Hello good peoples! It’s been a rough few months where I’ve not written any music, but I feel I’m starting to come out of it now. Here is a piece I just finished up. It’s a cover of the main theme from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, originally by Dennis McCarthy and rearranged as a piano trio (piano, violin, cello).
I picked up Audio Imperia’s new SOLO library and in giving it a tryout, I started messing around with the DS9 theme, then decided to make something of it. With the original, the main A theme is in the trumpet, and I subbed it with violin. The B theme is in the horns and I subbed that with cello, then added the piano to add my own original bits and backing harmonies as a sub for the rest of the orchestra. The result is something very emotional and intimate. This is one of my all-time favorite theme and melodies, so it was a very personal experience doing it.
The piece is in the key of C, but focuses heavily on G Mixolydian. Largo tempo of 60-66bpm. As far as the mix is concerned, I had trouble finding the right piano to fit in. I tried probably 5 different ones but they all sounded dull compared to the strings, so the piano sounds a bit off in certain spots, to my ears anyway.
Instruments:
Cinematic Studios Piano
Audio Imperia SOLO: Violin, Cello
Abbey Roads J37
iZotope Ozone 9
DAW: Studio One 5 Pro.
Great remix to a great theme song - I remember tuning in JUST to hear the theme then leaving to do something else.
This has a much more somber sound to it. Like you’d expect to hear it at Sisco’s funeral or something.
And I’m 110% with you on the finding a right piano sound in a Sound Library program. There’s almost always something not quiiiiiiite real piano about them all and it becomes a juggling act trying to find the right EQ / Reverb to sound real then get THAT to work with the other instruments. And even when you find that right EQ for the song you’re doing and save it - it doesn’t sound right in the next song and you’re back at it again.
Thanks for taking a listen Ian. Yeah, I’m still not happy with that piano sound even though I’m using CS piano which is a really nice piano. It just won’t mix right. I also tried Orchestral Tools Berlin Inspire Steinway but it just didn’t fit right either. Guess I’ll need to hire a real trio
I noticed in one of my tunes showing it to a friend that played it on their high bass system, the simulated hammer sound of my piano SFX has an electronic bzzzzzt to it that doesn’t show up in normal bass and sounds SO fake on high bass lol.
