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  • My First VSL Project

    B
    B
    last edited
    last edited
    Hello Everyone!

    I'm new to this forum. My name is Brian.

    After much dreaming, saving, and drooling over the demo videos, I was finally able to make my first VSL purchase 1 week ago today. I bought the VSL Special Edition Volume 1 and a Vienna Key. While I hope to save up some more and buy the Volume 1+, SE Volume 2 and so on, I am learning just how much can be done with just the SE Volume 1. So far VSL is everything the demos promise and more!

    This week I used my VSL to make a demo concept for a filmscore that I'm submitting to an independent filmmaker. All I know about the proposed film project is that it is going to be a love story that has paranormal elements, specifically demons and witchcraft.

    Based on that info I came up with this:

    Paranormal Demo

    I'm new to VSL and to orchestral composing in general so I'd really appreciate any criticism anyone is willing to offer (either technological or purely musical).

    Thanks so much for listening.

    -Brian
  • S
    S

    Hi Brian

    No-one else has replied and I know it's nice when someone does so....

    I am no expert in terms of mixing but if nothign else I would suggest that you need to "move the orchestra back"  ie take out some of (some would say all of ) the direct mics. There are many threads floating around here about creating "depth". You have a decent sound but it all feels too close and a little bit like all instruments are at about the same distance away 

    Musically (which I like to think is more my area....), given this is to be a film score it is hard to say too much when there is no picture or even too much of a basic premise to match it with.

    In general the textures and orchestration seem OK but I would say that you need to think about:

    a) the melodic or thematic content - the oboe idea at the beginning starts well enough but you don't take it anywhere? Also the same thing with the horns at 34 secs in -  perhaps develop it rather than simply repeating it a few times? Short notives can work without development, of course, but they need to be very strong ideas and rely on interesting harmonic twists.  

    b) perhaps related to the last point, the harmony is very static. Nothing wrong with that as such if the pedal point leads to a build up in tension but this is not coming across

    I hope that is some help - if not please feel free to ignore me!

    Steve 
  • P
    P

    i Brian,

    Nice work, but i totally agree with Steve : the mix is too "flat", all instruments seems very close, at same distance, and with too much reverb for the distance, it is very disturbing. Give depth, so your mix will gain clarity, and the instruments will separate from each other.  You will find very good advices on Beat Kaufmann's website about levels of depth : http://www.beat-kaufmann.com/

    All the best.

    Philippe
  • B
    B
    Philippe & Steve,

    Thanks so much for taking the time to share your advice. I really appreciate it and will try to consider this feedback as I continue working on the piece.

    And thanks for the Beat Kaufmann link, Philippe. I haven't seen this site before. I like to watch as many tutorials as I can get my hands on.

    Thanks again,

    -Brian
  • K
    K
    Hey there Brian, don't be afraid to use a little reverb, It adds depth to your orchestration.
  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on