An oboe interferes in a relationship...

[Acclarion]

between a flute and bassoon.  That is the premise for this cute little Baroque-esque piece.  The oboe is the "Third Wheel" and rudely interrupts the romance between the flute and bassoon.  When I first conceived of this piece, I wanted to simulate the three musicians acting out the story on stage with physical movement.  Using Mir, the instruments are panned to reflect these changes (so, you're not going crazy if you hear the instruments swap positions in your speakers!)  Also, as this is programmatic in nature, the idea is that the oboe is an obnoxious pest (reflected in the "ugliness" or harshness of its timbre).  As the piece evolves, by the end, the oboe has mellowed significantly.  You should be able to hear the instrument dialogue unfold like a bunch of cartoon characters acting out the "date for 3".

With this piece, I'd like to invite you to check out my new website, www.DavidCarovillano.com.  Here, I will feature chamber/orchestral music for live performance, along with my blog.  All the music is free to listen to in its entirety.  Afterall, who's PAYING for music anymore?  :)   I hope you'll check it out!

https://soundcloud.com/davidcarovillano/the-third-wheel  (Soundcloud link)

http://davidcarovillano.com/portfolio-archive/the-third-wheel  (new website link)

Thanks for listening!

Dave

[William]

That's great Dave!  Very fun piece and I know that players would love to do this - how to get it to them?  Yes, that is the problem...  

Something bothered me on the MIDI - then I realized - the oboe and bassoon have too long a release.  The double reeds cut off almost instantly, almost unnaturally.  So one must in MIDI reflect that.  That is only a technical complaint though.  It's a wonderful piece. 

I am glad you are still posting things here - the VSL forum original scores are a true resource for musicians looking for inspiration.  

[Acclarion]

Thanks for listening and commenting, Bill!  The workflow to produce this piece was completely different from the usual approach of placing instruments in a Mir venue, which probably contributed to some of what you're hearing with the releases.  First, it was done using the Mir plugin with the Konzerthaus foyer as the venue, so as to give the trio room to run around and play (hiding behind pillars and all!)  Panning was drawn in via Cubase (the instruments were essentially placed in a spot and then would be in motion for a few seconds, often times criss crossing each other.  The reverb was dialled way down because with all the panning, it was creating too much of a distraction.  So, dialled down reverb, panning, while still placed in a large/boomy space are all somewhat contradictory settings for a small woodwind trio.  I suspect that all of this stuff contributes to a less than natural experience listening through speakers.  In any case, it was a fun experiment, but probably not worth the amount of extra time that went in to the production vs just doing a straight up placement in the Schubert Hall using normal settings.

Dave

[crusoe]

Hi Dave,

Lovely piece, I liked it. I thought the bassoon remained clueless as to what the oboe is up to, it just went on happily, maybe suspecting something just a for few short moments. That's the power of harmony :)

Counterpoint was more or less flawless, and the interplay between the instruments was clever, as usual. You also used fairly straightforward harmony of the classical period; it was clear and very easy to follow.

Sometimes panning tricks worked for me, sometimes they didn't. At 1:42 oboe jumps half the stage in an instant, which doesn't sound as if it was intended (even with your explanation). And indeed, those stage settings blur the feeling of space that unites the trio. Dynamic panning of those proportions is very hard to pull off, in general, and I understand your focus was on fun. And torturing the mix settings is not a very fun thing to do, yes :)

All the best,

Crusoe.

[Acclarion]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Crusoe!  I got a laugh out of your "clueless bassoon" comment.  I agree that all the panning and stage settings added a layer of complication and ultimately don't work as well as a simple traditional mix, might.  At the end of the day, I think just having audio makes it difficult, because I think people fill in the blanks when they also have visual cues to support what they're hearing.  Obviously, the end goal would be a live performance, in which the musicians running around the space and adding physical gestures would go much further in establishing the premise of the piece.

Cheers!

Dave