Hello all! Hope this post finds you well. For this particular song I was heavily inspired by Gustavo Santaolalla's work on The Last of Us! I wanted to do something simple and stripped back. Less on big, cinematic, huge parts and more focus on the emotion coming from the instruments alone. I also produced the music video, and would love some feedback! Also wanted to add, that I used Spitfire Audio LABS instruments, as well as a nylon string guitar from Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra to make this!
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Layne, this is a really great arrangement. I liked the mood of the piece. It accomplished your objective of simple is better and let the emotion come through. My only critique would be that what I liked, I was kind of left wanting more of. I think your ideas were solid enough that you could have actually developed them further and made this a 5 minute (plus/minus) piece. I mean, some ideas naturally lend themselves to miniature format (I did one myself last week that was just 2 minutes, but it was just a loop really), but I think you had possibly more you could have said here. But please take that as a compliment, rather than a critique. Plus I'm a hypocritel, LOL. Anyways, well done, enjoyed it! Cheers!
Thank you so much, Frank! I often like to revisit pieces and think about them more later. So I will definitely work on expanding it into a larger work. I often struggle with finding that balance of making something into a longer piece without making it too long or repetitious. I really appreciate your feedback and listen!
Wow, that Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra sounds really great. I really like the production you made. The soundscape feels wonderful. What LABS instruments did you use?
Hello, Sam! Thank you so much for the feedback. The LABS instruments I used are: Lap Steel - Plucks, Dulcimer - Hammered, Percussion, and Moon Guitar - 01!
Wow, here I was thinking I was the only one with Gustavo Santaolla on my playlist... "Seguir" is one of all time favorite pieces of music (Do you know it?). I know it is not from this particular work he contributed to, but nonetheless.. not a name I see mentioned as often as it should be.
If I were to offer feedback, I'd suggest there is too much artificial reverb on the guitar part. The production in terms of mixing sounds a little over-compressed with parts being cut out of the mix. Mixing is not my speciality, but from what I have learned, it sounds to me you need to do a mix down and then bring the individual stems back up in volume to a point before they begin clipping.
I hadn't listened to that particular piece until you mentioned it here and it is absolutely beautiful! It's amazing to me how Santalolla can convey so much emotion with such little. His skill is incredible!
And thank you for that feedback! Mixing is also, not my specialty. But something that I am trying to harness my skills at better. So I will definitely try doing that method instead going forward.