First Use of Omnisphere

This is a live recording of a 4-piece band (12-string/vocal, bass, drums, and organ - me on the latter). It was tracked in a unique studio that features a performance stage and audience seating. We invited friends (mostly other musicians) and family to be the audience and recorded 14 songs. The performance was videotaped and will be posted to YouTube in a few weeks (The "3, 4" you hear at the start is for syncing video). Oh, and this is neither my composition nor my vocal; I'm just a sideman on this project.

After the session the engineer gave me the raw waves on disk, which I then took home and mixed. Because I'd recently bought Omnisphere and was anxious to find a use for it, I naturally had to figure a way to squeeze it in, post-production. (Hopefully, nobody will notice that there are more sounds than performers in the video :)

I used four modified Omnisphere patches to create the faux gospel/beach boys BGV's that start around 2:30: "Jazz Combo Stacks 1 ^", "Gospel Choir Oohs - p", "Jazz Stacks Bap Accent", and "Gospel Worship 1".

One other production note: the drums are electronic, played with a Roland Handsonic. These are really fun, and actually pretty good in the hands of a real drummer. However, their limitation in the studio is that we only get a stereo out, so I was unable to do much to balance the individual drum instruments. (I'd asked for a MIDI track, but the studio didn't have a long-enough MIDI cable, so 2-track audio is what I had to work with.) FabFilter Pro-C came to the rescue, its filtered sidechain allowing me to tame some too-hot hi-hats.

http://soundcloud.com/bitflipper/13virgins


P.S. I just started using SoundCloud. Anyone know how to embed the player into a forum post?

+1 on hearing more of your organ. That sounds just awesome.
The OS stuff is just ok on this track, tbh.  How does it compare to the stuff in SampleTank Vocal Collection?

Dig it!

Wow after three hours reworking parts of my posted song I had to take a break and take a listen to a song or two by you guys .
I really like what you recorded here but I agree more organ would polish off the song some .

Nice job ! Radio

nice tune.... I like it. Offensive? Nahhh.... just cool music to me. 

pie in the sky....13 virgins....flying under the radar..... I think somebody got shortchanged.  

good job on live recording.... one of the best live recordings I've heard yet.

Hey Dave
Performance/mix sounds stellar for being live.  I also would like to hear your organ up just a smidge. Looking forward to the video. KUDOS!

Kev

Man that was killer...........love it.   I thought the organ sounded great.
Can't wait to see the video.   I would love to do some live recording in a studio
environment like you described.  I know of a studio that has a few rooms like that,
but has a outrageous hourly rate.............. :(

Tim

How does it compare to the stuff in SampleTank Vocal Collection?

The Sampletank voices are weak. However, the ones in Miroslav can be quite good with a little effort. I have used them many times. I have gradually become a big fan of Miroslav, which I'd initially thought of as a dated also-ran in the orchestral lib world. Turns out, not so; I've done stuff with the string ensembles that to my ear are the equal of much more expensive packages.

"This is a live recording"

That is pretty amazing.
Why do I only get 13 virgins, and not 72?
Are they all human?
Are any of them attractive?
You know, I love a good organ, and I'm really enjoying yours?
This is well mixed, recorded, performed, blah blah blah, I would expect all of that from you.
But this was actually pretty good? :-) I mean, I could see myself doing this? And that... That is the highest praise I can give.
 

Only 13, and they're all dead. 

It has something to do with a mis-translation of some ancient text that some scholars say actually promised 42 goats, not virgins.

Thanks, everyone, for your compliments. I will pass them on to the song's author.

It's 48 inches long, dude.

Technology can be a wonderful thing.  Cool project, the stuido sounds like a cool setup.

Enjoyed this immensely!  Absolutely great production.  Man there is plenty of organ in my monitors.  Did you change the mix?  Sure sounds great.

bitflipper


Nope, didn't change the mix. Funny thing about mixes, everybody hears something different. And therein lies the great confusion distraction value of this forum.

Ya

Hey, that's pretty durn good! Was it just the choir patches you used, or are some of the other instruments from Miroslav as well?

Have you seen the video where they show a real orchestra but the sound track is actually Miroslav? (Sorry, couldn't find a link.) It's a good sales gimmick, because the sounds seem all the more authentic while watching the performers. (It's called the McGurk Effect, a psychological phenomenon that demonstrates how what you hear is influenced by what you see. It's the reason you shouldn't watch the waveforms scroll by while you're mixing. Or rely on spectral displays while EQing.) 


Speaking of Miroslav, I've uploaded another cut from the same album as 13 Virgins, which features a one-minute intro made entirely with Miroslav (except the piano, which is Sampletekk's "The Old Lady"). It's titled "Charlatan" and it's the title track from the album.