Hi all,
I've decided to add some "Memphis Horns" type parts to my soul/rock project.  Mostly for accenting the guitar/bass/drum/keys, without much lead work.  I'm not trying to program a sax solo or anything...
 
I played the trumpet and trombone decades ago in grade school, and still remember how the basics(breathe, don't smoke while you're playing, don't drain your spit valve at the person sitting in front of you)...
 
 
Does anyone have tips for making a horn section sound real?  Obviously the programming has to be in the correct range for the instrument, and you have to leave breathing space, but past that i'm lost.

- Per instrument tracks (no chords)
- Don't be afraid to duplicate each individual part using multiple samples/synths
- Pay attention to velocity and note overlap to get the most natural sounding "feel" per part
- Leave just a little "slop" in start and end times so that the combination of parts seems human
- Pan and blend until it sounds right to you
- Use a nice small room/plate reverb to emulate a cohesive section
 
That's all I've got.     
 

stevec
- Per instrument tracks (no chords)
- Don't be afraid to duplicate each individual part using multiple samples/synths
- Pay attention to velocity and note overlap to get the most natural sounding "feel" per part
- Leave just a little "slop" in start and end times so that the combination of parts seems human
- Pan and blend until it sounds right to you
- Use a nice small room/plate reverb to emulate a cohesive section
 
That's all I've got.     
 

Which all works great for individual instruments, and the way to go, if you had a wind instrument controller, that would be better
he asked about using session horns
but session horns is an "automatic" section, that populates a set with certain horns(trumpet, sax, trumpet, etc)
and does divisi based on note/chord input. lots of flexibility in drops, legato, etc in the program and the riff generators, but you have to approach it as a horn player and not as a keyboard player voicing organ, piano etc
I have had some success  with session horns and SH pro, but it takes some forethought

Also add dynamics to the horn lines. Subtle swells, etc bring the line to life.

  There is a pretty good tutorial on Session Horns at Groove3 (this is an excellent resource if you can afford it).
 
   Otherwise, use the articulations!  But not too much.  Sparse use of the articulations keeps the sound interesting.  There are some fancy things you can do with the "animator", though I find it to be hit or miss for myself.  The horn sections split into "classic" and "Motown" styles, near and far mic'ed.  Try those variations to see how they fit.

Great, thanks - this has given me a few really good pointers!
 
And i just upgraded to Pro today, so i'll get to isolate the horns.

Session horns pro has a lot of great articulations that simlulate things like swells, staccato, vibrato, growls, etc. I find it's pretty darn good without a lot of effort. Also, you can choose either smart-voice where if you have a section, it will voice them in the proper octave--although this can be tricky.
You can also load individual instruments using Session Horns Pro and use several of those if you'd like to play each track separately. Not sure how much of this is in the basic Session Horns, but IMO it's worth the upgrade if you really need to these features, plus the sound quality is better.

thepianist53
Session horns pro has a lot of great articulations that simlulate things like swells, staccato, vibrato, growls, etc. I find it's pretty darn good without a lot of effort. Also, you can choose either smart-voice where if you have a section, it will voice them in the proper octave--although this can be tricky.
You can also load individual instruments using Session Horns Pro and use several of those if you'd like to play each track separately. Not sure how much of this is in the basic Session Horns, but IMO it's worth the upgrade if you really need to these features, plus the sound quality is better.

Yeah, that ^^^

Sound on Sound magazine had a terrific series of articles on arranging horns. Here's a link to the first part. The links to the second, third and fourth parts are at the end of the article. Happy reading!

Wow, very helpful.  I read the SOS article, and took everyone's advice to heart.
I'm really happy with the results so far, and after a bit more practice I'll have what i need.

Thanks very much!