A short orchestral prelude: "A Bedtime Story"

[dyross]

Hi folks!

Sharing a new piece I just finished:



I'm aiming it to be a prelude to a (work in progress) larger suite of both orchestral and symphonic progressive rock music called "Lullabies for Sleepless Nights". I expect any new(ish) parent can relate to the dynamic ups and downs...

Compositionally, this piece is an expansion and orchestration of a short piano piece I wrote a few years ago. It's now more of a (very short, non-virtuosic) piano concerto.

From a production/VI standpoint, I used a similar process as with the previous orchestral piece I posted:

• Dorico w/ NotePerformer 4
• Cinematic Studio Series NPPEs for Strings, Winds, and Brass (CSS, CSW, and CSB)
• CinePerc (Kontakt) NPPE
• Very little built-in NP reverb
• Additional Seventh Heaven reverb (Scoring Stage preset) on the master
• Master bus processing (EQ, dynamics, etc.)

The one significant addition is that I used the Pianoteq 8 Bluthner, rather than using NotePerformer, for the piano (none of the NPPE sounds I had access to, nor the NP built-in piano, were working for me.)

Thanks for listening and let me know if you have any feedback!

Cheers,
David

Click to read more...

 

[Dave Connor]

Very, very nice. You have an appealing musical sensibility (to my ears.)

My only suggestion would be to go with a more natural sounding piano. The piece is so orchestral in nature that you sort of expect a piano within that context to have its traditional sparkle and character. The piano on the track sounds very tricked-out (compressed etc.,) so it seems out of place or not necessary in this particular context. That is, it's drawing attention to itself for its sound characteristics rather than the musical information it's conveying, which up to that point is both traditional and clear sounding in the orchestra. Really like the piece in any case so do carry on!

 

[swinkler]

First of all nice writing and orchestration. Really enjoyed this. The only thing that bothers me as in it's distracting are the bass pizz at the beginning. I don't know why NP/NPPE plays those back so loudly though it might just be an imbalance with the samples themselves. Otherwise very nice. I like the piano too. It's very well balanced.

 

[dyross]

Very, very nice. You have an appealing musical sensibility (to my ears.)

My only suggestion would be to go with a more natural sounding piano. The piece is so orchestral in nature that you sort of expect a piano within that context to have its traditional sparkle and character. The piano on the track sounds very tricked-out (compressed etc.,) so it seems out of place or not necessary in this particular context. That is, it's drawing attention to itself for its sound characteristics rather than the musical information it's conveying, which up to that point is both traditional and clear sounding in the orchestra. Really like the piece in any case so do carry on!

Thanks so much!

I can see what you mean about the piano...it definitely doesn't sound like a concert piano recorded in a large hall. I'm planning to use the same piano sound in other parts of the piece (in progress), with smaller (and more rock) ensembles, so maybe it'll work better there.

First of all nice writing and orchestration. Really enjoyed this. The only thing that bothers me as in it's distracting are the bass pizz at the beginning. I don't know why NP/NPPE plays those back so loudly though it might just be an imbalance with the samples themselves. Otherwise very nice. I like the piano too. It's very well balanced.

Thanks!

I think the bass emphasis was my mixing choices (maybe a bit heavy handed), not something inherent in NP/NPPE. You can change the volume balance via dynamic markings in the score and in the NP mixer, which gives plenty of flexibility.

 

[Dave Connor]

Thanks so much!

I can see what you mean about the piano...it definitely doesn't sound like a concert piano recorded in a large hall. I'm planning to use the same piano sound in other parts of the piece (in progress), with smaller (and more rock) ensembles, so maybe it'll work better there.


Thanks!

I think the bass emphasis was my mixing choices (maybe a bit heavy handed), not something inherent in NP/NPPE. You can change the volume balance via dynamic markings in the score and in the NP mixer, which gives plenty of flexibility.

Well, if you’re featuring that piano in other movements, that will provide its own justification for using it as is, across different textural settings - including a more popular setting with non orchestral instruments. So if it’s functioning as a sort of main character set in differing musical backgrounds, that’s a different story because the specific character of it is important and should be exactly what you want. I was listening to it in the context of just this one piece. Follow your instincts of course above all.

 

[doctoremmet]

Lovely piece David! Thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dyross]

Lovely piece David! Thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Temme! And thanks for listening

 

[LukeFisherComposer]

Loved this piece! I really like the melodic content of the flute solo at the beginning, but it feels a bit blocky, all of the accents land square on beats 1 and 3. I think extending some note lengths to have more variety in where the peaks and valleys of the melody land could help give the solo a bit more character and shape.

Around 0:55, when the woodwinds come in and double the piano, which is a nice orchestration move and helps to give the piano solo more character and color, but it feels a bit thin. I would have liked the woodwinds to either not mirror the piano completely (play some together, but then also add some flourishes or other ways they would depart from the main line) or have a distinct counter-line come in there to provide some more depth. The same thing goes for when the low strings come in a bit later.

At the end, you suddenly crescendo to full orchestra - which is a good surprise, that move feels unexpected, but not unreasonable - I liked it a lot! However, the amount of dissonance on that first full ensemble chord *is* a bit too disjointed from the rest of the piece, though it sets up the chromatic run after well. I would look at maybe having the first chord be more consonant (not necessarily just a triad though, just limit the dissonance) and then add more dissonance in. That full orchestra bit feels too short anyway, so expanding it would be nice. It feels right to expand like that, but then you just kind of left me hanging with how short that section was!

Great work overall! Can't wait to hear the whole suite!

 

[dyross]

Loved this piece! I really like the melodic content of the flute solo at the beginning, but it feels a bit blocky, all of the accents land square on beats 1 and 3. I think extending some note lengths to have more variety in where the peaks and valleys of the melody land could help give the solo a bit more character and shape.

Around 0:55, when the woodwinds come in and double the piano, which is a nice orchestration move and helps to give the piano solo more character and color, but it feels a bit thin. I would have liked the woodwinds to either not mirror the piano completely (play some together, but then also add some flourishes or other ways they would depart from the main line) or have a distinct counter-line come in there to provide some more depth. The same thing goes for when the low strings come in a bit later.

At the end, you suddenly crescendo to full orchestra - which is a good surprise, that move feels unexpected, but not unreasonable - I liked it a lot! However, the amount of dissonance on that first full ensemble chord *is* a bit too disjointed from the rest of the piece, though it sets up the chromatic run after well. I would look at maybe having the first chord be more consonant (not necessarily just a triad though, just limit the dissonance) and then add more dissonance in. That full orchestra bit feels too short anyway, so expanding it would be nice. It feels right to expand like that, but then you just kind of left me hanging with how short that section was!

Great work overall! Can't wait to hear the whole suite!

Hi Luke,

Thank you very much for your response. I am grateful for your kind words and even more so for your constructive (and instructive) feedback.

I understand what you are saying about the blockiness. An earlier version was even more blocky. It's a tricky thing to make these types of changes once a piece has mostly taken shape, but I'll be thinking about this more for my next pieces.

Thanks again!