Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 - 1. and 2. Movement

[rnw]

This are my first steps with VSL:
http://www.technoheinz.de

I used:
- Special Edition Vol. 1 / Strings PLUS
- Vienna Instruments PRO
- MIRx Konzerthaus Grosser Saal
- Cubase 7.5

Any comments appreciated.

[Beat Kaufmann]

Hi and welcome here in the forum dear RNW

It seems that you are able to use the library in a very professional way even if these pieces are obviously the first ones.

Congratulation!!! Best advertising for the Special-Edition!

So my only technicaly feedback is: Buy as soon as possible full libraries with more articulations for even better results.

The second feedback is one that some sample musicians never will get because they are still stucking in the mire of technical problems.

After you got the technical ability of using the samples so brilliant (as a sort of music instrument) you should try to play music now...

and I mean music as a musician it would do. I will explain it with the slow Bach because the Dvorak lives from the tempo.

Fast pieces will always sound good (more or less). But really difficult to play with samples are slow pieces:

A)

- breathe (set gaps when the melody begins again or when the players change the bow direction). Take into account that string players (musicians in general) also

take a breathe before they go on with a new part of a piece for instance.

(As an example: At 1:47 of your Bach. If you would be a real musician / conductor you would take a deep breathe and start then the melody again.

Listen to a real orchestra at this point and then to your music once more...

Currently you often use endles legatos without any rest, break or gap.

This link probably can show other aspects for making gaps and breaks: vi-tips--tricks-3 No 26.

B)

Observing your Bach once more: Vary the tempo even more (and more natural - not 60bpm then suddendly 40bpm and then suddendly back to 60 again)

Possibility: Import a real interpretation of a real orchestra into Cubase above your Air and syncronize the tempo of this real orchestra with Cubase (and so with your midi file).

Play then your piece with the tempo you've got from the real orchestra. Also "copy" the gaps, breathes etc. into your orchestra.

Your piece will climb on an even higher level this way. Doing this process with 2-5 pieces you would be able to interprete all the following pieces yourself just as a conductor would do it. Have also a look here: vi-tips--tricks-4 (No 34.)

You also can sum up A) and B) to...

"Making music means trying to be interesting in every second and using all possible ways for reaching this aim (constantly vary tempo, articulations, velocities, dynamics...)

Unfortunately you will use 4x the time or more for also bringing these aspects into your piece of music beside the technical matters... 😉

So...

You have already reached a considerable ability of using samples and articulations bravo, bravo, bravo!

Climb now to the next step and use the samples as music instruments.

Listen to real players and orchestras and try to copy their playing details...

I wish you a lot of success and I'm sur you will have it.

I'm looking foreward to hear a result from such a next step...

All the best

Beat

A final tip using MIRx. Use different wet/dry ratios with MIRx and large orchestras:

Example: Strings 35% wet, Woodwinds 40% wet, Brass 45% wet... this leads to even more depth of the whole orchestra.

You need to exepriment of course...

[rnw]

Hi Beat,

many thanks for your critical thoughts and mentions.

You are right in all points.

As soon as my buget allows, I'll buy the full Orchestral Strings.

I already bought and read your tutorial. (I also bought the Orchestra Templates, the Bach piece used one).

In the near future I will revise the pieces and try to consider your suggestions.

Thanks a lot.

Rainer

[Beat Kaufmann]

@rnw said:

Hi Beat,

...I already bought and read your tutorial. (I also bought the Orchestra Templates, the Bach piece used one).

Thanks a lot.

Rainer

Lieber Rainer

Ups, didn't know this...[:$] but now it's clear why you play the VIs and samples so brilliant... hahaha.

I'm happy that you take my feedback the way it is and not against you and/or against your work.

Learning and using new discoveries is a process which never stops. It is impossible to update all the old pieces with those new abilities.

So there are a lot of pieces from me which are bad from the view of today.

But sometimes old pieces also can show us that we didn't really made any progress even if we maybe use a lot of new things...

So when I compare some pieces here - played with Dimension Strings, MIR and all those nice gadgets - the result and the music can't really show 10 years of progress with samples compared to good pieces made 10 years ago.

Sonnige Grüsse

Beat