Hey man, good work so far. Only thing I'd say is that for the length there is not enough done with the orchestration to keep a listener's interest level high. You have a lot of material to work with so try using the instrumentation to add interest in reoccuring parts.

Think of everything in choirs. Piccolo, Flts and Al. Flutes as it's own complete unit within the orchestra. Same with the Clarinets and Bass Cl., the Oboes and Eng. Horn. the Brass section (even within the brass the horns could be their own choir). If you think about it that way then you can reuse material utilizing one or two of the choirs and having the rest, well, rest haha.

The only thing I'd suggest as far as the score goes is that you need more articulation in the parts. What we hear in the mp3 is more articulate than what's on the score, and even if you are not going to have this played live right now, you should get in the habbit of writing everything as if it will be. Ask yourself "If I showed this to an ensemble, how many questions would I get?" you want to answer as many questions only using the score as possible.

Either way good stuff, will be following you on soundcloud!

Edit: One more thing. Violas are always in the tenor clef, even in score form. Also, to help balance out the brass section you might want to consider adding in a second Flute, Oboe and Clarinet, those tutti sections would be mostly brass otherwise.

Hey thanks for listening and the feedback. I definitely know Violas are in tenor clef, just forget to change it back lol. I'm ashamed to admit I hate composing in C clef.

Kinda thought that but just wanted to be as helpful as I could!

You were!

Hey Sam,

The composition itself is very effective! I really enjoyed that aspect but unfortunately the production and the samples need tweaking. I've checked out several of your tracks and they are great music but limited in their delivery. If these are purely mock ups that you'll have recorded with live musicians, that's certainly one thing. But if these tracks will be the end product then I think investing in some higher quality sample libraries that can take your production up several notches would really help. You've certainly got the knowledge and talent - your set up seems to be getting in your way.

Edit: I see that you're using Hollywood Strings from one of your SC comments. That's certainly a good library but it's important to know that even great sample libraries can come off stale if the production isn't polished enough. That's what I think is happening based on several of the tracks I've listened to. The emotional playing that you achieve on Almost Home, gorgeous playing by the way, is absent in your larger orchestral tracks. That's a real shame because the content is good - it's just not well "performed." Try to achieve the same emotional delivery with your large ensembles as you do when recording a solo piano track. Hope that helps.

Thanks for sharing!

Nate

I definetely have a problem getting strings to sound the way I want them to. I've had Hollywood Strings for 6 months and still struggle from time to time. Thanks though for the feedback, much appreciated.

Hopefully I can one day just record with an orchestra :)

It might be worth it to pay someone you know who's really good at the production side and get a few more tricks up your sleeve. You're really close man and the music chops are clearly where they need to be. I too hope to record with an orchestra one day! :)

I'm about to spend 2 years getting my Master's Degree and I will be surrounded by T&T and orchestras. Hit me up in 2 years lol