This is not a Symphony

These two tracks are the first two parts of a new composition for the virtual orchestra 
 
www.jerrygerber.com/symph8mvt1.htm   (if you're using Internet Explorer, you probably won't be able to hear these pieces, the flash player doesn't seem to show up.  Workaround:  Use Firefox.
 
JG
www.jerrygerber.com
 
 
 

Excellent! Beautiful arrangement and composition. You put a lot work on them. You can tell they are synths but they sound very good.

Fantastic, alot of hard work in there!

- Shawn

The samples aren't state of the art, but it doesn't matter.  You clearly know your way around a score.   Very nicely done.  

Just curious as to what you are using for samples.

J

Jerry,

Take a deep breath. 

I have VSL Special Edition (the complete version).  Although I have better samples, I continue to use VSL because of its immediacy and playability, but they are behind the curve.  With the advent of LASS, Cinematic Strings, Cinebrass, Cinewoodwinds, the newest "Hollywood" stuff from East West, etc., VSL is considered to be long in the tooth.  

The folks that I know who do mock-ups professionally (I could "name-drop", but I won't) only use VSL for woodwinds these days, and even that is being phased out of their templates.  

My hearing is fine, BTW.

Peace

jsaras


The samples aren't state of the art, but it doesn't matter.  You clearly know your way around a score.   Very nicely done.  

Just curious as to what you are using for samples.

J

At some point, which I believe was reached with VSL sample libraries, the difference between libraries becomes entirely subjective and about taste, not about quality.   My hope is that composers focus more on the quality of their ideas and how they develop them, because after all, music about sound and idea, not just sound.  In the world of scoring, and "mock-ups" for demoing to producers and directors how a score will sound, the usage of sample libraries is very different from my own.   Also, in the world of commercial scoring, music is an adjunct to a visual art, which due to the nature of the commerical film-making process, greatly determines what and how a composer writes music.  This is why I decided to take a break from soundtracks for a while, so I can focus on musical ideas and their development without having form and content being determined by a visual medium.    People immersed in the world of "mockups" are going to have their opinions about which libraries are "the best", but I cannot help but believe that the sheer competition of getting film jobs influences what the latest fad is regarding technology.  Keep in mind that Pro Tools was considered to be THE pro DAW for years, and yet in 2005 Sonar went to 64-bit and Pro Tools has yet to do so in 2012.  So what the so-called "pros" think is worth considering but by no means the definitive truth about such matters. 
 
JG

jsaras


I know that for me, the ability to do true divisi writing with LASS, real sordinos and even legato sordinos has been nothing short of a godsend.  Also the short articulations are much more realistic and don't sound synthy.   

VSL brass never could get aggressive enough for my purposes, and no matter what reverb I used it never had the nice "bloom" of brass that was recorded on a sound stage (Cinebrass was recorded at Sony).

In Vienna's defense they have updated their sample players, which I like much better than Kontakt, and they've tried to compensate for dry-recorded samples using convolution mixing. I appreciate that they're not trying to sell me another set of samples.However, it seems that dry samples for orchestral work is a dead end as no other sample developer is going that route.  In particular the sound of ensemble combinations recorded together in a room cannot be adequately simulated by putting dry sounds through a reverb.  

Many of the new libraries are ridiculously large and and you really have to spend a lot of time programming controllers to get the most out of them because they don't play well from a keyboard..which often makes me say, "screw it, I'm just going to use VSL".

J

What was the problem writing divisi for VSL orchestral, chamber or solo strings?  The sometimes overtone clash that produced  a kind of harmonic distortion that bothered your ear?  It's often true with a divisi one must consider all sorts of things.   Sometimes we think a library is enabling us to get a still better sound, and I admit to a large degree this is true.  I think when one is working under deadline, even if very efficiently, a overall pleasing sound that works very quickly, not quite  "out of the box", but still, if too much work is involved in getting the right sound, a library might be considered inferior to one that requires a bit more work.  I realize VSL is 44.1 24-bit so that 96khz-24bit would be a step up.  Maybe.  That would be one reason to consider a new library.   Since my strong scoring interest is mainly in animation, I think the latitude of sampled instruments and synthesized instruments is a bit wider than in live-action.   The endless quest for the best possible sound is wonderful but defining "best" and "good" is different for different purposes. 
 
As far as dry samples, VSL are not exactly dry.  There is a very small amount of ambience.  But again, this judgment depends upon many factors, for example, is it better to add reverb to a dry sound then to start with a sound that has it's space pre-defined?  Again, it comes back to taste and necessity. 
Either one can be used to create a recording that has intention, gesture, expression, nuance  and integrated complexity. For me its as much about balance as it is about sound.  It's about the harmony and the harmonic progressions--where music contains much of its power and tenderness.  Sometimes the best sound is to stay out of the way of the ideas and the spirit behind the idea. 
 
When I've gotten a new library in the past, I spend the first 2 weeks or so just programming controllers, getting to know the sounds and their parameters and creating templates.  Its a big commitment.  Maybe its possible for some to master their tools by always getting new tools, but for me it seems the opposite.
 
Jerry

Hi Jerry,

I'm loving it. And I have to say, the thing I like about it is that it doesn't sound like a movie score to me.

It sounds like a symphony playing a well thought out piece of music.

I don't know nuthin about composing but I did grow up listening to classical music on record players and the Saturday afternoon radio as well as the Karl Haas show almost every day for a couple years.

I just wanted to say that I'm loving it 101% for what it is and it hasn't occurred to me to try to figure out if there are any details I can focus on so as to seem astute.


I'd half expect to hear a chair squeak or a cough at some point... it's that good.

Maybe it's the close mic'ed sound that causes people to zero in on what they think they are hearing?

I'm just sitting back and letting it fill the room and it's fantastic.

Bask in it.

You've earned it.

all the very best,
mike