hello all composers
here is my composition for the dark music challenge
here is the list of my instrument:
lot of sound from my roland JV1080
the new library from spitfire audio : alev Lenz and Epic string (cost 29$ each)
horn , taiko for percussion, choir (mars Ah sustain and world staccato sequencer)
thanks for istening
I like the way you use the harmonic minor scale, perfect for this kind of musical content!
My tip: make sure your choir has more reverb. First it will sound more natural and bigger, think of „cathedral“ reverb, that’s where we actually hear choirs in the real world.
Try to de-muddy your 200-400 Hz range, so the track gains more clarity. A good way to make it happen is looking for frequency content in your tracks, which is unnecessary for the track. If you mute one track after another when played everything together, you will find out, which of the track causes this muddiness. I believe more likely it’s the lower string section and/or the pads. 
thanks a lot Alexey for your tips and feedback, i have put some reverb on the choir but as you said perhaps not enough to bring it better
ok for the frequencies i will check that and keep it for my next compositions
Actually you don’t really need to put “extra” reverb to the choir, as the choir itself has a good amount of reverb in most libraries, however, you need just to compress a little bit more, so the room can be heard better in the context. Or, you make your choir dry, put a big hall / cathedral instead and compress the reverb-return (bus). Choir makes everything like “epic”, and epic is in most cases, something super “huge”. You know what I mean
I can envision this being used in a scene in which it is an ancient/sacred burial site. Where there are evil creatures hiding behind every corner and tombstone.
Beautiful composition , like the music it’s well done . Also the fact that you don’t need 20 K equipment to make great music !
yep you’re right if you are inspired and if you know you synthe and software it is not necessary to spend a lot , thanks a lot for your feedback
I m just curious about the muddiness you mentioned. Is it always a bad thing? I know you can hear and refer it in your own compositions, but how can you tell that it is not intended to be muddy? For example in this composition, because it is dark? My ears are not trained in this so well so maybe that’s why I don’t “see” it, let alone even knowing in which exact frequency the mud is 
Well, by muddiness I mean that too many sounds/instruments are using the same frequency area. As most instruments play around that 200-500 Hz area, the middle and lower octaves, these frequencies are adding up and the track becomes „unclear“. This effect is often take place in rooms, where room modes are extended, so you loose clarity. A lot of people think that this clarity is only done by adding the 5kHz area by boosting a couple of dBs, but the same effect comes when you just tame the 200-500 Hz area, by EQ or Compression. Sometimes it’s actually only a question of orchestration.
Yes, if you tame too much, you loose warmth and the body of the piece, so it’s good to have a reference which you refer to, to not loose perspective.
Does it make sense?
Yes, it definitely explains what you meant and I see your point, thanks! I’m still not sure about how to know when it’s too much. Is it something you just have to hear or is there an objective way how to find out? Like seeing you have already e.g. 6 instruments from the same frequency area so you automatically know that you have to tame some?
thanks a lot for these details on the muddiness, now i know that i had to check with a frequencies analyser what is the problem and correct it
You need to use a similar feature like the „FabFilter EQ3“ has (headphones), so you hear only a specific range. The Q-Factor should be 1.5-2.5, between 7 semitones and 1 1/2 octaves, which the range of muddiness usually is. The analyser should be set to a slow decay time, so you really see very the most power is in your track.
There are a couple of good channels which help you understand that better in context, however, I will start my own series in a couple of weeks, where I share some cool things here and there. The topics will be all over the place, as composition, production, mixing go in hand together. All of that is important, as many of us have only the opportunity to make a production ourselves. If someone is working for big production libraries they usually have some sort of engineers involved - we need to be all of that due to budget or just as a cool hobby 
Love the dark ominous choir got a really lovely soundbed - especially with the creaks and metal hits