Simply beautiful stuff, Jerry. You know your stuff.

Those strings sound absolutely convincing.

The horns are a bit loud and too much high end so they kinda are a giveaway, which is something commonly heard in the sampled orchestras. I find when I do stuff like this I am always cutting the horns at 4k with a high shelf.

The whole thing could use some unifying reverb.

jamesyoyo


Simply beautiful stuff, Jerry. You know your stuff.

Those strings sound absolutely convincing.

The horns are a bit loud and too much high end so they kinda are a giveaway, which is something commonly heard in the sampled orchestras. I find when I do stuff like this I am always cutting the horns at 4k with a high shelf.

The whole thing could use some unifying reverb.

Amazing how we all hear very differently.  I am satisfied the horns are in balance and any more reverb and the textures and counterpoint would lose defintion, I tried using a little more and didn't like it.  
 
JG

jsg

jamesyoyo


Simply beautiful stuff, Jerry. You know your stuff.

Those strings sound absolutely convincing.

The horns are a bit loud and too much high end so they kinda are a giveaway, which is something commonly heard in the sampled orchestras. I find when I do stuff like this I am always cutting the horns at 4k with a high shelf.

The whole thing could use some unifying reverb.

Amazing how we all hear very differently.  I am satisfied the horns are in balance and any more reverb and the textures and counterpoint would lose defintion, I tried using a little more and didn't like it.  
 
JG

No, they are in balance. It just sounds like the microphone for the horns is RIGHT IN THE CUP, if you know what I mean. The immediacy of the highs is not something you would get in recording a brass ensemble, even in the studio.


But some of the instrumentation sounds like it was recorded in an an-echoic chamber, where there seems to be no sense of space. Even a little bit of room reverb would work. 

see next message please.

jamesyoyo

jsg

jamesyoyo


Simply beautiful stuff, Jerry. You know your stuff.

Those strings sound absolutely convincing.

The horns are a bit loud and too much high end so they kinda are a giveaway, which is something commonly heard in the sampled orchestras. I find when I do stuff like this I am always cutting the horns at 4k with a high shelf.

The whole thing could use some unifying reverb.

Amazing how we all hear very differently.  I am satisfied the horns are in balance and any more reverb and the textures and counterpoint would lose defintion, I tried using a little more and didn't like it.  

JG

No, they are in balance. It just sounds like the microphone for the horns is RIGHT IN THE CUP, if you know what I mean. The immediacy of the highs is not something you would get in recording a brass ensemble, even in the studio.


But some of the instrumentation sounds like it was recorded in an an-echoic chamber, where there seems to be no sense of space. Even a little bit of room reverb would work. 

Your comments seem more directed as to how VSL records their brass, which I have no control over. The brass are sampled close, which might bother your ear, and does not bother mine. I experimented with numerous reverb settings and came up with the one that satisfied my ear the most.
JG

I have done quite a few orchestral simulations in my day and found it is best to put the whole orchestra into a nice sounding room. As you would hear at a live concert. I found reverb times over 3 seconds are required too to make it sound right. Convolution reverbs do it better as well.

Jeff Evans


I have done quite a few orchestral simulations in my day and found it is best to put the whole orchestra into a nice sounding room. As you would hear at a live concert. I found reverb times over 3 seconds are required too to make it sound right. Convolution reverbs do it better as well.

I am not sure what you mean by putting the "whole orchestra" into a nice sounding room.  There is no orchestra, there is no room, this is made with a sample library!  Not sure exactly what you mean...
 
When I use reverb times over 3 seconds, I find the percussive sharpness I want and the contrapuntal textures I use become somewhat smeared, so I don't think one size fits all. 
 
JG

By orchestra I was referring to all the VST's you are using to create the sound of the orchestra. I assume you are using multiple VST's with perhaps multiple outputs. I was suggesting sending everything into the convolution reverb at a similar level and then returning that to your mix. That is the 'room'. 

That convolution reverb though has to be nice and you might have to spend time finding the right sounding room as well. And edit it too for final adjustments.

I agree that percussion can sometimes lack definition as a result of this too but the great thing about this is that I assume you are using different VST's or outputs for the percussion alone so you can send a little less of those parts into the room to improve that. Or perhaps the percussion parts into a second reverb that maybe is a little smaller and less of. 
 
The thing is that you never really hear an orchestra dry. Live it is usually in a rather large space and that adds its own thing to the sound. Even studio recordings of orchestras are in large spaces too and that tends to keep things a bit larger sounding. They can add reverb to studio recordings too and they do.

I also find panning everything as you would see it at a live concert also helps.

Jerry,

Can you share some of the thought process you use when you lay out your song form and changes?

Do you just start at the beginning and plow forward or do you come up with something like an outline or frame work and then flesh it in?

Where do you get the ideas to fly the different instruments in as you do?

I'm just sort of curious about your working and conceptualization process.


best regards,
mike

I find a lot of educated composers create music like this. It is something I see constantly at the Composers Forum. While technically correct, it is utterly without art or beauty. Sterile. You cannot write music with your brain. Music does not come from the brain. Just my opinion. I am going to use you as an example of something that is also my opinion. If you are writing music simply to please yourself, then you have no need to post it. If you are writing music to please your audience, then you should pay attention to what they are saying. If your audience is saying the brass is too present, and there is no sense of space.. then the brass is too present and there is no sense of space.