Dreaming of Brass Love (FFIV)

[DZComposer]

This is a piece I originally did for PRC a while ago. I have decided to spruce it up for submission.

As of now, it isn't too different from the PRC version, I want to get a feel for the acceptance of it before I do any major overhaul on it.

The piece is the Theme of Love from Final Fantasy IV.

I arranged this for Brass Choir (Trumpets, Horns, Euphoniums, Trombones, Tubas, and Percussion) with Solo Flugelhorn and Solo Trombone.

http://www.corneriasound.com/betamusic/brasslove_hi.mp3

Things I know it needs:

Rebalancing of some parts

more fluid dynamics

more dissonance in the Jazzy section

a better ending

Sample Libraries:

EWQLSO Gold Pro XP (Trumpets, Trombones, Horns)

Garritan Jazz and Big Band (Solo Flugelhorn, Solo Trombone)

Garritan Concert and Marching Band (Euphoniums, Tubas)

Virtual Drumline 2.5 (Percussion)

Kontakt 2 Library (Legato Horns)

Original PRC description of piece:

Sequencer/Sampler: Cubase SL 3/Kontakt 2

The piece opens with Flugel, Timpani, and Vibe, the Flugelhorn represents a lonely girl, who starts to dream about her perfect boy, represented by a solo Trombone.

As they fall deeper in love, the piece takes on a more jazzy style.

Suddenly, she is awakened, and her dream fades into oblivion.

[hewhoisiam]

I'll give this a critical listen in a bit

[Dj Mokram]

I don't know why, but the mix feels a bit heavily panned on my right ear.

You were right about the dynamics, need some upgrade.

Your "jazz" section could use some balance on the horn part, and some more brushes.

The rythmic pattern isn't as present as it should be, to give it that broadway feeling.

Overall what it lacks is some more swelling, to make us feel the rise in emotion.

And I think that's what you should work on, to give this song the whole theatrical love story vibe it should convey.

The Flugelhorn represents a lonely girl, who starts to dream about her perfect boy, represented by a solo Trombone.

Now that's what I call being imaginative!

Keep it up.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Man that was a great round. Glad to see you're picking this up again.

--Eino

[hewhoisiam]

Good stuff, good stuff!

The panning is a bit extreme in places. You might add some sends to the parts that are too far panned, which will keep the panning effect to that side, but give another input from a different location. (If I understood the concept correctly) So like 40%L panned instrument gets a send that's 20% right, it's coming from both places, so to speak. I haven't really played with the concept too much.

I'd say the big band swing part that you have now is a little bit cluttered. I hear lots and lots of full sounding chords, but not a lot of individual voices, which can work. I'd still say maybe vary the parts so that they're not all playing the same melody as long (duration wise) When the big band first comes in at 2:40, it's fine, but then some of the instruments might want to drop back into a supporting roll. A thing that might really help this is some more dynamics here. Building up as the big band section goes along every few measures. Huge fantastic intro at 2:40, quieter at 2:43 after the introduction is established, and a crescendo from 2:43 to the next sustained note, etc.

Also, your jazz drums sound like they're being played by a rock drummer. All the notes are right, but the emphasis is too far on the beat for my taste. A good jazz drummer is all about off beats especially on the ride cym and the hats to really nail down that swing emphasis. Also kicks with the bass drum often end up on off beats, while the main bass hits are 4 on the floor very quietly. In jazz/big band, the drums play a huge part in the dynamics in piece. If I were playing that build up at 2:40, I'd do the tried and true accented triplets/swung 8ths on snare+low tom+bass crescendo with a huge cymbal hit when the big band enters. The build up now enters with a strange hit with sort of stray ride cymbal hit that I'm not real fond of.

This upbeat motif is not drum exclusive; it's generally true of the entire piece. Jazz has got much more of an upbeat feeling to it. This feels very much like swung downbeat rock; even though the notes are all correct, the emphasis should be on the part that swings. It's not really an issue at the beginning, only when the swing section starts.

I actually got to play Groovin' Hard in Jazz band my senior year. Great song in general, but you can really see what I mean about the upbeats.

Some of the low sustained notes on the background instruments in the middle/beginning get old to me. I could see some slight dynamic changes in your background parts there really helping.

Length isn't bad, but I want to hear more big band! Selfish request, but on a serious note, I don't really feel like there's enough to really balance out that long introduction section. Maybe another 30 seconds? pweese?

Hope this helps

-H

[SSB]

The attacks on some of the notes just sound weird. And the the vibrato seems to be a bit much.

[DZComposer]

Which instruments have strange attacks? Solos or sections?

I've panned my trumpets, horns, and mallets left, concert drums center, and my low brass, jazz drums, and timpani right. Nothing fully left or right, though. For sure I'll re-pan the soloists more center.

I'll look into slowing the vibrato frequency on the flugel and solo trombone.

Thanks for the Jazz drumming tips. I'm new to Jazz writing, so that kind of thing is helpful.