<pony><original><orchestral> It's Her Nature

[Callenby]

I'm back already!

It's Her Nature is something I've been trying (and failing) to get off the ground for, like, a year now and I think that I've finally made a bit of progress.

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/It%27s%2 ... OIIM8jdksw

Hopefully you'll be able to play it without having to download, but if not here's another link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rjcv7yl1moa7 ... Nature.mp3

Specific things:
1. The pizzicato in cello and bass may be off by a few beats. Agree? Disagree? Don't think it really matters?
2. 0:26 - 0:35 is NOT final. Ultimately I probably won't be using much, if any, strings at all there, but it's supposed to be kind of percussive there. Which leads me to...
3. The percussion. I want there to be more of it, but I can't figure out all the things that should make it up. Cymbals? A snare drum? Clacky things? I envision a rich orchestral palette here, but need help in figuring out what "colors" to choose. If you can't tell, the mood I'm going for is a bright, chirpy, earthy one.
4. One of the other problems I've been having to where to take this next. Right now the structure is: intro, percussive thing, theme, theme prime. Return to the percussive thing next? Then introduce a second theme? I'm not sure.
5. The theme (yet nothing before it) seems to have been rendered at a slower tempo than the one I actually used. That's happened once before since upgraded to the full version of Cubase. I wonder why that is.

[Wolfram]

This isn't bad. So whimsical and innocent sounding.

I'm unsure of what you meant by the first point, but I didn't hear anything too intrusive. I thought it was playful-sounding.

I rather like the pizzicato in 0:26-0:35, but if you can hear something more suitable in your head, then I say go for it. That being said, I think there's pretty good material there to build off of already. It provides a nice transition, I say.

Clacky things sound like they might work, but I think snare drum would be better.

The roadmap you've laid out will work. I think a second theme might simply a new melody with a similar instrument (a reeded one, maybe), or better yet, a feature of some mid or low brass. Think of a light, bouncy, and somewhat (compound-metre) march theme.

Oh, and another thing: the flute is kind of machine-sounding. Are there any articulations you can use to remedy this? Perhaps another instrument entirely? Heck, you could get a fellow forum member to record you a part if need be.

[Callenby]

This isn't bad. So whimsical and innocent sounding.

I'm unsure of what you meant by the first point, but I didn't hear anything too intrusive. I thought it was playful-sounding.

I rather like the pizzicato in 0:26-0:35, but if you can hear something more suitable in your head, then I say go for it. That being said, I think there's pretty good material there to build off of already. It provides a nice transition, I say.

Clacky things sound like they might work, but I think snare drum would be better.

The roadmap you've laid out will work. I think a second theme might simply a new melody with a similar instrument (a reeded one, maybe), or better yet, a feature of some mid or low brass. Think of a light, bouncy, and somewhat (compound-metre) march theme.

Oh, and another thing: the flute is kind of machine-sounding. Are there any articulations you can use to remedy this? Perhaps another instrument entirely? Heck, you could get a fellow forum member to record you a part if need be.

Thanks for the feedback! I meant that the pizzicato might be better suited a wee bit earlier or later than it currently appears.

For the percussive part I'm thinking of adding a kalimba and I can perhaps pair it with something else.

And yes, I know the flute (technically an Irish whistle) sounds off. It's a good VSTI but I think my copy is bugged because none of my automation seems to be registering. I might have to redownload it.