# The Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri [CineBrass & Berlin Strings / Mockup]



## Artemi (Jul 21, 2021)

Hello!

I wanted to share my recent mockup from the Mummy Returns film.
(This is a combination of Evy kidnapped and My first bus ride themes from the movie)






The main libraries used for this mockup are Cinebrass core, Berlin Strings, True Strike 1 and some Albion One for woodwinds and percussion

I think I’ve stretched my possibilities of working with Cinebrass as I know this library much better now, how does it work, which things to pay attention to, etc.

Hope you enjoy this theme, and thanks for watching!


Artemi.


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## toddkreuz (Jul 27, 2021)

Sounds great! Especially nice blend in the brass. I love Cinebrass too, but also
love Cinematic Studio Brass.


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## jason.d (Jul 27, 2021)

That was a fun piece!! Thanks for sharing.


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## Artemi (Jul 28, 2021)

Thanks everyone for checking this thread!



toddkreuz said:


> Sounds great! Especially nice blend in the brass. I love Cinebrass too, but also
> love Cinematic Studio Brass.


thanks! yeah, cinebrass just has that tone isn't it..



jason.d said:


> That was a fun piece!! Thanks for sharing.


thank you for listening, have a great day =)


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## toddkreuz (Jul 28, 2021)

Artemi said:


> Thanks everyone for checking this thread!
> 
> 
> thanks! yeah, cinebrass just has that tone isn't it..
> ...


I think its a combination of great players, and that room. That room sounds magical.


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## RonOrchComp (Jul 28, 2021)

Great job!

However - as well as you did, this just goes to show that sample libraries are still light years away from competing with a real orchestra. 

Do you have the sheet music? Hos did you do this? If by ear, how did you hear everything?


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## Wedge (Jul 28, 2021)

You did a great job. Makes me want to pick up Cinebrass.


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## Soundbed (Jul 28, 2021)

Brass sounds great. Did you use Sonore for any of it?


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## Artemi (Jul 28, 2021)

toddkreuz said:


> I think its a combination of great players, and that room. That room sounds magical.


yeah, I believe that even Cinesamples team was suprised by this library, it's just a combination of good players, good room, good moment and some luck. So that's when the magic comes in 



RonOrchComp said:


> Great job!
> 
> However - as well as you did, this just goes to show that sample libraries are still light years away from competing with a real orchestra.
> 
> Do you have the sheet music? Hos did you do this? If by ear, how did you hear everything?


thanks a lot my friend!

Well I believe that there are lots of tiny details that I've missed with this one since I don't have a score and this was transcribed by ear. But I think that the spirit of music is there, maybe I don't get it to sound like original 100% but I think I've come to the sound that I've heard in my head.

As someone said it, samples are samples, so I just tweaked the instruments until they sounded as good as they possibly can.

I've learned a lot about Cinebrass, it's not the most consistent library to work with btw, since the dynamics of staccatissimo are sometimes louder than it should.
So I had to adjust the CC1 in a specific way. By it still worth the hassle in my opinion.

I've also experimented with adding Berlin Strings close mics and noise mics, lots of folks commented that it's impossible to work with it with less than 32gb of ram, but I've managed it to turn all mics on with only 16gb of ram
Of course using the kontakt purge function.

Let me tell you, my PC was not very pleased with this project
By there is someting about pushing your hardware to its limits 



Judd said:


> You did a great job. Makes me want to pick up Cinebrass.


Thank you There is a video comparing cinebrass with a CSB on my channel, with Indiana Jones examples in it, you can check it out if you're still in doubt.


Soundbed said:


> Brass sounds great. Did you use Sonore for any of it?


Thanks of listening 
Nope, it was just CineBrass Core =)

I like the fact that it has a wide dynamic range, I'm not sure how many layers, but it definitely helps when working with pieces like that.

In the original recordings they were using like 12 or 14 horn players, so I'm quite happy with how 6ahorns patch worked in this context.


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## Soundbed (Jul 29, 2021)

Artemi said:


> it was just CineBrass Core


Wow cool! I have vacillated on getting the full bundle or only bits and pieces over the years but never bit the bullet.


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## Henrik B. Jensen (Jul 29, 2021)

This sounds awesome! The brass is so majestic 🙂👍


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## Jack McKenzie (Jul 29, 2021)

Awesome Job! Those horns sound absolutely fantastic! Great Programming!


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## toddkreuz (Jul 29, 2021)

RonOrchComp said:


> However - as well as you did, this just goes to show that sample libraries are still light years away from competing with a real orchestra.


To come to a virtual instrument forum and say things like,
"yeah, great! but samples just aren't there yet." Dude, i mean, are you f'ing kidding me?

That's only the very miniscule perspective of composer/players/programmers. To the general public,
this would be far more than convincing. Saying it doesn't sound like an orchestra is like saying
green screen doesnt look like you're really there. Its a moot point. The overwhelming majority can't tell and doesn't care.


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## RonOrchComp (Jul 29, 2021)

toddkreuz said:


> To come to a virtual instrument forum and say things like,
> "yeah, great! but samples just aren't there yet." Dude, i mean, are you f'ing kidding me?


No, I am not f'ing kidding you, dude. What's your problem? You are making it sound like there is something wrong with what I said. There is not.



toddkreuz said:


> Its a moot point. The overwhelming majority can't tell and doesn't care.


Nice attitude.


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## Artemi (Jul 29, 2021)

It's ok guys, everyone has their own opinion, that's why we are reading this forum, to know other people's opinion and to share our own 

I have one too, if I may..
I don't have a humungous orchestral writing experience but I don't think it's really about the samples.
I think it's more about the correct spacing of the samples is what makes a real difference.
And that's why mic positions can really change the game.


A huge game changer for me on this particular song was the fact that when I tried to blend the timpani and the cymbals together with the whole orchestra it sounded very odd for some reason. I didn't knew exactly what was wrong by I didn't enjoy the results..
And then I've stumbled upon one video where a guy was telling that when you listen to the instruments which are far away from you, the stereo image is also changes, so when you listen to the farthest instruments like timpani you're not hearing it from left to right but more like from the middle, so it's mono. and that's when I realised what was strange about percussion, it sounded like I'm in the middle of the orchestra, so I've changed the stereo width on these tracks.

The reverb/compression then should blend all these instruments into a single stage.

As someone said on this forum recently, when working with real musicians you will see that the real dynamic range of the instruments are much larger that just three p - mf - ff, so that also contribute to the realism.

I think some libraries are closer to it than others, but not all libraries even from the same developer are the same, sometimes it's just a human factor, and there is a portion of luck and magic as was stated earlier, the same goes for live recordings I think. 



Soundbed said:


> Wow cool! I have vacillated on getting the full bundle or only bits and pieces over the years but never bit the bullet.


On this particular song I was blending the Close, Room and Surround mics together for the first time, usually I was just using a default Dennis Sands mix mic, but now I see that using those three can give much more width to the sound, especially in horns.



Henrik B. Jensen said:


> This sounds awesome! The brass is so majestic 🙂👍





Jack McKenzie said:


> Awesome Job! Those horns sound absolutely fantastic! Great Programming!


Thanks again for listening and for your comments! =)


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## dhmusic (Aug 2, 2021)

RonOrchComp said:


> sample libraries are still light years away from competing with a real orchestra.


*In a rare moment of curiosity an Eldritch presence manifests itself, invisible and overwhelming. The air is saturated with disagreement. The moment passes and all seemingly returns to normal, however, a palpable sense of foreboding lingers in the collective mind and resonates through space-time*


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## dhmusic (Aug 2, 2021)

Artemi said:


> Hello!
> 
> I wanted to share my recent mockup from the Mummy Returns film.
> (This is a combination of Evy kidnapped and My first bus ride themes from the movie)
> ...



Great job Artemi, the brass and strings sound dope!


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## Artemi (Aug 4, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> *In a rare moment of curiosity an Eldritch presence manifests itself, invisible and overwhelming. The air is saturated with disagreement. The moment passes and all seemingly returns to normal, however, a palpable sense of foreboding lingers in the collective mind and resonates through space-time*


I've actually wanted to reply to that with your FFVIII song example, I think you made it sound really realistic, I thought it sounded like a real orchestra.
I don't know how to insert the Don't be afraid theme here so feel free to do that 



dhmusic said:


> Great job Artemi, the brass and strings sound dope!


Much much thanks for checking this out


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## dhmusic (Aug 4, 2021)

Artemi said:


> I've actually wanted to reply to that with your FFVIII song example, I think you made it sound really realistic, I thought it sounded like a real orchestra.
> I don't know how to insert the Don't be afraid theme here so feel free to do that
> 
> 
> Much much thanks for checking this out


Aww dude I'm blushing thanks so much! I have to finish the rest of those at some point but I've been distracted lol

In case my "super spooky, super edgy" comment didn't make it obvious I've got some Bloodborne stuff in the works 

*Ominous dork vibes intensify*


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## Artemi (Aug 4, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> Aww dude I'm blushing thanks so much! I have to finish the rest of those at some point but I've been distracted lol
> 
> In case my "super spooky, super edgy" comment didn't make it obvious I've got some Bloodborne stuff in the works
> 
> *Ominous dork vibes intensify*


Yeah I've got a few other pieces in the works as well but I don't want to push them
Just make sure to send us a link when you are done


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## dhmusic (Aug 4, 2021)

Artemi said:


> Yeah I've got a few other pieces in the works as well but I don't want to push them
> Just make sure to send us a link when you are done


For sure. atm this is the only place I'm posting anyway. You should def post some stuff! Give the people more to talk about than sample libraries lol. What sort of pieces are they?


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## Artemi (Aug 4, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> For sure. atm this is the only place I'm posting anyway. You should def post some stuff! Give the people more to talk about than sample libraries lol. What sort of pieces are they?


I'm working on one of the pieces from Pirates of the Carribean the Curse of Black Pearl.
The sound is huge in the orchestra, so I'm trying to figure out everything by using different eq setting and also mid/side on off combination on the reference track.

I'm working in Reaper and recently I found that you can have snapshots of different plugins settings, so I can for example listen to the original recording inside the reaper and to switch different EQ settings on the fly with just few buttons, to hear how it sounds in more detail

That should help to imitate that humongous sound, so that's work in progress.  

I've also thought about Liberi Fatali from FF, since this track really inspired me at some point.
But there are lots of covers already, and it's hard to replicate a choir...


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## dhmusic (Aug 5, 2021)

Artemi said:


> I've also thought about Liberi Fatali from FF, since this track really inspired me at some point.
> But there are lots of covers already, and it's hard to replicate a choir...


Yeah I agree. That's an issue I've spent a bit of time everyday trying to tackle for myself since November (Choirs in general).

And yeah there are a lot of Liberi Fatali covers - it's a really cool track. All the more reason to make another! If I finish Liberi Fatali before you I'll clear the path and usurp the crown first and then you can come and dethrone me and we can revel in the sport of it all hehe

Anyway, feel free to PM me. I'm distracting too much from your thread lol


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