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@dunk187 said:
I've been trying to duplicate John Williams large voilin section. Let me know what you guys think. This was done with Pro Edition, Solo and Chamber Strings. I tried a lot of subtle realtime detuning after I laid the tracks and it seems to work great....I'm sure we could get a better sound if I spent time to EQ it right.....
http://www.cratewatchers.com/starwars/princessleah.mp3
-Ben
@Jonathan Mitchell said:
If not 'epic strings', then why not call them 'rich strings'. That sounds like what we need if everyone thinks the old ones are thin. [:D]
@William said:
Also what is most needed here - an mp legato that is espressivo.
@Jonathan Mitchell said:
Rob, you're about the millionth person who's asked me that!
The answer is no. I was safely born and up and about long before Joni became famous. However, f you want a Twilight Zone moment, do a google search for Jon, or Jonathan and Mitchell, you'll find an alarming number of people with this name who have a musical connection.
There are perfectly explainable reasons why the higher range of strings are difficult to capture musically. Unfortunately, and ironically, by traditional sampling methods you're suffering by the technical excellence of the professional musicians. They'll strive for perfect intonation, which in such a concentrated context (a long note at a time, in isolation, at half or whole note increments) will be rather easy for them to achieve as a group. As they go higher and higher up the highest string, it'll become increasingly difficult to maintain good intonation and vibrato, but because these are professional players they'll make it sound quite effortless. Therein lies the problem. If you're present at the recording session you may marvel at the great tone and technical supremacy being displayed there and then, but when time comes to build a patch in your sampler you'll find it to be anything but realistic sounding in other musical contexts than simple, lengthy static parts. Just for the sake of comparison, if you were to give these musicians some music to play (specifically something less static in the upper register of their instruments) the ensemble would immediately take on a very different character. Why? Well.. because of the inevitably more noticeable intonation discrepancies between each individual player in the group that happen as natural results of playing "sul corda" or in 3rd or 4th position where fingers are cramped, the ensemble will sound bigger and the vibrato will sound wider at the beginning of longer notes before intonation is corrected within the group. What many people don't realize is that the exaggerated romantic high strings hollywood vibrato that you all love is actually considered bad technique among many string players (particularly in Austria I've gathered, hence the relatively conservative string ensemble vibrato in the VSL library) because it essentially comes to life with (oftentimes even deliberately) poor intonation. Knowing this is absolutely crucial to the outcome and success of any string sampling endeavor. This is what developers need to focus on in order to reproduce the high range of string instruments in a way that more accurately resembles people's general conceptions of what strings sound like in that register. It's by no means an easy task, though. It's a given that they'll have to step away from conventional methods of sampling and look into ways of coaxing musicians into performing what will ultimately yield more natural results in the domain of a digital sampler. Sorry if I went a bit off topic. As for more audible rosin noise in the higher range of the violins? Welcome to reality