YoungProdigy

Hey, Young Prodigy here. I recently composed a new orchestral piece called Taking Flight; inspired music you might here in Zelda games: Any critique on how to improve it is welcome.

Over the years, I've been composing a lot of music as a hobby. I might want to get into freelance composing. But one critique I've often heard is that the samples I use aren't realistic enough. Do you really need super realistic samples to be a video game composer? I mean I've seen a lot of very successful games where the music obviously wasn't made with realistic samples; such as Sonic Mania, Shovel Knight and various indie games. So I guess my question is, do I really need ultra realistic sample libraries to get into game composing?

One thing I've always loved about Capcom vs SNK 2 music is the string samples. You can hear an example of the string samples at 0:46. You can also hear the same at 1:10 here: Are there any libraries that have strings similar to this?

I'm aware that there are retro indie games. But I was asking about the marketability mostly. Are devs willing to pay a decent price for retro sounding music? By decent price I mean, around $50-$100 per track for exclusive rights. I'm asking, because I've heard from some people that devs aren't willingly to pay that much for retro sounding music. Those people are probably wrong though.

I know that most modern triple A games, either use real instruments or super realistic samples. But as far as video game music goes, is there still a market for retro music? When I talk about retro music; I'm referring to the sequenced music you would hear in older games. A lot of JRPG's from the PSX and PS2 era used sequenced music. My question is, do you guys think there's still a market for retro-sounding music in games?

Hey, YoungProdigy here. Just finished "Retro City". "Retro City" is an 8-bit NES style chiptune. You can listen to it here:

Hey, YoungProdigy here, just finished "A March Towards Victory". A march towards victory is an orchestral style march. It's similar to something you might in Tactics Ogre. You can listen to it here:

Just completed "A Courageous Fight". My Composer Cloud trial ends soon, so this will be my last song with EWQLSO. You can listen it to here:

That's true, EWQL does have a legato script. But when compared to real legato strings; it really doesn't sound as good. It has marcato and portamento but that's also limited. I've looked up videos on youtube of real violinists playing portamento and the script in EWQL, doesn't sound convincing. However, I've listened to some Hollywood Strings demos and those do sound much more realistic. The only things I find that sound convincing are short articulations such as stacatto and samples that fade out. I only hear thin orchestration at 0:44; I completely agree. I could definitely add some more strings in there. I'm not saying the only way is to buy more stuff. But what people seem to want is realism. Convincing realism. At least, that's the impression I get. You can definitely make expressive strings. But even with CC11, I haven't come up with anything that would fool anyone. However, I've listened to the Hollywood Strings and they definitely sound closer to the real thing. I may certainly be wrong. Maybe EWQLSO can get super close to a live orchestra sound like that SMG song. Perhaps I'm missing something. I'm not saying that you shouldn't humanize and add expression to midi. No, I completely agree with that. You definitely should humanize and add expression to midis. I'm just saying that without expensive sample libraries, you shouldn't expect it to sound like a real orchestra. I made a new song, where I attempted to add more expression. What am I missing?

When I said "I have listened to real orchestral arrangements", I meant that I understand how real orchestras are arranged. I agree with most of your feedback though. The samples in EWQL seem to have reverb on them by default. So when I load up samples, they automatically have reverb. My notes definitely could use some quantization. I don't think I should aim for a "real orchestra" sound with these samples. There's simply not enough convincing samples and scripts to do that. However, I fully agree that more can be done to make it sound less like a midi. I think my goal should be to write something "similar" to a real orchestra, but not 100% exact. So I should aim to have "similar" expressiveness to a real orchestra; but not 100% of the expressiveness of a real orchestra.

The velocities could be more varied. But the whole "emulate the real playing and sounds of an orchestra" thing is easier said than done. Real instruments can play several different articulations such as legato, marcato, portamento and stacatto. Convincing legato doesn't seem possible in EWQLSO. Realistic marcato and portamento seems to be limited. I have listened to real orchestral recordings. This is a song by a real orchestra, orchestrated in a similar way:

Hey, YoungProdigy here. I signed up for the East West Composer Cloud trial and was able to download EWQLSO gold. "A Formidable Enemy" is my first song made using EWQLSO. You can listen to it here: As always, feedback is welcome.

Hey, YoungProdigy here. Just finished the "The Art of Battle". You can listen to it here: Feedback is welcome as always.

Hmm, well I'm certainly confident in my ability to make original music. I do understand that sometimes a dev might not be able to afford it. I guess what I'm really asking is, do devs expect a certain sample quality for $100/minute? Would $100/minute be justified, if my samples weren't super realistic; but my compositions were good?

Hey, YoungProdigy here. I'm looking to eventually compose music for video games for money. I hear that a pretty standard rate is $100/minute. But my question is, what actually makes a dev want to pay for music? Essentially I'm asking, what would make a dev think a person's music was worth $100/minute or more? Also, I want to ask, what would make a dev think a person's music was not worth $100/minute?

Hey, YoungProdigy here. Just finished "A Fierce Battle". "A Fierce Battle" is a JRPG-inspired orchestral battle theme. You can listen to it here:

The "having an idea but no way to continue it" thing, can be fixed by studying the structure of other songs. Listen to your favorite songs and try to break down the structure. Once you understand the structure of those songs; try to emulate that structure in your own compositions. Also, I would just suggest you just search for articles or lessons on musical structure. If you already have an idea of what structure you want; it should be easy to continue the song.

I've always considered orchestration and arrangement to be apart of the composition process.

Hey, YoungProdigy here. Just finished "Beach Party", a new latin-style song. https://soundcloud.com/youngprodigymusic/young-prodigy-beach-party As always, feedback is welcome.

I agree that composition certainly can influence production. If a lot of instruments are clashing in the arrangement; it will definitely effect the songs production. When I talk about "composition"; I'm referring to the actual notes and instruments of a midi sequence. Perhaps "sequencing" would be a better word. However, you are correct when you say that articulations and dynamics are also apart of composing. But usually I add articulations, dynamics and realism later. I've also noticed that some recent games do use unrealistic samples. So in a 2D retro RPG setting, would super-realistic sequencing be necessary? I understand that it's different for film music though. In modern film scores, film makers want something close to the real thing.

I've actually never considered mixing ahead of time. I may try that in future compositions. Neglecting mixing is careless as you said. But I find personally that if I put more time into the actual composition; I have less energy to do the actual mixing. When I say "people" I'm mostly referring to game developers and casual listeners. Would an indie developer really care if the production was mediocre, if the arrangement was great? From what you've gathered from reading the judges' posts; it seems that composition matters more.

So particularly on orchestral pieces it would be more important to focus on composition then?

Which do you guys think matters more to people, composition or production? Would you rather choose a full blown orchestra piece with okay production or a more minimal piece with great production?

Hey, YoungProdigy here. I've recently been working on an orchestral arrangement of "The Prince's Adventure". It's currently in it's WIP stages. Here's the remix: Here's the source material:

Hey YoungProdigy. Just finished "The Aftermath of War". The Aftermath of War is a song that would probably fit in a sad or emotional scene. You can listen to it here: As always, feedback is welcome.