bwmusic Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) I spent close to 100 hours making these 5 songs for my original album (link below). I still feel like I could have done more but its released now... I don't know if it was a complete waste of time or not, but considering the number of hours I spent on it, I thought I might aswell share it online. So Like, dislike, comment, criticize; would appreciate any feedback. The album is free download or pay as you want anyway (link given in the YouTube description). Edited January 26, 2015 by bwmusic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skrypnyk Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I for one have never, ever, at anytime, anywhere, wanted to all of a sudden listen to cinematic trailer music just for my own personal pleasure. I've never ever ever got my friends together and told them to check out this youtube video because the fanfare in it blew my mind. But I guess I'm just weird like that. You're wondering if it was a complete waste of time? That depends. Do you want to score music for trailers? Video games? Movies? TV Shows? Then no, I don't think it was a waste of time. While I would say there isn't anything particularly amazing about your tunes, nothing really stood out or grabbed my attention, I will say its decent enough to be used as background noise for whatever the style calls for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwmusic Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) I for one have never, ever, at anytime, anywhere, wanted to all of a sudden listen to cinematic trailer music just for my own personal pleasure. I've never ever ever got my friends together and told them to check out this youtube video because the fanfare in it blew my mind. But I guess I'm just weird like that.You're wondering if it was a complete waste of time? That depends. Do you want to score music for trailers? Video games? Movies? TV Shows? Then no, I don't think it was a waste of time. While I would say there isn't anything particularly amazing about your tunes, nothing really stood out or grabbed my attention, I will say its decent enough to be used as background noise for whatever the style calls for. This album was essentially released to validate if I have any talent or originality as a composer. But as you so pointed out, nothing really stood out. Atleast you're honest about it even though you're not into this epic cinematic stuff. Hence thanks a lot for your feedback. Edited January 23, 2015 by bwmusic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I'll check this out later, but I think you should give yourself more credit. Seeing as how this is apparently cinematic in nature and I've been getting into that a lot lately, I think I can find for you what really stood out for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Well, okay. Honestly, I don't think it's bad at all. I also don't think it's "generic 'epic music' shit" or anything that inconsiderate guy in a youtube comment said. 100 hours of effort doesn't seem enough for music of this kind, though. I think you could have spent more time to refine it, because there are some realism issues that brought it down from "awesome" to "good". For example, I might spend about 50-70 hours on a song if I want it to be absolutely spot-on with no issues whatsoever, so if it was something like this album I would have spent about 250~350 hours. Just something to consider. What I thought could have used improvement was the musical development of each track (too static to maintain interest for long enough), the orchestral sequencing (detached notes when connected notes would work better, too many emphases making all the emphases moot, etc.), and each track's overall mixing (too reserved, could be more bombastic and big). "Edge of Freedom" sounded a little repetitive and its dynamics didn't seem to change that much, but in general the notes clicked well and the samples were good quality at the outset, but the strings sounded too detached in some parts that breaks the realism. It reminds me of this track though, which I think is a success on your part. You might have the same strings library he does. Nice usage of Damage, seems like. "The Last Battalion" had the same realism issues. Specifically, the strings' phrasing sounded unrealistic in the way the legato articulations were connected, and generally sounded detached and weak when more defined notes could have been accomplished by layering articulations with stronger attacks. "Seismic Shift" didn't quite reel me in until about 0:50, though at that point I was hoping for a heavier, fuller soundscape but didn't get more than a plodding soundscape that felt like it had too many emphases. As a result none of the emphases sounded like emphases. "Aeon Phobia" was pretty cool. The intro pad was a nice lead-in, and made for a good atmosphere. This might be my favorite track on this album. Unfortunately it was the shortest. I think you could have made it longer, though it felt like the length wasn't too short based on the development overall. "Maximus Victorious" had the same strings articulations issues; the staccato notes are all so similar and as a result, no emphases really were that evident. The bass mixing could also be cleaner; the piano kinda clashes with the bassy drums (I can't tell if you have timpani in there or not). The drumwriting itself is pretty good here. So, overall, few parts of this actually stood out to me, but it's definitely better than you think it is. You might want to take a listen to these for reference tracks: https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/inspired-guns-credits-music https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/the-black-flag https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/orc-wars-opening-sequence https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/i-am-the-sentinel-credits https://soundcloud.com/isworks/juggernaut-fates-reckoning https://soundcloud.com/isworks/juggernaut-darkness-ft-shreddage2 Edited January 24, 2015 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwmusic Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Well, okay.Honestly, I don't think it's bad at all. I also don't think it's "generic 'epic music' shit" or anything that inconsiderate guy in a youtube comment said. 100 hours of effort doesn't seem enough for music of this kind, though. I think you could have spent more time to refine it, because there are some realism issues that brought it down from "awesome" to "good". For example, I might spend about 50-70 hours on a song if I want it to be absolutely spot-on with no issues whatsoever, so if it was something like this album I would have spent about 250~350 hours. Just something to consider. What I thought could have used improvement was the musical development of each track (too static to maintain interest for long enough), the orchestral sequencing (detached notes when connected notes would work better, too many emphases making all the emphases moot, etc.), and each track's overall mixing (too reserved, could be more bombastic and big). "Edge of Freedom" sounded a little repetitive and its dynamics didn't seem to change that much, but in general the notes clicked well and the samples were good quality at the outset, but the strings sounded too detached in some parts that breaks the realism. It reminds me of this track though, which I think is a success on your part. You might have the same strings library he does. Nice usage of Damage, seems like. "The Last Battalion" had the same realism issues. Specifically, the strings' phrasing sounded unrealistic in the way the legato articulations were connected, and generally sounded detached and weak when more defined notes could have been accomplished by layering articulations with stronger attacks. "Seismic Shift" didn't quite reel me in until about 0:50, though at that point I was hoping for a heavier, fuller soundscape but didn't get more than a plodding soundscape that felt like it had too many emphases. As a result none of the emphases sounded like emphases. "Aeon Phobia" was pretty cool. The intro pad was a nice lead-in, and made for a good atmosphere. This might be my favorite track on this album. Unfortunately it was the shortest. I think you could have made it longer, though it felt like the length wasn't too short based on the development overall. "Maximus Victorious" had the same strings articulations issues; the staccato notes are all so similar and as a result, no emphases really were that evident. The bass mixing could also be cleaner; the piano kinda clashes with the bassy drums (I can't tell if you have timpani in there or not). The drumwriting itself is pretty good here. So, overall, few parts of this actually stood out to me, but it's definitely better than you think it is. You might want to take a listen to these for reference tracks: https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/inspired-guns-credits-music https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/the-black-flag https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/orc-wars-opening-sequence https://soundcloud.com/stephen-anderson/i-am-the-sentinel-credits https://soundcloud.com/isworks/juggernaut-fates-reckoning https://soundcloud.com/isworks/juggernaut-darkness-ft-shreddage2 Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I mainly used Spitfire Albion and some custom synths I programmed on this album. And thanks for the references. Sounds like they used a mixture of Cinebrass, Damage, Aeon, LASS, VSL, Requiem Pro, CS2 and possibly Spitfire Sable (in no particular order). Standard gear they use in the industry. Yeah... some pretty expensive software, or maybe I'm just not good enough... But I tried my best with the minimal resources I had. Edited January 24, 2015 by bwmusic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I mainly used Spitfire Albion and some custom synths I programmed on this album. And thanks for the references. Sounds like they used a mixture of Cinebrass, Damage, Aeon, LASS, VSL, Requiem Pro, CS2 and possibly Spitfire Sable (in no particular order). Standard gear they use in the industry. Yeah... some pretty expensive software, or maybe I'm just not good enough... But I tried my best with the minimal resources I had. I think with the resources you have, you can get even better results, so keep it up. You might also want to see if this library piques your interest. There's a whole lot of cinematic impacts, reverses, sweeps, textures, etc. in there, and all of them are incredibly well-polished (so much so that I try to EQ them very minimally), not to mention an incredibly versatile bass synthesis engine and drum processing engine with the same amount of polish. shows off the library rather well in my opinion. Edited January 24, 2015 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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