The Continuing Saga of my First Orchestral Composition

Scriabin

Scriabin

New member
Hello everyone,
A little under a week ago i posted the first part of my first orchestral work called the storm. Now, I have completed the first movement of part 1. And I would appreciate any thoughts or commits. Everything was midi sequenced in an old copy of Logic Audio using samples. It is called "The Storm mov. 1" Let me know what you think:)

Thanks,
Scriabin

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1147&alid=-1
 
Hey Scriaben....I really liked the piece. In fact, right after I streamed it, I downloaded it. I've written a few midi things which are orchestral in feel, and now I'm more inclined to put mine up to see what people think. Good job, I'm looking forward to hearing more of your work.
 
hi.

listening to it right now. but first off, the oboish instrument in beginning is very convincing. sounds great. then the instruments come in..... and it sounds pretty good too. in fact, the sound quality is all pretty good. but to make it even better, i guess i would try to make some of the cymbal stuff a little more reverby and distant...... they seem to stand out too much against the really muddy timpani and the large amount of reverb on the oboe in the beginning. some sounds seem to have more reverb than others, and this adds to the feeling that they aren't all recorded in the same room. (though they aren't.... but you don't your listeners to think that.)

...i dunno if it's a really good sample, or your own tweaking of faders, but the oboe in the solo sounds really realistic. you should do the same thing for all the instruments, like the strings and stuff.

if you can add the oboe feeling to all the tracks, you'd have a winner.

(though as a classical piece, you might want to add a little more "composition" to this composition. it's a little boring. i know you're trying hard to use simple elements to illicit an emotional response. like the beethoven 5th sounding duh-duh-duh-doooo stuff in the end. and for a movie soundtrack it's very good... but as a sit down and listen thing, it'll need "more." even beethoven relied on more than just that famous 4 note sequence to make his whole symphony.)

sound quality is great though.
 
Thank you for the good old fashioned ball busting response, Orpheus:) Criticism is hard to swallow because I want to assume that it needs no tweaking. But every point you brought up ill work on to make it stronger. Funny you mention about different types of reverb...I only used on on the whole song after it was already recorded. You might be interpreting the loudness of the oboe and cor anglais as having more reverb than the other elements since i did a bad job of setting them back further in the mix. Originally i was having trouble getting decent volume levels so i accidentally boosted it a little too much. All sample are played as they came off the disc. Im using Miroslav solo instruments for 99.9% of all the instruments. Ill work on polishing the levels a little more.
I understand about more composition. Im a month old newbie at writing for orchestra so my harmony and counterpoint aren't up to snuff. Over time, I hope to get a more intricate orchestration as i learn more on counterpoint ect...
Thank you for listening.
 
well, i didn't mean to sound harsh, if that's how you read my words. i like the sound. really. just thought it could be better.

....the reason i say different reverbs is that different instruments sound clearer than others. like the oboe solo is very reverby and muddy... which isn't all bad. but then when the strings come in, and whatever instruments you have layered in there, ... it all sounds much clearer. and the cymbal stuff is VERY clear... and stands out. so, maybe it isn't reverb, but some stuff does sound more distant, while others sound "up-front."

i have the miroslav stuff too. haven't gotten around to playing with them yet though.

which sampler are you using?

(by the way, i'm better at giving criticism than taking it too. heh he. that's why i'm better at producing others than doing my own stuff. oh well.)
 
im using logic exs24 for all my sampling. Its convenient to have a sampler within my sequencing program. I think the cleaness can definitely be attributed to my use of samples from different libraries, while i use miroslav's stuff for all of my woodwinds and brass, i also use vsl strings (only part of the set i could afford) for the strings. Miroslav's stuff still sound greatly realistic for being so old but they are a little darker.
I didnt take your criticism as overly harsh, it was just honest. I appreciate that.
 
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