Could need some help with orchestration

[eco]

At the moment I'm working on a remix of Huelsbeck's "Starball". The work in progress version can be found at

http://www.selfmadeclub.de/musik/play/1171/7972

Well, as you can hear, this turns out to be quite orchestrated and I know that such tunes are judged very critically. As this is my first attempt with some serious orchestration I could need some comments, hints, tips, etc. on what to improve or if this is total crap, that shouldn't be uploaded anywhere.

I'm especially interested in the following things...

Too much reverb on any instrument?
Any instruments sounding too flat?
Do I need to insert some stabs/brasses/etc.?
Piano too artificial and (in this case) how to improve?

Well, I'm thankfull for any help, I can get...

Cheers, Eco

[Razmo]

Hi Eco... I'm not that skilled with orchestral scoring... I'm more of an experimentalist, but...

... I know that the most important thing to get right making orchestral scores is, that you know how the real instrument is played, to make it sound right... the right articulations etc.

For example; a flute can only sound one tone at a given time, so polyphonic playing might sound weird... etc...

Another is the reverb... use only one master reverb if it's supposed to sound classical, as the only ambience in an orchestra comes from the environment... so use sends from all parts to just that one verb.

When it comes to scoring... be your own judge... that is what will make your tune stand out. If you feel you lack some stabs, put them in... don't ask if others would want them, it's not their score! ... be creative.

My initial impression of your remix was good... the samples used was not horrible, and has lots of dynamics (which almost always is the giveaway of sampled orchestral sounds).

But then again... I believe others on these forums are more skilled and thus capable of giving critical feedback

[eco]

I got the hint, that the piano sounds too artificial because of the digital timing and there is practically no way to change this in Renoise. So I've completely rewritten the piano parts using Cubasis VST, mixed them down and inserted them in the existing arrangement. Mainly the chords should sound somewhat more natural now, but also the rest of the piano work is now a little (very little) out of sync - as it should be when playing live. Maybe I should learn playing piano next time, because sideshifting nearly every note by hand wasn't much fun...

The result can be heard here... http://www.selfmadeclub.de/musik/play/1171/8053

The link at the top should be dead now. Next up I have to think about arrangement itself. Time will show. Thanks to Razmo for the reverb-thing. I hadn't thought of this before.