Orchestral piece. Looking for feedback.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/81603940/First%20Orchestral.mp3

I just wanted to hear thoughts on what's good or bad regarding anything but particularly production types of issues. It's still in progress. I'm sorry to suddenly post this out of the blue. I have to go to bed now but I promise to give the best feedback I can on at least three other songs in this forum very soon. I don't wish to take advantage of the community without giving something in return. Thanks a lot for your help in advance.

[ebuch]

Nice work! The thing I feel it needs most is a melodic idea. You've got some nice textures going on, but there's very little melody to make it feel "complete."

Thanks for sharing

[Garrett Williamson]

I think it sounds a little too quantized, which gives a much faker sound.

Also, I'd say more bass. Not sure I'm hearing enough of that.

And most certainly more reverb and more compressor. It needs it.

[mickomoo]

I could imagine a rhythm section of strings or woodwinds to accent the song... if that makes sense lol

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Thanks everyone. Excellent feedback. I appreciate them all.

Ebuch, I can definitely see what you mean about a lack of melody regarding the intro and where that part repeats but I thought that high part in the horn section counted as a melody. When the piano and timpanis are playing straight 4th notes, the string section is supposed to be the melody there. Do you think if I made those voices more outstanding in some way that it would solve the problem? Thanks, Ebuch.

G-mixer! My man! I haven't put any effects on there yet. Needs more reverb, compression, and bass, eh? OK. I've read about compression many times and still don't TOTALLY grasp exactly how to use it. I just need to use it on the parts that have a big changes in volume, right? I actually programmed all the notes in with the mouse. I did not play it on a keyboard or anything so that's why it's perfectly quantized. I guess the best way to remedy that is just learn to play the most melodic and busiest parts and re do them on the keyboard. That should give it more humanization. Thanks, G.

Hey, mickomoo. When you say rhythm section, do you mean something that also includes a drumset? There are already quite a lot of string parts in there and some winds near the end. I'll try adding the winds into the other sections as well perhaps. Thank you.

You guys rock! I'll make you all proud with a much improved version based on the comments. Look forward to it!

ZOLTAN

[mickomoo]

Yeah I was thinking drums and I was thinking of having some of the strings (or just a bass string) strum like aggregated chords to add more filling to the song. Or you could have woodwinds do it too, I just imagined strings first. I know there are probably better terms for what I am trying to describe (the timpani is actually kinda close to what I was describing), lol but I'm new to music, you'll have to excuse me. I can provide an example if I'm doing a poor job describing what I mean. Lol sorry about the confusion!

[Garrett Williamson]

I guess the best way to remedy that is just learn to play the most melodic and busiest parts and re do them on the keyboard. That should give it more humanization. Thanks, G.

Not necessarily. What I've learned is you can go and try changing the velocity of different notes and move them a slight bit to make it sound a little bit off just to give it a more realistic sound. In Logic Pro, I have found an easy way to do this by lowering the "Quantize Strength". If it's at 100%, obviously it's going to be on perfect time. If you lower it to 80%, it'll still be pretty close, but not exactly.