Can we have more details about morphing ? or is it a (wonderful) secret ?
[:D]
Thanks
[:D]
Thanks
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Your reverb is off. The correct verb settings and/or plugin could make this as much as 50% better.
Listen to the reverberation of the original. Your tails are too short, and your convolution patch has the mics too close or you've got too much dry signal coming out.
Add a large hump to the violins bass end (DO NOT be conservative. a LARGE hump). Find the nasal frequencies and notch them by 3db to 9db, with a narrow band, OR, do a slow wide dip in that area of about 4db.
Add some treble to your woodwinds, they are too muddy.
WHERE'D YOU GET THE SCORE NOTES? [[:|]]
Evan Evans
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That's very cool - great job. Evan is very right about the reverb, though. The majority of the score was recorded in Watford Town Hall, which is vast, and even the sessions done at Abbey Road or Air were carefully matched in terms of ambience. You might want to try layering your reverbs, to get a denser sound, rather than just turning up the level or RT time.
Are you going to do the whole thing?? [[;)]]
Michael Prce
Music Editor - LOTR
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Wow, thanks Mr. Price.@michaelprice said:
...Evan is very right about the reverb...Michael Prce
Music Editor - LOTR
My wife and I (both film composers) got a good laugh and buzz off you chiming in!
Congratulations on your success! I hope it has done something great for your dreams.
Evan Evans
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Hi Jason! Oh my God. The whole LOTR posse is here . . . Is it part of your post-ROTK therapy to read forums at work as well? Hope everyone over in Tuxedo-land is keeping great. Did you do Aviator?
Hi Evan - glad to chip in, particularly as I'm a keen VSL user for my own composing. Can't beat those legato instruments. I think the whole Lord of the Rings project will stay with all of us involved for many years to come. Or so my psychiatrist tells me.
Cheers all
Michael
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@michaelprice said:
Michael Prce
PS It also appears that I can't even spell my own name. Anyone for more coffee?
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Hi Jason! Oh my God. The whole LOTR posse is here . . . Is it part of your post-ROTK therapy to read forums at work as well? Hope everyone over in Tuxedo-land is keeping great. Did you do Aviator?
I packed the wagon and headed west from Tuxedo-land after ROTK and didn't stop 'till I found a beach. I'm now living in California. Volleyball has proven to be a wonderful therapy. Though I do shock myself at home with a broken lamp every now and then just to keep the flashbacks away. You didn't have to see HS in the wee hours of the morning at the hotel! [[:|]]
I'll drop you a line soon.
Best,
Jason
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Thank you all very much for your responses. I'm still learning a lot about mixing orchestral samples. Quite more of a challenge than pop music! As far as the notes...I just did it by ear. I've trained my ears over the years to pick out the instruments. I don't really think it's that difficult for Shore's music; he didn't mess too much with the original recording.
Michael, can you give us any hints on how to properly edit a score?
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Hi Carl
Music editing for films is a pretty broad area - I'd probably divide it up into 4 different tasks; making temp scores, choosing and abusing songs if there are any, preparing and running sessions, and preparing for and doing the final dub. Not everyone does all of these by any means, and there are often several people involved in a big film.
Not quite sure where to start - is it more useful to know about preparing your music for a dub, or do you want to know more about temp scores etc (which I know people feel strongly about)?
Cheers
Michael
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Overall, I think this is a great excerise in comparative listening with the real deal and your own sequence. The more you do it, the sharper your ears become and subsequently the more convincing your tracks become. I have heard VERY convincing tracks done with VSL, many of which were done by the VSL team itself.
Nice job, Carl. Evan's comments about verb, EQ, and balance are spot on. At times, I even suppliment the strings with other non-VSL samples. As a conductor, the symphonies with which I work often have 16-18 first violins and 14-16 seconds, making as many as 32 violinists. VSL wasn't sampled this way, even though it's quite realistic in its integrity of sound. Sequencing an orchestra, even with VSL, is still a sonic illusion, so to get the most ideal impact out your work, supplimenting where needed is quite a legit thing to do.
What I do is to take maybe 3-4 different non-VSL violin patches (good ones!). For each supplimentary patch, I may edit the envelopes at least 6 or more different ways to match a particular passage played by the VSL violins so that each secondary patch "follows" as closely as possible. VSL is still 70-90% of the violin mix, but having that extra little *something* tucked low has often provided additional support without adding an artificial quality. It does take some special care to set the supplimental patches "in the same room" as VSL's sections, but it's worth it.
Keep in mind that too much of this can be as noticeable as not having enough.
I've yet to try Match EQ in Logic, but I have used similar EQ's to take snapshots of full orchestral moments on favorite CD's just to get a sense of what's going on sonically. I can then determine how to best suppliment my own sequence-- either by supporting it with a denser orchestration, by supplimenting with secondary patch doubles, by boosting or cutting levels, or by manually notch-adjusting the EQ. I can't say that I'd recommend applying a CD's EQ snapshot to a VSL mix. It may cause more problems than it solves.
Often, listening to recordings on a regular basis gives the ear something to lock onto immediately-- it provides a sonic "expectation" so that when you do get around to mixing your own VSL sequences, your desired sound is already in your head., Having these source recordings around during the mixing phase is a great reminder of just how close you are to getting the results you want.
I know everyone is probably very busy with projects, etc., but it would be fun to transcribe 8-10 bars of a favorite soundtrack or take 8-10 bars of a favorite classical score-- provide a pdf file and mp3 excerpt here on the forum, and then see how different people are able to replicate the same passage with VSL. It could provide some valuable insights to how others work, knowing that there may be a million different means to the same end.
Don't know if anyone would be interested in doing this as an extension of what Carl has begun, but comparing notes could be the most educational experience of all....
Just a thought.
Thanks,
JWL