Darks Adventure Theme

Hi @Haakon Davidsen I've recorded some feedback for you. The video is hidden so only people with the link can see it. I have to emphasize that I don't consider myself a professional by any means. Think of my feedback as a fresh pair of ears listening to your piece. The main take-away (which I get to at the end of 25 minutes of rambling) is that you have a great little core idea and that your piece would benefit from being simplified. Ask yourself if it really needs to be 3 minutes long, because if not, then I'd suggest you trim the proverbial fat, so to speak and get to the heart of this theme.

I do also have quite a few mixing related comments because your mockup doesn't sound like a cohesive space to my ears. Whether that's a problem or not is up to you. It's not bad or anything, but it could be better. My guess is going to be that you don't have the chance to record this live and that it'll stay a sampled production. If that's the case you'll have to think about how much time you want to invest into improving the mix. Are you really trying to push the realism or is this a sketchpad for a possible future live recording? Because if it's the latter, then any time spend fixing those mixing issues is probably wasted time

Aaaanyway, without further ado, I present to you 30 minutes of me blabbering about your music. I am little akward in front of the mic ofc, so you'll have to forgive me my rambling

EDIT: to anyone who's uninterested in going through the full 30 minutes (I don't blame you) but still wants to watch a snippet, I think I make my most important point around the 25:00 minute mark onward.

 

Hey, good to see you here!

This has come a long way since that first version. It feels more cohesive and had a better flow.

Technical:

I don't think there's a room unity problem, but there is an inconsistency in sound. Overall, I think your strings sound nice, some dodgy programming aside (like missing inflections at 1:00, as well as for the triplets in the 2:30 part - add dips in CC1 on note starts so that it sounds more like a re-bow) . Comparatively, the brass sounds muddy, a bit piercing and unclear (flat-out guess, dip the 400Hz region a bit with a not-too-wide bell, 2.5kHz as well, and bring out the highs - these adjustments aren't more than a couple of dB, so nothing too extreme). Also, did you use "stereo widening" tools (not the delay, but actual widening) anywhere in the mix (if you did and I'd have to guess, I'd say brass)? Your strings sound really solid, while your brass sounds rather wide.

I also think the overall mix lacks volume and some "life" in the lower register. Here's a quick demonstration for both the brass and low end on the final brassy finale. I just quickly dialed in my EQ and Multi-band Compressor on the SoundCloud rip, I could do much more with stems, especially maintain more control by only enhancing the instruments playing in that register.

Onto the specifics, the clarinet in the intro could be a bit louder. Not necessarily upfront like in the first version, but louder than it is right now. I'd pull in the spot mic for such exposed parts without hesitation.

I'd push in the muted trumpets at 1:37 a bit further back - cut some high end and add slightly more reverb.

Composition:

At 1:00 I'd have the mallets playing a counter-line instead of the sitting on top of the melody, I think there's a lot of space here and there's no need for it to go to waste. Try just moving them forward two beats, adjust or change notes if you feel like it. The same goes for 1:42. I'd take the melody, put it down in Cellos and move it forward one measure. After 4 measures, I'd have.. maybe trombones (?) take the third counter-line figure at 1:50 before it all nicely descends down.

That's it for now, if anything else dawns on me, I'll be sure to post.

All in all, I really enjoyed the piece. Looking forward to your next ones!

 

@Haakon Davidsen I really, really enjoyed listening to this piece. It is fun, and musical, and seems like a complete piece of music, not just a cue. This comes from your structure, your careful use of repetition. For me, the samples sound wonderful. I own all of the products you used (except the harp, I have VSL harp), but I would not be capable of getting such a great sound from these instruments. The orchestration is delightful. Little touches like the trombone portamento or the mallets to add punctuation were terrific. If it was me, I would not cut anything out. Not too long for me, and I would have loved to hear more.

My ears are not good enough to help with the mix, but I expect @Aaron Venture probably has some good advice.

One question - since you have Berlin Brass, why any need to use Cinebrass Core and Pro? In what musical context did you prefer Cinbrass to Berlin Brass?

I am really looking forward to hearing your next piece.

 

@Haakon Davidsen you asked which version I liked best. I did listen to all three and honestly, it is the over all composition itself that I most admire, and that shines through in all three versions. By the composition itself I refer to the melodies, themes and motives with the underlying harmonies. Also the accompaniment figures, while traditional, have a fresh and interesting sound because of your orchestration. The orchestration throughout is very creative and attractive. So those are the things that stood out, and those things did not change.

I am not a mixing expert like @Aaron Venture so I hesitate to comment on that aspect. However, I suppose the newest new version seems a bit better to my ears.

 

There's no rule there. The only rule is to make it sound good How I go about that varies from project to project (and in this case from library to library). Sometimes I only do work on the main bus for the library, while still having outs for individual instruments to have control if I need it. That happens for libraries that are spectrally and overall sound-wise well balanced within themselves and have the balance I desire from the get-go (e.g. Spitfire Strings, Spitfire Percussion...), volume differences are very easy to fix, even within Kontakt. Then there are libraries that have minor balancing issues between instruments (Berlin Woods with expansions, Adventure Brass...) and I get them in check, and then work on the main bus.

And then there are the libraries that just need work on every single patch (CSS - massive rift between Violas and V2, dark, high noise floor, subtracted low end...).

The main goal is always to have all the instruments balanced in relation to one another according to the sound I'm going for. After that, I can do whatever I wish with the overall tone of the mix - right on the master bus. Getting the balance right is a cakewalk for me, but I'll always take a short break before heading over to mastering and signing off on the final tone of the mix. What works for me the best is to just do the master the next day with fresh ears (if the schedule is tight, I'll go out for a 1-hour walk). In general, if I do the mix right, there's not much work to be done on the master; no automation, just static treatment.

The quick take I did on that short snippet was exactly that - a quick take. These static EQ and compressor settings worked for that snippet right there, but they probably wouldn't work on other parts of the piece. There's a lot that I can with more time and just with the master, but there are limits. I can't bring out your celli if the trombones are eating them or fix your CB/Tuba balance - e.g. bringing down the harshness in that short snippet, without automation, fixed the brass because it's dominant in that part but will dull out all the other instruments that don't sound too harsh throughout the piece. I don't do this with my own masters or projects where I have access to individual instruments, but for any mastering gigs I'll really watch out for stuff like that.

The fix for your issue is easy on your end since you have access to individual tracks. Do the brass EQ I mentioned above, and adjust the low end of your double basses. Just EQ will be okay, lower band compression or transient shaping would be better.