Good variety in here. The little bit around the 3:00 mark or so with the tension building was alot of fun. It just gets more and more intense. I almost feel like it coulda ended with a punch shortly after. I feel like at 4:15ish and beyond, it feels like filler and you woulda gotten more bang for your buck ending it with a bang before that.
Good stuff.
Sweet-Mother-Of-God!
I swear your songs keep getting more and more professional-like every submission you upload. This is amazing!
Hey Peter, great piece. I had a couple of comments from the judging that I hope are helpful. Take or leave my comments of course :D
You got dinged a little because we felt that the overall temperament of the piece was somewhat flat compared to the other entrants. I think one problem is that your drums sit very aggressively in the mix, and take away from the changes in orchestration that you provide. The overall impression is sort of a relentless smash-smash-smash that makes the piece difficult to listen to. Even the softer sections still have FFF drums smashing away. You have a great melody buried in the mix at the 3:00 mark, I'd love to hear you let that really soar, but to do that you have to bring the drums down a little. If you try to emphasize *everything*, you really wind up emphasizing nothing.
In your orchestration, I think you'll get a more powerful sound if you use your horns in a percussive way. One of the things that Zimmer does is to use like 8 or 16 horns in a little cluster, and it goes "blat" in a very satisfying manor. Check out Stravinsky, Rite of Spring for some similar effects. So, the idea is to not just use single-note melodies in the brass, or even other instruments, but really fill out the harmonies and use extra instruments to provide depth to the sound.
Great work overall, congratulations on the top 8! A very professional sound. I know its difficult to get epic sounding drums to punch through like that, and you have that nailed here, so hats off.
I'll take them ;)
It's cool, I know there a lot of problems with it, and the orchestra is infact too strong. As you say, try emphasise everything and nothing sounds emphasised. The Blat thing is actually something I really like, but never done it as I feel people would just hammer me for being a Zimmer rip off. However seeing some trailers other composers are still doing it too.
I think for an orchestral track this is really too dominated by percussion, and it's as you said too aggressive. I think next time I'll try something a little more subtle to begin with and build up from there, instead of coming on strong and pushing to nothing really.
Thanks for your comments. Really trying to improve on every new piece and it really helps to hear how it was judged. :)
Wow. Just wow. I'll be surprised if this doesn't win the entire competition. I say that before checking out all of the competition, because I doubt much can trump this piece, it's well done from beginning to end, and I can't find any flaws with it. It just sounds so majestic, so professionally done, nothing like anything I'd expect from the AP.
It really fits the title. It certainly would fit in well with scenes of destruction, the desperate last minutes, the struggle to survive, and so on.
I'm listening to it for a second time now, just wanting to get the feel of it while writing this down. I especially notice that your entire range of samples are amazing, and the composition is simply amazing. The percussion really drives the track forward and provides a real good ground for the song. That, and they add to this grandiose feel I get from it, it really feels absolutely huge.
This one's going straight to my favorites.
Thanks SoapBubble really glad you enjoyed it, i think there could be a better buildup in areas, so it's something I should consider. I think with the competition so full throttle this time, I actually think there are other tracks that are just far more intricate than mine, and so much more than what I did easily deserving higher places. However I really am really pleased that you enjoy my tracks. :)
Thanks again! :D
The production is amazing, and verges on the professional. The track just feels like it goes on and on, which is fine if there's five minutes on action happening on-screen, but for this kind of generic-y action music, succinct is usually better.
Unfortunately, the only real change in tone is the few seconds around 1:50, where it gets mellow. The rest of the track is just bang-bang-bang, cymbal crash, tom-tom-tom. A little more variation in tone would have made the track more enjoyable, in my opinion, especially for a piece that's over 5 minutes in length.
Thanks very much RampantM. You always help me out with your reviews and make me think in new directions. Im always trying to improve and your comments really help me consider what else I could do, really appreciate it.
:)