your headphones.  Computer speakers are usually pretty cheap.. Read reviews online of speaker systems.   Their are some fairly inexpensive pretty decent speakers, to very expensive.  Do you use a Mac or PC..   - an audio interface?..   I'd read thru the internet on reviews, and videos about  speakers, production etc.  There is a ton of information out there.  Of course on the internet not all is truth, but there are some very dedicated guys/girls making videos who want to share their knowledge.  Making music if something you will learn at for the rest of your life.

Several years back, in Keyboard Magazine there was an article about this very accomplished award winning jazz pianist, Fred Hersch. In his mid 60's he was still studying with his 92 year old teacher.  Keep composing, recording, you're doing great 

 

 

I have headphones but I feel that they cheat a bit with the sound sometimes they make things sound better..  i feel that.

19 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

Production value stuff I won't really comment on, since all things considered you're probably a better sound designer than I am. @mark styles has provided good information to you regarding some engineering stuff.
There are some parts that overlay in diatonically polytonal language that confuse me sometimes. Around the 2:30 mark, you retain your i - iv vamp but your melody goes to a iv - v vamp, which creates a im11 and a iv13(#11) sound which can be distracting. I know the point is to retain to lines at once, but sometimes it doesn't work for me.
Horns playing high C at the beginning is a difficult thing for them to do, the highest of most player's tessituras. Careful writing concert F's.
The sections are quite nicely flowed through, though when it comes back down to the chants, it never seems to leave that portion of the dramatic arc, leaving the ending feeling rushed. 

 

thank you very very much for taking the time to answer!!  I'm going to take everything you said and let's wait for the next soundtrack to improve 🙂