looking for feedback on Orchestral piece

P

pistachio

New member
Hi everyone,

I spent a few hours today working on this song. My goal is to have it sound as real as possible.

If you've read any of my other posts, I used to use Garritan Personal Orchestra as my main VST, but I've recently switched to Miroslav and this is my first piece using it.

Let me know what you think and what could make it even better. Thanks a lot! (EDIT: boleeeted)

go here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=297836&page=2

- pistachio
 
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http://www.joecarrier.net/web/

Hey Pistachio... the link above is for a guy who'se one of the best at creating orchestral film music with MIDI I know of.

The reasons I'm posting it are two:

1-there is a decided lack or impact in the bass frequencies...I can see it in the freq graph of WMP...and heard it, first, which is why iI compared it in the first place.

2-although you're really close with a decent orchestral sound, the content of your composition and arrangement, probably more important, is lacking invention, motion, and interest.

A/B comparison with Joe's sounds and compositions....some samples open automatically when you open the link...and should give you an idea of where you are with regard to both items, and , maybe provide you with some inspiration and direction??

I know Joe, I've seen him work, and taken lessons from him. He has some impressive pro gear...but you're close behind in the sound department. I'm impressed.

And I read the posts in the closed thread. Lots of good advice about creating realism by thinking of what the instruments really sound like....using the imagination, schooled by lots of listening and analysis of records made by real players. Joe sits at his console, and plays imaginary violins with eyes closed to put himself 'there'. 90% of realism, he demonstrates, comes from audible cues that untrained ears cannot define, but can subconsciously determine for them the source of the instrument: MIDI or real. It takes years of concentrated study to acquire the imagination necessary. Joe has the luxury of having composed for and conducted real orchestras for 30 years.


But you're on a good track. Rock on!
 
jeffmaher said:
http://www.joecarrier.net/web/Hey Pistachio... the link above is for a guy who'se one of the best at creating orchestral film music with MIDI I know of.
Click to expand...

Okay... When I open Joe's webpage, and the music starts playing... My ears are telling me there is no way on this good green earth that what I'm hearing is MIDI-based. Ain't no way. I searched his site briefly, and couldn't find anything saying anything about MIDI, so... I'm inclined to ask you your sources, only because the sound on that site is simply amazing - even for acoustic recordings.... If it's MIDI, then that is mind-blowing.

Pistachio, your piece is pretty good, but my area of expertise is on recording acoustic (non-MIDI) instruments, so I really can't give you much advice, other than the parts which sound especially "MIDI"-ish are the moving parts up the scale.

Thanks for sharing.
 
The guy, Ron, who hooked me up with Joe sent me a Christmas CD Joe had produced, recorded, and mastered for him, with Ron singing the vocals.

The record ...and the players...were blowing my mind. I looked at the label of the CD...some names were featured for 'musicians'.

Strange that I'd never heard of any of these guys, though. And we live in the same town...and I've been playing long enough to have heard of anybody that good.

When I got to my first lesson, I asked Joe where the hell he got the players, and who the hell they were. I was really smoked by the playing.

Joe looked at me kinda funny, and told me he was the only player on the record, and presented me to his stand-alone sampling super-computers...he had two at the time. Apparently, Ron had just put the names on the CD for yucks.

I swear.....I have been with him as he creats this stuff. It's MIDI. All of it. Some of the vox, too.

Lately he's been spending time in NY. He has four sampling computers playing his MIDI score for a Broadway play.

It's MIDI. I'll upload a song from the Christmas record if you want...including electric guitars. The tracks had me totally buffaloed.

PS...Joe is a savant: at 17, he was composing big band stuff for Herb Pomeroy's big band at Berklee. And he started recording 22 years ago. He's real good. He'll inspire...or make you wanna quit. And, as I said, his gear is really good. An unbelievable sound resulting from a series of talent and equipment and experience convergences.

But it is MIDI. Weep at it. :^)
 
Joe Carrier is pretty great at using MIDI, but to be honest, I literally just started today!

So thanks very much for the compliments and I will definitely try to improve the individual tracks in here. Believe it or not, there are only 2 tracks in that whole song though. I used a combination setting, so maybe that is part of the reason why its slightly untrue to the ear. Also, my MIDI keyboard doesn't have a pitch or mod wheel, which makes adjusting the modulation and fadeouts extraordinarily difficult.

I either need to buy a better keyboard or learn how to adjust the mod wheel using Miroslav. I used to just port Garritan Personal Orchestra to FL studio's default MIDI OUT thing and used CC1. (If you know what I am referring to, you are as in love with midi as I am).

I guess I'll google around and try to find out how to fake adjust the mod wheel on Miroslav.
 
I completely redid the song. I just overwrote the original file. So again! Please, re-listen!



And thanks so much for your feedback. I emailed Joe Carrier. What a nice guy! Who would have thought?
 
Yeah there's more depth and realism in the sound of the string ensemble, I think.

Joe is a super nice guy. I learned a whole whopping lot from him in our two sessions....stuff that had light bulbs popping a year later... it was a lot to digest....and worth more than what I paid, fer sherrr.

One of the things I noted is that he has a full 88-key triggering piano, and the extreme low keys fire up a lot of instrument-nuance utilities in his high-quality sound libraries.

I don't know much about midi....I make tracks on my caveman stuff. I have Miro Orchestra...can't make it load or work in my old puter. So I rely on an old Roland XV50/80 rack synth... Joe's recommendation...to get my feet wet. I also don't know much about computer stuff either. But, like Joe told me, "record something every day for a few years and you'll know everything you need to know." And I know I need good libraries and computers made this century. Ears are coming along. If I hit the lottery, I'm gonna gear up. It'd be nice to have samples like Miro or whatever the SOTA stuff is the day I can buy it. I record midi stuff...but it sounds plastic. At this point, it's mostly a gear deficit. So I'm moving more into microphone recording now....a real kit, etc. Just gotta keep going. Somewhere. You're on your way. Good luck.

btw...here's a link to a page on Joe's site that has cuts from that Christmas record...the one with all those MF'n fake players what had me totally snookered! [Ron books me at a hotel venue in RI...his side business after his Las Vegas singer-gig. I'm blessed to know these cats!]

http://www.joecarrier.net/web/content/view/67/80/

And get a load of Joe's composition skills...he's just crazy, man!
 
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I think it's very good. As a composition, it's nothing mindblowing, but doesn't sound too artificial as it's done only with a VST.

What VST are you using btw?
 
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