Secret of the composer - Chamber piece for Piano, two violins, viola, cello, double bass.

Is this a digital or a human interpretation? It gives me vibes in both directions but if I had to bet...Digital (?).

Welcome to the forums BTW!

The piece itself is fresh to me in terms of rhythm, not because the 5/4 (only) "crippled waltz" of the second section but because of the way the L. H. is structured in the first part. The sound saturates a little (maybe it's just my end) from 2:10 on, from time to time. I would have given another spin to the ending bars or increased its length a bit but it's alright to my ears in any case and as long as you are comfortable with your piece everything else can be negligible. 

The scoring is clean, though the dynamics seem a bit small compared with the notes (see M69 & M73 for reference) and I am unsure about preserving those 16th silences that could be compressed in a 8th silence (M73-79 for reference). The musicality of this piece stands out above its complexity and freshness which is not little.

Overall a very —emotionally?— "charged" piece with many remarkable moments and fresh material (to me). Thank you so much for sharing!

Hope you enjoy your time here, there're lots of hidden gems in this forum!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

Thank you for your review!
The music was created in Cubase, not the best VST, but unfortunately that's all we had money for.
It was only performed live once, but unfortunately no video was recorded.

I'm glad you liked the piece, I tried to put something unconventional in it.

I have since modified and added to the score, but it can't be re-uploaded to youtube.
 

Hi Nadine ... A very Romantic work ... lots of spirit and drive.  A wonderful use of the piano and strings .. great texture and color.   The mixing (recording) unfortunately could be better and more nuanced. 

Mark

Thank you! Unfortunately, I couldn't do the mixing, I'm only 17 years old and I've mainly studied classical composition. I still have a lot to learn to mix good music. There are only cheaper VST's and that's all I could do.

6 hours ago, Nadin said:

Thank you! Unfortunately, I couldn't do the mixing, I'm only 17 years old and I've mainly studied classical composition. I still have a lot to learn to mix good music. There are only cheaper VST's and that's all I could do

There's not a whole lot wrong with the "mix" as such, anyway. Most of what people call "mixing" is actually a matter of arrangement.

I would say that the piano is too upfront is the main issue for me, upon my first listen and the strings may have a bit too wide of dynamics in some spots with the crescendos and diminuendos.

Most of the problem just simply stems from the string samples themselves, though.

On 10/19/2022 at 12:44 PM, Nadin said:

money

which Cubase VSTs did you use? an fairly inexpensive (i hope) alternative could be the Garritan Personal Orchestra library, very good for a price point around $120US.

i have just switched to that DAW from Cakewalk and will be doing some things with it soon, piano works and maybe something for a small ensemble, so any experiences you have had could prove interesting to me. thanks.