# Nostalgic orchestral featuring Spitfire Chamber Strings



## Ben E (Jan 1, 2018)

This is what Lassie's day would sound like if she doesn't have to save someone from a bear or a fire.


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## sinkd (Jan 1, 2018)

Really nice!. I would be interested to hear a drier mix as well. Care to let us "under the hood"?

DS


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## Rob J Kennedy (Jan 1, 2018)

Very professional. Nice orchestration and fitting, quite colourful.

I just said in another post that Soundcloud does no one's music any justice, and I bet your piece sounds so much better in your DAW and on a CD.

Can you tell us about your instrument selection (which VSTs), DAW, and mixing choices?

Cheers

Rob


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## artomatic (Jan 1, 2018)

Delightful! Love the warmth... No animal (or human) was harmed during this piece.


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## Alex Fraser (Jan 1, 2018)

Love it. Great work. Something to aim for.


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## Ben E (Jan 1, 2018)

Hey, thanks for listening and for the kind words.

I can’t make a drier mix of this because the file became corrupted at bar 25 and so I quickly bounced and then worked further from there. The first half of the song is burnt to stereo with whatever mix I had up at the time.

This was done in Logic (written in, not played) using mostly Spitfire instruments. I used the Tree (100) and the Close (50) on everything except brass which is tree 100 and ambient 50.

Since most of the woodwinds are Berlin I used a Valhalla Room reverb to help match the sound with the Spitfire stuff - but I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked on this because the file became corrupted before I could massage the details and so I committed myself to finishing the second half of the piece with the reverb setup that I’d started with. 

Woods:
Albion One (Legacy) High and Low Long and Short.
Berlin Woodwinds - First and 2nd Flute, Flutes 8VA, Oboe, 1st and 2nd Clarinets
Spitfire Bass Clarinet (which is the only Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds legato patch that I can make sound okay.)

Brass:
All Spitfire
Albion One (Legacy) High, Mid and Low shorts. For some reason the High and Low — but not the Mids — are in octaves. I usually don’t like that but it was okay for this piece.
Horns a2
Bones a2

All the percussion (including celeste and marimba) is Spitfire Percussion. Except the triangle (Vienna Percussion) because the Spitfire triangle doesn’t sound good.

Spitfire Harp

The strings are all SCS in sections (V1, V2, VA etc.) The legatos are the terrific “Performance Legato” patches from SCS. The only other strings are pizz (again, in sections, not ensemble) and major and minor 2nd trills (in sections.)


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## calebfaith (Jan 1, 2018)

Love it  All of the stylistic elements sound refined and well placed while not overdoing it.


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## Andrew_m (Jan 2, 2018)

Really nicely mixed. How big of a difference does making each string in spitfire strings in sections instead of an ensemble patch make ?


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## Celestial Aeon (Jan 2, 2018)

Every time you post a tune I know that I'm in for a treat  You manage to sound professional without going too clinical at the same time. Especially during this era of trailer music, it's so fun to hear these kinds of intricate tunes that bring us back to the "good old days" when cinematic music was more about composition than sound design. Good job!


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## markleake (Jan 2, 2018)

Wonderful track Ben. Very inspiring. Sounds very real to me and is written in such a nice manner that it brings a smile to my face.


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## Ben E (Jan 2, 2018)

Andrew_m said:


> Really nicely mixed. How big of a difference does making each string in spitfire strings in sections instead of an ensemble patch make ?



There are a few reasons to use the individual sections instead of the ensembles in SCS (and SSS.)

1. There are no ensemble legato patches in the Spitfire _string_ libraries. So if you want the agility that the legato patches give you (eg. you're not just using the strings as pads) then you must use the section/legato patches.

2. For non-legato, pizz, trills, trems etc. The stereo imaging of the sections are accurate. Violins on the left, basses on the right, etc. Presumably the ensemble patches have this same imaging, but it doesn't sound as distinct. Especially in pizzicato passages. The ensemble pizzicato sounds like a big wad of pizzicato strings, but using sections you can really hear the space between the strings -- if that makes sense. Even if you play a single high violin note you can hear its spatial location better with the section patch than if you play the _same_ _note_ with the ensemble patch. This might be because V1 and V2 are both sounding in the ensemble patch so the sound's location isn't as distinct.

Also, by dividing the strings into sections you have better control over how tight -- or how loose -- your strings play. First and Second violin _sections_ playing a pizzicato passage in unison can be made to play sloppy by humanizing the midi events between the two tracks. Any looseness in an ensemble patch, however, is burned into the single keyed sample.

3. I typically write three or four part harmony for the strings. Each section plays its own line. If you try this with an ensemble patch (four notes simultaneously) you start doubling or tripling the number of strings that are sounding. It gets to sound too big and synth-like to my ears. A C-major triad played at C3, for instance, will have Cellos, Violas and Violins each playing all three notes. Yuck!


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## Andrew_m (Jan 2, 2018)

Ben E said:


> it doesn't sound as distinct.


I tested this out with my copy of SCS and SSS and you're totally right, the imagine and detail sounds better for both as a result! It's not particularly too intensive either since you can turn off the patches you don't want to use.


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## Ben E (Jan 2, 2018)

Andrew_m said:


> I tested this out with my copy of SCS and SSS and you're totally right, the imagine and detail sounds better for both as a result! It's not particularly too intensive either since you can turn off the patches you don't want to use.



Exactly. I actually go into the Advanced > Individual Articulations > Violins 1 and load just the pizzicato (or just the staccato etc.) patch, so there's no turning off articulations or purging or whatever.


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## Ben E (Jan 2, 2018)

Celestial Aeon said:


> Every time you post a tune I know that I'm in for a treat  You manage to sound professional without going too clinical at the same time. Especially during this era of trailer music, it's so fun to hear these kinds of intricate tunes that bring us back to the "good old days" when cinematic music was more about composition than sound design. Good job!



Man, I really appreciate this. Thank you.


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## Andrew_m (Jan 2, 2018)

Ben E said:


> Exactly. I actually go into the Advanced > Individual Articulations > Violins 1 and load just the pizzicato (or just the staccato etc.) patch, so there's no turning off articulations or purging or whatever.


Oh haha, much better idea.


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## mc_deli (Jan 2, 2018)

Magic! Really wonderful piece. 

I have had real trouble making SCS sound subtle. I am very interested in how much CC work you do with SCS and how you handle the transitions. If you ever make a 2 minute vid I will study it for hours!


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## devonmyles (Jan 2, 2018)

Marvellous stuff. A very enjoyable listen....


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## TGV (Jan 3, 2018)

Great stuff! Great use of the portamento, too. Mix doesn't need to be drier for me.


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## conan (Jan 4, 2018)

This is exactly why I should spend more of my time on this forum listening to other composers' works rather than discussing sample libraries. Truly excellent.


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## Ben E (Jan 6, 2018)

mc_deli said:


> Magic! Really wonderful piece.
> 
> I have had real trouble making SCS sound subtle. I am very interested in how much CC work you do with SCS and how you handle the transitions. If you ever make a 2 minute vid I will study it for hours!


I do a LOT of tweaking to get the sound I want, no doubt about that. I can spend an hour crossfading and blending articulations for a 2 second passage. I really enjoy it. For instance, at 1:32 there's an 8-note staccato descending passage. That's actually 5 tracks using three different articulations -- as the passage develops the articulation changes from the staccato available using the performance legato patch to straight staccato to staccato dig in order to give the passage some personality. No single articulation worked for all 8 notes without sounding bland.


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## mc_deli (Jan 6, 2018)

Ben E said:


> I do a LOT of tweaking to get the sound I want, no doubt about that. I can spend an hour crossfading and blending articulations for a 2 second passage. I really enjoy it. For instance, at 1:32 there's an 8-note staccato descending passage. That's actually 5 tracks using three different articulations -- as the passage develops the articulation changes from the staccato available using the performance legato patch to straight staccato to staccato dig in order to give the passage some personality. No single articulation worked for all 8 notes without sounding bland.


That makes me feel a lot better. My recent tribulations with SCS have involved a lot of trial and error (but also maybe I have been trying square peg round hole stuff)... but your efforts are worth it... really lovely work.


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