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Bjarn Sails A Darkling Sea - hybrid-orchestral scoring


Amicus717

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Hi folks,

Here's a new composition. It is a bit of a departure from my usual stuff - this is more of a hybrid-orchestral piece, and it's something of an experiment, and a rough draft that I'm still working on. 

The music is a gift, and is being written for a friend of mine (the "Bjarn" in the title, of course) as a short theme/motif for a Norse persona he portrays in a historical re-enactment society he belongs to. I am trying for a sort of dark ages/pagan vibe -- think of it as the sort of scoring you'd use for a stormy sea voyage in an epic movie about Vikings, or similar:

Part of my interest in writing this was to explore the Dark Era library from Eduardo Tarilonte that I picked up a few months ago. Like most of Tarilonte's stuff, it's pretty awesome, and I wanted to compose a piece that took advantage of it's particular kind of sound. I'm happy with the results, so far, although this sort of music is blunt force trauma compared to the stuff I usually try to create, so I'm not too sure about the current mix - I worry it's a bit thick and boomy. Any feedback on that (or anything else) would be greatly appreciated. 

Libraries used:

Dark Era (Shamanic chanting, Inuit Vocal Rhythms, various Throat Singing Patches and percussion patches including Roman Tympanum, shaker, frame drum)

Era II (Fidule - the solo instrument that plays the main melody, a few sound design patches and pads, Tavern Singer shouts) 

Forest Kingdom II (Shamanic Chanting)

Epic World (Female Temple Voices patch)

Era II: Vocal Codex (Heroica female legato voice)

Cinesamples Voices of War: Men of the North (Vowel Morph, Shouts)

KeepForest Vikings (Acoustic Rolls, Cello loops, Shouts, Viking Hits)

Albion ONE (Easter Island Hits)

NI's Rise and Hit

8Dio Lacrimosa Choir

As mentioned above, this one is still very much a work in progress. Thanks for listening!

Rob

Edited by Amicus717
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I like it a lot and think you did a good job of capturing the mood and feeling you were aiming for. nice gift. Comparing it to how some of the izotope reference tracks for hip hop and big lows sound on my system, it sounds good and not too boomy. I like the thickness and drama. I write some instrumental stuff sometimes and never know what to call it. I see you call this piece hybrid-orchestral, interesting. 

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How interesting! Your post mentions some experimenting with a set of libraries I have OFTEN almost pulled the trigger on, like the ERAs particularly (which never really go on sale) and the Voices of War (which I just missed the sale on!!) . . . so I really like this genre  or palette if you will . . . and I like your song as well! 

 

I would only say a bit more reverb or delay on the lead violin might help? And some more sparkle elements up top in the eq spectrum would help what I think is a tiny offset towards the lower tones.

 

My primary thought is "why only 1:35" which is a bummer! More please!!!!

 

cheers,

-Tom

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I don't know what a Viking song sounds like (and you'd think I should know) but your song seems to capture the scene. The violin is very good - nice haunting vibe to it. Sounded kind of Celtic to me  Very effective use of background sounds - the shouts and ominous drums. Very good. I listened to it quite a few times. And I'm going to have to get one of those Tarilonte libraries.

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Hi folks!

Wookie - Thanks! Yeah, I think there is a bit of mud in there, for sure, and I want to clear it out without gutting the impact of the piece. I will experiment!

Treehsa - Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. I've always understood this kind of stuff -- orchestral in general tone and scale, but employing a lot of synth and sound-design stuff -- to be classified as hybrid orchestral or hybrid-symphonic and similar. Seems to define it pretty well :)

Deering Amps - Thanks! Appreciate the listen and the kind words.

emeraldsoul - Thanks, and appreciate the kind words and the input. I think adding some more high sparkle would potentially be very helpful. As for the violin (it's actually a fidule -- a medieval/Renaissance progenitor of the violin), yeah I've been wondering about its placement in the soundscape. It does have a fair amount of reverb applied in the mix, but it's a very dry sample library and tends to stand way out front. I sort of like that, actually, but also wonder if I need to tame it a bit. I will experiment. 

bjornpdx - Thanks for the listen and the kind words! Appreciated, as always. Yeah, Eduardo's libraries are flat-out awesome. I use them a lot. They are geared for a pretty specific kind of sound and vibe, but they excel at it. They are well built and well-designed, but you will need to learn how to work his libraries, as they have have a LOT of details and quirks, and are loaded with ways to tailor the sound: finger noises, instrument noises, fret noises, etc, -- all which can be turned up or down or off, depending on what sort of vibe you want. Plus, the patches have all sorts of keyswitches for different articulations, accents and ornaments, etc. I cannot recommend them enough, but you gotta take the time to learn them if you want to get full value out of them.  Also worth noting that they run in Engine 2.0, as opposed to Kontakt. Some folks don't like that, although I personally have no problem using Engine. It has its quirks, but I don't find it any harder to use than Kontakt, and I like it a lot more than Play. As always, YYMV :)

Thanks for the input, everyone!

Rob 

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