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Amicus717

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Posts posted by Amicus717

  1. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    Really like the melody and the arrangement. Nice, gentle, a bit hynpotic. The vocal work wavered a little in some parts, and that did distract me a bit - must be honest about that. However, your voice has a nice timbre to it, and I can see it really working well in this song with a bit more steadiness.

    Overall, the vibe of the song was quite charming, and I did enjoy it. 

  2. Posted

    Really great song. Tight performances and a very polished sound - I thought the mix was clear and clean and really open.

    Great vocal work, too, although for my own tastes I probably would have preferred the vocal to be just a wee bit more forward. There were brief sections were the vocals were  a bit hidden by the instruments.  

  4. Posted

    Hi folks, curious if anyone took a chance on the Jaeger library from Audio Imperia. I recall being somewhat unimpressed when it first dropped (and I recall a few of our members not being too impressed with the demos or the short video samples either), but I recently came across a few walk-thrus, including one by composer Daniel James (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-uOck7zALw) that seem to suggests it's actually a good library with some nice features. A bit pricey, but maybe much better than expected. 

    However, it's so hard to tell from demos or even walk-thrus, and I'd be curious if anyone here has hands-on experience with it.

    Thanks,

    Rob

  7. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    The Orville is quite good, and does something risky and unusual - it's hilarious, but also has real characters and real stories, and the episodes alternate between comedic ones that are affectionate riffs on Star Trek (and other franchises), and stories with some genuine drama, action and social commentary to go along with the comedy. I very much enjoy it, and see it as sort of spiritual successor to STNG. Sort of.

    It is clearly made by folks who are both amused by Star Trek, and really love it. Brannon Braga is one of the executive producers (he co-wrote the STNG finale, was a senior producer and major player for STNG, Voyager, ST Enterprise and some of the Trek movies), and I know at least a few STNG cast alumni are involved, too:  Jonathon Frakes (Cmd Riker) has directed a couple of episodes;  Marina Sirtis is guest starring in an upcoming show; and there are rumors LeVar Burton might be making a cameo in season 2 also. 

    I'm a big Trek fan (as you can tell), but I much prefer The Orville to Discovery.

     

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    Worth noting that if you buy enough of these discounted original string libraries, I believe you can parlay that into a significantly discounted price for Anthology Strings.  I did that, and I get a lot of use out of it. Anthology is a revamped and consolidated version of the Adagio / Agitato libraries, is my understanding. 

    Update: or maybe not. I can't find information on the upgrade path they offered previously. Might have been time limited...worth asking about, though, if anyone is so inclined.

  15. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    10 hours ago, msmcleod said:

    If I've decided to give myself some studio time and my inspiration is totally dried up, I'll resort to recording a cover. There's definitely a satisfaction in getting a song finished, and a cover is an easy way to do this.

    It gives me a chance to keep my DAW skills current,  experiment with any new plugins I'm not yet familiar with, and improve on my mixing skills.

    More recently I've been messing around with various pre-amps so I'm familiar with their differences.

    I do something similar if I'm hitting a creative dry spell: I take scores from composers I like and admire (John Williams, in particular), and create mock-ups in my DAW. Helps on a whole bunch of levels -- you get see from the inside what expert composers do in terms of orchestration and arrangement; you get to practice creating various articulations with the libraries you have; and you learn how to balance an orchestral mix to achieve a realistic sound between all the instruments. At least, that is the theory. I haven't exactly managed all those things yet :), but I find creating mock-ups really helps. I believe it has made a difference in my own recordings. 

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    This is quite charming, has a whimsical vibe to it that I really enjoyed. This is not my genre at all, so I don't feel like I can offer much in the way constructive criticism, although I would say the above comments about the reverb sound about right to me, and to my ears it seemed to make the snare drum sound a bit phasey at times.  

  17. Posted

    I definitely work within my preferred music genre. I actually have pretty broad musical tastes, and listen to a lot of different stuff. But I almost exclusively compose orchestral music because it is - by far - my favorite kind of music, and if there was a magical app that tracked the lifetime hours I spend listening to music, then classical/symphonic/soundtrack music would easily dominate. Should I ever have the chance to have an orchestral work of mine actually performed live (highly unlikely), I could pretty much chuck out the rest of my bucket list. I can imagine no finer moment than that. 

    And while I do try and listen across a very broad spectrum of the classical/symphonic genre (and lately I've been seeking out stuff I am not familiar with as a way to expand my palette of ideas), when writing I tend to return to very melodic, traditional sounding orchestration -- at least, I end up attempting to create that. 

    Rob

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Yeah, I figured I had better grab them last night after Fleer's rather emphatic recommendation -- it does not pay, after all, to run afoul of the mighty Fleer.

    So I did, and you guys are right. Great little library! I can see lots of uses for it already.  I like the interface, too.  

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

    @Tapsa, Dan and InstrEd: Thanks for listening and the kind words, greatly appreciated! Dan, you are totally correct about this being a happy accident. I get a lot of enjoyment out of making music (as we all do), but working on this piece in particular is easily the most fun I've had in a while. :)

    And Tapsa: as always, really appreciate the ideas and suggestions. I think they are spot-on, as usual.  I had actually pondered starting with piccolo flute and snare -- pretty much giving it the proper fife-and-drum treatment. I think your idea of opening with just woodwinds and perc, and then hitting listeners with the full orchestra thunder will be really effective. As for the middle section, yeah I was thinking of both extending it out a bit, and reducing the strings -- and was wondering if giving it a bit more structure might help a lot, too. Right now, it's really just a bridge to the key change, and while I like the vibe I achieved and the progression, it is a bit too shapeless for my liking, at the moment.

    Rob

     

  21. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    If I recall correctly, there are a few folks around these parts who have picked up Hyperion Strings Micro, and I'm curious what its like. Is it useful, and what sort of stuff do you use it for, etc?

    Kind of no brainer at $32, I suppose, but I've bought so much stuff recently, and I need to get out of the habit of grabbing whatever seems like a good deal simply because its on sale. I'm trying to force myself to keep things lean and sensible for a little bit...although I probably chose the wrong hobby for that.

  22. Posted

    @Noel, Starise, ZincT, bjorndx: Greatly appreciate you folks taking the time to listen to my music, and many thanks for the kind words :)

    @bjorn, always glad for any commentary and criticism. I had another listen to the music, noting the moments you cited, and I'm wondering if maybe  the bass drum is a bit too heavy in that section. I will experiment!

    As for acting on inspiration -- yeah, I'm actually quite taken aback by how nicely this one turned out (happily so). I have the awful habit of second guessing myself, or getting part way into a piece and then deciding its not working and is terrible, etc. The last piece I did in this general scope and style took me weeks to create and didn't sound half as good. :)

    Rob

     

  25. Posted · Edited by Amicus717

    Hi folks,

    This project happened rather suddenly, by my standards. I really enjoyed my New Year's Eve experiment of creating a piece of music fast and without thinking too much about it. So, I tried a similar thing on Sunday evening -- just sat down and wrote something, not stopping until I had something basically complete. And "The Soldier's Hornpipe" is the result. I just had a fragment of melody that I fleshed out and then created the basic sketch, which evoked for me the image of Colonial-era soldiers on the march.

    The basic foundation of the track took four hours on Sunday, and I revisited it both last night and tonight in order to give it more polish. In total, about 6 hours of work - so far. More work is needed, as I consider this a preliminary sketch, and I actually intend to expand the music, as well as improve and add more detail. I must admit, I am surprised at how much I am enjoying writing stuff using this damn the torpedoes sort of approach. I tend to be my own worst critic, and sometimes do a great job derailing my creative impulses. Kind of nice to just get stuff down, and not worry about whether it's good until the dust settles.

    Anyway, I'd be very curious to hear any feedback on this one, if folks are so inclined:

    Libraries used...

    Strings: Albion ONE and 8Dio Anthology

    Brass: EastWest Hollywood Brass

    Woodwinds: Vienna Symphonic Library

    Percussion: Native Instruments Symphony Series, Vienna Symphonic Library, EastWest Hollywood Percussion

    Ethnic/World: Era II Soprano Recorder

    Thanks a lot folks!

    Rob

    PS: I am interested in hearing about things in the music that people both like and dislike. Any critical points or comments are greatly appreciated. I've already noticed a couple of points that somehow escaped my notice when I exported the audio - a glitchy recorder note in the final section, and a discordant note when the recorder and (I think) a tamtam strike interfere with each other at the key change modulation.

     

     

    • Like 5
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