Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

1st ever composition - Feedback welcome

Jono

Jono

Member
Hi everyone,

For those that don't know me, my background is that of a stage and studio musician (guitars). In the interest of pushing myself further, I've decided to study composition and orchestration and begin writing music for myself. As an avid film lover, it only made sense to go for a more cinematic outlet than that which I am used to.

I've just finished my first composition (scored on paper) without touching a guitar and it feels strangely uneasy to release something into the wild without the confidence that comes with years of experience.

I know there are some seriously talented people on this forum and as I'm just finding my feet with so much of this (sample libraries, production etc) I would be most grateful for opinions and guidance. I've (hopefully) attached an embedded soundcloud player and would welcome any and all feedback.

Click to read more...
 
Hi there.

I'm not really a good composer but since you said any feedback here goes my two cents.

I think you could try working a little more on the dynamics and mix. I feel that some notes are getting lost, and sometimes it sounds a little blurry to me. Maybe it would help if you define a little more what is the melody and what is the counterpoint. I think the focus should be clearer. For instance, on 2:15 you did a great job, the focus is clear and I can hear everything.

I think the composition is good.

I could probably express myself better but I'm not a native english speaker so please forgive me. And as I said I'm not a good composer so you can probably just ignore everything I said.
 
Thanks for posting Jono. It's pretty good for your first piece. Vidal is right.... there are some sections where supporting string lines are far louder than the other parts (or arpeggios?) which we probably want to hear more of - I can't tell though, because I couldn't really hear those other parts! :)

I'm far from being an expert either, but you should think about what parts/instruments are playing which role.... who plays the melody lines, who plays the support parts, what kind of movement do you want repeating through the part; and then mix those parts accordingly. I've heard people refer to orchestration as thinking in terms of foreground/mid-ground/background, like a painting, which seems to help me at least.

Also, the track starts off too softly.

The end section (2:15 onwards) I though works very well. And overall structurally it seems fine.

Edit: I forgot to say that generally supporting instruments are set softer, and don't have as much to do, whereas instruments taking the lead you set louder and get them working harder. :)
 
Thanks guys - perfectly valid comments and precisely why I posted here :D ...
 
Hi Jono,

I'm new around here too, so I don't know how helpful I can be. In general, I think both pieces sound good and have some very effective musical ideas in them. But I agree with what the others said about the mixing in your track Project X. At times the melodic line gets overwhelmed by what should probably be supporting brass and string swells, especially in the middle portion of the piece.

I think that "It's a Signal" suffers to some extent from the same issue. I'd also suggest that you might want to put some more elaborate harmonies in at times, especially in the quieter part in the middle.

Anyhow, that's all that comes to mind at the moment. I hope that is helpful!

David
 
My only observation outside of what has been said here is at 0:57 theres a brass stab that, while I like it, has too much attack. I think it stands out awkwardly over the relatively slow, churning piece. I think either a sweeping version of it (dwahh dahh dahh instead of the dut dut dut dah dah triplet thing) or maybe the same line in a lower dynamic would be better suited and blend better with the 'colors' you're using at the time. Overall I like it, kind of a relentless piece.
 
Cheers guys. I'm learning new stuff every day and plan to sit down and go back and tweak both taking note of the suggestions. Wrote up a very short piano/string thing earlier if anyone's bored. Again, written largely on paper to work on that....
 
Guys I finally found time to sit down and and work on the piece using a lot of the knowledge and skills shared by members.



The first version is on my soundcloud for comparison
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom