# Star Wars Force Awakens - Rey's Theme Mockup



## DavidL (Jan 1, 2017)

Hey everyone, this was my first time doing something of this scale, so just wanted to share it with y'all and get your thoughts.

Arsenal: EW Hollywood Orchestra Gold, ProjectSAM Concert Harp, and Ravenscroft 275 in Cubase 7.5. 

Hope you enjoy it!


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## milesito (Jan 2, 2017)

Nice first mock up attempt. 

Did you record this straight to a click? It flows well.

Nice job overall.


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## Tysmall (Jan 2, 2017)

I was so with it until that audio hiccup at 1:31! The stereo image is really pleasant on the ears.

Very liberal use of reverb really separates it from a lot of the other stuff I hear in terms of realism and gives it that natural feeling.

2:16 the attack is off between brass and strings on that little melodic jump, I don't know if it was intentional or not - but I like it, it really adds character. 

Very impressive.


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## mcalis (Jan 2, 2017)

Are you using a regular flute or an alto flute? I don't have the score, but as far as I can tell from the original track, an alto flute is used and yours sounds like a regular one to me? I'm not sure...

In any case, I think it's a good start, but you can get more out of Hollywood Orchestra (I'm not familiar with the other libs you mentioned). The trick with EW stuff is to know which patches to layer. The manual help a _ton_ with this. I can't emphasize enough how useful the manuals are...and trust me, I am not a manual-reading kind of person...but I learned a ton from the various EW manuals!

Speaking of HW orchestra...the woodwinds are, unfortunately, the weakest library in the collection, but I think with some clever layering of stacc & sus patches you could get a little more bite out of the flute. Also, in the original recording, the flute sounds closer. If you have Hollywood Orchestra diamond you might want to try pushing up the close and vintage mics a bit to get the sound more to the front.

You're also doubling the flute with an oboe at the start. If creating a as-realistic-as-possible mockup is your goal, then don't add stuff that wasn't in the original orchestration! 

Again, if realism is your goal, the attack on the celeste is quite harsh. It's very, very quiet in the original...this is where you might lose to your samples as I don't know of many celeste libs that are recorded at the required pp or lower level. When it comes to celeste however, I would recommend Randy Kerber's Celeste (cinesamples). It has a softer character because it's layered with a synth sound (don't worry, it doesn't sound like a synth!) and is the celeste that was designed specifically for the Harry Potter score.

Last two things I'll say:

#1 most John William's stuff is notoriously hard to mockup so...don't feel discouraged!
#2 For my personal taste, you could add more reverb (EDIT: not everywhere, but at the start, certainly!). This is very subjective, but I've recently come to the conclusion that, as a rule of thumb, high-frequencies work well with more reverb (they breathe more) and low frequencies should have much less reverb (especially bass frequencies...you want to keep those close and dry).

Again, it's a good attempt and I applaud you for the effort. However, I do believe you can get more out of HW orchestra...but it is going to take you a great deal of time and tweaking! Good luck!


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## DavidL (Jan 2, 2017)

milesito said:


> Nice first mock up attempt.
> 
> Did you record this straight to a click? It flows well.
> 
> Nice job overall.


Thanks so much! Yup, it was recorded to a click.


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## DavidL (Jan 2, 2017)

Tysmall said:


> I was so with it until that audio hiccup at 1:31! The stereo image is really pleasant on the ears.
> 
> Very liberal use of reverb really separates it from a lot of the other stuff I hear in terms of realism and gives it that natural feeling.
> 
> ...


Whoops, haha guess I inadvertently got accustomed to that hiccup over time! Thanks for the kind words!


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## DavidL (Jan 2, 2017)

mcalis said:


> Are you using a regular flute or an alto flute? I don't have the score, but as far as I can tell from the original track, an alto flute is used and yours sounds like a regular one to me? I'm not sure...
> 
> In any case, I think it's a good start, but you can get more out of Hollywood Orchestra (I'm not familiar with the other libs you mentioned). The trick with EW stuff is to know which patches to layer. The manual help a _ton_ with this. I can't emphasize enough how useful the manuals are...and trust me, I am not a manual-reading kind of person...but I learned a ton from the various EW manuals!
> 
> ...


Gotcha, thanks so much for the in-depth feedback and encouragement. Really appreciate it. I definitely still have a lot to learn with HWO, and will be taking a closer look at the manuals for sure!


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## Jacob Cadmus (Jan 3, 2017)

Great job! I did a mockup of this piece last year. Always nice to hear how others interpret it.


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## DavidL (Jan 4, 2017)

Jacob Cadmus said:


> Great job! I did a mockup of this piece last year. Always nice to hear how others interpret it.


Thanks man! Enjoyed getting to hear yours too!


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## NoamL (Jan 5, 2017)

Hi @DavidL, really enjoyed this! The tone of most instruments was decent but the horn sounded a little "boxy" to me. The woodwinds are too far forward relative to the strings.

Regarding the takedown, fairly certain you got the harmony wrong at 0:55. I don't have a score handy but it should be an F chord with #4-3, I reckon. Sounds like you're playing C7?


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## DavidL (Jan 8, 2017)

NoamL said:


> Hi @DavidL, really enjoyed this! The tone of most instruments was decent but the horn sounded a little "boxy" to me. The woodwinds are too far forward relative to the strings.
> 
> Regarding the takedown, fairly certain you got the harmony wrong at 0:55. I don't have a score handy but it should be an F chord with #4-3, I reckon. Sounds like you're playing C7?


Thanks! Hmm, I don't have the score handy either, I'll have to take a look at that.


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## ctsai89 (Jan 8, 2017)

the violins and the top instruments are very loud compared to the low strings/brass/winds. Something is missing in the low end.. other wise good mockup though!


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## jamieboo (Jan 9, 2017)

Great mock up! Most impressed.
All I would say, as NoamL did before, the harmony is not quite right at 0.55. The suspension should be an _augmented_ 4th as far as I can recall.
But really good!


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## DavidL (Jan 11, 2017)

ctsai89 said:


> the violins and the top instruments are very loud compared to the low strings/brass/winds. Something is missing in the low end.. other wise good mockup though!


Gotcha, will take a closer look. Thanks!


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## DavidL (Jan 11, 2017)

jamieboo said:


> Great mock up! Most impressed.
> All I would say, as NoamL did before, the harmony is not quite right at 0.55. The suspension should be an _augmented_ 4th as far as I can recall.
> But really good!


Thanks so much! Yeah, sounds like I'll have to double-check that part.


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