Critique Me!

[sonicthreadz]

Hi NS!

I recently posted a soundtrack I\'m doing for a game. (It\'s my first big one!) It should end up around 2 hours long if I\'m lucky but I wanted to share the music so far with everyone and maybe get some constructive criticism on it. Well, I guess you can post negative criticism too if you\'d like. Up to you. =D

Download and enjoy!

http://www.scottbmorton.com/freeworld_score.htm

Tanks much,
Scott Morton
Indy Composer

[WayneSim]

Congratulations on your first big game score.

I have listened to all 19 tracks. Overall I really like the compositions. I like the way each track users different instruments yet has the same elements or \"sound\" to it. Overall it flows from one track to the next. Which is great. As it can be hard to do sometimes.

One thing I did notice was that in track 2 the female vocals are a little low in the mix. I would have liked them to be more of the lead rathar than in the background. But thats me. Its nothing major! Maybe ~3db is all you need. Great track!

Where did you get the male vocals from track 4 (The Church)?

I really like track 12 Wintery Village, it rocks.

Track 13 The Void suddenly stops! I think this is a fault.

How long did it take you to compose all 19 tracks? What sound libaries do you use? Only one I could pick was Diva.

If you dont mind me asking, can you tell me around about price a composer would get paid for a score like this? i.e what you got or are getting paid... PM me if you wish to not discuss this in public. As i\'m new to this industry as a composer I really would like to know. And I can understand if you wish to not even discuss this at all.

Thanks for the great music. I would love to hear more. I wish you all the best in writing for more scores. I hope you do well.

[Jazzhole]

I listened to a few of your cues and they are cool. Although I must say they do feel a little stiff, you should use more different articulations and more use of dynamics.
Good luck

[cmrick]

Originally posted by WayneSim:

One thing I did notice was that in track 2 the female vocals are a little low in the mix. I would have liked them to be more of the lead rathar than in the background. But thats me. Its nothing major! Maybe ~3db is all you need. Great track!

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Haha Scott, that\'s like opposite of what I recommended, so what do I know. Personally I really like DIVA blended in there.

[His Frogness]

Originally posted by Jazzhole:
I listened to a few of your cues and they are cool. Although I must say they do feel a little stiff, you should use more different articulations and more use of dynamics.
Good luck

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I agree with Jazzhole. I couldn\'t get through all of them but listened to the first 3. I think the compositions are really good. It seems to me that you have all the necessary skills to make them really good.

Remember in Amudeus when the king gave his critique at the end of one of his symphonies? He said \"There\'s too many notes\"...hehe. I\'d have to say the opposite about track 1. There\'s not enough notes. Specifically in track 1.

Technically, the pieces sound great. Very believable. I applaude you for your engineering of them.

I think your composition skills are a cut above mine so I\'m speaking purely as a spectator (my music\'s on the thread below this one).

In closing, I think the music will work as is and will probably make the company very happy. The real question is, are you satisfied them?

[sonicthreadz]

Thanks for the input guys!

I think my weakest area still in doing sampled composing is the dynamics issue, like two of you mentioned. I\'ve been getting into using the expression controller along with modwheel for multilayered samples. It\'s very hard to replicate the dynamics of an orchestra, I\'m finding! Especially with a modwheel; the feedback is a little bit different for each sample set. Some have a wide dynamic range and some don\'t. I thought about getting a breath controller in the near future; does anyone here have experience using one and would you recommend any specific models? I think that would help me out a lot.

About the type of samples I use: There are various ones. For this score, I use a lot of GOS, some Advanced Orchestra patches, Sam Horns, and a bunch of free soundfonts that I converted to Giga format. I also use the occasional VSL patch here and there. The male choral part in the \"Church\" soundtrack . . . that\'s a secret.

About pay:

Right now I work for free! I\'ll get paid for this score, however, if the game does well when it goes public. It\'s always a toss-up! But I love composing so much that I don\'t mind doing free work. I\'d do free work my whole life if it meant landing some really creative and leading-edge gigs!

Thanks again for your valuable input and I\'ll definitely work on my dynamics in my scores. Any other posts for suggestions or info would be great!

-Scott

[WayneSim]

Originally posted by sonicthreadz:
The male choral part in the \"Church\" soundtrack . . . that\'s a secret.

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">ummm... not the right answer. LOL... PM me if you want [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] .

I\'m starting to think i might try to record vocals simular to this myself. I think my voice and programing skills are up for the challange. Hopefully over Christmas I will have the time to test it out. At least then no-one could use my \"samples\" I would have them all to myself [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] . Then people would ask where did you get those vocals? I\'d tell them \"that\'s me\" [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Paulh]

Hey Scott

I love listening to stuff like this, especially when the whole score is available for download! (or what\'s been completed so far). That kept me motivated to listen all of it.

RPG music is my favorite kind of game music and you\'re very good at establishing moods without altering the \"tempo\" during the piece, like in \"Wood Spirits\" and \"In a Strange Land\". I can imagine how well it fits to the game. I recommend everyone who likes game music to download the score.

I\'m not getting into details if some instrument sounds a little too quiet etc. Thanks for making the score available! I wish more people would post complete scores, if it was possible. : )

[Marsdy]

Good stuff Scott. I hope the game does well. I really like the chord changes in 5, very nice. I liked 18, nice and broody! 16 is a nice change of mood.

Glad to see you\'ve retained at least some of the copyright since your\'re not being paid upfront!!!

[sonicthreadz]

Originally posted by WayneSim:
I\'m starting to think i might try to record vocals simular to this myself.

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">WayneSim, I actually dig this kind of stuff for choral parts in some of my compositions. There just really isn\'t a library out there yet that really does it for me when it comes to the dynamic of a human choir. When I need singers for something, I\'ll write out the choral parts for the piece and then call my local college or community choir (they\'re really good) and then pay like 6 peeps to sing it. (Then you can double track for bigger sound.) It beats even using samples because you don\'t have to program them! If you buy them pizza and have a good time, they\'re totally up for doing it again down the road too.

It\'s also nice to get out of the studio once in a while and work with real musicians. [img]graemlins/tounge_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]