# Been here about a year..how have I progressed?



## Evan Gamble (Jan 19, 2006)

Well its been just over a year since I started composing with samples and voined VI...

So I consider this my yearly checkup piece. I wrote it it yesterday...well yesterday and today just for fun. Comments on my progress and such are appreciated as I consider you all teachers in some way or form...yes even you choc0 :wink: 

enjoy!

http://www.evangamble.com/music/Hazy_Kaleidoscope.mp3 

*EDIT*-fixed the distortion.


----------



## lux (Jan 19, 2006)

this is the best cue I've heard from you Evan, sounds very coherent. Like it.

What did u use on it?

Luca


----------



## Frederick Russ (Jan 19, 2006)

Nice stuff Mr. Evan. Congrats, have yourself an obligatory lunch - you've improved since this time last year. Nice use of transitional instruments (harp glisses, bell trees) and interesting composition - keep it up man!


----------



## Sid_Barnhoorn (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Evan,

Great work. Like the mallet/harp+piano work in it. Very atmospheric. The choirstuff reminds me of David Arnold's Star Gate. Very nice piece. You definitely getting better. Keep it up.

Cheers,


----------



## Niah (Jan 19, 2006)

Well done Evan! There's certainly has been some improvement !


----------



## Evan Gamble (Jan 19, 2006)

thanks lux, fred, niah and sid....

Libs used 

Actually most of this is the free stuff that came with K2. Strings, harp, flute, piano, even some bone and percussion are all K2's vsl stuff..I've really gotten sick of the ewql sound lately.

Lets see the rest I guess is mostly ewql... Choir and organ are both from silver's extras, and more percussion a few woods, horns and tuba are from ewqlso gold as well.

and I think all thats left is the effects and trumpet sustains which are custom.


----------



## Jackull (Jan 19, 2006)

Evan,

An excellent piece. Would work with Tim Burton film type. I'm sure you improved a lot and I think the avatar improves better since I join vi  
Good work...

jackULL


----------



## Styrus (Jan 19, 2006)

Hey Evan... Very nice piece! You have such a wide blend of instruments, that all manage to somehow fit together. I haven't been hear for a year myself so I don't know how much you've improved, but this makes you sound like you've always been good :wink: 

I see what you mean about that distortion, yikes! Fixing it is always a hit and miss situation, but something is certainly being over driven in there. Remember that distortion isn't just when something is in the red either.

I don't know any sure ways of fixing it sorry... you will most likely just have to have a big fiddle... I'd like to hear how you get on though. And hear the piece minus the distortion 8)


----------



## synergy543 (Jan 19, 2006)

Evan Gamble said:


> (BTW no matter how hard I tried I couldnt figure out which samples were making part of this distort, non of them were in the red meter..any easy way of isolating this problem and fixing it?)


Monsieur Gamble, your certainly have made great improvements - both your composition and timing are noticeably different. Just keep flossing (or whatever you're doing).:lol:

As for distortion....sounds are wave and just like ocean waves, when two pile up on top of each other, together they become bigger than each of the smaller waves. Overall, many waves tend to average out (and two exact opposite waves will cancel out). So, two solutions are:
1) to pull levels down or,
2) use a peak limiter to trim the abberant peaks (listen as you adjust to make sure settings don't alter the sound).


----------



## Styrus (Jan 20, 2006)

Much better! Oh so much more enjoyable :wink: 


Great job Evan


----------



## TheoKrueger (Jan 20, 2006)

Hey, great work Evan! I really enjoyed this one.... the composition is very personal and it keeps the interest, the mock-up is also sounding great. I like how you are forming your own sound but also keeping a pro and mature feel to the sound and comp. Keep it up!


----------



## Liam (Jan 20, 2006)

This is very nice Evan! I really like the atmosphere you have achieved. The harp at the beginning sounds great, and as was mentioned, you have blended the different libs very well. It definitley has a bit of an Elfman feel to it, which of course is a good thing, but on the other hand you still kept it your own. 

I've been listening to your music for a while, and it is obvious that you have progressed very well, and very quickly! Keep up the good work!


----------



## Tod (Jan 21, 2006)

I liked this a lot Evan.

Great job with the K2 VSL, hehe, I'm going to have to try useing it a little more my self after hearing this.


----------



## D.J. (Jan 21, 2006)

Very very Nice. It's always a great sign when you make such effective use 
of libs most folks would tend to underestimate. 

(and thanks for showing me I had a HARP!!...never saw that.)


----------



## Lex (Jan 21, 2006)

I like it ..especialy the first 40sec..

very Elfmanish..

ALex


----------



## ChrisAxia (Jan 22, 2006)

Hi Evan,

Really nice work! I don't think I've heard your earlier work to compare it to, but this is really top class!!

Chris


----------



## Evan Gamble (Jan 22, 2006)

thanks david alex and chris..

Yeah Ive been using ewql's harp up till now...K2's is so much easier to get realistic glisses out of it.


----------



## pdzl (Jan 22, 2006)

Evan Gamble said:


> K2's is so much easier to get realistic glisses out of it.



Why is this, out of curiosity?


----------



## Evan Gamble (Jan 22, 2006)

pdzl said:


> Evan Gamble said:
> 
> 
> > K2's is so much easier to get realistic glisses out of it.
> ...



maybe the release trails? One thing is since I only have 1 comp whenever I play glisses recorded with ewql back they cut out since they are more cpu intensive.

but even when Its correctly played back something just sound right..such as the last part of this piece I did for a comedy at 00:34

http://www.evangamble.com/Wisdumb.mp3
. Maybe someone ese can give a better answer. Or maybe I just suck with ewql :lol:


or maybe its my imagination..man I edited this post alot :x


----------



## ComposerDude (Jan 23, 2006)

Hey nice piece Evan, especially the uptempo 0:15-0:26 part...


----------



## synthetic (Jan 23, 2006)

Very nice work. I was especially impressed to see that much of it was done with the smallest VSL library.


----------



## BrendanTownsend (Feb 12, 2006)

Hi Evan.

I really enjoyed this, though I can't comment on your progression as I've only been here since this morning :mrgreen: 

I also agree with your sentiment regarding the EWQLSO sound, though if you're not using Platinum then the samples are recorded from stage mics so you don't have the brightness of close mics. However, it's very involved and resource hungry if you're mixing the mics as intended to achieve total realism.

Incidentally, there are a few bums in some of the QLSOG string sections, though for realism I would prefer to add these in myself :D 

I've recently been looking at Garritan Personal Orchestra - perhaps to cherry-pick from the best samples on proviso that the resulting instruments don't sound disconnected. I don't know if you or anyone else here has tried it though it's dirt cheap by comparison to EastWest and maybe worth a shot. The bundled K2 samples are good though and I'm very impressed how you have used them.


All the best,
Brendan.


----------



## Evan Gamble (Feb 13, 2006)

thanks, If I was you though I wouldnt waste money on gpo if you have K2.

Sure there might be something in there, but I think youd be better off getting SAM brass, westgate woodwinds, Peter Slach-something's strings or something else.


----------

