Love Song: Reminisce

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jeremy2
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Love Song: Reminisce

Post by jeremy2 »

I created something this morning and have attached it here. I read that you were in need of some background music and love like songs, and so this an attempt at the latter. Please let me know if you would be interested in having me help with song composition. Thanks.

Edit:
Instead of making people scroll, I have posted the links to the different versions of the song here. I have also updated the subject to be a bit more fitting for the actual topic :).

First (real) try:
-- deleted --

Finished Second Attempt:
http://gnexp.com/songs/reminisce.mp3
http://gnexp.com/songs/reminisce.ogg

Edit again: Updated with (hopefully) better reverb.
Last edited by jeremy2 on April 5th, 2008, 6:16 am, edited 7 times in total.
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jeremy2
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Post by jeremy2 »

I forgot to mention that you can see other stuff that I have done so far at: http://goldnoteexpress.com/music/ - Gold Note Express will be my DBA if I can ever get around to it.
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Post by torangan »

Just wait a little, our music devs aren't reading the forum every day.
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Post by jeremy2 »

I did a little more yesterday. Here it is.

EDIT: Removed. Please see links above to get music.
Last edited by jeremy2 on August 8th, 2007, 4:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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West
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Post by West »

It's very pretty but it doesn't strike me as something fitting for a fantasy game, at least not the piano part. When the flute comes in it does become more fairy tale-like, though.

May I suggest some fleshier instrumentation towards the end? ATM it sounds kind of empty. I think it would be great with some sparkling harp arpeggios, soft horns to add warmth and fatness, and a few well-placed glockenspiel notes for that cute romantic feeling.
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Post by jeremy2 »

Well said, I will see what I can do.
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Post by jeremy2 »

Alright, I have made some changes based loosely on your suggestions. Let me know what you think.

Edit: I updated it a bit, removed some of the glockenspiel notes and changed the opening melody a bit.

Edit: See post below for updated version (much higher bitrate as well).
Last edited by jeremy2 on July 31st, 2007, 4:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by torangan »

First: I know next to nothing about music and can't even hear wheter a note is clean or not. So much for the weight of my opinion. :D

I think you're on the right track. Your last example sounds to me like something which could be improved into a track usefull for talking scenario in a rather peacefull setting.
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Post by jeremy2 »

It does not take a trained ear to hear that it is not quite finished yet - I really need to clean up the melody in places as it still really bothers me. Thank you for you encouragement. Would you suggest that I lengthen it or keep it under 2 minutes?
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Post by West »

I think this sounds promising. Unfortunately it seems like I can't download the edited version; the forum just throws a blank page at me and nothing more happens. So these comments are based on the earlier version (not the one with the piano still in it, but the first "revised" version).

First of all, let that poor flute player breathe every now and then! :) Right now the flute is playing passages like there's an air compressor hooked up to it. Add pauses for breathing to make the phrases sound more natural.

Secondly, the bitrate is very low which turns the underlying string part into a mush. I can't really make out the individual sections; to me it sounds like you're just playing chords with a "full strings" pad sound. If you are, please keep in mind that chords with orchestral strings should be played divisi to make it sound as realistic as possible. If it actually is played divisi, sorry for that remark but like I said I can't really hear what's going on. Besides, it's impossible to tell if the quality of your samples is good or not. Could you possibly upload a higher quality version?

Finally, keep in mind that a) I'm not in charge of anything music-related so you should wait for TimothyP or Aleksi to comment before making any more radical changes to your arrangement, I'm just giving friendly suggestions based on what strikes me as "off", and b) I am by no means an expert on orchestral arrangements. I have contributed some stuff (of which only one piece has made it into mainline) but I'm still just a happy n00b when it comes to orchestral pieces. I know the basics but I'm not an authority on the subject.

Keep it up though, IMHO this is a lot better than the "love" theme posted by Zhaytee a way back.

edit: yes, the lead melody could be refined, it sounds a little meandering and not really very memorable. And don't be afraid to make the arrangement longer.
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Post by jeremy2 »

The forum only allows uploads below 1 MB. So... I have posted the newer version at: http://www.goldnoteexpress.com/songs/reminisce.ogg . I'm not using a pad, though I think I need to move the controllers a bit more in the string section so as to give it some more expressiveness. As soon as I settle on a melody that I like, I will concentrate more on making it more "alive", but for the moment, anything can change and I really hate doing anything more than I really need to. For the record, I'm a wind player myself (trombone), and so I always try to make sure there at least catch breaths in places :). I did hear one part that was rather long though... I will take a look it.
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Post by jeremy2 »

I finally had a breakthrough this morning, and have started anew. I just could not get the melody to do what I wanted it to. Let me know which version you like better. See the links at the top to hear the different versions.
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Post by Aleksi »

Hello,

The music is pretty good and harmony wise it fits fine. But i find it too linear, and continuous flute melody gets on my nerves after a while… This piece needs more silences, and some modulation. It feels too much like a loop. I'm not against looping, but a little work on the orchestration would be nice, a change of instrument in the melody time to time, etc…

A little question, why a love theme when you have a fighting game?

Cheers,

Aleksi.
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Post by jeremy2 »

I was browsing the forum before, and it was mentioned that some 'mood music' would be nice, including a love theme. I can do some fighting music as well if that is what is needed. Btw, are you talking about the first or second versions - or both?
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Post by Aleksi »

Actually, i was more talking about the second version. But i could say the first thing about the first one. Try to work more on different instrument tones, and modulation a bit more.

Aleksi.
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