biodiode
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.

Yes, I saw Indie while listening to this Very well done David, you're hitting your stride as a composer.

davdud101
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.)

Well, before you even think about improving your samples, you'll have to decide whether your machine will support it. Orchestral sample libraries are massive, and they need a good system or else they'll give you trouble and take the fun out of it. Personally, I'd recommend East West' Quantum Leap Symphony Orchestra. It's an older library that is pretty well-rounded and will give you a huge upgrade without too much money being spent.  8dio has a new library that is also pretty good, but you'll need Kontakt to run it. Once you have Kontakt, there is a whole world of samples open to you.
 
Like I said earlier, get a full orchestra library for starter, then you can add specific instruments as you need them later for specific songs.
 
Dan
 

Well, that was....super! Truly. A ton of fun.

Up,up, and away!

Thats my kind of music! Great brass musicians there, are you playing yourself? Its difficult to mix in real instruments with samples. Maybe try if you have two mikes, one really close and one a few meters away. Then blend the result, and remove some low mid. Use same reverb on everything so it sounds like they are playing in the same room. The orchestration and melodies are really nice. Btw I remember a catchy song you did here 2-3 years ago - you have skills. The mixing will come eventually.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! I'm continuing forward to working on other projects in this vein. First I want to go back ans rework some of the old arrangements I had from a few years ago, so that'll be fun.
 

dcumpian
Like I said earlier, get a full orchestra library for starter, then you can add specific instruments as you need them later for specific songs.
 
Dan

I'll do that! I've got a little bit of cash I can set aside, seems like it'd only be to my best to invest in some better sample libraries.
 

Leizer
Thats my kind of music! Great brass musicians there, are you playing yourself? Its difficult to mix in real instruments with samples. Maybe try if you have two mikes, one really close and one a few meters away. Then blend the result, and remove some low mid. Use same reverb on everything so it sounds like they are playing in the same room. The orchestration and melodies are really nice. Btw I remember a catchy song you did here 2-3 years ago - you have skills. The mixing will come eventually.

Yup, I played all the parts here. Like I said- it was a long, tedious, but somewhat therapeutic process going back and forth in recording and mixing, practicing a few days in advance, and just getting myself prepared.
 
About that miking technique - are you referring to miking the sound output from the speakers of the samples? Or the live brass? I've heard of it being done for brass, but it makes me nervous having double-tracks for everything.
Or am I visualizing the technique wrong?
Thanks for the comps! it's been a while since I worked in that 'pop' style (after a year of arranging purely for big band), but I've been wanting to get back into it. I'l certainly be doing so sometime in the course of the year.

davdud101
About that miking technique - are you referring to miking the sound output from the speakers of the samples? Or the live brass? I've heard of it being done for brass, but it makes me nervous having double-tracks for everything.
Or am I visualizing the technique wrong?

Live brass. I haven't tried double mics other than in good acoustics, maybe the farther-away-mic is pointless in smaller rooms. When you record at home you often have to deal with bad acoustics (trying to get the bedroom recordings not to sound like bedroom). A close mic + reverb or tiny delay could make it sound better.  I've moved my violin recording out of the bedroom because of really bad acoustic sound, and nowadays record in a reflexion filter in my living room. 

It's worth a shot! I've seen a lot of videos on recording brass - but I'll need to see a lot more.
 
I tried something out today where I set up a mic in the closet and one more mc behind me. Stupidly, I had it pointed up towards the corner of the room and ended up with this REALLY weird effect of built-up frequencies that sounded really awful for a 'room' mic. But it was good to try for a first! I've never had the opportunity to do this, but my new mic pair came in yesterday so I gave it a shot. I'll try a different setup tomorrow.
Maybe I'll use one close mic and have the other in line with the horn, but several feet further away.
We'll see.