Megaman 3 Snakeman

[Toilet Goat]

I tried to make an epic orchestral type song about snakeman

http://soundcloud.com/toilet-goat/snakeman-the-hero-megaman

should I change something in this mix or is it fine as it is?

v2:

http://soundcloud.com/toilet-goat/snakeman-the-hero-version2

[Guifrog]

Before I get to the production issues, I must say, that's an insane arrangement that screams epicness! You've got some shiny talent here bro!

Those instruments you've used throughout lack articulations, though:

1) Strings sound fake (as does that decay on the chords at the beginning; seems like you've tried to simulate it in a way that the last note is always the lowest).

2) French horns always sound the same (fade-in repetitiveness); pizzicato too. There's also problems with how french horn plays, and sometimes it's incoherent (1:48-2:18. A fade-in playing doesn't work like that at all!). Also, try to have some variations on the melody.

3) Oboe's fairly good but at times overexposed, in sections like 1:02-1:16.

4) Crashes and snare sound dull. Snare could use of some velocity variations, and some differences on the crash sound, along with a bit more decay, could be good.

Sequencing was too rigid/mechanical. It's always good to have some sutile runaways from the fixed tempo on the instruments that play, so it sounds a bit more natural. Just think of how real players do live.

Ending needs some more things going on besides those strings. After such a crowded performance, maybe you could add some bass/ensemble cellos on that part?

Also, I wish this track was longer, but I guess that's up to you

[Darren Schwinghamer]

I have to say, this has epic written all over it, just like Guifrog said. My only issue is from 1:50 to about 2:20, the melody seems kind of choppy, I don't know if that's what you had intended, but for me it seems kind of distracting. But really, it's something I would be happy with if I came up with something like that.

[Toilet Goat]

thank you for the suggestions, I'll get to work now

[Toilet Goat]

my 2nd attempt:

http://soundcloud.com/toilet-goat/snakeman-the-hero-version2

replaced the french horns with harpiness... maybe a bad move?

opinions needed

[SuperiorX]

Well... I actually like the first version better...but, the issue isn't with merely replacing a sample (french horn) with another sample (harp). You need to work on the articulations in the piece, the attack of each note and each instrument. Orchestral pieces are very hard to make for this reason, wind instruments are very hard to emulate and make sound natural using samples.

Short of recording an actual orchestra, there are some things you can do to get more out of your samples. Specifically, as I mentioned, you'll need to work on the articulation (attacks) of each note, how a note decays (fades out), etc. For example, the flute that starts at 2:03 just doesn't sound natural. Every note has the same attack and it sounds abrupt, and there is no change in volume. I play trumpet, and that is just not how any wind instrument sounds. There are several very intricate nuances to wind instruments' sound that need to be adjusted to make a sample sound natural. Now that is no insult to you, it's just a matter of that this is a very difficult genre to tackle. I'm not sure what software you're using, but you'll have to do more than drop a MIDI track into a synth and change the samples. Depending on what you have, there are some decent VSTs that include wind instruments (WIVI, Mr. Sax, some Native Instruments soundpacks) that you might be able to find demos of. With these you can record the piece using a keyboard and control the type of articulation, level of decay, reverb, etc. It might help to try to get a more natural sound.

I like the idea though. Snake Man as a orchestral piece could be very epic. It'll just need a lot of work to make it sound natural. Good luck!

[Toilet Goat]

thanks for the constructive reply, they really help me on my way on making music yes I've found it is pretty hard to achieve a realistic sounding orchestra on a computer, though hans zimmer does it pretty fine on some of his newer pieces :b I tried to lower the volume of attacks of flutes oboes 'n so, but when I do that the other instruments gets on the way, so I think I need start to train the mixing/filtering part of the sounds better for the next version or just remove some cellos and violins keep suggestions coming. cheers

[SuperiorX]

yes I've found it is pretty hard to achieve a realistic sounding orchestra on a computer, though hans zimmer does it pretty fine on some of his newer pieces :b

haha, yeah but I bet Hans Zimmer has access to software and tools well beyond our means

But yeah, the mixing/filtering and attacks of the notes will be key, not necessarily adding or removing instruments. Good luck!

[Darren Schwinghamer]

Definitely looking forward to hear how you work on those attacks as SuperiorX says. Also, I think the whole strings section from 0:32 to around 0:50 kind of takes away from the momentum you were building. I do like how it fades out and then the whole shabang comes in. 0:50 to 2:04 is pure magic.