This thread is for discussion, questions, and WIPs regarding the current Mac12 Orchestral only.

This is the discussion thread for the Monthly Audio Contest 2012 - January / February Orchestral theme.
All discussion, questions, and WIPs concerning the contest go in this thread.

Please submit your official contest entries in the main contest thread.

Remember to have lots of fun folks! Everyone is looking forward to hearing what you wonderful folks can come up with!

Sweetness. Gonna have to get my orchestra on.

Are small ensemble pieces okay? Pieces for a quartet, quintet, etc. Obviously not all instruments of the same family.

At 1/2/12 07:50 AM, midimachine wrote: Are small ensemble pieces okay? Pieces for a quartet, quintet, etc. Obviously not all instruments of the same family.

FROM RULES

- Realism of instruments won't be as important as arrangement. Meaning, if you have extremely realistic sounds, but just use the strings section and not much else, your song might not have as much a fighting chance as a less realistic-sounding submission that has more varied usage of orchestral instruments.
- No piano-only songs, or any single-instrument pieces. Remember, the main focus of the contest is usage of an orchestra.
- Your chances of winning may improve if your song conveys a mood / emotional change.

A small orchestra is still an orchestra, so I personally believe that shold be allowed. That being said, I believe a larger or full esemble orchestra probably has a better chance of placing TOP 8.

Gonna be honest, I kind of want to cop out by doing an ensemble piece but at the same time it's not really copping out if i put the same effort into only 4 or 5 instruments.

Was thinking of doing something for piano, flute, cor anglais, cello and viola.

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Wat

I have to ask the obligatory question: When you say orchestra, do you specifically include classical orchestra, or is the big band included?

I'll give this one a try. Now, if only I had a beard to stroke it while making classical music like a bad ass...

At 1/2/12 11:59 AM, Adam-Beilgard wrote:

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Wat

Not really understanding why this is a problem, given the circumstances and the brief.

At 1/2/12 12:52 PM, midimachine wrote:

At 1/2/12 11:59 AM, Adam-Beilgard wrote:

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Wat

Not really understanding why this is a problem, given the circumstances and the brief.

I'm going to have to limit my thematic material, and cut down on (rather, speed up) the development that would occur naturally. Five minutes seems too short.

At 1/2/12 12:56 PM, Adam-Beilgard wrote: I'm going to have to limit my thematic material, and cut down on (rather, speed up) the development that would occur naturally. Five minutes seems too short.

Develop it naturally, then spend extra time condensing it. You're just working to a brief that happens to have a time limit; it's not big deal.

At 1/2/12 12:27 PM, camoshark wrote: I have to ask the obligatory question: When you say orchestra, do you specifically include classical orchestra, or is the big band included?

A classical orchestra is what is meant for this contest. But I think you should be able to infuse big band elements into it with no problems.

At 1/2/12 11:59 AM, Adam-Beilgard wrote:

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Wat

FROM RULES

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes. However, slightly longer songs may be taken into consideration and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

At 1/2/12 12:45 PM, Computer112 wrote:

MAC is back... bye bye NAC, miss you.

Orchestra?! Great!

As far as I know, the NACs aren't going away. Chronamut is still running them.

At 1/2/12 01:05 PM, midimachine wrote:

At 1/2/12 12:56 PM, Adam-Beilgard wrote: I'm going to have to limit my thematic material, and cut down on (rather, speed up) the development that would occur naturally. Five minutes seems too short.

Develop it naturally, then spend extra time condensing it. You're just working to a brief that happens to have a time limit; it's not big deal.

It's fine, I've already looked at it from the time constraint perspective and might have a couple ideas.

But to what you just said, that would be like painting the Last Supper and then cutting off the ends because it was too big!

We'll see what I can muster, here.

At 1/2/12 01:50 PM, brokendeck wrote:

At 1/2/12 11:59 AM, Adam-Beilgard wrote:

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Wat

FROM RULES

- Songs can be a maximum of 5 minutes. However, slightly longer songs may be taken into consideration and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

As far as I know, the NACs aren't going away. Chronamut is still running them.

So, how much longer is 'slightly longer'?

And will there be a NAC at the same time as a MAC? Crazy.

At 1/2/12 03:59 PM, Computer112 wrote:

One more question, if you mean orchestra... Does it have to be 100% classical instruments? Or I can have some electronic instruments in?

FROM RULES
- Synthetic instruments may be used, but cannot be the primary focus of the piece. Instruments that are synthetic and/or electronic in nature CAN NOT be continually used in a dominant manner. For example, one can use a violin plugin, or brass plugin, but not a theremin plugin. One can use an acoustic guitar plugin, but not an electric guitar plugin. One can use a bells plugin, but not an 8-bit plugin. Keep in mind that any of the aforementioned synthetic instruments can still be used in a supporting role. They just can't be the primary instrument of your entire submission, like you might hear in symphonic black metal.

it'd be fun to participate, since i've a copy of Vienna installed right here on my computer, but it's gonna be rough to find time, at least in january. maybe february... it would absolutley be fun to participate... ^_______________^

At 1/2/12 04:08 PM, Rucklo wrote: ^_______________^

You just get to be somewhere warm during a winter month :P :P :P :P

Excellent reintroduction, this will surely wake up some of the orchestral folks. Thanks, brokendeck. :)

At 1/3/12 12:35 AM, Chronamut wrote: Still this makes me wonder if I should make a january theme. Lemme know guys.

funk theme pl0x

And for those of you who want to enter a THIRD contest this month, I'll be hosting a Separate Audio Contest, TBD.

So, who wants to be in my SAC?

Count me in fellas! I've applied for grad school, so I'm coming out of my temporary retirement! Just for you Brokendeck, just for you. ;-)

At 1/3/12 09:26 AM, Chronamut wrote:

At 1/3/12 12:55 AM, Knoxius wrote:

At 1/3/12 12:35 AM, Chronamut wrote: Still this makes me wonder if I should make a january theme. Lemme know guys.

funk theme pl0x

elaborate more :P

Yes please do, but take your beautiful souls to the NAC general discussion thread to do so :)

Oooo and Orchestral Challenge! Me Likey!

Claps like a seal

In all the excitement, it seems that I have forgotten to list Rig as one of the judges...

Yeah yeah, we all haven't forgotten you Rig! You're still in all our hearts!

Bosa's released an awesome track! He set the bar high!

• 

  King's Quest

  by Bosa

  An orchestral tune for all ages. With a choir

  Song

  Classical

  19,873 Views

  PLAY

At 1/8/12 09:11 AM, PeterSatera wrote: Bosa's released an awesome track! He set the bar high!
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/4 64899

Well are you gonna sit there and do nothing? :D

Actually, I sat here and did loads. Then the fudge crashed on me while I saved. Good bye 7 hours of music creation. :/

I feel like most of the judges of this competition should so be competing in this competition. Bonus judge round anyone? Reverse the roles and have the competitors judge the judges.

AWW SHIEEET