Hard Reject Feedback

Hi, the hard reject can be rather frustrating. I recognize that the hard reject means that explaining what is wrong would take more time than is worth for the reviewer, but I’m now stuck and confused. What is so wrong with this track that it isn’t viable for revision? Structure? Style? Samples/mixing? Something else entirely?

https://soundcloud.com/composerbell/parade-lineup

Any thought? Anyone?

Hi Composerbell, the composition itself has some real nice moments. I like the gradual build into the climax of this piece and the creative use of key changes. To me there are a few issues though. First, at the very beginning and again at the end I think there are two many elements competing for your ears attention. I think focusing and supporting the main melodic theme of the trumpets is important. While it’s ok to have countermelodies and such it’s just too busy sounding. Also at times in the piece I’m not sure everything is working harmonically.

The second reason I think this was rejected, and probably the most important of the two is the mix. Generally speaking everything is a little to distant and wet in my opinion. Also the way you mixed it there isn’t the depth you’d want to hear from front to back. Everything sounds like it’s sitting in the same place. there are a lot of tutorials online on mixing orchestra and particularly using reverbs the right way to get the depth you want. In addition to this you have quite a bit of clashing EQ issues as well. Cleaning this up also will help with the mix and the sense of depth.

I would recommend doing a lot of listening to orchestral mockups you know are well done and figure out the things that make them sound good and realistic and that will help you start to get a better idea what needs to be done in your mixing to get there. There are some really good orchestral guys here on audiojungle so this is a good place to start to find out what is working on here. This piece by Gareth Coker has a similar vibe to yours and would be a good place to start to do some comparing. http://audiojungle.net/item/fanfare-and-theme-for-sporting-heroes/2715907

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for the feedback! I’ll get right on it. Knowing it’s more a mix issue rather than a composition or structural issue is really helpful for me, since I’m just getting started on the site. Muting some of the busy work and checking for harmonies that are too “out there” is easy at least. THANK YOU!