Spent many hours making this, would love to hear what you think

Hey guys

I've posted my music on Giant Bomb before, and have always loved this community more than any other. That's why I'm posting/releasing this tune here first, I'd love for the GB community to be the first to give feedback since I value your guys' opinions more than most anyone else's =)

This particular track has taken many, many hours between transcribing, writing, arranging, sequencing, recording & mastering. I'm not normally one to pump up my own works, but I'm sincerely proud of this one.

Check the track out here

Thanks a lot for looking =)

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Edit/Update:

I just wanted to say a huge Thank You to everyone who supported this. The overwhelmingly positive feedback has been a really humbling experience, and it could not have come at a better time. In all honesty, almost immediately after releasing this track I started going through a very tumultuous time in my personal life. All of the feedback (especially from Giant Bomb) has been helping me cope with some really difficult situations, and has really helped me from falling into a deep depression. (I suffer from clinical depression)

I just want you guys to know a few things - I value every single piece of feedback you guys/girls have given, and I especially value the fact that you all have been so supportive.

From now on, every major track I release will be released on Giant Bomb before anywhere else. You guys are legitimately my favorite community for a lot of reasons, and I want to do everything I can to give back to you guys.

Thank you again, and GLHB.

I am not typically interested in this kind of music. However, that crescendo at the end was something special. It really did sound like the ending to a Miyazaki film.

Great work! I enjoyed it. I'm sorry that I can't offer more in depth feedback than that, but I'm not at all familiar with this kind of music.

The "not dubstep" tag made me chuckle, though.

Duder

Duder

Duder

This is really friggin good! The amount of care you put into polishing this piece really shows!

I really like it. It's a shame that you won't get much feedback as this type of music will never be trendy.

Sounds good to me, even though I have no idea whats going on, it was pleasant to my ears.

As others have said, this isn't my type of music, but it is seriously impressive. Keep up the good work duder, you have serious talent!

It was good, Duder.

It's been so long since I've seen Castle in the Sky, I can't really tell how this compares to the original. Still gives me chills, though. Great work.

You have done an awsome job!

If you want to hear my opinion for improvements, I would like to hear some gentle violins from 0:00 to 0:38, since it sounds a bit too silent for my taste there. After the climax in 0:39 I would put some kettledrums and cymbals to add more dramatic sounds to your masterpiece.

Keep up the good work!

This is excellent. Is Dorothy married? Would she like to be?

I'm more of a Totoro guy myself, but I did love this track from Castle so thanks for making it!

I don't usually like dudes promoting their shit but this was actually good.

Good stuff! Can't really give you any useful feedback but keep at it!

@Bassman2112: Wow... that was pretty awesome! The vocals have a pretty melancholic feel to it... reminds me a bit of Grave of the Fireflies. Great work! Post up more stuff on your blog xD!

@jewunit: @TheJohn: @Ravenlight: @jonnybob: @uniform: @SSully: @Thunderducky: @nail1080: @notdavid: @Grissefar: @salad10203: @supamon: @JCTango:

Thanks a ton for listening, knowing people actually enjoy it is the best feedback I could get, so thanks again =D

@Icemo: I was thinking of bringing in a bit more percussion, I may do that in the future! As for the violins at that point, they're definitely buried for texture's sake but I'll play around with their levels to broaden the sound a bit =) Thanks for the input =)

@Jimbo: Haha, she is in a committed relationship, and also one of the funniest people you'll ever meet

Not my type of music to listen to (bear with me here), but as a movie music sounds totally legit. Keep it up!

No idea what kind of music this is, but I can appreciate it.

@kidman: @ItBeStefYo:

Haha, it may surprise you but I was a metal musician for many years, and mainly listen to electro, metal and prog now; but I think it's a good idea to have a large palate of tastes =)

Thanks a ton for listening

You forgot to drop the bass!

@DarthOrange:

Shit, I knew I was forgetting something...

I guess some orchestral wubwubs are needed for next time I go in to edit it

Awesome work. Are the instruments synthesized or what?

Really liked the opening, it's got that Japanese bittersweet melancholy thing going on.

@Panpipe:

I hope this doesn't break any illusions or anything like that, but not a single thing in this track was recorded live apart from the vocals. I sequenced everything else.

@Bassman2112: If anything that's impressive, it doesn't sound synthesized. What exactly is sequencing? Are the instruments created digitally or are all the notes recorded and then you just mash them in the order you want?

I assumed you didn't have an orchestra do it because I imagine that's ridiculously expensive.

@Panpipe: I'm glad it sounds natural! That's the hardest thing to do with sequenced/synthesized music haha.

The latter is fairly accurate, actually. I use a piece of software that has thousands of "samples." These samples are of various orchestral instruments (cello, violin, trombones, et cetera) doing a variety of different types of notes (short, sustained, and so on) at different velocities (how loud/soft they are playing). Sequencing is manipulating and using those individual samples to make an arrangement that sounds natural. It's not just used for orchestral stuff either, a lot of electronic music is sequenced, same with rock music these days =)

This is really fantastic! It reminds me a lot of some of the orchestral tracks Sonata Arctica had on their most recent album (being the only real orchestral music I listen to.)

Usually not my kind of music, but I liked it! Might have something to do with the fact that I finally got Asura's Wrath in the mail today... would fit perfectly in there somewhere.

@Bassman2112: Awesome. Sounds horrifically time consuming, although I'm guessing software automates a lot of it. What software do you use exactly?

I'm really impressed! But there is one thing I don't understand. Is this song originally from the Miyazaki film? So the song is not yours but the arrangement is?

I'm still impressed and kind of supprised how well you put it together but I'm just wonderring.

Okay, I had no expectations coming into this thread, but this was genuinely great.

Number Munchers.

@Panpipe: Indeed, it is very time consuming haha. The orchestral programming probably took somewhere around 30 hours. Once you program it in it is automated,but you have to program for each individual track and, as you can see, I had a lot of tracks lol (that picture is even missing 3 tracks haha). The software I used for this was Logic (my DAW - Digital Audio Workplace) and EastWest's Symphonic Orchestra Gold- that's about it lol. As well as some mastering plugins, but mixing is a much different thing than sequencing =)

@Chavtheworld: Thanks sir! The Days of Grays? I actually liked parts of that album a lot haha, unlike Unia sadly...

@Jaqen_HGhar: I am so looking forward to that game. Once school is done!!! Thanks for checking it out =)

@Dogma: Thanks!! The melody is originally from the film, as well as the general chord progression; but my orchestration and vocals are all my interpretation (arrangement) of it all =)

That was really, really amazing. I had no idea it was synthesized. Either this is great music both technologically and musically or my years playing the violin and participating in orchestras was a HUGE waste of time.

what exactly did you do to the song if I may ask? I don't know the original but it is my understanding this already exists? I'm lost here

sounds great m8..

only issue i might have is that at some points everything is a bit overpowered, so the vocals cant be heard that well.. maybe you intended that to happen but i feel the vocals could have been present a bit stronger.. keep it up!

@Bassman2112: Thanks. That makes everything clear. You should try to tweet/Facebook someone at Ghibli (if possible) just so they can hear the interpetation. Excelent work.

It reminds me of Neir for some reason. Good job

@AlexanderSheen: Thanks sir, glad you enjoyed it!!

@AlisterCat: Primes all the way, that was always my go-to NM mode

@mdslac: Haha don't worry, I will always pick a live orchestra over sequencing one =) To sequence this stuff takes many hours, whereas a good orchestra could record most all of it in a take or two haha. The only difference is that orchestras are thousands of dollars an hour to hire, whereas this was a one-time $400 investment =) Don't worry, I still play the violin as well haha

@TrashMustache: No worries! I listened to the original song from the movie and transcribed the melody as well as the general chord progression. After that, I sat down and re-interpreted it and scored it all out (wrote it out for each individual instrument/singer). I made some changes to the melody and added new instruments, et cetera. Consider 'arrangement' as a re-imagining of something that existed before =)

@sideshow: Thanks for listening sir =) A lot of the time that was actually intentional haha. Letting the melody flutter between different sections to keep the listener's ear moving =)

Manly tears were shed.

Its pretty good, I don't remember what castle in the sky sounds like, i probably own it though. But this totally sounds like it could be a theme for Castle in the Sky.

Not my kind of thing but there is some really nice stereo imaging on the orchestral elements, good job on the mixing.

@Bassman2112: In the version I played the guy was yellow... maybe the monitors at school were busted?

@Bassman2112: Thanks for clarifying. I love learning about other people's crafts. Also, your dock is full of stuff I have never seen (although I do recognise Audacity - handy tool even for the average schmuck).

Wow great job man!

Castle in the Sky is an amazing film and you really did justice to it with this track! Good job, duder!

@AlisterCat: It's possible... Or maybe your monitors were slightly racist?

@Panpipe: Haha, starting from the one that's open: Logic, Digital Performer, Reason, EWQL (that EastWest program), Kontakt, Pro Tools, Finale, Peak Audio Editor, Max/MSP, and Audacity like you mentioned haha. I actually like using Audacity more than Peak for quick edits =) I actually used it when editing the starting and ending tails of this tune!

@Mogoping: @Rudeboy217: Thank you, sirs! It is appreciated =3

Fucking nailed it, not much else to say. What's the next step after this? You should definitely do more like it either way, you don't get enough nowadays.

@matti00: =) Next step will be to hopefully get an internship with a company doing sound design & composition for games! Haha, thanks for listening sir =)

Very nice, love the influence, Castle In The Sky is amazing, you really got the feel for it here.

@jking47: Thanks sir =) I was aiming for making something really different, but hopefully leaving people with the feeling of familiarity =)