# Trip to Golden City (new cue)



## Jack Weaver (Nov 6, 2010)

Greetings Frederick,

Love the brass and the Requiem elements, both in writing and in section balance. Not as sold on the the strings sound per se - although I thought the writing for them was very solid. 

You did a great job of balancing all the grander sonic moments of the piece. I know that's not easy with samples to make all of those sections work together realistically. Thought the Hollywoodwinds helped to to create a good sense of depth when the brass, strings and choirs were all active simultaneously in the fore- and middle-ground of the wall of sound. 

Keep up the good work!

.


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 6, 2010)

Thanks Jack! Appreciate you taking the time to listen and respond.


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## A/V4U (Nov 6, 2010)

Great piece of work Frederick. All parts fits together well....simply smooooth


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## germancomponist (Nov 6, 2010)

Yes Frederick, you did a great piece and I like it very much!

Fine writing, fine arranging and good mixing!

Gunther


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## lux (Nov 6, 2010)

Yup, pretty cool, Frederick. Personally i think the strings sound great.


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## whinecellar (Nov 6, 2010)

Top-notch Frederick, very nicely done. Speaking of the "golden age of Hollywood" - which this evokes - I have 2 little mix suggestions for you if you're open to it: roll off just a tiny bit of high end on the strings in the intro to warm them up a tad, then add a touch of overall verb with a healthy bit of wide pre-delay (I believe you have the Lex PCM bundle?) - that would take you even further down the road to that golden era in terms of sonics.

Just my $.02, but man, great job as-is!


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 6, 2010)

Thanks guys! Appreciated your comments and suggestions.


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## rJames (Nov 6, 2010)

Very nice Frederick. Love those Hollywoodwinds in there at 1/4 or 1/3 of the way in.


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 6, 2010)

Thanks Ron! I don't post pieces much lately so I really appreciate the time you took to listen and respond.


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## Allegra (Nov 7, 2010)

Sounds very cinematic and the reverb is excellently mixed. I like.


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## hbuus (Nov 7, 2010)

Frederick, I would like to hear a version without the choir if possible.
I think the piece as is sounds excellent, but many times, because choir libraries are new and popular these days, I get the sense that choir gets a bit overused many times.

Best,
Henrik


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks! Appreciated you giving this a listen and weighing in. Its ironic actually since the piece started out as a possible Requiem demo and evolved in an entirely different direction for a different use.


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## Guy Bacos (Nov 7, 2010)

Actually when I said I liked how the piece developed earlier I was including the choir entrance and the rest.


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks! Actually lately many music directors seem to insist on having a choir and non-choir version, or a percussion and non-percussion version etc - more options for placement apparently.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Nov 7, 2010)

Cool work Frederick!


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks Patrick!


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## RiffWraith (Nov 7, 2010)

Nice piece!  

I wanted to give you a few suggestions, but everytime I click in the wfm space to move the cursor and get times, I get that pop-up box telling me what you used. Unless of course, you don't want to hear any suggestions.


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## sherief83 (Nov 7, 2010)

Lovely track! love the feelings in it! Good orchestration too Enjoyed it! What Library is your harps?


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## michaelv (Nov 9, 2010)

whinecellar @ Sat Nov 06 said:


> Top-notch Frederick, very nicely done. Speaking of the "golden age of Hollywood" - which this evokes - I have 2 little mix suggestions for you if you're open to it: roll off just a tiny bit of high end on the strings in the intro to warm them up a tad, then add a touch of overall verb with a healthy bit of wide pre-delay (I believe you have the Lex PCM bundle?) - that would take you even further down the road to that golden era in terms of sonics.
> 
> Just my $.02, but man, great job as-is!



Not so sure about the Golden Age of Hollywood thing, there. That Lydian mode sound never really happened back then, but really took off with John Williams.He practically redefined the "post Golden Age of Hollywood " sound with that mode, and it crops up in so many of his pieces. The use of it here reminds me of a mix of Silvestri's Back To The Future and Elfman's The Simpsons. It sounds great, though I think I would prefer it sans choir, although I don't know its context. Excellent work.


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## Hannes_F (Nov 9, 2010)

Hi Frederick, I enjoyed listening to it. Aether does a good job here too, I suppose 

Cheers
Hannes


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks guys! Yeah actually I agree Michael about the Lydian thing so perhaps the term Golden Age means different things to different age groups. 

@Hannes: You're right, Aether 1.5.1 (using Den's custom presets) used extensively on all the separate instrument section stem mix buss inserts.


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## JohnG (Nov 15, 2010)

great wind writing in particular, Frederick. Soaring indeed.


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## Rob (Nov 15, 2010)

Had to stop and tell you how I like your piece... love the b6-5 appoggiatura at 0.45. Great sound throughout!


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 15, 2010)

Wow thanks guys - a lot coming from two heavyweights


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## schatzus (Nov 15, 2010)

Splendid job Frederick. I always enjoy your compositions but this one is especially nice. Don't change a thing.


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## Mr. Anxiety (Nov 15, 2010)

Nice work Frederick........ melodies are cool......orchestrations are working nicely.

My suggestion would be to look at the string sound a bit more. I agree with Whinecellar that the strings are just a bit too present or "in your face" placement wise. You might try pulling the direct signal out of the blend a bit so it's more room sound you hear (if you are using ERs on your string busses). This would thicken it up a bit, push them slightly back into the room and glue/smear the ends/transitions together more. By doing this, you might not need to rolloff the top end at all.

As I said, nice work!

Mr A


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 15, 2010)

Thanks guys! @Mr Anxiety: appreciated your comments and suggestions.


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