Seconding Beat's suggestion for trying out a "frequency sweep" approach as well - this one is also very good for equalization ear training, as it makes you remember how a particular frequency band sounds on different instruments when you "overemphasize" it (provided you do this in an organized and regular fashion (I would start with "standard" octave spectrum divison (63-125-250-500-1k-2k-4k-8k-16k)).

EQ presets: honestly, I don't have any. I am so used to doing EQing completely dependent on the sound of every inidividual project/mix that, if and when I use any, these are almost always Vienna Suite EQ Factory Presets as good starting points.

Good suggestions there Beat, I'll look into these Eq's.

Even before using the ORR recording as a reference I started with sweeping. It's a good way to find some frequencies that bother me. To shape the timbre, however, I find that I'm not trained enough to imagine the effects of broader, more subtle eq settings. So, sweeping with a narrow q helps me finding single frequencies I'd like to dial back or up, but to really shape the tone I have a feeling that at some places broad(er) q's are important. Maybe I should simply try to sweep with broader q-settings as well?

Despite the great help so far, if anybody is willing to share some DS specific settings I'd appreciate that much.

Hello Dominique

Your wish is "a matter of taste" so it would be difficult to find any preset for that.

Also you do nothing wrong with taking a highshelf-filter and play a bit around with different - gains (-3dB - - 6dB) and sweep a bit around in the high frequencies. Try the same with high cut filters (-6dB/Oct or -12dB/Oct)...

I believe you have a certain idea of the sound you would like to reach with your dimensions.

So probably one important side is to find this sound played by an orchestra. It could probably be the first step to search for such a reference sound.

Another approach could be that you offer here a short sequence of your strings without any effect (no reverb no EQ no nothing) except for the panning maybe.

(wav-file)

So people would be able to treat this file with their suggestions.

You also can send me such a short excerpt.

http://www.musik-produktion-createc.ch/kontakt.php (use "File-Upload" (Datei-Upload))

Best

Beat

Hello Beat

That's a good idea, and a generous offer! Thank you. Here's a snippet with Dimension Strings only. It's panned (with PowerPan), but no other effects applied.

!!Watch your listening levels, it starts with a forte chord!!

https://app.box.com/s/0kmn3b9bw4oin8xh7cl1

By the way, what I'm experimenting with at the moment is a slight boost around 400Hz with a medium q, and bringing down the frequencies between 4kHz and 8kHz a bit.

Hi Dominique

Thanks for your example.

Listening to it triggers a question: It seems that there are some phasing-effects and the dimension strings (violins) sound unusual.

I can't imagin that a VSL Library can sound so strange without any effect.

Could it be that you played the melody twice and then you panned the one to the left and the other to the right?

?

Further I seems that you probably shoud treat each violin- / viola- /cello- track for itself...

Beat

You are absolutely right. The phasing issue occured because in VE Pro I accidentaly set the balance slider for the second group of Vl 1 to right channel only. Here is the file again, this time without that phasing:

https://app.box.com/s/wx4j85bycl4vtwclmj8n

Interesting that you find it doesn't sound like the Dimension Strings. It's really just that, without any effect whatsoever. It's only DS panned with PowerPan, and that's it. Maybe you find the way I set them up unfamiliar? Starting from Saxer's setup I made a preset with 10 Vl 1, 8 Vl 2, 6 violas, 6 celli, and 5 basses. Each section divided into two groups. For this snippet I recorded every group individually, which means two passes per section.

Within the VSL family which works with the Vienna Suite is FORTI/SERTI. In my tests with DS, I use a Brighter 03 C3 on the Violins and Violas, C2 on the Cellos and Brighter 03 or 04 C2 on the Basses. This thins out the sound a bit plus moves them further back "on stage" for a more recorded string sound. You can position the strings stage left to stage right using sample delay and then look for a brighter reverb for the mains.

These are called Tilt Filters and are EQs for the sound.

@Dominique said:

Interesting that you find it doesn't sound like the Dimension Strings.

I never had phasing effects without any effect and VSL-Library sounds. That's the reason why I mentioned this.

And also: There are users who think they can double the strings just by playing a voice twice.

Unfortunately this doesn't work in most of the cases because VI uses the same samples for the same notes.

This can lead to very strange sounds in total... With dimension libraries it it could be a bit different because of the splitting possiblities...

OK, I will now treat your file. Please be a little patient.

Soon

Beat

The TILT filters look interesting, I have an eye on them since some time. And it's true that the right reverb can make quite a difference. However, as said I'm quite content with my reverb at the moment and would like to go about this task from eq-wise.

That's kind of you, Beat. Thanks a lot. And of course no hurry. I had the same idea to eq the individual sections, but I think if I have a good starting point in an overall eq that will make things a lot easier.

Hello Dominique

First of all, your second version - without the phasing issues - sounds better and not so cheesy than the first.

I've checked your file now.

There are several resonances in the high range, which are "singing" soon when you increase the frequencies at their points.

So I suppressed them only for some dBs and I used also a high cut filter (6dB/Oct).

Maybe it sounds already too dark now...

I used the Fabfiltre because you can nicely make out what corrections I made.

How does it sound? Originalsound After the filter

After this correction you could use another (musical) EQ now for giving air, warmth, or any other "colour")

As I mentioned above in an other post: Such correction you should normally do in each track and not in the sum because you don't only suppress resonances this way but also the frequencies of those instruments which are sounding correct at these certain points.

And also: If you have the Suite Effects you will find within the presets the EQ the one called "Dimension Strings Ensemble Violins Resonance Menu" and dito for the violas, cellos,...

Those presets can be a help as a starting point.

All the best

Beat

Hello Beat

That's fantastic, thank you so much. I can clearly hear that this goes exactly in the direction I want it to go. As you suggested, it's a tad too dark already for my taste. But it's a perfect starting point, exactly what I was looking for. I'll try to port it to the individual sections, which will be a lot easier to do now due to your help. So thanks again. [Y][B]

Hi guys, i´ve tried everything and still with phase issues!

I´m working on a orchestration and the phase sound is killing me. 

Here is a example with no eq and reverb, just tradicional panning!

http://michaelmachado.com.br/audio/Phase2.mp3

I don´t have MIR and i´ve got the vienna instruments pro to use the harmonize function and still sound like the above example .

Hi Michael,

beautiful music! 👍

I can't really hear what a sound-engineer would call "phasing" - maybe you have to point me towards the sonic aspects you don't like.

Is there any chance to see the setups you were using? Was this done within VE Pro?

@Dietz said:

Hi Michael,

beautiful music! 👍

I can't really hear what a sound-engineer would call "phasing" - maybe you have to point me towards the sonic aspects you don't like.

Is there any chance to see the setups you were using? Was this done within VE Pro?

Hi Dietz, thanks for reply!

The music is not mine, it´s only a orchestration. Claudio Santoro is the name of the composer, Prelude 1 is the name of the piece.

The entire melody sound wierd to me, specially when played one octave

I´m use cubase pro 8. And no, this was done within VE 5, not the PRO version.

Which setups do you wanna see?

Assuming that all instruments are set up within Vienna Ensemble, just save the VI-Frame and and attach it to your next reply in this thread. Alternatively, you could send it to support_ATvsl_DOTco_DOTat, to my attention (... please add a reverence to this thread). You could also add the Cubase-project then (without any audio files), although that shouldn't be necessary, and it could give me some troubles as I haven't upgraded to Cubase 8 yet.

In any case: I'll look into it ASAP; just allow for a few days, please.

Kind regards,

@Dietz said:

Assuming that all instruments are set up within Vienna Ensemble, just save the VI-Frame and and attach it to your next reply in this thread. Alternatively, you could send it to support_ATvsl_DOTco_DOTat, to my attention (... please add a reverence to this thread). You could also add the Cubase-project then (without any audio files), although that shouldn't be necessary, and it could give me some troubles as I haven't upgraded to Cubase 8 yet.

In any case: I'll look into it ASAP; just allow for a few days, please.

Kind regards,

There you go! 

Dietz, It´s sound good to you? 

@Dietz said:

Hi Michael,

I just looked at the VI Frame and I listened to the audio snipped you supplied again. For me, there's nothing wrong with either of them (... although I would pan the individual instruments differently, but that's a different story).

It might happen that you _really_ run into phasing issues, though, due to the fact that you seem to use several instances of the same instrument (e.g. Dimension Violins - Player 1). I would have to see and hear the actual Cubase project for verification, but you could check it yourself: I marked the suspicious instruments in your VI Frame.

Kind regards,

Dietz, thanks for reply again.

What should i do to simulate the first and second violins? Split into 4 or layering with other library (which i don't have)?

@Dietz said:

Hi Michael,

thanks for the Cubase-project.

I quickly added MIR (using MIRx presets) and printed a rough submix from the first and second violins only. Are you still hearing phasing issues? I don't. 😊

Kind regards,

Thanks, but i don't have MIR. You change the pan, but what about the other instruments?  Is there a tip (or preset) for panning dimension strings? 

Sounds thin, but amazing!