What's new

Feedback on structure, form and harmony: Pianosketch for orchestra

Yes, that's an improvement! I like the woodwind ambience how it is. The horn at 1:23 is also better now. However, right after you got more stuff coming in, there is a middle build up again (1:31), somewhere from 800Hz to 1k. Generally you should watch out for those 400 to 1k frequencies, as they take in most of the energy.
I'm using kinda cheap headphones right now, however I still noticed some more pretty loud frequencies / build ups, for example @2:12 as well. It's mainly in the choir here and should be at around 450-500Hz. If you want to let it shine through give it more highs. It's pretty dark, which itself doesn't have to be a bad thing and I guess thats what you are aiming for with the whole track.
Would be nice to have the track available for download. I'm still learning a ton and have lots of fun analyzing stuff like that, but I need some visuals inside my DAW for confirmation.
 
Last edited:
Yes, that's an improvement! I like the woodwind ambience how it is. The horn at 1:23 is also better now. However, right after you got more stuff coming in, there is a middle build up again (1:31), somewhere from 800Hz to 1k. Generally you should watch out for those 400 to 1k frequencies, as they take in most of the energy.
I'm using kinda cheap headphones right now, however I still noticed some more pretty loud frequencies / build ups, for example @2:12 as well. It's mainly in the choir here and should be at around 450-500Hz. If you want to let it shine through give it more highs. It's pretty dark, which itself doesn't have to be a bad thing and I guess thats what you are aiming for with the whole track.
Would be nice to have the track available for download. I'm still learning a ton and have lots of fun analyzing stuff like that, but I need some visuals inside my DAW for confirmation.
Thank for you taking your time to listen closely and follow up with helpful comments!
Trying to clear up the mud, give more highs in general and some small volume balancing (choir etc.)
What do think of this version?
 
EQ1.JPG

So overall I think v3 is the best version. I downloaded the track and did a quick EQ for some things I personally would still clear up. Of course it doesn't work perfectly for the whole mix, but it will work somewhat like this on individual tracks. Please note that I made these EQ curves while only listening to the part from 2:02 - 2:23, most of it won't fit everywhere just like that.
So with knob 1 I set a high pass, as your piano didn't had one yet, but made some rumble down there that you really don't need because you never play any actually deep notes in this track. So definitely put a high pass on the individual piano track at ~ 200Hz, maybe slightly lower and you should be fine. You can't go wrong here.
The knobs 2, 3 and 4 in the mid range all deal with the choir frequencies that in my ears felt still to loud. Here I'm not sure if it's just my personal taste, I would advice you to try out something similar only on the choir track and decide for yourself what you like better.
5 just reduces some higher mids and 6 is there to lower a frequency by a single flute note at 2:15 - 2:16, which really stands out too much. As it's just for a moment and not overall, a dynamic EQ or maybe some compression will deal much better with that problem than what I did here in my Parametic EQ.
7 reduces some white noise, this can be applied on the whole track, as I think your libraries give you some problems when boosting the air too much. :) It's not too bad, though. Something between Version 2 and 3 would work best here.
 
Last edited:
Man! What horn is that? Gorgeous. The whole piece is beautiful and I agree that finding a balance between 2 and 3 would be spot on
 
EQ1.JPG

So overall I think v3 is the best version. I downloaded the track and did a quick EQ for some things I personally would still clear up. Of course it doesn't work perfectly for the whole mix, but it will work somewhat like this on individual tracks. Please note that I made these EQ curves while only listening to the part from 2:02 - 2:23, most of it won't fit everywhere just like that.
So with knob 1 I set a high pass, as your piano didn't had one yet, but made some rumble down there that you really don't need because you never play any actually deep notes in this track. So definitely put a high pass on the individual piano track at ~ 200Hz, maybe slightly lower and you should be fine. You can't go wrong here.
The knobs 2, 3 and 4 in the mid range all deal with the choir frequencies that in my ears felt still to loud. Here I'm not sure if it's just my personal taste, I would advice you to try out something similar only on the choir track and decide for yourself what you like better.
5 just reduces some higher mids and 6 is just there to lower a frequency by a single flute note at 2:15 - 2:16, which really stands out too much. As it's just for a moment and not overall, a dynamic EQ or maybe some compression will deal much better with that problem than what I did here in my Parametic EQ.
7 just reduces some white noise, this can be applied on the whole track, as I think your libraries give you some problems when boosting the air too much. :) It's not too bad, though. Something between Version 2 and 3 would work best here.
You are the MAN! Thanks a million for a response like that. With your help, I have learned so much the last 24 hours :D Will try to make version between 2-3, taking your EQ-notes into account and then post the result here. Really love how this forum is full of helpful people! Cheers!
 
Man! What horn is that? Gorgeous. The whole piece is beautiful and I agree that finding a balance between 2 and 3 would be spot on
That is the Majestic Horn, my friend. Currently at Orchestral Tools for 2 Euro. Buy it, its awesome! :D
 
beyd770 said:
You are the MAN! Thanks a million for a response like that. With your help, I have learned so much the last 24 hours :D Will try to make version between 2-3, taking your EQ-notes into account and then post the result here. Really love how this forum is full of helpful people! Cheers!
I'm far from being a professional, but that's why I like to review tracks like yours - to learn from it. I like to get decent reviews on my stuff as well of course (just as everybody else) and I know it can sometimes be hard to get :)
Take my advice as an example and try out if it works for your own ears. For me, it sounded better that way. If same goes for your taste, then you did a good job in mixing. Glad if I can help out!
Also, I just bought Majestic Horn :P
 
Top Bottom