Windforce - Fantasy Genre

I don’t write for games but I do other stuff. I’d like to work at Blizzard on World of Warcraft or future fantasy games. Though Disney/Studio Ghibli would my dream job, if you wanted to know. :stuck_out_tongue:

I find orchestration fascinating and this piece was, in general, inspired by http://youtu.be/ZVCdLi6FGVg?t=18m10s concert. The choir is beneath the solo vocal there at 18:06 timestamp so I thought I’d try out that kind of orchestration since it’s always good to try and learn new things! The vocalist I’m using is a classically trained music/opera student at a music academy at Croatia. I’m looking forward to it a lot. Thanks for listening.

For anyone interested (possibly Kevin, Chris and Bane) here is a strings only version; SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds

1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double bass. Nothing is playing divisi. The cello generally doubles the double bass and the 2nd violins generally double the 1st violins an octave lower for the reasoning that the extremes of low and high pitch are too distant from the rest of the notes.

Bravo!

Very dramatic! :smiley:

Just listened to the strings only…found it very intersting,

Can you explain further what you mean by the extremes of low and high pitch are too distant…etc…can’t really grasp what you mean. are saying that the second violins are filling a gap?

cheers, Kevin

Sorry, poor choice of word mate. ;D I mean disconnected instead of distant. If the melody line up high on the 1st violins on the main sections isn’t doubled an octave below then it sounds too disconnected for most music.

Ok thanks…was wondering what the 2nd violins were for…Kevin

Well the string section is spread out from left to right on the stage/recording environment. The violinists get split into two sections first and foremost for balance from left to right in the stereo field. But secondly so that even if the string section isn’t playing divisi they can play 5 different notes to make up a chord/harmony. In full orchestras on stage, if you youtube, to the left/left center there will be 16 1st violinists and 14 2nd violinists. The reason there are 2 more in the 1st violin section is because they typically take the higher line of the melody so it cuts through more.

There are different ways to score strings of course. Sometimes a cello melody up high can sound wonderful with violins sustaining chords down low. But generally from 1st vln, 2nd vln, vla, cl and db, the notes will be distributed by pitch from high to low in the aforementioned order. When you use 8Dio Adagio you’ll need 2x violins and have one panned further left and one left center. Though in pop strings seem to not be spread so far left and right, but one can still hear they are divided, I mean…they must be due to the physics of the universe that dictates umpteen humans can’t all sit at the exact same spot. ;p

cheers Jonathan…just finishing a song now that has not got strings but intend to use 8dio and LASS on my next effort, so may take a while…Kevin

I’m just now listening to this.

Wow.

In my opinion, Alicia’s Keys is fine for what you are doing. What you are missing is a bit more reverb on the piano only. Get it to float a bit, but be sure you don’t add so much that it gets lost in the mix.

Hi Jonathan,

thanks for the “String Only” version… very interesting for me!

Best regards
Chris

So I downloaded the track, and it sounds amazing on my brand new IEMs. I agree with foolomon, maybe the piano could use a little bit more reverb, but I really think that sample fits perfect. The mix is great, those drums mixed with the fast strings creates an awesome feeling. If I could change one thing it would be to bring that synth up in the mix a little… :smiley:
Can’t wait to hear it with the vocal, that should polish it off nicely :wink: Awesome job as usual!

like this one … very good and epic. could easily pass of for gaming , film etc as it stands. Joe public would not know anything different from real players.

This piece sounds very polished and utterly perfect. The samples are undoubtedly a big factor, but I know it’s owed in no small part to your own technique and writing skills. I found the strings only version pretty insightful, again no where near a fair comparison to these sh*tty HALion SE samples I’m working with. I’m a big fan of the underlying rhythm you used with Stormdrum; it definitely added urgency. Alicia Keys piano has one of the more colourful tonal characters of the piano libraries out there, so I certainly say it gets the job done with attitude as always. Reverb is always such a subjective subject which everyone has an opinion about, it’s your piece so always do what fits your taste.

what can i say ,excellent composing and arranging just wow.

Great orchestration and love the piano part but the sample isn’t great on it, If you want I would be happy to convert to a better sound if you’d like me to just PM me. Can’t wait to hear vocals
Kenny

You are great at working with the big orchestra libraries! Sound is great.

I actually just use the gold (cheaper versions with just the main mic position) versions of the libraries but the hollywood series is very good yes, even somewhat still stands up against 8Dio’s Adagio library, though it is noticeably inferior compared side-by-side but yeah a world apart from the Halion SE ones. :blush: If you can spot the EWQL hollywood libraries at -50% off then the gold versions are pretty cheap for what you get. :smiley:

Cheers Kenny and yeah the piano lacks that kind of weight/body to the sound as I knew you would notice being a piano master. :smiley: Thanks for the offer very much, but sealed this project off for now.



Cheers, pleased with the orchestration and expression, though still with earphones so I’m sceptical as to whether the mix/master actually sounds alright. ;D

Added an additional synth now that gave it that extra rhythmic quality, though not gonna make them louder. :wink: