Hello everyone. I've been following this forum for a while now before signing up today. Listening to all of your music and reading everything posted, as well as books and other websites, and immersing myself in my favourite soundtracks from the past 15 years. In this time I've been learning the tools of soundtrack composition and today I've uploaded four tracks to my Soundcloud page at http://soundcloud.com/tomekwright/sets/vss060911 I'd be pleased if you gave them a listen.


I have played in orchestras and bands for 15 or so years but game scoring is something I'd really like to get my teeth into now, so I'd really like some feedback.

Hey man,

Welcome!

Lost Heart - beautiful chords and pacing. Wouldn't change a thing about that but I would explore doing a bit more post-production to give the piece a bit more presence and performance. Tweak the automation and tempo settings and give the piece a bit more ebb and flow but you're very, very close to a great track here!

Assault On Jupiter - Perhaps I'm nitpicking here but this is described as "High energy sci-fi track suitable for combat." I disagree. I think it's a GREAT track but it's much more ambient and the energy level is more moderate instead of high energy. I'm not trying to just bash your description but rather point out how important the description can be for potential clients. A client reading high energy may or may not feel this track is appropriate and too my ears - this feels much more medium paced ambient music that could be a great precursor track before the huge battle. Another way to look at this is with the interactive music system. This would be the base level when the player first enters into a combat area but not engaging in combat just yet. At 0:41 this could be level 2 where some light combat takes place but I still feel you can push this track MUCH further. It's a solid foundation to build from though, so nice job!

Mines Of Wieliczka - Freakin' loved it. Perhaps a bit more polish in production on a few areas but really nice work. Very atmospheric and enjoyable to listen to! Great! In fact I've listened to it three times already. My favorite of the four you've posted.

The God Emperor - To be honest this is my least favorite of the four. I get the feeling the writing orchestral music is somewhat new to you. Or perhaps it's the samples and production because it could be tweaked quite a bit. I also felt for an epic orchestral piece, it has a serious lack of the bottom end which takes away the power and grand scale that an epic orchestral piece needs. You have some nice ideas but this feels more like a rough draft that still needs some attention. I'd consider adding in some lower percussive elements, double some of the lower string parts with synths to add more volume (as in body, not dynamics) and really push the tempo, volume and modulation automation. It's a nice start but it's not there yet.

You clearly have talent and passion and I enjoyed listening to your stuff. Thanks again for sharing!

Nate

Nate, thank you very much for the reply!

I find it interesting you like the ambient track so much, every single person I've played these tracks to here in the studio has pretty much ignored it and concentrated on the others.

The "main theme" piece I really started to struggle with. I had much more going on, larger tempo changes, more differences in volume, plus a few more things going on at various parts such as pizzicato and harp underneath the woodwind section at the end. I toned it all down because I thought the average gamer might find it a bit too much to listen to. I felt like I just couldn't get it 100% and I considered just abandoning it, which is what I think I might do now and write a completely fresh main theme idea.

Thanks for all the pointers, you obviously know your stuff.

I too really like the ambient track, mainly because I'm into slow ambient stuff lately. My favorite track by far is the "Lost Heart", it's really beautiful and sad at the same time, combined with the right visual, your eyes could easily tear up. The weakest track I think is the "Assault On Jupiter". I like the distortion sound, and the beat but the saw-wave-sounding instrument does not fit in my mind. It should actually play something rather than the single note thing. The voice added in the second part adds a lot to it, but still a little dull. The almost alarm sounding thing in the third part is great.
About the last track, it's a great piece, but I don't like the very beginning part. I don't know, it sounds a little mechanical and does not have the feel of human players. From there on it gets better. Where this piece really starts to work for me is around 0:51 and I like the change in 1:47. All in all, great job!

If you have the time, could you take a look at couple of my pieces. I would really like some feedback.

Thanks Eigen, feedback is really helpful.

After being burnt out on that last piece I ignored it for a few days, cleansing my brain with some blues. I went back to it this evening and started to have some thoughts, so maybe I will do something with it after all.

I did listen to your tracks, but at the time I didn't feel qualified to give any feedback without having my own music out there. I will go and post in the thread with my thoughts.

I worked on a new piece over the weekend, inspired by the sandworms of Dune.

http://soundcloud.com/tomekwright/riding-the-worm/

I really like the Sandworm, I'm afraid I don't really have much constructive critisism, because I don't see anything that needs to be changed. It captures the atmosphere really well and the changes of pace are very well done. I like your percussive work on this track, keep up the good work!