Hello everybody!

My name is Gustavo Coutinho and I've been following this forum on the past weeks, though this is my first post here. I like the helpful discussion you guys have and I'll try to remain active on the community and try to help others too! But for now I am the one who needs a little help.

I've been composing for years, but for the last month I've decided to follow the path of composing for game (and other media too, but main focus is game). Of course this doesn't just popped up in my head out of nowhere, this is a job I always wanted to do, and I was always reading articles and discussions like you guys have on this forum. I'm already working on a game and that makes me pretty happy!

The point is: I just finished building my first demo reel and I wanted to know if it's good enough to show out there or if I made something wrong. Is the time that each track plays good enough? Or is it too much of each track? Or is it too little? Stuff like that.

Any feedback is welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/abrasounds/gustavo-coutinho-demo-reel

Thank you!

Welcome aboard, Gustavo!

Nice tunes. :) The quality of your production is pretty good. If I was looking for a (J)RPG composer: I would miss a real action-y song; a nice, calm "town" song; and a slow calm or sentimental tune (think Anxious Heart from FFVII).

Is the time that each track plays good enough? Or is it too much of each track? Or is it too little?

I'd say you can cut them a bit shorter. When I clicked through your reel on my first listen, my first jump was to 0:17, and I expected a new track there. Turns out it was still the same, and I was worried it would happen again with the next or another track. :P

Cheers,

Chris

I agree it's a bit long, you want a demo to be about 1-2min. I do a lot of voice-over casting and music selection, and when I'm searching I'm browsing through literally hundreds of demos. With that many demos to go through I'm not listening to a full minute much less 4min. You basically have 10 seconds to grab someone's attention enough to make them listen to the whole thing, so less is more and put your best foot forward. With that in mind your opening track is good, but it might be a bit too quirky to open with. Overall it's a good demo though, nice work.

Welcome aboard, Gustavo!

I'd say you can cut them a bit shorter. When I clicked through your reel on my first listen, my first jump was to 0:17, and I expected a new track there. Turns out it was still the same, and I was worried it would happen again with the next or another track. :P

Cheers,
Chris

Hello Chris. Thanks a lot!
Yeah, the plan at first was to put only ten seconds of each track, but I ended up extending it a lot. Gonna try to fix this.

I agree it's a bit long, you want a demo to be about 1-2min. I do a lot of voice-over casting and music selection, and when I'm searching I'm browsing through literally hundreds of demos. With that many demos to go through I'm not listening to a full minute much less 4min. You basically have 10 seconds to grab someone's attention enough to make them listen to the whole thing, so less is more and put your best foot forward. With that in mind your opening track is good, but it might be a bit too quirky to open with. Overall it's a good demo though, nice work.

Hey there, thanks for the feedback! Interesting point of view. So I'll try to make it shorter.
About the first track, that was really hard to chose. I tend to work on a variety of styles, so I was afraid to scary away the listener depending on the first track. Let's say I put an electronic piece at the beginning but the person is looking for classical music. I believe he/she's gonna stop listen and try other demos (a you said, there are hundreds of them!), so it's a really difficult task for me.

About the first track, that was really hard to chose. I tend to work on a variety of styles, so I was afraid to scary away the listener depending on the first track. Let's say I put an electronic piece at the beginning but the person is looking for classical music. I believe he/she's gonna stop listen and try other demos (a you said, there are hundreds of them!), so it's a really difficult task for me.

Right so you want the first track to be the most accessible and appeal the the largest audience.

About the first track, that was really hard to chose. I tend to work on a variety of styles, so I was afraid to scary away the listener depending on the first track. Let's say I put an electronic piece at the beginning but the person is looking for classical music. I believe he/she's gonna stop listen and try other demos (a you said, there are hundreds of them!), so it's a really difficult task for me.

Right so you want the first track to be the most accessible and appeal the the largest audience.

Yep, you're right! Thinking about it, I changed the first song of my demo reel and tried to make it smaller. It's about 2:20 now. If you (and other folks) want to check it out:

https://soundcloud.com/abrasounds/gustavo-coutinho-demo-reel

And hey, thanks a lot for the help!

It's a lot better now. The opening track is instantly catchy and well-crafted and it makes you want to listen to more. Nice work!

Nice work! Every click another song. :D When listening to the whole thing, the shortness of each piece left me wanting for more, but not in a way that I felt I couldn't hear enough. That's good!

Hey,

The music sounds pretty good! The MIDI saxophone had me cringing but that's mostly because I'm a saxophonist myself. :) When you can, consider hiring live soloist for key spots in your music. It really helps raises the overall production value!

Thanks,

Nate

Hey,

The music sounds pretty good! The MIDI saxophone had me cringing but that's mostly because I'm a saxophonist myself. When you can, consider hiring live soloist for key spots in your music. It really helps raises the overall production value!

Thanks,

Nate

Yeah everything in that horn family is such a crazy and complex sound that midi will never do it justice. A live instrument is always better, but that is especially so with horns.