# Mixing real viola with Spitfire VI's - matching reverb?



## thesteelydane (May 12, 2015)

The title says it all I think. I have a mockup made with Spitfire Harp, Loegria and Albion strings and their percussion lib, and a solo viola part recorded dry with a real player (myself, actually). How do I make this blend nicely with that gorgeous Air Lyndhurst reverb? I know there are no impulse responses of Air, and trying to make one would violate my license with Spitfire anyway. I read elsewhere here that Paul from Spitfire was planning on doing a tutorial on this, but I don't think he has yet? 

I have Logic's Space Designer, Liquidsonics Reverberate and QL Spaces at my disposal, as well as Virtual Soundstage 2.0 for placement. I seem to get closest with using Virtual Soundstage for placement and Taiko Hall from Spaces together, but obviously Spaces doesn't allow me to cut the early reflections the way you are supposed to with virtual soundstage, and it's not quite there. The viola itself was recorded in a super balanced room and is pretty much bone dry. Perhaps not ideal, but it sounds rather nice for what it is. 

If any of you mixing wizards and Spitfire users out there have any tips, I would be extremely grateful. And of course, if any of the Spitfire guys sees this, the same applies (and thanks for making such fantastic instruments!). 

Thanks,
Nicolaj

Edit: Not sure if this belongs here or in the sample library talk? Let me know if I need to move it.


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## Saxer (May 12, 2015)

there are special patches by ultimatexsounds for 2caudios B2 reverb which matches lyndhurst air hall.

ok, probably this doesn't help if you don't have B2. might be interesting anyway 

http://www.ultimatexsounds.com/#!b2-reverb/cy62


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## TimJohnson (May 12, 2015)

Try using the spaces ACME AS 0.8 reverb as an insert on the viola track(s) to back it off a bit (put it on the sound stage), then send it to a larger reverb like the the Southern California hall or the Hamburg Cathedral.

Here is an example of me using the same process, for what it's worth!

Dry: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14934677/DryViolin.mp3 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/149 ... Violin.mp3)

With ACME Stage: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14934677/StageViolin.mp3 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/149 ... Violin.mp3)

Whole Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14934677/TheVirtuoso.mp3 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/149 ... rtuoso.mp3)


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## RiffWraith (May 12, 2015)

thesteelydane @ Tue May 12 said:


> but obviously Spaces doesn't allow me to cut the early reflections the way you are supposed to with virtual soundstage...



Do yourself a favor and forget the ERs altogether.

Here's what I have done, that works well. Not so much of you have really fast, virtuo-istic lines like Tim has provided, but for most all else...

1) Make a MIDI mockup of your Viola, and get it as close to the recording as you possibly can. Use whatever lib you have at your disposal for this; the drier the better. Turn off any legato transitions if they exist, and get the note transitions as good as you can.

2) Load up the ALB V1V2Va longs patch (not the legato), and route that to your MIDI ch that contains the viola mock up, using only the A mic pos. I know this may seem funky - why would you layer in what amounts to 40+ players? Trust me - it works.

3) Adjust the volume of the Albion patch so that you hear the ambience just a little, right in back of your viola recording. You don't want the Albion strings too high in level; if they are too high, you are going to have what sounds like very ambient strings with a dry recording of viola layered on top. Have the Albion strings sitting in the background, just adding a touch ambience to the viola, and nothing more.

4) Add some reverb to BOTH. My personal fav for strings is the Spaces Hamburg Cathedral, specifically the B TS FR

5) I am tempted to tell you to cut some high end from the viola recording - as doing this will usually help your situation, but it's hard for me to say that this is the way to go without hearing your recording. If I tell you to cut a few db of 8-8.5k with a narrow-ish Q, and the recording doesn't have a whole lot of highs and upper mids to begin with, you might wind up with something that is too dull. It'll have to be your call here.

Cheers.


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## thesteelydane (May 13, 2015)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I'll try them all out and post the results back here. Great to hear how other composers go about this, as I'm hoping to offer my services as a remote violin/viola session player to composers soon - but that's another story (I'm a newbie composer but seasoned orchestra pro who quit to go in a completely new direction). 

That B2 reverb is definitely on my list now, but I can't justify another purchase until I start making some money on this. 

Nice track Tim, I like your reverb solution, and my compliments to whoever recorded that violin part! 

And thanks for the detailed explanation on using the ambience mic, wouldn't have thought of that in a million years. Been playing around with it, and it sounds promising. My biggest problem now is pushing the real viola far enough back, getting a sense of depth. 


Thanks again everybody, this is very helpful!

Nico


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## The Darris (May 13, 2015)

I've had really good luck with VerbSessionV3. It has a nice warm tone to it and you can adjust it to the size of any space's dimensions which makes it insanely versatile. This was recommended to me by Peter Alexander who, as you may know, has done a lot for this community. He did a walk through of it that is worth checking out.


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## Harry (May 17, 2015)

Saxer @ Tue May 12 said:


> there are special patches by ultimatexsounds for 2caudios B2 reverb which matches lyndhurst air hall.
> 
> ok, probably this doesn't help if you don't have B2. might be interesting anyway
> 
> http://www.ultimatexsounds.com/#!b2-reverb/cy62


Interesting --- does anyone know of something similar for 2C Audio's other product, Aether?


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## thesteelydane (May 17, 2015)

Thanks for your suggestions. Both 2C-B2 and Verb Session look interesting, I'll probably pick one of them up as soon as I can afford it!


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## thesteelydane (Jun 10, 2015)

Ok, so it's been awhile. I ended up buying the B2, but quickly discovered that it's a beast to wrap your head around. A capable beast though, so to save time I also got the Ultimate X presets that are supposed to match Air Lyndhurst. It's definitely the closest yet. Here's a quick test, haven't really done any mixing on it.

https://soundcloud.com/thesteelydane/cheesy-viola-theme

I ran the dry viola recording through VSS 2 to put it a bit back, and then through a single instance of B2 with a solo instrument preset. It's almost convincing if you don't think about it. It is a bit boomy though...


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## Will Blackburn (Jul 2, 2015)

Booked


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