In Memory Of

Create music and sound effects for mainline or user-made content.

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vladikus
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In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

I intended this piece for title screens (not in-game). I tried to build atmosphere rather than create themes.

In Memory Of

Is it too quiet? I am not sure what players normally set their speakers at; I may have had my speakers turned up a little too much.
Last edited by vladikus on November 21st, 2008, 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sangel
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by Sangel »

The volume seems fine on my computer.

I quite like the arrangement, and it definitely conveys a mood (one which is quite subdued and contemplative), but the reverb on the (xylaphone?) grates a little on my ear when there's no backing instruments. Take that with a grain of salt, though - my ear is nowhere near as good as most of the musicians you'll encounter in this corner of the forums.
"Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Sangel wrote:the (xylaphone?) grates a little on my ear when there's no backing instruments.
You may have a point there; it also seems that the glock may overpower the orchestra.
Rain
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by Rain »

Just listened to the piece. The bells in the opening sound good but they harden up and feel a bit too bright as the piece goes on. I think for a sort of memorial piece, the bells should probably be a bit softer.

I like the gist of what you are going for with the chords and everything. It just seems that the piece has too many breathing spaces and the music never really has a chance to get going. It kind of feels fragmented in this regard.

I look forward to future changes
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Okay, the long pauses were shortened so the piece flows more and the glocks were softened. I also changed some of the harmonies and added some woodwinds for texture.

In Memory Of
IoN
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by IoN »

The first and second of the last three solo bell notes sound like they were cut off. Overall quite a nice atmospheric piece, this.
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Alright, I have made changes to make piece more powerful. You'll notice the addition of violins and change in the melody. Something about the music and the title is incoherent, so I am changing the title of the piece to Life After War, which might change again! Ah, well here it is. Enjoy.

Life After War
IoN
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by IoN »

The bell problem still hasn't been fixed...
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Right, I'm confused about why the bells sound like they are cutting off. Perhaps they are at intervals too close to each other? I did nothing different from the beginning bells, so I don't understand why they sound cut off. The last bell ring probably doesn't sound cut off because there is not a following note, but I think that if I put greater distance in between the first two bells there won't be a difference. Any thoughts?
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West
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by West »

Nice work there vladikus, you certainly have a knack for tasteful string arrangements. Now, I don't want to discourage you or anything, but I really don't see this piece ending up in mainline. There is kind of a surplus of mood/emotion music right now, and we would love some more energetic and dramatic tunes. Please don't take that as I'm telling you to give up on it -- by all means, keep at it -- I just want you to be aware that mellow stuff isn't really what we're looking for at present.

There's a couple of things that bother me with the overall sound of the piece however.

First of all, it has (IMO) too many little pauses. Nothing wrong with pauses of course, they are just as important as the notes themselves. But I think there might be a bit too many of them. Chord, pause, chord, pause, chord, pause, you know? Don't be afraid to fill out the spaces sometimes, just leave a note hanging and then pick it up again with the next phrase. Secondly, your reverb sounds weird. It's too small (once again, IMO) for orchestral music, sounds more like a chamber music space. Not only that, it also sounds like... well, like there's a separate mono verb on each instrument. It sounds to me like when a panned instrument stops playing, I can't hear any reverb tail whatsoever in the other channel. For example, the violins at 1:09. They are almost hard-panned to the left, which is fine. The right channel is completely silent though. Realistically, we would be able to hear faint reverberations to the right as well, even if the violins are far off to the left. This also adds to the problem with the pauses, as it gives the arrangement a very dead and choppy sound.
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Discourage me? You've done the opposite, I feel encouraged! I am going to let this piece go and start work on a more theme driven piece, which I intend to be a fighting piece. As for this piece, the pauses were a bit much and I just couldn't keep a fluid melody because it felt like the song was going all over the place, which it was. My earlier comments about atmosphere--may be a bunch of hooey-- I did not plan this piece well at all. Anyways, enough of my excuses, let me try and address what I might be doing to cause concrete problems, namely, reverb.
West wrote: your reverb sounds weird. It's too small (once again, IMO) for orchestral music, sounds more like a chamber music space. Not only that, it also sounds like... well, like there's a separate mono verb on each instrument. It sounds to me like when a panned instrument stops playing, I can't hear any reverb tail whatsoever in the other channel. For example, the violins at 1:09. They are almost hard-panned to the left, which is fine.
Alright, I must expose some of my foolishness, but perhaps it may help someone else. I looked at a layout of an orchestra in order to decide which way to pan and, noticing how far away to a side the instrument was, I turned the pan knob that far. In other words, first violins were nearly panned all the way to the left and cellos almost completely right. I'm guessing that this overkill panning is what eliminated any reverb trails on the opposite channel. I'll make sure to keep the panning minimal. Good catch.

About more reverb, I actually am using the EWQLSO play edition with REAPER; unfortunately, whenever I turn reverb on for any instrument the program crashes. I am at a complete loss as to what to do to fix this problem, except maybe try turning on reverb over and over and praying the program doesn't crash.

Anyways, back to the drawing board! I'll start working on something energetic. Thank you for the productive feedback and if anyone noticed anything else--let the honesty flow!
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West
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by West »

vladikus wrote:I'll make sure to keep the panning minimal.
No no, you did just the right thing with the panning -- you *should* keep the violins quite far off to the left. But even so, they should be faintly audible in the right speaker as well.

Rough panning guide:

1st violins: L80
2nd violins: L60
Violas: C
Celli: R60
Basses: R70
Horns: L50
Trumpets: C
Trombones/Tuba: R50
Flutes/Oboes: L20
Clarinets/Bassoons: R20
Timpani: C
Other percussion: anyhwere you like, as long as they're in the back

There are no hard fast rules to this really; it depends a lot on the samples and the desired layout of the orchestra. Some samples sound their best when there's a lot of space, others require narrower panning. Also, always remember that panning is left-to-right placement, and reverb levels are front-to-back placement.
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vladikus
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Re: In Memory Of

Post by vladikus »

Thanks very much for that West. I'll see what I can do about panning and reverb levels--that helped a lot.
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