posted
Finished reading Ender's Game for the first time and got lost, what an awesome book and story. It brought me back to my childhood with movies like Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, E.T. and the like.
Anyhow I know the film comes out later this year and am interested to see what Steve Jablonsky will do, but I wanted to just have fun with it and write some music that was in my head while reading!
posted
Very nice! I'm quite impressed with your composition, arrangement, and orchestration! What made you choose all the brass soloistic portions?
Posts: 428 | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by rollainm: Wow, that's rather incredible! You definitely have some talent. I'm getting a James Horner/David Arnold vibe.
How long have you been composing? And what software do you use, if you don't mind sharing?
Thank you very much. I've been composing for orchestra for little under 3 years. So not incredibly long. I've been a musician (guitar player) for over 10 years but writing for orchestra is much different then a 4 piece rock outfit!
I use Cubase for Macintosh along with a lot of third party orchestral samples.
Thank you for listening!
quote:Originally posted by millernumber1: Very nice! I'm quite impressed with your composition, arrangement, and orchestration! What made you choose all the brass soloistic portions?
Thank you for your kind words. Composition/arranging/orchestration are all done by gut feel. I never studied classic orchestra. Mainly just listen to a ton of Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, and John Williams and developed a ear for it.
There is something very brute about the brass yeah? What I love about the brass is that they can easily turn on you. They can sound menacing at first (say for the first section of the song) and maybe represent evil, but then towards the end of the track they can sound heroic. I really love playing with all kinds of textures of sounds and brass is just one of them.
Thank you for listening, it means a lot!
Posts: 6 | Registered: May 2013
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree with rollainm's feel for a Horner vibe. My first thought was John Williams with a good touch of Horner. I like the brass, but I like that he's not beating us over the head with it like Williams or Hans Zimmer (which is fine for a romp, I love both of them), it's more thoughtful, a la 1980s era Horner when he was first starting out doing Wrath of Khan and Krull.
I think this is excellent, and I really think you have the feel for this kind of music writing. The clip sounds thoughtful and full of wonder, which I think is the perfect theme for Ender's Game.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I agree with rollainm's feel for a Horner vibe. My first thought was John Williams with a good touch of Horner. I like the brass, but I like that he's not beating us over the head with it like Williams or Hans Zimmer (which is fine for a romp, I love both of them), it's more thoughtful, a la 1980s era Horner when he was first starting out doing Wrath of Khan and Krull.
I think this is excellent, and I really think you have the feel for this kind of music writing. The clip sounds thoughtful and full of wonder, which I think is the perfect theme for Ender's Game.
Thank you so very kindly. You are on the exact page of what I was wanting to do. I enjoy a good romp now and then but I felt with Ender's Game it did need to be more thoughtful and EXACTLY as you said 'full of wonder'.
Very much so appreciate the dialog!
Posts: 6 | Registered: May 2013
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by ryanstrong: Thank you very much. I've been composing for orchestra for little under 3 years. So not incredibly long. I've been a musician (guitar player) for over 10 years but writing for orchestra is much different then a 4 piece rock outfit!
I use Cubase for Macintosh along with a lot of third party orchestral samples.
You mean to say you compose in midi (ie: you don't compose for orchestra, you do electronic music), or that you actually use Cubase as an orchestration tool (making you the only human being capable on Earth of doing so)? Or do you just do granular composition based on samples of other people's works?
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Impressive work! It sounds very organic to me, which is hard to find with electronic music.
I love the arrangement and also find the brass melodic rather than obnoxious. I may have to rethink my anti-brass stance. Posts: 407 | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: You mean to say you compose in midi (ie: you don't compose for orchestra, you do electronic music), or that you actually use Cubase as an orchestration tool (making you the only human being capable on Earth of doing so)? Or do you just do granular composition based on samples of other people's works?
I compose in MIDI. And no, samples meaning virtual instruments using real samples of real orchestral instruments like strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion. So for an example I use CineBrass for my brass by a company called CineSamples. If you want to learn more have a watch here about the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeogtxDedT4 - sample libraries for virtual instruments are very complex instruments and ones that I've spent wayyy too much money on. But as you can hear, the sound comes out very nicely.
quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: Enjoyed it!
Thank you!!
quote:Originally posted by FoolishTook: Impressive work! It sounds very organic to me, which is hard to find with electronic music.
I love the arrangement and also find the brass melodic rather than obnoxious. I may have to rethink my anti-brass stance.
In my opinion too many scores these days lack a good melody. There is a lot of emphasis on beat and percussion elements and sound design but few scores root themselves in melody. So you hit the nail on the head instead of blasting brass and using them as dramatic fog horns I love using them to emphasize melody. Anyway I digress. THANK YOU Posts: 6 | Registered: May 2013
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think that's because we have so many action movies. Those movies use the score to drive the action, to drive the plot, and only stop for a swell when they need to hit an emotional note, then they move on. Soundtracks for most of those big movies these days come across like really big episodes of 90s TV shows. The soundtrack drives the plot, but it's not particularly memorable, unique or has its own identity. It's a throwaway.
That changed a bit with shows like BSG, where Bear McCreary did use poundy Taiko drums and the like to drive the plot, but he also slow it down with softer leitmotifs for individual characters and plot lines.
The soundtracks that we remember and really prize are ones that use individual melodies to stamp their movies with their own identity. Big brass can do this, for example John Williams with Star Wars or JAWS, Hans Zimmer in Gladiator and Pirates of the Caribbean, John Powell in How to Train your Dragon (which has more bombastic brass than I've ever heard, and it's absolutely gorgeous).
Great soundtrack writers recognize the differences there and write something particular thematically for the story they're telling, so the music tells the story as well, and we remember the music for doing it. But it also needs to be catchy and memorable on its own, which too many composers forget to do.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: You mean to say you compose in midi (ie: you don't compose for orchestra, you do electronic music), or that you actually use Cubase as an orchestration tool (making you the only human being capable on Earth of doing so)? Or do you just do granular composition based on samples of other people's works?
I compose in MIDI. And no, samples meaning virtual instruments using real samples of real orchestral instruments like strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion. So for an example I use CineBrass for my brass by a company called CineSamples. If you want to learn more have a watch here about the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeogtxDedT4 - sample libraries for virtual instruments are very complex instruments and ones that I've spent wayyy too much money on. But as you can hear, the sound comes out very nicely.
I've been writing my own instruments in Max/Msp for years- I don't buy anything. I am, among other things, a working composer and sound editor, and have written for several films. I work in Logic, though. I learned originally in Cubase, but the Logic ecosystem is more friendly to me for a variety of reasons (Mac Native for one, film plugins another).
Writing for live instruments is a very different animal. That's why I was very surprised to hear someone on earth might actually try to orchestrate using the score editor in Cubase. It's sort of like saying you're going to prepare a book for offset printing using TextEdit.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: You mean to say you compose in midi (ie: you don't compose for orchestra, you do electronic music), or that you actually use Cubase as an orchestration tool (making you the only human being capable on Earth of doing so)? Or do you just do granular composition based on samples of other people's works?
I compose in MIDI. And no, samples meaning virtual instruments using real samples of real orchestral instruments like strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion. So for an example I use CineBrass for my brass by a company called CineSamples. If you want to learn more have a watch here about the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeogtxDedT4 - sample libraries for virtual instruments are very complex instruments and ones that I've spent wayyy too much money on. But as you can hear, the sound comes out very nicely.
I've been writing my own instruments in Max/Msp for years- I don't buy anything. I am, among other things, a working composer and sound editor, and have written for several films. I work in Logic, though. I learned originally in Cubase, but the Logic ecosystem is more friendly to me for a variety of reasons (Mac Native for one, film plugins another).
Writing for live instruments is a very different animal. That's why I was very surprised to hear someone on earth might actually try to orchestrate using the score editor in Cubase. It's sort of like saying you're going to prepare a book for offset printing using TextEdit.
Ah, yeah no Cubase score editor. Just simply orchestration by way of writing with MIDI. I'll leave the copying to someone else!
Really cool to meet another composer. Your music brings me back - on some of your more deep electronic stuff I'm reminded of some pieces by Giorgio Moroder, specifically his score for The Neverending Story.
Thank you to all who have listened.
Posts: 6 | Registered: May 2013
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I've been writing my own instruments in Max/Msp for years- I don't buy anything. I am, among other things, a working composer and sound editor, and have written for several films. I work in Logic, though. I learned originally in Cubase, but the Logic ecosystem is more friendly to me for a variety of reasons (Mac Native for one, film plugins another).
