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-Legend-

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Author Comments

Finally over :D. So, after BrokenDeck and Chronamut organised the Orchestral NAC (http://www.newgrounds.co m/bbs/topic/1222598), I was very tempted to join. Basically you have to make a song (max of 5 minutes long) which uses orchestra. The use of orchestral instruments has to be dominant throughout the track, but we are allowed to use synthetic instruments as long as they don't carry the melody or are the primary focus of the track.

First things first - turn your volume up if you'd like to experience this a bit better. I've got this at a pretty low volume to avoid clipping, since I suck too much at mixing. Anyway, this took me a while to do. I tried to give it oriental influences, especially with the congas/bongos and sitar. The main carriers of the melody are the legato strings, but there are various parts where the brass and woodwind take over in quieter parts.

As for the melody, I had it in my mind for weeks. It started with me playing D harmonic minor on the piano, and I messed up a part by mistake. I played Bb C, C# instead of Bb and C# towards the end of the scale, but then I realised it sounded pretty good and it slowly evolved into a melody. The alternate melodies were taken and remade from some old ideas I had made ages ago, along with some melodies I thought up while making the song.

Anyway, this uses Ethnoworld 3 for the sitar, shakers, some gong-like thing and the bongos/congas, East/West Symphonic Orchestra Silver for the English Horn, French Horn, Double Bass, Viola, Cello, Clarinet, some other gong and cymbal sounds and the various percussion such as the vibra-slap and woodblocks, I used Stormdrum Kompakt for the thumping percussion in the background along with some more cymbals, I used Magnus Choir for the fading choir effect used throughout the song, and lastly I used a very random wav sample for another gong sound, heavily EQ'd to sound cooler.

This has a few tempo changes, crescendos, decrescendos, and all sorts of dynamic variation as a desperate attempt to try and make it sound interesting. Towards the end it reaches a climax and lastly it ends with a loud hit.

Orchestral definitely isn't one of my main genres, but I listen to it a lot so I hope this didn't come out that bad. Worked very hard on it, and I'll probably edit it later on to add to it, but for now this is what I've got. My main goal is to at least make it to the 8 finalists in the competition, since there are already a tonne of very talented artists showing up in the competition and I very much doubt I'll beat them. Still, wish me luck!

Oh and sorry for the slightly bad quality. I had to record the song directly from FL Studio with the Edison since exporting it normally brought some, let's say ear-piercing, problems. Thanks for listening and I apologise for the long author's comments!

EDIT: By the way, forgot to say - sorry for the lack of panning. As a lot of you probably know, I'm deaf from one ear, so I can't pan :c.

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This is amazing buddy!

Step responds:

Thanks man, I'm glad you think so!

Lol, I got here from your other song called Morocco. I've had this on my favs list for a while and didn't notice that you also created Morocco. Nice song, very "templey" kind of feeling. I can't really think of anything to explain it atm, but pretty good song.

Step responds:

Haha so this song will fit as a temple theme too? :P

But yeah this and Morocco are fairly similar in terms of composition. This one's a year and a half old but I think it marks the first ever half-decent orchestral song I made.

Thanks a lot for reviewing, and sorry for being a little late to respond. Newgrounds still doesn't notify you of new reviews...

awsome :)

this is a cool music its like a legend temple theme :)

Step responds:

Thanks for the feedback and the comparison ;D.

This is what I want to make someday.

The orchestra is absolutely perfect. I suffer from a distinct lack of instruments, knowledge and talent. I don't have the stamina to make anything longer than about 1:30. This is one of the best orchestral pieces I've heard on NG.
Almost sounds like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean near the beginning. Awesome job, and keep it up.
10/10 5/5

Step responds:

Wow, thanks! There are far better orchestral submissions than this one, but I'm glad you like it!

The use of many different instruments and the ability to make long songs comes with practice. I've been making music for around 2 years and a half now, and I have some great VST's like East/West Symphonic Orchestra which really helps me achieve that full sound of an orchestra. So basically don't think you're bad at making music because you just need to make it long enough to unleash your potential :).

Thanks again for the supportive review.

Excellent piece of work!

I was tempted to join that Orchestral NAC as well, but when I heard the other songs (including yours), I was quickly discouraged =p

I like the Arabic feel it has to it. You don't hear that very often, and it's not one of the easiest things to master.

There's a good amount of variation and the melodies are interesting and nice to listen to. Harmony is good, though not extraordinary. Percussion is nice, though it could've used a slight boost now and then.

Something it does lack however, is a good climax. I was expecting one at 2:14 and onward, but it just wouldn't come... Instead it was followed by another build-up, and another... That is however my personal opinion =p

Tempo changes are nice, which I rarely use in my songs xD Although you say orchestral isn't one of your main genres, I think you're very talented. Too bad you're deaf in one ear (then again, look at Beethoven). No panning isn't necessarily a bad thing though ;)

All in all, a grand piece of music. 9/10, 5/5!

Step responds:

Thanks for the quick response, and the lengthy review! I really appreciate it.

"I was tempted to join that Orchestral NAC as well, but when I heard the other songs (including yours), I was quickly discouraged =p"

Haha thanks, but you shouldn't have been. Someone like you could probably make it to the finals with their eyes closed ;D.

To be honest I didn't work on it as much as I hoped I would. I spent a lot of time working on it in the timespan of a few days, rather than spread out my time and worked on it gradually, so that might be one of the reasons why this is lacking intricacies such as the lack of a decent climax and harmony that isn't particularly good.

"I like the Arabic feel it has to it. You don't hear that very often, and it's not one of the easiest things to master."

I agree. Actually I was lucky because I had experience with making use of bongos/congas in my songs so it almost came naturally to me in this piece.

"There's a good amount of variation and the melodies are interesting and nice to listen to."

Thank you! To be honest I thought I could've varied the melodies more, so I'm surprised to see you found it varied enough. Then again I'm obsessed with variety in my songs.

"Harmony is good, though not extraordinary."

Very true :(. I'm musically inexperienced and don't know how to harmonise that well. Harmonising is pretty frustrating for me because I don't know what chords, melodies and keys sound good with each other and when I try and make up my own and see if it works out, I'm usually met with dissonance, and I have to constantly do trial and error to get the right sound, so you can imagine me yelling 'SOUND GOOD, DAMMIT' at my monitor...

"Percussion is nice, though it could've used a slight boost now and then."

Yeah SBB mentioned that too. I'll keep that in mind.

"Something it does lack however, is a good climax. I was expecting one at 2:14 and onward, but it just wouldn't come... Instead it was followed by another build-up, and another... That is however my personal opinion =p"

Sorry :P. Yeah I just half-assed a climax at the end (at 2:47) and I agree it doesn't sound all that climatic. Maybe if I add more percussion elements I could give it more excitement. Too bad when my computer died it took most of my project files with it...

"Tempo changes are nice, which I rarely use in my songs xD"

Hey, you're the first one to mention that in a review. Thanks :D.

"Although you say orchestral isn't one of your main genres, I think you're very talented. Too bad you're deaf in one ear (then again, look at Beethoven). No panning isn't necessarily a bad thing though ;)"

I appreciate the support! To be honest I've always wondered what it would sound like hearing sounds from all directions, but hey at least one ear works so who am I to complain :3.

"All in all, a grand piece of music. 9/10, 5/5!"

Thanks a million man, I'm really grateful for the wonderfully helpful review! Maybe we can trade reviews again sometime?

Credits & Info

Artist

Listens
18,612
Faves:
121
Downloads
844
Votes
42
Score
4.59 / 5.00

Uploaded
Jan 8, 2011
6:49 AM EST
Genre
Cinematic
File Info
Song
7.8 MB
3 min 24 sec

Licensing Terms

Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.