Thank you very much for your compliments and your very pertinent remarks. Honestly I did not expect such positive critics.
@Tom:
Oh yes the good old Music Minus One! I thought about it too! Theoretically we could even imagine with the possibilities of the Internet that a real violist and two real cellists would play their respective part to finally reach a real quintet.
You're right, I'm an enthusiastic defender of Boccherini because I am deeply saddened to see how much this genius is underestimated!
I would like to emphasize on this occasion that these recordings are intended only to make known many masterpieces that still sleep. Their musical value must be relativized for two reasons: the first is that Boccherini, himself cello virtuoso, emancipated his instrument out of his role of accompaniment. Thus, some sublime solos can not be rendered in all their fullness, in all their beauty with virtual cellos; the second reason is that timbre is a fundamental component of Boccherini's art. No composer, in my opinion, has considered the problem of timbre with as much obsession as he. His works are full of incredible instrumental textures, always new, that it is not possible to reproduce with the finesse and subtlety that would impose, using virtual instruments.
@William:
Yes and that's something that surprised me from my first recordings: we often have the impression that we are dealing with 5 real musicians whereas at the beginning I used a synthesizer which is obviously less realistic than a VSL instrument. We may be in the presence of a kind of psychoacoustic effect that we could compare with optical illusions: as the brain perceives real violins, it has the illusion that the other instruments are also real. ????
I noted in detail the VSL instruments used at the beginning of the video (00:04).
As for the mix, I do not use EQ, neither on the violin nor on the other instruments. It happens to me exceptionally when my violin sounds too acidic. All the parts (real violins and VSL instruments) are recorded without reverb and I only apply the reverb to the main output of the mixer, which means that the 5 instruments have the same reverb with the same amount. Only the panoramic is individual.
My biggest problem - and that's what takes me the most time - is the volume balance between the 5 parts, which is essential in the field of chamber music. It is for this reason that I convert the MIDI tracks to audio and thus work the 5 audio tracks in Samplitude 11 which makes this work a lot easier because this software is object-oriented and allows to instantly adjust the volume of each object.
@ Kai
I understand perfectly what you mean but as indicated for William I do not correct the frequencies. By the way you can download the original waves, the links are in the description page of the youtube video.
Cheers
Jacques
