C'mon man, how am I supposed to compete with orchestral masterpieces?
The timing of everything is super, and the mix is awesome! I can hear and analyze everything with ease.
The tension building at 2:10 is incredibly gripping, I love the progression and how the instruments will weave in and out. Writing and producing something like this has serous dedication. Props, I don't know how you orchestra/classical guys have infinite ideas running through your head. super jelly
Good luck in the competition, not that you need it you clever bastard~
Wow, man, I'm flattered, especially coming from someone like you!
I think this is the first time anyone has told me they like my mixing, and considering the number of hours I took to make every part come out, so this goes straight to the heart. :'D
Also, I'm glad you noticed the 2:10 progression and build-up, as they're both my favorite in the track!
Lastly, I hardly consider myself an orchestral/classical guy, as I mostly do jazz stuff (Adam Rogers and Allan Holdworth are my favorite guitarists, just so you know :P). I also hardly think I have unlimited inspiration, as I've had a bit of a hard time finishing this track near the end. I'm glad you put me in the same basket as the others, though!
In any case, I'm really glad you enjoyed, and that you took the time to leave such an awesome review!
Good luck to you too, I absolutely adore your track, just so you know! :P
At first, I thought this would just be a plucky, light-hearted affair. The beginning reminded me of Fial Fantasy Tactics Advance for some reason. Like a character select screen before a battle or something. Then came insanity with the 11/8 section around 1:25 and I was convinced that there was depth to this piece.
The section starting at 2:08 was foreboding and yet regal. I like the harp arpeggios and the constantly adding layers of instruments, though some of the piano work in there seems a bit eh to me for a second. I love the percussion though. :)
I love the harmonic changes starting at 4:08. You took me places I didn't expect and then brought me back to the beginning beautifully. It's cool how you start by bringing back the timbre from the beginning as a transition before bringing back any of the melodic material. It was a more subtle transition than most people use around here. The ending didn't sit well with me. I really wanted to hear a perfect authentic cadence after all of that regal, majestic stuff.
This is a quality piece. You spent your time well. Awesome work!
Yeah, the first part was meant to represent a light-hearted crowning ceremony, before suddenly, out of nowhere, all hell breaks loose. Glad you like that transition in mood! :)
As for the piano in the second/third section, it mostly got pushed down to background, as I didn't need it in the foreground, yet didn't want it to idle for the duration of the segment. One important thing to note is that it actually plays the harp's arpeggios as well as the part you hear, but because I'm still new to the setup I made this in, I didn't manage to make it pop out as much as I would've.
I'm really glad you like the modulations in the last segment, it took me a whole night to perfect it, as I wasn't too sure where I wanted to take the song.
As for the ending, I didn't want to write anything on the subject to prevent bias when listening, but I absolutely hate the finale too, but because of time restraints that's all I could afford. Perhaps one day I'll revisit this song and give it a proper ending, but for now I'm completely extenuated, so it'll have to wait.
In any case, thanks again for the amazing review, and I'm glad you enjoyed!
Quite the crazy journey! Hard to really pick out anything to critique - it holds together very well considering the broad spectrum it covers. I love the bassoon at 01:10! The follow-up is great as well. The double bass transition is marvellous.
Only gripe was that the room felt a bit off sometimes, and the occasional limiter pumping (at least it sounded like it to me).
Wow, thanks man, I'm really glad you enjoyed, and coming from you, little to no critique is a good thing! :P
As for the room, if you're referring to the orchestral layout, I'm really bad at reverb, so I panned out the orchestra from best I can from memory, but no deepness effects were added, so certain instruments may sound odd. As for the limiter, I had to add one to compensate the REALLY loud segments, such as 4:20.
Again, thank you very much for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed!
0:42-0:45 is what I can't get out of my head. I hope you don't mind me stealing your composition. (I'm just kidding).
I just feel that this song is so well structured, even for its length. I didn't really get bored, neither did I feel that it became repetitive. It kinda goes into a whole different mood at the middle point, almost as if you're telling a story (now where in the world would you have gotten such an idea)?
It is unfortunate however, that a king has yet to be crowned -- but that will soon change!
Alright now this is seriously really good. With such strong composition, fantastic instrumentation, and incredulous amount of detail, you've really outdone yourself with this one. I had trouble getting started on this review purely due to the fact that I wanted to keep hearing it and didn't want my listening experience to be interrupted by having to write this review.
If I had to make a list of all the well-made aspects of this track, it'd start with the composition. Everything was just so detailed. In every play-through, I heard something new in the background. And everything is just harmonised so beautifully that it leaves me wondering why you're not more popular than you already are. The dynamics are just amazing, and you put a lot of care in the composition of each and every instrument. Extremely well-executed tempo, mood and time signature changes throughout. Oh and that leitmotif is one of the best melodies I've heard in a long while, and I absolutely adore how you brought it back towards the end of the track. You're just SO good at this.
Instrumentation is also a big plus. You have a fantastic variety of instruments, and while I think the brass is a bit of a weak point, everything else was just out of this world. The piano fit a lot better than I expected, and the harp glissandos and arpeggios fit so well (they were one of my favourite aspects of this track). Together the instruments created the regal atmosphere you were going for.
I have a few negative points to mention though. Firstly, I feel that you sometimes hold on to melodies for too long. This is apparent with the melody at 1:11 and 2:22. Secondly, the mixing isn't brilliant. The mix sounds too cluttered and a lot more EQing is needed. The lower-mid and mid frequencies are especially too heavy. This can lead to the track having quite an over-bearing sound, especially during the massive chords like at 1:51 and 4:20 (although I love those chords). You need to EQ much more, because East/West instruments won't sound good without good EQing. Sometimes the track feels a bit too dry too, but not that much. Oh and your waveform is clipping quite a bit too. Finally, the ending was also a disappointment. That finale is just too weak and unfitting for such a grand song like this.
Overall, this is an incredibly good song. It has very very good aspects, but some quirks here and there that reduce your score to a 9. That said, I enjoyed this IMMENSELY and I think you've easily become one of the most talented orchestral composers on the site.
In any case, this is quite the review you've got here, this is gonna be a challenge to respond to. Good thing I enjoy challenges!
"If I had to make a list of all the well-made aspects of this track, it'd start with the composition. [...]"
I do feel that all of the special attention I gave to the song really payed off in the end, though I feel there's still a lot that could have been improved in retrospect (more on that in a second.) In any case, I'm really glad that you enjoyed!
"Instrumentation is also a big plus. You have a fantastic variety of instruments, and while I think the brass is a bit of a weak point, everything else was just out of this world. [...]"
And that's one of the things that, on retrospect, I should have put more energy on. My original plans for the song were a simple woodwind ensemble with a piano and xylophone, but then I decided to integrate a vibraphone, and then a supportive bass drum, and a snare, and a trumpet, and then a string sections, and by the time I had finished most of the first movement, I was pretty much left with a full orchestra with a few instruments missing. I actually adding some Wagner Tubas and a bassoon later on, but by then I was so far into the score I didn't bother to integrate them into the previous part, since I felt that giving them a doubling role would just be copping out. I also kept the solo woodwinds from the start throughout the song, even in segments that would have necessitated a full ensemble, so again, there's a lot of things I could've improved, but decided to rush forward instead.
"I have a few negative points to mention though. Firstly, I feel that you sometimes hold on to melodies for too long. This is apparent with the melody at 1:11 and 2:22."
Hmm, I dunno, I really like repetivism, though I know that a lot of people hate it. I guess I probably should've added more counter-melody to support the length of the movement, but I ran out of instruments and didn't feel like adding more instruments. Sorry about that.
"Secondly, the mixing isn't brilliant. The mix sounds too cluttered and a lot more EQing is needed. [...]"
Wow, that is some extremely constructive criticism there. I'm actually really bad at this, so that's actually incredibly useful insight. Thanks for that, I'll definitely keep that in mind!
"Sometimes the track feels a bit too dry too, but not that much."
You have no idea just how many times I messed with the reverb throughout the creative process. maybe it's because I used Fruity Reeverb 2, but nothing ever felt real, and in the end, I just put it really tight. (±18) On hindsight, I should probably have used the built-in EWQL reverb, even though I really hate adding reverb to a track. Dunno why.
"Oh and your waveform is clipping quite a bit too."
Really? I made sure that there was absolutely NO clipping inside my track, and I'm hearing it now and still can't find any. Then again I suck at that kind of stuff, so maybe if you could tell me exactly where next time you log in on MSN?
"Finally, the ending was also a disappointment. That finale is just too weak and unfitting for such a grand song like this."
Tell me about it, I hate it just as much as you, but that's all I could think of because of the stress (I made that within the last 3 hours of the competition's deadline.)
"Overall, this is an incredibly good song. It has very very good aspects, but some quirks here and there that reduce your score to a 9. That said, I enjoyed this IMMENSELY and I think you've easily become one of the most talented orchestral composers on the site."
You have no idea just how honored I am to hear this coming from you! I still can't believe I'm getting this much positive feedback from a genre I just happened to dabble upon less than eight months ago!
Once again, thank you for the review, and thank you for having created such a fantastic way for composers to gain exposure and amazing feedback from talented artists!
