This is excellent - at least as good as many of the user demos.
"Shades of quiet" - yes. That is why I love Ravel and Debussy. I am so tired of heavy, loud, aggressive, conflict-filled music. I used to write it and can't anymore. So I am extremely attracted to the impressionists who were above all the conflict, depicting states of pure being and emotion. Also - what a melody! If you can write a melody like that you've got it made.
On this performance I have these criticisms which are only small points. The reason I bring them up is because your recording is so good:
maybe there needs to be some EQ in the violins, because they are a little bright. The reverb could also be a darker hall in keeping with the mellowness of the music.
I think you are making the solo instruments a bit too loud, because you are so concerned (as you should be) with making each one audible. I worry about doing this myself, and making everything too clearly audible. But related to this is the dynamic range. I had the reaction that the dynamic range on the solo instruments was too large, compared to the ensemble strings which sounded too thin in the quieter passages. In other words, the ensembles should retain their size, but be hushed, as opposed to thinner in the pp. The solos sound "huge" in comparison to what you might expect, as if they are each close miked in a live orchestral recording, which is not as natural obviously.
One thing that could be tried - and I wonder if Dietz or anyone agrees with one I'm saying here - is to use some compression on the solos, so that they do not become overly prominent. The orchestration by Ravel is so masterful that most of the lines stand out without being emphasized.
I have one question - the dynamic shading both beginning and ending of lines is extremely good and natural sounding all throughout the piece. This is one of the major pitfalls of sample performances - having notes just cut on and off at the same volume like an organ. You avoid this, and I'm wondering if you used dynamic change samples, cross fade dynamic layers, filter mod, controller 7 changes, velocity envelopes in your mix, or what to accomplish it. Or maybe a combination of all of them?
This performance is not only shades of quiet, but shades of legato - an excellent demonstration of the fluidity and smoothness of the legato instruments. Congratulations on a fine job.
"Shades of quiet" - yes. That is why I love Ravel and Debussy. I am so tired of heavy, loud, aggressive, conflict-filled music. I used to write it and can't anymore. So I am extremely attracted to the impressionists who were above all the conflict, depicting states of pure being and emotion. Also - what a melody! If you can write a melody like that you've got it made.
On this performance I have these criticisms which are only small points. The reason I bring them up is because your recording is so good:
maybe there needs to be some EQ in the violins, because they are a little bright. The reverb could also be a darker hall in keeping with the mellowness of the music.
I think you are making the solo instruments a bit too loud, because you are so concerned (as you should be) with making each one audible. I worry about doing this myself, and making everything too clearly audible. But related to this is the dynamic range. I had the reaction that the dynamic range on the solo instruments was too large, compared to the ensemble strings which sounded too thin in the quieter passages. In other words, the ensembles should retain their size, but be hushed, as opposed to thinner in the pp. The solos sound "huge" in comparison to what you might expect, as if they are each close miked in a live orchestral recording, which is not as natural obviously.
One thing that could be tried - and I wonder if Dietz or anyone agrees with one I'm saying here - is to use some compression on the solos, so that they do not become overly prominent. The orchestration by Ravel is so masterful that most of the lines stand out without being emphasized.
I have one question - the dynamic shading both beginning and ending of lines is extremely good and natural sounding all throughout the piece. This is one of the major pitfalls of sample performances - having notes just cut on and off at the same volume like an organ. You avoid this, and I'm wondering if you used dynamic change samples, cross fade dynamic layers, filter mod, controller 7 changes, velocity envelopes in your mix, or what to accomplish it. Or maybe a combination of all of them?
This performance is not only shades of quiet, but shades of legato - an excellent demonstration of the fluidity and smoothness of the legato instruments. Congratulations on a fine job.