Once Upon a Time in Music

Contests for Composers Nostalgic Music Contest
1

Hi all, this is my first contest entry here :slight_smile:

For my composition, I was inspired by the most lyrical themes that Morricone wrote for movies dealing with memories of the past - so naturally full of nostalgic and bittersweet vibes - like “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Giù la Testa” (aka “A Fistful of Dynamite”, aka “Duck, You Sucker!”). I also took some similar suggestions from “The Secret of Sahara”.

The intro is completely based on a suspended F9/sus4 chord, which then modulates in a theme in C, followed by an interlude in A- and a theme reprise in D. I used an orchestral sound, with passages for specific instruments in Morricone style, like oboe, harpsichord and female singer.

DAW used: FL Studio
Libraries used: Spitfire Audio “Albion One”, Red Room “Palette Symphonic Sketchpad”, Sonuscore “The Orchestra Complete”, Ivy Audio “Clare Solo”

All right, cut the chatter, here it is, and hope you like it:

6 Likes
2

Hello Riccardo @Riccardo_Marchesini,

welcome to our community.
Your composition is absolutely great, and fits the style of Morricone. Best part in my opinion is the second, when it starts with morricone’s pulsing rhythm on the spiccatos and the hapsicord.
The melodie line and the strings are also brilliant. It could have a bit more definition in the mix, but thats just my personal taste.
Well done and have fun in the fellowship of composers,
Michael

3 Likes
3

Welcome Ricdardo!
Really love this one! The theme is beautiful and well orchestrated and gave me a light “romantic nostalgia” feeling. I agree with Michael @Seven_Tears that the mix had a bit more definition overall, but this is a great composition.

3 Likes
4

Thank you very much guys, glad you liked it, your comments are very focused and useful.

2 Likes
5

Your first entry, and what an entry! Welcome.
I think it´s absolutely great don´t really have any critique.

1 Like
6

Thank you Fredrik, very appreciated, just hope I’m not overly desrespecting the memory and music of my great fellow countryman :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

Welcome Riccardo! Some nice cinematic ideas and sounds for your entry. The female choir is effective. The harp run nicely brings us into the horn & violin theme. Harpsichord is a nice colour here.

As others have noted, something seems lacking in the definition of the audio - almost 2 dimensional. Suggest experimenting with EQ - cutting a little muddiness (around 350Hz) and adding highs (try either 5KHz, 10KHz, or even 12KHz or 16KHz) where needed. Some of the muddiness, however here is caused from the sustained string pad I believe.

Don’t be afraid to go big in volume on instruments that deserve it. and then pull them back after being introduced. Ie. While the voices at the start are nice and loud at the start, there are some interesting piano hits/rhythm under the voices starting at 10sec. These got lost and could have been a nice contrast to the voices. There are also little dynamics and this is another reason for the lack of definition. Hard to tell if this is how it was programmed or if you are using a compressor on your mix. If the later, back it off except for maybe 2dB of reduction.

Timing of some of the parts are not tidy and probably the biggest weakness to the track (along with the mix). You might get some assistance from quantizing. Alternatively, I think you do really well writing with StaffPad. You have a good ear and ideas. I think these would come out nicely w/o the technicalities of playing them in or programming. Something you may want to check out at least. StaffPad playback is quite dynamic and amazing. It is an investment if you don’t have the hardware already, but overall quite a bit less expensive vs a fast computer and kontakt libraries.

cheers, Brandon

2 Likes
8

Thank you very much for your feedback, Brandon.

As others have noted, something seems lacking in the definition of the audio - almost 2 dimensional. Suggest experimenting with EQ - cutting a little muddiness (around 350Hz) and adding highs (try either 5KHz, 10KHz, or even 12KHz or 16KHz) where needed.

There are also little dynamics and this is another reason for the lack of definition. Hard to tell if this is how it was programmed or if you are using a compressor on your mix. If the later, back it off except for maybe 2dB of reduction.

I agree with you, as I hadn’t very much time to mix and EQ-ing after a half-weekend tour de force to write it, so I did just a basic work on that. Your guess on the compressor is right too, I do have one on the mix, and again I worked on it just on a basic level.

Anyway, on this regard I would ask to you and the other senior members if it’s allowed to modify an entry and upload it again (of course, before the contest deadline), or if it breaks the contest rules.
Not really sure having time to do it, but just to know.

Timing of some of the parts are not tidy… You might get some assistance from quantizing.

Although I’ve some previous (and rather outdated) piano training, here I preferred to put all the notes by hand on the DAW piano roll, so the timing in itself is mostly accurate, what you perceive as wrong timing is probably due to the legato patches and mainly to the expression curves, that I indeed didn’t draw always perfectly in time, just to avoid a robotic execution and add a Rubato feeling to the romantic theme. But I may have exaggerated a little on that side :smiley:

Anyway, thanks again for the constructive criticism and the many tips!

1 Like
9

Hey Riccardo,
of course you can edit your entry.
The most important point about the contests here is to learn and encourage the community to give a professional and always friendly constructive feedback.
Best Regards and keep grinding,
Michael

2 Likes
10

Just uploaded a new edited and mixed version, not the finest mixing in the world but I think it’s rather improved.

Unfortunately the basic SoundCloud account doesn’t allow to replace a song, so I had to delete the old one and create a new one. Here it is, Enjoy :slight_smile:

11

Nice song Riccardo. Congratulations, and welcome tothe gang. Listening to your firts entry I’m sure that you will share many great works in the future.

1 Like
12

Welcome to the fellowship - and what a great first entry indeed!

I agree with the aforementioned points about the mix, and maybe some instruments could have been more lush and lively. A lot of that comes out of the box with the “big” orchestral libraries, of course, but there is a bit one can do by ensuring that each instrument has its place in the mix in terms of EQ and pan, and then building space “around” that with reverb.

1 Like