@ William

Well, I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree on this one ;-) I've listend to the production again and stand by my original remarks.

To change the relations of dry& wet component widths in MIR you don't have to "split up" anything (not that one shouldn't do it, if one knows what one is doing and achieves a good sounding result with it) - you are doing exactly that every time you widen or shorten an instrument icon ;-)

Goran, I'm not trying to be obnoxious, I think you do absolutely great work, but I do strongly disagree and think you are allowing your intellectual approach to distort your hearing.  If I look at your first post, it is obvious you were excited and amazed.  THEN, you start thinking.  You start talking about adjusting this and that, tweaking things, picking apart things that did not strike you negatively at first.  I am so leery of that kind of over-analysis these days.  If one has a positive reaction to something artistic, then LEAVE IT ALONE!  Don't start trying to "improve" it.  You will soon have turned an almost miraculous first-time creation into a mess.  Anyway, that is my honest reaction.  Don't get mad at me though.  I am an admirer of your work! 

@ William & Goran

  Please excuse me for being absent in this conversation, but I'm really short of time now and couldn't post before.

  First of all, I think it goes without saying that I have the greatest respect and admiration for your experience and expertise, both as musicians and as VSL masters, as this is evident for anyone listening to your work. Rest assured, I value your opinions accordingly. In fact, it's the quality of productions like yours which "pushed" me to buy VSL products, and, consequently, they are the "standards" I'm now trying to follow.

  So, as someone who is "short of time almost by default" (^_^), I really appreciate your taking time to comment on my exercises, and thank you very much again for it. I couldn't emphasize enough how helpful this is for me, so please be sure your time is not wasted. 

  I just wanted to say I'm not really interested in seeing who is "right" or "wrong" here, but just in knowing your points of view, no matter how radically different they might be. You know, as a pianist I'm used to this: I give a concert, a critic says it was a passionate, lyrical performance, other says it was a cool, analytic rendering. My playing was a fact each one heard according to his own perspective, maximizing certain aspects, and minimizing or just overlooking others. With the time (and all the perplexing paradoxes I could witness), I was inclined to think a critic reveals more about himself than about the fact being critizised. Now I'd say is fifty-fifty... (^_^), and what's wonderful is that each 50% is interesting for me, so asking for suggestions is always a win-win situation for me (as long as the critics are well intentioned, of course) and that's why I appreciate comments and take them always into account. Obviously, my own point of view is bound to be partial and closer to some opinions, so when I finally have to make decissions it may seem that I'm ignoring some suggestions when in fact I'm not. 

  In any case, I'm sure your differences here aren't stopping anybody to see the inherent value in your distinct, personal approaches to music production.

  For my part, I couldn't but thank you for your participation in this Rozsa thread. Really interesting to follow.

@William said:

... Rosza's string writing, which is extremely rich and full and shows his great skill in creating themes which use the instruments very characteristically. 

   As a matter of fact, I could recommend these 8 pages to anyone interested in learning how to write for strings. It's truly a masterclass. It seems almost "obvious" when you see it casually in the score, but it's incredibly brilliant if you look at it with the eyes of an arranger. Some amazing decisions in there...

I don't have anything smart to say, but I thought this production was outstanding.

@ Servando

Thank you, I don't believe I have to say there was anything that was ment to be derogatory in my comments ;-)

@ William

I'm not getting mad at anybody [B]. You'll notice that my first post already stated I thought there was some room for improvement in the strings -that is, I didn't start "intellectualizing" anything post factum. The sound of the orchestral strings simply stroke me as if it could use some "polish on the edges", both sound and performance-wise (it wouldn't really take much, as it is a very, very good production already). 

It could be that at this level this is just a matter of personal taste. But to me it seems that the room for some sonic improvement is still located in the "objective area" in this case - that is, is at least partially independent of purely subjective preferences.

  Hi, Brian. As you can imagine, encouraging comments are also more than welcome! (^_^). Looking forward for more "imported goods"... from Italy or elsewhere (^_-)

  Um Gottes Willen... NOT AT ALL, Goran!! (^_^) I couldn't but repeat what I wrote above. I'm learning enormously from your comments and beautiful demos, as I'm learning from William's words and wonderful productions. It's obvious that you have different views here, but as I said, I'm used to this kind of "differences", even (especially??) in very close and friendly atmospheres where everybody feels free to express his opinions. It's an opportunity for me to consider things, rather than a "problem". You know, I am a composer, I love polarities (^_-). Couldn't live without them!! (^_^).

  You know, I've given myself one year to get acquainted with this "new instrument" of mine before I attempt further projects (^_^). During this time I'll be posting more and more exercises. It will always be a pleasure and a privilege for me if you both find some time in the future to listen and comment on my tracks. Especially if you honestly and openly don't agree! (^_-)

@ Servando

...dann haben wir uns richtig verstanden... ;-)