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You have an amazing starting point as a composer as seen by your attentive ear, diligent production/planning, and arrangement skills.  Very good arrangement section-wise, and you also have the appropriate inst. sections playing at the ranges they need.  A very dynamic, Miyazaki-esque piece wtihin the realms of film and gaming.


As for  constructive feedback to help you on your composer journey: (EVERYTHING IMO!!!!!!) (Sorry for word vomit)

I would've loved it you repeated that same intensity again at around 1:30 with the drums/cymbal, and maybe introduced a countermelody in one of the other instrument sections.  It's intense at that moment, but it diminishes pretty fast afterwards.  I think the brass does a good job selling the intensity at first, but you just needed a bit more expression within the brass arrangement.  Your 2nd breakdown at (2:08) is pretty good, I would just add a solo bass instrument to help fill up space.  

Also, when the section at 1:30 starts, you could use the piano to play the melody + ascending/descending arps to embellish the dynamics of the strings. In this instance, the piano is only playing the melody with the strings, but could be used to create a fuller, dramatic sound.  Harp could work too, flute flutters, certain sections (within their range).  

I think the stark volume difference from 1:40 to 1:43 is a little bit too much. In isolation, it sounds amazing, but examining the dynamic range of a piece is important to finetune for multimedia.  You can play soft, but just have the instruments a bit more audible in those sections via automation.  The timbre of the instruments should be able to replicate it well.

Overall, I think you executed your idea pretty well!  I think you meticulously dissected the picture very successfully, and painted a soundscape fitting your theme of impermenance.  I wish you luck, and I'm looking forward to your promising composing future :)

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Thats a methodical, extensive way of saying « you got much to learn kiddo » and I’m 1000% here for it ❤️


Thank you for the superb review, this is EXACTLY what I was hoping for! Some things you said I was sure would be picked apart by someone as it bothered me, like the volume difference for example, I still have ways to go understanding volume from dynamics from expression in the context of using VST’s and a lot of other comments are gold.


I’ll definitely work on a new version with your input and some other things as well ( I had a whole other section that I had to strip because the lack of time). I also feel that there’s an overall lack of movement, all phrases being 8 bars. I’d like to have just a bit of variety maybe with some bridges between some phrases, etc.

I also have to look at how to do decent arpeggios with the tools I have because I’m just too bad at piano for now to do it myself ahahah.

Would you consider going for another listening round after the changes? I would love your input!

Thank you for all the kind words of encouragement, this is super new to me so it feels nice to see that I’m on the right track at least!

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Sure, I’m down to listen to it again after the changes, feel free to contact me via discord (sm3rki) or on here whenever!  Understanding all these intricacies just comes with time and effort; you’re at the phase where every composition is a learning process, so don’t be afraid to keep creating! 

Definitely, I’m thinking of doing the 2 extra tracks I had in mind that also drastically change the mood of the music to something else entirely for learning purposes. I’ll be sure to hit you up when I have something done on this and other stuff. Your review was really invaluable!