Spirit Of the Season (Working Title)

[roywestad]

Hi guys! Here's my first post at Northern Sounds

Been working on a little tune for a couple of weeks now during the holidays. Using only Garritan. I will not spend a long time making this sound realistic, as I plan to record this with an orchestra later on. What I would like to know, is if you like the music of course, but also if you think it's ready to pass on to a professional orchestrator for him to review it and make the final adjustments before preparing the score for the musicians.

It's still work in progress, and not mixed.

Hope you like it

Thanks for all help!

Roy

www.roywestad.com/RW_Spiritoftheseason_test1.mp3

[rbowser-]

Hi guys! Here's my first post at Northern Sounds

Been working on a little tune for a couple of weeks now during the holidays. Using only Garritan. I will not spend a long time making this sound realistic, as I plan to record this with an orchestra later on. Like many of the guys around here, I'm self thaught with minimal experience, and therefore your feedback is highly appreciated What I would like to know, is if you like the music of course, but also if you think it's ready to pass on to a professional orchestrator for him to review it and make the final adjustments before preparing the score for the musicians.

It's still work in progress, and not mixed.

Hope you like it

Thanks for all help!

Roy

Hello, Roy - Warm welcome to the Garritan Forums! This is great, and all too rare, for a newcomer to come right on to The Listening Room with music for us to hear. I wish more people would do that.

And such lovely music too.-- I thought something was wrong with my download of the MP3 at first, - I'd just settled in to hear it unfold--and it was over! --I see now, it's of the length of the opening music for a TV show. Just over a minute, but a fun and uplifting one minute, for sure.

Rather "Star Trek," - Disney show, I think this is the sort of thing you had in mind.

I understand you didn't want to completely demo the music, so I'm not sure I heard all the lines in the most ideal balance, well, I know I didn't, but what I heard was nice and straight-forward.

Now you Must tell us more of the story. You said you're having an orchestra perform this?--How did that come about?!-- There are people working for years on their craft without having an orchestra play their compositions--Or did you mean this is what you're hoping for? - But you're working with an arranger-- Intriguing bits of info you've left. Do tell us more.

Here's some unsolicited advice from a "sage older guy"--I'm sure I'm older than you:

--Never ask someone if they like what you've written. It only puts them on the spot. If they volunteer a reaction in the positive, then take that with thanks. Otherwise--It's best to just present what you've done, and then take all feedback with a grain of salt.

--Never tell someone you hope they like what you've done. Again, just present the work. It should always speak for itself, and doesn't need your solicitude.

How's that for "old fart advice." hehe-- I hope you take it to heart.

Yes, it seems to me this "professional orchestrator" you mentioned has material to work with here. I hope the project is followed through in a way that gives you great satisfaction.

Thank you for the music!

EDIT: I forgot something I wanted to respond to. You said you're like a lot of guys here, self taught and with minimal experience.--that really isn't the best thing to assume. In fact, most of the people aren't that at all. There are many trained musician/composers here with a lot of experience. I felt I should correct that misapprehension.

Randy

[roywestad]

Hello, Roy - Warm welcome to the Garritan Forums! This is great, and all too rare, for a newcomer to come right on to The Listening Room with music for us to hear. I wish more people would do that.

And such lovely music too.-- I thought something was wrong with my download of the MP3 at first, - I'd just settled in to hear it unfold--and it was over! --I see now, it's of the length of the opening music for a TV show. Just over a minute, but a fun and uplifting one minute, for sure.

Rather "Star Trek," - Disney show, I think this is the sort of thing you had in mind.

I understand you didn't want to completely demo the music, so I'm not sure I heard all the lines in the most ideal balance, well, I know I didn't, but what I heard was nice and straight-forward.

Now you Must tell us more of the story. You said you're having an orchestra perform this?--How did that come about?!-- There are people working for years on their craft without having an orchestra play their compositions--Or did you mean this is what you're hoping for? - But you're working with an arranger-- Intriguing bits of info you've left. Do tell us more.

Here's some unsolicited advice from a "sage older guy"--I'm sure I'm older than you:

--Never ask someone if they like what you've written. It only puts them on the spot. If they volunteer a reaction in the positive, then take that with thanks. Otherwise--It's best to just present what you've done, and then take all feedback with a grain of salt.

--Never tell someone you hope they like what you've done. Again, just present the work. It should always speak for itself, and doesn't need your solicitude.

How's that for "old fart advice." hehe-- I hope you take it to heart.

Yes, it seems to me this "professional orchestrator" you mentioned has material to work with here. I hope the project is followed through in a way that gives you great satisfaction.

Thank you for the music!

EDIT: I forgot something I wanted to respond to. You said you're like a lot of guys here, self taught and with minimal experience.--that really isn't the best thing to assume. In fact, most of the people aren't that at all. There are many trained musician/composers here with a lot of experience. I felt I should correct that misapprehension.

Randy

Hi Randy!

Thank you so much for your warm welcome, it really means a lot And thank you so much for your advice and guidance, I definitely take it to heart! You present good points and wise words all the way here. I used to be a ghost at other forums, but I have set a goal for 2012 that I will be much more active on the forums. After all, what better place is there to discuss, present and have feedback on my music from nice, professional and experienced composers?

And I'm so sorry for that misapprehension about self thaught people around here, the explanation is that I've posted this thread on another forum (where a lot of self thaught composers hang), and copy pasted it here without editing it. My mistake! Will edit original post.

Now for the music:

So glad you liked it! The fact is, I work full time as a media composer (seldom or never with orchestral scores though), so when I say inexperienced, that's half the truth. Inexperienced when it comes to orchestral music is more accurately put So the main reason why it's short, is because I seldom find the time to compose orchestral music for training, but I find it easer to fit short pieces like this around my schedule. The most important thing is to practice, practice, practice, right? And the faster I compose, the longer pieces I can compose within the given time

I have an orchestral film scoring gig coming up in about a year, and I probably will record this in one day with the symphony orchestra of either Prague or Budapest. The plan is to have enough other music to book the orchestra for an extra day of recording. There is a good chance this short piece will end up being recorded there in some form.

I am pretty lucky to have good connections with arrangers and orchestrators here in Oslo, Norway, so that part is pretty much covered. Now it's all up to me. Yeah, that's a scary thing!

Again, thank you so much Randy! "See" you soon

[rbowser-]

Hello again, Roy - Thanks so much for the replies. Very interesting!

...I used to be a ghost at other forums, but I have set a goal for 2012 that I will be much more active on the forums...

An excellent New Year's resolution. We expect to be seeing you here!

...And I'm so sorry for that misapprehension about self taught people around here...

I hesitated responding to that part of your post, but I could almost hear some people here bristling as they read that - wanted to give you advance notice that some people could have maybe taken offense. No biggie.

...I work full time as a media composer (seldom or never with orchestral scores though), so when I say inexperienced, that's half the truth. Inexperienced when it comes to orchestral music is more accurately put ...

I have an orchestral film scoring gig coming up in about a year, and I probably will record this in one day with the symphony orchestra of either Prague or Budapest. The plan is to have enough other music to book the orchestra for an extra day of recording. There is a good chance this short piece will end up being recorded there in some form.

I am pretty lucky to have good connections with arrangers and orchestrators here in Oslo, Norway, so that part is pretty much covered. Now it's all up to me. Yeah, that's a scary thing!

Again, thank you so much Randy! "See" you soon

Fantastic! Thanks for the greater detail on the story behind this orchestral piece, and the info about you. It's great to have you and your expertise here with us now, Roy. I hope more members here stop and listen to your piece!

Randy

[Plowking]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Great first post - it reminded of a news bulliten intro to begin with. A lot of them I've heard have a similar start. The sound is great right off the bat, and a lot of the time that is due to it being well constructed and orchestrated, which is half the battle in getting a good sound. Moot point really as you can get this performed, something I can only dream of at the moment. (though I'm happy in my virtual space for the time being anyway)

[Michael A. Wiktor]

Hey Roy, & welcome to the forum.

This is a very well constructed work. ...very uplifting for sure and perfect for the "season".
From listening, this sounds as if it would be an "easy play" for a professional orchestra.

Is this for a contest? Is the orchestra involved w/ the contest?
Congrats on knowing professionals that can help you arrange and clean up your scores.
Those are good people to know... however, I would suggest that you try & learn, time permitting,
their craft as it may benefit you in the future.

Enjoyed!

M

[roywestad]

@Randy - I really appreciate it :) Thank you so much for making my first visit such a positive and learning experience!

@Plowking - Thanks a million, mate! Yeah, I work a lot with opening sequences for events, so maybe that's a possible explanation to why it gives you that association. I'm also glad to hear you like the sound, as mixing is something I always struggle with. I always wan't it to sound like a blockbuster, even before I lay down the first notes, hehe :) And I enjoy my virtual space too, your time will come :) Thanks for taking the time!

@Michael - Thanks, man! Good to be here! Your positive feedback is really warming, as I struggled just to finish this short piece of music. Hope I'll get faster with time. I am actually planning on recording a bunch of tracks (including this) for licensing purposes only (and hopefully some placements). And I will definitely read up and do some self studying, so I can do the cleaning up myself. You have to be good at everything these days :) Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for listening!

Cheers guys,

Roy

[Plowking]

I compose in much the same manner, I want to hear polished music almost as soon as I'm playing and recording it.

Extremely high quality virtual orchestration, particularly for TV and film is in good demand - budgets are tight, deadlines are even tighter, so working in a virtual space and it staying there, (i.e. never going to live musicans) is common - so get your templates set up and saved. Speed up those projects and work on the realisim aspect when you can. You don't have far to go from what I hear.

While I would relish the opportunity for live musicans to play some of my music - I do love completing virtual works and licensing them or scoring short films for directors - the likes of which would never (yet) dream of hiring an orchestra.

[sanyarem]

Hello, and many welcomes, Roy!

This is certainly short, but very sweet. You have introduced some very nice themes in this short clip; it really sounds like it could set up a variety of programmatic ideas. (Including Star Trek, as Randy mentioned )

I wish I could give you experienced advice about how to go about determining if this is ready for a professional orchestrator, but I have never had that opportunity. I can say, however, that even in my own compositions for smaller groups, I almost always think of something to add/remove/change to it after I think I am finished. In my opinion, if you find your self making tiny changes that really don't have a huge overall impact on the sound, it may be a good time to stop. But, that can be really difficult, because once you decide to make the change, you'll probably end up listening for the change, thus, each change you make will sound significant to your ear.

I don't know, good luck!

And welcome, again!

[trentpmcd]

Welcome to the forum! Great little piece you have here. As others said, it sounds like the opening to a TV, either an adventure type show or maybe a sporting event. No advice, but I liked just wanted to say I liked it.