# Epic Music with BBCSO



## 3DC (Jun 5, 2021)

I read somewhere on this forum a funny comment that you can't make epic music on symphony orchestra especially not on BBCSO. So pardon my newbie question but why not? I thought the key ingredient for epic music is proper "marching" rhythm in combination with brass and percussion instruments. 
Is there something else I am missing? I guess I am asking what makes other libraries sound more epic compared to BBCSO? 

Thanks in advance for any info.


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## doctoremmet (Jun 5, 2021)

I agree with you that epicness is largely achieved (as anything really) by actually orchestrating and arranging music in a certain idiom. So I am not at all convinced epic music can’t be achieved using BBCSO.

That being said, I think some libraries are more suited “out of the box” so to say to arrive at a mf-fff type of sound. Really brassy brass. Fast spiccato strings, really loud bartok pizz’s, huge 66 trombone ensemble sizes. You know... to sound BIG. Albion ONE is more suited for “epic” than NEO is using that logic. Some of it is marketing, and some of it makes sense from a “sound” and “fit for a certain use case” perspective.

Which still does nothing to prove one couldn’t make something sound epic with an allrounder like BBCSO. It is a recorded symphonic orchestra, large enough section sizes, decently loud percussion. I say: bring it on hehe

But listen to some demos of Musical Sampling Trailer / Adventure strings and brass, or 8Dio’s Majestica or their 66 Tubas or Spitfire Albion III Iceni and you’ll get the idea what epicness they’re aiming for.


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## mybadmemory (Jun 5, 2021)

Since no library can capture all the different types of expression of an orchestra they all have to choose what kind of expression to focus on.

For some libraries and developers this mean they focus on very loud aggressive and tight performances which are associated with “epic”.

While BBCSO is a wonderful orchestra, as most things spitfire, it truly shines at softer and slower things rather than fast ostinatos, angry brass, and epic choirs.


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## GtrString (Jun 5, 2021)

Prove them wrong!


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## mybadmemory (Jun 5, 2021)

I’d say old style epic definitely has more to do with composition, arrangement and orchestration than with a particular sound, so yes.

Modern epic seem to be more reliant on a specific sound, which probably has a lot to do with performance, recording, and mixing.


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## Christian64 (Jun 5, 2021)

Hi,
here is one of my compositions. Everything is done with BBCSO Core except the piano and the final choirs. In the first part of the song, the toms come from Spitfire Original cinematics percussions.
I think that the first and last part of the composition can be described as epic


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## Soundbed (Jun 5, 2021)

3DC said:


> I guess I am more interested in old style epic. Think Conan The Barbarian from Basil Poledouris or The 13th Warrior from Jerry Goldsmith.


I checked out a couple cues from the 13th Warrior. You’ll obviously need at least one choir to get those parts, and the choir is an integral part of that soundtrack I’d say. 

You might also need to supplement a couple of the percussion instruments, not sure if they’ll all be covered by BBCSO. 

The brass in BBCSO _might_ sound a little “weak” at a few of biggest moments in contrast, but I’m not sure. It would take some time to see how well the brass measures up.

Whoever said BBCSO didn’t do epic music well was probably thinking of today’s trends.


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## ed buller (Jun 5, 2021)

3DC said:


> You will have to excuse me but "in your face" epic music with loud, aggressive brass and percussion is not appealing to me at all.
> 
> I guess I am more interested in old style epic. Think Conan The Barbarian from Basil Poledouris or The 13th Warrior from Jerry Goldsmith.
> 
> So the question is can you make old style epic with BBCSO?


eh.......sort of. Jerry liked Lot's of Horns and also used "TUBEN"...the Mummy has 8 of each I think . Then he also used a shit ton of perc and also a lot of synths. The BBC is much more John williams . And even then the Brass ( especially the horns ) are on the soft side. 

It's a fantastic library but if you want that sound you'll need to add to it

best

ed


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