Westworld rescore feedback

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aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

28 Jun 2020

Lot's of tough competition.. didn't expect anything but it was truly a joy to make.

Thanks to VST support we can easily write music to video. VidPlayVST had no hiccups the entire way. I'd highly recommend!

So, what could I improve on here?

I was trying not to use drums, aside from the occasional "blam" (sorry Benedict ;) ) but wanted to drive the scene mainly through melody.

I've always enjoyed when soundtracks utilize silence but not sure if i hit the mark on this. I know I could've done better with a lot of things, especially when it transitions into grey(oops). That's something I watch in retrospect and regret not being more creative there.

Of course, my melody/progression may not fit the overall feel of the scene. It sounded nice to me (it's a chord progression that I thought up a couple years ago, which was re-purposed.)

Anyway, I'm happy to hear your thoughts and any feedback. I don't bite back, I promise.



Appreciate your time.

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joeyluck
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Joined: 15 Jan 2015

28 Jun 2020

This is great! :thumbs_up:

I think many people when attempting to score a scene might feel the need to have music throughout or that it needs to be super action-packed music in scenes like these. I feel like your music matched more of the tone of the characters—she is super calm and collected and the guy is pretty out of it. I think that should be the focus. High adrenaline, super-dramatic, constant music doesn't really fit IMO.

Maybe we can try some challenges here just for fun. Maybe the next competition can involve scoring something.

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Benedict
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Location: Gold Coast, Australia
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29 Jun 2020

aeox wrote:
28 Jun 2020
"blam" (sorry Benedict ;) )
You mentioned me!?!

I am not opposed to a bit of dramatic blam! I ti just when everything is always blam, blam, blam, pulse, pulse, pulse that everything loses its impact.

As for your score: I like it. Subtle but effective.

It was so hard to know how to score such an odd scene - no doubt it made more sense if you watched the show but as it sits it is rather odd in many ways.

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

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Boombastix
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Posts: 1929
Joined: 18 May 2018
Location: Bay Area, CA

29 Jun 2020

I guess all FX was from the film. I think it could have been a little more excitement around the explosions. I haven't done film scoring so not sure if you build up to it, or follow after. But there was good dynamics in several places. Maybe at the end, when get out of the car, you just hold one note, and not the arp, so it signals things are calm. And when you had the arp in the beginning it was building nicely, maybe put on some drums too to reinforce increase in temp/excitement.
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aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

29 Jun 2020

joeyluck wrote:
28 Jun 2020
This is great! :thumbs_up:

I think many people when attempting to score a scene might feel the need to have music throughout or that it needs to be super action-packed music in scenes like these. I feel like your music matched more of the tone of the characters—she is super calm and collected and the guy is pretty out of it. I think that should be the focus. High adrenaline, super-dramatic, constant music doesn't really fit IMO.

Maybe we can try some challenges here just for fun. Maybe the next competition can involve scoring something.
Thanks Joey.

Agree with you 100%

Scoring challenges? :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: I'll take any practice I can get! Sign me up.
Benedict wrote:
29 Jun 2020
You mentioned me!?!

I am not opposed to a bit of dramatic blam! I ti just when everything is always blam, blam, blam, pulse, pulse, pulse that everything loses its impact.

As for your score: I like it. Subtle but effective.

It was so hard to know how to score such an odd scene - no doubt it made more sense if you watched the show but as it sits it is rather odd in many ways.

:-)
:D Well, only a joke of course. I just remember reading comments after i'd made mine and thought to myself "hmm, maybe I wasn't creative enough"

Many odd parts to try to figure out how to make it a better experience. Agreed!

Thanks for the feedback!
Boombastix wrote:
29 Jun 2020
I guess all FX was from the film. I think it could have been a little more excitement around the explosions. I haven't done film scoring so not sure if you build up to it, or follow after. But there was good dynamics in several places. Maybe at the end, when get out of the car, you just hold one note, and not the arp, so it signals things are calm. And when you had the arp in the beginning it was building nicely, maybe put on some drums too to reinforce increase in temp/excitement.
Yes I think maybe I could've built up to the explosions better, good point!

Also, I might need to work more with orchestral drums so that I am more comfortable using them in a mix. (or in my case, making my bad ones sound good enough)

Thank you for your feedback as well!

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Benedict
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Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
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29 Jun 2020

I found that my best orchestral Timp/Taiko drum hits were built using Tone + Noise in Kong (or Europa) using 909 style kicks coupled with Simmons style toms. Blam!

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

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DaveyG
Posts: 2499
Joined: 03 May 2020

30 Jun 2020

joeyluck wrote:
28 Jun 2020
Maybe we can try some challenges here just for fun. Maybe the next competition can involve scoring something.
That's a good idea but... we'd need to be really careful with the choice of video clip. Movie publishers are pretty hot on protecting their stuff. The Westworld clip came with a carefully worded "permit" for the competition and for publishing the entries on YouTube.

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joeyluck
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Posts: 11029
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

30 Jun 2020

DaveyG wrote:
30 Jun 2020
joeyluck wrote:
28 Jun 2020
Maybe we can try some challenges here just for fun. Maybe the next competition can involve scoring something.
That's a good idea but... we'd need to be really careful with the choice of video clip. Movie publishers are pretty hot on protecting their stuff. The Westworld clip came with a carefully worded "permit" for the competition and for publishing the entries on YouTube.
Oh yeah for sure. I wasn't suggesting we use something without permission.

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