Hey everyone,
I've recently upgraded my samples to Garritan Personal Orchestra and I've been trying to improve the production quality of my tracks.
Here's something I threw together rather quickly and would just like feedback on the mix and would appreciate any suggestions to make it betterer :)
Also, should I extend it out or is it a good length as is?
Sammy's Theme (http://www.reverbnation.com/dianewebster/song/18248800-sammys-theme)
That's a very joyful, relaxed tune and it sounds good overall. The mix is okay, but the reverb is very inconsistent. The piano sounds as if it was recorded in a very big hall with lots of echo, while other instruments (e.g. the background strings) sound too dry. The lead instruments like the flute sound good. So I'd suggest a little more reverb on the strings and much less reverb on the piano, so it doesn't sound as if the instruments were played in different rooms.
About the length, that depends on the purpose of the music. As a background music for a large area in a game it's too short and will get repetitive, but for a small scene it could work very well.
Thank you for your feedback!
At the moment I have been struggling with Cubase crashing with certain combinations of VSTs so to get around it I was exporting audio of each track. You're right, I had different amounts of reverb on the piano and the rest of the parts but couldn't change it as I'd already exported it as audio. I'll re-import the MIDI and see if I can fit the parts together better.
Oh yes, crashing effect plugins can be a pain. I suggest to do a lot of test runs with as many plugins as possible to find out which plugins work reliably for you, and then stick to them. This will save you a lot of frustration later on.
It sounds nice to me -- light and tuneful! I would definitely make it longer, as Problem said, particularly if it is intended to loop. It sounds like you have just stated the theme a couple of times before it stops; there's not much development. Also, while the flute/xylophone (?) combination works nicely in this style, it lasts all the way throughout the piece. You might want to change it up a bit, especially if you make the track longer.
I'm afraid I can't comment on the mix -- I'm really horrible at that myself. :)