Hello guis. I wanted to share a composition with you. There is something wrong that I want to fix, especially in the crescendo, and I need some helps and feedback to improve it.
Genre/Style: Emotional digital orchestra
Creative Vision for the Track: inspired in a moment before a great space battle Among the stars.
Composition Details (Tempo, Key, Main Chords etc): G# track in 100 bpm with some modulation in Phrygian F.
Main Instruments used: Strings vst from Kontakt, Morphestra, action strike, Giant Piano, Kontakt Brasses and winds, Vocalize Gravity pact.
I am not an expert on mixing. But I think one thing that struck me was the balance of the instruments - especially between violins and low end. The pulse is sometimes lost because the low end is not present enough. Sometimes the heights seemed too bright. That’s exactly what happens in the crescendo. The balance is lost.
I hope my amateurish impressions are helpful.
Very nice piece, Marco! I believe you captured the emotions (e.g. tension, angst, anticipation) very well in the composition!
I agree that the piece seems to be somewhat dynamically static. I read your statement before listening and I wasn’t entirely clear where the crescendo you were referring to was to have happened. Can you give us a time box (e.g. 1:00-1:35, etc) so we can be a bit more specific?
I would address the crescendo issues overall through orchestration. Save the big drums for midway through the piece or later. Achieve the crescendo by adding instruments and orchestral weight. The pulsing drum figure could be carried in smaller drums doubled with low strings or perhaps low brass.
As far as the mix I’m far from an expert but here are my initial thoughts:
I would think about perhaps using a little side chain compression on the backgrounds behind the melodic lines so they duck down a bit.
Checking the EQ in the midrange will help carve some space for the different instruments to cut through a bit more.
The good news is the piece is well written and well scored. You’re working with good material!! Again, well done!
Great. Wish I could get you some nice feedback. But I´m sorry I can´t I think it sounds good.
But then I don´t have that fine"mixing ear" that many other in this forum have.
Well done.
Your overall approach is solid. There’s nothing compositionally I can talk about… other than your staccato strings could be Spiccatto string. This would give more urgency to the violin motif.
In terms of dynamics, there’s no quiet dynamics. Remember this - your loudest part is only as strong as your quietest part. Without a big dynamic range the loud impactful parts won’t have any impact. Right now everything is set between 8 and 10 in terms of loudness. This is the biggest issue.
There’s some subtle mixing issues but tbh they aren’t that bad. A few pads in the mids could be a little louder. Also, there’s an issue I see a LOT of composers make. You have masking issues between parts. Some of your lower sub stuff is being masked by your low strings and your vocals. You can fix this by simply putting a high pass on those tracks to help them stay out of the way. If you have TDR NOVO you could also duck your low mids every time the sub vas’s and percussion hit.
I’ll say that I’m not a fan of the vocal samples, they sound very Midi, which is sometimes very distracting. This is only rectifyable with a LOT of shaping, or simply buying a better library.
