Conquest

Participant:

Tibor Berenyi

Song title:

Conquest

Thank you for participating in the HOFA Song Contest! We'd like to give you a feedback to your contribution.

Y-ou submitted a complex orchestral score, which could be inspired by movie composers such as Hans Zimmer. 
 
Your song has a pleasant musical dynamic and the suspense captivates the listener. On the other hand, we think that the song is a bit long. Longer songs are very common in this genre and therefore the length isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But you should  keep in mind that many listeners loose interest if a song is too long. In your case, this is a matter of taste, but in more commercial orientated genres, you should aim for a song length around 3,5 minutes. 
 
Since the sounds used were all created "in the box", we can't say much about the recording and the musical performance. However, the tracks are all neatly programmed. 
Y-ou also chose sound libraries of high quality, even thoug we think that the choir still sounds a bit artificial, especially at the beginning of the song.  
The sa-me goes for the piano, which sounds very artificial and almost to „clean“ for this type of music. If you invest even more time in finding the right sounds, you can achieve an overall more coherent sound. 
The strings on the other hand are well programmed and sound pretty natural. Well done 😊 
 
The mix of your song is well done, especially regarding the levelling and depth. Regarding the frequency spectrum, your mix is quite heavy in the low mids. For more transparency we would probably seek out the respective elements and reduce their lower mids via EQ to make more room for the higher frequencies. 
The piano for example sounds quite dry and close compared tot he huge orchestralelements. Increasing the amount of reverb on the piano helps to make it seem more three dimensonial and fit in better with the other elements. We also recommend a boost in the higher frequency range oft he piano to provide it with some brilliance and clarity. 
 
The percussions are a matter of taste. They are well placed in the room and sup-port the song if necessary. If you aim for a more modern sound and want to appeal to the Epic Music genre, the drums should be louder and have less reverb. But this is really up to you 😊 
 

Analyser: 
 
As you can see, your mix is mostly focused in the lower mids, since most of the used instruments have their fundamental tones in this frequency range. You found a fitting balance, but you should keep an eye on the low mids, so they don’t get out of control and cause the whole mix to sound muddy. 

HOFA-College offers a wide range of online courses on recording, mixing, mastering and producing music.
Mix analyses form an essential part of the education at HOFA-College, along with video tutorials, personal support, online campus & studio workshops. Experienced audio engineers listen to the mixes of the students and create individual and detailed, multi-page feedbacks about the strengths and weaknesses of each mix, with many helpful tips & tricks.
Learn more: hofa-college.com

Best regards from the HOFA team - enjoy your music!