Music Dissertation, Dawn of War 2!

DJ_Switch said:
All in all very good. It might be worth using Edirol Orchestral for some of the layers as well as Vienna (particularly the brass). A combination of layered instruments from the 2 would work very well. It would make it feel a bit more natural I think. There's a couple of points where it just sounds too clean and midi-like, if you know what I mean.

That is in no way a criticism though. It's just that some suite's particular instrument sets are more natural sounding than others. If you've got Edirol Orchestral to hand then perhaps try layering up the strings and brass with some extra from there and see how it sounds.

Good work though. :D
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Yeh i agree. I'm using some east west stuff in there as well. Never tried the Edirol stuff , though money is a factor being a penniless student and all :p.

Was trying to write it as close to scoring for the actual parts of an orchestra as possible too so I was trying to stay clear of midi layers and pad sounds so much, though I agree it can be effective sometimes.
 
It's pretty good. Lacks the sound design, which would really fill it out and i think most people on here are focusing maybe too much on the music. A trailer like that would have music as number 2 on it's list of sound priorities sadly.

But saying that, the composition worked well when imagined with sound. On it's own, it lacked some excitement and character (your staccato phrases go on far too long when the only difference after 4 bars is bringing on a few violins on the upper octave register).

Overall though, good job. Vienna is a fantastic library, but i can't get my hands on it. But i use EWQL SO Gold and it does the job :P

A really nice trailer i started working on last year (a friend of mine was doing the sound design) is Starcraft II trailer. You might be interested in checking that out to add to your showreel as it'll show your skills at adapting instrumentation for different feels.
 
ergonomics said:
It's pretty good. Lacks the sound design, which would really fill it out and i think most people on here are focusing maybe too much on the music. A trailer like that would have music as number 2 on it's list of sound priorities sadly.

But saying that, the composition worked well when imagined with sound. On it's own, it lacked some excitement and character (your staccato phrases go on far too long when the only difference after 4 bars is bringing on a few violins on the upper octave register).

Overall though, good job. Vienna is a fantastic library, but i can't get my hands on it. But i use EWQL SO Gold and it does the job :P

A really nice trailer i started working on last year (a friend of mine was doing the sound design) is Starcraft II trailer. You might be interested in checking that out to add to your showreel as it'll show your skills at adapting instrumentation for different feels.
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Ay?

i'm doing a music degree, not sound design/effects.

In reference to the staccato passage, the bass harmony (celli and double bass) change as well as violins in the upper register (trumpets aswell)

Obviously it would feel much better with the sound effects.
 
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Really rather good, I felt there was a couple of points where the music should have shifted more (attack of the lictor for one, the mood didn't seem to change that much, it built up a little, then didn't go anywhere, whereas it would have felt more natural IMO to have raised the tempo more, perhaps with a flourish of brass/percussion as it first attacked etc followed by a dramatic/valourous passage, almost like a heartbeat of the music in combination with the video), however really good, I can imagine the effort that took (I took Music Tech several years ago, and have a absolute hatred for motifs and sibelius from it :D).

Reminded me of Jeremy Soule's work on Total Annihilation, if not quite as dynamic in regards to scene activity, try checking out his score for the game for an idea to what I mean by that.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
Really rather good, I felt there was a couple of points where the music should have shifted more (attack of the lictor for one, the mood didn't seem to change that much, it built up a little, then didn't go anywhere, whereas it would have felt more natural IMO to have raised the tempo more, perhaps with a flourish of brass/percussion as it first attacked etc followed by a dramatic/valourous passage, almost like a heartbeat of the music in combination with the video), however really good, I can imagine the effort that took (I took Music Tech several years ago, and have a absolute hatred for motifs and sibelius from it :D).

Reminded me of Jeremy Soule's work on Total Annihilation, if not quite as dynamic in regards to scene activity, try checking out his score for the game for an idea to what I mean by that.
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Well the main theme did come back after the lictor attacked which i thought was quite valourous.

I sometimes hate doing a music degree,lol. so subjective!

But yeh some of Jeremy soule's stuff is wonderful. Especially his Elder scrolls stuff.
 
Haha, I actually prefered the Total Annihilation stuff, although the Elder Scrolls stuff is very good. The reasons especially I mention TA though is it tends to use the same sort of themes of war, fighting and survival that the trailer is portraying, not to mention it was used dynamically in the game, which was great for the time.

And yes I noticed you did pick up on a theme with the Lictor, but as I said before, it didn't really 'flare' with the attack if you get what I mean, it could have done with being more dramatic/upbeat especially in the first few seconds, whereas the music just built up until they were fighting and then continued, there was no *impact*...all in my opinion of course.

As you say though music is very subjective :)
 
Jono8 said:
Ay?

i'm doing a music degree, not sound design/effects.

In reference to the staccato passage, the bass harmony (celli and double bass) change as well as violins in the upper register (trumpets aswell)

Obviously it would feel much better with the sound effects.
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I meant some listeners may be focusing too much on it. When it comes to critically analysing music in cinematic trailers, people often take the music as the whole cake when they should account for sound design. Sure, you can do a fantastic piece for the trailer, and compositionally it would be top notch - but it wouldn't be trailer music then. See if you can find someone to do the sound design for it (maybe for their showreel?) and pair the two together?
 
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