dannthr

Unless your listener is a tonal synesthetic a specific key is not going to evoke more or less emotion than another. However, the 'This is Spinal Tap' reference not being acknowledged by qutie a few musicians is a freaking tragedy. Watch that movie if you have not already and if you have but you've forgotten it, watch it until it is seared across the folds of your brain. Additionally, 'This is Spinal Tap' being taken seriously is compounding the tragedy. That moment, among many moments, from the film was specifically making fun of those people who take that key crap seriously. Let's talk for a moment about keys and more specifically, keys and registers. One of the most important factors in selecting a key for the modern composer is one largely having to do with instrumentation. Each instrument in the orchestra has varying timbral qualities across their useable registers. Understanding this is at the heart of orchestration and it is why most modern composers select one key over the next. For example, a cello group. First of all there are the instrumental limitations. Celli are generally not tuned below a C, so whatever music you have in mind for them is going to have to NOT go below their lowest note. The cello has several timbral variations from one octave or so to the next. Of course, in string instruments, generally speaking, the timbral differences are reached smoothly which I will contrast with my next example. The first octave or so of the cello has a deep, slightly lumbering quality, but still has the potential to be lyrical but full bodied. The second octave or so, generally centering around maybe the E or F is quite lyrical, the low, gutteral sound is almost completely gone (mostly due to the construction of the instrument itself) and this is a really great spot for a cello melody. The cello in its third octave, however, starts to get a slightly pitched sound. This air piercing sound is a little annoying on its own, but in the context of a full orchestra, is perfect for cutting through all the other instruments. This is demonstrated excellently in Brahm's 3rd Symphony's 3rd Movement where in the initial minute or so the celli take care of the melody. If you look at the score, aside from a few dynamic pulses, every instrument in the orchestra is playing at pianismo, including the celli. The celli cut so well through the orchestra because of that particular timbral quality of that part of their register. If he had written the part lower, it's unlikely you would've heard it so clearly: One of the instruments which have the most glaring register differences would have to be instruments built similarly to the clarinet (many woodwinds) because there is a split in the keying of the instruments between the lower and upper ends. The lowest note is going to require the most finger-holes covered, giving many woodwinds a nice full lower range, but as the finger-holes are uncovered, the timbre gets breathier and slightly weaker. However, about mid-way between the upper and lower registers, the player must open up a high register switching key and recover all the holes again. Again, this gives the instrument a very full and strong bodied sound but this time the instrument is between 1.5 or 2 octaves above the first low starting note. The cycle runs through again except that the instrument stops getting as breathy and starts getting more nasally--which is both more annoying but also more cutting if you want to push through the orchestra. Obviously that is a really general example and a good player will smooth the transitions from one timbre to the next, but no one can deny that they're there, three centuries of orchestration is built around this concept. Choosing your key is not arbitrary. Choosing a key is about effectively accessing certain timbral qualities of certain instruments and yes, it will change how your piece sounds but that is probably because you've pre-selected an instrumentation.

Deadlines. If you don't have deadlines, impose them yourself, if you do, well, then get going, your client is waiting. Don't be ambiguous about your track--you have to have goals. You say to yourself: Write a 2 minute and 30 second looping main title track by 9pm Tuesday evening--or you lose. If you want to get real serious and you can't because you don't have a client, say to yourself: Write a 2 and a half minute looping main title by 9pm Tuesday evening--or you will have to give $500 to a homeless man on Wednesday. I never have a problem getting shit done when money is on the line, I may not be inspired, but I'll be damned if i don't get it done. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. Start acting like you have some clients and you will get it done.

I would highly second Yoozer's recommendation of Kontakt 3. Aside from the fact that it comes with a pretty fair collection of samples, it will also open up the doors for smaller, more independent sample libraries that are released for Kontakt and similar sampling platforms because the overhead for using their own VST software or licensing an existing sample-engine is prohibitive. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of fantastic and affordable Kontakt libraries including OCRemix's own Zircon/Bustatunez's Sitar Nation.

Combining orchestral libraries almost always results in a better sound so long as you can exercise the mixing ability to put them into the same space.

Hopefully the OP understands that that is a given.

East West's Symphonic Orchestra is actually quite affordable for its league. VSL's Special Edition is advisable for start-up set-ups. SI Symphonic collection is a bit overpriced, in my opinion.

Independent productions' budgets are a touchy subject, period. It's okay to break the ice, so to speak, and just inquire about their budget and their music needs. I will look at a project with almost any budget, but I will also make recommendations or suggestions that do not lead to me contracting with them. Sometimes a game with a very small budget will be able to afford a great title theme but have to license the rest of the music. Other times, it's important to know the value of the contract to you. If this is your first game, then the credit itself is meaningful to your business--it has value--and so you might consider taking a pay cut because you don't have the provable experience needed to command higher rates or more respectable gigs.

Actually, casual online games like those found at Big Fish Games . com probably average a per minute fee for custom composition of $150/min to $500/min--for the record. However, my survey suggests that prices for these services are going DOWN, which is a VERY bad thing considering, even in this year where the economy was poop, the games industry did better than last year. Games are the premier form of entertainment in the united states and as long as there's some ass who will write for $50/min, there will be developers asking for $50/min. The average reported rate for games categorized as CASUAL ONLINE games in my survey was $252/min (with the lowest respondant quoting about 30 and the two highest respondants quoting 1000). Now, in my opinion, if you're an average composer with an average number of credits/experience, you should be aiming at about $252/min. Personally, I've done it for less than that, I have, I'm not afraid to admit that, but I've never done it for $50/min and it's hard not to because the desire to work on a game is very high and I get lots of inquiries that ask for music for less than $150/min--we must resist that temptation if possible. There are other reasons, of course, to take a job for less. You could be in desperate need of experience, which has a value only to you, you could also just like the project, again, value only to you, and you could also do it for a favor or for charity, and you could also live in Pakistan for all I know--these are decisions you have to make when you bid for a project--just keep in mind that when you bid for a project, you influence the entire industry. Just a little advice: NEVER publicly advertise your rates--you may never escape them and forum posts will be dug up for years. Besides, it's just bad business to quote a project before you even know what project it is. Per minute fees are not always appropriate. A battle piece may require far more work than an ambient piece but be the same number of minutes--make the project worth your time and don't undervalue yourself, your services, and what your music means to the game.

Yeah, Beatdrop's contract is about what I would expect from professional licensing situations--with high variance on the price. (I've seen commercials go for about 20 grand for a minute and a half for exclusive 1 yr licenses) The problem is that you're not dealing with Konami, you're dealing with an indie project. Here's the bottom line. Either they're paying you for a full buy-out of the soundtrack or you own the soundtrack and you are licensing the music to them non-exclusively. I have some old indie projects that I'm still attached to because they just keep going, but my agreement with them is that I am licensing the music for use in their game and only their one game for whatever profit I rake in. If they want to pay full buy-out for the soundtrack, they can, but they can't afford it, so that's not what's happening. Full buy-out for the soundtrack for me would be a lot for their game but with full buy-out they could probably justify a shitty soundtrack deal. First thing is first, re: second payday bull shit: If they sell an art book, then the artists should be in on that action if not entirely in on that action. The programmers are building algorithms and code skeletons that they will use on other projects. The designers are creating systems that they will be able to take with them to other games. Don't let these guys dick you around. I recently conducted a preliminary survey on freelance per minute music buy out rates and randomly sampled a few dozen folks from all experience levels:

Define "quality."

Congratulations, really great news, I hope you guys got paid BANK!

I'm partial to the Wurlitzer: Scarbee has a great version of both of them. Direct your attention to the SMOKEY LOUNGE demo: http://www.scarbee.com/demos/eep_demos.php That's about as sexy as you can get.

You'll be better off running your 32bit samplers as standalones alongside the sequencer and bussing your audio through a virtual mixing bus.

Is the audio source for your drum beat external? If it's internal, then you should be able to select the audio bus that your drum beat goes to and your guitar should be coming in on a separate audio signal. Also, make sure you're listening to the click track on your headphones if you're mic'ing your guitar.

Hey buddy, The trick to this has nothing to do with whether or not something is front and center or off to the side or in the background. Committing to an instrumental shift is about doing it with confidence. You can't hesitate or act like there's something you need to cover up with a cymbal roll. For example, the transition at 2:54 of Tiny Grains, you don't even need a cymbal roll, but the fear that it would sound awkward has paralyzed your creativity. That comes into the second issue. When you're working on a shoestring, you have to exploit the fact that your sounds aren't pro. You don't try to cover them up, necessarily, you're better off making your weakness your strength through commitment to the sound aesthetic. If it sounds deliberate, confident, and meaningful--no one will question your choices. The second link didn't even function for me. My suggestion is to listen to "The March" from the movie, 1941 by John Williams. I know it's not pop music, and it's not quite the style you're going for, but I'm hoping that will help you look at the music more objectively. Notice how he manages his transitions from section to section and from instrumental shift to instrumental shift. He deftly manages to bring out the special texture of each of his soli and tutti instruments and arranges them compositionally to compliment eachother at just the right times. When he cuts out an instrument group, no one bats an eye, because he does it with elegant confidence.

I don't think you'll find much difference between the keyboards at that price-range. Since you're in college, space might be an issue, and so you might consider one or two of the shorter MIDI keyboards. For 120USD, I'd probably start looking for cosignments at music stores or deals off of internet auction sites. Keep your eyes peeled for a solid stage piano like the Roland RD-100, which is old, but good--especially if space is not an issue for you. Noteworthy Composer... wow. Just, wow. I haven't used that since 1999. Didn't even know it was still kicking around. NWC is probably the worst program I've ever composed with in my entire life. I put up with it because it was free, is it still free? Man, that's a blast from the past. I ended up moving to Voyettra's MIDI Orchestrator Plus, which is now called Digital Orchestrator Plus, I remember that being fairly cheap (around 30 USD) so you might want to check that out. Anything but NWC, for reals. (Unless it's awesome now, which I doubt) I mean... right now I'm using SONAR, which is most decidedly out of your budget. Back then, I also started out with a Yamaha PSR series keyboard, which was total shit, but was the kind of keyboard you could get for about 120 USD (Now I'm using the CME UF8, 88 full weighted keys, USB input, nice, reliable action, lots of MIDI controllers to interface with my workstation). Look for the deals online, if you can, but if there's a deadline to get it, the Yamaha PSR series was okay with me. Some of them have, you know, fx and non-standard or extended MIDI sounds, and really, act like a kind of sound module, which could be useful for you to get into.

Heheh, don't forget the secret 3rd component: TIME! Of which I, personally, have almost none.

Thanks for the compliments The main flute in the Jungle track is a native american cedar flute. The cedar flute has a really great woody/bird-like sound and just seemed to work out really well in the jungly setting. Thanks

Hey thanks a lot for the kind words, guys, I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply--I had thought that I was subscribed to this thread, but I guess not?... Dramanomore, the Kaboom Village track was definitely designed to be light and playful as well as easy going, so I did not put as much into its complexity. The Kaboom people are like little explody children.

We definitely need to move to more flexible processing and this is only the beginning. Although, GPUs I think are optimized for calculations like matrix math, which I don't think are used in standard DSP apps, but could be very nice for something like VSL's MIR tech which has convolution simulation for placing instruments in a 3d virtual stage.

I would rather have every other sample library out there than have symphobia. It's over simplicity just doesn't really fit into the way I write or mix. I would rather work harder to write subtlety and detail into my music than lumbering brass stabs. Like I said, if I had it, I would probably use it for beefing up sections, but I just like having more control over my ensembles, my tuttis, and my harmonic arrangement. I also like having control over the spatial arrangement of my virtual stage, which I don't think can be done with symphobia. As far as my merit vs my establishment... Well, all of my sitting down and learning the more complicated instrument libraries gave me a chance to work for Richard Jacques on his score for Highlander: The Game. You can listen for my contribution when you fight your way through Pompei. I'm definitely not established, but I am thankful that having expert knowledge of the more sophisticated sample libraries got me paid work and a great AAA credit and a nice personal connection to boot. Cheers,

About the same time composition/orchestration was reduced to piano pounding. You should hear the symphobia users talk about their demos on the forums I frequent: "I smashed this out in about an hour" It's fine with me--everyone can start sucking all they want. Less competition for me.

Meh. I love Project SAM's recording process. They have a fantastic sound. I don't think any of MY pro composer friends would say this library blows everything else away as a library goes, but as sound, it's very good. I think it would make a very nice suppliment to a more sophisticated orchestra library. Unfortunately for all of us, we will have to endure Symphobia orchestral effects sounds in trailers and low-budget sci-fi/action movies for the next 5 years. Personally, the price is prohibitive for what it offers, but I wouldn't mind having it. If I had it, I would use it. Probably in the background mix to beef up a section for some reason. Let's hope the Project SAM guys do a real library, eh?

I just wrapped on the soundtrack for Midnight Synergy's latest installment of the Wonderland Adventures series which will be released later this year. So I've come with a couple of tracks for you guys to dig. If you don't know the game, it's a pretty neat 3D Adventures/Puzzle game where the player solves sometimes very complex maze-puzzles to achieve some specific objective. Different moods and motifs/textures were needed to express the varied parts of the game and some tracks, as you'll find, are simpler than others. It's a Wonderfall Life (Wonderland Adventures 2) 3:00 Take an walk through Wonderfalls, where lush green grass sits against rolling mountains and waterfalls--what will you find around the bend? Adventure, of course. Into the Jungle (Wonderland Adventures 2) 4:00 Our journey has only begun, the mysterious jungles call to even the most reluctant voyager. Through the mist, we can hear strange animals warning out danger, but we press on. Welcome, Relax, KABOOM! (Wonderland Adventures 2) 3:00 Finally we come to the village of the friendly Kabooms. Watch as they scurry among their grass huts, going about their daily business, occasionally exploding. So there you go, just a few samples of the soundtrack. As always, comments and criticism are mucho appreciated. Even though these assets are long delivered, I always want to improve my craft, so feel free to have at me, so to speak. As far as libraries go, I threw almost everything I had at 'em: EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold XP QL RA QL StormDrum Project SAM Orchestral Brass Westgate Studios Modular Series Flying Hand Percussion Tsaiko Drums Custom/commercial sfx/instrument fx libraries Cheers,

Well, one thing to consider, and I don't know the Nord racks very well, but all MIDI ports have 16 MIDI channels. If the NORD rack is as MIDI capable as my dinosaur Roland JV1080, then you should be able to get 16 MIDI tracks going at once. Now, to get the MIDI into the RACK from multiple sources, there are a few ways to think about this. The old skool method is daisy chaining, but I don't think you'll need to do this. Any MIDI rack worth its salt has a MIDI Input a MIDI Output and a MIDI Thru. The MIDI Thru allows MIDI ports to travel through the device to the next device. Most racks have a Device ID which can be selected to route MIDI ports through a daisy chain. But like I said, this is OLD SKOOL! What I would suggest is looking at your computer/laptop as a MIDI hub of sorts. Have your keyboard inputs go to your computer and any DAW worth its salt can route MIDI signals to any device necessary.