Let me know what you think - first time using midi for a whole orchestra:
 
https://soundcloud.com/iambeam/the-woods-on-a-snowy-evening
 
All feedback is welcome, I'm particularly interested in "mastering" and mix tricks as I had some difficulty with the loud/quiet spots - I hope I struck a nice balance between minimizing compression and still getting the quiet parts loud enough to hear.
 
 

Firstly, what a great piece. really enjoyed it. :) Mix wise the volumes are good, just seems narrow. mainly on the left, I can't hear anything going out further than where the 2nd violins would be, almost in mono. There could be too much compression on the master channel. Also the production is very dry, I'm probably a bad judge on this cuz I might be seen to add too much verb... on your grouped choir buses. The Strings, Woods and Brass, do a send off each group of choirs to a new bus, there add 100% wet, 0 % dry verb as an fx. With this you can place each sections depth in the mix, as well as giving it some gloss washing underneath the overall sonics. Hope this helps.
 
Gus

Thanks Gus!  That's a really good perspective.
 
I think I compressed it way too much!  I was a bit worried about that and you've confirmed it.  I'll have to go back in and figure that out.  Perhaps some volume automation.  The problem I was having is that the loud parts and soft parts are just too different.  
 

gusrogers
mainly on the left, I can't hear anything going out further than where the 2nd violins would be, almost in mono. 

What do you mean by this?  I have the instruments panned - about 40% in different directions.  Would you suggest more?  It seems like you might have an understanding of something that I'm missing - I would love to hear what you do.
 

gusrogers
The Strings, Woods and Brass, do a send off each group of choirs to a new bus, there add 100% wet, 0 % dry verb as an fx. With this you can place each sections depth in the mix, as well as giving it some gloss washing underneath the overall sonics. 
 

This sounds like a fantastic idea!  Awesome!  Can't wait to try it.
 
Thanks!
 

mikebeam
Thanks Gus!  That's a really good perspective.
 
I think I compressed it way too much!  I was a bit worried about that and you've confirmed it.  I'll have to go back in and figure that out.  Perhaps some volume automation.  The problem I was having is that the loud parts and soft parts are just too different.  

That's the thing with the orchestra. There is a great range in dynamics. Yes use automation to bring the lows up a tad, or depending on headroom, everything else down. Don't be too worried about the parts being too different. Check out commercial soundtracks and you will hear the ups and downs. For me, as I said I think automation is the route and not compression. But that's just my view.
 

gusrogers
mainly on the left, I can't hear anything going out further than where the 2nd violins would be, almost in mono. 

What do you mean by this?  I have the instruments panned - about 40% in different directions.  Would you suggest more?  It seems like you might have an understanding of something that I'm missing - I would love to hear what you do.

Yes the panning can be wider, web search how an orchestra is set out. Give more room in the middle for other instruments. Having the musicains wider adds interest because melodies are coming in and out at different places. Listen to John Williams score ie Harry Potter, there's so much movement from left to right, you just don't know where the next melody, solo is going to come in from.

Well if you want to hear my stuff, I have a few tracks on here
 

gusrogers
The Strings, Woods and Brass, do a send off each group of choirs to a new bus, there add 100% wet, 0 % dry verb as an fx. With this you can place each sections depth in the mix, as well as giving it some gloss washing underneath the overall sonics. 
 

This sounds like a fantastic idea!  Awesome!  Can't wait to try it.

Go for it, it gives your mixes a real pro shine to them.
 
Thanks!
 

Hey Gus,
 
I've noticed another problem that might be giving me a hard time.  Do you use EWQL?  I've noticed that the volume particularly on the strings is dropping by about 15db for no apparent reason.  I was working on another composition and noticed it.  I wrote a melody in a violin part, then was adjusting the notes and all of the sudden the part cut volume.  If I reload the instrument from the browser, it goes back up.
 
Without any automation or modulation - a violin plays at around -17db.  But after it drops, it plays at -30db.  I went back into this composition and noticed that the drop had happened with almost all the instruments and I was boosting gain to make up for it.  Unfortunately, I think it got overly compressed or sounded flat because of it.
 
Does that make any sense to you?  IF you do use EW - do the volume levels when you first start playing reflect what I'm talking about?
 
I made a youtube video to show the problem.  I couldn't get the sound working, but if you look at the meters - you can see what I mean.  In the video, the volume had already dropped and I reset it.  You can see it go back up.  Then I play with another track and the volume drops back down to -30 again...
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWeU9O3CrrE
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated as EW's support line hasn't been much help.
 
Thanks.

Sounds like a good start and Gus is offering excellent advise, will keep the furry ears open for the possible remix.
 
Thanks for sharing.

I agree with everything everyone's been saying!
 
I've been bogged down with the technical issues...  If any of you have any suggestions for that, I'd appreciate it!
 
(Maybe an upgrade to 2015 would help...)

Have you showed the video to EastWest? I'd be interested to hear how to fix the problem, as I have the same problem, it's very frustrating and slows the whole process down. What I do as a way of dealing with this is this, once I have the violin part written, load up all of the articulations and bounce the midi down to a wav file. That way you can play it back without volume drops. Sometimes I have to bounce to file more than once, cuz it's doesn't always bounce down correctly, and the sound cuts out here and there.
I wondered if it does it because of my pc isn't up to the task. Let me know how you get on.

A tip for mixing, if it doesn't sound like it needs to be compressed then you don't have to compress it.

It's a relief that someone else is having the same problem I am!  I've emailed them about it, but I didn't send the video.  I noticed however that they have an update for Brass and Woodwinds to "fix volume problems" - perhaps they are working on the strings side of things.
 
I'm pretty bummed out with their products at the moment.  Kind of wish I had spent my money somewhere else...
 
I'm installing Platinum right now, when I get everything up and running, I'm going to try this:
"Check to see if this is enabled. If it is disable it & try.
http://www.cakewalk.com/D...;help=Playback.33.html"
 
I started a separate post about this:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/EWQL-Hollywood-Strings-Volume-Dropout-Help-m3154294.aspx
 
 

It appears that going to Preferences->project>midi>uncheck "zero out controllers" is having an effect.  I haven't played much but it's definitely acting better.
 
The only problem is that I'm not sure that I don't want that checked...  Oh well.