# SSB Demo - Fanfare for the Common Man



## Black Light Recordings (Feb 19, 2017)

Putting SSB through it's paces. Tried to keep the articulations and patches to a minimum.

Really happy with how versatile the legato patches are.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

I'm scared to click the link since I've played this piece live before. You are a brave man.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

Alright. I clicked on it. First minute. Trumpets. Please get rid of the vibrato, and what's going on with the releases of the trumpets also? Plus, too much swell with the trumpets and horns. Low brass needs to be separated more and more accented. Like I said, you were very brave to do this, but right now it sounds like some of my brothers from south of the border trying to perform a piece that needs to sound traditionally more "American."


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## airflamesred (Feb 19, 2017)

I just knew you wouldn't be able to resist Rodney!
And yes, certainly the first phrase has an unnatural vib and most of it felt over quantasized. As Rodney sais, you are a brave man and so hat off to you for this my friend: I certainly wouldnt have chosen SSB for this though.


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## SamplesSlave (Feb 19, 2017)

Thats hilarious Rodney (and on point). If you tweak this 10-15%, this will sound amazing.

I haven't played this piece in 20+ years! Great to hear it again. Great job!


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## Maestro1972 (Feb 19, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> it sounds like some of my brothers from south of the border trying to perform a piece that needs to sound traditionally more "American."


HaHa. Fiesta of the common man! 

Nice mock up! I know these things are tedious, time consuming, and frustrating as all get out- so here's to you for trying to recreate a legendary piece! For me, I have not found a better way to learn the nuances, strengths and weaknesses of a new (I am assuming that the library is fairly new) instrument/library and really see how it performs than to mock it up in a setting/piece that I am somewhat familiar with. So the question for you would be what did you get out of it?


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## Black Light Recordings (Feb 20, 2017)

Maestro1972 said:


> So the question for you would be what did you get out of it?



The exercise for me was as much harmonic as it was a mock up test. I've never played the piece so I wanted to transcribe it and since I just got SSB during the holidays I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. Going over the score, it looks like I butchered the transcription as much as the performance (I'm still learning the play the piano so performance is going to be an issue until my chops improve). I played in plenty of ghost notes that just are not in the score. What I learned is that Copland was very efficient. I also learned that SSB needs a hell of a lot of work to get the tuba (very boomy) and the bass trombone (very thin) to sit right in the mix when presented out front.



Rodney Money said:


> Like I said, you were very brave to do this, but right now it sounds like some of my brothers from south of the border trying to perform a piece that needs to sound traditionally more "American."



@Rodney Money, you held out for two hours but it looks like curiosity got the better of you. I just mapped the "vibrato" slider in SSB to a fader and will go back and play with it compared to a 2009 Boston Pops recording. First time I'm even touching it.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 20, 2017)

Black Light Recordings said:


> The exercise for me was as much harmonic as it was a mock up test. I've never played the piece so I wanted to transcribe it and since I just got SSB during the holidays I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. Going over the score, it looks like I butchered the transcription as much as the performance (I'm still learning the play the piano so performance is going to be an issue until my chops improve). I played in plenty of ghost notes that just are not in the score. What I learned is that Copland was very efficient. I also learned that SSB needs a hell of a lot of work to get the tuba (very boomy) and the bass trombone (very thin) to sit right in the mix when presented out front.
> 
> 
> 
> @Rodney Money, you held out for two hours but it looks like curiosity got the better of you. I just mapped the "vibrato" slider in SSB to a fader and will go back and play with it compared to a 2009 Boston Pops recording. First time I'm even touching it.


Nothing against the Boston Pops, but here's what we brass players truly inspire to be:


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## The Darris (Feb 20, 2017)

Never quantize mock ups like this. When you get short note passages such as those towards the end of this piece, it sounds mechanic. My of my simply techniques for this in Cubase is setting the "tick" factor in the quantize menu to around 13-15. Whenever I hit "Q" to quantize a passage, it randomly displaces my notes within that tick range, left or right.

The percussion is very far back in the mix too. The Brass doesn't sound very far back but in typical arrangements I've seen of this piece, the percussion is only a few feet behind the brass section (who are in a single row arc edit; except when they aren't like the above example). Your Bass drum and Timpani need more bite in their impacts. What Perc are you using? If it's SF Perc. Set the Close mics to another Kontakt Output and use a send on them within your DAW to another reverb instance that gives them some more width. You can also use a Transient Designer on the close signal for more bite whilst leaving the Tree or Ambient mics alone for a nice tail. 

I hope that's helpful.

Best,

C


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## Black Light Recordings (Feb 20, 2017)

Another thing I learned: The legato patches in SSB do not have a release control slider like some of the other long articulations (probably because of the legato scripting). Gonna have to work around that (switching between articulations and working expression with some added verb tail). 

@Rodney Money Look at how much air the trombone players are putting in. Fabulous! 

@The Darris Unfortunately "Q" is part of my life right now. My playing is so bad that if I didn't Q it would sound like a drunk monkey played the piece.....by throwing poo at the keyboard. I've got a macro that displaces the notes in a range of +8 to -5 but maybe that is not enough. Will try your "tick" factor trick, plus I can mess with the Stereo Width setting in SF Perc.


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## ctsai89 (Feb 20, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Alright. I clicked on it. First minute. Trumpets. Please get rid of the vibrato, and what's going on with the releases of the trumpets also? Plus, too much swell with the trumpets and horns. Low brass needs to be separated more and more accented. Like I said, you were very brave to do this, but right now it sounds like some of my brothers from south of the border trying to perform a piece that needs to sound traditionally more "American."



i actually have no problem with the vibrato and that's beautiful. Maybe they can start the note wiithout vibrato and then gradually vibrato more. But i guess you'll always have more say on brass than I do because I don't play brass instruments. And that's part of the problem I have with cinebrass because it doesn't let us control vibrato and most of the time it just doesn't sound liek there's any vibrato.


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## markleake (Feb 22, 2017)

Next you'll be trying to get the clarinets to play vibrato.  Oh the humanity!

Seriously though, trumpets playing vibrato for this piece?... no thanks.


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## ctsai89 (Feb 22, 2017)

markleake said:


> Next you'll be trying to get the clarinets to play vibrato.  Oh the humanity!
> 
> Seriously though, trumpets playing vibrato for this piece?... no thanks.



HA! wrong, i wouldn't want clarinets to do vibrato. But you're right, fanfare for the common man isn't Russian. You'll hear lots of trumpet vibratos in Russian symphonies especially the one's conducted by svetlanov.


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