Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
Forum Statistics

198,324 users have contributed to 43,110 threads and 258,751 posts.

In the past 24 hours, we have 3 new thread(s), 7 new post(s) and 58 new user(s).

  • Concert piece for cello and orchestra

    It was always a dream of mine, that VSL would have an creativ impact in creation of new concert pieces.
    As a former cello player I'm so happy to announce this new concert piece for solo cello and orchestra by Guy Bacos.

    "Mourning"
    http://www.vsl.co.at/Player2.aspx?Lang=13&DemoId=5071

    thanks a lot Guy!

  • Beautiful piece! Herb, why don't you play the cello?

  • Guy, that is fantastic. An incredibly good demo of the cello, and a very musical and skillful piece.

  • I double: Guy, that is fantastic. An incredibly good demo of the cello, and a very musical and skillful piece.
    (Hope there is no copyright, William [:O]ops: )

    Guy, could you show us a glance on the working process of this free played piece.
    Did you ever used a metronom?
    If not - did you deny any bar information in your host?
    Did you start with the melody? with the chords?
    Did you start with a concept on a paper?
    The creation of Mourning?

    Thanks in advance
    Beat

    - Tips & Tricks while using Samples of VSL.. see at: https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/vitutorials/ - Tutorial "Mixing an Orchestra": https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/mixing-an-orchestra/
  • Very very nice Guy. Would you talk about your convolution setup (altiverb?) because it sounds so natural and live.

  • last edited
    last edited

    @Another User said:


    The creation of Mourning?
    Beat


    After listening to Memoirs of a Geisha I felt like doing something in a meditative style, but I wanted it to be modal. As the piece evolved the more I gave it some direction, something like a musical prayer, and then Mourning grew from that.

    Just to add: I was actually surprised to see how good the solo cello sounded, I knew it sounded great already but this was even sweeter to discover.

    I am thinking of writing the notes on Sibelius. Should I? Who knows? Maybe one day I could have a live performance of it even though I'm plenty happy with the VSL version. Thank God VSL exist! [:D]

  • Excellent work!

    Best,
    Jay

  • Guy
    Thanks a lot for allowing us to look at your working process. Following your lines I established once more: Making music with samples is "heavy work". Sometimes I believe that I'm doing something wrong. But I saw again that I'm not alone with this heavy work and that also your pieces could be a patchwork of (working-) fields - even if they appear as a wonderful whole.
    Nice to see (calming influence) that others fight to do music with samples as well.

    Once more thanks, Guy, for your full information.

    Beat

    - Tips & Tricks while using Samples of VSL.. see at: https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/vitutorials/ - Tutorial "Mixing an Orchestra": https://www.beat-kaufmann.com/mixing-an-orchestra/
  • last edited
    last edited

    @Guy said:

    Maybe one day I could have a live performance of it even though I'm plenty happy with the VSL version. Thank God VSL exist! [:D]


    With all respect to VSL (it sounds really great as a mockup), but at least letting play the solo cello by a real cellist is needed to have it a convincing performance I would listen to twice. The orchestra is pretty OK I think.

  • Guy, which Altiverbs did you use? I have to echo an earlier post... the live sound you achieved is really spot-on.

    Kerry

  • Regarding the reverb, I'm not at all fussy about that, these days I use Schubert Hall, 14 or 17 ft, but maybe it has more to do with the amount used "send". The cello line is spread out through maybe 15 tracks, none of the tracks have the same amount of rev, if I'm playing very softly some ponticelli I will increase the rev on that track "send" for it to have some effect. I honestly don't think there's anything special with the rev I used but this is about the only thing I could say. Hope it helps.

  • And yet another gem by Guy Bacos, film compser, concert arranger and just all around great guy! Nice work all around Guy - your music is truely well crafted AND inspirational. Cheers from Hollywood California!

    -Terry Michael Huud
    www.Music4TheMovies.com
    www.MySpace.com/terryhuud
    www.imdb.com/name/nm0404698/

  • outstandingly beautiful!
    i'm stunned... don't know what else to say
    so I better stop talking before i come up with a hundred questions [;)]

    i need something to not run out of cpu load every few bars
    thats the situation that lately drops my ideas and inspiration most of the time
    to a minimum level ;(

  • Guy, that is really beautiful. I gotta say your string sections are incredible (as well as the solo cello). But wow!! That string writing is great and the sound is absolutely believable. Is that the appasionata string samples mixed with chamber? Or with solo strings maybe?

    Mahlon

  • Guy..doing a solo with sampling is like doing extreme sport...like walking on a string
    over the Grand Canyon..how brave you are..congratulation for that inspiring solo..
    very virtuose.. you make it fly and i just enjoy the music i totally forgot about Vienna..
    Bravo !

    Mephisto [6]

  • Incredible composition and recording.

  • Yes this is a very clever application of the library! There are several subtle moments at which programming wise it was a combination of programming and orchestral knowledge and technique plus imaginative composition that has yielded a subtle yet convincing and emotional result.

    Guy of course has already established himself as a leader in the field of sample based composition and programming and has time and again proved that while it is a different game than a live recording, it is not less relevant musically nor less capable in many cases. In fact, he shows that one man, with the tools the talent the motive and the focus and intention can produce a more musically convincing result than an orchestra can, for me at least, speaking in terms of performance, at the least in the sense of it's integrity with the original composers intentions, since he himself is the composer, playing all the parts, and engineering the production right until the final moments.

    He makes the case for the solo digital artist, composer, and producer convincingly, in terms of musical relevancy and integrity, and is clearly on the front line of this art form, so it's great to hear this kind of work. I like to see that he always works to take it a step further each time and never rests on his laurels as the expression goes, this adds to the excitement. He has the right approach. Also what is great about these demo's is that each time, he does his own style but also says "this is one way you can use this library, and you can find your own" and his "examples" as it were, always rest on sound orchestration knowledge, and he's simply applying that to the library, and it's working, and that is exciting and interesting in and of itself.

    Forgive me if I get a little philosophical here:

    I've noted in conversation with him in the past that what makes a new work exciting is not it's newness but the energy behind it. Movies that have all the flash bang and production appeal of a top production but the energy is lacklustre or cynical production values may be touted as a budding success and then fall flat on their faces. What is prevalent and evident among great successful things is the inspirational energy and dedication behind any work, be it a composition or recording, so even a movie with low budget, b grade actors and no CGI can become a run away success because it is inspiring by the magic that was injected into it by the creators, the right direction of those b-grade actors to the point that it becomes fantastic and nobody saw it coming. By the sake token an expensive movie can be rubbish, especially if the only motivation to make it great is the fact that a lot of money has been invested in it. We have to look beyond money and see what really inspires people to buy some music, or see a movie twice, is the human inspiration they get out of experiencing somebody elses creation, a creation filled with dedication and a point of focus that follows through to final completion, not stopping or letting up short of the mark. Going the extra mile. Like Rocky [[:)]] This is what makes Guy's work interesting on each listen, is that I think he really does work exceptionally hard to make it all come about in terms of his ability to focus intently and not to ignore imperfections and inconsistencies in his own work, until each wrinkle and musical issue is ironed out just the way he wants it. It is this "fulfilment of vision" that he clearly dedicates himself to that leads to the engaging results we hear regularly. Without that, no amount of orchestral knowledge, production knowledge, or engineering capability would yield the same result. They are the tools, but it is the focuser and the emotive nature of the creator that puts those tools to certain unique use, bringing the results we hear. You are hearing a unique original creation of music. Personally I find that far more inspiring than hearing a re-creation valid though they are, since this is a piece of music that we all would probably never have had the opportunity to hear if the old age economics of the modern world of classical music and orchestral recordings were to be relied upon. Yet that doesn't speak about it's validity as a composition. Now, we can hear that composition fully and judge it on it's compositional merits, and place it against beethoven and mozart and any greats you enjoy, and compare them side by side not for critique just to say here is one composition here is another. Otherwise, it would have been written down on paper, and unless it was comissioned or lucky enough to be recorded properly, it would never be heard by the human race. Now it is on the internet. And let me be clear this is not a point of argument on the validity of the composition - quite the contrary - my point is exactly that many great compositions that would never have been written or recorded are being written and recorded because of this library - and their validity I think we will more often than not find, is in fact there, justified in their creation, but for the economics of a standard orchestra would never have seen the light of day. So Guy is a pioneer in this field, which is a brave position to work in, and also that field extends way out to many other composers. For many reasons, this library is a gift to man-kind in our current day and age.

    Like the men and women of the past, we are creating our own tools to build tomorrows world, first it was sticks and stones, then metallurgy, architecture, engineering, machines, planes, the internet, and many other innovations besides, and this library is a modern tool for the musical world, one that we now consider we could not live in without or imagine now having with us, and I don't consider it any less wonderful than a bridge that connects two points of land where before there was not one, or a boat that can sail around the world where before we could not.

    For one, I can't wait for the 96k version to be released just to be a bit off topic [;)]

    Congratulations Guy, through your persistent dedicated focus you are maintaining the momentum and steady increase in quality and completeness of each of your compositions. The hard work shows! [[:)]]

    Miklos.

  • Oh, and one more thing - I loved more than anything the clever and effective orchestration of the supporting instruments, that for me was a bigger draw even than the main instrument - I just found myself listening to how clever subtle and effective it all was, yet it must have been a lot of work, but you make it seem easy as always.

    Miklos.

  • Miklos, that is a really interesting philosophy, and I agree.

    I have wondered something even more radical than your statement, though I don't know if it is true or not. That maybe the ultimate evolution of orchestral sound is samples. Not the crude old conception of samples as a cheap substitute for live that many people assume, but a refined detailed approach like VSL that allows a composer total freedom of sound. Not that live orchestras would disappear, but that the "next step" for symphonic music is precisely this new use of something old.

  • Big thanks to Sangit, Mahlon, Mephisto, Synthetic and Miklos.



    Miklos,

    Thanks for that book! It's all very much appreciated I can tell you that, but what I appreciate even more is to see you back here on the forum. [:D] Don't go far, ya hear!