# Schubert Lied Arrangement for strings



## muk (Oct 24, 2017)

Hi everyone,

here is a new project I was working on. It is an arrangement for strings of Schubert's Lied 'Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen' (All Souls' Day) D 343. 

https://app.box.com/s/99q77lzq537g62uoojeicboa8wbu1b7k

I hope you like it. Any comments are welcome.


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## Saxer (Oct 24, 2017)

Beautiful!


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## muziksculp (Oct 24, 2017)

Yes, Beautiful !

Thanks for sharing. I'm guessing you are using VSL Strings, if not, which strings are you using in this track ?


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## OleJoergensen (Oct 25, 2017)

Lovely!


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## Nesciochamp (Oct 25, 2017)

Schubert, one of my favorite composers. 
You better get this right! 

*listening*

Fantastic! 
Apparently, we've come to the time where VST's are capable of creating classical music without me pulling a face,
but actually enjoy listening. This must've been a lot of work! The faster legato is a tiny bit less realistic, but you did a very fine job nonetheless. 

Cheers,
Nipduif


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## muk (Oct 25, 2017)

Thank you all for your kind words, I really appreciate it!

@muziksculp I used Cinematic Studio Strings. But I am tempted to make another version with Dimension Strings for comparison purposes. I'm curious to know how that would sound. I think it would work better for the fast legatos. And the sound signature would definitely be different, more classical and less romantic.

Thank you very much @Nesciochamp It was quite a bit of work, but I have a pretty streamlined workflow now and I enjoyed the process. I agree about the fast legato, maybe a sustain without legato would have worked better there.


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## teclark7 (Oct 25, 2017)

Beautifully done arrangement. A delight to listen to. The only thing I found to improve was the placement of the sections seemed a bit unnatural at times. I am not sure if it is the panning or stereo width is too extreme or whether the reverb you are using is doing something unusual. Hopefully someone more experienced can suggest what might be happening here.


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## muk (Oct 25, 2017)

Thanks @teclark7. 



teclark7 said:


> the placement of the sections seemed a bit unnatural at times



Interesting observation. Could the harp be the culprit? I'll check when I am back at my studio. The strings were recorded in place, and I didn't change anything about the panning or the stereo width. Actually, the only processing I did was very subtle eq, and a slight touch of reverb on the master bus. But maybe I did pan the harp a bit hard to the left?


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## leon chevalier (Oct 25, 2017)

muk said:


> Thanks @teclark7.
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting observation. Could the harp be the culprit? I'll check when I am back at my studio. The strings were recorded in place, and I didn't change anything about the panning or the stereo width. Actually, the only processing I did was very subtle eq, and a slight touch of reverb on the master bus. But maybe I did pan the harp a bit hard to the left?


If I can authorize myself a suggestion, I would remove a bit of low end from the harp, to make it more distant. The overall mix may benefit from that too because there is a lot in the low medium frequency. (But I may be totally wrong)

Another fantastic mockup, congrats !


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## leon chevalier (Oct 25, 2017)

[removed because posted twice by mistake]


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## muk (Oct 26, 2017)

Thank you Leon, I think that is a good idea.


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## Paul T McGraw (Oct 26, 2017)

An excellent arrangement and performance.


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## muk (Oct 26, 2017)

Thanks for listening and commenting Paul. I'm glad you like it.


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## shomynik (Nov 3, 2017)

Can't stop listening to it. I love the warmth of the samples and overall mix. Also that depth. Is that room sound from the samples or the added verb?

Beautiful!


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## muk (Nov 3, 2017)

shomynik said:


> Can't stop listening to it. I love the warmth of the samples and overall mix. Also that depth. Is that room sound from the samples or the added verb?
> 
> Beautiful!



Thanks shomynik. Which version are you referring to?


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## shomynik (Nov 3, 2017)

muk said:


> Thanks shomynik. Which version are you referring to?


Sry, forgot that you did Dimension strings also. I am referring to CSS version.


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## muk (Nov 3, 2017)

That is definitely the samples themselves. CSS blends nicely and has a lovely sound and depth out of the box. It's intimate and not too wet, but the room is still present. I added just a bit of tail, but really not much.


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## shomynik (Nov 3, 2017)

muk said:


> That is definitely the samples themselves. CSS blends nicely and has a lovely sound and depth out of the box. It's intimate and not too wet, but the room is still present. I added just a bit of tail, but really not much.


Gorgeous... both samples and your editing.


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## muk (Nov 3, 2017)

shomynik said:


> Gorgeous... both samples and your editing.



Thank you very much.


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## Gerald (Nov 4, 2017)

Yes! Nice work...


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## muk (Nov 4, 2017)

Gerald said:


> Yes! Nice work...



Thank you Gerald.


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## Dave Connor (Nov 4, 2017)

Your arrangement is superb, done with real insight and taste. It's what I like best about this whole comparison. Thanks for posting the score.

Two questions:

What Harp is that?

Are the CSS capable of less vibrato? (i.e. assuming they're adjustable, do they still sound well with less?) Some libraries seem to have an On/Off quality where there's very little or a ton of vibrato.)


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## muk (Nov 4, 2017)

Dave, thank you very much for your kind words about the arrangement. I really appreciate it. The harp is the Angelic Harp by Orange Tree samples.

About the vibrato: you can crossfade between on or off, but there is nothing in between. The vibrato gets progressively stronger on sustains. If you think the vibrato is too strong at the end of a note you can start with no vibrato, and then bring in vibrato later in the sustain. If you layer CSS with CSSS you can have stronger vibrato than with CSS alone, as in CSSS it is a bit more pronounced. But other than that it is either on or off.


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## wpc982 (Nov 5, 2017)

The upper voice is very nice. By so much emphasizing it, it makes the rest of the arrangement not that audible, though. Not sure Schubert would have liked it this way, but movie producers probably see it as a fine thing. So, to be clear: I don't much like the aesthetic involved, but I can appreciate that it fits in with a lot of current taste. Listened to bits of it twice ... if I'm not mistaken, the harp plucks shift all over the panning field (when heard with headphones)? I guess that can be effective, but it certainly seems shocking to an expectatation of a real performance sound.


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## muk (Nov 5, 2017)

Interesting observations, exactly because I don't agree with many of them. The harp panning seems consistent on my speakers and headphones. Would anybody else be so kind to listen for it as well and see if they can hear a problem? If you do I'll have to do some tests on my setup. It's certainly not intended behaviour.

And the balance is fine to my ears too. I'm coming from a firmly classical background, I work for an opera orchestra as my dayjob. I listen to a lot of classical music, both live and on recordings. To film music - not so much. No problems hearing the other sections, the balance of the countermelodies is fine for my taste. It doesn't sound like a live recording of course. But that is due to my limitations in midi programming, and to a smaller degree the limitations of the samples - not me having a different aesthetic background.


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## Alatar (Nov 6, 2017)

This is great. It really is. So much warmth and flow. Would not have guessed that this is a midi mockup. 

But I agree with some of the others here: The harp has a littleb bit too much low end. It is not much, but noticeable to me.


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## OleJoergensen (Nov 6, 2017)

muk said:


> Interesting observations, exactly because I don't agree with many of them. The harp panning seems consistent on my speakers and headphones. Would anybody else be so kind to listen for it as well and see if they can hear a problem? If you do I'll have to do some tests on my setup. It's certainly not intended behaviour.
> 
> And the balance is fine to my ears too. I'm coming from a firmly classical background, I work for an opera orchestra as my dayjob. I listen to a lot of classical music, both live and on recordings. To film music - not so much. No problems hearing the other sections, the balance of the countermelodies is fine for my taste. It doesn't sound like a live recording of course. But that is due to my limitations in midi programming, and to a smaller degree the limitations of the samples - not me having a different aesthetic background.


I don’t hear any panning isuse with the harp. It sounds lovely-it al.


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## muk (Nov 6, 2017)

Thank you Ole, that is reassuring.

Thanks a lot Alatar. And thanks for the tipp about the harp low end. I agree it needs some eqing there.


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