Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay. Well in order to guide the composer in the right direction for sounds I want, would giving him temp track examples, help even more possibly then, because then maybe we can locate sounds similar to those of the instrument, in the temp tracks, rather than just tell him I like this instrument, etc?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

That makes more sense than what you've been arguing about.

Just give the composer the temp tracks and let them get on with their job.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay, but I thought that's what I was doing, but it was said on here before to explain to the composer what I want, because that's better than giving temp tracks.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

You've confused things, as per usual, by by thinking everything is a simple, single approach, There's no point in giving a list instruments and the composer not knowing how they're played and the other aspects required in a piece of music.

There is also a broad discussion with a composer regarding the music for a film.

Some composers don't like temp tracks, again you need to discuss that with the composer. With one such composer he watched the film once with the temp tracks, then I gave him a copy without any temp tracks.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

A steer is always good, instructions are not. Your orchestra list, for example, is pointless. It’s like your store cupboard of supplies in the kitchen. John williams probably has a list like that, but are you going to get the canteen bar song from the first Star Wars or Schindler’s List?

It’s the artist’s pallette. When he is writing it, and needs a B from the flute it cannot play, you stick in an alto flute. Only if this can’t play it would you try to find a bass flute. When notes get low of course, you might even be able to ditch the bass flute with a digeredoo.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh yeah, I wasn't going to just give him a list of instruments and that would be it. The temp tracks have the instruments in, and how I want them to be played and sound of course more so.

The list of instruments was just in case he didn't have any from the temp tracks I gave him, in which case we would get them.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Danger Will Robinson - you're falling into the trap of prescription again. How you want them to be played and sound is a non-musical viewpoint again. The composer has the skills to make sounds blend, or not as they need - you don't.

Temp tracks set mood and maybe suggest feel - but they are not to mimic, copy or just re-arrange. They're about telling the composer this isn't a slow and smoochy scene but a punchy aggressive one. Maybe the sound makes you angry, sad, on edge - that kind of thing. You're not supposed to copy them literally.

For instance - why did you include come of those instruments? Do you need an electric guitar? If you were booking musicians to play them, if the composition didn't need them, that's a mistake. In the real world, if budgets are low, you create the music in a machine and there it stays. Sometimes you need real sounds, but sometimes when budgets allow, you get in musicians. A string patch saves perhaps 6 musicians - or maybe 30? So until you have the parts, how do you know how many real people you need. Frankly, to the smaller scale composer, real musicians are total pains in many cases. Sometimes, you just need them. Other times, you don't. Your composer is in control of this. If you want to help, you need to generate the funds he needs, or you MUST tell him he cannot have real players. Maybe your composer is at home with string quartets and wants to use his four friends - this may be perfect for the movie, but of course, you might struggle with budget. If you cannot afford four people, then he needs to know from the very start. Plenty for you to do setting the framework, organising the funding and gently suggesting style - then you go away and listen to the first version - then you agree on the number of revisions to stop you micromanaging and making the quality drop.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh yeah, I know I am not suppose to copy them literally, but I don't want them to be so different that they are not remotely what I am looking for either though, of course.

Yes I am not going to book musicians and most of the sound is going to created in a machine. I chose the electric guitar because I wanted an electric distorted sound for some of the music in certain scenes, and since the composer can play the guitar and has one, I thought the electric guitar would work for that. I also thought the electric guitar would have a more romantic feel, for some of the earlier scenes as well. But the other instruments will be created in a machine though.

As for why I included the other instruments it's hard to put into words but I thought they would create the feel and mood I wanted for the scenes I had in mind for different ones. For example the cello has a more sad and dramatic sound, at least to me, so I thought it would be good for one of the instruments in a more sad and dramatic scene.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Indeed it would - but the snag is getting from section to section in a cohesive way. Otherwise you end up with a mish-mash of clashing styles. You're still thinking like YOU are the composer. I can imagine some guitar sounds being romantic but others less so.

DO you have examples of the tracks you are thinking of using for his inspiration?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay, thanks. I I don't want to be the composer of course, I just want to work with him correctly and communicate correctly with him. I'm still looking for one for the more romantic one, but so far, these two tracks are kind of what I was thinking:


But I am trying to find something a little different perhaps still.

For the more distorted electric guitar sound, I was thinking something more like this


Or maybe an electric cello would better for that more electric distorted sound but just guessing. But the composer does have an electric guitar though.

And there are these two temp tracks from before:



Here's some that were meant for dark comedy other another parts:





Here are some others so far for more serious or exciting moments:

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Eric Clapton - yes, I get this one, style wise. I can imagine this working for certain love scenes, or just thoughtful scenes. Best bit is it has no real melody - so nobody will be humming it.
TMNT - yep again, I can get this one - the precision (I've got loads of amazing bangs in some of my library)
The Morricone one with harmonica and delayed/reverby twangy guitar - a bit cliche, but a style I guess. Always makes me think cowboys and Arizona deserts with rocks.
The replacement killers is a collection of effects, sub bass for angst and a bit cliche ridden, but works as a style to work with.
Batman - no. 1950s/60s cartoon classics and just needs Mel Blanc's voice. It's a period style that doesn't;t relate to contemporary use of music in movies.
No idea about the Amusement piece. Totally out for me as it sounds locked in the 50s and jocular so OK for an Ealing Comedy, or cartoon, but it conjures up everything your movie doesn't for me.
Sin City - works for me except whatever that low reed is - which I personally hate and it gets in the way.
Spartan - works for me as it's moody and rhythmic but isn't memorable - which I think makes it better.
Blowout has great incidental music and again, does the job.
Incomprehensible captivity - not, in my view one of his better pieces, but it sets the scene and makes people uncomfortable, so probably out of context, is a good choice.
United 93 - another non-descript rhythmic piece - again, does what it is supposed to without going anywhere.

Red Heat just shows Horner can write noise too. Probably needs the scene for me to contextualise. The hotel is tricky for me, but the chase feel to bus station is typical, but of course cliche based.

I have seen one of those movies - just one!

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay thanks. If no one will be humming that kind of guitar, is that bad?

I just want the harmonica from the Morricone track and not the twangy guitar. But I'll let the composer know that.

The Replacement Killers I wanted mainly for the low flute. I could do without sub bass unless I should have that as well.

The Batman music and the Amusement music were for a specific sequence where I wanted dark comedy music, and thought that that cartoony type music would add to it in a twisted way. But maybe something like this would be better instead?



Because this is not as cartoony?

The King Kong one is one of the lesser ones for me as well, and we might not do something like that, as perhaps the United 93 and Blow Out tracks are enough for inspiration.

When you say the low reed in the Sin City track, do you mean the saxophone? That's what I thought was a bass sax, when I wrote bass sax on my list, but you said there is no such thing as a bass sax, right, so that might be a baritone then? Unless you mean a different reed?

I also posted some other temp tracks in the previous post, since.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

We always take a step forward then go back two.

I deliberately said low reed because you cannot tell with certainty. A Bass saxophone certainly exists, but needs two people to carry it, and is a rare and terribly expensive beast and very limited in what it can do. It could have been a baritone sax, or maybe a bassoon - who can tell? I thought we'd explained all this?

There's so little point posting all these examples without the context being stated. If you give an entire track to the composer because you like the bass flute, you're giving the composer such a hard job. They are also going to be very difficult to imagine in the same movie. If you take the music for an entire film, there are always repeated motifs, and variations of some components, but so much similarity. You cannot have a light section from one movie and and heavy section from another - it doesn't work.

When you write a theme, you want people to hum it. When you write a cue that makes people get on edge, and know something nasty is coming, the last thing you want is them humming it. Everyone can hum the der-der, der-der-der-der from Jaws, but most people could not hum the bit that follows it.

The sub bass adds to the unease - you feel it, but don't really hear it - so it's presence is good when it does a job.

There is funny music and there is odd music. Your choices were children's cartoon cliches - in what the music does and the style of recording. I get the sense that your steer to the composer is based on a very unsound base. If you put all these styles together it's very genre unfriendly. You're not giving the composer things he can work with. It's like you are collecting your favourite flavours and want the chef to use them all - irrespective of their origin. It's a confusing mess of disparate ideas. Every time I think I have a handle on what you want, you surprise me with more and more confusion.

You have the same way of dealing with script - plus the confusion in story telling we see in everything - and I'm sad to say a constant misunderstanding of everything we say. You want the harmonica, but not the tangy guitar? Weird - they worked together really well? It points the way to a musical mess.

EDIT
The Dirty Harry thing only really works in the context of the period and the jazz of the time which the composer took advantage of. I think it's not suitable for modern audiences now. That piano thing I felt was awful - I hated it, but maybe in the context of the movie it worked? I have no idea. The other was OK, but of course genre specific. Incidental music, of the Robocop ilk - as to it's style in your movie? I don't know.


Every Week Eric Matyas puts up links to his music - why don't you go through his stuff. The City material sounds far move Police detective story than all these movie clips, and he only wants donations and credit.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay thanks, I will check out his stuff.

The instrument sounds a lot more like a bass sax to me compared to a bassoon, but if it's a bassoon, then it's a bassoon. We can try either and see how it sounds.

But when I give the temp track to the composer, I do tell him what parts of it I like and to go for something in that inspiration. Do I have to like every single thing about the track then?

And if you say I shouldn't take tracks from other movies, because they are too different, I can't just give the composers temp tracks from all one movie, because then it feels like then you got all your inspiration all from one movie soundtrack. Unless that's good?

But the composer does have the script, and knows the contexts, so couldn't I just ask him to repeat motifs and blend?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Usually a temp track works as whole, it's not usually a bit of works with the film because a section sounds good. More it works with the action and mood of the film and connects with it.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay. I cannot find exact temp tracks as to what I want. So is it better than I just describe the sounds I want? For example for the temp track for The Replacement Killers, is it best instead of showing him the track, I just say I want a low bass flute sound of some sort, played in a mysterious suspenseful way, along with other instruments of course?

But as far as needing to use a whole temp track as inspiration, what if I do not like the whole track though? For example, here's one I like that I thought would fit some of my scenes, and I like the start of it:


But at 1:04 into the track, it goes into heavy metal, and I do not want the heavy metal. I prefer everything before that though. So is so wrong to cut off the heavy metal part, if I give him a temp track of it? Why do we have to be inspired by the entire track?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

I think this was discussed before, you can edit music tracks assist the timing and to match the mood in the edit. However, there's no point in going over old ground, since you don't seem have the skill set to do this,

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

For sure, I can edit them to match the length of a sequence of how long I want it. If a temp track is too long though, I might have to repeat parts of it of course though.

But since it was said before that my temp tracks are too different, I don't know where to find temp tracks that would be similar enough to match each other, since I get the idea for tracks from different sources. How does one find temp tracks that are similar enough to each other?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

I think I might have realised the problem. We're talking blindly about 'temp tracks' with our understanding of them, and not realised Ryan may not have realised that temp tracks are not a defined, factual and quantifiable item, but a loose description of a problem solver. I looked back at my own temp track usage, in terms of ones I received, and ones I generated.

The critical thing I think, is that they are all designed for a purpose, and are a way that can often allow parallel development of the editing, sound, effects and process without everyone wasting time doing the wrong things, or working on assumptions later to be proven wrong.

A temporary audio track can provide the editor with the 'feel'. The context to allow editing to start. On the other hand, the visuals with the attached temporary audio track can then allow the composer to work properly - seeing hit points and the purpose of some of the audio cues that have to be built.

The director has a scene in his mind where the two characters enter the frame from the side, hold hands and slowly walk off into the distance. It even says that in the script. What it doesn't say is if it's a Brief Encounter style walk off, or something much lighter, maybe like singing in the rain? So are we talking about those rain scenes in my favourite, Blade Runner, or Gene Kelly jumping around, or something very personal and sad?

You find a nice audio track - preferably NOT from anything well known, but because that can come with the context from that movie. You want something emotive but anonymous. Something that can be faded out to match the length of the supplied video clip. The audio file without any video is pretty pointless. How does it help? You have one piece of music, and you're supposed to produce another???

If you do NOT have the visuals, you will perhaps have the visual version of the audio temp track? The storyboard, or at the very least a VERY detailed explanation of the scene, and it's placement in the entire movie, that itemises every scene, and how they lead into each other. This is critical for producing music that has a common anchor.

If you as Director, have particular wishes for the music - then ten seconds of a windy flute, or the screechy strings from Hitchcock movie will do the job - NOT the entire piece. If you envisage a strange droning sound to make the viewer feel melancholy when viewing a vista of a sand storm in a desert, find that sound and give them the sound - not the entire track. REMEMBER these soundtracks for the movie were written with the visuals in mind - the entire cue won't work out of context, but the sound you like might?

So the editor wants the feel for the scene, so much easier with a piece of music in their heads. The composer of the music needs the visuals. The trouble is there won't be the sound for the editor, or pictures for the composer - so temp tracks can induce the feel both need - BUT - they are a guide, NOT a prescription.

In Ryan's movie we don't even have the finished script, so we have no coherent story to follow. In this case, where the music has to be started early (far too early in my view at the moment - as if things get changed the music can be wrecked) then the only sensible way is a table showing the scenes, the action, the visuals and the sound, with some notes. Then the editor and composer have the same starting points.

Lets use this as an example.
SCENE 1 - BUSY 1980s CITY STREET - FAST, PACY, RHYTHMIC - Music needs to show how hectic and busy the scene is, with so many people rushing about going to work, getting on and off trams, taxi cabs rushing up to kerbs, people going in and out of slyscrapers

SCENE 2 - EMPTY VISTA OF A DESERT, CAMERA PANNING SLOWLY RIGHT TO LEFT, WITH TUMBLEWEED. - SLOW, UNCOMFORTABLE, DISSONANT, EMPTY, WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN - Music emphasises the contrast between the city, make the viewer wonder who or what is about to happen - ideally Wild West style harmonica, and maybe haunting fluttering from low flute type sound??

SCENE 2a - OLD DUSTY VEHICLE ENTERS THE SCENE ANDTRAVELS TOWARDS THE CAMERA. IT STOPS IN A CLOUD OF DUST AND OUR CHARACTER GETS OUT, WEARING CITY CLOTHES AND VAGUELY CLINT-EASTWOODESQUE. The music tells us something important is coming with a reveal, and needs to build to the climax of the car door opening and the character stepping out into the heat - ending with a pause as he looks around. Maybe a rattlesnake sound as he gets out of the vehicle?

SCENE 3 - POLICE STATION IN THE BUSY CITY - A LARGE OFFICE WITH BUSTLING PEOPLE - The music has elements of the original music in SC1 but is less overt, but similar - just calmed down a little. Maybe a rhythmic percussive feel?? (Example clip from 48 hours attached for the example of the rhythm)


That 48 hours clip would not be a temp track, but more of an example. If the composer got stuck, then he could ask for an example of what the director thought for the others.

They're tools to help editing and composition, not things to be copied.

Ryan seems to have got the process mixed up - I guess in reality, in this project, the sound needs to be set aside till something actually gets shot that can be worked to, or everyone will have to do things twice.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Temp tracks don't need to be all the same, although they should reflect the mood and emotions of the scenes and give the film its feel.

Your composer will make it consistent throughout.

EDIT, I posted this after having written part of it, then doing some domestic stuff before finishing. it. As Paul says, you need to understand how temp tracks get used. An example where you can compere is 2001, which uses the temps tracks in the final soundtrack, but now you can buy Alex North's music for the film, so you can compare the music. Some classical composers did very well out of that soundtrack.especially György Ligeti and Richard Strauss..


Alex North's score is pretty standard Hollywood big epic, but you can hear how things change from "temp". He did the score to Spartacus, which may explain why Kubrick selected him.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

My preference is this version

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay. Well as far as the composer is, at making things blend together, is it a difficult task to try to ask them to blend serious music in some tracks, with over the top dark comedy music in other tracks, as long as the context calls for that kind of shift?

I could give him temp tracks of each, and they do sound different, but I would just ask make something similar to both, but at the same time, make it feel like they are from the same movie, if that helps.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

It's the musical equivalent of having your granny write one the scenes in the script - you may well have the same characters and sets, but it doesn't blend.

Think about the entire music content of your movie as a classical work. They have a number of sections. You might have Vivace, then Allegretto, then Presto, followed by Allegro - all different tempos and content, BUT, all part of the same symphony.

If you have a piece simply slotted in because you want it, it's a musical mistake. Your composer will be choosing keys that fit together properly and genre typical differences. The slow scene, the romantic scene, the angry scene, the chase scene etc - I cannot imagine a 50s cartoon scene working with some of those other angry or lyrical scenes. They're musical opposites and I would have no idea how to flow cartoon comedy into rhythmic cinematic. It's going to be difficult enough with your bass flute and harmonica.

You have a movie with murders, violence, nudity and comedy? Seriously?

They MUST all have some elements in common - instrumentation, style, key, tempo. You are taking this too far again. You are intending micro managing the composer. It won't work. That I am sure of. Do you know any movies where the music selection is this random in nature. I'm thinking about the soundtrack albums available for most big movies. How many have these total changes in style apart from Jukebox movies.

If you went to see ZZ Top, how would the audience react if they played a slow gentle waltz in the middle or did a disco number? Metal Bands can do the occasional slow song, as long as it's a slow METAL song, and not Dolly Parton. She'd struggle if she had to sing the Ace of Spades?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

There is no nudity. I was told to put nudity in but I don't have any so far. I can try to think of movies that are serious but have dark comedy music in them as well. But let's say I want dark comedy music... where do you find tracks that would fit dark comedy, unless you go for music that is somewhat cartoony?

And why would it be difficult for a composer to work in a bass flute and harmonica? Other movie scores have had those, so I don't see why it's so difficult.

One movie that came to mind just now is Dick Tracy (1990). The music is mostly serious and exciting, but they do have moments of comedic music here and there, when they want to be more comedic. Another movie that also comes to mind is 15 Minutes (2001), which had dark comedy music in certain moments, and then serious music in the more serious moments. I guess Sin City (2005), might count as well?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

The music with those instruments may have musicians playing them and how the musicians perform them is important, as is the genre of music they're playing.



For a modern urban film, the type music you'd play will be different to that of an Italian western (or Once Upon A Time in America), which tends to be "operatic" in nature.

Since your film appears to be a police procedural, which different genre to the examples you've given

Dick Tracy is about a comic strip character, so having comedic sections can be appropriate, since he's not a dark character like Batman. Both used Danny Elfman at the time.

I think this whole instrumentation thing is being done too early in the process. You have to let a film breathe allowing it to have a life if its own, everything is getting too locked in for a film that, in the end, may work out differently to the way you imagine it.

Especially, since you seem worrying about allowing it to become a rape and revenge film..

One feature that the above mentioned films have is a sense of style, which your film doesn't currently seem to have. That's something that you personally have to put in and it won't come from listening on other people's opinions, either you have style sense or you don't.

,

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

But what about movies that are not based off comic books that are serious but still have comedic sounding music during the more dark comedy moments, such as 15 Minutes (2001), or To Die For (1995)?

But even if the music I am into is operatic, don't other movies that take place in modern times, have operatic music? Doesn't a modern police procedural, such as The Silence of the Lambs or the prequel Red Dragon, even more so for example, have more operatic music?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

It doesn't matter what type it is as long as it works. The real and 'proper' Batman from the 60s (the only good one to my way of thinking) had big band instrumentation and it worked well with the light hearted TV show. The same characters in the movies when it went dark also do a great job. You can introduce opera if it is appropriate. This is what you have trouble with. You ask and ask and ask and get contrary input, that you take as meaning something is wrong. Perhaps it is, but sometimes you get bad advice. At some point you need to be able to decide for yourself. You seem to itemise other movies and if they were a success you determine the choice of music was correct, so when your path crosses, you determine that X is correct, because it worked on Y.

Music really is bolted onto the visuals. It's rare to come first. It's both a creative and reactive art. Who can tell if the certain sound you want for some reason will fit your edit? We certainly can't. To be honest, nor can you?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

As Paul says, you have to use music that's appropriate for your film.

What works in another film may not work in your film. it may even be counterproductive.

You personally have to know the emotions that's being created in your film and how the music will assist in conveying these. Endlessly referring to other films seems to suggest that you can't make creative decisions unless someone has done it before in a movie.

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Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

I think the music will go with the context of the movie. The temp tracks I picked sound wildly different from each other, but they were the closest things I could find to what I want. So I thought the composer could take ideas from those, and do similar tracks, but make them sound closer to one another, or so I thought.

This is why I thought we should pick a certain number of instruments with him to stick to, because I thought that if you stick to those instruments, the tracks will not sound so wildly different, if you want to change moods for certain scenes. Or so I thought.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

You really do put the cart before the horse, you haven't even seen your rushes or cut the film yet. The whole mood may change with the images and the performances

The music is the least of your worries and is possibly a distraction from the real decisions that need to be made.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Yeah that's true. I just want to do what I can during covid, since I cannot shoot anything at the moment, plus it being winter time as well, which makes some scenes difficult to shoot. So I just want to get things done in the mean time. Plus I thought if I played music during some of the dialogue-less scenes, it would help actors to perform a certain way later on, during the shooting.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

All I can say Ryan is that you should search out a website called clients from hell. Have a good read through and you'll see that you are, or are working towards being one of those clients.

You are choosing entire tracks, when it's the components that matter. You really cannot join two different style tracks together. It has never worked like that, but you're not a musician, so you will have to take our word for it. However, if (as you usually do) want rules, then study Disney movies. They have much wider extremes - they go from comedy to dire straits, from animals and people dying to them being born. Maybe look at the lion king, because primarily the well known music is songs, with song structure. They're also simpler. Look at all the music in Lion King, and you will see the commonality, the sequence, the style and the mechanics of blending moods. You simply cannot join things randomly together. Please believe us, it doesn't work. If your composer is really good, he could do the mechanics so the keys match, the tempos blend and the instrumentation doesn't clash - BUT - it will sound horrible. Like those old crash edits we used to do with video. Ideally - trust the composer.
Scene one, 2:38. Slow, romantic, but ends with a shock.
Scene two. 3:20 From the shock start, tension builds as the characters search the area for the murderer. They find him at 3:57 when the tension releases and the captured murderer is put into the police van and we see his awareness of what is to follow.

Most composers could follow that and come up with something appropriate. If you decide that you MUST have the harmonica when he is caught inside the van - this if planned and prepared for won't be a problem.

WHAT WILL BE A PROBLEM IS MIMICRY - Expecting him to re-arrange an existing track is deadly dull to do, artistically uninspiring, and 0 satisfaction in a job well done.

Once you get the script sorted and the video shot, and have done a satisfactory initial edit, you burn in the timecode and hand it to the composer. You then wait weeks perhaps while he builds all the cues from scratch. You then annoy him by requesting changes because you just remembered the similar scene from an ancient Steve McQueen movie. He fixes this, but you then feel the next scene is not right and make him change that and so on. Then he say "stuff it" and walks. Musicians are temperamental types and all the musical directors and composers I know hate interference from Directors when they know what they have is good, and the Director believes a bass flute will fix it.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

I see what you mean. The temp tracks I provided on here, are not close at all, and I realize that. But they are the CLOSEST I could find to what I have in mind. Of course they do not match, and the composer would have to come up with ones that go together more. I just provided them as examples, because they were the closest I could come across.

I don't have to give the composer any temp tracks at all if that's better. I just thought I would have trouble describing what I want, if I do it in my own words, and thought that that temp tracks could give a better idea than I could.

One of the short films I did before, the music didn't turn out much like how I wanted it it to at all, just based off my explanations, so I thought that temp tracks examples, would help.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

What you are talking about isn't a temp track as used in the industry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temp_track

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

never seen that link Brian, sums it up pretty well.

I started another today as it happens and the steer I got was sci-fi drones, and the time. That's it. The video is an animation of some kind of space ship or possibly underwater. It's a low res computer animation and has a title at the start that indicates it's an early render without the submarine/spaceship (it says vessel to be added later) and I just have a cube moving through 'things'. I've assumed space. I'm just being careful that if it turns out to be water, I can tweak to make that work too.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay, should I call them example tracks then or should I use a different term?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

It's more a music industry term, but demo might be closer in this case, since it's more a demonstration of the instruments than a temp track.

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh thanks. Well I can either give the composer demo tracks, unless the tracks are too different for him to get what I am going for, in which I can just describe what I want, and with a list of instruments to make it all sound of the same and blend, if that's better?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Ryan, you just don’t understand. Your not a musician so what you call them doesn’t matter. Using the right terminology doesn’t matter if the subject is wrong, and giving him tracks you call temp tracks, that aren’t doesn’t matter if the musical intention works. We work in skill area compartments. None of the departs on their own area expect others to really understand what they do, but we all need to do translation. Have you considered for a moment that your composer might have better ideas than you, and like me, might really wonder about your ‘guidance’. You cannot give him a list of instruments to make it sound the same, that’s like forcing an an artist to use somebody else’s colour pallette.

You are trying to be involved more than your role normally allows. He needs a gentle steer, but you want control of the rudder and the map.

Remember that if you insist on providing tracks that has to work to, they need to already blend and match. You need to find examples of how your comedy music blends with murder music. It’s so odd a mix, he’ll struggle. So if you can’t find suitable examples, that’s because it doesn’t work, as you seem able to find the strangest examples so far.

Best advice. Forget about the music till you can give him something real. In the script topic, we haven’t got a clue about your movie because you explain it so badly. So how can you write music for something so vague and ever changing?

Re: Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?
 

Oh okay. I can give him a gentle stear without examples, if that's best. He probably has better ideas than me. He just asks me what I want so I am want let him know what I was thinking for the music in the best way. But he'll probably come up with better ideas, and that's great.