Saxman717
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Posts posted by Saxman717
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"White Wolf"
Boring, dull, cretinous, uninspired, unoriginal, unimaginative, unskilled, instantly forgettable, futile, pitiful...
should I go on?
Possibly the most mind-numbingly tedious piece of music I have had to subject my ears to this century. The melody sounds like something a child would improvise on a toy, the harmonic movement and arpeggios are puerile cliched drivel of the highest order, the ostinatos sound like something out of a tacky computer game nightmare, the counterpoint is non-existent, the emotion is that of a stroppy ten year old boy.
Honestly, why would you even bother? You and your music are about as interesting as watching grass grow.
Of course that's only my opinion, I'm sure others might find your piece wonderful.
OMG...........I thought I got it rough yesterday morning.........dude, AI.......WTF?!
There is a thing called constructive criticism. It is far different than blatantly aggressive bashing. Are you looking for attention?
You should at least offer some suggestions and whatever. You're making a real fool/jerk of yourself on this board.
Haven't heard the piece yet, will listen sometime today or this weekend
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hm interesting! Which one? I haven't heard any of those....and yeah, that's interesting 'cause it is definitely coincidence! I had 5 days to write this during finals week and didn't even have a keyboard :cool: I just established an underlying marimba/cello/bass presence and then wrote a quick, simple theme over the top to work with it. I'm curious to know what the Rachmaninoff piece sounds like!
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um......thanks? I was really hoping that if some people thought my composing skills (or lack thereof, it sounds) were that awful, that I could at least get constructive criticism on how I can improve......... :oops:
-Steve, who doesn't think that was a nice thing to wake up to and read before taking my shower :cry:
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UCF Kevin.............well done, sir!!!! beerchug
8O
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Op, yeah the title of the piece was directed mainly towards the scene it was supposed to be depicting for the competition. In the end, I wrote a piece that didn't really depict the scene and didn't really fit the title. That's probably why it didn't get any votes except my own
It's more of a fun action-like piece than a dramatic, tense, brutal piece. There were things like the semi-random timpani hits that represented fighting and the underlying marimba which represented the prison alarm, but it was more symbolic....not too obvious.So if you guys could disregard the title when you listen to it, that'd be cool
. I'm really interested in hear feedback on stuff like chords, melody, counterpoint, supporting parts, buildup etc. How effective it was, what stood out in good/bad ways, what I should definitely watch out for in future compositions etc. Thanks for the feedback FossMan! Look forward to more
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Oh, in terms of midi library playback.......I composed the piece while listening to the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth device. If you don't have this option set, it's under the "Audio" tab in the Sounds area of the control panel of Windows. Select the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth in the "Midi Music Playback" category. If anyone else has a music library that makes it sound better, please let me know and share it with me if you can!
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Didn't compose for this one.......had too much to do working 40 hours a week and preparing for the GRE exam (I take it Monday!
) Then after that I have to prepare for the LSAT exam on October 4th! Then after that, I have to write all my grad school applications! 8O AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH -
Hello!
I'm just starting to get into composing orchestral music and my first real crack at it was for the 1st jwfan member composition competition back in May.
It was really fun, and was especially challenging given the real time constraints! (It was also finals week for my Junior year of college at Cornell University
)I'm hoping to get some feedback on it.......I wrote the whole thing without a keyboard (just putting stuff into Finale2003) and haven't had any real background in music theory in terms of chord development etc. I could use feedback on stuff I did that was good, stuff I did that was not-so-good, and maybe suggestions on things I can work on and music theory techniques I can learn to improve my composing in the future. Here's the link for the midi file:
http://jwfan.net/audio/contest/AChanceforVengeance.mid
Thanks for the help! Look forward to hearing your feedback/suggestions/advice
-Steve
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Again.....what about hearing higher-quality files, like mp3s etc. AFTER the real competition part? Little worried that the exact same thing as competioin 1 will happen.....motivation dwindling....
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Eeeehhhhhh, it kinda killed my motivation last time when I put a ton of effort into composing a 20+ part score in Finale, and then could only create a moderate-sounding midi file to "go up against" files that sound like real orchestras, created with multi-thousand dollar equipment.
I like the idea of hearing the a "better version" of the scores after the competition, and using only midi files while the competiton is on.
Simon, can you clarify why you can't create midi files for your compositions? If it's a composition for orchestra or something, you're going to typically have about 20-30 parts, and you just put the score into Finale or Sibelius or whatever and create the midi file. Sure, it won't sound as good and people could upload the score into a program to see your work, but it would make judging and comparing the pieces much, much easier and fairer.
I like the idea of submitting a midi file, and then submitting a Finale or Sibelius file as well if you feel like it. That's cool
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Confining the music to strictly piano would be an interesting way of doing it, tho I do think that we can still have a fair "competition" by just keeping the file format to midi. I know that I personally like writing out whole 20-30 part orchestra scores when I compose
There's just something cool about breaking the parts up between the woodwinds, brass, orchestra and percussion that you just can't replicate with solely a piano part.Score posting is also a cool idea and something I mentioned during the first competiton
I think people tended to shoot down that idea :oops: -
Yeah I'd love to try again if I have the time (and if the topic clicks). But yeah, I sorta agree regarding the midi format. Midi is the standard, basic way that one creates music on the computer. Regulating the competition so that all the participants conform to this format will "even the playing field" and make it a completely fair competition in all respects. There were so many little nuances in my 1st piece (trills, articulations, glissandos, crescendos etc.) that midi can't replicate, but another format potentially could. If the format is limited to midi, then everyone has the same restrictions. After the competition is over, then perhaps people who have the advanced technology can submit more advanced formats of their works.
Just a suggestion
Oh and 1 other thing..........in terms of composing to the topic. Last time, I composed more of a metaphorical interpretation. It was not meant to really score the background to a scene, but was meant to paint the picture of the scene itself, with certain instruments and rhythems representing different players/events in the scene. We should know whether we should score the background music to a scene or whether we should write music that sort of musically interprets the topic.
Look forward to hearing your topic!
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hey i really like some of the strings in there! sounds a lot more realistic than the stuff I'm used to. But ouch! Some woodwinds are sooooorely out of tune! and the trumpet....arrrrrrrrgh
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I have a Soundblaster Audigy 2 soundcard and it came with its default "Soundfont" thing as ?4MB GMGSMT?, according to the Soundfont Bank Manager program.
I think this library sounds even less realistic than the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth one...........what Soundfonts would you recommend?
I am eyeing the Creative Soundfonts (the orchestral ones, the strings, brass, woodwind, percussion etc.) but don't want to fork over 20-30 bucks per library if they aren't going to significantly improve the way my stuff sounds (in terms of realism;) ).
Do you guys know anything about these library?
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OK........so what option do you think would be best to make my Finale 2003 compositions (or Sibelius, for that matter) sound much more lifelike without a whole lot of editing with sound files?
Like, I'm hoping to just download some sort of new library (like right now, I have the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth library
), set it to the default MIDI playback setting, and b e really really pleased with the results when I go to play back my Finale 2003 compositions the next time.Is there any way to get really realistic sounds just using this simple method?
Thanks for the help
-Steve
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BTW, I have mainly use Finale2003 for my compositions
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Heeeey, can somebody tell me more about soundfonts and those sort of things? I am really interested in getting better virtual instruments for the compositions I'm writing, and am looking for something that's relatively low-cost but sounds really really good.
I'm writing for orchestras and wind ensembles, mainly. Might try jazz sometime too.
I'm really hoping to upgrade my virtual instruments soon so any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
-Steve
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It would also make me feel much better about my boy JW
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WHOA BOYS. This can be cleared up simply. Saxman and Longbottom are BOTH right. HOW? There IS music copied DIRECTLY from the SW2 score into the Quiddich Match of Harry Potter 2. REASON: John Williams didn't even TOUCH that scene in Harry Potter 2. The JOB of Williams Ross was to write or arrange the rest of the score besides the 45 or so minutes Williams composed. OBVIOUSLY the Quidditch match in HP2 is the same music as Hp1 Quidditch with a little piece from SW2 to fit the new scene. Ross underestimated the notoriety of that music frfom the Coruscant chase, decided it was "functional" and used it to enhance the flying under the rafters scene in HP2.
Wow, is this true?? Where'd you hear this from? It would explain a lot.....
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Hmmm, yeah it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things....the music does work well with the scene.
This was just the first time I'd ever heard this happen anywhere. Really. I've listened to a lot of Horner, a lot of classical music, and haven't ever heard this almost-exact reuse of large cues. And to have Williams do this just was really unexpected to me (I still haven't gotten over the butchering of his score and the lack of original music for the big battle in AOTC, so I'm touchy about reuse of Williams music already these days
)You guys mention Horner being on the FBI Most Wanted list for doing this........can you give me some examples to go listen to? I've listened to Willow, Glory, Titanic, and a few others that I'm forgetting at the moment....haven't ever outright noticed blatant rehashing of cues.
-Steve, interested in checking this out!
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ok cool
Are the books better than the movies? Would you recommend them? I'm thinking about reading them after I get done with Lord of the Rings (only 500 pages to go
)-Steve
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Ren,
Op, it's Lucius Malfoy (is he a Lord too? I thought I heard that title, but am not sure...)
Longbottoms,
I'm glad everything is cool
I'll look for those Dvorak pieces and listen for what you mentioned.-Steve
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? Sorry you feel that way, Longbottoms....you're seeming to make me out to be a bad guy here, like trying to force you into an opinion or something.
Just read my last post(s)! Not one thing bad was said about you ever, nor was there any attempt to outright force my opinion on you. All I was doing was defending my own opinion from being overrun, and was suggesting that you listen to the sections I refer to before attempting to state what really happened.
If you don't want to do so, that's fine, I don't care, but it's disappointing that you're thinking this is an "arguement" here and plan to hold a grudge against me on here.
Ah well, such is life. Just as I didn't take seriously any of the comments by some on here about my lack of musical background/Williams background, I also won't be holding anything against you either. How could I? This is a discussion forum! I wouldn't come here unless I wanted to discuss any and all views of something.......and when people make weird/derogatory comments, I'll just be like "hmmmmm, that's sorta unnecessary and not cool, but I'll never meet you anyway in person, soooo moving right along....".
So if you feel so inclined to "isolate yourself from me", sorry to hear that, but ok. Thanks for sharing your opinion on this....I've actually started to go back to Dvorak's works and listen for what you're talking about.
-Sax
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I'm at work now, so don't have either in front of me, but here's I'd suggest: Listen to Chase Through Coruscant (starting from when Obi Wan busts through the window onto the assassin droid).....you can do this by either watching that part of the film, or just listening to track 3 on the soundtrack.
Once you have that music in your head, go and watch the Quiddich scene in HPCOS. It's a relatively short scene, probably 3-5 minutes or so (I think). I remember hearing the Chase Through Coruscant music most definitely when Harry POtter and Malfoy are flying under the stands/bleachers, and when one of them crashes.
I'll be able to pinpoint it exactly later, but for now, that should be enough for you to spot it. It really didn't take me much effort to pick it out....I heard itt he first time I saw the film
-Steve
Composition Feedback
in General Discussion
Posted
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, if there is one thing I really have to learn, it is how to add low brass seamlessly into the mix. The brass section is the sketchiest section to me right now.
The main (and potentially only) example of counterpoint in the piece comes between 16 and 22 seconds, on the 2nd theme statement that he trumpets makes. Underneath the trumpets, listen to the clarinet part. It's playing it's own thing.....maybe I should boost the dynamics a little.
Anyone else listen to it? Can you let me know what you like/dislike, what you'd suggest I improve on etc?