http://soundcloud.com/wesleydavis-recordings/the-adventures-of-mr-marvelous
 
This time I've made an attempt at writing a 'legit' superhero theme song.
 
 
The recording process was (has been) quite long and tedious in the last couple of days, mostly because I'm not a studio musician. That of course meant a lot of editing, recording, re-recording, etc... getting up to do things over again, and mixing as I went. 
I'm quite satisfied with it for the 3-day recording time frame, and it's helped me to sort of 'dimensionalize' how long a track like this might take to record.
 
Let me know what you think, or what I can do to the improve the tune!

That's a neat idea and I think you came up with a good one. That's a pretty good arrangement which foretells of heroic deeds to come.
 
Overall, the thing was pretty quiet. I had Soundcloud volume up over halfway, and noticed it was a lot softer in volume than most other tracks. Where are your meters peaking on your master bus? Did you have a limiter on your master bus? I wouldn't slam it or anything, but I think it could do with a volume boost overall.
 
Ta-daa! Nice job on the mix and the different little themes.
 
-Tom

I think you did a good job of realizing your theme and sticking with it throughout the piece. Nice job on this. The only thing that would make it better would be better instruments, as in better sample libraries, but only if you're interested in going down that road.
 
Regards,
Dan

Just goes to show how much systems vary from listener to listener, I had to push the Soundcloud volume to full, I normally have to turn it down to half for most tracks.

To me it sounded like you achieved your objective of an epic movie intro soundtrack, as noted better samples could have been used but.....  Thanks for sharing.

Wookiee
Just goes to show how much systems vary from listener to listener, I had to push the Soundcloud volume to full, I normally have to turn it down to half for most tracks.

To me it sounded like you achieved your objective of an epic movie intro soundtrack, as noted better samples could have been used but.....  Thanks for sharing.

 
It's also interesting how each of us *shares our anamnesis*  I like to think of a musician's anamnesis as his or her history of listening.  Davdud has lots of classic ideas in his writing.  (I told you I'm obTUSE!)

eph221

Wookiee
Just goes to show how much systems vary from listener to listener, I had to push the Soundcloud volume to full, I normally have to turn it down to half for most tracks.

To me it sounded like you achieved your objective of an epic movie intro soundtrack, as noted better samples could have been used but.....  Thanks for sharing.

 
It's also interesting how each of us *shares our anamnesis*  I like to think of a musician's anamnesis as his or her history of listening.  Davdud has lots of classic ideas in his writing.  (I told you I'm obTUSE!)

 if you say so, obtuse is not the word I would use but then each to their own.

You're not alone, the jury is out on Obtuseness:
 
Usage Note: Obtuse is sometimes used where one might expect abstruse instead, but the Usage Panel is divided on the acceptability of these usages. In our 2009 survey, 55 percent of the Usage Panel rejected obtuse meaning “recondite,” as in The reader has to struggle through dense prose and obtuse references to modern philosophers. Some 52 percent rejected the word when used to mean “indirect or oblique” in the sentence Divorce is mentioned, and there are a few obtuse references to sex. By contrast, 56 percent accepted sentences in which obtuse was used to mean “hard to follow or understand” in the phrases obtuse instructions and obtuse explanation. Perhaps the use of the word as a sophisticated synonym of stupid makes these extended derogatory uses more tolerable than they otherwise might be.
Read more at http://www.yourdictionary...se#XGZWg8Tdubc0Erxk.99

The theme holds well together, had an Indiana Jones kinda feel to the beginning. I do agree the whole mix was a bit on the quiet side.

I am going to keep this on my phone and play it every time I walk into a room :)
Good stuff again

Thanks for listening, and for the feedback so far, guys!

emeraldsoul
Overall, the thing was pretty quiet. I had Soundcloud volume up over halfway, and noticed it was a lot softer in volume than most other tracks. Where are your meters peaking on your master bus? Did you have a limiter on your master bus? I wouldn't slam it or anything, but I think it could do with a volume boost overall.

ES, I actually probably should've put a limiter or long compressor over the whole thing. But I've noticed that on all the systems and headphones I've played the track on, it's been a very pleasant volume when at only 70% or 80%, and gets (for me) to be TOO loud at 95%/100%. Hm! I will bear that in mind for the future, though.
 
Good notes about improving the quality of the samples. Exactly which ones should be improved upon? I'm using some pretty basic libraries (my strings are a combination of SI-String Section and some soundfonts. The percussion is SI-Drumkit and SessionDrummer, and the high winds are soundfonts as well. Brass is all recorded 'live', most importantly.)
I think it'd serve me well to just have a couple days of a 'listening party' on my system with real soundtracks to get an ear for how they should sound quality-wise. I HAVEN't done that yet, silly me.
 
Again guys, thanks for taking a look! The track was a lot of fun to make. I can tell it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really like this kind of stuff, and it gives me the opportunity to practice my horns without necessarily sitting down for a two-hour practice session.
 
Keep it comin'!