Battle of Hope (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance) using EWHO

[justabeginner]

Hi all!
After much deliberation, I've decided to upgrade from BBC SO discover as I could get a student discount on the monthly membership for Composer Cloud, and the price seemed to good to pass on!

I've attempted to recreate [this] theme from one of my favourite childhood games using mostly the Hollywood Orchestra and some bits and pieces from other libraries included in Composer Cloud. As it was my first time composing with this rather than BBC SO Discover, I feel like I didn't take full advantage of this library, but hopefully with time I'll learn how to do so!
It was also my first time transcribing a piece from a GBA soundtrack, which meant that I had to do a lot of guesswork and the result is not particularly amazing, due to my lack of composing/orchestration and mixing skills.

Thanks in advance for any feedback on how to improve this piece/my skills!

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[mybadmemory]

I’d say what you have there sounds great but a little bit empty. Like you only did the melodic lines and the rhythmic content but underplayed the chords and harmonies. I think it could sound a lot better by just adding some chord stabs in a rhythmic pattern using strings first and perhaps brass later on in the piece?

 

[justabeginner]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try to improve the piece and maybe repost it!

 

[ModalRealist]

@justabeginner I agree with @mybadmemory that the piece sounds a little 'thin' right now. However, I think the original piece itself has a 'thin' arrangement and, if you want to keep more to the feeling of the original (as opposed to re-arranging it more for a 'symphonic' sound), I would suggest that you consider thinning the sound more: making it a little less 'earnest'. At the moment, it feels like all the players are in solid mf or above, with this quite consistent level of dynamics (see also @Henrik B. Jensen's point), and the lead lines are quite "full" (with notes held, a lot of legato, like they're trying to play out above the orchestra). If you were to actually thin out the arrangement a little (make the staccato accompaniment a bit more 'relaxed' - dial down the volume and see if there is a slightly longer staccato or short marcato that feels right), draw the drums back, make the accompaniment establish more of a rhythm or feel across bars as opposed to having quite such a note-to-note chirpiness, and then give the lead lines a little more breathing space (literally, and in terms of making them a little less 'I have to sing out here') you might find that you capture more of the lightness of touch in the original.

But on the other hand, if you want a fuller 'symphonic arrangement' of the piece, you will need to consider building up the orchestration with a richer explicit harmony as compared to having the orchestra largely play the notes of the original.

 

[justabeginner]

@ModalRealist thanks for such an insightful comment! I definitely struggled deciding which way to go as I was composing this: I wanted to make full use of the Orchestra (i.e. go for a bigger sound), but on the other hand I was composing with the midi track as a reference trying to stay close to it. It seems that I landed somewhat in the middle, and your comment has made me realise that! I will try to give that a think moving on when I work on stuff taken from MIDI sountracks!