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Phantasy Island Phantasy Island is 3.5 nautical miles north west of Gillian's Island. Seriously this is the first time I have ever tried to record an orchestral piece. I had a number of tracks and mixing took the longest time. All sounds are from Eastwest's Fantasy Orchestra. BiaB Style - Guitar 3/4 - Gentle 3/4 Folk Tempo - 85 BPM Note that many of the tracks were modified to better fit the song. Bass- Low Strings Guitar - Hi Strings Guitar 2 - Lute - a copied guitar track Piano - Viola Da Gamba Strings - Strings and Choir Utility 1 - Wind and Brass Utility 2 - (SMT 3637:Piano, Rhythm) - Lute Utility 3 - (SMT2059"Strings, Rhythm CelticWaltz EV 100) - Fiddle Utility 4 - (SMT 3637:Piano, Rhythm) - Dulcimer Me Via my keyboard controller Lead Vocal Tin Whistle Low Brass1 Low Brass2 - harmony Flugelhorn1 Flugelhorn2 - harmony Lead Lute Ocarina Drums Cymbals All comments are welcomed. Phantasy Island
Last edited by MarioD; 08/31/25 08:56 AM.
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Mario,
Love this! A big sweeping epic sounding piece. The orchestration and build throughout is spectacular.
Incredible mix - it sounds pro all the way.
Bob
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Hi Mario.
This is a hauntingly atmospheric piece of music. It's easy to hear that you have put in a great a deal effort. It wouldn't have been easy pulling all these instruments together. Congratulations on a job very well done!
--Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Gotta laugh at my expectations! Here I was expecting a sunny calypso island beat. "Perfect! It'll get me in a good mood this morning." Instead, I was running through a hurricane, sliding down sand dunes ripping my clothes, and wondering if I'd survive as I look out at the remnants of my ship breaking apart and finally succumbing to the waves. You are master of vision quests, Mario.
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Great post, Mario. Some thoughts:
I'm not sure if you did this consciously, but it seems like you kept the chord structure very simple--allowing you to focus on working with all the orquestral elements--very smart!
Also, it's interesting that you didn't use a "Classical" style, but leaned on a simple folk framework, also very smart.
It's ambitious and comes off successfully. I enjoyed listening, and it's given me some inspiration--writing some type of symphonic or orquestral work is on my todo list, but seems daunting.
Windows 11, Intel Core i5-8600T 2.3Ghz, 16 gig ram, BIAB 2025 MegaPak, SampleTank 4, Keystation49 Kybd, Neewer NW-800 mic
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Holy WOW! Yes, the mix on this sounds like an incredibly daunting task, and you did an amazing job, Mario. There is kind of a world orchestra idea going on. I hear influences from all around the globe AND from throughout history. I am continulously mesmerized by your talent.
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Hi Mario, what a beautiful melody! And what great use of all the instruments; the flute, the orchestra and the female vocal!
At first I was distracted by the percussion, or rather, the timpani, but then I heard how they fit in this song.
Very well done!
Hans
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Mario,
A huge undertaking (at least appears that way!)...
Well done!
A Majestic Medieval Dirge that could easily be used in a big budget Fantasy movie. The scene where the monster/creature armies fight the final epic battle (much of which happens in slow motion. There is a Lot of Bloody Gore)
Impressive.
I wanted the "ethereal voice" to have more reverb to set it back slightly (and to be more reverb-y)
fj
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It's a haunting piece and I really like the synth-vocal, if that's what it is, plus there's an intriguing sound which is like balalaikas - something I really, really want in BiaB - but for me vibe-wise it doesn't come across as 'orchestral'. There's actually Fantasy Island theme park a few miles from where I live.
Some favourite Waoist Adages:
#1: Play on the Way.
#13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you.
#58: Bring consciousness to it.
#63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made.
#92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
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Skillfully done (again), Maestro! Cool build and deliciously eerie musical narrative. That explosive ending is very tasty, too. Well thought out, expertly played.
Hearing you and other forum members put together songs like this one, which I tell myself I could never do, inspires me to keep pushing the boundaries. THANK YOU, Mario!
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
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Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Mario,
Love this! A big sweeping epic sounding piece. The orchestration and build throughout is spectacular.
Incredible mix - it sounds pro all the way.
Bob Thanx so much Bob. This was a hard one for me so I'm really glad that you liked it.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Hi Mario.
This is a hauntingly atmospheric piece of music. It's easy to hear that you have put in a great a deal effort. It wouldn't have been easy pulling all these instruments together. Congratulations on a job very well done!
--Noel Thanx so much Noel for this very kind review. Getting the instrumentation down wasn't hard but the mixing was extremely hard for me. I have never done anything on this scale before.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Gotta laugh at my expectations! Here I was expecting a sunny calypso island beat. "Perfect! It'll get me in a good mood this morning." Instead, I was running through a hurricane, sliding down sand dunes ripping my clothes, and wondering if I'd survive as I look out at the remnants of my ship breaking apart and finally succumbing to the waves. You are master of vision quests, Mario. Thanx so much Beth. Sorry to have upset your good mood morning. But it sounds like you were on a great adventure. I hope your ship was insured!
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Great post, Mario. Some thoughts:
I'm not sure if you did this consciously, but it seems like you kept the chord structure very simple--allowing you to focus on working with all the orquestral elements--very smart!
Also, it's interesting that you didn't use a "Classical" style, but leaned on a simple folk framework, also very smart.
It's ambitious and comes off successfully. I enjoyed listening, and it's given me some inspiration--writing some type of symphonic or orquestral work is on my todo list, but seems daunting. Thanx so much Tom for taking the time to listen and comment. Yes I kept the chord structure very simple, i.e. Am-Dm-Am-Gm. I wanted to concentrate on the instruments interactions with having to mess around with a complicated chord structure. I did try some classical styles but they didn't really fit my vision for this song. For awhile I didn't think I would find a style that would fit but our good friends at PGM came through again. I'm sure that you will do just fine writing and produce a symphonic/orchestral piece of music.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Holy WOW! Yes, the mix on this sounds like an incredibly daunting task, and you did an amazing job, Mario. There is kind of a world orchestra idea going on. I hear influences from all around the globe AND from throughout history. I am continulously mesmerized by your talent. Thanx so much Marty. Yes mixing this took me a long time, a lot more than finding a style, picking the instruments, and playing my parts. I appreciate your kind words.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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Hi Mario, what a beautiful melody! And what great use of all the instruments; the flute, the orchestra and the female vocal!
At first I was distracted by the percussion, or rather, the timpani, but then I heard how they fit in this song.
Very well done!
Hans Hans, thanx for this very kind review. I'm glad that you liked it.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Mario,
A huge undertaking (at least appears that way!)...
Well done!
A Majestic Medieval Dirge that could easily be used in a big budget Fantasy movie. The scene where the monster/creature armies fight the final epic battle (much of which happens in slow motion. There is a Lot of Bloody Gore)
Impressive.
I wanted the "ethereal voice" to have more reverb to set it back slightly (and to be more reverb-y)
fj Yes Floyd it was a huge undertaking, at least for me. I have never done anything like this before. Thanx for that reverb suggestion. I'll try that in a future song.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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It's a haunting piece and I really like the synth-vocal, if that's what it is, plus there's an intriguing sound which is like balalaikas - something I really, really want in BiaB - but for me vibe-wise it doesn't come across as 'orchestral'. There's actually Fantasy Island theme park a few miles from where I live. Thanx Chay. The voice is a patch from EastWest's Fantasy Orchestra. I didn't know there was an actual Fantasy Island anything! I learn something new every day.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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