@jammusique said:

Hi Jay Bacal, Very nice work! I'm wondering if you've ever tried comparing your results with Altiverb to any Hardware reverbs with VSL (TC 4000, Lexicon, Bricasti). Audio engineers seem very inthusiastic about the new Bricasti reverb...

If you have a look at the equipment of Jay and listen then to his demos you will realize that it isn't really the Bricasti or any other high-end-piece which makes the race.

Other abilities are necessary:

1. You need to know your samples (how do they sound (each layer)) and all the possibilities of the sample player (VI)

2. You need to know how all the used instruments play the music in the reality (even better: You are able to play all of them)

3. You need to know how to use your current effects - and of course you need to know their weak parts 

4. You need to know how to mix an orchestra

5. You need to have years of experience in producing music with samples.

    That's quite a lot, isn't it? But then comes the most important thing:

6. You need to have a lot of ... and even more ... time.

Because you need to be willing...

• to click each tone more then on time...
• to give each new tone another articulation...
• to try out lots of articulations just for a short single phrase until you got the best solution...
• to fiddle around hours and days just for some minutes of music...
• to optimize the finalmix by using track automation for filtering, adjusting the volume and more - this for each instrument, each group and the whole orchestra...

Jay is really a master in all these points. His results are speaking for themselfs.

And

...if one or more points of the upper list are missing no Bricasti will really save the piece.

Of course: Jay's results would sound even better with a high price equipment - could be...

But Jay Bacal shows us in an impressive way that it is possible to get fantastic results without high price tools.

So this statement could also give "comforting words" for all of us who are not able to buy those expensive tools [;)]

Best

Beat Kaufmann

Hi,

I'll just take this opportunity to thank Mr. Bacal for his very good work but also for his generosity.

When I began using VSL, I was a bit discouraged by the result I got compare to the demos.

Even though I had very good experience with synth and DAW, the sound I got was getting nowhere.

So, since Mr. Bacal demos comes with the actual midi tracks and matrix, it helped me a great deal to study his approach to achieve  a good result. It really helped to understand the 'mechanic' of using vsl.

His demos were  invaluable for me. Then I developed my own approach. 

I'm still far from his results but at least, I"m getting better and better results.

Thank you very much for sharing your work!!!

Jean Roy

ps.

According to your demo list, It seems that we also share some musical taste.

Hi Jay, I think you are one of the best midi editor, by far the best.

You should really consider setting up a class or your own blog to teach how you edit those score and make it sound so real like an orchestra.

I will certainly pay for this kind of lessons.

Kindly let me know if you wanted to teach this for private lessons.

Thank you.

Best Wishes

Jeremy

VSL user

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the kind words.  You can learn a lot by downloading the midi files included in the tutorial of the various demos.  

Also I highly recommend the learning materials supplied by Beat Kaufmann.   I personally learned a lot from his postings.

Best wishes,

Jay

Welcome Richard,

please use a different user name for this forum, to avoid confusion. Thanks in advance!

username changed to RichardB by cm (can't be done in profile) 

@JBacal said:

... You can learn a lot by downloading the midi files included in the tutorial of the various demos....

Are tutorial / midi files available for your "Star Wars - Main Theme" ([url]http://www.vsl.co.at/Player2.aspx?Lang=1&DemoID=5844[/url])?

Thanks for sharing some of your techniques.

As an aside, I'm wondering where to find the sheet music for this, as I've been unable to find it after some trying?

help me Jay Bacal, you're my only hope

Jay has not posted on this forum for a while. However maybe this will help.

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/star-wars-suite-for-orchestra-deluxe-score-sheet-music/3979685

Two caveats:

1. I have not personally seen these scores, so I can't vouch for their authenticity.
2. In any case they will have been re-scored (by JW) for concert use, so they might not be 100% the same as the ones that Jay worked from.

@DG said:

Jay has not posted on this forum for a while. However maybe this will help.

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/star-wars-suite-for-orchestra-deluxe-score-sheet-music/3979685

Two caveats:

1. I have not personally seen these scores, so I can't vouch for their authenticity.
2. In any case they will have been re-scored (by JW) for concert use, so they might not be 100% the same as the ones that Jay worked from.

Thanks very much for the tip. Even with those caveats, it will likely be a million times better than what I could come up with on my own. Mostly interested in studying JW's orchestration, which is one of my weakest points.

Sorry I missed Jay's presence on this forum; I didn't hear his work until recently, and I think it's outstanding. I hope VSL and Jay decide to release a tutorial / midi files for the Star Wars "Main Title".

Star Wars main theme concert suite is available at Alexander Publishing.com. Look for JW on the home page.

@Peter Alexander said:

Star Wars main theme concert suite is available at Alexander Publishing.com. Look for JW on the home page.

Thanks. I bought it from you and received it, and it's nice. Big pages, each showing all (29?) parts.

I really appreciate your work on Philip Sparke's Harlequin. I'm interested in doing that kind of thing for Brass Band. How long is it necessary to do a job like Harlequin?