My first ever composition written in a DAW, please come rip it to shreds

[newbycomposer]

Ok, So to preface, Ive been majoring in composition for the last 3 years, but only recently realized I REALLY needed to learn to program into a daw since I want to do film scoring. So I saved up and got cubase 7.5 and a slew of stuff from east west. This is my first actually project with midi (of course I screwed around a little first, but this was my first "real" try). Obviously, its no masterpiece, I didn't sit down to do that, I sat down with the simplest harmony/melody I could possibly think of and tried to orchestrate it out in the DAW. So I'm not really looking for criticism on the music itself (though feel free to give it) so much as criticism in the mixing. I did everything I could think of but I know I missed a lot.

The instrument lineup is:
Violin 1
violin 2
viola
viola 2
cello
bass
altoflute

When mixing I got the strings balanced like I wanted then sent them all to one bus so I could control the level of the whole section. then I routed that bus and the alto flute to a bus together with eastwest spaces for reverb to (hopefully) make it sound like all the instruments were in the same room.

I did NO eq, I don't even really know how to eq, I either overdo it or do so little I can't hear a difference. Part of that though could be the speakers I'm using, I'm routing my computers audio through an old pa system I used in a band when I was younger, I don't have money for studio headphones/speakers.

Feel absolutely free to rip this to shreds, thats why I'm posting it here.

https://soundcloud.com/john-agnew/string-thing-1

(sorry, couldn't figure out how to embed it :/)

Click to read more...

 

[The Darris]

Firstly, welcome to the forums and congrats on your first piece. I will say this much, your first DAW piece sounds waaaayyyyy better than mine. I like the chordal progression throughout but I was dying to hear an awesome Melody over it, though that was probably not your intentions.

Secondly, I am hearing a lot of typical errors new DAW composers do which is how they line up their midi and program the CC data (such as CC1 for dynamics). I won't go into a ton of details and as much as I hate self promoting myself, I feel that my YT channel offers valuable information for someone in your situation. I have a few videos in a series titled, "Midi Composition 101" as well as my "Let's Compose Live" series. Check them out in you have a few hours and enjoy watching that kind of stuff. I try to be as informative as I can. My main goal, with those videos, is to educate others on what I wish I knew when I got started. (Link below)

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Krakatau]

i agree to the comments about the chordal progression, sensitivity and coherence IMHO
,
As far as ican judge, still being myself a relatively experienced beginner, by deliberately staying in a range you could handle easily it has kept spontaneity and is by the way, rather catchy emotionnally talking

o-[][]-o

a sucessful essai ...

 

[newbycomposer]

Firstly, welcome to the forums and congrats on your first piece. I will say this much, your first DAW piece sounds waaaayyyyy better than mine. I like the chordal progression throughout but I was dying to hear an awesome Melody over it, though that was probably not your intentions.

Secondly, I am hearing a lot of typical errors new DAW composers do which is how they line up their midi and program the CC data (such as CC1 for dynamics). I won't go into a ton of details and as much as I hate self promoting myself, I feel that my YT channel offers valuable information for someone in your situation. I have a few videos in a series titled, "Midi Composition 101" as well as my "Let's Compose Live" series. Check them out in you have a few hours and enjoy watching that kind of stuff. I try to be as informative as I can. My main goal, with those videos, is to educate others on what I wish I knew when I got started. (Link below)

Cheers,

Chris

haha thanks man, one thing, is there IS a melody, or at least, I ment for the alto flute to be heard as melody :/. So I guess I failed there lol.

Can you go into detail on the errors you hear in CC data? I'm not sure what your talking about there.

Your channel is the one with the several hour long videos where you make a song right? Game of thrones was one of them? I think ive actually watched some of your videos

 

[The Darris]

Yes, I did a GoT inspired piece. I'm glad you have stumbled onto in that case.

When I listen to you track, I can hear gaps in between some of the sustained chords. For the most part, I believe these gaps to be intentional, maybe representing a bow change? Anyways, my point is that when you do breaks in sustained chords, you have to take two things into account, release timing and the sample start time of the next chord. With that said, if you start your midi data right on the beat, it will take a few milliseconds for the full sample to take shape and sound. I practice starting slightly ahead of the beat or use what others call a 'negative' delay offset so that all your midi notes are triggered ahead of the beat but you can write it directly on the beat if you are working into a notation software.

Back to the first thing to take into account, release timing. I always practice extending the midi notes past the starting one so that I get a slight transition but no gaps. You still get a feel of a 'bow change' but without major gaps in the sound.

As far as CC data goes? Use it. It will bring your samples to life. Learning the dynamic curves of your libraries is another thing you should be spending time practicing. I don't know what strings you use but spend some time slowly moving the dynamic fade up and down and find the sweet spots from one dynamic level to the next as you will want to make sure to pass by those spots slightly faster to avoid a noticeable transition (this is my personal opinion and observation).

Okay, so how does all that translate into your piece?

The opening line in the basses, they are played at one dynamic and have gaps between them. Due to the samples, the repeated note sounds exactly the same. Try giving some flowing dynamics to break the redundant sound so it sounds more interesting.

Because there is a melody and I can't hear, bring the other instruments down, dynamically speaking, this will give more room to the Flute. I would also research that Flute's frequency range and bring down or take out the instruments playing in that range with it. The more frequencies you have stacked on each other, the muddier it is. Try this orchestration technique: When you bring the flute solo in, move the V1-V2 an octave higher and bring the dynamic levels of the Violas down. Give it a shot and see if just that subtle change, allows the alto flute to cut through.

Another orchestrational tip is that Con Sordino strings really sound good layered under woodwind solos for Clarinet, Oboe, and Flutes.

Those are just some of my opinions that I think will help you achieve a better sound quickly. How you get an amazing sound is by spending as much time as you can with your samples and really learning what they can and can't do.

Cheers,

Chris