In Thy Arms - Majestic competition entry

My creative vision: to be majestic the tune needed to have some dramatic elements. The intro was there first and I think it could still have been an uplifting majestic tune but it turned out the other way when I developed the following parts. I find the tune majestic in a sad and somewhat ominous way.

I put the tune together in my usual way: taking up the guitar and trying out things. I used the midi interface (TriplePlay) to play the sound libraries and fooled around until I got something that somehow sounded valid (the intro). As far as the name of the tune goes, I considered some other options as well, e.g. ‘Dethronal’ and ‘Funeral’.

The sound libraries I used were: Audio Imperia Nucleus and Areia.

In Thy Arms

2 Likes

You have some nice melodic ideas and counterpoint going on there! The ending sounds too abrupt to me like your fading out. Maybe do a rit. and end on a cadence or recap of beginning.

Thank you for your feedback. I considered and even tried repeating the intro part at the end but somehow it did not feel good there. The tune could actually go on still a bit based on the last part and develop into something less gloomy.

I think it’s a really cool arrangement. I probably wouldn’t call it majestic, myself. But it’s got a really cool gothic/baroque style. I just finished watching 1989 Batman movie with my kids and could picture this piece playing in some parts of that final scene in the cathedral. Anyway, great job!

Thanks Mike, I agree that the tune is not majestic in an uplifting way. I see it majestic in a sad/gloomy way: I could think it on the background of a scene where the tyrant and even most of the heroes are dead.

A nice dark majestic sound. Some creative ideas and melodies and a huge potential here. The horns and winds sound great. I like the development.

Some feedback for consideration:

  • Use more CC1 dynamics for strings to make more “dynamic” and give more interest and emotion and a bit less “synthy” of an attack in some areas. The beginning notes could have been a longer build in intensity across the string groups.
  • Watch too many octaves in the strings and WWs as they get uninteresting to the listener after a while. Perhaps save the octaves for the big moments and then go even bigger (ie. tuba down another octave) and piccolo up an octave.
  • You might try various doublings with the strings in the same octave to provide more colours and interest vs octaves all the time. ie. clarinet, bass clarinet, vibraphone or celeste
  • Consider highlighting sections and emotions with percussion cymbals and timpani
  • Fade ending feels like you ran out of time.

As it is, it feels a little unfinished. I think with more detail and energy spent on this piece to let it expand musically to allow more high/low moments, this would be brilliant.

Brandon

Brandon, thank you very much for your detailed comments. I agree with all of your suggestions. I did work on the dynamics using the CC controls but I could have done more. At stages I took the easy way out, i.e. kept the full ensemble (mostly strings) and did not break the part into different sections.

I will need to come back to the tune and develop it further and also see where it would end up after the fade out ending which is not a real ending but maybe rather starting something new.

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Hey Harri, I agree with @brandowalk, there are several good ideas inside you song. Keep on practicing with the control of the instruments and you will advance in you expression, step by step.
Good job :clap: :clap: :clap: