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Your music is so lovely and intricate and I don't have words for how it makes me feel. Thank you for it. It is an honor to have received a favorable review from you for my simple "Last of the Wine."
Kenneth, Thank you for review of my song "Conversation with Time" from my acoustic solo piano CD "Castle of Dreams". The song was actually recorded using a Kawia Grand piano in a recording studio in Upper Darby PA. Cheeks Studios.
Hello Kenneth, I was preparing to send you the polite and perfunctory thank you message for your kind review of "Space In Time". However before I got to that I went on your page and listened to a few of your works. Oh my. You are a serious talent. I especially enjoyed Clarinet Quintet and House on Gable Island. Your compositions are on par with one of my favorite composers, Leonard Bernstein. Let me just say that when a composer of your caliber says that something I wrote is good, well then...... okay. Thank you for the stunning review I'm flattered that you enjoyed it. ............. kenney
Ok, well, wow! Thank YOU. The world lost a great talent when he died. The 'MASS' is on of my 10 works to take to a desert island pieces. Is that a Picasso on your wall?
Yes, that's "The Old Guitarist" from Picasso's Blue Period
Wll, Thank you for your review of my song Country Tree Swing from my Castle of Dreams Acoustic Solo Piano CD. Sincerely, David Michael Walsh
Kenneth, Thank you kindly for taking some time to review my track "November Gray". Some confusion on your "too loud" comment on my mastering....I hear NO distortion, harmonic or otherwise....did you maybe have the treble/bass signals boosted? If you did, my music will ALWAYS inherently distort as my mastering is on the cusp of negligent but still remains constant. I would like to hear your detailed thoughts on that track as it is my most prized of all classical pieces. Thanks again, ~W
I have a pair of KRK 8's and listen in a 'fairly' neutral acoustic studio. (1) What I was hearing (and I should have been more detailed) was what sounded like you used a great amount of compression. This used to be a normal mode of mastering a few years ago (the concept of louder is always better!) And that may work for hip-hop or dance music but definitely NOT for classical music. In other words very little dynamic range. I come from an acoustic background and I dislike classical music that has compressed like producers do for FM broadcasts. I had rather strain to hear the soft parts rather than be blasted by a piece that runs FFF throughout the entire piece. (2) The strings (mainly) cut off abruptly with no reverb and that lends the instrument to sound very 'MIDI'. Sorry, I get that criticism about my music very often. There are very many good hall simulation FX you can get and I think they would help immeasurably. Whatever DAW you use probably has one built in. If you apply it to individual tracks if gives them more body. Applied to the entire piece at mastering makes the piece sound as if it were played in a real auditorium not coming out of a computer. In no way does this lessen the quality of your composition! It is a well-composed piece and I liked it a lot! One more thought, listen to examples of recordings of real orchestras and try to make your tracks sound like the real thing as much as possible. And buy the best samples you can afford. Happy composing, Ken
Ken, Thank you VERY much for the details, I take your comments VERY seriously and often experiment with the sounds or with the suggestions. If I never did this, I would be robbing myself of education which is invaluable for musicians. Please know I appreciate your time. Best~W
Sorry to bust in on this thread but i enjoyed Ken's comments very much as well .
Thanks, Steve, and I must say I really enjoy your tunes; your mixes are awesome!
That is one of the most inspiring bios I have read. Thanks for sharing your heart. I am finding that this is a community with many like minded music lovers.
Love the sudden change at 1:07! Caught me pleasantly by surprise.
Hi Kenneth, thanks for taking time to review one of my tracks, appreciate the feedback :) Mark
Hi Kenneth, I have heard one of your serenade tracks and I really loved it. I have also read that you composed it in three days and I was really impressed. Well done! I also work with very strict deadlines, but I would not make such a great track in just three days!, congratulations!
Yeah, it seems to be a gift and a curse. These things spring almost fully realized in my head however, I can't usually deviate from what's in my head. Say, on another subject, have you heard anything about the scam alert about Broadjam? Read this: http://www.scamchecker.com/content/roy-elkins-broadjamcom-broadjamcom-steals-your-money-and-dreams 1
Hi Kenneth, Thanks for the link, it seems quite interesting, although I have not read all of it yet. Will wou let me read it and I will get back to you shortly. Sincerely, Stelios
Hi Kennneth, That was quite shocking indeed I am not sure what to believe and what not, but speaking honestly, I cannot say that I have a personal success here that proves the opposite of what I have read there. Do you? On the other hand, this does not mean that these reports are true One thing is for sure though. If I will not get an opportunity success soon, I will not refresh my membership. Maybe i am not good enough, maybe it's the providers, maybe it is broadjam, i do not know. But definately, there are a lot of maybes that will prevent me from renewing my membership. I was registered here through a promotional code anyway. What I personally have to report is that during the course of an opportunity (ID: FT12AK01), I logged in to check the its status after the expiration of the decision deadline and there was no report at all. The provider had not logged in yet. Half an hour later, I receive a notification that the status of the opportunity had changed, so I logged in again to check what is going on...the provider had listened to all of the tracks and decided that none of them was suitable., so the question goes: did the provider listened to 92 tracks in 30 minutes??? I do not think so. Maybe this fact does not have to do with broadjam, maybe it has to do with the provider. Maybe he choose a track from another site. Hence another question rises: if he choose from another site, why did not s/he informed us? The answer is obvious- because we could claim our money back. Hence since providers most probably earn an amount from the fees of the submission system (not sure about that though), then there is no reason at all not to take this money. So why not listening to every track for some seconds just to inform the submission statistics and take this money? However, I have a disturbing impression that somehow providers are always protected. They post here anonymously they remain anonymous after the expiration of the decision deadline, they do not reveal the projects concerning the opportunities etc. Okay, I really understand the issue of confidentiality in these kind of business, but at the end of the day, musicians are the only ones left unprotected, right? This thing really annoys me. Furthermore, I cannot see why at the end of the selection process we are not revealed the name of the project, or generally what was this all about? We do get ads about Liscencing successes, but they are very general. I would feel way more comfortable if we could have at least the name of the show, film, ad etc for every opportunity once the selection process is done. What do you think about that? Sincerely, Stelios
Hi Kenneth, Thank you so much for taking the time to review my track "The Days that will Come". I am truly honored by your comments. Sincerely, Stelios
Hi dear Kenneth , Thanx for the review and interesting comments . Neither this one nor most of my worx are not based on a movie and I didn't imagine such a scene you described ...and I laughed when I saw the name you chose ...I really like that play ... About small musical pallette and harmonic spectrum I should say I know and it is on purpose , an experience with an eastern theme in a minimal contex , it is not a minimal work though ...I draw a distinction between minimal music and this texture but having no climax or much development on it is because of the influence of minimal texture I wanted to acheive to some extent . And of course it is a computer performance of that score ...just to show the idea . so ,... Thanks again , Best .
Thanks very much for the kind review of "Ulitka." You asked where we found that combination... the answer is, literally, Siberia. :-)
Cool! ...or, eh, Cold!
Kenneth, Thanks very much for the review of my song, "Avenger", I appreciate you taking the time to listen. :) ~ Jeff
Thanks for the generous review of "Windy Road" At the moment I am saving for the Hollywood Strings/Brass libraries... but on a student budget they aren't cheap!
Phil There are at lease 3 good string libraries I know of. I use the EastWest Symph. Set, there is the Vienna Set (very expensive but on sale at times and you can get sub sets and build up a library), and Michael Horsphol (you should listen to his stuff here on BJ) recommends LA Scoring Strings. If you are a student, you can get discounts. Just thought I would pass this along. Happy music making! Ken
I also use EastWest Symphony orchestra... the hollywood strings is the upgrade, as is hollywood brass.
Dear Kenneth, Thank you so much for your generous review on "The Journey". I am trully honored to receive such comments from a talented musician like you. You have done a remarkable work at "The Minoans of Crete" and indeed, I have to make a better mix and mastering for the track. All the best, Stelios
Enjoyed your Christmas fantasy Kenneth. I'd be interested to know what kit you use to record?
Paul, For Christmas Fantasy I mostly used EastWest Symphonic Orchestra 64-bit and Omnisphere and a few Kontakt instruments for the effects. All done in MIDI, mastered in Adobe Audition. --Glad you liked it! Ken
Hi Kenneth, Last year you reviewed my song Deep Wood and left this comment in the review "I am sitting in my living room, the room is dark, theater system is turned up, watching credits go by on the latest movie I rented; it was a psychological/horror thriller and, guess what, this piece is playing." Did you mean that you were playing the piece in the backround on Broadjam or that the movie actually had this music playing? I have not been doing much but just came across your review and was wondering about this. Thanks Jany
Hi , Thank you for the review ...nice comments , to answer I should say : having some chords in the upper range in that part of the piece can change the mood of that point , dull , heavy , falling ...it may be like a light into that dark area , don't you think ? may be it is technically good but it changes the concept ...about pedal I should say : just I thought it can work as a break into a restless track , a kind of that , and also I like its sound . Honestly , I do not know if they called the chalumeaux range of such instrument or not but I like to do so , it can be great in some way , when you feel such a color in yourself , indeed . You can find a bit more about it in the details of the song . Thank you again for the considerations . All the best ,
Thank you, Kenneth, for the review of "The Last of the Wine." I had not realized that the track was so full of static. Unfortunately my colleague and friend the artist has died and I don't know how to rescue his lovely music. Listen to "My Waking Dream" sometime, it's one of the songs on my list. It's worth your time.
You can 'rescue' by using Adobe's Audition or Soundbooth and go to Noise Reduction/Restoration and use one of the filters. Works pretty good. And there are other programs that will also denoise recordings.
How thoughtful of you. I will take your advice, gratefully.
Kenneth, Thanks for the lovely review of "On The Road". I listened to some of your tracks...... very nice tunes. I studied in St. Louis at the St. Louis Institute of Music. I believe it became a music conservatory..... (I think) I studied with a couple of terrific teachers... Herb Drury and also Seth Greiner Sr..... Anyway...... just thought I'd touch base and thank you for your time on my tune. KB
Hello Kennteh, thank you so much for your kind review of our track Ritorno. We appreciated your words very much. We wish you all the best for your music! Ciao from Italy!
Brad, I'm glad you commented on my review. My music has been accused of sounding MIDI-like, also and I use East West Symphonic Orchestra Play. It is on par with the Vienna Sound Samples. I think I have an insight. In your piece the cello part never deviated in velocity or volumn. Velocity and Volumn may sound the same but they have different MIDI functions. No REAL cello section EVER plays with the same exact attack, release, and decay to use MIDI terms. These can be varied in your sequencer depending on which one you use. Adding a chorus effect can also help. Chorusing adds slight imperfections to make the section sound like it is played by different players. All these effects can be manipulated to make the sound more realistic. And there is also reverb. I think that is what I was hearing in your, otherwise, very well-written piece. I know how all of these work, but I still have not mastered their use. Good luck, Ken
Hello Kenneth, Thank you so much for your recent review! It was very helpful! You mention that the sound was a little MIDI-sounding. I use the Vienna Symphony library, which is the best I've heard, but I have a limited subset of the larger library, and am missing a lot of articulations. Perhaps that might be an issue? I am also not that well-versed in the finer points of MIDI controls beyond the basic ones. So I will look more into that. If there is a higher quality sound library that you are using, or are familiar with, I would be curious to know what it is. Thanks again! You are a big help! Take care, Brad
Wow, do I feel like a fool, LOL. Seems I didn't realise that I read my own comment when I googled Teresa and was led to your page. LOL again. I have made full circle and corresponded with myself online. Sorry, This is still funny to me. Anyway, I am still glad to remain intouch with you. I have enjoyed your music here on Broadjam, and hope we remain in touch. Talk about being caught in a warp in cyberspace.
Hello Kenneth, I was searching randomly for information on a dear friend, and teacher of mine Teresa Garbulinska, and I was led to your page. Interestingly, we have corresponded with one another before. I just wanted to say hello, and keep in touch. Please let me know what you know of Teresa, she is a dear friend and it is such a rare moment to find others who know of her. Thanks, John
In the word of Donovan: Little pebble upon the sand Now you're lying here in my hand, How many years have you been here ? Little human upon the sand >From where I'm lying here in your hand, You to me are but a passing breeze. The sun will always shine where you stand Depending in which land You may find yourself. Now you have my blessing, go your way. Happiness runs in a circular motion Thought is like a little boat upon the sea. Everybody is a part of everything anyway, You can have everything if you let yourself be. Happiness runs, happiness runs. Happiness runs in a circular motion Ken
thanks for the nice review of the odyssey! -steve
Ken, thanks for your kind review of my romantic Renaissance piece "Farewell My Love". Glad you liked it. Your work shines and inspires me. I'm still saving up for a better set of orchestral samples. All the best! Yuri
Beautiful Work Kenneth... Just Listened to Civilization of the Peloponnese Wow. Joe
Years ago I met Miroslav Vitous here in LA... you probably know his Sampling Work...
Kenneth, Thanks for your review of "El Misterio de Madrid". Very helpful. Yes, better samples would be nice. I'm shopping. Recommendations are appreciated. Anything under the realm of ProTools LE, Reason, and Native Instruments would probably fit my gear and budget. I've been listening to your excellent work. You are a truly talented musician, and I look forward to studying and enjoying your creations. All the best, Yuri
Yuri Most people I have asked say the Vienna Symphonic Library is the best and most expensive!! I use EastWest 24 bit. Their prices vary from $200 (Silver Edition) to $900 (Platinum). With Vienna you can buy pieces of the library (like just Woodwinds or Brass) without laying out the whole wad at one time. NI Kontakt (full version) uses a subset of vienna for their orchestral sounds. It is affordable and may be a good place to start. Hope this helps. Ken
You've confirmed my findings and favorite choices. Thanks!