The Snow Maiden

[ChameleonMusic]

Beautiful song and mood. I liked the arrangement and orchestration. Sounds good.

Thank you!

[ChameleonMusic]

delicate and perfect for the season. I got a kind of looking out over landscape feel towards the end, good place to expand on the theme I thought.
very nice composition

Thank you - much appreciated! Yes, I will expand this one at some point!

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/the-snow-maiden

Wonderful. Just the rigth tempo and mood. As expected, the technical sides of things; arrangement, voiceleading, mix, master are on the pro side. So that leaves some comments from me to the tune as such. You may not think it is sweeping and epic, and yes, it could be claimed to be on the more discreete side of winter beauty. However, to me it does have some associations to the original Snowman tune "Walking in the Air" by Howard Blake, which deffo is THE most epic and beautiful winter song I have ever heard, apart from being the soundtrack to the Christmas´ of my childhood. With such associations, how few or subtle they may be, it cannot go wrong in my book. Great work, Cham.

[ChameleonMusic]

I feel a bit uncomfortable critiquing your work, Mark

Well don't - please!

As long as it's well meant and reasonably polite...just be honest about my music...that's why I post it!

I'll listen to the remainder of your posted tracks.

Very brave!

As soon as I heard this I thought of "The Snowman" because to my ears, "The Snow Maiden " has got that same orchestral, dreamy, fantasy-like vibe to it.

Someone else linked the two as well..hadn't occurred to me, but I do get the point now it's been mentioned!

The bells are magical.................... Its a really good piece of work, well done.

Thank you very much!

My wife worked at Beatties in W'ton for a number of years.

Sadly, no longer there...closed down a few years ago now!

[ChameleonMusic]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/the-snow-maiden

Wonderful. Just the rigth tempo and mood. As expected, the technical sides of things; arrangement, voiceleading, mix, master are on the pro side. So that leaves some comments from me to the tune as such. You may not think it is sweeping and epic, and yes, it could be claimed to be on the more discreete side of winter beauty. However, to me it does have some associations to the original Snowman tune "Walking in the Air" by Howard Blake, which deffo is THE most epic and beautiful winter song I have ever heard, apart from being the soundtrack to the Christmas´ of my childhood. With such associations, how few or subtle they may be, it cannot go wrong in my book. Great work, Cham.

Thank you VERY much for that feedback - much appreciated...glad you liked it!

[seismic1]

I'm definitely getting the winter vibes from this piece, especially on the coldest night of 2022 (so far). Is there a Rimsky-Korsakov connection?

It's a deft piece of composition and arrangement which could take pride of place in your portfolio. The melody is one which stayed in my head long after I switched off my computer last night.

I could imagine a big, orchestral, "epic" arrangement of this melody, for use in one of those grand, large-scale Western movies that they don't seem to make anymore.

I once went from Helsinki to Tallinn for lunch. I stayed for tea.

Good work

[mediumaevum]

I really like this piece.
Nothing to critique from my first listen.

[tomtom1]

Hi Mark,
i would like to ask a bit of a tricky questions. (You know that I don't want to provoke you.)

When i hear your pieces compared to, say, a Hans Zimmer production (or AAA commercial production), i still notice a difference. Usually the "commercial sound" sounds a bit warmer or punchier or tighter (for my ears). What is that about? Is that due to the source material (do they have better maybe exclusive samples? Real orchestras? Etc.) Or is it due to the equipment used (analog consoles & high-end compressors etc.) Or is it simply a different mixing style?

[ChameleonMusic]

I'm definitely getting the winter vibes from this piece, especially on the coldest night of 2022 (so far). Is there a Rimsky-Korsakov connection?

It's a deft piece of composition and arrangement which could take pride of place in your portfolio. The melody is one which stayed in my head long after I switched off my computer last night.

I could imagine a big, orchestral, "epic" arrangement of this melody, for use in one of those grand, large-scale Western movies that they don't seem to make anymore.

I once went from Helsinki to Tallinn for lunch. I stayed for tea.

Good work

Thanks Tim - your input / feedback is always much appreciated!

Melody - stuck in your head is good! Well from my point of view anyway!

Orchestral epic development - I'm on it, but it's gonna take time!

Helsinki / Tallin - jealous! especially Tallin, home of Arvo Part who is a composer I've followed / studied quite intensely over the decades!

[ChameleonMusic]

I really like this piece.
Nothing to critique from my first listen.

Thanks for having a listen - glad you enjoyed it!

[fairlyclose]

classic, Christmassy, winter song. Even here where Xmas time is 34C and 70% humidity Very filmic

[mediumaevum]

I really like this piece.
Nothing to critique from my first listen.

Thanks for having a listen - glad you enjoyed it!

No problem. I enjoy listening to your music, especially your choral works which I've found very inspiring.

[ChameleonMusic]

Hi Mark,
i would like to ask a bit of a tricky questions. (You know that I don't want to provoke you.)

When i hear your pieces compared to, say, a Hans Zimmer production (or AAA commercial production), i still notice a difference. Usually the "commercial sound" sounds a bit warmer or punchier or tighter (for my ears). What is that about? Is that due to the source material (do they have better maybe exclusive samples? Real orchestras? Etc.) Or is it due to the equipment used (analog consoles & high-end compressors etc.) Or is it simply a different mixing style?

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

You think Zimmer is better produced than me do you...the end of a beautiful friendship I think!

But seriously...I bloody hope he is or he'd be getting something VERY wrong indeed!

I could probably (definitely actually) write an essay on what the differences stem from, but reasonably succinctly (for me):

Sample libraries /VSTs - no, not really, I don't think there's much significant impact in this area at all, although he does have access to an extraordinary array of these via his RAID drives.

Studio equipment in general - Holy Sh#t! you have no idea, maybe of the difference...take a quick look and weep:

https://composer.spitfireaudio.com/en/a ... ers-studio

Analogue synths galore from all decades!
One whole wall of his studio is a purpose built modular synth!
The very highest quality outboard gear that money can buy - hardware reverbs, delays, compressors, EQs to supplement his VST ones.
That bloody grand piano - £150,000 at least for that custom model!
And let's not even mention the microphones / recording rooms etc etc etc

But it's more than all that really, the following is probably even more significant:

Me: I'm on my own - composer, performer, arranger, orchestrator, sequencer, recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer...I've had to learn to do it all!

Zimmer: I have no doubt that his experience will be up there right across the board - he knows his sh#t, BUT...

He has a stable full of hand-picked composers to work with.
He has top professional orchestrators whose only job is to arrange his ideas in the very best way possible for real instruments - they are the very best of the very best!
He has the very best mixing engineers working with the very best equipment - specialists in that field only.
Ditto - recording engineers
Ditto mastering engineers...I use Ozone 9 (which I love)...he has £200,000 worth of purpose built mastering gear + colleagues who ONLY do mastering for a living...nothing else!

And then there's access to the very best orchestras in the world, recorded in the very best studio environments by the very best recording engineers with the very best microphones etc etc.
________________________________________________________________________________
Having said all of the above, there is also a difference in approach as well, you're right - a different goal in terms of the sound. Briefly...

Most of my professional work is for live events / theatre companies. Any other media work is at a very low level and doesn't require the massive punch / warmth that is hugely en vogue in Hollywood at the moment...for me, everything at that level is getting very close to being 'overcooked' now and I suspect a new wave of more subtle processing might well take precedence over the next decade...might take longer, who knows but it's all cyclical...always has been.

Zimmer - produces music on the whole for specific listening environments and can therefore push the boundaries a lot further.

Me - A touring theatre company will use my music over months in various completely different venues so I have to take a more stable, middle route where I can be pretty damn sure that my music will sound at least OK in all of them!

I could go on, but that's probably enough!

[vurt]

beautiful stuff
very dreamlike, could see it as part of a christmas ballet type thing, like when they do alice (i saw a live rendition of this, was fabulous, bit of an alice fan) or such. but obviously, for "the snow maiden"

not sure what else to say other than bravo

[ChameleonMusic]

I'm definitely getting the winter vibes from this piece, especially on the coldest night of 2022 (so far). Is there a Rimsky-Korsakov connection?

It's a deft piece of composition and arrangement which could take pride of place in your portfolio. The melody is one which stayed in my head long after I switched off my computer last night.

I could imagine a big, orchestral, "epic" arrangement of this melody, for use in one of those grand, large-scale Western movies that they don't seem to make anymore.

I once went from Helsinki to Tallinn for lunch. I stayed for tea.

Good work

Forgot to mention...

Yes, there's a Rimsky Korsakov connection...THE SNOW MAIDEN (an opera)

I think a SNOW MAIDEN play also once used music by Tchaikovsky as well?

The story is seriously embedded in Russian culture.