Hans not only uses "stacked" real brass and strings, he also likes to layer samples on top of his his recordings (or maybe he justs keeps some mockup tracks). MediaVentures has a lot of proprietary samples from the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as all the regular orchestral libraries. It is not difficult to spot patches from SOV, VOTA and, in his older works, from Mirouslav Vitous.

I like Hans' productions, but I tend to view them as a mix of pop/rock with orchestral tracks, using a pop/rock based multitracking approach. It's completely different from how people like JNH, JW, JG etc, compose and record.

You're completely right. Why MV does make use of 16 Gigas per composer?
Layering ... probably even in a very massive way.
I also think you can't compare Zimmer with other composers, but to be honest:
It depends very on the projects. All of us heard some commercial tunes coming from JNHs hands. Again he did a great job on "Signs" which is one of my favourite movies.
You'll find that at all composers working for high-budget movies.
HZ used that and also formed the hollywood sound to a new direction of filmmusic integrating electronic elements. Maybe you heard also about David Arnold who is one of my most favourite composers. Except the "DAD"-joke, his work on "Changing Lanes" and "Stargate" was simply breathtaking.
But who knows who is the man behind the orchestra? Nicholas Dodd is a possible choice, but maybe it's David Arnold who does the most work of the arrangement.
That's one of those questions, no one will ever get an answer.

I mean: Maybe Bruce Fowler is also responsible for the famous HZ sound?
Nobody knows exactly ... one point is for sure: It's a matter of combination the different aspects every member of the MV has to offer. More likely they should name every soundtrack's composer a team than a single person.
All the same ... [*-)]

Best wishes,
Hans-Peter

@Peter Roos said:

I like Hans' productions, but I tend to view them as a mix of pop/rock with orchestral tracks, using a pop/rock based multitracking approach. It's completely different from how people like JNH, JW, JG etc, compose and record.

Yeah, they actually have to write well in order for it to sound good.

Evan Evans

Evan, [:D]

Seriously, Hans-Peter, that was quite fascinating reading. Which is maybe the most evaluated and representative score using these brass approaches?

I'm testing a TC System 6000. You can easily change a "simple" sampler into a BIG sampler. With it, you save time ... (but you don't save money).

[:P]

Hi Mathis,

First:
Thank you!

Second:
I would say that the most representative score (which uses "massive HZ brass") was done with "Project Peacemaker" or "The Peacemaker" - different titles in the USA and Europe).
Except "The Peacemaker" I also want to add the score of "The Rock", which was only produced by HZ. Of course you find HZ's brass setups in all of his modern scores, except on "The Matchstick Man".
Oh, yes - and don't forget "Gladiator", but have in mind that he made use of different settings on every score. (In Gladiator you hear a lot of real brass - only with a little tweaking.) - Hope that's the right voc for it. [:)]

On inquires, I will post again a short "HZ bass" reply at the end of this week.
Hopefully ... [:D]

Best wishes,
Hans-Peter

Oh yes! TC offers a lot of little cheap systems. [:)]
To be serious ... I'm sure it's an outstanding system, but only suited for people who have a large - a very large budget.
I'm not a member of this group. [8-)]

Best wishes,
Hans-Peter

Oh, before I forget my "little" problem:
Does anybody know great studiomonitors which are suited for serious work and orchestral stuff?
Till yet, I've considered the "Mackie HR824" or the "Mackie HR624".
I don't like the sound of Genelecs, so I thought that would be the best descision.
What do you mean?
Are there better studiomonitors in that price-class out there?
Maybe you can help me ... currently I'm using M-Audio SP-5B.
Here are some demos of my work to give you an impression of what kind of monitors I'm working with:

Here is the link: http://homepage.mac.com/the_maestro2k/FileSharing2.html

It sounds great on the monitors but ... guess ... it doesn't sound great on other speakers.

Thank you!

Hans-Peter

Well, I´m absolutely a fan of Nubert speakers. I work on them for several years now. They´re clean and cheap. But also fun.
You can order them only direct at: www.nubert.de. You have a full four week return garanty if you don´t like them.
I just purchased a pair of Nuwave35 and I´m very happy. Some problems in the high bass range but that´s my room. They´re amazingly flat in their frequency response. Formerly I had boxes from the Nubox series and they don´t resolve the spatial information very well. So, especially for orchestral stuff, I highy recommend the Nuwave series.
And for the bedroom or other computer workstations the smallest Nubox (I think 310) is amazingly fun and very very cheap, too.

Thanks for your HZ listening tips. I´m very curious now.

Very interesting the info on Hans Zimmer.
One thing to mention is that besides producing The Rock he created the main theme.

Hans-Peter, we had a _lot_ of monitoring-related threads in our Mixing and Postproduction Forum. Maybe you find some interesting info there!

HTH,

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

Ok, after a long time of being silent, I overcome myself and start writing again to the forum.
Thank you for the great answers regarding my problem finding the best monitors!
I've found the best monitors I could imagine - when I first heared it, I was absolutely fascinated by its basses and brilliant high frequency performance: The Dynaudio BM6A ...
So, that means collecting money [:)]

Thank you for your help!

Hans-Peter

Ps.: If I have enough time, maybe I will post some new discoveries dealing with the HZ sound.

If you like the bm6a and have money problems, perhaps the bm6 would work for you (a passive monitor, not active). I love mine. You need a decent amp, but perhaps you already have that.

yeah i also noticed that zimmer records his sections separatly, one thing that proves this is the Gladiator DVD. When you extract only the surround channel, a magical thing happens : you hear of course the sound effects but also only the strings

http://annecywebtv.free.fr/bhorde.mp3

http://annecywebtv.free.fr/extrait-thebattle-surround.mp3

Wow, that's crazy. I was listening to the soundtrack the other day and I thought the brass sounded a few milliseconds off from the strings, but I thought I was just hearing things. His strings sound really good, too. Carter, do you know what kind of strings he uses for those?

Interesting discussion.

I've followed off and on the HZ sound and I've noticed that it seems very diffuse. All those layers can fool me into this false sense of "bigness" but really I believe that there is a point of diminishing returns where the sound becomes smaller and without focus or character.

Comparing Gladiator to another similar style soundtrack from 25 years ago (or even a recording of the Holst) tells me that even though I can hear that there is only three trumpets (let's pretend for an example) the intensity is so different; more raw and visceral.

When I put headphones on I hear a huge blended string section layered with string samples and even synth strings, creating a giant pad that almost sucks the sense of space and articulation away from the music. Don't get me wrong, it is a cool sound and when it is appropriate it is awesome. But this process can be self-defeating if one is not aware of the sonic consequences of all these layers.

I liken it to watching a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Very grand but also very affected, so if you were to do quick A/B comparisons you could see (or hear) how one is not as realistic (or accomplished) a presentation as one would imagine without a reality check.

Clark

I agree Clark control (your name reminds me of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons for some reason) and would go further to state that I am trying to do the opposite of Han Zimmer. I am trying to use samples naked. No massive layers, no tricks in mixing, no bullshit. As a means of using, rather than obliterating, the individual character captured within those samples.

Yeah William I seem to be gravitating towards your side of things:

As a relative newcomer to VSL my experiments with these high-end samples are so much more successful when I go for that pure music approach. To not take advantage of the natural organic energy inherent in these sounds is ignoring one of their greatest strengths. Disguising these sounds with layers actually makes it tougher for me to compose something musically compelling, though they do layer well with other libraries, etc.

I read an interview in Keyboard magazine where a MIDI orchestrator actually warned against doubling parts using samples, even if the doubled parts are commonplace in orchestral literature (F Horn w/ Violas, for example). The blending phenomenon reduces the "reality quotient" dramatically, giving the dreaded Pipe Organ or Accordion effect.

I suppose that is the main reason for the Woodwind Ensembles Horizon library.

On a lighter note, clarkcontrol is a nickname from a friend who used photoshop on a picture of me so my forehead was HUGE then inserted the caption "You are under Clark Control" like I had enhanced mind control powers or something. Laughed my ass off.

Of course, it didn't hurt that we were both totally wasted at the time.

Clark

@Omega said:

Wow, that's crazy. I was listening to the soundtrack the other day and I thought the brass sounded a few milliseconds off from the strings, but I thought I was just hearing things. His strings sound really good, too. Carter, do you know what kind of strings he uses for those?

You mean which libraries ? I think you hear real strings in the extracts (may be blended sometimes with hans zimmer private strings samples but not much in gladiator soundtrack)

i like hans zimmer sound because the sound is new, it's by far very different compared to the traditionnal hollywood orchestra. yeah it's not "purist, he mixes ethnic instruments with traditionnal orchestral instruments, sometimes he uses an electric guitar in an orchestral performance (rarely though).
Zimmer also uses a set of uncommon percussions (like 80s toms that blend really well with an orchestra) ... i wish i could write something like that : http://annecywebtv.free.fr/anm.mp3 it's beautiful :d

Zimmer is very accomplished at his technique; he uses it to great effect. I was hoping that his Last Samurai soundtrack didn't sound as similar, though. It is a similar movie to Gladiator so maybe he was told to provide a lot of these elements again (solo vox over pedal tone, ethnic perc, etc.). Then again, he uses these techniques a lot anyways.

Whenever I sit down to write something towards this end of the spectrum I usually end up listening to JW's Seven Years in Tibet after Zimmer, Eric Serra, even David Arnold, etc.

I find it very difficult to write with electronic timbres mixed in to something that is supposed to sound symphonic, so I have to hand it to Zimmer and his team for successfully blending the two. Years ago after hearing Broken Arrow I went and did some work that sounded like that for some industrials; that was fun and in the end quite appropriate, but nowadays that stuff just comes off sounding cheap to my ears. Especially Point of No Return (ugh), or Serra's La Femme Nakita. So I suppose that I'm biased because this 80's sound has been done to death. Granted the newer stuff sounds better because there's more real orchestra in these soundtracks (like Serra's Fifth Element, which I really like) but when someone requests instrumentation beyond extra ethnic flutes or percussion (rock guitars, rock drums or electronics mostly) it is tough for me to sell my own ears on it.

Clark