Anger

[Audiomancer]

Something I wrote and did a while back. I'm playing the flute, and I wrote the background music. If I recall correctly for the background music, used notation software to command a Roland keyboard, and recorded the result.

 

[satoka-eldon]

This is a very cool composition. Love the way its split into three movements - I see a pattern with the Dragon Quest arrangement!

I particularly like the use of the male choir in the first and third parts. Do make sure you give them time to breathe a little though, or it might sound a little unnatural.

I think the drums in the first section could be mixed up a little bit more, especially in the first section - there's not a lot of variation there.

Your flute playing is probably better than mine, but I do think that especially in the faster first section it's worth making sure most notes closer to the beat (e.g. around 0:51). I'm not sure how much you're tonguing? (There are definitely some phrases which are introduced with an untongued note in the slower middle section, where it might be appropriate, but (in general) this can sound a little unfocused.)

I'm not able to tell to what extent you've humanised the accompanying instrument in the middle section either, where everything should really have a little rubato. It seems that the note velocities all are quite similar (I may be wrong!), which comes off as a bit unnatural.

Overall it's very impressive though!

[Audiomancer]

Ha! This is something I did quite a while ago, and when I was listening to it, I thought to myself, "Hmm, I think I noticed some similarities with the DW piece I've been working on;) I noticed the lack of discernible articulation as well...I wonder what my thought was on that, why my articulation was so faint, or if somehow I "produced" it out of the music...I don't know how/why I would have done that. The whole accompaniment was just a Roland keyboard MIDI interfaced with notation software (including the middle section), then recorded and played along with. I was, and still very much am, new to the arranging and production of music. I had a few years where I wasn't doing really anything musical at all, and now I'm getting back into it. I'm really enjoying trial and erroring my way through the using of digital audio software:) 

Thanks for the comment!

[satoka-eldon]

I might guess that it's to do more with the position of the mic, and whether you're using a pop shield (which tends to filter percussive noises), rather than something to do with your playing.

I'm also new at production, but learning about humanisation has been one of the bigger revelations for me. I guess if you're playing something written using notation software via MIDI you won't have human-like differences in velocities or note-timing. What DAW are you using at the moment?  

[Audiomancer]

I'm using LMMS. It's free, and I don't know if others do this, but it allows me to directly use SoundFonts, and I don't have to worry about bank switching. Some soundfonts are put together differently than others, and my noob self can't figure out how to use them correctly with proper notation software. LMMS is a step sequencer, and I'm still getting used to using that, instead of something like Sibeleus or Musescore. It's a learning experience that I have honestly enjoyed:)