Is this just a lot of noise or...

[PianoMan]

does it have some potential? This is my first attempt to mock up an orchestral piece. I guess I should have picked something EASIER images/icons/smile.gif It is a VERY ROUGH draft, so please, be gentle. All I am hoping for is some constructive criticism to point me in the right direction.

Also, if you have a loose cannon lying around, I could use it in this piece images/icons/grin.gif so fire away!

Here is the file: Ouverture (\"http://www.wijnker.com/ouverture-02.mp3\")

Thanks for listening to my ramblings,
Dennis

[Markleford]

I recently lamented the lack of a canon sample in another thread! images/icons/grin.gif

Sounds good to my tin ears! images/icons/wink.gif Personally, I\'m stumped for how to start, now that I have GPO in my possession. How did you do this? Entered from the score by hand? Transcribed it from a recording by ear? Or converted a \"reasonably close\" MIDI file to GPO-specific forms?

- m

[PianoMan]

Markleford - thank you for your kind words! I purchased the score and played all the tracks on my digital piano. Other than that, I used the Garritan Ambience effect (Concert Hall 1) and I turned the down the volume of the brass and woodwind instruments a bit, as they were overpowering the strings too much...

[Haydn]

Good first try.

Here\'s a couple things that will help you improve. Record an audio track of a real orchestra playing the piece. You can use this as a guide for setting up a tempo track. It\'s surprising how much the tempo changes in most orchestral pieces (almost constantly). You can also use the audio track to get your articulations as close as to the real thing. The audio track will help you balance the levels of the sections and help setting ambience settings. Usually percussion has more reverb as it sits back further.

Keep up the good work.

[PianoMan]

Great tip Haydn, thanks. My headphones were already starting to show wear and tear from me changing the plug from my US-122 (USB Soundcard)to my laptop audio out, in order to listen to the original/ create the GPO mock up simultaneously. images/icons/grin.gif

[KevinKauai]

Are you using GPO for this? Not to be harsh, but it comes across as a collection of General MIDI instruments. Did the score you got merge “The Great Gate of Kiev” with the “1812 Overture”? (A section at 1:18 sounds like that theme, which I don’t believe is in the original Tchaikovsky.) I’d second the comment by Haydn to work with a good recording/interpretation of the original piece for this learning process. The other problem is that everyone knows this piece from HUGE recordings (with cannons, bell-towers from all over the world, etc.) so you start with a lot of preconceived notions. I might suggest that you grab a more modest piece (perhaps something not quite as bombastic) as an exercise in orchestral replication. Good luck!

[PianoMan]

Kevin,
Point well taken, thanks. One thing though, I do have the original score for the 1812 Festival Ouverture (Op.49) and it is played excactly as written, but it does not sound as I remember from the recordings I\'ve heard... I wonder if somebody can clear that one up.

I think I\'m going to try something more intimate... like Morning from Grieg\'s Peer Gynt...