Film music/soundtrack song, need you critique on mix!

[nahkaorava]

Ahoy!

Made this extra-cheesy song, could be in a computer game or in a film!
I have grown deaf to this one and don't know, how the mix sounds anymore! Used free soundfonts and some instrument from SampleTankFree! Writing drums was a pain in the ass for this song, really need a good plugin for orchestral drums... Any ideas for that?


And also, give comments and suggestions on the song?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5484057/Starshi ... loding.mp3

[forw]

nicely done, I think. I like the composition!
The deep strings/cello motif sound a little stiff/unrealistic. But maybe thats hard to change..
what library did you use?

Seems to me like a strange compression on the whole piece?
The woodwinds don't sound too realistic compared to the rest, I think.

For me the whole thing lacks a little of space and room. It seems pretty wide in terms of left and right but looking at the room each instrument has it still seems a little muddy at the beginning. it's getting much better after about 30 seconds or so.. maybe also check overlapping frequencies of the instruments.. Comparing it to real filmstuff it could still have some more depths in my opinion. For me it helps to compare with stuff like this (song "assimilation", f.e.):

http://www.projectsam.com/Products/Feature-Products/

hope this helps,
forw

[Marios Paradisis]

Sound very promising, with a better sound quality it would be killer. The composition has potential.

+1 to more space/room that is needed

[Vintage73]

Definite promise!

With more realistic libraries and a little work, this could really become something.

You may think it's cheesy, but I don't. I like it!

[tuz]

i'm marking this for listening later. can't listen at work. about the space/room comments that a couple of fellow members made. i find that space boy from elevayta is amazing. http://www.elevayta.net/product4.htm

[nahkaorava]

Thank you for taking the trouble to listen and comment my song!
Gives me energy to write some more stuff!

For the song I used some random free soundfonts I downloaded from somewhere,
probably found it on some thread in newsground.com if I recall correctly.
One dude had compiled of collection of freeware soundfonts and had a download
link for it. Also I used Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra on some instruments.
Anyways, I know they don't sound that realistic.

Maybe you guys are right with the reverb comment. I've heard it before that
I don't put enough reverb on my songs in general. Gotta bear that in mind
the next time I am mixing something!

Do you have any recommendations for some free/cheap good orchestal libraries?

Btw, cheesyness is usually good, imho! At least when writing this kinda music,
you gotta try to go as epic as you can!

[tuz]

just got a chance to listen to this. i really really like it! can't critique mix really but i just felt like the part that comes in at 1 minute definitely needed some more oomph

[nahkaorava]

just got a chance to listen to this. i really really like it! can't critique mix really but i just felt like the part that comes in at 1 minute definitely needed some more oomph

Yeah, it sounds kinda weak and lacks balls! I'm considering buying a proper orchestral vsti this summer. Hopefully I can get my songs sound more professional with. And really glad you like it! Thanks!

[CadenMusic]

This is really quite good. Sure, the samples themselves could be better but for what you have access to, it sounds really, really good.
With the mix, most of the instruments sound very monophonic, meaning in the center of the aural field. Experiment with panning different instruments in different ways, here's a layout to start out with (and something that's help me in the past when composing for an orchestra).



Of course, this doesn't take into account any electronic elements you put into the mix and that's just something that's entirely up to you. The percussion is very actively being panned and I suspect, though I could be wrong, that it is because you didn't have very many percussive samples/instruments to work with? Regardless, it fills up the space on the far right and left sections of the aural field, giving it a wide expression. This is great, especially with the particular timbre of the percussive instrument used in this case.

When you go deaf to your own mix, something that helps revive your ears (and is something that you can compare your music to) is listening to other professional composer's works. For example, the soundtrack to Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer, or the Transformer's OST by Steve Jablonsky. This will train your ears to that specific piece of music and when you go back to your piece, you'll have fresh ideas as well as a better understanding of what an orchestra can/is supposed to soundlike.

A few questions.
What DAW (Digital audio workstation) did you use? How much time did you spend making the piece? What was your mindset behind the creation of the different parts in the track? I.e. "it's going to a crescendo now so after that I'll bring it to the climax from there."

All in all, a very good piece.

[nahkaorava]

Thanks for taking your time to write that long answer, it's really helpful!

That "map" of an orchestra is really helpful, thanks man! I've never really given a though to panning in this kinda of music, although this was my first song in this style I got somewhat finished. Gotta make some experiments with the panning.

And you are right, I didn't really have that many drum samples... It really made writing drums pretty damn hard and made the song sound less forceful... :/


And of course I compare myself to other composers, for example Hans Zimmer is a real bad-ass dude! I listen to him quite much every now and then. For example drums in this song compared with the percussion in professional work... Oh man! With my samples I'm lightyears behind.

My DAW is Reaper. For the time taken, I don't really can not say. I found an old raw version on my hard drive, liked it and decided to finish this song.

About the mindset in the writing of this song, don't really know! I wasjust trying to keep the song and flow going on. Didn't really "plan" how this song was coming up; I just rewrote part until I was happy with it and then started thinking what could happen after that ! I am not musically trained (just self-learned), so my ways of composing might different to classically trained composers. But still, in my opinion there's no one "right" way in which one should write music.

Btw, checked some of your songs! Invasion Force was pretty epic! Your samples sound really awesome! I see you have EWQL Composers Collection... That's way too expensive for me... Do you think that EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold - version is any good? I have heard some good opinions on that and they've had some bargains on that some times.

I'm really interested in film/game music composing so I need a proper sampleset to before trying to send my songs anywhere!

PS. And thanks again to all of you! People on this forum are very supporting and helpful, let's keep this spirit!

[satYatunes]

This is really really good. I loved it.

[kcisANDderit]

good stuff! for sure...

better libraries and mixing will make this more realistic, but you have the most important ingredient...talent

for drums i suggest:
Action Drums Cinematic ed.
Drums of War 2
Dryer Drum of Death (interesting and very usable when layered)

if you search for my threads in the cafe you can hear i use these in some orchestral pieces