This is my first real look at writing something hybrid but epic-sounding so go easy with the comments
No real back story to this one as I purchased several goodies over the summer deals and wanted to give them a spin, mainly the elastic engine from Uberschall. I coupled this with some of my existing libraries from Spitfire and Omnisphere.
The horn section is a mixture of Albion and Omnisphere to give it a touch more depth as I felt the mid-range horns in Albion lacked that something.
Built around chord progressions in the key of A minor at 120bpm, I envisaged a trip through a dark universe and after turning a corner you are greeted by beautiful starlight.
a couple of things I would suggest or give you for your next projects in the future…
Always keep in mind at every moment of your track, what is the lead / foreground and what is your background. If you have a melody, give support, or put everything else in the back, so people hear the voice, viola or whatever…
When I produce / compose, one of my first things I try to do first is doing the low end and bass stuff, so every track has the best possible fundamentals. I try to search for presets which are super clean below 80Hz or so, so I know that every speaker will produce a clear low end picture. Above 80 Hz you can go as crazy as you want and sound design. Your track lacks low end for sure, so try to mix against a reference, so you have a better overall picture.
You have such a great footage, big wide and deep universe, so show it with your big, wide and punchy drums. They lack low end and punch as well, maybe you can tell me, what you had in mind, when you made it, so I have a clearer picture of it, but I would just give the drums more oomph, low taikos or toms will do the job…maybe here and there some low end booms and whooshes.
I really do like the composition and idea, what I miss is a more clearer picture of the track, where you want to go (although the transitions are great and keep the listener focused), as well as a clearer mix. Every track should have an inner voice, which drives you trough the track, so has a clear beginning, transitions, modulation, climax and end, especially if you compose to picture. If you just make a music bed, it’s another story, but it’s not the case here I guess.
Alexey’s comments are pretty on the mark. I can’t tell why the whole thing lacks bottom, width, and dynamics, because it sounds like you started with samples that have plenty of it. It almost sounds like maybe the mp3 was encoded at a low resolution that lost you some detail? But I really don’t think that’s it.
The male voice needs some nice, big, long, repeating stereo echo on it. Not reverb so much, but echo!
Maybe mastering alone would bring this track alive? I’d add plenty of 50 hertz, some 12k, and widen it. But I would think these samples come out of the box sounding huge, so I’m not sure what’s killing the size.
The composition itself is appropriate and professional for the genre. Would make a successful library track, if libraries were actually taking on new composers, which in my experience they are not.
I mean, basically, this ought to sound huge, and I’m baffled why it doesn’t, and I don’t necessarily think it’s anything you’re doing wrong. In fact, I wonder if maybe it’s my ears today. I just listened to something else and it sounded kind of narrow and small. It might be just me. There is no question that people hear things differently at different times, depending on sleep, what you’ve eaten, etc.
I just realized that maybe the YouTube compression algorithm has squashed some life and transients out of the piece. YouTube can definitely damage audio.
The other 2 just said they were full for my genre.
That turned me off libraries, where I hoped getting in the door might be a little easier. And while I’m sure persistence would pay off, I decided that, if I’m going to meet with 95%-99% rejection rates, I might as well be making music I care about, i.e. not library music. So I went back to reaching out directly to filmmakers, and along with a few dozen rejections (totally expected), I’m now attached to 2 features and a short.
