I wanted to do a soft relaxing piece, and snow really fit my description. When I listen to this song I imagine myself going down a white mountain. Currently the song is at a short 2:44, which I'd expand over the course of time, with motivation and critique. Give me your honest opinion, brutal if necessary, as long as it's constructive. Snow March

pretty cool piece, I actually was thinking it would be much more relaxed by your description, but in fact it is a bit of a ride - Snow but mixed in with some fantasy action like "Narnia".

I'm not hearing a single important melodic gesture, am I blind to this sound? Your texture writing is pretty cool (how you routinely change instrumentation), but in general the piece gives me a "i just threw this all together quickly without much thought" kinda feel. I'm sorry if that isn't the case! - just my first impression (and second upon re-listening).

What program(s) do you use?

Yeah, I kinda felt the piece just kinda stayed in one place, didn't move around within the space it seemed to provide.

That's not to say it couldn't work for anything, cause it also sounds like a piece tailored for a specific scene, even choreographed to the action. Just hard for us to "picture" it with only the soundtrack.

Those strings kinda bugged me, only because the attack was the same throughout the entire song. Try automating the attack a bit or find multiple string patches with different attacks.

Loved the oboe(I believe) towards the end of the song!

Tony

Quote: Original post by anthemaudio
Yeah, I kinda felt the piece just kinda stayed in one place, didn't move around within the space it seemed to provide.

That's not to say it couldn't work for anything, cause it also sounds like a piece tailored for a specific scene, even choreographed to the action. Just hard for us to "picture" it with only the soundtrack.

Those strings kinda bugged me, only because the attack was the same throughout the entire song. Try automating the attack a bit or find multiple string patches with different attacks.

Loved the oboe(I believe) towards the end of the song!

Tony

How would I go about not making the piece feel like it's in "one place", within the "space" I was provided?

Sorry, I speak too "meta" sometimes.

The 'space you provided'...um...right from the first 10-20 seconds of the song the listener could/should get a sense of the scope of the song or how epic it's going to be. Be that through composition, instrument choice or psychoacoustics, it's something we naturally do with all of our compositions whether we know it or not.

And so, the melodic interludes and overall progression of your piece lend itself to sparsity. Now, you see that's where your some of your thematics come into play. It's winter (or at least snowy) and typically that imagery evokes solitude and/or emptiness. But it never went past that single idea so it's hard for it to stand out (at least in my mind/ears) by itself. Which is why I brought up the fact that it sounds like it's supporting a scene or something more visceral, which I imagine was your goal, yes?

What you could do? Think of ways of making the melody more noticeable/prominent, even when played by harmony sections. Play a little with the timing, not just meter changes or BPM, but a little tempo slur here and there. Make clearer distinctions between softer sections of the song and louder sections (the ending should ramp up volume more, even if you have to remove one of the many instruments stacked there). You have nice dynamics implemented, but I say they can be stretched out even further.

Poke and prod at the edges both compositionally and acoustically and your product will start to breathe, expand, and give life unto itself!

I'm not sure if I explained myself or dug myself even deeper into "what the heck are you talking about" land.

I like the piece, btw.

Tony

Quote: Original post by LongeBane

Quote: Original post by anthemaudio
Yeah, I kinda felt the piece just kinda stayed in one place, didn't move around within the space it seemed to provide.

That's not to say it couldn't work for anything, cause it also sounds like a piece tailored for a specific scene, even choreographed to the action. Just hard for us to "picture" it with only the soundtrack.

Those strings kinda bugged me, only because the attack was the same throughout the entire song. Try automating the attack a bit or find multiple string patches with different attacks.

Loved the oboe(I believe) towards the end of the song!

Tony

How would I go about not making the piece feel like it's in "one place", within the "space" I was provided?

What really threw me for a loop was the fact that you said you were shooting for a 'snow scene'. I love snow too (and don't see much of it in texas), but to me snow would be a peaceful, soothing melodic and/or harmonic arpeggio (perhaps) fall of sounds - thinking out the box perhaps something more natural sounding than an orchestra. .. even if it is marched based.. But with the orchestra it works all the same - Hmm how bout Danny Elfman's opening to Edward Scissorhands with falling arpeggio glockenspiels and choir?

Did you consider the journey that your audience will go on when listening to the piece? That is important - and you should read Tony's response cause there is a lot of good suggestions there.

Good luck! ..and just still curious on the program(s).

anthem, I do understand you. I'll focus on more vertical composition. Also, my pc is struggling to keep up with just the basic amount of instruments I've used. It's a challenge just to add another articulation. So I plan to leave the violin alone until the song is finished, then go through and change things.

douglas, I'm using FL4. I know it's really outdated. My friend even bought me the Cubase 3. But I used it for a day or two and was like D=

[Edited by - LongeBane on March 31, 2006 1:32:28 AM]