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Carpe Noctem

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Author Comments

Hey Guys! This is the first orchestral I've written that didn't loop, so please leave reviews.

Song was inspired by the picture "Budapest Fantasy Panorama" By Kornel Ravadits

Intro inspired by the style of Akira Senju.

Looking back on composing this song, I really wish I layered it with more brass, but over all everything seems okay to me at the moment.

(Composed using FL Studio, Project Sam Symphobia, and EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold)
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Well, as always...
Please leave reviews, ratings, and criticism.

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Pretty nice overall! You use the tremolos to good effect, and the runs up and down in register are well executed. It's nice to hear someone using brass in lower dynamics.

These are the things I reflected about (more or less in some order of importance):

This is somewhat subjective, but I feel that for a large part of the track, you could use something that glues the orchestration together more. The staccatos, while they provide the drive and rhythmic motor, are pretty naked in themselves. In the first part up to the trombone solo, the highest tremolo covers this role nicely but during the solo, especially since the melody is somewhat jumpy, a bit of glue would be nice - some suggestions, if you want to vary the texture, could be high woodwinds (doubled with strings or not), low woodwinds (bass clarinet would be very discreet) or low brass (though this would be more likely to conflict with the solo role of the trombone). During the classical period, horns and/or bassoons often filled this role, as well as the higher woodwinds. Since you mentioned it in the description - I think you could definitely use the brass to fill things out more, if you want.

I'd watch out with the intervals in the low strings, intervals smaller than a fifth usually sound very muddled in the low registers. In the intro, the last interval (a fourth? bit hard to hear down there) between what I assume is vlc and cb sticks out rather sorely.

One rather boring critique is that the trombone sounds rather synthy when it has the solo - when the brass are combined later, it's easier to accept things as realistic-sounding as there's more stuff going on. It sounds like you did a decent job sequencing it, but it is so very naked in the solo that the patches weaknesses are very exposed - relating to the first point, adding some orchestral "glue" might help things! The trumpet also seems to be very high in register for how soft it sounds - trumpets in the highest register will usually be pretty loud, just one thing to consider when doing midi orchestration since it is after all a recreation of the real deal.

One critique about the composition that I have is that the ending felt rather unjustified - there's no build-up to speak of, nothing that intensifies, so the little trumpet explosion feels pretty silly and out-of-place.

I kinda wanted a stronger bass most of the time, and during the trombone solo, the trombone felt rather loud compared to the strings, but otherwise the mix sounded pretty good.

That's all I could think of right now!

InfiniteHarmonyMusic responds:

Hehehe. Thank you so much for your review! I'll definitely take these thoughts into consideration next time! And of course, I appreciate you taking some time out of your day to listen to this seriously.

Haha, those are some awesome staccato and tremolo runs! The song really fits that picture of Kornel Ravadits. Despite it being short a short piece, I really liked it! It would be great for an action sequence.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, I really like the composition. The complex runs nicely complement the otherwise simple structure and melodies. The brass sections add a sense of mellowness, while the strings nicely add to the tension.

As for the mix, everything sounds well in place. Some parts sound a bit harsh, so I'd suggest cutting the highest frequencies a bit, to soften it. The brass sections also sounds a bit overpowering compared to the strings in some parts. Other than that, it's fine.

All in all, a great piece! Keep up the good work ;)

Like thedethbot, I also thought it had a very 'Runescape' feel to it, it's a nice little piece for sure but when you say it's the first orchestral piece that doesn't loop; it feels like it should.
It'd be great for some fantasy fighting scene in a video game or something.

After listening to your 'Another Day' track, I think something you should attempt in the near future would be a slow orchestral piece; I think it'd be something you'd be good at.

InfiniteHarmonyMusic responds:

Thank you! Yeah, for sure, I'm going to be attempting a slow orchestral real soon. :) Glad someone else things that that'll be a good idea.

I shall indeed Seize the Night my friend. However, this feels like Runescape music to me! Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's overly simple and short. I pride myself in being a quarter-decent writer, and just like any good writer will tell you, you have to elaborate in your stories far more than you think you should. The same holds true to music. If you don't make it rich, people lose interest. Runescape music obviously doesn't have people clamoring over each record, and nor am I with this song. I do reccomend that you spice something like this up, I like it, like I do my eggs, but you need to add that spice okay?
Sincerely,
thedethbot

InfiniteHarmonyMusic responds:

Thanks! I also thought that the bass needed some more 'oomph,' and another 3 layers of instruments would've done nicely, but I had no idea where to start. I definitely need to start working on my patience with writing music. After the first minute I start getting irritated with the composition process in general.

Nothing special, but still a good addition to motivational 'fantasy action' background music.

InfiniteHarmonyMusic responds:

Fantasy action was what I was aiming for! :)

Credits & Info


Listens
1,708
Faves:
1
Downloads
44
Votes
6
Score
4.17 / 5.00

Uploaded
Nov 10, 2012
12:06 AM EST
Genre
Classical
File Info
Song
1.7 MB
1 min 31 sec

Licensing Terms

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