# Mixing tips (CineBrass, VSL)



## jaredcowing (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi all, I'm new to this forum (although been tinkering with virtual instruments for a number of years) and thought I'd solicit some advice on mixing. Specifically, I've been using VSL (Special Edition) for a little while now, and have just purchased CineBrass/CineBrass Pro since the VSL brass wasn't quite cutting it for me. I figured I'd remix a couple old tracks to see how I could get CineBrass to blend, and was pretty happy with the results, though I'm still having a little trouble getting the brass to sound like they're in the same room as the strings/woodwinds... partly because the CineBrass sounds, even using close mics, are so wet, and VSL is so dry.
In any case, I thought I'd post the results here to see if anyone had any suggestions for improvement in the mix. The other thing that is really bothering me is the VSL piccolo... the runs are really sticking out. Short of buying new piccolo sounds, can anyone think of any mixing tricks to get that picc to sound more natural? Overall I love the VSL woodwinds, it's just the picc runs that sound off to me. You can hear what I mean in "Brace for Impact," at 5:45, and 6:53. In most spots I just make those picc runs less obvious by, well, burying them in the mix!
Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/jaredcowing/sets/trek-music-1
Might also help to mention I'm using QL Spaces for reverb.
Any suggestions and overall feedback on the music would be much appreciated.


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## Cinesamples (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi Jared, this is good writing.
I'll be brief, but here are my thoughts. With mixing samples , always use the K.I.S.S. method (keep it simple silly). Don't overly complicate things.

#1 rule is make sure the midi programming is top notch and realistic. No amount of mixing trickery can fix bad midi or bad samples. (Your programming is sounding very good though).

Specific to your situation: I would use the Full Mix of CineBrass, and match everything else to that. You can get some excellent results with VSL and some Todd-AO Altiverb. I don't have QL Spaces, but I have heard great things. Is there a scoring stage preset on that? You want to match the early reflections of CineBrass in the strings/woodwinds. Nothing super wet, just something that puts it in a scoring stage space. THEN, you put the full orchestra, your master bus, through a nice gluey reverb to hold it all together and polish it. Then finally, master it (I like to use Ozone).

Then you hire an orchestra and replace it all! 

Is that helpful?
Another note: I've found that the people who are best at orchestral mockups use sounds from a variety of libraries, and layering them all together.


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## amorphosynthesis (Jan 15, 2013)

What I do with mixing vsl se and cine-x(brass-winds)-which doesn't realy mean it's the right thing to do-is this;
Use the cine-x full mix(why not use that great sony stage sound which gives that sample library their character???)(which applies for spitfire audio,project sam's libraries,cinematic strings,8 dio adagio or any library that has that specific great sound stage ambience too without using additional reverb here)
Place vsl sounds to a virtual stage(altiverb is the 500$ solution-but virtual sound stage from parallex audio(?) will do the trick as well with 99$)-something you can do with lass as well(almost no ambience in recordings).
Then create a reverb bus and apply different send levels for each of the libraries you use there.Higher send levels of course for vsl or lass and less to almost non hearable to the more ambient libraries)-the glue 

Alternatively get cinewinds core for piccolo-great sound in mho.


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## Jordan Gagne (Jan 15, 2013)

CineSamples @ Tue Jan 15 said:


> . THEN, you put the full orchestra, your master bus, through a nice gluey reverb to hold it all together and polish it.



Can you define what the parameters and settings are on a good "gluey" reverb? The chances that we have the same reverb plugins are slim but I'd like to know what settings I should use to get that glued sound that I hear everyone talking about on this board.


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## Cinesamples (Jan 16, 2013)

Bricasti M7 

But what I mean by "gluey", just something that has a tail, and blends things together nicely, without getting washy. Something simple.


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## jaredcowing (Jan 18, 2013)

Thanks, these are great tips! And straight from CineSamples, can't argue with that!  I'll try out the two-pass trick on the reverb and see how it comes out. Spaces does indeed have a few scoring stages.


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## mark812 (Jan 18, 2013)

You don't have to buy M7 to glue your track properly..any quality reverb plugin (B2, ValhallaRoom, LX480, PCM etc.) will do.  Using a good, transparent bus compressor (like The Glue) is also a good way to do it.


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