"Soli Deo Gloria"

Still not sure about the ending (I know it abruptly ends, as most of my music tends to do - almost like it is leading into another emotion rather than carrying through a story, so I may work on another part of this at a later date to 'complete' the story...not sure yet of what I might do - or if I might just move on - which is why I am posting this in a finished capacity for now.) 

 I am still learning the basics here, but I am learning non-the-less, due to the tremendous help of feedback, critique, and criticism I receive. I appreciate any feedback as I seek to not only just continue to make more music, but also to improve. 

Click HERE to listen through SoundCloud if the below embedded link doesn't work.

So far as the ending goes, yes, abrupt. It neither ends on a cadence nor just fades out, just stops - trailing off on that very quiet sound. I suppose this is a perennial problem of this genre - how does one end a piece to offer it as a stand-alone piece.

The production/balance seems pretty good except at the end - I bet a few of your tracks were touching or exceeding the red line!

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7 hours ago, Quinn said:

So far as the ending goes, yes, abrupt. It neither ends on a cadence nor just fades out, just stops - trailing off on that very quiet sound. I suppose this is a perennial problem of this genre - how does one end a piece to offer it as a stand-alone piece.

The production/balance seems pretty good except at the end - I bet a few of your tracks were touching or exceeding the red line!

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Well, shoot. I was intentionally turning things up because I tend to err on the side of caution and not boost my master volume enough where it's hard to hear... sounds like I might have over-done that!  Also, I think I might have messed around with the Equalizer a bit too much and I think overemphasized the higher frequency instruments... I can tend to be a perfectionist and not post anything, so I'm glad I did, that way I know it wasn't just my ears picking that up toward the end. Also, I hear a sort of background static, I'm thinking from the Equalizer emphasizing certain high frequency instruments that are already crisp enough as is. When I first started creating music, I received a lot of feedback indicating that while the melody was there, there wasn't much depth and crispness to my music... I think to compensate that, I might have over-done the 'crispness' factor resulting in what you hear toward the end... The more I listen, the more I think I'm at the 'almost, but not quite' stage... I'm a photographer more than a musician or composer, so I can relate it to overexposing and oversaturating an image... At one point you can tell the photographer is not a professional, just by looking at their post-processing abilities. I appreciate the honest feedback! Thanks. 

I found it really effective, creating a powerful, evocative atmosphere. I'm very interested in background music for film and slideshows, so I think this would work brilliantly for a dramatic scene in a film where the director needs strong energy and emotion. I really liked the abrupt ending with that quiet sound left hanging. It's a very realistic emotional effect, where you've just gone through a very moving experience and are left a little dazed.