Are VSL demos EQ-ed?

[Peter Roos]

Hello Dietz!

On the VI-Control forum I made a rather bold statement that I got the impression from your posts on mixing that most VSL demos are mixed as appropriately as possible for the "piece", and thus have EQ-ing and reverb added.

Please correct me if I am wrong, I do not want to post blatantly incorrect statements about the VSL demos (and will remove my remarks right away!).

I posted this in a thread on the Appasionata Strings.
Does for instance the recent demo from Guy contain EQ-ing on the string groups?

Best regards!

[Dietz]

While I can't talk for Guy, I do _of course_ treat our demos as every professional would do for contemporary music production. After all, our instruments are meant to be used like a virtual multitrack-recording of orchestral instruments, and I can't remember a "real" multitrack where I _didn't_ use EQs, filters, dynamic processing etc.

Nevertheless, while I (hopefully) always do as much as necessary, my goal is to do only as little as possible (...yes, because I'm a lazy guy [;)] ...). This is especially true for the "official" demos of new instruments, where there's not seldom just a wee bit of reverb added, and the occasional EQ-band employed to tame a resonance or add some sparkle.

... I hope Guy will chime in with information on his latest productions.

[JBacal]

I can say that for my demos I only use reverb-- rarely any additional EQ. This is mostly because the proper use of EQ continues to elude me. [:O]ops:

Best,
Jay

[Guy Bacos]

I usually only EQ when the sample is of poor quality, being not the case with the VSL samples I try to fill the empty space with the natural sound as much as possible, if that works well and I enjoy listening to it there is no need for EQing, and as Jay well said, I'm not enough experiment to PROPERLY use EQ. I think it is HIGHLY delicate to use EQ for orchestral music, it's not as standard as in pop music.

[Rob Elliott]

Peter - personally, while I find myself 'chasing my tail' when eq'ing VSL strings (sure there is material dependent things from time to time that require EQ), I find myself NOT EQ'ing much at all (EQ in my hands is like giving a loaded gun to a toddler).

If the mix is dense enough I will say a High Shelf at 6-7K often is what the DR. ordered [[;)]]

Rob

[Beat Kaufmann]

@Peter Roos said:

Are VSL demos EQ-ed?

Hello Peter [[;)]]
I usally use the EQ twice for the strings (VSL-demos):
1. For cutting the low or the high frequencies
2. After using (Alti)-reverb. Sometimes reverbs (rooms) enhance certain frequencies which I suppress with an EQ.

In other words: I don't use EQs to create "new strings".

Remark:
For the double basses I usually enhance the frequencies with an exiter to get out the "srrr" a little (the bow noises).

All the best
Beat