My first piece

[robmanderson]

No need to be gentle :-)

http://www.box.net/shared/15vx61rxv0

Rob

[rayzalaf]

Rob,

I can tell by the orchestration and the recording that you are an able musician. Your title is already defensive "My first piece". It doesn't go anywhere, it just meanders on. No light and shade. A backdrop for a barren landscape. This I'm sure will be the worst reply you'll get because I'm direct in my opinions. I hope to hear more from you and I'm sure I will.

Also, how about telling us a bit about which instruments you used, is it all GPO etc. This will assist other members in offering opinions on your work.

And yes! snappy titles get more interest.

My Best

Ray

[robmanderson]

Ray,
you're right about the lack of background info.

Scored in Overture 4 PC.

Full orchestra plus harp and gong and it's all GPO. I did the recording in four takes, one each for strings, percussion, brass and woods. Then mixed them down to the final using Audacity.

The dynamics were all done using standard notation (ppp -> fff) etc and hairpins in Overture. Just about the only fine tuning was on the Timp and Harp parts (changing velocity).

I did do a lot of adjustment of note durations to get legato sounding right.

I couldn't actually play any of the parts to save my life

[rbowser-]

Hello, Rob

This sounds very good!--You have quite a grasp on how to wield the mighty GPO canvas.

It would seem like being able to emulate the sound of an orchestra somewhat instantly with the library would be possible--but considering how I've heard some very unsuccessful results from beginners, I know that isn't quite the case. You're way beyond those kind of problems. The recording sounds very fine to me.

I'm wishing I had waited until after hearing your piece before reading the previous comments--I do understand the response about how the piece seems to meander and not build, but I often feel that responses to music are from a perspective of having different expectations than the composer's, so I don't automatically find that quality a detriment.

Some people, for instance, want every piece of music to build in the traditional way--get faster, thicker, louder--whatever choices are made for achieving that goal. That's fine, but could be considered very old fashioned by other musicians. Some composers who are completely into atonal serial compositions will have no patience when hearing pieces still rooted in traditional western theory.

And so on.

I didn't have any particular expectations when listening to what you posted, and so let myself be carried wherever and however the music dictated.

At the end of listening to your piece, a tragic mood hung in the air. I realized that I felt like I'd been walking through a dark and damaged landscape--Maybe that's the "barren landscape" in the previous response. But I accepted the feeling and image for what it was--I mean I took it as your intention, however conscious or unconsciously you meant that intention. There Is a slowly onward rolling relentlessness about this, and I found that it made an interesting listening experience.

Something I didn't understand from your post. You explained that you used Overture, and that you couldn't possibly play the parts--But earlier you said:

"...I did the recording in four takes..."

I'm always interested in how people work. Could you clarify your process? This quote sounds like you worked in real time, and four takes is extremely few--Perhaps you didnt mean it literally? In any case, I'd like to hear more about your work habits.

Thanks for this, Rob. I enjoyed it very much.

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[robmanderson]

Thanks for the kind words Randy

When I said I did it in four takes I meant that I muted (for example) all but the strings and recorded those. Then muted the strings, unmuted the percussion and recorded just those. And so on.

I do rough draft recording/listening with the entire orchestra playing, of course. But, particularly with the strings, I notice that there 'sound' like things happening that aren't notated when I do that. I assume it's the sheer amount of data being shoved down that MIDI emulated pipe and sometimes events come later than they should. This with 2 gigs of memory and an Athlon Dual Core!

It's a real time recording only in the sense that Overture plays each of the takes at real time speed.

I may have misread Ray's response but I thought he was talking about the title of my post!

[Rhap2]

Rob:

Haven't heard much by users of Overture 4. I think you did an excellent job of portraying the instruments you employed with this program. I agree with other comments regarding "where are we going?" But, wherever you thought you went, I'm sure you got there.

Seems like a little diversity like a change of tempo and key (to a more lively major sound) would be one recommendation.

All in all, I was impressed with the way you handled Overture 4 with GPO.

Great, Rob.

Jack

[rbowser-]

Hello again, Rob

Thanks for more detail on how you're working:

When I said I did it in four takes I meant that I muted (for example) all but the strings and recorded those. Then muted the strings, unmuted the percussion and recorded just those. And so on.

I do rough draft recording/listening with the entire orchestra playing, of course. But, particularly with the strings, I notice that there 'sound' like things happening that aren't notated when I do that. I assume it's the sheer amount of data being shoved down that MIDI emulated pipe and sometimes events come later than they should. This with 2 gigs of memory and an Athlon Dual Core!

It's a real time recording only in the sense that Overture plays each of the takes at real time speed.

Hmm. I think I'm being thick, but I don't understand why you're muting any tracks while you're working. Don't you need to be hearing everything in the project up to each point when you're adding more?

Real time recording--that phrase usually means one is playing, recording with a keyboard. Inserting notes and data is, well what does one call it?--but it's out of real time. That was just a point of confusion for me.

When you say things are happening in play back that you didn't intend, I guess you're right that your system is trying to do more during play back than it can handle. I can certainly relate to that. I have to constantly bounce MIDI tracks to audio in order to hear tracks playing together the way I want.

Same as Jack, I'm glad to hear about work being done with Overture. The light version came with my copy of GPO, but I haven't ever used it, since I do my projects in Sonar, but I've been curious about Overture as an alternative to the more expensive notation programs we hear about more often.

Thanks again, Rob

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[Styxx]

I'll say it simply ... awesome!

[etLux]

A warm welcome aboard, Rob!

You're right: no need to be gentle... this is strong work.

The color handling of the low work was particularly impressive;
not easy to write well, not easy to render well... and quite
a dramatic, impactful composition, overall.

Some general points:

I think this would benefit a great deal with more attention
paid to tempi and dynamic management. Don't be afraid
to get in there with more rit.s and accel.s to emphasize
harmonic intent; and the same comment may be said of
the use of dynamics... this seems, to my ear, to want
greater use of crescendi and decrescendi in many places.

A handsome piece, Rob; and a darned good showing on
your first time forward.

My best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[GrahamKeitch]

Rob, there is considerable intensity here that I found very moving. The need for contrast that others have perhaps alluded to here would come from extending this work further. This could be the middle movement of a three movement work - or perhaps the darker moments of a more extended piece. Keep going with this. Thanks for posting this.

Regards, Graham