# Freshly started composing film/game music, came to say Hi and ask for feedback/advice



## Qrchack (Apr 14, 2015)

... well, not that fresh. I'm playing the piano for over 10 years already and I play the guitar for not much less. But I didn't really compose classical music until recently. I used to make electronic music, in a sort of melodic, funky style, then something changed and now I'm basically in love with the sound of the orchestra. And beyond (taikos, Arabic percussion, ethnic flutes), but still. At the moment of writing I'm 17 and desperately trying to get something to compose for (just like most of people on this forum I guess, correct me if I'm wrong!)

My very first piece of music with classical instrumentation is this one: 




Still not that bad I'd say but now I definitely prefer bigger ensembles (this one was written with violin and cello in mind, played on my keyboard with string voice).

At some point I've started looking through gamedev forums (TIGsource and so on) trying to get pretty much anything (but definitely having RPGs as the golden target to find), send a lot of mails to people asking if they need a composer. Found a project and it pretty much failed quickly (well, one-man development team, making a game in spare time), but the menu theme was my first conscious sort of orchestral music, it's still out there on my Soundcloud and sounds like this:

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https://soundcloud.com/geezofficial%2F5-rings-online-ost-menu-theme

You can also have a look at the score at:
http://qrchack.insomnia247.nl/scores/5 Rings Online - Menu Theme.pdf

Then a friend of mine asked me to compose music for multimedia sort of Stations of the Cross he was preparing, he wanted to have some horror-ish, psychodelical music, referring The Prodigy and Aphex Twin as examples. I've written for all 14 stations, plus 15th - resurrection. I used quite a bit of my experience with electronic music, as well as sound design, so I've recorded a lot of ambience and random little sounds to be heavily processed later, ending up with a sound like this:

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https://soundcloud.com/geezofficial%2Fmore-industrial

Later on, I've found a new project to work on, called Nightside, which is an upcoming RTS (real-time strategy) game. I liked the art style so much that I couldn't help asking the developers if they need a composer/sound designer. An article on the game, with gameplay video:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/artic...-rts-game-i’ve-been-waiting-for-on-linux.5074

I just plain mailed them with this demo:

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https://soundcloud.com/geezofficial%2Fa-night-in-the-space

Hoping for the best and waiting, got a response in 10 minutes, saying more or less "It sounds awesome, but we've just told a composer that we're gonna choose him and now it'd be rude to tell him he sucks and we want to take you. We'll get to you as soon as we finish this game though, we have a couple of new game ideas to be realized".

Well, that was some sort of a start, right? Now, fast forward to the present time. Found other project with looked REALLY polished compared to those random games announced on forums, and it was a steampunk RPG with turn-based combat. Not 100% my piece of cake (I prefer fantasy sort of theme), but yay, RPG finally! Messaged the developer, and it turned out it's a one-man team game. The guy who's making this is really nice to talk with and supportive, and now I'm scoring the game (it's too WIP at the moment, so no previews).

So, that's my kind of journey into making orchestral(ish) music! I really look forward to any criticism, advice or feedback. Off to making more music!


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## dpwave (Apr 14, 2015)

Great start. My advice would be to work on a melodic connection with the listener. That's most often done with establishing some kind of 'theme' at the beginning of the piece, and repeating that as motif throughout the piece in variations. The theme can be a lyrical melody, a specific rhythmic idea that grabs the attention of the listener (Hellboy theme in low register instruments), etc. I wouldn't rush into counterpoint (second melody, counterline, etc.) because you want to solidly establish the theme in the listener's mind first. If you're going into a development too soon at the start it's not going to establish the musical idea in the listener's mind, so it will just sound like underscore (background music), which is fine if that's what it's being used for and not draw too much attention to itself.


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