Fantastic track! To my ears the intro vocal up to around 1:00' is very crisp and clear, which is great, but to me it sounds a bit disjointed, that is it doesn't feel like it sits in the same space as the piano. Maybe you're going for that upfront separated sound, but if you aren't, I'd try bussing the vocals and piano to a reverb so there's some space cohesion, as if you were singing next to the piano in the same room. When the vocals double up, around 1:00 they seem to get progessively more and more buried in the mix, especially after about 1:20. Almost too low to hear properly, for me anyway. Again, this might be your intention, but if not maybe try sidechaining your vox to the underlying pads with a compressor (maybe send all the pads to a bus and side chain that to the vox) so they duck as you sing. Alternatively there's a great little plugin called Trackspacer which is very good at helping with this type of thing. You have an amazing voice and the track is a killer, so well done!

@Matt McDonnell you can get a feel for how it changes the energy by creating two 8 measure sections in your DAW. Put a one measure gap between them. In 4/4 for the first 8 measures lay down a string pad and then a simple string ostinato using eighth notes on the grid. Then at the start of the second set of eight measures set your DAW to change to 6/8 at that point. Copy over the same string pad from the first 8 measures then add another ostinato, again with eighth notes and on the grid (your grid should now show 6 divisions per measure instead of the eight you see in 4/4). Play back the two 8 measure sections with the gap in between and you can then get a feel for how it will sound going from 4/4 in act 2 to 3/4 (6/8) in Act 3. It really ramps up the energy. You can also use this in small sections of an act to create contrast. It’s quite common to add triplet percussion whilst in 4/4 time (effectively it’s just like inserting a bar or two of 6/8) on the percussion track). You can also use this type of transition very effectively at the very end of your act 3 crescendo. To help further your understanding here’s what AI coughed up on the subject, hope it helps move you forward! 😊: AI ANSWER: A common, high-impact technique in modern trailer music involves moving from a driving 4/4 time signature in Act 2 (the "build" or "tension" phase) to a slower, more epic 3/4 or 6/8 waltz-like rhythm in Act 3 (the "climax" or "big ending"). This transition allows composers to maintain a high tempo while giving the impression of a "swelling" or "lifting" feeling, often accompanied by massive, slow brass stabs and heavy percussion on the downbeat of every three-beat phrase. Examples and Typical Structures * The "Epic Waltz" Climax: Many hybrid orchestral trailers build up with fast, rhythmic, percussive elements in 4/4 during the second act. Upon hitting the third act, the drums switch to a "half-time" feel, but the underlying pulse shifts to a 3/4 or 6/8 rhythm. This creates a massive, sweeping, "heroic" sensation rather than just another fast action beat.

@Matt McDonnell I've put together a very rough and ready loop for you to demonstrate the effect of changing meter from 4/4 to 6/8 using the technique I outlined above, so you can see the effect, punctuated with some (again, very rough and ready) percussion. Hope this helps.

There's a few libraries that have effective pitch bends built in, such as (most famously) Realitone's Sunset Strings (which sounds amazing) and also their Nightfall Strings to a slightly lesser extent. Then there's Westwoods Novella Carbon, which is an insanely good toolkit for hybrid trailers which has some very cool string bending going on. Last but not least if you're not in the mood to splash out big bucks for those libraries, there's a very innovative plugin call Fluid Chords by Pitch Innovations, which performs pretty insane pitch glides from one chord to another chord no matter the interval and it works for any VST instrument you choose as well as having some cool built in sounds. https://youtu.be/MpNtAqcmwn8

Pianoteq. Once you try it, it's hard to go back to anything else 😊 For those not aware of it, it's a physically modelled piano so no huge GB's of samples hogging your ram or SSD and. practically no delay. They have a free trial if you'd like to try it. I'd go so far as to say it's the most realistic piano plugin on the market today, it's that good.

Without question OTT from Xyfer Records. It's the only plugin that lives on every single track in my template.