Symphony Orchestra at Home

[baton999]

I'm a "newbie" with questions. I want to make recordings of my orchestral arrangements (about 20 at present) and use them as demos to sell hard copies on my web page. I want to do this at home, as much as possible, keeping control, artistic integrity, etc. I'd like to give potential buyers a good idea of the sound of the arrangements. They don't have to be "spot-on" but as professional sounding as possible. Also, I'm a skilled keyboard player and arranger, and I've been to enough recording sessions to know my way around gear. Presently, I literally play each part into Performer, and therefore I don't require any "humanization," etc. My equipment is my concern and currently needs some very serious up-dating. I've got an iBook G3 running OS 9.2, a Kurzweil 2500R with orchestra block, a Yamaha P-80 weighted keyboard, Performer 6.0 (not Digital Performer), and no CD burner, other than my wife's PC. I use Composer Mosaic by MOTU for my hard copy notation. This notation program, accounting for about 90% of my work, only runs on the older Mac OS, and that's why I still use the iBook. I do have Finale, but I'd rather spend my time making money with the older program than learn Finale. So, here are my needs: 1) a keyboard, weighted or not, that will let me create an arrangement via MIDI sequencer, use the keyboard's sounds (if they're better than the K2500R) or the sounds of the K2500R to create a .wav(?) file, then turn these into files I can burn a CD to take to my internet service provider for inclusion on my web page. I also need to edit these files, allowing about 20-30 seconds of the orchestral piece for demo purposes. I plan on selling CDs as well. Oh, and I really don't want to go the "virtural orchestra" path, requiring huge amounts of RAM, a steep learning curve, etc.
I'd appreciate any in-put, info, etc. You can contact me at baton999@comcast.net.

Thanks in advance

Bo

 

[gecko zzed]

There are a number of approaches. You will have to decide what is best for you.

1 Keyboard sequencing, keyboard sounds. With this method you use your keyboard and its internal sounds to do your arranging and sequencing. Once you are happy with a piece you can save the midi file, or you can record the audio output.

2 Keyboard sequencing, external sounds. Same as above, but using a library of sounds in an external module, whose audio output you would subsequently record.

3 Keyboard driven computer sequencing. In this you use a program such as Sibelius (specifically for notation), or similar MIDI applications to sequence, store and amend arrangements, and use the computer to either drive a sound module, a virtual synth, or its own inbuilt module (if it has one). The keyboard becomes just an input device.

All cases require recording an audio file (though in the last case this has a slightly different meaning). The quality you get depends on the quality of the signal path, and in this application, the soundcard will be a key factor.

A WAV file (even short) is not a good way to present material in a web page. They are generally too big, and therefore take too long to download. You would have to consider MP3s or similar.

You would burn the MP3s to a CD for your internet provider. On the other hand, you should be able to email them. If they are small enough for downloads, then they are small enough for email (hopefully).

My general thoughts:
1 Keep your keyboard
2 Invest in a good sound card
3 Invest in a decent MIDI application
4 Invest in a classical instrument sound module.

 

[mikemorgan]

I think most of the Hollywood types that do orchestrations sans real musicians use Tascam's Gigastudio. Your existing equipment is more than enough to handle the input. You might need an external harddrive to house mega-samples. I've heard the learning curve is pretty steep as well, but worth the effort.