A long piece

[midphase]

Hello all,

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd more than make up for it by posting a relatively long piece:

http://www.musicbykays.com/B17Full.mp3

This is a 7 minute piece for an animated short about a WW2 bomber on a mission, the music actually goes all the way into the end credits and does a bit of a medley of themes as if this would have been part of a larger film. Since I was on a tight deadline (as always) I really didn't put as much effort into making this piece as "realistic" as possible when it comes to orchestral simulations. Also, at some points the music might seem more sparse, and that is primarily due to the presence of sfx (my reasoning being that you won't be able to hear the music anyway). Ok, now I'm going to shut up since I'm beginning to sound like I'm making excuses and I really shouldn't......enjoy!

PS.

I will try to post the video this time if anyone is interested, it will give you guys a better idea of the scope of the work.

[midphase]

BTW, the "Airplane!" motif was intentionally put into the music as a subtle tribute to Elmer Bernestein's unforgettable music (and as a small tongue in cheek reference).

[P de Caumette]

Hey man, good work. My favorite part is in the middle when the mood gets darker ;)
A few comments, the first violin sequence in 2/4 is missing a little bit on the attack (the one that comes back at the end). Maybe trying to double it with percs or finding an articulation with a stronger bow attack might help give it definition. Some of the toms timing is a little loose, nothing major but maybe look into that.
I wish we could see the animation with your piece. That would be fun. HOw much time have you spent overall to complete this piece?

Good job!

[midphase]

I did it in about a week. I think this piece really pushed my poor ol' G4 to the edge and that's why I opted to just get it out of the door and not stress too much on the realism. I'm supposed to get the final mix with video and sfx tomorrow so I'll make a quicktime movie of it and post it on line.

Thanks!

[midphase]

As always, I end up using a potpourry of sounds pulling from a variety of places. Xsample woodwinds, QLSO percussion, Dan Dean horns and brass, and the still very excellent GOS.

Williams wrote the book on modern film orchestration, I think trying to separate oneself from sounding like him has become very difficult (in this context of writing). Somebody else mentioned a similarity to Elfman scores which I believe have also borrowed heavily from Williams.

This piece is a total rip and I'll be the first to admit it, although the inspiration for it came mainly from Elmer Bernestein's music for Airplane and even Ghostbusters. Elmer BTW was simply excellent, in many ways just as good as Williams. I always thought that he was very inderrated in the community and his name was seldom mentioned. I think this had more to do with the movies that he worked on than his actual compositional skills.

Thanks for the feedback!

[jkerr]

I, for one, would love to see the video. The orchestration sounded beautiful. I am curious as to what the short could be like (visually) with such dynamic movement in the orchestration. Excellent piece!

[midphase]

Thank you, the video is coming....should be receiving it today so as soon as I encode it I'll post it on line.

[rJames]

Really good, Midphase. I listened to the entire 5+ minutes (my attention span is usually about 30 seconds).

For my ears, there was a lot of subtle nuance (is that redundant?) in the structure that gave little bits of tension and little bits of heroic in places.

I liked it a lot.

[jkerr]

Are you still going to post the video?

[midphase]

I received the video from the client so I'll compress it and post it on line tomorrow!

Thanks for all the awesome comments.

[D.Montesinos]

Very GooD Work!!,
I like your themes..so much and the Sound is Impresive, did you use impulse responses or something like that??
I´m actualy ending my first movie-Short 10 min of Music.. hope share it with all you.

Congrats.

D.M

[dwdonehoo]

Very nice midphase. Nobody knows and really appreciates how much work goes into a long piece like that unless you do one yourself. I just finished something over 8 minutes, so I feel your pain. Mixing something that long can be (is!) a chore. The parts you mention as mainly backscore do just what your intended I am sure and I bet work well with the video. Some nice themes in there...

[Gary M. Thomas]

Hi Midphase. Great work! I really love those timpanis. Keep up the good work. ;) Gary

[midphase]

Sorry for the delay...here's the link for the video if you want to see it. You will need Quicktime and a bit of time since the file is kinda large.

The whole thing is computer animated for a project that was being put together.

http://www.musicbykays.com/B17.mov

[jkerr]

Excellent job. I must have missed the part of it being animated. I was kinda thrown for a loop when I started to watch it. Your music outshines the video IMO. That's a good thing though :) You carried the energy perfectly.