Bowlerhat

hmmm... not sure what to think of this. First thing first, this isn't jazz. It's more kinda like hip hop or some kind of hybrid, but definitely no jazz. Not that it matters, but still kind of important to know i guess. I'm not sure if you're actively looking for feedback or just posting this for our enjoyment, so i'm just gonna quickly mention the stuff I noticed while browsing through the multiple tracks. - Some harmonic ambiguous stuff happening. Clashing notes which could be easily fixed. Nothing too big. - It could be my crappy laptop speakers and/or soundcloud, but the balance was a bit of at times. Too loud accompaniments compared to the leads. - The drums in the first cover don't flow at all. When writing for drums, always think in patterns and fluent motions for each limb. It kinda stops right in the middle, which disrupts the flow. It could work in another context, but the piano is playing swing time, and those drums ain't swinging at all. It all kind of contradict each other which makes it sound very unnatural. - At quite some moments the countermelodies are going straight through the frequency of the lead melody. Take care to have a clear distinction between the multiple melodies so that they don't interfere each other. Well, I think there was quite some more stuff, but this is all I can remember. If you want more feedback, some more explanations behind the things mentioned above or something else I can help with, just say so. Then I'll leisurely take the time to closely listen to your tracks. Nice work!!

Thanks for the kind words!! Yeah, I totally agree with you. I first recorded the piano, but I didn't bother getting it all fancy and perfect, since I wasn't sure it would work out with the flute. Then, once I assured it works together quite well, I didn't bother getting a perfect flute part since the piano was super messy anyway. When I've got some time again, I'll work out a nice pianopart, record it in a good manner, and do a few more flute takes. Something I don't really agree on though is that I don't need any advice on the music. Getting as much different opinions of different people will always help, no matter what. I'm not sure if the right hand of the piano is intervening with the flute part, since they're somewhere in the same frequency. It's fine in the beginning, since the piano is only playing chords, but after a quite a short time the piano gets a bit more active and especially when both the piano and the flute are playing different improvised melodies I feel like they're distracting from each other. Is it just me? Should I just play chords and calm notes on the piano the whole time when the flute is playing? Or can I avoid it if I play similar stuff in a different octave? Maybe it could be solved with some specific kind of mixing? Also, just generally. Is there too much reverb on the flute? I'm a sucker for reverb, and I've heard that green remixers tend to use too much reverb on their instruments. I personally think it suits the style, but, I'm not really sure.

Ah, yeah. I remember the demo. It was already nice, but this is really great. Nice brass writing. I also really like the piano and guitar countermelodies. It's a shame it sounds so fake. Like, all the samples are quite terrible, which really distracts from the great arrangement. I'd say, get a real band to play it, but that won't work balance wise. It's also a bit difficult to get a band in the first place. But, if you're able to get things to sound a bit more real, it'd make this a very good remix. Also a few small things: - At the intro, till 0:16, I'd suggest letting the piano only play the answer, and keep the question only to that sax. It makes more sense in my opinion. - Not sure what's happening at 0:18, but it's a bit odd. Like, it slows down a second and then goes back to original tempo. If it's intentional, I'm personally not really sure if it works. And if it's not intentional I'd suggest changing it. - At 0:28, why not have a guitar comb chord as well. I works great at 0:24, and it's a bit to only let him play one chord before changing to the distortion thingy. The piano nicely introduces that sus chord at 1:58, but at 1:59 it kinda gets lost into the rest of the mix before it has the chance to properly resolve. I'd either change the piano line into something that fully indicates the resolving of the sus chord, or keep the piano as it is, and let some other instruments indicate the tension release. Actually, it would be best to do both. It's a nice way to get things to sound more exciting, and you're not really using it to fullest as it is right now. - From 2.00 on, the piano answers are kinda dissonant. I would reconsider the lines it's playing right now, and use something which is just as exciting, but a bit more logical considering harmony and stuff. Okay, that's about it. There's some more minor stuff in the brass writing, but I'd need to see the actual notes to see what's exactly wrong with it, as I can't quite point it out yet with my ears alone. Great job!!

Hey, Here's a small fisherman horizon cover thingy. It's by no means a perfect take, since most of it is improvised on the spot. So, some of the reharmonizations are a bit weird, and there are two or three flute notes pretty badly out of tune. For the rest it's pretty nice in my opinion. But, ya know, I'm kinda biased since I made it myself. Things which might be a problem but could also just be me: - it's a bit long - too much reverb on the flute - flute and piano playing on same frequency - everything is recorded a tad too loud. So, if anyone has an opinion on the things I mentioned above, or/and has other things to be mention about the track, don't hesitate to share your it. Everything is greatly appreciated. My thingy: Source:

Just write. It's as simple as that. It's not necessarily gonna be good. It might even be bad. But I can promise you one thing. It'll be better than nothing. As the kind people above me already mentioned, a deadline or competition helps, because it forces you to write. But that's just an accelerator. A push to get the ball rolling. In my opinion a musician should be able to start writing, even when he or she doesn't have to. I try to write some music every day. Most of the time I erase or edit it the day after, because I didn't like it. Sometimes it's the start of a great new song with lots of potential. There's no telling beforehand. Also, it's those bad songs you write that you learn from the most. So, every failure is an investment for your next great song. It's an exciting process. But, when you don't write anything because you're afraid it won't be good or because you don't have any inspiration, then all you'll have is a blank sheet of paper. And no one learns anything from a blank sheet of paper.

Very intense, really cool. The beginning kind of reminds me of Marc Papeghin's version, in a good way. I agree with DarkEco about the fade out ending. Seeing how it's trailer music it might make sense to end the track after the modulated climax thingy at 3.06. But sense the soft part is also quite pretty I understand if you'd want to keep it. If you were able to but the calm ending somewhere at the end of middle part it would be best in my opinion. It'd also give a nice diversion from the allround epicness, and would make the finale even grander. I know there already is a calm end of the middle part, but since the calm end of the middle part you've got right now keeps the beat intact with the drum rhythm and stuff it's still quite epic.

Haha, thanks for the evaluation. I was hoping for something a bit more definite, but I'm certainly going to sub it now. But if there's someone else with some different subjective opinions about some of the things Rozovian mentioned, I'd be really interested in hearing it. Also, to answer your question about the source usage: I wouldn't dare calling you obtuse, but there is some some source bits in the soloing section. At 1: 32 there is a trombone part derived from the motive played from 0:26 to 0:39 which is from the original source. At 1:52 there is an answer in the saxophone section which is directly quoted from 1:04 and some other parts in the song as well. Unfortunately in this performance the alto is soloing right through it which makes it a bit hidden. At other performances it was more easily recognizable, which is one of the risks with combining improvisation and written out sections. Again, thanks for all the feedback and comments and stuff. I'll submit it and hope for the best.

Stealing music is good. You're the person writing it, so it's your music. It can only be your music, as you're the one who wrote. It has your, personality, dedication and life in it, and no one can take that from you. If it happens to sound similar to some music you really like, just take that as a compliment that you've written music you like as well. In reality, it'll probably sound like a combination of several licks, styles and lots of other things you heard somewhere in your life. And that's good, because all those things you heard, copied and implemented in your own music is your experience as a composer. Like pictures of your life, shaped in a musical form. At the point you've stolen so much things you like from other musicians and bundled them all together into something new and characteristic of yourself, you've found your own music. Personally I haven't gotten that far, though. I'm just quoting something John Clayton said to me at a workshop.

I really like the combination of violin and guitar. This kind of fusion between rock and semiclassical is quite cool. Naturally I still have a few nitpicks though. - There are some minor performance issues, especially in the beginning of the violin. Later on the tuning is the worst part, not only in the violin but also at the guitar. - I love the shaker just as much as everyone else, but more than 2 minutes of straight shaking, with no kind other kind of percussion nor variation is a bit dull. - The drums could use some humanization. As it is the only instrument (besides the shaker) which isn't real it kind of stands out now. - The voice leading of the backing violins is very awkward. You could build bridges between those note gaps. It seems like you just took the guitar voicings the backing guitar plays from 2.30 on and gave them to the violin, which doesn't really work. - Make sure that when you write a countermelody, it never coincides with the main lead. Luckily there are no clashes, but at 2.50 both the violin and the guitar play the same note, which makes it less effective. The last note is an exception, as unison works most of the time works best for endings like that. - When, at 3,15 the violin takes the lead again it would have been nice to have the backings join in with the syncopisation of the lead. It's cool how the violin plays around the main melody, and the backings could accentuate that. It would also be a nice variation of the constant guitar swiping that keeps being repeated. So yeah, nice mix. Good audio quality. Just keep an eye out for the things mentioned above.

Hmmm, if you forget the whole copyright thingy I could actually see some sort of a benefit in joining a kind of a joined YouTube channel with multiple remixers. I love collaborations between multiple musicians, and by having the support of more musicians = more videos = more people tending to subscribe and share, I can definitely a nice deal. It'd be like some sort of a small OCR YouTube channel which also has original music and makes the creators a bit of pocket money. But... I find your role in this whole idea a bit confusing. You say that we, as musicians need to make content that 'brings in an audience', implying some sort of a certain standard you ask for. You at the same time offer us 'original content and animation / video on Adobe after effects'. Which might sound like a nice deal if we had any clue on what you actually had in mind. Some cool punbased channel title, a nice logo, an actual example of your animation / adobe after effects? We've got no idea of what you're capable of doing at all. Right now it's very vague what you do, and while you actually have some really nice intentions and ideas that with some input may work out, it makes it kind of impossible for us to be interested in your idea. I'd suggest working out your plan for a bit, making a nice portfolio which showcases your abilities and then try it again. Because I'm certain that there is some potential in your plan

I'm getting some nice Nestico vibes here. Cool arrangement!! It might be a bit late because everything is recorded already, but I think that there could be a few improvements. It might not be applicable to this mix, but you can always take the advice with you for your next song, which I really hope there will be. First of all the bass lines at the intro, before the horns come in, are quite boring. He/she keeps going back to the root of the chord at the first beat of each measure. If you take a listen to the original Count Basie recordings you can hear some really nice four on the floor bass lines which are way more interesting to listen to. Then for the piano, I'd suggest to have played less. Basie might be the extreme, but especially when accompanying, less is more. Some of those piano lines are really nice, but they do not always suit the rest of the music. At the trombone solo I hear more piano than trombone. Again, I'd suggest listening to the Count Basie orchestra. Playing piano in a big band is the worst kind of piano playing there is, as it The drumming is good, but I think you could have given him some more help in the arrangement. He doesn't play any of the kicks in the horns, and at times he's just doing some normal swing drumming while the rest of the band is playing syncopes, which takes away the swing. Also, at the end the drums play a bit longer than the rest of the band, which kind of ruins the climax. Then for the horns. It's cool, but at times a bit messy. Most likely because there are some slight articulation differences between the voices. It also seems like the trumpet isn't really used to playing those high notes, as the tone itself is a bit lacking when it gets above the staff. The messy lines are sometimes also the fault of the arrangement, though. For example at 3.38 the saxes get in the way of the trumpets by playing those accompanying lines. Writing three different horn lines through each other is really hard, and unfortunately it doesn't really work that well at some places. The trombone accompaniment at that spot works well, though. I'd also suggest checking the voicing at 2.44, right before the drumsolo. It sounds weird. And not in some Brookmeyer kind of way. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think OC Remix needs more big band, so thanks for helping out!!

Very nice, I remember this from a very long time. Cool to see that it has progressed so much. A few things: The beginning until 00.47 is really cool harmonically. But what I personally find a bit odd is that it starts with quite a few tensions and as it progresses to the small climax in 00.45 it starts becoming more consonant. I'd say it makes more sense to start a bit more consonant and start adding some tensions after 00.18. That will make the string sweep at 00.47 sound more interesting. The syncopic counter-melodic woodwind + snare thingy you've got is cool. But after the woodwinds + snare disappear at 2.24 and the strings is doesn't really work well in my opinion. I'd suggest letting some brass (trombones?) play that line. It's not really a nice line for strings. I think that most of the reharmonisations are a bit weird in general. Of course it's a taste thing, but I personally never alter the melody line when harmonizing. It makes for some really awkward lead lines, which is something I'd tend to avoid. For example the trumpet lead in 1.51. If you make the flatVI chord augmented you won't have to deal with the B flat. You could also go t Also remember that the concert D the trumpet plays a few seconds after that is quite high. In an actual setting it would blow away the rest of the orchestra, completely destroying the balance. And yeah, the transition is a bit odd, but I think you'll find something for that.

Okay, so this is done. I've got a final version, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm switching this to evaluation to see if it's good enough for the judges. Source: Final version: Enjoy!!!

Contrary to popular believe I'm actually not able to play four trombones at the same time, so I just reserved that job to the trombone section. I was just standing next to a microphone with my Ipod for the whole piece and pressed the start button at the right moment. Which, despite being quite easy still managed to get quite some applause during performances and rehearsals.

Okay, I've got another update. It's getting better and better. This time it's recorded with two microphones, one from up close and one from far away. I tried to capture the rhythm section better, which I think went quite okay. There aren't any big mistakes here in the playing, but sadly at this recording the 3rd trumpet is missing, which makes the trumpet section sound a bit emptier. There's also a bit of clapping and wooing during my iPod solo, but nothing that's too disturbing. I think this is almost ready yet, but as there is another performance next Monday I hope to get a nice live recording then with all four trumpets. If anyone has any feedback on the recording, arranging, playing or anything else, please let me know. Every little word and thought is appreciated!!! https://soundcloud.com/jorik-bergman/samba-del-anjos-3-0

Hey again!! So, I've got an update on this thing. Everything that has improved: - This time it's recorded with the full band playing, so no missing members. - Despite being perfect, there are a lot less mistakes. - Everything's played in one take. - I recorded the brass from a bit closer by, improving the sound quality. - It's faster, so there isn't such a big tempo gap between the original and the big band. - The players are more accustomed to the piece, giving everything a more unified and nice ambiance. Everything that still could use some improvements: - The playing can still be tighter. - There could be fewer mistakes in general. - I really have to time the original audio better with the big band. I keep messing that up... - The rhythm section is still quite distant. - The rest audio is perhaps still improvable. - Anything else? Please tell me. So, yeah... What I'm especially wondering is if the audio quality that it has right now is good enough. I personally think it sounds nice, but as the arranger I'm quite biased :p. Of course, there are still some wrong notes on quite some places, but since the players are really really good, that will improve with more rehearsals. I will try to record everything better, but recording a big band is really hard, because those guys are playing pretty dang loud. So if anyone with knowledge about the judging criteria has something to comment on that it would be greatly appreciated. Also, any other feedback, comments, things you really liked, things you couldn't stand at all and anything else source related is highly encouraged. Not just for me, but especially for the players. https://soundcloud.com/jorik-bergman/samba-del-anjos-2-0

In this big band project we did for school we had to make a big band piece inspired by our musical 'roots'. A Columbian girl made a piece derived from latin american music, a Korean girl made an arrangement from some Arrirangs, another composer who listened to a lot of classical music when he was young made an arrangement of the Lacrimosa, from Mozart's Requiem. And I made an arrangement of the Angel Island zone, because my youth solely existed of playing Sonic 3. For the project we had to include a small 'window' to allow the audience during concerts to know where our inspiration comes from, and to give them a view of the original piece or style. So I included a small section with the original tune playing the intro of the song, to give the audience a look into the original piece which I based my arrangement on. Because it's very likely that none of the people watching the concerts will actually know the original music.

Ah, we were missing three trumpets, but we managed to find one replacement, but he hadn't seen the sheets any time before so he hardly plays anything. But at a few times you can hear him. Also, it's great to hear that you enjoyed it. Since we don't have the time to do a studio-esque recording I'm going to record it at one of the performances. So it will be a live recording. The page at Big-Band Battlefield says that he just recorded it on a handheld recorder, which is around the same I did for this version. But I'll try a few different places to record from.

Hey, thanks for all the input. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I was obviously wrong in some of my assumptions. At the moment I'm rewriting my arrangement, while taking regard of all the things that have been said. So, yeah... It does include a bass, it does not include an out of tune Macedonian Recorder and it will generally make a lot more sense. The whole concept was just quite poor... So, yeah. Thanks for that!!!

Hey, So, I made this Big Band arrangement of the Angel Island Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and I don't really now how I can record it the best way. The recording I made now is from a rehearsal, so it isn't perfect by any means, but I'm pretty sure the quality it is in now isn't good enough anyway to get submitted. I think I should use multiple microphones, and that is a possibility, but even then I don't know where to place them and how to mix the multiple audio files together. Does anyone have any experience with recording big ensembles? Or just any advice in general? Any feedback regarding the arrangement would be cool as well. I can't change anything in the sheets anymore because that would only confuse the players, but some opinions are always appreciated and will be included in my next arrangements. Do take note that: - At this recording we were missing 2.5 trumpets out of four. - I pasted multiple parts of the rehearsal behind each other so that people wouldn't have to listen to all the talking and practicing and stuff. - The players are still quite unfamiliar with the piece and thus make quite some mistakes. - The 1st trumpet is supposed to play the last few notes an octave lower... Thanks in advance Remix: https://soundcloud.com/jorik-bergman/samba-del-anjos Source:

Hmmmm... I get your point, but I'm not sure if it's really what I'm looking for. I know how great the conservatory is for "borrowing" other musicians, and it is something that I've already done with a cool big band project covering the Angel Island zone song from Sonic 3, and its naturally a great way to handle things. But, at the moment I want to try some really new things and study some ways of making music that I've never done before. And it's quite obvious that I'm not really good at it yet, and that I still have to improve in so many ways. But I don't think that changing the whole instrumentation, getting some other musicians to play the parts and to just avoid this whole for me unexplored way of making music is really the right way to learn new things. I am trained in proper instrumentation as well, and I know that right now the combination of instruments don't really make a lot of sense, but for now I just mostly want to improve my mixing and stuff. Which is why I posted this in the composition and music production thread, and not in the post your game remixes thread. As a composer/arranger I always rely on other people to play the parts, but I'd also like to make some music by myself and record all those instruments that I've gathered over the years. Which may sound a bit stubborn, but I do think that it could work with more experience and a lot of effort. Also, I'm not really sure I want bass in my mix. But I'm keeping the possibility open. And for the tuning of the piano; there are some rooms with some nice electric piano's instead of grands, so I think that that could be a solution.

Hmm, I didn't really pay attention to the tuning, so thanks for pointing that out. There's at least 10 grand piano's at our conservatory so I'm quite I can find one with a decent tuning, as I've never tuned a piano by myself before. And if I can't find it I'll try that pitch shifting. Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that. I properly micced the piano on my first recording which mysteriously vanished, and because I didn't have much time at my second recording I just quickly placed the microphone next to the piano. So, yeah... Normally it sounds better. Do the rest of the instruments sound fine or do I need to find another way to record those? I just used the reverb thingies that's standard on Logic and with with what sounds the best. Not sure if that's the best way, though. Hmm, yeah. So I'll improve the tuning and the recordings itself, do some EQ-ing, and see if it's better. Was there any problem with the voicings, choice of instruments, harmonies, or any other compositional related thing? Because if that's the case then I'll need to change that before all the before mentioned things. And thanks for all the help!! All of you people are awesome!!

Okay, so I rerecorded all the passages I accidentally sent into oblivion two days ago, which took a bit of time because I needed access to a grand piano. But, while rerecording I implemented lots of the great advice all you guys gave me, and it already sounds a lot better. It isn't really perfect yet, but waaaay better than first. So, thanks for that!! Here's a link to a one minute example: https://soundcloud.com/jorik-bergman/example-of-aquarium-park

Wow, thanks for the quick feedback. To specify some things: I meant recording with a microphone. When writing the arrangement I did think of frequencies and stuff like that, and I all the things I recorded are in different registers, with only bass notes at the lower frequencies, chord notes at the mid frequencies and melodies at the higher frequencies. That is something I totally forgot, and could be happening, but I don't hear any clashing in my mix, so I think it's more of a mixing thing. Hmm, I understand what you mean, but I'm not sure if I agree. I'm quite sure I took care of the things you're mentioning, but I obviously could be wrong. I tried doing that and now I accidentally erased some essential parts of the mix, so I can't give it now. I'll record those things again tomorrow, and then I'll try uploading it again. So, yeah, all in all it could be some careless writing, but I personally feel a lot more confident in my arranging than in my mixing, so it's likely a mix of both things.

Hey peeps, I barely know anything about mixing, so this might be a bit of an easy question, but I truly do not know what to do about it, so I'll just drop it here anyway. I like to record different instruments and put them all together. But whenever there are more than 2 instruments everything gets mudded and it just sounds unclear. When I pull things away from each other by stereolizing it to the left or the right it sounds better, but I can't imagine that being the right solution. Does someone here know how such things work?