New Beginning (OVLO) - Obioha Ogbonna
My name is Obioha Ogbonna I’m one of the leading Liturgical Music Composers in Nigeria and I just started dabbling in EPIC Soundtrack Music. Here is My first track… I mainly used Native Instruments session strings, EW Hollywood Choirs (Composer Cloud Edition) and Big Fish Audio’s Epic Drums, E Minor Scale. Your feedback will be really appreciated
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Hi Obioha! @Obileo
I would like to help you out and make a review for your track. Please PN me, so we can talk about some details.
It would take a lot of time to make a full review as I hear many things you could improve instantly like orchestration, programming and mixing.
If you want to know more details, get back to me.
Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Alexey 
2 Likes
Hi Obioha,
i like your track, the choir is quite nice.
What i miss, is a bit of progression. You either need to increase the speed to the end or the amount of instuments i.e. brass for the final climax
But really good work and nice libraries,
Keep Going,
Michael
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hello
your track is very interresting
if i can suggest something : your composition is too linear, add some variation on the theme (tempo, melody, harmony, percussion by example)
another point ithink it is a mistake, in a composition it is great to finish on the same chord, generally we start by the tonic and we finish by the tonic, at the end of your composition you go up that make us think there is something after but there is nothing, you can by example go back to the tonic chord ( the first we hear at the begining) and stay longer and add a decrescendo
for an epic music i think the voice will be more agressive and powerfull, you can hear some composition in epic style here :
https://forum.professionalcomposers.com/c/contests-for-composers/epic-battle-music-contest/72
and here :
https://forum.professionalcomposers.com/c/contests-for-composers/epic-trailer-music-contest-sep-2019/33
another point, you stay in the medium, strings and voices are in the medium, there is no basses in your composition, it is very important to have a bass line , you can do it by using low brass like the trombone or the tuba, or using the basson, contra basson, double bass, cello in low range, you can make a layer par example a double bass in long note with a cello in low range in pizzicato, and a basson in staccato , or , you can have low brass doubled with low string in pizzicato
it is just some idea, i am sure that alexey bring you more detail, tips and information,he is a pro, i am just a novice
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i learned a lot from your post.
thanks my friend
Thank you so much, to be honest i didn’t put much effort into it… Basically just played around for 2 hours or so… My next ones will be more aggressive and more enthralling
Hello Alexey, Thanks for your offer… Maybe sometime in the future
It’s always your decision, however, if I can give you any recommendation, then first put in at least 40 hours of work into a track before asking for any feedback at all. You need to show what you can do max. as a Producer, and not what you are able to do in two hours. Especially Trailer music needs weeks of work to show any results. After you are stuck, or think you are done, then you should ask. The point is, how you can improve your production overall and not asking someone how they like your main melody.
Kind regards,
Alexey
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I can really understand what you mean. i spent almost every evening for weeks to finish my first tracks, time is needed a lot when producing music.
But Nick Murray said in one of his videos, the he was asked to compose the Super Bowl theme at the evening on the same day. He had just 7 or 8 hours to finish his work… so his claim was: you have to be quick if you wanna earn money.
Ok, a theme up to one minute is not the same as a song with a story and a duration of 4-5 minutes, but its still a lot of work.
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I will surely keep that in mind… Thank you
i have started composing music a long time ago and what i have learnt is that music is a long road, you know where it starts but you didn’t where it stops, music need time so we must take our time to produce music in a good way, i am still learning from this forum and others, one of my musician friend said to me try to compose a lot in different type but it is not a race, take your time, listen , change it , listen again and again till you feel right with what you hear and not what you play
pratice a lot, play a lot, learn a lot, music is a huge domain and the possibilities are infinites
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First of all, Nick is not just another composer. As he is at the top of the game, he has certain routines that allow him to compose fast and efficient. The reality is, that most of us here, will never compete with him until we start to think the right way and have the right mindset when making music. So comparing Nick should not be the first priority.
Second, I have many tracks myself where I needed 2-3 hours to complete the 80% arrangement. It’s very simple as we all know or should know the Pareto principle: the 80/20 rule meaning that we are able to do 80% work in 20% of a certain time. However, that means as well, that we need 80% more time to finish the 20% left to make it perfect. However, we still need to understand that music doesn’t come from somewhere. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn’t. It isn’t something that we have, like time or physical products. We need time to sort things out, to experiment, to forget the track for 2-3 weeks. This is normal. Only then we can see things more clearly, even ourselves.
Look, I am here to help. If I can help, I will. If not, I won’t waste my time to „just write something“ to just be part of a discussion.
We all started somewhere. We all are at different ages and levels. The good thing is that people can ask questions which is great because they do care. If I add something to the discussion, i do care as well. I do care about that people, composers and audio artists have the right mindset. That topic is overseen in our industry I think, that’s why I want to be part of that.
I started my email list, I started my YouTube channel and obviously I will say what I believe is the right attitude.
In December I have worked on a trailer track for True Remnant. I was sitting 32 hours in two days because I had a deadline and the track and production was very complicated at some point. And I worked only on 10 seconds, 32 hours! If this is not crazy, I don’t know.
After I have finished, I got my feedback and worked another 4 days straight.
First I do everything possible to make it as good as I can, and only then I feel ready to get my hard-earned feedback. That’s my mindset @Obileo, and should be yours in the future as well.
@florent83 thank you for all your support! You are awesome!
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Great points and mindset Alexey, and I really hope you get that big trailer gig soon!
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I really do agree with you, truth is since it was my very first Soundtrack I most likely got carried away and probably finished too early, I do understand the intricacies of composition and how much time should time and hardwork should be spent into music.
I have choral compositions I’m still working on since 2017, I haven’t released yet.
I have a recently released track with a friend of mine named Emre Matthew… We spent 3 weeks working together, on the first day we did around 80% of the work actually and the remaining weeks we spent perfecting and tweaking so it’s not new to me.
Thank you for taking your time out to point out a few things, I’ll surely consult you in the nearest future.
Here is my latest track, Listen to Voyage
Apple Music
https://apple.co/2WO9d3x
Boomplay
https://bit.ly/3dBXJWX
Spotify
https://spoti.fi/3asMhuw
Deezer
https://bit.ly/2y9RAAN
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You know, it’s hard to give recommendations if you don’t know the opposite site, who you are, what you do, what you can, can’t and want to achieve, as long as you don’t tell from the beginning. So me and the others can only provide you then with general advice. However, it’s great that you have mentioned that you worked on choral and have real-work experience how these things are done. You mentioned the 80%, that leads me to the point of the 80/20 rule that will 100% help you achieve more then you think you can. However, the most important thing for you is to „finish what you have started“. I know how it is, I do have 200+ tracks waiting for placements and syncs around the world, but none of them are finished, so I can’t be proud of that at all.
What you need to understand that no one wants to see perfection, it’s only you. You should stop waiting for that perfect moment and start building your catalogue that will show others what you’ve got. Push yourself to finish what you’ve started and not beginning anything new if you haven’t. Even if the mix is not there yet, you learn from doing, not from wasting time thinking that you should wait another week for the last 2%.
But it will be always better if you have 12 new tracks a year done, than 234 on the drive unfinished and collecting dust.
I speak from experience here, and I know there are many others like you and me.
There is a good quote, that says something like that a world doesn’t need a Genius, who never starts doing, but average people who work hard and set goals.
It’s only you who decide who you want to be from now on. I already made my decision. 
Stay safe!
Alexey
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