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The Composer's Thread


Justin

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I want to apologize for what I said which some of you may have seen before. I asked if I should just play the music and let someone else do the transcribing and orchestration. I never meant to be vile or vain in any way. It was never meant to come across that way. What I would like to let some of you know is that I am going to be learning more about music, I am going to be taking a music theory course via the internet and then another one at the local community college. At that time I hope to learn more than I already know. Yet if anyone here is asking me to physically write the music with pen and paper, I haven't reached that stage. I know not everyone does it, I guess composing on computer is the easiest thing for me, but I am going to let someone else do the orchestrations. I may write parts for individual instruments but I am going to let someone else arrange them for orchestra. I know that no one person can do it all by himself and I hope no one is expecting me to do it all by myself. I am composing for myself, but the purposes for the music is something I set up. I said that the music was to be for television. Yet if it doesn't work out in that arena, I would love to compose for the concert hall. If my work doesn't extend to Hollywood, then I would be perfectly content doing work for the concert hall or for the enjoyment of audiences. I'm sorry for dragging on, but this is how I feel and I just want everyone here to know that I'm sorry.

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Jack, are you fond of the notion that you might be the next Williams?

Sorry, that position is already filled.

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Those clips sound great :P

And you sure know how to work your samples... Even if I wrote something like "Stampede", I wouldn't know how to get those sounds out of mine :/

That last clip has a good bit of Ifukube sound to it, from the little I know of his work. That seems to be the intention? :P

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@Chris : Thanks for the compliments. I think the key to working with samples is just getting to know exactly how every sample set you have sounds, and taking a mental note of how and where that particular sample could be used. The last clip features a lot of sounds from EWQL Gold, and Stampede is VSL Opus1/2/ VSL Percussion, with EWQL Stormdrum drums.

With VSL, the trick to getting realistic sound is a heavily tweaked, good quality convolution reverb, and a load of EQ'ing (cutting the extreme highs and lows for example gave the stopped horns a distant "back of the room" sound).

And if I'm honest, I've never heard any of Ifukube's work! :oops:

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This is my attempt at a Williams-esque Love Theme, employing some of those wide leaps we've spoken about! Although it isn't a rip, I've tried to make it my own.

I'll be playing it to my boyfriend in the car when I pick him up from the airport. :P

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=838148&t=198

I loved this. Sounded sort of Williams crossed with John Barry... I liked it very much. Well done. Write more (please). :P

Greetings from the Orchestra! a short, fast-paced ditty! Cheers!

And now I am fast becoming a fan. Belissimo! Now if only I knew JJ Abrams I would introduce you so that you could score Trek XI. (Wishful thinking)

I don't think I've posted anything here for a while, so here's a few excerpts:

- Tiny Lil' Monkey (Excerpt)

- Stampede! (Excerpt)

Something I'm currently working on:

- Clicky

Make of it what you will!

Also very nice. ;)

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Thanks for your superkind compliments, Doc. :)

I'm doing what I can to get an audio of the premiere of "Greetings" which for some reason wasn't recorded audio-wise, just dvd-video-wise. I'll post it up soon if I can.

And Jack -- as per usual -- astonishingly amazing sample usage and inventiveness and attention-wielding power all-round... but as I said, make sure you finish something then we'll talk :P

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I am still working on some music, but I might wait until I go to school to learn transcription and such things. I now have about 11 minutes of material revolving around the "Olympiad" theme and about 18-19 cuts of music, I'm working on another cut of it, but the music hasn't come to me quite yet. I have put some new stuff I am working on toward the bottom of my web page.

http://www.geocities.com/pacey_180/originalmusic.html

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've just received the final master of my latest short film score, and given the short time we had (especially for rehearsal and recording), I'm pretty satisfied with it :)

Also this is my first score that has been recorded completely with real instruments (piano, cello, violin)... a first for all participating people, as nobody of us has recorded music timed to a film before, and to keep in synch with the streamers an punches I throw together in Premiere (it wouldn't even let me place the film underneath...) was an unusual experience, I hope it's not too obvious in the end result when we tried to keep up with the click ;)

The film is an 11-minute short drama about a girl in love with her brother, seeking him out in his new town, the two spending some time together, and then him leaving her on her own when they planned to flee towards a new life...

The film is called "Light" - "Like a moth to the light, I am drawn to him" says the girl in the opening voiceover.

Here's the music:

M1 - Title / Prologue

M2 - City Montage / In the Flat

M3 - Confrontation

M4/5 - Dinner / Light

M6 - Bed Scene

M7 - Harmony Montage

M8 - Plans / Left Alone

M9 - Epilogue / Credits

And for convenience, here's all tracks in one zip (11MB): http://www.chrisafonso.de/music/licht/Licht_Score.zip

Thoughts? ROTFLMAO

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Chris, that is superb. I can't say much more. You're well on your way if you can find the right collaborators to let you continue your talents in your own way. That's all of our struggle, isn't it. Finding someone who doesn't always request some pop music for their movie.

I'm right now working on the expression to this little 2 minute loop piece for my game music demo. This is a workdraft. I'll post the final version here when I revise the performance realism.

http://hopkins.composerarts.com/Eradico.mp3

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Chris - I really liked the Title/Prologue, especially when the piano came in! There were some really interesting harmonies and progressions in there, it reminded me of something that could've been a snippet from something you'd hear in a concert performance.

Jesse - That sounds amazing! It already sounds good enough to be the final version, so I can't wait to hear what the real final version actually sounds like. The choir was a nice touch.

Damo - The strings at the beginning of that clip were great. I was reminded of Danny Elfman's use of the string section in Spiderman. It adds such a nice texture!

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Here, I started composing a random orchestral piece. So far it only goes for 18 seconds.  

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/10/12/28...led%20Piece.mp3

What do you think?

Hey! Are those samples from the Kontakt Player library for Sibelius? Sounds like them! *Memories come flooding back*

I used those samples for so long!

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I recently finished my arrangement of the "Numa Numa" song for string orchestra. It was an assignment for my orchestration class. If you don't know what Numa Numa is, watch this video:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/numa.php

It's pretty ridiculous, I know. But I thought it would be fun to work with, so I mixed it up a bit, and added key and meter changes. My friend was able to take the MIDI file and use more realistic sounds, but it's not that good a recording.

Use your imagination and enjoy!

I posted it on a lame Myspace music page, along with some other junk.

Here's the link:

http://www.myspace.com/tylerbrandonwilliams

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Here, I started composing a random orchestral piece. So far it only goes for 18 seconds.  

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/10/12/28...led%20Piece.mp3

What do you think?

Hey! Are those samples from the Kontakt Player library for Sibelius? Sounds like them! *Memories come flooding back*

I used those samples for so long!

Yes those are the samples from the Kontakt Player library for Sibelius.

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  • 1 month later...

I would think anyone can. Haven't tried it though, most MySpace homepages I've seen yet have given me serious headaches... I've taken "Software Ergonomics" in university last year, and the design of those pages violate about every rule possible regarding user-friendly navigation and presentation...

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Yeah, Myspace is free, and it gets the job done for uploading music and making it easy for others to find. Some people go over the top in terms of homepage customization, but I just use the default setting.

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Hello everyone I am a 14 year old composer who has been composing for around 2 years. I use sibelius with the garritan personal orchestra. Here is a fun peice I wrote. Its called attack of the barbarians. I won a few composing awards for this peice. It is attached.

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Could you try posting a link to the file? Perhaps you could host the file in mp3 format online somewhere.

It's impressive that you're already into composing at such a young age. ROTFLMAO

~Tyler, who was listening to his first film score (Sorcerer's Stone) at that age....

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Greetings one and all. I look forward to hearing more from all of you. I put up a myspace composer profile with 4 pieces of music that play on the page. The link is:

http://www.myspace.com/composerarts

And here is my ever-evolving demo page for getting a video game music job:

http://www.composerarts.com

I look forward to hearing any comments or criticisms.

- Jesse Hopkins

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On a completrely unrelated note to the posts just before, I have a question for the sound engineers with orchestra experience around here:

I've been recording a musical number consisting of full orchestra (silver edition) and two male voices (who are actually the same guy but made to sound different). What I'd like to know is, is there any very obvious method of putting the voices firmly into the mix by eqing the orchestra, say, by taking something out of the violins and violas? Or do you just eq the voices around the orchestra. I'm asking this because I really like the natural sound of the orchestra and would hate to do anything more drastic than add a little low end and sparkle.

I'd post this at the vsl forum, but alas, something's screwed up with my account there. :-P

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  • 3 weeks later...
On a completrely unrelated note to the posts just before, I have a question for the sound engineers with orchestra experience around here:  

I've been recording a musical number consisting of full orchestra (silver edition) and two male voices (who are actually the same guy but made to sound different). What I'd like to know is, is there any very obvious method of putting the voices firmly into the mix by eqing the orchestra, say, by taking something out of the violins and violas? Or do you just eq the voices around the orchestra. I'm asking this because I really like the natural sound of the orchestra and would hate to do anything more drastic than add a little low end and sparkle.  

I'd post this at the vsl forum, but alas, something's screwed up with my account there. :-P

Ideally, strive for a natural blend. If you want to EQ "something out of the violins and violas," then just tone down their prominence in the composition itself.

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On a completrely unrelated note to the posts just before, I have a question for the sound engineers with orchestra experience around here:  

I've been recording a musical number consisting of full orchestra (silver edition) and two male voices (who are actually the same guy but made to sound different). What I'd like to know is, is there any very obvious method of putting the voices firmly into the mix by eqing the orchestra, say, by taking something out of the violins and violas? Or do you just eq the voices around the orchestra. I'm asking this because I really like the natural sound of the orchestra and would hate to do anything more drastic than add a little low end and sparkle.  

I'd post this at the vsl forum, but alas, something's screwed up with my account there. :-P

Ideally, strive for a natural blend. If you want to EQ "something out of the violins and violas," then just tone down their prominence in the composition itself.

ya, if u EQ out some of the frequencies, you find it sounds less organic/realistic. Afterall, it is the overtones that give a timbre the characteristic timbre. That's why if u have people hitting stands or watever in recordings, you try to redo the take or just leave it be. If you try and simply EQ out the sound, you find it very obvious after you remove the frequencies.

so BEST strategy is

A) dont write in the singers range. this is the most common one for operatic and song cycle works.

B) make the orchestra more quieter either through dynamics or using mutes on strings, etcetc.

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Okay, here is the link that I was supposed to post a while back. It is called Attack of the Barbarians and was composed about 4 months ago when I was 13 years old. It was made with garritan personal orchestra and composed with Sibelius, so the sound quality is pretty bad, but I hope you guys enjoy it. Here is the link.

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?pid=927093&T=3366

Here are some more scores that I have recently finished. They are called The War of the Pharoahs, and japanese folk tale. The first is written for a full orchestra, while the second is written for a solo violin with accompaniment. Here are the links.

War of the Pharoahs

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=927421&T=7108

Japanese Folk Tale

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=927415&T=8456

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I wrote a piece for saxophonist Greg Banaszak in 2004. Last summer he took it to Krakow in Poland and recorded it with the Beethoven Festival Orchestra. The CD is coming out sometime in the Spring. I finally got a CD of the final mix of my piece two days ago (it's for soprano sax and string orchestra and it's called Don Quixote in Love). I am thrilled with the recording. The orchestra is top notch and Greg plays superbly as always. Whoever did the actual recording knows his stuff too! The orchestra sounds so full and rich. He really knew where to place the microphones. It gives me chills to hear my piece played by a professional orchestra. I don't know exact details yet (CD company, release date) yet but I'll post it here when I hear more. This is a massive boost for me and I can't wait to get my music "out there" for the first time. The CD will also include the latest piece by Penderecki, and so I think it will be quite high profile when it comes out. My piece will be mere filler, but I'm more than happy to be filler on a Banaszak/Penderecki CD!.

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I'll look for an illigal download of this when it comes out.

I do hope it's film-music-like....

It definitely has moments that are film-score like. I think you might like it. It is fairly gentle and whistful but there are moments of passion. I can certainly imagine the opening 3 minutes accompanying a film's opening credits. It would be a long slow camera shot sweeping across a beautiful green landscape. As the music reaches it's climax (about 2 minutes in) the film's title would appear onscreen. "The Hobbit" directed by Peter Jackson. Music by James Leatherbarrow. (Well, we can dream can't we...)

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Classical-phobe!

Karol

Actually I was joking.

Throughout my 14 years experience in orchestral music I have listened to a large amount of what I would describe as not-film-music-related-orchestral music by a wide number of composers.

It just didn't float my boat.

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Has anyone taken a look at my music yet?

I gave it a listen. Very good! Are you really just 14? It's quite advanced writing for one so young. Your sense of orchestration is particularly impressive. Also your ability to write convincingly within a certain genre. Both pieces sound like they wouldn't be out of place in a movie score. My one criticism is that you stay in the same key throughout the pieces. This doesn't matter so much in the second one (the egyptian piece), but is very noticeable in the first piece. With your skill in orchestration and particularly musical "punctuation" (by punctuation I mean key events, such as adding percussion, or suddenly changing instrumentation) you could also punctuate by changing key a few times, or at least moving away from the pedal point occasionally.

I'm very impressed. Please keep posting your stuff!

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Has anyone taken a look at my music yet?

I gave it a listen. Very good! Are you really just 14? It's quite advanced writing for one so young. Your sense of orchestration is particularly impressive. Also your ability to write convincingly within a certain genre. Both pieces sound like they wouldn't be out of place in a movie score. My one criticism is that you stay in the same key throughout the pieces. This doesn't matter so much in the second one (the egyptian piece), but is very noticeable in the first piece. With your skill in orchestration and particularly musical "punctuation" (by punctuation I mean key events, such as adding percussion, or suddenly changing instrumentation) you could also punctuate by changing key a few times, or at least moving away from the pedal point occasionally.

I'm very impressed. Please keep posting your stuff!

Thank you pixie_twinkle for your very kind comments. BTW I just turned 14 and I am thankful that you have taken a look at my peice. I have one question on your commetns though. When I change keys within a peice is it supposed to be sudden, or should I build up to it with certain chord changes. What is the best way to create a key change?

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Happy news year, I hope great musicals moments for everyone in 2007.

You can listen an excerpt of Fair Play Soundtrack called "Canyon". I wrote this piece of music for the movie directed by Lionel Bailliu.

"Canyon" at MySpace

page0_blog_entry15_1.jpg

Good listening.

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Has anyone taken a look at my music yet?

I gave it a listen. Very good! Are you really just 14? It's quite advanced writing for one so young. Your sense of orchestration is particularly impressive. Also your ability to write convincingly within a certain genre. Both pieces sound like they wouldn't be out of place in a movie score. My one criticism is that you stay in the same key throughout the pieces. This doesn't matter so much in the second one (the egyptian piece), but is very noticeable in the first piece. With your skill in orchestration and particularly musical "punctuation" (by punctuation I mean key events, such as adding percussion, or suddenly changing instrumentation) you could also punctuate by changing key a few times, or at least moving away from the pedal point occasionally.

I'm very impressed. Please keep posting your stuff!

Thank you pixie_twinkle for your very kind comments. BTW I just turned 14 and I am thankful that you have taken a look at my peice. I have one question on your commetns though. When I change keys within a peice is it supposed to be sudden, or should I build up to it with certain chord changes. What is the best way to create a key change?

There are many ways to chance key. Sometimes a direct shift can be very striking. Experiment a little, you may find that a certain key works better as a change than other keys. In the film-music style you are writing it is sometimes effective to modulate to a chromatic mediant (ie up or down a 3rd, while retaining the same mode. If your music is in c minor try modulating up to e minor or down to a minor. These are quite dramatic changes.) More common is to shift to a closely related key (from c to f or g). I really like your music and I think a key change or two will lift it up. Literally! ;)

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Here are three of my works made with Garritan.

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...%20Warcraft.mp3 (2005-06) (2.3mb)

- Made for brass ensemble and percussion.

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositions/Ping-Pong.mp3 (2004) (1.6mb)

- Made for Percussion and piano (and a tad impossible to actually perform, I believe).

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...%20Karlsson.mp3 (2006) (1.3mb)

- A short piano piece for my composition class (with a small nod to Star Wars and re-uses the theme from Ping-Pong.)

...and another one in MIDI-format. The Garritan that came with Finale 2007 didn't have enough sampled instruments to make this one work.

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositio...de%20themes.MID

- 2 vibraphones, piano and steel drums (quotes Star Wars Main Title in minor scale)

For more of my projects, visit http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63313/compositions/

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Happy news year, I hope great musicals moments for everyone in 2007.

You can listen an excerpt of Fair Play Soundtrack called "Canyon". I wrote this piece of music for the movie directed by Lionel Bailliu.

"Canyon" at MySpace

page0_blog_entry15_1.jpg

Good listening.

Absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations, you're enormously talented! Which orchestra is playing in that clip, by the way? And, did you orchestrate the score yourself?

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Happy news year, I hope great musicals moments for everyone in 2007.

You can listen an excerpt of Fair Play Soundtrack called "Canyon". I wrote this piece of music for the movie directed by Lionel Bailliu.

"Canyon" at MySpace

page0_blog_entry15_1.jpg

Good listening.

Absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations, you're enormously talented! Which orchestra is playing in that clip, by the way? And, did you orchestrate the score yourself?

Reminds me a bit about Neptune from Holsts's Planet Suite (especially the Celeste bits and the overall atmosphere).

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