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  4. My 1st Opus1 tune: Be nice to Clara

  • My 1st Opus1 tune: Be nice to Clara

    A
    A
    Hi all,

    here is my first Opus1 tune.
    This is the old version:
    http://web21.p15147080.pureserver.info/_users/TE-BeNice2Clara.mp3">http://web21.p15147080.pureserver.info/_users/TE-BeNice2Clara.mp3

    And the new, mastered version. Thanks to Robert Holter (firehouse-studio):
    http://web21.p15147080.pureserver.info/_users/TE-BeNice2Clara2.mp3

    It's entirely done with Opus1 and the Kontakt2-Piano.

    I hope you like it.
    Any comments are welcome [:)]

    Cheers, Angel
  • JBacalJ
    JBacalJ
    Hi Angel,

    Enjoyed listening. Conjured images in my head of eccentric characters in a movie-- perhaps a Fellini film.

    The sound quality of some the strings was a touch too harsh for my ears but this may be a matter taste.

    Best,
    Jay
  • A
    A
    thank you [[:)]]

    yes... I own Opus for 2 weeks now and hadn't have enough time for tweaking the sound.
    But I will work on it... I think that some of the stacc-sounds jump right into your face and I'm not yet happy with some of my legato-lines...
    But I think it's up to ME to improve it [[:)]]
    I love that lib.

    Angel
  • M
    M
    this is just really good work, and entertaining for me because it sounds like nothing i write (although i would be very happy to have written it, if you get my meaning). that said, i almost never make comments about people's music, but i think yours is so good it will certainly withstand some thoughts in the context of uncertainty of whether they might actually improve what you have already done.

    this piece seems light and airy and might be helped by a lighter performance. more space between notes and especially phrases. without the score, it was hard to tell whether the orchestration was too dense (i doubt it) or whether the lines ran into one another. In any event, the balance between the instruments is off so just balancing each group, strings winds might do the trick. in other words, the flute seemed too low and the clarinet too loud, etc.

    I don't think the composition was too long, but i actually got tired and began to click it off right just as the transition to the quieter part took place. I went ahead and listened to the rest of it (thankfully) but i can't help thinking that there are just too damned many oom pah pahs without some contrast, like the quieter section occuring earlier, or preferably a contrasting section within the main idea. maybe something based on a counter melody or even something as simple as different orchestration, giving the melody to another instrument or briefly moving away from the omm pahs. this mind you is nothing to take away from what's there. I think it's really - really good., and my comments, if implemented will certainly move things from either a nine to a ten, or a nine to an eight. just use your already good judgement and please accept my admiration for your fine work.
  • I
    I
    Really nice work, especially given the length of time you've had the lib... I agree about the staccato lines but can't fault anything else.

    Best wishes.
  • M
    M
    ok - i just listened to it another three times and almost deleted what i wrote previously as probably not being on the mark. i left it though because it points out how we can sometimes misjudge the composition rather than the orchestration when the writing is in fact very solid. there is plenty of contrast in the writing, yet the issue with monotony is very real for me. two thirds into it i want to turn it off, but i'm sure it is because the strings are always present and doing something very similar - to the point of obscuring the contrasting things. they could certainly be given a rest by the winds - and when they reentered, they would sound fresh. in all fairness, i'd like to hear this played live because it might just be hearing the same samples over and over. The other thing I think would help is to vary the instrument on the melody. there are a few longer notes that, while contributing to the dreamlike charachter of the piece, necessarily create a little monotony themselves.

    ok now i'm going to shut up and just let your piece just be very beautiful. hope this all helps...
  • H
    H
    Superb, simply supberb. You clearly have a complete understanding of the orchestra... something I'm still no where near to [:P]

    The reverb is beatiful, what did you use. Not an easy question but just how the hell did you get that much depth of field into the mix. I hope you used logic, cos if you did it means my songs stand a chance of sounding better!

    Brilliant
  • A
    A
    thx to all of you...

    @martin: I feel very honoured that my little tune made you think about it so intensively!
    I'm glad you like it and I was nearly terryfied how right you are with all you said. I think I can comprehend EVERY point you mentioned.
    Yes... these oom pah pahs [[[[[[:)]]]]]] I really didn't know what type of a tune I wanted to do. I just wanted to let it flow and be inspired by those samples. It's not really a filmtune and it's not just a piece of music... I think it lies in the middle.
    In the beginning I wanted to do just a little waltz and therefore I used the tuba playing the typical basspart. And god knows I'm a very lazy guy [[[[[[:)]]]]]]
    Then it got boring (!) to let this song (may I use the term song, though there are no vocals? [:)] continue like this. I just wanted to try out how the clarinet-perfleg behaves when playing fast lines. And so I changed the character of it. The silent part wasn't planned at first. But then I doodled low chords using the doublebass-sound on my keyboard and liked the warmth of it and then decided to work a little on the arrangement and do a silent part.
    Like that the rest of the song created itself. At the end I wanted to return to the waltz-feel. Sorry for another set of oom pah pahs [;)]

    I am in a process of learning orchestration. I good friend of mine uses to point out my mistakes and shows me how to do better. I think I am at the stage of an orchestration-padawan that starts to realize what an orchestra is for, but I am far away of knowing how to do good orchestrations. So my possibilities for changing the arrangement in order to let the song be more diversified are now quite limited.

    I appreciate all your hints and clues (from all of you) so much and I am very enthusiastic that you like this waltz.

    One word to the lines that leave no gaps. Yes... that's a main problem of my nature [[[[[[:)]]]]]] I sometimes use too many lines in too short time. So the song might be jumbled up at some parts. I will work on it [[[[[[:)]]]]]]

    One last word to the winds' volume:
    I called the tune "Be nice to Clara". It's kind of a wordplay. The dominant instrument is the clarinet... (because I LOVE that perf-legato-sound of it)
    in german: "Klarinette" !swap!
    german: "nette Klara"
    english: "nice Clara" [[[[[[:)]]]]]]
    The clarinet has a preferential position. So i wanted it to be dominant in sound.
    I should really work on the rest of the mix and arrangement! And I will do when I have time again. I hope this week!

    Long post [[[[[[:)]]]]]]

    Thank you very much again for your words! [:)]

    Angel
  • A
    A
    last edited
    last edited

    @Another User said:

    The reverb is beatiful, what did you use. Not an easy question but just how the hell did you get that much depth of field into the mix. I hope you used logic, cos if you did it means my songs stand a chance of sounding better!

    lol... that's funny, 'cause the room/reverb made me crazy...
    I am not satisfied yet because the sound is not homogeneous enough.
    I finally ended up dividing the orchestra into well known sections (strings, woods, brass (ok, it's hard to divide ONE tubaplayer) and percussion).
    I sent the sections to different mixinggroups in CUBASE(sorry :-/) and WANTED to use different Impulses matching the seat plan.
    But because I didn't find the impulses I was looking for and because I am a very impatient person I finally used 4 instances of Cubase Roomworx with slightly different wet/dry-ratios to push the musicians in the rows they should sit and wait to play a note [[[[[:)]]]]]
    FINALLY I pushed hard at the clarinet volume-slider to make it dominate the rest of the orchestra and perhaps the whole empire [;)]

    That's it [[[[[:)]]]]]

    I think it worked okay so far but I will have to do a lot of tweaking though.

    Thanks for your kind words!

    Angel

    BTW: Thanks to you, irvind, too [[[[[:)]]]]]
  • A
    A
    A friend of mine has mastered the tune.
    Many thanks to him!

    See 1st post for link.

    Angel
  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on