Wonderful topic Bill, and in direct relation to sample performance.
For those who started experimenting with samples many years ago, as did I, the quality often had us cursing, and spening large amounts of time re recording, and experimenting, trying to get that real sound. In a way, the 'roughness' added to the humanity of what we heard, and gave samples, in particular strings, a unique sound, not always true in pitch or quality of even sustained tone, but human nevertheless. And although the humanity was welcome, aiding the overall sound, more often than not, the uneveness of recording, or articulation, meant huge chunks of time taken with finessing the final product. And orchestral performances left a large gap in credibility between a sampled recording and one with live muso's playing a group from notes.
Now, finally, we have a consistent set of sampled sounds that we can rely on to be mp when we require, with consistent tone.
But is this enough? No. And it's not VSL that provide the limitation, on the contrary, they provide the quality and consistency that enables us to perform with confidence, knowing the relative values of volume, tone, and articulation are constant.
The thinness of strings isn't a recording error, but a perception of an instrument (s) from a perfomers POV. That is, we hear the strings as thin, becuase we hear 'live' with many inconsistencies, and variations, however subtle they may be. The action of drawing a bow across a string is not one of controlled friction within the context of a performance, but just one part. The player will emphasise, however slightly, the first beat of a bar, or cut that second staccato a little shorter because he's mentally preparing for that next stretch of hand position. And there are preconceptions of how a certain piece of music should be played, according to the conductors wishes, and performances from others. All of this affects the 'mental aural picture' the performer has, and he or she will play accordingly.
The first violin player may hear a fine section performance of the 1812, and decide the next time he plays he will lean more into the offbeat quavers in the descent before the finale, just because it sounds different.
Sustained notes are most difficult because (a) WE play them with too much consistency, (b) WE don't have set firmly enough in our minds the performance or tone and articulation we want, and (c) WE tend to play to the samples, instead of working to extract the performance we truly want. If you ask a violinist to play a top C several times, each time will be different. And the variation of tone, bow pressure, and the players own assumption of what you want will produce that which we seek, humanity, and a thicker sound, not lost in the mix. It's always been my practise for years, based on experience and the wisdom of others, to record violin sections not once, but two or three times, each time played live, and each sample section with it's own variation in pitch and bow sustain consistency.
And when i finally get to purchase VSL, my first task will be to construct violin sections from the original samples into, 1st Vi a, 1st violin b, 1st violin c. etc. Each with changes by a tick or two in pitch, and ech line played live, as my own variation in performance will give enough difference to create that human element.
(Assuming of course that i'm human!)
Regards,
Alex.
For those who started experimenting with samples many years ago, as did I, the quality often had us cursing, and spening large amounts of time re recording, and experimenting, trying to get that real sound. In a way, the 'roughness' added to the humanity of what we heard, and gave samples, in particular strings, a unique sound, not always true in pitch or quality of even sustained tone, but human nevertheless. And although the humanity was welcome, aiding the overall sound, more often than not, the uneveness of recording, or articulation, meant huge chunks of time taken with finessing the final product. And orchestral performances left a large gap in credibility between a sampled recording and one with live muso's playing a group from notes.
Now, finally, we have a consistent set of sampled sounds that we can rely on to be mp when we require, with consistent tone.
But is this enough? No. And it's not VSL that provide the limitation, on the contrary, they provide the quality and consistency that enables us to perform with confidence, knowing the relative values of volume, tone, and articulation are constant.
The thinness of strings isn't a recording error, but a perception of an instrument (s) from a perfomers POV. That is, we hear the strings as thin, becuase we hear 'live' with many inconsistencies, and variations, however subtle they may be. The action of drawing a bow across a string is not one of controlled friction within the context of a performance, but just one part. The player will emphasise, however slightly, the first beat of a bar, or cut that second staccato a little shorter because he's mentally preparing for that next stretch of hand position. And there are preconceptions of how a certain piece of music should be played, according to the conductors wishes, and performances from others. All of this affects the 'mental aural picture' the performer has, and he or she will play accordingly.
The first violin player may hear a fine section performance of the 1812, and decide the next time he plays he will lean more into the offbeat quavers in the descent before the finale, just because it sounds different.
Sustained notes are most difficult because (a) WE play them with too much consistency, (b) WE don't have set firmly enough in our minds the performance or tone and articulation we want, and (c) WE tend to play to the samples, instead of working to extract the performance we truly want. If you ask a violinist to play a top C several times, each time will be different. And the variation of tone, bow pressure, and the players own assumption of what you want will produce that which we seek, humanity, and a thicker sound, not lost in the mix. It's always been my practise for years, based on experience and the wisdom of others, to record violin sections not once, but two or three times, each time played live, and each sample section with it's own variation in pitch and bow sustain consistency.
And when i finally get to purchase VSL, my first task will be to construct violin sections from the original samples into, 1st Vi a, 1st violin b, 1st violin c. etc. Each with changes by a tick or two in pitch, and ech line played live, as my own variation in performance will give enough difference to create that human element.
(Assuming of course that i'm human!)
Regards,
Alex.
