I started making the intro to this as a joke, but I thought it sounded kind of cool and I was having fun so I thought why not carry on.
It's possibly my first full length, finished orchestral piece. First time with a few of my sample libraries too.
I hope you like it. I'd love to see it in an animation someday! :)
DAW: Cubase 6
Sample Libraries:
EWQL Hollywood Strings Diamond
EWQL Hollywood Brass Diamond
EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold
EWQL Stormdrum 2
EWQL Solo Violin
EWQL Goliath (barely audible guitars)
Soundiron Venus
Soundiron Mars
Some random synth
I run a roleplay group with about 20 people. We've got a whole studio for it, set with screens, projectors and a stereo system. Needless to say, your music is now being blasted during battle cutscenes and the like. Very well written, very professional. Top ratings and the best of luck to the future from all of us.
You should make an album. We'd buy that, no question about it.
That's well ace. I'm glad you're having fun with it!
Thanks for the review.
I'd love to make an album someday but I can't see it happening anytime soon haha. I'll let you know if/when I do though.
I should call you extremely reckless for spending all that money on those samples without first having at least a few years of struggling up through some starter sample libraries and a few dozen works, but this is very very well written and shows a lot of experience for a "first piece" so I can't say that. :P
Excellent motion and feel in this. You have a great ear for ideal dynamics and orchestration. I would be shocked if you haven't at least studied composition and orchestration for a few years and/or been under a mentor.
The only shaky transition I see is at 1:59. It's just too sudden. I'd use the 60" gong from EWQL SO with a mid-volume hit to just "whooosh" that through.
You remind me a lot of myself- you have a lot of ideas, and you try to cram them into one piece because you're in a state of "oh man, this is awesome, I know what should go next!"
The motif at 3:16 with the trumpet being doubled by horn should also be doubled two octaves below or such by trombones or tuba. Make that one bad ass tutti.
In general, this piece reminds me a lot of the fantastic score to How to Train Your Dragon, which won an award I believe. Give it a listen if you haven't already.
Let me know if you're ever interested in collaborating. You have a very good sound and lots of great ideas.
Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis
GONG! You're right! Hahaha. I had a well hard time with that part. Sounds like the snare player is just going "oh we're stopping? ok..." I shall edit the piece at some point (Whenever I have the patience to load up the project again). I'll try out the lower octave doubling at 3:16 too.
Thanks for the compliments. I have been gradually building my sample lib collection for a few years now yeah :P and have studied mainly modern music as a guitarist. I picked up most of my orchestration stuff from just ripping people off, doing little bits and pieces all the time. That's probably why it reminds you of John Powell! I do love that score, and I started a piece a while ago that sounds like a COMPLETE rip off of Test Drive. I'm feeling a bit more motivated to finish that now, so perhaps I'll post that someday.
This is really good! The constant flow and energy beaming through this piece...
I honestly am in awe whenever I hear an orchestrated piece. Alot of that is due to the fact I have absolutely no experience there, and it is very different to what I do.,
Having played piano, and sang choir, though I do have a good history in music.
So no on to the rest of the review. I really like the dynamics and motions you gave this piece. I may not have much experience in orchestration, but I at least know that it should tell a story. And this story you are telling is by far the most cliche heroic tale ever! Ha!
Anyways really enjoyed the piece. I'd love to give pointers and advice like a great reviewer would, but alas I cannot when you obviously have a better understanding of Orchestration then myself. Kudos!
I look forward to your future pieces!
Prettyyyyyy prettyyyyyy pretty good.
LOL! You have nearly the same vst collection like me (Complete Composers Collection 2 :D) and ALSO GOT A RABBIT!!! Cool! Solid work of music and nice brass action - discreet woodwinds, cood choice of drums - snare and - is it earthquake ensemble of SD2? Nice insertion of the glockenspiel and piano. At some parts i think you should not use the strings to pad-like, but thats just a small issue. The sequence starting at 3:17 sounds a little bit artificiant - but i cant say why. Great job you have done here - enjoyed listening to this piece - i composed a cinematic one for the NGADM´13 tounament yesterday, too, with nearly the same library setup. How did you get the mixing so clean? I had problems to avoid a washy sound.
5/5 from me!
Thanks a lot for the rating and compliments :)
Haha yep, can't write anything without my music rabbit.
I'm not sure if I used the earthquake ensemble on this or not. I think it's more Godzilla Hits. I also used a bit of 8Dio's Epic Taikos, which I forgot to list in the description.
I think it's probably the trumpets that sound a tad artificial at 3:17. I had a bit of trouble with them, I think I made them stand out a bit too much there too haha.
Cool, I'll have a look for your new piece. I had a lot of problems with mixing etc too, and I still think mine is a bit washy. Fiddling with the HS and HB mic positions helped, as well as some subtle EQ on certain instruments. I used Spaces for separate reverbs on the strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, choir and master track. Hope that helps.
Thanks again for the review!
Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.
Benmode 
