Blue Bench Memories

[Jeff]

Genre

Ambient

This image has always reminded me of contemplative places, and we know that we all need this right now. My music tools are in my sig. I spent about five years learning piano and then realized that scoring / orchestration is what I really wanted as a hobby. I'm old but Music/video/imaging are keeping me looking forward to every new dawn. I switched to SO when S05 came out because the DAW I was using didn't fit my need in MIDI and SO did. I mainly use my Px-5s to find something I like in a melody (I can read music and for writing and orchestration I find the score editor much easier to see the music than the piano roll). I will admit that I use Scaler 3 and Instacomposer to help speed up things. But the main melody always starts with the piano. While many folks hate orchestrators like those found in the Opus series and The Orchestra Complete 3.3, I think they can be valuable tools. Because I do this for a hobby, S07, Photoshop/LR, Resolve PRO allow me to mix visual and audio images of the world. Just a shout out to the Px-5s, l feel the keys feel similar to a real piano, and it has enough midi tools to be very useful (I also have a minilab MKii, but for developing Melodys the Px-5s wins by a mile. So ,the following piece uses the EW Steinway grand, and the Opus Ensemble that use half sul ponticello and sul tasto (different bowing techniques). I love the ability to use opus controls to shape its sounds. It's just an amateur's attempt at a musical piece to give some peace in this troubled times.

 

[lokeyfly]

Hi Jeff,
Beautiful melody.
Nicely titled as well.

If I may lend a thought, and of course its simply to note and might be helpful here, or with your next song. There were two areas where just a bit more care may be helpful. The first being extremely necessary if you were to submit the song for distribution.

1. Add about a 2 second lead-in with no audible sound at all. While you're at it, have the music either fade in or think about how you'd imagine the song start, be it some intro or fade in. Currently, there is no lead-in time at all, and its quite possible the song will be chopped audio wise from many audio players, CD players, or streaming platforms. A two second lead in and lead out time are standard issue. So naturally, look at the close of the song with the same 2 seconds as well. This is easy to accomplish in Studio One using your Start and End markers.

2. The beautiful sound you're getting from the strings along with the piano are so nice. What gets a bit distracting (or perhaps a better word being "revealing") is the tail end of the string timbre always has the exact envelope release time. This occurs throughout the entire song right to the last note. This is actually an easy fix with Studio One. By selecting with your mouse the release time of that envelope, you could drag the hand icon (from the Control Link) to the event where that instrument track is. You can then use automation to vary release in most any way you like. This giving the feel of varied bowing delay from the violin(s). The sustains vary very nice, but that release time should change sometimes.

Anyway, explore it. ; ) Blue Bench Memories sounds nice so far. Consider trying out some minor adjustments to gain that added realism.
There are other orchestral users in this forum that can also provide useful hints, be it with articulations, and other subtleties.
Cheers.

 

[Jeff]

Hi Jeff,
Beautiful melody.
Nicely titled as well.

If I may lend a thought, and of course its simply to note and might be helpful here, or with your next song. There were two areas where just a bit more care may be helpful. The first being extremely necessary if you were to submit the song for distribution.

1. Add about a 2 second lead-in with no audible sound at all. While you're at it, have the music either fade in or think about how you'd imagine the song start, be it some intro or fade in. Currently, there is no lead-in time at all, and its quite possible the song will be chopped audio wise from many audio players, CD players, or streaming platforms. A two second lead in and lead out time are standard issue. So naturally, look at the close of the song with the same 2 seconds as well. This is easy to accomplish in Studio One using your Start and End markers.

2. The beautiful sound you're getting from the strings along with the piano are so nice. What gets a bit distracting (or perhaps a better word being "revealing") is the tail end of the string timbre always has the exact envelope release time. This occurs throughout the entire song right to the last note. This is actually an easy fix with Studio One. By selecting with your mouse the release time of that envelope, you could drag the hand icon (from the Control Link) to the event where that instrument track is. You can then use automation to vary release in most any way you like. This giving the feel of varied bowing delay from the violin(s). The sustains vary very nice, but that release time should change sometimes.

Anyway, explore it. ; ) Blue Bench Memories sounds nice so far. Consider trying out some minor adjustments to gain that added realism.
There are other orchestral users in this forum that can also provide useful hints, be it with articulations, and other subtleties.
Cheers.

Thank you.

 

[Jeff]

Hi Jeff,
Beautiful melody.
Nicely titled as well.

If I may lend a thought, and of course its simply to note and might be helpful here, or with your next song. There were two areas where just a bit more care may be helpful. The first being extremely necessary if you were to submit the song for distribution.

1. Add about a 2 second lead-in with no audible sound at all. While you're at it, have the music either fade in or think about how you'd imagine the song start, be it some intro or fade in. Currently, there is no lead-in time at all, and its quite possible the song will be chopped audio wise from many audio players, CD players, or streaming platforms. A two second lead in and lead out time are standard issue. So naturally, look at the close of the song with the same 2 seconds as well. This is easy to accomplish in Studio One using your Start and End markers.

2. The beautiful sound you're getting from the strings along with the piano are so nice. What gets a bit distracting (or perhaps a better word being "revealing") is the tail end of the string timbre always has the exact envelope release time. This occurs throughout the entire song right to the last note. This is actually an easy fix with Studio One. By selecting with your mouse the release time of that envelope, you could drag the hand icon (from the Control Link) to the event where that instrument track is. You can then use automation to vary release in most any way you like. This giving the feel of varied bowing delay from the violin(s). The sustains vary very nice, but that release time should change sometimes.

Anyway, explore it. ; ) Blue Bench Memories sounds nice so far. Consider trying out some minor adjustments to gain that added realism.
There are other orchestral users in this forum that can also provide useful hints, be it with articulations, and other subtleties.
Cheers.

I did an automation on the release and yes it made a big difference. I only orchestrate for myself and will maybe post more here, still learning just probably never get to the point where I want to release my music in a commercial way.

 

[lokeyfly]

Hi Jeff,
Credit to you for going the distandlce and posting. Thats not only an excellent accomplishment, but that Blue Bench Memories is now this beautiful song you wrote. Never say never, and the enjoyment will smooth out any small bumps in the road ahead.
I'm looking forward to hearing this and your other songs.

This is a great place to share your musical ideas, and get typically useful feedback. I hope my points came across that way. By the sound of it, you found some uses with automation. Terrific! Dont forget the lead in and out blank space. Just a second or two will do it. Keep going!