What's new

The Frail Tranquility - a cinematic theme

gtrwll

Senior Member
Like many of us here, I'm using much of my spare time studying orchestration and theory (among others), and this autumn has felt like a nice leap towards better understanding and grasping some core concepts much better than I used to, and I hope that reflects to this theme that I finished today. I know, I've still got a long, long way to go, but I'm enjoying the ride!

I'm not going for pure realism, but feel free to point out if there's something gravely wrong in the balance of the instruments or sections. Mixing is still probably the hardest part. Getting that warm, lush and cohesive sound from several different libraries can be hard. Still trying to decide if BBCSO would be a wise investment considering this.

Anyway, what do you think?




Libraries used:
Native Instruments The Grandeur
Cinematic Strings 2
VSL SE Vol. 1 Woodwinds
EastWest Hollywood Brass
Spitfire Albion ONE
Orchestral Tools Time Macro
Impact Soundworks Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion
Soundiron Olympus Elements
Action Strikes
Damage
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
u-He Diva

Cheers!
 
Like it a lot, I think you've gotten that embracing feeling you're after. Maybe to the point I would back off some of the tape or whatever analogue distortion you have, especially in the quieter parts, and then perhaps up it later on to at least get rid of the noise in the beginning.

I feel it definitely leans towards modern scoring than classic orchestra, especially with the relative volumes and placements between instruments, and perhaps also with the reverb. But as a modern recording I find the general tone very nice, not any harshness anywhere. When the drums come in they find a great place in the mix, and the grandeur has got such a lovely signature, this inspired me to use it more.

You could this piece proudly in a modern movie or game. If I should comment on anything, it felt as if it was almost too dense at times, but that's probably as much due to how you've mixed it as to the composition, including all that tape warmth and thick, lush reverbs. At times before the final softer part I felt I was almost drowning in the denseness and longed for some air. But could also be down to me listening through cans on high volume.

In summary, really nice job!
 
Thanks for the detailed feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment :)

That's a good observation on the tape plugin I have on the mixbus. It was one trick on the quest to get the warmth to the track that I had in mind, but it's a good idea to automate the levels a bit.

The climax was a hard part to mix, and it did indeed become quite crowded and a dense orchestration. It was the same depth and warmth that I was after, and could probably be improved with orchestration, but I was delighted to find that using the horns and trombones as interlocking chords really brought more clarity to the texture without having to reach for the EQ.

Using reverb is also one thing that I need to learn more. Now it's mainly trying to get the overall sound to glue the different libraries together.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, and I'm glad you liked it!
 
Top Bottom