# Hi there vi-control people



## Joram (May 4, 2015)

Hi there vi-control-people,

My name is Joram and I am an experienced (20+ years) recording and mix engineer. Based in the Netherlands I work for bands, composers and companies in my home country and abroad. 

I am happy learn new insights from this forum when it comes to virtual instruments and how different composers use these. From my side I could perhaps give some advise here and there. 

I know "a little" about orchestral and hybrid scores. Studied music recording and production (Tonmeister) on the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and specialized in classical music recording and followed additional instrumentation classes with composers Theo Verbey and Louis Andriessen and conducting classes to develop my musical skills. I worked for Philips Classics where I participated as engineer in large multitrack productions for a.o. Boston Symphony, Academy of St.Martin in the Fields, Kirov Opera, Wiener Philharmoniker with artists Seiji Ozawa, Jessye Norman, Valery Gergiev. 

For those who are interested: Here a two links to links to showreels my work as mix engineer.

Showreel film and trailer music: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0zyyiv4ph5rrfs/showreel%20joram%20film.mp3?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0zyyiv4ph5rr ... m.mp3?dl=0)
Showreel other music: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ww2z1kcu3y224g3/showreel%20joram.mp3?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ww2z1kcu3y224 ... m.mp3?dl=0)

Oh yeah, big success last year: I mixed the orchestral music for the Super Bowl trailer of Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3eh84cCzQk http://www.vi-control.net/forum/images/smiles/trumpet2.gif (http://www.vi-control.net/forum/images/ ... umpet2.gif)

Cheers,

Joram


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## Blakus (May 4, 2015)

Welcome to the forums Joram 
Your work sounds wonderful, congrats on your Super Bowl success! You obviously have a wealth of experience and knowledge, looking forward to your input around here!

Cheers


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## Hannes_F (May 4, 2015)

Welcome Joram, feel well here and have a good time!


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## Vlzmusic (May 4, 2015)

Welcome Joram!

Have you also participated in those legendary Philips Kirov Opera series in the 90-ies? A particular name kept floating around there - Jaap de Jong if I remember right, do you know him by a chance? Those are my favorite recordings ever.


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## Sebastianmu (May 4, 2015)

Welcome! Great to have you here, Joram!


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## Joram (May 4, 2015)

Vlzmusic @ Mon May 04 said:


> Have you also participated in those legendary Philips Kirov Opera series in the 90-ies? A particular name kept floating around there - Jaap de Jong if I remember right, do you know him by a chance? Those are my favorite recordings ever.


Yes, i did actually. Jaap de Jong built an extraordinary tube mixing desk (long before tube equipment became a hype) and quite a lot of the Philips recordings in that time were done with that desk. btw. Jaap is very good photographer as well. I haven't met him lately but I think he is still active as a recording engineer I think. Onno Scholze, a truly great balance engineer from whom I learned a lot, passed away last year. He also worked on the Kirov series.


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## Vlzmusic (May 4, 2015)

Sorry to hear about Mr. Scholze.

I, for one, would be most grateful to hear your thoughts about the recent wave of full orchestral libraries, like the Hollywood Orchestra from East West, initially captured by Shawn Murphy, and/or other companies that are well represented here in the forum. Not only you have a grand background, but as I got from your post(correct me if I am wrong), your ears are still relatively "new" to the virtual orchestras sound, so you might more easily pick up some conceptual things they do differently than regular recording session.

Great to have you on board!


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## RiffWraith (May 4, 2015)

Joram @ Mon May 04 said:


> Hi there vi-control-people,



Hey - you look familiar!!! :D


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## Joram (May 4, 2015)

Hey Jeffrey, how are you? o-[][]-o


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## Joram (May 5, 2015)

Vlzmusic @ Mon May 04 said:


> I, for one, would be most grateful to hear your thoughts about the recent wave of full orchestral libraries, like the Hollywood Orchestra from East West, initially captured by Shawn Murphy, and/or other companies that are well represented here in the forum. Not only you have a grand background, but as I got from your post(correct me if I am wrong), your ears are still relatively "new" to the virtual orchestras sound...



VLZ, there is a lot to say about virtual orchestras. Perhaps I should write an article about this....

I am not so new to virtual orchestras but last few years the quality has improved drastically and it has been interesting to get involved as a mix engineer. I think it takes quite some experience to get used to working with vi's and thanks to forums like this composers are able to learn the tricks of the trade. In general the new generation of vi's are really good and convincing, although they cannot compete with a good orchestra playing at the same time in a good room yet (due to laws of nature). 

That said, I think the biggest downside of working with vi's is that there is a risk that things will all sound alike. If you want to be succesful you must be able to distinguish yourself from others. Next to skills in instrumention and arranging (phrasing, tuning, dynamics etc. etc.), using different combinations of libraries in different projects or compositions will help to make your work sound unique. IMO it is also important to get out of your room and DAW and cooperate with others. Musicians can bring your music to a new level, as they are not only playing their notes but bring experience and a fresh pair of ears. The same with a good mix engineer: he or she could add experience, technical (and musical) solutions and a different view on a piece; a colleague could help with advise on instrumentation, vi-programming and bring new ideas. 

So it is not the quality of vi's that might be a "problem". I think the reason why some composers' works sound so great is that they (and the producers, and the companies) are aware that involving other specialists will bring the music to a higher level.


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