<pony><orchestral>Way back when

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<pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby Familiar Foreigner » 28 Jan 2015 10:32

This one came after a long dry period of no inspiration. I started with a few ideas, but never got past a basic melody. And then I just started hitting a few keys, found a melody I liked, got it down, and it all just sort of flowed. This track does have some intention behind it (it has to do with Celestia), but that's not important.
https://soundcloud.com/familiar-foreigner/way-back-when-wip-1
It's mostly finished, but I'm still not a 100% on the composition (like the drums) and I still need to to do some mixing. Any insights/advice (especially on the mixing part) will be very much appreciated.
Last edited by Familiar Foreigner on 18 Feb 2015 16:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: <pony><orchestral><WIP>Way back when

Postby Familiar Foreigner » 18 Feb 2015 16:20

Here's the the track, mastered:
https://soundcloud.com/familiar-foreigner/way-back-when-wip-2

If you have any comment/advice, please. I need all the insight I can get.
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby GhostXb » 19 Feb 2015 17:25

I find the violin melody in the beginning hard to follow. It's too unpredictable. Pleasant music is predictable. You want to bring people in and make them comfortable, and then add twists to keep their interest. Once the piano chords at 0:20 kick in, it gives the violin some context and it becomes a little more bearable at that point. Maybe start with the chords and add the violin afterwards?

As for the overall composition. I feel a lot of the instruments are playing different songs. It sounds like you wrote melodies that sounded good independently, then put them together. When you write melodies, you want to write it with the song. Play the song and experiment on the keyboard, but while still listening to the song. The listener can only focus on so many things at once. Simplify things and introduce elements through progression. You want to focus the listeners attention, then add things that compliment what they are currently listening to, not competing with it.

I think 1:10 to 2:12 is the best part of the song. The instruments play a little better with each other and is more simple and easy to follow. Before and after that things get a little too messy.

One more tip. I heard your original unmastered WIP. Its WAY TOO LOUD! Make sure your not making the song at a high volume. Bring each instruments volume down as you add them to the project so your not starting out too loud. Its easier to make something loud later then it is to make something quite later. You want to give yourself room to work.

Hope that helps, and good luck.
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby Familiar Foreigner » 20 Feb 2015 02:02

First of all, thanks. That was very helpful.

1. I actually really like the asemmetry of the first (and main) melody. It's what got me going at first - I just played with the keyboard, this came out, and I really liked it. I built the entire song around it which, sadly, I guess doesn't show. I don't know if I want or *can* change it - I'll need to make it a different song. I think the things that make it unpredictable are the things that I like.
2. Got it. I'll see what I can do to simplify the composition.
3. Yeah, the WIP had the volume all over the place. I got it now.
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby Familiar Foreigner » 06 Mar 2015 00:41

Cleaned up the composition and finished the song. And look, I made this sorta-animation-music-video to go along with it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qtaZXp9O_w
Any comments on the final product will be appreciated.
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby NightmareRare » 06 Mar 2015 20:18

Nice over all I enjoyed it. As for advice on improving I think this song would be perfect for use theme and variation composition as you established a strong theme from beginning but it lost its drive later due to over drawing it.

Also (this isn't really a bad thing) I never really felt a release from the tension, a chorus is usually the point of really for tension and since I didn't feel release I didn't really interpret it to have a chorus. This is why I enjoyed it :) a theme based song that kept my tension and interest high till the end. Defiantly not a typical song and that's why I feel it's a good one.

That's what I got from it anyways haha!
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby Familiar Foreigner » 08 Mar 2015 00:22

Thanks. I'll work on my variation skills.

As for your second point, I actually thought about the part starting 1:40 as a release. Interesting you didn't hear it like one. I'm... not sure what to think about that.
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Re: <pony><orchestral>Way back when

Postby NightmareRare » 08 Mar 2015 03:51

Ya it hard to objectively explain emotion in music. I don't think there's anything you can do to fix it as it's just my personal feeling when I listened to it. I doubt anyone else would interpret your arrangement the same as me, its the beautiful thing about music that a song is rarly if ever interpreted the same way twice.
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