.

I like it Luna but I'm a bit old school orchestra I used to play the bass and the 2nd Violin. But that was many years ago. If you play now never stop you will regret it.

Thanks Dr. Dave! Btw, I think you confused me with Luna, but that's okay.

It's nice to see someone who still appreciates classical orchestra! I play the cello in my school, and and have always loved the music. Thanks for the advice, there's no way I'm stopping!

I started taking Music Theory and Composition this past year, and I thought it would be nice to put what I've learned into good practice. I modeled my compositions after the more modern composers like Brian Tyler and Hans Zimmer (those guys are awesome!), but classical composers will always be an inspiration.

Do you have a favorite piece/composer? I couldn't possibly choose one, but I'd like to hear your opinion!

Yes I see I did call you Luna sorry, but yes I've been partial to Beethovens 5th symphony we won state back in the day with it. And I find there's not much it doesn't go good with. even this little game we play.

Beethoven's 5th is awesome! People really recognize the first four notes of the movement, but the rest seems forgotten. But it's the former that's made it so famous!

Really nice Luna... eeer I mean Octavia

Maybe you could do one for MOM? It should go a little like this...

Haha, sounds good!

I've never been too good when it came to composing the brass parts.

Well here is a awesome brass/percussion. Quincy Hilliards requiem

This has been a favorite of mine for years. There is a back story to it that I forget now

If there could be a way to link that video here I would appreciate it.

Thanks ms octavia and the good dr for jogging memories

Finished a new one!




This one was fun because I got to play around with my new vocal plugin software, and it sounded pretty good altogether. What did you think?

Also, Ive gotten a few PM's asking questions about my music stuffs, so I thought it would be good to address them here.

I write, arrange, and master all of my compositions completely on the computer. Sometimes I record a live track, but a lack of a quality microphone/acoustics makes using the software a better choice. When I do record, I use a Yamaha YPG-535 Grand Piano w/ MIDI support, and Cremona Premier Cello SC-320B. These are mostly just for solo pieces/tracks, so most of the time, it's the software.

The DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) I use is Logic Pro Studio 9. Software plugins I use mostly are: EXS24 Virtual Synth, Kontakt 5, LA Scoring Strings, NI Massive, Symphonic Choirs, and a few more.

Some screenshots from the composition featured above:











the time it takes me to complete a composition can vary. With the right inspiration, it can take me a couple days. Some times an unfinished project would sit in my hard drive for months

Hi Octavia!

Hi Sputnik!

How's it going?

Hew Octavia, we've never talked before but this topic struck a chord with me . I like to compose as well but have been out of the game for a long time. I'm just getting back into it now. Back in the day I used to have a 24 ch analog studio and record to dat and cd. The software I've used is Vision, pro tools, cakewalk, reason and many others. I used to do some dj-ing and live pa's at raves with a friend of mine. I used to own an original moog synth, a sequential circuits synth and an old modular Yamaha that you actually had to use patch cords to go from the oscillator to the filter section, then to the amp section and out. It's funny, at one point in time I had over 20k worth of gear and now I can do everything I did before on my ipad for about 50 bucks...and it sound better!! go figure. Anyways keep experimenting. You never know what will come out or how you will be inspired.

BTW: I really enjoyed your pieces! Keep up the good work!!

Thanks, Jimbo!

It's awesome that you got to use the old-school synths. It's one thing to open up a soundboard on a computer screen, but having a physical synth in front of you in a studio is another.

I've had one experience where I got to use a physical synth. It was the old Roland TB-303 Bass Synth. I had no idea how to use it at the time, but I still had fun messing with the panel.

Now, I'm just barely scratching the surface of sound engineering. I've gotten up to speed with some of Logic's synths, including the Analoge ES2. I've also started learning Native's NI Massive. That's a synth that's truly "massive"! It's a wavetable-based synth, and the possibilities with it are just about endless. You can see a screenshot of it in my earlier post.

I tend to lean more towards orchestra, and live performances. But, sound engineering in modern day music is undoubtedly important, and I will always appreciate it's complexity, even if I could barely understand it.

PS: You were a DJ? That's sooo awesome! I have a friend who does some live gigs, and his rigs look terribly overwhelming to me, but when he performs, it's like magic

Yes I enjoyed that one it was more to my taste thank you. Very good.

Ah yes the 303. Had one of those too. Funny how it looked like a little toy you could get from toysRus but was and still is the back bone of an entire music movement. I sold off all that stuff but wish I still had some of it. It's rare to find gear like that now that is still in working order.

This was something I made a few months back, and everything is recorded live except the piano and the background ambience.

That was very nice, it brought back memories of my youth when my 1st two girlfriends and I would set and play some times for hours long into the night just to hear ourselves play. The music was often sloppy and hap-hassard bout it was ours, and we enjoyed it. All those days and nights spent making music no one would ever hear but us and the memories that shaped the three of us into who we became will stay with me till my days here are done, I thank you for bring them back home to me. For I had almost let them slip away. That would have truly been a tragedy of life.


And by girlfriend I'm not talking about someone I was dating was just friends thats all.........but they were hot... I was young not stupid...

Octavia! That piece was awesome! Was that strictly for Falcon, because I am starting to work on a piece for Dogfight that's exciting? It doesn't have to be for Dogfight if you want to work on theme songs. I told you I entered that music writing competition, and I will inform you on my progress. Your piece was amazing, my school doesn't have an orchestra, and I've never really been fond of an almost completely string piece. I have told you I've played trumpet for 3 years and piano for 8. That piece gave me an inspiration! I was thinking along the lines of an actual bird in flight, not as much battle drum, but I'll use some of your kind of music in my piece, because that was awesome, awesome, awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Octavia6 wrote: Hi Sputnik!

How's it going?

Everything's going great here!
Hope all is well to you to!

Octavia6 wrote: Hey guys! I know I usually don't come on very much, but I thought I'd just share this with you.

There was a neat little track that's on the NLR's website that I thought was cool, and I re-made it into a sort of "orchestra" piece. With summer here, I finally have enough time to start working on my own music projects, and this is what first came up.

Original track: nlraf.webs.com/the-code (Hymn of the Republic)

My version:
(Lunar Rising)

What did you think? Maybe I'll make some "themes" for other squadrons of Dogfight, it'll be fun and give me a nice project over the summer.

wow these are preety good and also i would like to share i play the Tuba lol (dont judge ) anyway i made 5 chair at swosu small school allstate 2nd chair at both shortgrass and all region honor bands symphonic bands i may add the better of the symphonic and concert band and also i want to gonto obu oklahoma babtist univ majoring in music compostion i think this is great that u share a passion for music like i do i will post a pic of me and my tuba later on ur sisters thread if ut will let me i have been having problems posting pics anyway do u play any music instruments?

Wow, technology sure has come along way.

Back in the late 70's and early 8o's I had a 4 track cassette recorder that I would spend hours playing with. A few years later i got an ensonic sq1 with 16 track on board sequencing. That kept me entertained for 10 or 15 years. I don't do much anymore, other than play piano for my local high school choirs, but making music has always been a part of who I am. I hope you all get as much enjoyment from it as I have.

New song!




This one was a lot different than my last ones, I used a lot of bells to lead the piece. A LOT of bells; arabesque, tubular, you name it. As always, a massive percussion section, I absolutely love orchestral percussion.

I know it's a bit off season, a wintery piece in the middle of summer, but I was having too much fun not to finish!

I play in a hand bell choir at my local church. Quick note, our bell choir can't play that fast, though a lot of the members are over 60. Loved it!

This topic is kinda empty feeling. What if I made a topic that revolved around almost every type of music, so more people could get involved? You could post songs there, and everyone could feel welcome. This message doesn't just go out to Octavia, it goes out to all. Please PM me if you think this would work. Espically you Octavia.

Hello? Anyone still there?

Octavia6 wrote: New song!




This one was a lot different than my last ones, I used a lot of bells to lead the piece. A LOT of bells; arabesque, tubular, you name it. As always, a massive percussion section, I absolutely love orchestral percussion.

I know it's a bit off season, a wintery piece in the middle of summer, but I was having too much fun not to finish!

Great piece! I love the use of the percussion with the bells.