Hey friends,
I've been composing for a month; this is the second project I've worked on. However, I have made Electronic music for over a decade and drew from this experience when creating the score. My goal was to fuse the Orchestral world with the Electronic one and create something that I thought would reflect this duality.
I participated purely for the experience; you can learn much when a deadline is in place.
Please share any feedback you have both as a viewer and a composer; this is my reason for posting. No need to sugar coat it either, if you think it doesn't work, please say so. I only ask that you explain why so I can learn and improve for future projects.
A couple of other mixes:
MUSIC ONLY MIX:
LOUDER DIALOG MIX:
Thank you.
Your production quality is great and I think for the most part the tone you've gone after works. However I feel the music is too much in the background (and this is not related to volume); it's almost like a 'textural' / atmospheric soundtrack with a bit of a pulse to it.
I would say scrap the Low Brass "braaams". They're super-cliche and I think you can write better than that. There's nothing wrong with writing low, loud notes for the Low Brass, but when you repeat the same note over and over, or never hear another note after it, it's quite boring. It's something from the genre of "trailer music", and trailer music doesn't generally work in actual motion picture as it doesn't tell a story, it just sets up a tone and sustains that for something like only 30 seconds. In this you have 4 minutes of chase sequence with quite a bit of nuance to it, so it should be more interesting.
You also lack any clear melodic lines. There are moments where melodic fragments or even actual themes may work within the video; don't sell yourself short by never having one. They don't have to be too complicated, just some little tune in a higher-pitched voice might've helped breathe some character into the music (and I mean character as in building a relationship between the music and actual characters or motifs on screen.) Melodies are perfect for expressing an idea to the audience, while harmony and rhythm are perfect for setting up the 'tone', or in other words, providing the 'context' of said melody. Popular melodic instruments for an action scene might be French Horns, Violins, sometimes Trumpets; and there are other conventional ones depending on the sub-genre. The melody doesn't have to be elaborate or virtuousic, just something to draw a bit of attention to the music at certain moments.
I shouldn't talk too much out of my ass as I myself used only
very minimal melodic writing, but I do like to think I did have one, which I mostly associated with the interior-car scenes. Also, one thing I've learned about the subject of music criticism is that it's easier to be critical then it is to actually go about writing yourself; which is fine, as it means lots of people can provide perfectly valid input without being able to realize such ends themselves. I think this is because everyone knows how to 'listen' to music, and has an understanding of what works and doesn't, but actually translating that into a written score, well, that is the real craft of the art right there.
Hopefully some of this feedback helps. I know the feedback I got about my video definitely opened my eyes up
If you were curious about what I wrote or even wanted to be critical of mine (I'd be more than happy to get more feedback, and I don't mind the harsh criticisms) this is where I posted my entry:
I'd really appreciate any harsh criticism Ok. It's produced well and taken on its own is probably a little more interesting than your average cinematic action music, but it feels over the top for this scene and not really all that connected to it, neither conceptually nor structurally, though...
vi-control.net
Cheers and thanks for sharing, and I did actually find your entry entertaining despite my comments