Amicus717

Barney Miller - one of the most under-appreciated gems in the tv sitcom archives.

Turn left at Greenland, and straight on towards the marmalade sky, I think is how they did it. In a yellow submarine.

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.

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.

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

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.

@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

Ah...I see. Ok.

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.

@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

Thanks, Paul!

Includes Hyperion Strings micro library, and runs until Jan 13th: https://soundiron.com/collections/on-sale

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.

Some very nice ideas in this one. Be interesting to hear where you go with it. What library is that recorder/ethnic flute sound from? I like it...

Now $179 US, reg $299: https://www.uvi.net/world-suite.html Does anyone have this? I'm curious about it. The original world library from UVI was a trainwreck, but this one seems like it is a whole different beast, and much better across the board... Rob

Great song, I really like it. Excellent vocal work. Love the change at 2:16... I did hear a bit of thickness in the mix, for what it's worth.

Very evocative and a pleasure to listen to, Bjorn. Well done.

Tina Guo vol 2 - $99 From the site: "Tina Guo vol. 2 is a valuable expansion of the original Tina Guo Acoustic Cello Legato library utilizing the same unique seamless legato recording and programming techniques. The legato in vol. 2 allows for more agile melodic passages and additional articulations including spiccato, marcato, harmonics, sul ponticello, and vibrato pizzicato. Combining vol. 2 with the original library provides a complete combination of Tina's solo acoustic cello. " https://cinesamples.com/product/tina-guo-vol-2

I've been eyeing their products for a while. I find them pricey, but the walkthrus and demos sound gorgeous -- I get the impression that Project SAM's samples are exquisitely recorded, and their multis and combos are well designed. I also think they update their products really regularly, including adding content and significant tech updates, which I imagine offsets the fact that some of their stuff is a bit older, at least by sampling standards. I've been considering buy Orchestral Essentials 1, just to see if how much I like their sound and approach. This freebie might go a long way towards convincing me to do so...

I really enjoyed this. Great overall feel, and it sounds very polished and sleek.

Maybe even a sub-forum for when you are seeking serious, fair and constructive but very tough criticism - "The Gauntlet" or something...here, take this creative vessel into which I have poured weeks of blood and sweat, and find every single flaw imaginable, right down to the subatomic level. I would actually post my music to that kind of forum first, frankly...

That is a pretty entertaining walk thru: "This guitar is terrible for death metal, unless you make death metal ironically."

Buying Kontakt was the most value I've gotten for my dollar in the last 5 years, in terms of stuff bought for my music hobby. I fire Kontakt up in every project I do, and a good number of my really essential libraries use it. I've even started rolling my own small patches -- just because I can, and its fun. FWIW, I'm extremely glad I picked it up...

This sounds like fun. I've always wanted to try Project SAM's stuff, so this might be a really nice free window into their libraries: https://projectsam.com/free-orchestra/

Usual price is $98: https://8dio.com/instrument/epic-dhol-ensemble/