Cast your Orchestration Challenge 6 vote!

[Garritan]

It's voting time for the entries to the Orchestration Challenge 6!
There were six entries this time:

Entry 1 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry01_Chall6.mp3
Entry 2 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry02_Chall6.mp3
Entry 3 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry03_Chall6.mp3
Entry 4 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry04_Chall6.mp3
Entry 5 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry05_Chall6.mp3
Entry 6 http://wizardwalk.com/duel/Entry06_Chall6.mp3

Thanks Sean for organizing this and thanks again to Fossman and Drumroll for writing the themes. And also thanks to the participants.

Let's keep the voting open until March 24th which should allow ample time for voting (2-1/2 weeks).

Gary Garritan

[SeanHannifin]

This is great! Thank you Gary! :)

[Tom_Davis]

This is downright invigorating.

Tom Davis
Seattle
:p

[etLux]

Holy Cow!

How... I say, HOW!... do you expect me to choose amongst these pieces?

What excellent work!

BRAVO! To every one of them!

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com

Secretly voted six times...

.

[tcohen]

Excellent work by all - such diverse ways to approach the theme! Congrats to all!

Regards,

Tim

[Collin]

bump, bump, bump :D

[wrayer]

Votes have slowed so - BUMP:D

[Styxx]

Holy Cow!

How... I say, HOW!... do you expect me to choose amongst these pieces?

What excellent work!

BRAVO! To every one of them!

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com

Secretly voted six times...

.
Here! Here! No truer word hath spoken! This will require a quiet place with no distractions. Just a sample listen to all of them was mind blowing! Can't I just circle the lot and give them all a number one? Man, excellent work dudes! :cool:

The melody/theme reminds me of Master Piece Theatre from Public Television.

[Collin]

Is it safe to declare a winner? It looks like a landslide!!!:eek:

[88fingers]

oh but we still have time........;)

[YBaCuO]

Normally, I consider this an orchestration challenge, and so I am listening for the most harmonious use of diverse instruments. While this aspect is still important in the challenge, given the contrapuntal nature of the theme, I also am lsitening for interesting contrapuntal development.

Some entries sported interesting counterpoint but awkward orchestration, while others had a flowing composition but rather weak counterpoint. I choose one that seemed to find a balance between the two.

Very interesting overall. I certainly liked the "double" theme ...

YBaCuO

[SeanHannifin]

Looks like the last day to vote is just about upon us...

Thank you to everyone who participated and to everyone who voted! :)

And many thanks to Gary for posting the poll!

[Richard N.]

And the winner is....

[SeanHannifin]

I suppose it's time for the contestants to reveal themselves (though you can of course remain anonymous if you like).

As for #5... :o

[Collin]

I was number 2. Nice job Sean.

[RichR]

I was number six. I wouldn't mind a little critiguing on it. After all this is a learning experience for some of us.

[southportJim]

I had not expected to have internet access during the "fess up time", so had asked Sean to post my name alongside my entry. But it turns out that I do have access, so I'll "fess up" to number 1.



I suppose it's time for the contestants to reveal themselves (though you can of course remain anonymous if you like).

As for #5... :o

Sean?...Is number 5 yours? DUDE...check your PMs. GREAT!!!!!!!!

;-)
jim

[pianodoc]

I accept responsibility for Number 4. I am still working on learning to mix and get the right balance and sound. Any help would be appreciated. I am also interested in any thoughts about the orchestration or other musical ideas. Would like to make this as much of a learning experience as possible.

Thanks.

David Mauney

[RichR]

pianodoc said:


I am also interested in any thoughts about the orchestration or other musical ideas.

I agree with you pianodoc. So let me try in my humble way to tell you what I observed in your rendition of Challeng 6.

As for your piece's musical ideas, I thought you made a strong presentation of the given theme. Your development of the two given musical phrases was superb. The use of percussion was placed tastefully, I thought.:) The play between the strings, woodwinds and brass worked well. The only area that I didn't like was the ending. It maybe that the last chord or tone cluster that developed from the instruments playing in a downward rush ended too abruptly. I would have like to hear a little after reverb and let it ring for a while. In all, I really liked your piece. I didn't vote for it because someone HAD to vote form mine.:D

As for the concept of orchestration (or more to the point mix and balance - not orchestration per se) in any of the pieces in this forum are probably difficult to comment on (at least for me). Some people write using notational programs (Overture, Finale, Sibelius etc.) and others use sequencers only (Sonar, Cubasis, Pro Tools, etc.) and still others use a combination of the two i.e. write in a notational program and export the midi file to a sequencer for honing and balancing each part to a musical line that is indicative of the instrument. And I guess you could say there is one more way music is prepared for presentation. That being to play each part at the keyboard and use the mod wheel and pedal to get the feel of the real instrument that is beingn scored (this is how GPO was designed in the first place, I believe).

With so many ways of preparing a mix, how the pieces sound will have a direct correlation to how they were conceived and prepared. I know that when I write in Finale, I have to put in dynamics that are either softer or louder than that which would be normally played by a musician to get the balance correct. Plus all those Key Switches embedded and in notational programs are a zillion leger lines below the staff.:D

I hope I wasn't too long winded on this discussion. As a final note, I liked all the challenges and if I hadn't written one myself, I would have been hard pressed to make a decision on a winner. There are a lot of great musician/composers here and you can certainly count yourself as one of them.:) :)

Thanks for taking the time to write your challenge. It shows that one musical idea can't be presented in a multitude of ways.

[pianodoc]

Rich:

Thanks so much for your comments. I'm still trying to get started using the forum and taking advantage of the opportunities it affords to create music and put it in front of others. The orchestration challenges have been my first attempts and I've really enjoyed participating.

Incidentally, I have Sonar 5 and generally play my things in drawing in the controllers after the notes are in. I have two Echo sound cards so this gives me 16 analog channels to take the ouput from Sonar. I have Finale but have not been aboe to relly get good results from the HP in Finale. I do use it to notate my scores.


Thanks again for the comments.

David M.

[RichR]

I do it the same way, David. I have Finale 2002 so, human playback is not an option. I find that when I listen to the Finale version it sounds, well organ-like and not very expressive (especially in the winds). My sequencer of choice is Tracktion 2.

I'm a little confused by your statement:

I have two Echo sound cards so this gives me 16 analog channels to take the ouput from Sonar.

Why do you need to go out to analog. My work is done all digitally and I can have upwards of 24-30 tracks which I render to separate wave files then mix digitally in Tracktion 2. I personally use a MoTu 2408 Mk II sound card which has 8 anolog outputs, but I only use 2 that are sent to my outboard mixer and into my speakers or headphones.

[pianodoc]

Rich:

I'm not sure that I really need all of those ouputs but I use them (probably unnecessarly} for some initial listening to give me the feel of the sliders. Probably to somehow take the place of a midi controller which I don't have.

Actually I mix everything digitally to audio in Sonar and then export the final mix to a stereo wave file or mp3.

Obviously I am a beginner in terms of handling and mixing the audio.

:|:

David

[RichR]

Obviously I am a beginner in terms of handling and mixing the audio.

No, no, no, you are far better than any beginner. I see what your intent was now. You are mixing channels initially on an outboard mixer to get a feel for the balance left and right as well as the EQ'ing of the individula parts. That soes make sense to me anyway. I never thought of that approach.

[Collin]

Is it time for a new challenge?

[SeanHannifin]

Is it time for a new challenge?
I suppose so. :eek: I'll post the new one as soon as possible... hopefully tomorrow night...

[YBaCuO]

So Sean, this confirms that you were Entry #5?

[SeanHannifin]

So Sean, this confirms that you were Entry #5?
Indeed. :o

[pianodoc]

Sean:

Congratulations on providing the winning orchestration. Nicely done.

I'm looking forward to working on your theme.

David M.:cool:

[wrayer]

Sorry I was late with this. I was number 3. I thouroughly enjoyed doing this. Congrats to Number 5 (hmm, beat me 3 to 1 - at least it wasn't a landslide) YIPES:eek: ! I enjoyed all the other entries as well. They were each unique in many ways.