[SSB]

Source tune is, of course, "The Trial"

I found my title to be especially clever given poor Crono's usual sad outcome from the event ;o

I decided to go an all orchestral route with this baby. IN THE NEW VERSION, I completely threw out most of the arrangement elements from the old one, namely the muddiness and feel of just piling more and more stuff together to create a giant blob of brownish muck. I feel this new version has much more potential for creativity so far..

CURRENT VERSION - http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/2jkye/trial2

All comments welcome.

[chrono26]

the intro is my favorite part. reminds me of the nutcracker. also sounds a little like something elfman would do. horn part sounds nice as well. the organ gives it a churchy feel and it doesnt sound like traditional orchestral style. but it sounds like good stuff nonetheless. you already mentioned that you're aware of the balance issues so i wont go into that. i'd like to hear how this turns out. do whatcha do.

[The Instrumental Light]

its okay, but there is something to be desired. first of all, its definitely lacking something, there is a hole which needs to be filled. it also is boringly plain, nothing special or unique about it, just average. production quality is ok, but it isnt anything that great, it doesnt sound clean or refreshing in the sense of quality and perfection. it has some potential, but it definitely could be better. keep on trying.

[Sil]

0:00
Is there any thing you can do to make the harp less prominent? One effect is if you brought down the volume a little, you can double it with a clarinet (like Debussy.) Also, that trombone has got to go, so give that line to a bassoon, and make it less repetitive by making it more bouncy and staccato. See if you can turn it into some counterpoint to the melody, and bring out the cellos more. If all we can hear is melody + ostinato, it's pretty boring and not original enough.

0:51
I like the bass line here in the pizz bass. See if you can make that stronger. The melody by this point should have transferred to violins playing in octaves. What you have the violins doing now should be in the winds. The harmony in the horns needs some dynamic contrast, like crescendoing and decrescendoing. But seriously, get those violins playing the melody in octaves.

1:21
The violins here just sound like noise. If you want a neat effect, keep the melody in the violins, and give the cellos some tremolo playing some kind of counter melody. There's lots of room for some slow, stepwise quarter note movement that isn't just bass line ostinato. It feels like the chord at 1:41 should be the trombones playing a harmony that crescendos to a climax at 1:44 along with a timpani roll. By this point the melody would have transferred to trumpets and horns. At 1:44, violin chords would still sound great here.

I hope you have some plans as to how you're going to develop this theme further!

[SSB]

Thank you for the feedback.

I am well aware that my music is often really bland. I'm really trying to get out of that habit, but what I find happens is I get an idea, it starts out with one instrument, and then I keep piling other ideas on top of it without any kind of lead-ins or changes in voice. I'll take into account every idea posted here, although I think I'll be better off scrapping what I have now and starting over. Looking back, I'm not really happy with how it has turned out thus far.

[Kanthos]

This definitely has potential. I agree though that it needs something to make it more than just light background music (albeit nicely-arranged background music). Also, if there's anything you can do to get better-quality horn samples at 1:41, that would help a lot; to my ear, they don't sound that realistic.

[SSB]

I scrapped the entire thing and started over.

http://zenixstudios.com/f/trial2f72.mp3


Same general idea, although I think this one is a bit more interesting and has much more room to build upon. Same general feel, though.

[SSB]

ok so I couldn't help but keep working for hours, so I have a much longer update for you. All I need to do on this one is add the ending.

[The Derrit]

i'm a big fan of the beginning. it reminds me of a little kid mischeviously creeping around. it sounds a little bit muddy in spots, almost as if there's just a little too much reverb, but i think aside from that it sounds just fine. can't wait to see where you're going with this.

[HoboKa]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

its okay, but there is something to be desired. first of all, its definitely lacking something, there is a hole which needs to be filled. it also is boringly plain, nothing special or unique about it, just average. production quality is ok, but it isnt anything that great, it doesnt sound clean or refreshing in the sense of quality and perfection. it has some potential, but it definitely could be better. keep on trying.

hehe, ouch, that was blunt and to the point :P it makes me not want to submit here now :-S