# Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo - Mock-up



## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

A complete re-recording of Bernard Herrmann's iconic main theme from "Vertigo" (1958), realised with virtual instruments. Spitfire are supposedly releasing a specific Herrmann collaboration, but in the meantime, these sounds work well. What do you think?

Sounds used:
*Strings:* Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings
*Brass:* Cinesamples Cinebrass Core and Cinebrass PRO
*Woodwinds:* Spitfire Audio Symphonic Woodwinds
*Percussion:* Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess Percussion
*Organ:* Sound Dust Hammr+
*Harps:* Orchestral Tools Symphonic Sphere & Kontakt Factory Harp

*Sequencer:* Cubase 6
*FX:* Mixed in using Izotope Vinyl, U-he Satin, Waves, T-racks


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## Tanuj Tiku (Apr 11, 2017)

alexballmusic said:


> A complete re-recording of Bernard Herrmann's iconic main theme from "Vertigo" (1958), realised with virtual instruments. Spitfire are supposedly releasing a specific Herrmann collaboration, but in the meantime, these sounds work well. What do you think?
> 
> Sounds used:
> *Strings:* Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings
> ...





Very well done! I enjoyed it very much. Nice video walk through and tape effect. 

Thanks for sharing!


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

Tanuj Tiku said:


> Very well done! I enjoyed it very much. Nice video walk through and tape effect.
> 
> Thanks for sharing!



Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Was fun to make!


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 11, 2017)

Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing. Love me some Herrmann!


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## Cătălin Popescu (Apr 11, 2017)

Masterfully recreated, one of my favorite scores of all time.
Also, your analisys isvery helpful. Thank you!


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

On the subject, Neil Brand did a great overview of the score:


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## Franco (Apr 11, 2017)

Very well done!


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## Paul T McGraw (Apr 11, 2017)

@alexballmusic Congratulations! Great score, great mockup! Love the added notations calling out chords and orchestration changes. The whole package of mockup and notations creates a very, very compelling video. I would love to see more like this!


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## P.N. (Apr 11, 2017)

Nicely done. Sounding great! 
I was hoping to hear more of that "Liebestod" moment, though. 

Cheers


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## Phillip (Apr 11, 2017)

Rhythmically a bit rigid, needs some humanising. Good luck.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

Phillip said:


> Rhythmically a bit rigid, needs some humanising. Good luck.



Thanks Phillip. I did some tempo fluctuations and didn't quantise everything. Doubled the harp and celeste up with a real piano to try and give more human touch. Will keep working more on that side of things.


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## Hans-Peter (Apr 11, 2017)

Truly loved it - particularly the woodwinds - spot on!


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> @alexballmusic Congratulations! Great score, great mockup! Love the added notations calling out chords and orchestration changes. The whole package of mockup and notations creates a very, very compelling video. I would love to see more like this!



Thanks very much. Yeah, think it's always interesting to break things down into the fundamental harmony. You can get miles of material from just a min(maj7) chord. It's mystery in a box!


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

Hans-Peter said:


> Truly loved it - particularly the woodwinds - spot on!



Cheers.

Yeah, Spitfire winds, really nimble I find. Have you got them?

I actually used just the close mics, which sounded slighty odd on their own but sound most like the original recording when in the mix. Was quite an interesting discovery for that more vintage sound - close mics and some wow and flutter.


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## Mithrandir (Apr 11, 2017)

alexballmusic said:


> Cheers.
> 
> Yeah, Spitfire winds, really nimble I find. Have you got them?
> 
> I actually used just the close mics, which sounded slighty odd on their own but sound most like the original recording when in the mix. Was quite an interesting discovery for that more vintage sound - close mics and some wow and flutter.



For even more vintage-y mixing you could try narrowing the stereo field of the winds altogether, and panning the strings quite harshly to the left/right using the close mics.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

Mithrandir said:


> For even more vintage-y mixing you could try narrowing the stereo field of the winds altogether, and panning the strings quite harshly to the left/right using the close mics.



Now you say that, when I listen to the original that's hit the nail on the head. It's more like mono stems panned around to make stereo, rather than individual sections being in stereo.

Thanks for the tip!


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## Tino Danielzik (Apr 11, 2017)

Wow, that is a really great mock up! I especially like the vintage sound, a little mixing tutorial would be awesome! Thanks for sharing!


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## Vischebaste (Apr 11, 2017)

Fantastic stuff!


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## byzantium (Apr 11, 2017)

Wow brilliant, thanks so much for posting. Love it. This is such amazing music. Never tire of it.
Wow this must have taken so much time. I bet you learned loads.

Really appreciate you posting, and thanks so much for the notes and the chord symbols, really really useful. (I think more scores should do this).

Re the sound, it's pretty good overall, I think the strings may be the weakest, a little thin/straight? And if one was getting even more picky, perhaps more dynamic range between soft and loud passages (this just from memory), and perhaps a bit more tempo variation / looseness. But overall great work. I've always thought I'd love to mock up a few Hermann pieces, but getting the time is difficult (and it would take a LOT of time for me!). Thanks again.

PS Yes, that Neil Brand series of 3 programmes on film music is brilliant. Seen it a couple of times. He also has a series of three on the history of musicals which is surprising good as well.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

byzantium said:


> Wow brilliant, thanks so much for posting. Love it. This is such amazing music. Never tire of it.
> Wow this must have taken so much time. I bet you learned loads.
> 
> Really appreciate you posting, and thanks so much for the notes and the chord symbols, really really useful. (I think more scores should do this).
> ...



Thanks for the feedback. That's useful to hear.

Was trying to get the strings to sound bitey and like the original, maybe pushed it a little far with close mics. I'm using chamber strings too, which are fantastic but a small ensemble. Wonder if bigger sections might have sounded a bit better.

It's funny with the tempo and looseness because a couple of comments say the same thing. I actually dropped the original recording into the sequencer and then traced the tempo of it so that mine drifted pretty-much identically, but that's clearly not coming across. Maybe should have done my own tempo and exaggerated it a bit more so it "breathed" a bit more. Vsts aren't going to behave exactly the same as real players after all.

Maybe when Spitfire release they're Herrmann collaboration I'll give it another pass and see if I can get it perfect. Certainly learned a lot from playing around with it. Was inspired to do so by Neil Brand after seeing his segment on it.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. Good to get other ears on it!


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## byzantium (Apr 11, 2017)

Cheers. That's really interesting about the tempo mapping you did.

Always wondered what Hermann mock-ups might sound like with different strings/sordinos. e.g. the CSS sordino emulation or the 8dio sordinos. (The 8dio sordinos are still on 70% sale at $89. https://8dio.com/instrument/agitato-sordino-strings-for-kontakt-vst-au-aax/)

Guy Bacos over on the VSL site (and perhaps on his own site as well) has some fabulous Hermann-esque mockups done with VSL (Dimension Strings?). Might be worth checking out those if you're into that sound.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 11, 2017)

byzantium said:


> Cheers. That's really interesting about the tempo mapping you did.
> 
> Always wondered what Hermann mock-ups might sound like with different strings/sordinos. e.g. the CSS sordino emulation or the 8dio sordinos. (The 8dio sordinos are still on 70% sale at $89. https://8dio.com/instrument/agitato-sordino-strings-for-kontakt-vst-au-aax/)
> 
> Guy Bacos over on the VSL site (and perhaps on his own site as well) has some fabulous Hermann-esque mockups done with VSL (Dimension Strings?). Might be worth checking out those if you're into that sound.



Only got a couple of 8dio things and no VSL, wjust having a look at it now. Thanks for the heads up.

There's CS patches in Chamber strings, might have been worth me layering those in if I'd thought of it. Think Herrmann did that a bit - half the strings with mutes and half without.


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## Welldone (Apr 11, 2017)

Congratulations on the brilliant mock-up! Thanks a lot for the inspiring and insightful video.


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## PeterJCroissant (Apr 12, 2017)

really enjoyed watching and listening....and reading infact... top work!


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## alexballmusic (Apr 12, 2017)

PeterJCroissant said:


> really enjoyed watching and listening....and reading infact... top work!



Thanks very much!


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## ed buller (Apr 12, 2017)

awesome. It's so revealing how simple BH harmonies where. And how he shared a fondness for Min/Maj 7th's and min9ths chords with John Barry . Both had very similar harmonic syntax yet how different where the results ?


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## alexballmusic (Apr 12, 2017)

ed buller said:


> awesome. It's so revealing how simple BH harmonies where. And how he shared a fondness for Min/Maj 7th's and min9ths chords with John Barry . Both had very similar harmonic syntax yet how different where the results ?
> 
> 
> e




Yeah, definitely. Lots of min(maj7) and m9. Plus several polychords.

Min(maj7) is one of those chords that gives a lot of milleage because it just sounds mysterious. John Barry used it with an added 9th and it sounds "espionage" and somehow a bit different than Herrmann as you say.

A friend pointed out to the that a m(maj7) contains an augmented triad from m3 - 5 - 7. It can be inverted twice as well. That means you can use it to seamlessly modulate to three different keys!

Handy tip.


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## mc_deli (Apr 13, 2017)

Loved that. Really impressed with the feel of the brass. Got my pulse racing. Inspiring. Thanks!


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## AdamKmusic (Apr 13, 2017)

That was brilliant, really great arrangement and programming! I've been working on 2 horror films this past month or so and Herrmann's been a huge influence on the sound I've been going for


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