# Star Wars: Main Title (Blakus) - Why do I do this to myself?



## Blakus

Hey fellow midi magicians,

It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now 

P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.


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## David Han

Man! Those brass sound so good and realistic! Could you tell me what libraries you used for them?


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## MaxOctane

Holy F* that opening!

@Blakus How closely did you follow the original score? I mean, did you need to, e.g., double the horns with trombones to get the thick brass, or is this pretty much 1:1 as written?


(*) _Fuck_


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## Paul Cardon

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.



You're fuckin' crazy, dude.


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## Karma

Sounding a bit _too_ close, Staypuft? 

In all seriousness I reckon the bar has been raised with this one! Always a pleasure to hear them coming together


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## Simon Ravn

That is amazing!


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## I like music

How does one not insult a wizard by asking "which libraries did you use?" as if that's the only thing that differentiates us from said wizard?


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## Lawson.

Dang, first Synthetic Orchestra, and now a fullblown synthetic Star Wars? Fancy!! Sounds awesome, man.


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## Blakus

MaxOctane said:


> Holy F* that opening!
> 
> @Blakus How closely did you follow the original score? I mean, did you need to, e.g., double the horns with trombones to get the thick brass, or is this pretty much 1:1 as written?
> 
> 
> (*) _Fuck_


I followed the score exactly throughout (missing a few little flourishes here and there that I ran out of time to do). The thick brass is just all Williams!


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## doctoremmet

Blakus said:


> I followed the score exactly throughout (missing a few little flourishes here and there that I ran out of time to do). The thick brass is just all Williams!


Incredible. I am in awe (as per usual) of your skill Sir.


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## Raphioli

Wow, just wow...

I'm assuming you're using both custom and probably samples from AROOF. (I've seen your AROOF video)
Amazing how you blend those samples very well and the sonic characteristic is like, identical.
I'm like, what's the point of uploading a Star Wars main theme mockup now....
Because can it even get better than this??

Hats off to you sir.


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## Go To 11

Can we finally all agree that no one else does a mockup of this cue again? Very well done!!


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## Kony

Blakus said:


> I followed the score exactly throughout (missing a few little flourishes here and there that I ran out of time to do). The thick brass is just all Williams!


Yes, I noticed the missing flourishes  (kidding). Seriously, awesome work!


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## Blakus

Raphioli said:


> Wow, just wow...
> 
> I'm assuming you're using both custom and probably samples from AROOF. (I've seen your AROOF video)
> Amazing how you blend those samples very well and the sonic characteristic is like, identical.
> I'm like, what's the point of uploading a Star Wars main theme mockup now....
> Because can it even get better than this??
> 
> Hats off to you sir.


Thanks Raphioli! There are indeed a lot of custom samples working here. I'm using quite a bit of Abbey Road One also. The percussion is entirely AROOF, most of the horn stacs/marcs, woodwind layering, trumpet stac/marc layering. In fact, that first top Bb you hear on the trumpets is the Abbey Road One marcato! I'm using a combination of many libraries though really.


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## jadedsean

This sounds incredible Blakus, any chance of a template walkthrough? That would be amazing.


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## Sean J

Blake Robinson.... Studio One.... ???

Chunks/Cues w/ video tracks, Surround Features, My feature request here (all of you should vote... seriously), Tap-to-swap libraries like StaffPad does... S1 is very very very close. Brilliant mock-up!


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## Blakus

Go To 11 said:


> Can we finally all agree that no one else does a mockup of this cue again? Very well done!!


Well I know I won't be doing it again, haha!! I figure 4 attempts in 8 years is enough.


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## Bear Market

I broke my jaw as it hit the floor when I listened to this. Thanks for that Blakus.

Seriously though, this is really impressive stuff! You're an inspiration!


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## Steve Martin

Sounds awesome Blakus! Thanks so much for sharing this.


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## pawelmorytko

This is amazing Blakus 




Blakus said:


> Well I know I won't be doing it again, haha!! I figure 4 attempts in 8 years is enough.




This makes me wonder though, do you import the midi from an old project for the SW main theme, or recreate it from scratch each time? I guess you'd have to change and adjust things even if you imported it if you're using new libraries, but it could still save a lot of time?


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## zolhof

Blake, I think you accidentally soloed the reference track...






Hehe fantastic job, and glad to see S1 getting some serious action!


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## JonS

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.



Sounds spectacular. Trumpets 🎺 are a little lacking in realism and the strings struggle a little too. Great work!!


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## Blakus

pawelmorytko said:


> This is amazing Blakus
> 
> This makes me wonder though, do you import the midi from an old project for the SW main theme, or recreate it from scratch each time? I guess you'd have to change and adjust things even if you imported it if you're using new libraries, but it could still save a lot of time?


Thanks! Since I tend to “perform” each midi part in, it’s just a lot easier to start again each attempt.


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## Farkle

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.




Blakus, as always, mockup is rocking! Is Studio One doing well with a large RAM orch template? Or did you blow out your samples into VE Pro, and Studio One is just taking in audio? I'm setting up Studio One for my next game project, and I was debating keeping the samples internal to S1.

Lovelly work as always, mate!

Mike


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## Henrik B. Jensen

Nice!


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## Gerbil

That sounds alive. Superb.


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## Toecutter

zolhof said:


> glad to see S1 getting some serious action!


Yes! Considering jumping ship from Cubase to Studio One, this is very encouraging!

@Blakus what were the biggest differences in performance and workflow? Did you miss any exclusive Cubase features? I heard many complaints in the paast that Studio One can't handle large projects, or that it takes a long time to load vepro instances with more than 8 midi ports. Wonder if that's improved?


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## Guffy

Awesome mockup. Great sound. Sounds thick. Solid. Tight. Keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress demos or mockups. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get it to sound. Thanks for the motivation.


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## dcoscina

zolhof said:


> Blake, I think you accidentally soloed the reference track...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hehe fantastic job, and glad to see S1 getting some serious action!


On speakers, I thought Blakus was having a bit of fun with us as it sounded too real for a mock-up. Listening on my AT-R70 headphones, I can hear minute differences from the real thing. But damn, this is about as close to perfection that you can. The strings in places put a bit too much accent on some notes which is the only giveaway. Tuba/low brass sound like the real thing...

Props for using Studio One. I'm a convert as well. Loving it.


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## Bluemount Score

Karma said:


> Sounding a bit _too_ close, Staypuft?


Only 2019 kids remember


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## reborn579

this sounds incredibly realistic. i really wasn't expecting the brass to sound soo good. great stuff!


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## Bluemount Score

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.



You know it is good when it is copyright claimed by YouTube


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## Tatu

Bluemount Score said:


> You know it is good when it is copyright claimed by


That happened to me once, so I'd say this is hardly a measure 😅

Great job Blake! Damn!


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## marclawsonmusic

Legendary!


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## NoamL

Yeah okay man. Now show us where you're hiding the LSO!


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## NoamL

I noticed you threw some notes on their own channel just so you could EQ the crap out of them? Mark of a true perfectionist


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## RogiervG

and for strings, what do you use?


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## axb312

Good stuff!


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## José Herring

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.



Amazing as always.


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## jules

John is on the phone, saying you can't throw a (unnecessarily complicated) midi mockup of Baby Shark along his ost... 
Incredible skills !


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## NathanTiemeyer

You’re a wizard, Blakus!


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## toddkreuz

RogiervG said:


> and for strings, what do you use?


my guess would be the same ones we all have but don't know how to fully utilize. LOL


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## toddkreuz

JonS said:


> Sounds spectacular. Trumpets 🎺 are a little lacking in realism and the strings struggle a little too. Great work!!


Congratulations! You're officially, "That guy".


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## dcoscina

toddkreuz said:


> Congratulations! You're officially, "That guy".


The tuba sounds real... in fact I had to wonder if that was from the original recording, it was that good.. which library @Blakus?


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## Blakus

Farkle said:


> Blakus, as always, mockup is rocking! Is Studio One doing well with a large RAM orch template? Or did you blow out your samples into VE Pro, and Studio One is just taking in audio? I'm setting up Studio One for my next game project, and I was debating keeping the samples internal to S1.
> 
> Lovelly work as always, mate!
> 
> Mike


Cheers, mate! No VE Pro here. S1 holding up well with 300 Kontakt/spitfire player instances. Performance on par with Cubase in my testing. I might do a video on my thoughts soon!


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## Blakus

dcoscina said:


> On speakers, I thought Blakus was having a bit of fun with us as it sounded too real for a mock-up. Listening on my AT-R70 headphones, I can hear minute differences from the real thing. But damn, this is about as close to perfection that you can. The strings in places put a bit too much accent on some notes which is the only giveaway. Tuba/low brass sound like the real thing...
> 
> Props for using Studio One. I'm a convert as well. Loving it.


Haha! cheers! Yeah things get a little loose, particularly towards the end. I have quite a list of things that bother me with it. Hoping to be able to return to it at some point in the future and continue into the next section. 😁


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## dcoscina

Blakus said:


> Cheers, mate! No VE Pro here. S1 holding up well with 300 Kontakt/spitfire player instances. Performance on par with Cubase in my testing. I might do a video on my thoughts soon!


I'm also finding S1 v5 very CPU efficient on both Macs I have (i7, Dual core, 6 Core Xeon)


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## Blakus

NoamL said:


> I noticed you threw some notes on their own channel just so you could EQ the crap out of them? Mark of a true perfectionist


Actually, I’ve customised the crossfading methods for a lot of my brass libraries. The tracks marked with “eq” use an eq curve mod to assist bringing the top dynamic in a more natural way.

I used to do that kind of thing, but I find if I need to start processing notes differently then it’s time to revisit the overall eq for that particular section (or microphone).


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## MaxOctane

@Blakus You should post some videos of your composing/mockup sessions!

(oh, you have already)

@Blakus You should post some tips+tricks on your website!

(oh, you've done that)

@Blakus How about sharing details here on VI-C on your workflow?

(oh, you do that regularly)

_@MaxOctane stares blankly at the mediocrity of his own mockups and debates buying his 23rd string library ... _


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## J-M

You absolute madman...holy crap.


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## Alex Fraser

Karma said:


> Sounding a bit _too_ close, Staypuft?


Accusations of “Staypufting”™ = possibly the best compliment one can receive on VIC. 🙂

This mock-up is absolutely epic.


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## Blakus

dcoscina said:


> I'm also finding S1 v5 very CPU efficient on both Macs I have (i7, Dual core, 6 Core Xeon)


CPU efficiency is one of my main concerns in any DAW. Dropout Protection is performing as well, if not slightly better, than ASIO guard for me. These days it's so easy to overload a single-core, bringing your whole project to a halt. Detailed CPU meters/stats are kinda vital so we aren't guessing how much cpu each plugin is using - I really miss this information in Cubase.


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## AndreBoulard

insanely done . feels legit and cant imagine how many steps you have taken to get this sound like this! I have been looking at your videos recently and there awesome!. thanks for sharing this and i also feel now that i should buy AR1 just for the brass! the amount of knowledge behind your work is beyond me!


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## Blakus

Alex Fraser said:


> Accusations of “Staypufting”™ = possibly the best compliment one can receive on VIC. 🙂
> 
> This mock-up is absolutely epic.


LOL! Oh boy... I promise there's no "staypufting" occurring here.


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## brek

Blakus said:


> Cheers, mate! No VE Pro here. S1 holding up well with 300 Kontakt/spitfire player instances. Performance on par with Cubase in my testing. I might do a video on my thoughts soon!


Outstanding work! 

How large is the S1 project file and how long are the save times?


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## Blakus

AndreBoulard said:


> insanely done . feels legit and cant imagine how many steps you have taken to get this sound like this! I have been looking at your videos recently and there awesome!. thanks for sharing this and i also feel now that i should buy AR1 just for the brass! the amount of knowledge behind your work is beyond me!


Cheers, Andre. Just to be clear, AR1 is playing a support role here, rather than carrying the brass sound. But yes, still a crucial piece of the puzzle, it does sound amazing indeed!


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## pawelmorytko

Alex Fraser said:


> Accusations of “Staypufting”™ = possibly the best compliment one can receive on VIC. 🙂
> 
> This mock-up is absolutely epic.


Indeed... now how about that Medal of Honor mock up Blakus?


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## artomatic

Much respect, Blakus. 
You are now officially better than Staypuft!


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## Toecutter

brek said:


> How large is the S1 project file and how long are the save times?


Curious too about the file size and save times. @Blakus this template is 300 tracks?


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## christianobermaier

Yeah, right. Next thing you tell me that the Death Star isn't real either...


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## MarcusD

Literally everyone's face while listening to this.







Well done sir. Well done...


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## AndreBoulard

Blakus said:


> Cheers, Andre. Just to be clear, AR1 is playing a support role here, rather than carrying the brass sound. But yes, still a crucial piece of the puzzle, it does sound amazing indeed!



what do you layer it with , unless the list is way to much, a number of instrument in general would give me a ball park!. is there a alot of laying on brass in general. nether the less ar1 sounds quite close to that abbey road sound.


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## MauroPantin

Kudos, Blake. Sounds amazing!

More interesting to me than the particular libraries is how do you script different libraries to "take over" at specific dynamic layers. I would love to be able to automate something like that, so that I can combine the strenghts of the libraries I own. I am interested in this particularly when it involves proprietary samplers like AR1, since I know it is mostly doable in Kontakt when the developer hasn't locked the library.


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## Blakus

brek said:


> Outstanding work!
> 
> How large is the S1 project file and how long are the save times?


The S1 projects are about 45mb each with my current template. Save time is pretty much identical to Cubase - so still slightly inconvenient, but bearable.


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## Blakus

AndreBoulard said:


> what do you layer it with , unless the list is way to much, a number of instrument in general would give me a ball park!. is there a alot of laying on brass in general. nether the less ar1 sounds quite close to that abbey road sound.


It varies greatly, but for example - for the trumpets, I'm using 3-4 libraries throughout, but more importantly - I am mixing articulations. This is why I don't like key switching and expression maps btw - careful layering is the secret for me. The idea of triggering pure stac, then pure marc might make sense at first, but in reality, most of the time players are doing something 'in-between' all of these articulations to varying degrees.


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## Locks

Far out mate. This is next level stuff. I'm floored.


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## DR BOOWHO

Go To 11 said:


> Can we finally all agree that no one else does a mockup of this cue again? Very well done!!


Or I could post the midi files of the main theme and we could have a competition .....But we've already got our winner : )


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## Blakus

MauroPantin said:


> Kudos, Blake. Sounds amazing!
> 
> More interesting to me than the particular libraries is how do you script different libraries to "take over" at specific dynamic layers. I would love to be able to automate something like that, so that I can combine the strenghts of the libraries I own. I am interested in this particularly when it involves proprietary samplers like AR1, since I know it is mostly doable in Kontakt when the developer hasn't locked the library.


Cheers! I don't really do any scripting in that specific case. It's more a matter of tastefully blending libraries on separate tracks. Unfortunately, I don't think we're at the stage yet of being able to 'automate' much of the process when it comes to creating convincing mockups (at least to this level of obsession). Too much unique tweaking is required for every phrase and note. It's pain all the way  

I agree with your point regarding proprietary samplers. I too would like to see the possibility of going "under the hood" in the spitfire player. Being able to do so has been vital to my process with Kontakt. Here's hoping Spitfire implements some of these features in the future.


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## ProfoundSilence

Bluemount Score said:


> Only 2019 kids remember


to be fair, staypuft was a blake robinson, but not THE blake robinson - that's another part of the joke that would be lost if some of us weren't good at remembering useless things that serve no purpose in life.


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## Jdiggity1

ProfoundSilence said:


> to be fair, staypuft was a blake robinson, but not THE blake robinson - that's another part of the joke that would be lost if some of us weren't good at remembering useless things that serve no purpose in life.


Incorrect.


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## ProfoundSilence

Jdiggity1 said:


> Incorrect.



gasp, well you'd know - what was the guys name? Am I losing my marbles?


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## Jdiggity1

ProfoundSilence said:


> gasp, well you'd know - what was the guys name? Am I losing my marbles?


What I can share, is that their name was simply..... staypuft.

There were a few wires getting crossed at the time which caused some confusion and a few names getting thrown around. In relation to Blake (either one I guess), it's no more than an 'inside joke'.


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## OrchestraRules

I would love to see how you used the reverb on this one. I know you use Seventh Heaven, but i'd be curious to see how you tweak it, and more importantly, how you get this room tone. It really feels like it is full and all blended together. Do you currently use any other plugin to "position" instruments ? I know you used B2 at some point for certain libraries such as SM.

I thought i was doing an OK job at it, until your track ! I'm very impressed ! Cheers.

Oh, and by the way, what is AROOF ?


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## calebfaith

11/10!


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## Alex Fraser

OrchestraRules said:


> Oh, and by the way, what is AROOF ?


(Spitfire) Abbey Road One Orchestral Foundations.
It's the acronym the forum seems to have settled on, possibly because it sounds like a dog barking. 😂


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## OrchestraRules

Alex Fraser said:


> (Spitfire) Abbey Road One Orchestral Foundations.
> It's the acronym the forum seems to have settled on, possibly because it sounds like a dog barking. 😂



Thanks Mate, sound obvious now, but yeah it does sound like a dog bark !


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## Blakus

OrchestraRules said:


> I would love to see how you used the reverb on this one. I know you use Seventh Heaven, but i'd be curious to see how you tweak it, and more importantly, how you get this room tone. It really feels like it is full and all blended together. Do you currently use any other plugin to "position" instruments ? I know you used B2 at some point for certain libraries such as SM.
> 
> I thought i was doing an OK job at it, until your track ! I'm very impressed ! Cheers.
> 
> Oh, and by the way, what is AROOF ?


Thanks! This might be disappointing, but my reverb is insanely simple. One hall reverb. I try not to rely on the reverb to carry the sound, which results in not using dry instruments these days. All the samples I'm using are captured in great spaces with great recording techniques (apart from a few weak link patches that I'm itching to replace). I abuse the different microphone positions to help enhance the overall imaging and depth. The reverb really is just the icing on the cake, it really can't replace a well-positioned microphone at distance in a great space. (yet)


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## Pixelpoet1985

Excellent mockup! Really sounds like the real thing. I only noticed some "gaps" in the strings. Don't know exactly what this is.

Have you already mentioned which (string) libraries you used?


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## OrchestraRules

Blakus said:


> Thanks! This might be disappointing, but my reverb is insanely simple. One hall reverb. I try not to rely on the reverb to carry the sound, which results in not using dry instruments these days. All the samples I'm using are captured in great spaces with great recording techniques (apart from a few weak link patches that I'm itching to replace). I abuse the different microphone positions to help enhance the overall imaging and depth. The reverb really is just the icing on the cake, it really can't replace a well-positioned microphone at distance in a great space. (yet)



Thanks for the reply, actually, its quite encouraging !


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## Blakus

Pixelpoet1985 said:


> Excellent mockup! Really sounds like the real thing. I only noticed some "gaps" in the strings. Don't know exactly what this is.
> 
> Have you already mentioned which (string) libraries you used?


Thanks! The gaps in the strings are mainly from CC1 info that needs reworking, haha! A lot of the strings are custom, using some AR1 low longs for reinforcement.


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## lucor

@Blakus If you ever find the time and are willing to share your 'secrets', I'd really love to know how you go about matching your samples to your favourite recordings, with all the nerdy details. Is it just mic positions and EQ? And do you just take certain sections of a piece, where e.g. the trombones are very audible, and then mix and match your own trombones to that?


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## Nando Florestan

Hey Blakus, nice work there, congratulations! I have been mocking this up too (spent the whole week on it so far) and I am going to post mine in this thread soon since I believe it's almost as good as yours. There's only one question I want to ask you and then I think I can compete, would you mind answering this one? I think it'd really help me out...

Well, the question is, what library did you use for the cowbell?


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## ClaudioT

Wow! Chapeau!


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## Blakus

lucor said:


> @Blakus If you ever find the time and are willing to share your 'secrets', I'd really love to know how you go about matching your samples to your favourite recordings, with all the nerdy details. Is it just mic positions and EQ? And do you just take certain sections of a piece, where e.g. the trombones are very audible, and then mix and match your own trombones to that?


If I find the time I might to a quick video on my basic approach to setting up a template. It's a caveman-like simple process though, just using a reference track and your ears - haha!


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## jadedsean

Blakus said:


> If I find the time I might to a quick video on my basic approach to setting up a template. It's a caveman-like simple process though, just using a reference track and your ears - haha!


Please do, i really like to geek out on that kinda stuff. I find it super interesting to see how others work.


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## Blakus

Nando Florestan said:


> Hey Blakus, nice work there, congratulations! I have been mocking this up too (spent the whole week on it so far) and I am going to post mine in this thread soon since I believe it's almost as good as yours. There's only one question I want to ask you and then I think I can compete, would you mind answering this one? I think it'd really help me out...
> 
> Well, the question is, what library did you use for the cowbell?


Sorry, I definitely cannot reveal which cowbell library I used - that's an industry secret for sure. :D

Sidenote - I was also just thinking how cool it is to be able to do this in a DAW that I got bundled for free with a cheap mobile audio interface that I bought.  I'm only using the Artist edition of S1, and although I am no doubt going to upgrade, I'm in no rush. It's crazy how uncrippled this version is in comparison to competitors. For most people, it's likely enough!


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## Nando Florestan

Blakus said:


> Sorry, I definitely cannot reveal which cowbell library I used - that's an industry secret for sure. :D
> 
> Sidenote - I was also just thinking how cool it is to be able to do this in a DAW that I got bundled for free with a cheap mobile audio interface that I bought.  I'm only using the Artist edition of S1, and although I am no doubt going to upgrade, I'm in no rush. It's crazy how uncrippled this version is in comparison to competitors. For most people, it's likely enough!




That is exactly how I intend to beat you in this little game of mocking Star Wars up. Unbeknownst to you, the Artist version of Studio One limits the cowbell polyphony to 128. My Reaper will sever the bells off your little cow's neck with its cowbell performance and its 3 scripting languages. You just wait, the Reaper is coming for ya...


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## robgb

Nando Florestan said:


> That is exactly how I intend to beat you in this little game of mocking Star Wars up. Unbeknownst to you, the Artist version of Studio One limits the cowbell polyphony to 128. My Reaper will sever the bells off your little cow's neck with its cowbell performance and its 3 scripting languages. You just wait, the Reaper is coming for ya...


Totally off topic, but didn't you release a bunch of really nice soundfonts back in the days of ancient civilization?


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## Nando Florestan

robgb said:


> Totally off topic, but didn't you release a bunch of really nice soundfonts back in the days of ancient civilization?



Shhhhhhhhhh

I will be trying to make a name for myself in spite of everything. Shoosh.


----------



## Sean J

Blakus said:


> It varies greatly, but for example - for the trumpets, I'm using 3-4 libraries throughout, but more importantly - I am mixing articulations. This is why I don't like key switching and expression maps btw - careful layering is the secret for me. The idea of triggering pure stac, then pure marc might make sense at first, but in reality, most of the time players are doing something 'in-between' all of these articulations to varying degrees.



Thanks for replying to everyone. Some interesting points in the thread. I saw your site years back, loved the game themes, good stuff. Since then, it's been interesting to see your name pop up at times. You were just Blakus though, some random guy on the internet who's worked with some companies. w/e

It was all cool and fine until I saw your showreel video after you posted this. You're now in a cooler crowd. Cause Star Wars? No. It's cause when they're hugging, I get emotional watching the trailer. Did then. Do now. Screw this new mock-up. That one moment is why Blakus has cool points for me.


----------



## Blakus

Sean J said:


> Thanks for replying to everyone. Some interesting points in the thread. I saw your site years back, loved the game themes, good stuff. Since then, it's been interesting to see your name pop up at times. You were just Blakus though, some random guy on the internet who's worked with some companies. w/e
> 
> It was all cool and fine until I saw your showreel video after you posted this. You're now in a cooler crowd. Cause Star Wars? No. It's cause when they're hugging, I get emotional watching the trailer. Did then. Do now. Screw this new mock-up. That one moment is why Blakus has cool points for me.


That's really cool of you! Thanks, Sean. Being able to bank on the nostalgia and perfection of Williams' theme is definitely a bit of a cheat when trying to tug at the heartstrings!  And then they go and show Carrie Fisher as well... now that's just unfair!! haha

Cheers


----------



## ricoderks

This is by far the most realistic mockup i've heard. F me. Lots to learn! :D


----------



## Blakus

Nando Florestan said:


> That is exactly how I intend to beat you in this little game of mocking Star Wars up. Unbeknownst to you, the Artist version of Studio One limits the cowbell polyphony to 128. My Reaper will sever the bells off your little cow's neck with its cowbell performance and its 3 scripting languages. You just wait, the Reaper is coming for ya...


If I'm honest, I think Reaper is still the best DAW in many ways - especially in how it handles cpu core distribution and customisation etc. I actually experimented with that first, but there were a few niche workflow things I'm fussy about that just weren't possible. And also, I find it slightly tricky to love visually etc. But, full respect to Reaperites!


----------



## PaulieDC

Blakus said:


> Cheers, mate! No VE Pro here. S1 holding up well with 300 Kontakt/spitfire player instances. Performance on par with Cubase in my testing. I might do a video on my thoughts soon!


We’d _buy_ it.


----------



## Kyle Preston

Daaayuumn, I can't believe how good you are at this @Blakus ! It's right up there with my favorite of yours, the Harry Potter mockup:





Serious respect, dude!


----------



## Blakus

Kyle Preston said:


> Daaayuumn, I can't believe how good you are at this @Blakus ! It's right up there with my favorite of yours, the Harry Potter mockup:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Serious respect, dude!



Thanks, Kyle! Hearing that HP one makes me want to redo it again now... Not anytime soon though, that's for sure


----------



## Jetzer

Damn, sounds great!


----------



## Agarn

Hey @Blakus! This is probably the single best mockup of this (or anything comparable) I've ever heard. I'm blown away! 

A quick question if you have a moment:

In one of your videos about your orchestral template from waaaaaay back, you used expression maps, and mentioned you were relatively new to them but loved them. Now you seem to be a 1 track, 1 articulation guy (In reply to another comment you mentioned that it's to layer multiple articulations per note, which totally makes sense). 
My question is: do you find yourself missing the convenience of expression maps/key switches and just need it to stack articulations, or is the one track one articulation method better all around once you get used to it? 

Also, sorry, one more question question - layering so many libraries, do you use track delays per articulation, or do you do all that by hand/as you play it in to stop things from getting super sloppy with varying attack start points? 

Again, totally blown away, and a huge fan of all your content. I got reference 4 thanks to your video on it!


----------



## Paul Cardon

Agarn said:


> Hey @Blakus! This is probably the single best mockup of this (or anything comparable) I've ever heard. I'm blown away!
> 
> A quick question if you have a moment:
> 
> In one of your videos about your orchestral template from waaaaaay back, you used expression maps, and mentioned you were relatively new to them but loved them. Now you seem to be a 1 track, 1 articulation guy (In reply to another comment you mentioned that it's to layer multiple articulations per note, which totally makes sense).
> My question is: do you find yourself missing the convenience of expression maps/key switches and just need it to stack articulations, or is the one track one articulation method better all around once you get used to it?
> 
> Also, sorry, one more question question - layering so many libraries, do you use track delays per articulation, or do you do all that by hand/as you play it in to stop things from getting super sloppy with varying attack start points?
> 
> Again, totally blown away, and a huge fan of all your content. I got reference 4 thanks to your video on it!


I'm definitely not Blakus, but to butt in: it's kind of a "totally up to you" sort of thing for both questions.

Expression maps are pretty cool, but from watching other Blakus streams, it's very clear that he prefers the high level of control you get when everything is broken out. Being able to easily choose how to layer multiple things on a per-note basis is one of the things that lets him get things sounding super good. Getting instruments tied into expression maps can definitely make some things easier but limits fine control.

Then instrument track delays are generally super helpful no matter what you're doing, but not every library is perfectly timed for that. So yes, use track delays to get close, but be willing to nudge things around when they need it. Sometimes you want the attack of something to be a little early or a little late depending on how the emphasis needs to hit, and this is even more relevant when layering, i.e. how the attack of a short note vs. the swell of a longer note or placed when they're meant to act as a single note will change the "feel" a lot. All about experimentation and using your ears.


----------



## sIR dORT

Paul Cardon said:


> but from watching other Blakus streams, it's very clear that he prefers the high level of control you get when everything is broken out. Being able to easily choose how to layer multiple things on a per-note basis is one of the things that lets him get things sounding super good. Getting instruments tied into expression maps can definitely make some things easier but limits fine control.


This. Combining articulations is so important to a good mock-up, and he's the best proof of that.


----------



## Blakus

Agarn said:


> Hey @Blakus
> In one of your videos about your orchestral template from waaaaaay back, you used expression maps, and mentioned you were relatively new to them but loved them. Now you seem to be a 1 track, 1 articulation guy (In reply to another comment you mentioned that it's to layer multiple articulations per note, which totally makes sense).
> My question is: do you find yourself missing the convenience of expression maps/key switches and just need it to stack articulations, or is the one track one articulation method better all around once you get used to it?


@Paul Cardon pretty much took the words out of my mouth here 

You're right that in the beginning, I was in love with the idea of key switches and expression maps. But, after the novelty had worn off, I realised I was missing a lot of flexibility. It really totally depends on your end goal - maximum realism or speed and convenience? This is different for everybody, depending on how the end result will be used. If you're chasing the upper ends of realism then it's definitely worth separating out tracks for full control of articulation blending.

Separating out every track individually in your DAW has other added benefits of being able to freeze or disable individual articulations easily, as well as being able to have finer mixing control over each element. It feels quite fast and fun to me now that I'm used to it.



Agarn said:


> Also, sorry, one more question - layering so many libraries, do you use track delays per articulation, or do you do all that by hand/as you play it in to stop things from getting super sloppy with varying attack start points?



I use track delay only for some drum/perc instruments and short strings. (Basically, things that do repetitions and ostinato-like phrases regularly). I prefer to not meddle with track delays for legatos and other articulations as I never like to quantise these elements. Some sloppiness with those things is often pleasing.


----------



## WhiteNoiz

Stellar and inspiring!

One thing I noticed is how it seems to ebb and blow/breathe without too much tempo automation. Interesting. Is it just the different articulations lengths and start times or is some other trickery also involved (some envelope shaping maybe)? Especially digging the bones.


----------



## Rossy

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi magicians,
> 
> It's been a good 3 years since I attempted this bad boy. I've been locked in my man cave taking my newly finished orchestral template for a spin. Having learned so much since the last time I tackled this cue, I was excited to see how things would work together. This excerpt took 2 days to complete and as only my fellow midi wizards would know, was rather tedious work! It's far from perfect, but it's all the time I could afford to spend on it for now
> 
> P.S. I'm not sure I want to hear the main title theme for a good while now.



Absolutely amazing from virtual instruments. You should give a class, I would pay (if its not too expensive of course  )


----------



## ricoderks

Blakus said:


> @Paul Cardon pretty much took the words out of my mouth here
> 
> You're right that in the beginning, I was in love with the idea of key switches and expression maps. But, after the novelty had worn off, I realised I was missing a lot of flexibility. It really totally depends on your end goal - maximum realism or speed and convenience? This is different for everybody, depending on how the end result will be used. If you're chasing the upper ends of realism then it's definitely worth separating out tracks for full control of articulation blending.
> 
> Separating out every track individually in your DAW has other added benefits of being able to freeze or disable individual articulations easily, as well as being able to have finer mixing control over each element. It feels quite fast and fun to me now that I'm used to it.
> 
> 
> 
> I use track delay only for some drum/perc instruments and short strings. (Basically, things that do repetitions and ostinato-like phrases regularly). I prefer to not meddle with track delays for legatos and other articulations as I never like to quantise these elements. Some sloppiness with those things is often pleasing.


I speak for all when I say this, I think... 
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insights in (computer) orchestral music. Means the world to me man! Seriously! I follow your video's and music since mixing template walkthrough 3 and its incredible to hear how you've grown as a composer, programmer and mixer. Amazing stuff!


----------



## MarcusD

Always appreciate it when talented individuals take time out to share their process and also let you watch them work on something. It really helps a lot of people understand the process, especially those who are more kinaesthetic in how they learn. Look forward to seeing / hearing more.


----------



## sIR dORT

ricoderks said:


> I speak for all when I say this, I think...


At the least, you speak for me...


----------



## Agarn

Blakus said:


> @Paul Cardon pretty much took the words out of my mouth here
> 
> You're right that in the beginning, I was in love with the idea of key switches and expression maps. But, after the novelty had worn off, I realised I was missing a lot of flexibility. It really totally depends on your end goal - maximum realism or speed and convenience? This is different for everybody, depending on how the end result will be used. If you're chasing the upper ends of realism then it's definitely worth separating out tracks for full control of articulation blending.
> 
> Separating out every track individually in your DAW has other added benefits of being able to freeze or disable individual articulations easily, as well as being able to have finer mixing control over each element. It feels quite fast and fun to me now that I'm used to it.
> 
> 
> 
> I use track delay only for some drum/perc instruments and short strings. (Basically, things that do repetitions and ostinato-like phrases regularly). I prefer to not meddle with track delays for legatos and other articulations as I never like to quantise these elements. Some sloppiness with those things is often pleasing.


Thanks Blake, super helpful! I might give one articulation per track another go. (Incidentally, your tips and tricks for stacking articulations in particular contexts would be an amazing video).


----------



## Colin O'Malley

Blakus - Great work! What a massive undertaking. 

Colin


----------



## X-Bassist

Blakus said:


> Detailed CPU meters/stats are kinda vital so we aren't guessing how much cpu each plugin is using - I really miss this information in Cubase.


Have you tried an outside app for CPU/Ram Stats?
If you’re on Mac I can recommend iStat, customizable stats that stay in your menu bar and expand out to a bigger chart or graph with a click. Shows entire computer stats, not just DAW. For me it was a cheap and elegant solution.
https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/


----------



## Scaratto

Fantastic! Very good job man!!


----------



## Blakus

WhiteNoiz said:


> Stellar and inspiring!
> 
> One thing I noticed is how it seems to ebb and blow/breathe without too much tempo automation. Interesting. Is it just the different articulations lengths and start times or is some other trickery also involved (some envelope shaping maybe)? Especially digging the bones.


Thank you! I think that by not using quantisation, especially on the snares here, it helps things flow more naturally.



Rossy said:


> Absolutely amazing from virtual instruments. You should give a class, I would pay (if its not too expensive of course  )


Thanks, Rossy - I've thought about this before, but so much relies on training our ears as opposed to bags of tricks. Eg. Learning innately what an orchestra does and doesn't sound like, being able to identify exactly why a particular sound isn't quite right. My ears still have a long way to go, but it's satisfying to see progress every year. When your ears can begin to identify these issues, you just 'know' what needs to be done to fix it. 99% of the time it's just simple CC1 curves, mic position selection, balance, panning and eq. I know everyone *snores* when they hear people say this, but it's true. This kind of concept of training your ears doesn't really fit into a course. When comparing my old star wars mockups from a few years back to this new one, the tools and tricks I'm using are 95% the same - but my ears are slowly becoming a little less crappy. Less guessing, and growing confidence.


----------



## Blakus

X-Bassist said:


> Have you tried an outside app for CPU/Ram Stats?
> If you’re on Mac I can recommend iStat, customizable stats that stay in your menu bar and expand out to a bigger chart or graph with a click. Shows entire computer stats, not just DAW. For me it was a cheap and elegant solution.
> https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/


Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the performance stats needed can only really come from the DAW software itself. I think this is the only way to be able to see exactly how much CPU each plugin instance (or track) is using inside a project etc. There are roundabout ways of seeing it by deciphering cpu core graphs etc, but this is a bit tedious. Cheers.


----------



## Lumina Studio

Blakus said:


> Thank you! I think that by not using quantisation, especially on the snares here, it helps things flow more naturally.
> 
> 
> Thanks, Rossy - I've thought about this before, but so much relies on training our ears as opposed to bags of tricks. Eg. Learning innately what an orchestra does and doesn't sound like, being able to identify exactly why a particular sound isn't quite right. My ears still have a long way to go, but it's satisfying to see progress every year. When your ears can begin to identify these issues, you just 'know' what needs to be done to fix it. 99% of the time it's just simple CC1 curves, mic position selection, balance, panning and eq. I know everyone *snores* when they hear people say this, but it's true. This kind of concept of training your ears doesn't really fit into a course. When comparing my old star wars mockups from a few years back to this new one, the tools and tricks I'm using are 95% the same - but my ears are slowly becoming a little less crappy. Less guessing, and growing confidence.



I made the conclusion for my self that If i don't decide to become a nerdy geek, I will fail to become successful in every art.

Thanks Blakus. I have learned a lot from you


----------



## Blakus

Lumina Studio said:


> I made the conclusion for my self that If i don't decide to become a nerdy geek, I will fail to become successful in every art.
> 
> Thanks Blakus. I have learned a lot from you


I think you’ve come to the same conclusion I have. As I’ve analysed the music and recordings of my heroes, it’s become obvious to me that they have dived more deeply into their craft than most could fathom - there are no shortcuts. This is the way.


----------



## donnyluvd2bowl

Blakus said:


> It varies greatly, but for example - for the trumpets, I'm using 3-4 libraries throughout, but more importantly - I am mixing articulations. This is why I don't like key switching and expression maps btw - careful layering is the secret for me. The idea of triggering pure stac, then pure marc might make sense at first, but in reality, most of the time players are doing something 'in-between' all of these articulations to varying degrees.


Hey Blakus! To clarify what you mean here, are you saying that you will blend two different articulations from the same instrument of the same library as a stack? e.g., stacc and marcc from, say, CSB trumpets at the same time? 

Cheers on the excellent mockup!


----------



## Blakus

donnyluvd2bowl said:


> Hey Blakus! To clarify what you mean here, are you saying that you will blend two different articulations from the same instrument of the same library as a stack? e.g., stacc and marcc from, say, CSB trumpets at the same time?
> 
> Cheers on the excellent mockup!


Yes, although it's often not artics from the same library, this is where the mixing can get a little complex.


----------



## donnyluvd2bowl

Blakus said:


> Yes, although it's often not artics from the same library, this is where the mixing can get a little complex.


Right I guess I was trying to figure out if for those of us who *do* prefer articulation maps there's an advantage to having a second instance available to layer. But if it's separate libraries than I suppose not. 

Thanks!


----------



## Lumina Studio

Blakus said:


> Yes, although it's often not artics from the same library, this is where the mixing can get a little complex.


In your experience does matching eq (from Fabfilter) work(help) in this case?


----------



## Paul Cardon

Lumina Studio said:


> In your experience does matching eq (from Fabfilter) work(help) in this case?


Matching EQs can be a good starting point, but will never do all the work. Maybe 10% of the work, and even then you'll likely need to undo a lot of what the match does in the end. 

There are so many other factors like mic character, imaging/width, room depth, the character of the performance, ensemble size, and more that will require you to prioritize using your ears when guiding differing libraries and patches into the same world. Learning your mixing tools and doing things by hand will always beat an auto-match. There's so much context that needs to be considered.


----------



## ALittleNightMusic

Blakus said:


> @Paul Cardon pretty much took the words out of my mouth here
> 
> You're right that in the beginning, I was in love with the idea of key switches and expression maps. But, after the novelty had worn off, I realised I was missing a lot of flexibility. It really totally depends on your end goal - maximum realism or speed and convenience? This is different for everybody, depending on how the end result will be used. If you're chasing the upper ends of realism then it's definitely worth separating out tracks for full control of articulation blending.
> 
> Separating out every track individually in your DAW has other added benefits of being able to freeze or disable individual articulations easily, as well as being able to have finer mixing control over each element. It feels quite fast and fun to me now that I'm used to it.


I wonder if there's a nice balance here where you can still use a single MIDI track with articulation maps but then route the output of the instrument's articulations to various Kontakt channels for example, so you have full control over the mix (but only need one track to program with the benefits of expression maps).


----------



## JakeT

Wow! This is incredible! Great work! @Blakus


----------



## Blakus

ALittleNightMusic said:


> I wonder if there's a nice balance here where you can still use a single MIDI track with articulation maps but then route the output of the instrument's articulations to various Kontakt channels for example, so you have full control over the mix (but only need one track to program with the benefits of expression maps).


The main problem I'd have with this is that it wouldn't allow for fine control of layering articulations. It would increase mix flexibility though.


----------



## curry36

Wonderfull Mockup!! @Blakus

If I may ask this question, even though that you used many different articulations of different libraries, your amount of tracks and midi blocks look rather clear and minimal for a mockup of this size and complexity. I just wonder how each of your Kontakt instances could possibly look like, without asking for the individual libraries or your special sauce.
Does it look somewhat like this example? Vln 1 Leg track: CS2 Legato, Berlin Legato, Lass Marc/Stacc.
And you would then modulate the Volume of the LASS Articulation Layer with a custom CC, so you could bring in that special flavour for a certain Legato note/passage at anytime, and then back it off again?

Or am I thinking too complicated? But at least it seems that you put all the different libraries/layers for one instrument articulation into a single instance, so they all get controlled by the same CC curves. I always thought that this wouldn't be the best way, because libraries react very different to the curves of CC1 and CC11. Or do you customise your patches to match CC11 behaviour (which I think could be done without big effort in Kontakt itself - not sure about CC1 thoguh).

Ok sorry, that was more than one question - but I hope you get where I am stuck atm. I really love the quality of your mockup but I'm also very impressed of how simplified your template looks like, considering that you have so many different libraries to layer!


----------



## Geomir

@Blakus 

Just WOW! Amazing! Incredibly powerful and realistic! Excellent work! One of the best Star War mockups ever!


----------



## Blakus

Thanks, @Geomir and @curry36!



curry36 said:


> If I may ask this question, even though that you used many different articulations of different libraries, your amount of tracks and midi blocks look rather clear and minimal for a mockup of this size and complexity. I just wonder how each of your Kontakt instances could possibly look like, without asking for the individual libraries or your special sauce.


I think it mainly looks clean because I am hiding all the unused tracks in the template, but yes there's not an "insane" amount of tracks being used. Each track is just a single Kontakt instance with one patch loaded - nothing crazy going on behind the scenes there. The articulation/library blending is happening in plain sight.



curry36 said:


> Or am I thinking too complicated? But at least it seems that you put all the different libraries/layers for one instrument articulation into a single instance, so they all get controlled by the same CC curves. I always thought that this wouldn't be the best way, because libraries react very different to the curves of CC1 and CC11


You are correct, I think in most cases this would be much too complicated. Technically you could do some custom scripting or midi modifiers to make some things work, but overall it's probably best to keep it all separate.


----------



## curry36

Thanks for coming back to this Blakus! 

So when you talk about layering, you wouldn't mean that you layer Violin 1 Leg patches from 4 different libraries because you wan't the sound of all of them combined (lol), but rather to pick a favorite patch for a certain style/piece, for example CSS Legato for Zimmeresque underscoring, and then at certain moments you would layer those different articulations (for example Marcato) from totally different libraries for realism, right? 

I'm just a bit confused as there is the purpose of layering to get something in between the standard library articulations, which is a very musical way (exactly as you stated some pages before in this thread), and then there is layering the same articulation of different libraries to get a "thicker" sound. If I do understand you right, your focus is totally on the first philosophy of layering and because every library has it's strenghts and weaknesses, it automatically ends up being a mix of many different colors/libraries used in the song, as I wrote in my example with the Zimmeresque underscoring. Is that the case? 

Please excuse my complicated writing and thank you a lot!


----------



## Max Castillo

curry36 said:


> Thanks for coming back to this Blakus!
> 
> So when you talk about layering, you wouldn't mean that you layer Violin 1 Leg patches from 4 different libraries because you wan't the sound of all of them combined (lol), but rather to pick a favorite patch for a certain style/piece, for example CSS Legato for Zimmeresque underscoring, and then at certain moments you would layer those different articulations (for example Marcato) from totally different libraries for realism, right?
> 
> I'm just a bit confused as there is the purpose of layering to get something in between the standard library articulations, which is a very musical way (exactly as you stated some pages before in this thread), and then there is layering the same articulation of different libraries to get a "thicker" sound. If I do understand you right, your focus is totally on the first philosophy of layering and because every library has it's strenghts and weaknesses, it automatically ends up being a mix of many different colors/libraries used in the song, as I wrote in my example with the Zimmeresque underscoring. Is that the case?
> 
> Please excuse my complicated writing and thank you a lot!


I'd imagine it's a bit of both (or maybe in this case a lot of both?). From the video you can tell there's some layering of similar articulations from different libraries, such as with Abbey Road One complementing the main libraries.


----------



## leslieq

Wow, this is insane!... Sounds so real with only a few moments that give it away. Great job


----------



## Hasen6

Looking at the video in what looks to be his custom instruments he has lots of double, triple and quadruple 'rolls' in the trumpets and trombones. That enables him to create all these super realistic repeated notes. Something that brass libraries don't seem to include, or if they do, they only include a limited amount.


----------



## marclawsonmusic

@Blakus, might I ask which trombones were used here?

Or maybe someone else recognizes the patch names - 3 bones growth, 3 bones stac 1, 3 bones stac 3.

I'm considering some new bones for the BF sales and this mockup is the gold standard. 

Thanks in advance


----------



## Raphioli

marclawsonmusic said:


> @Blakus, might I ask which trombones were used here?
> 
> Or maybe someone else recognizes the patch names - 3 bones growth, 3 bones stac 1, 3 bones stac 3.
> 
> I'm considering some new bones for the BF sales and this mockup is the gold standard.
> 
> Thanks in advance


Apologies if I'm wrong, but I think it was his custom library made by Performance Samples. (just to be more clear, his custom libraries and the libraries sold by Performance Samples are completely different samples, but if you like Blakus's brass sound, you might like Performance Samples brass libraries too  )

If you're interested in their libraries, they are on sale btw. I think 24 hours left on their sales. (I have no affiliations btw. just love their stuff)
But they also are planning to release Pacific Brass as well.
So waiting for that is also an options for you. But they do have loyalty intro prices too.

Quoted directly from their website.


> Pacific – Brass
> 
> Webpage: none yet
> Status: post production / final recordings
> Instruments (not yet finalized): 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 bass bones, 2 tubas, 2 tenor bones, 1 contrabass bone
> Content (not yet finalized): playable sus/marc patches with integrated short note releases recorded at multiple speeds up to very fast tonguing (along the lines of ABP-Soloists or AWP but much more evolved), triggering in depending upon your playing speed. Flutter tongues on some patches as well. Multi-dyn.


----------



## marclawsonmusic

Raphioli said:


> Apologies if I'm wrong, but I think it was his custom library made by Performance Samples. (just to be more clear, his custom libraries and the libraries sold by Performance Samples are completely different samples, but if you like Blakus's brass sound, you might like Performance Samples brass libraries too  )


Thanks!


----------



## Blakus

marclawsonmusic said:


> @Blakus, might I ask which trombones were used here?
> 
> Or maybe someone else recognizes the patch names - 3 bones growth, 3 bones stac 1, 3 bones stac 3.
> 
> I'm considering some new bones for the BF sales and this mockup is the gold standard.
> 
> Thanks in advance


Hey mate, 
Raphioli is right, the trombones (and the rest of the brass) are mostly custom samples supplemented with a few commercial patches. It's all a bit of a jigsaw puzzle :D


----------



## marclawsonmusic

Blakus said:


> Hey mate,
> Raphioli is right, the trombones (and the rest of the brass) are mostly custom samples supplemented with a few commercial patches. It's all a bit of a jigsaw puzzle :D


Awesome. Thanks for your reply!


----------



## Blakus

Hasen6 said:


> Looking at the video in what looks to be his custom instruments he has lots of double, triple and quadruple 'rolls' in the trumpets and trombones. That enables him to create all these super realistic repeated notes. Something that brass libraries don't seem to include, or if they do, they only include a limited amount.


True! I find small recorded articulations/phrases like this super useful. I need all the help I can get injecting life into these damn static sampled productions


----------



## Blakus

curry36 said:


> Thanks for coming back to this Blakus!
> 
> So when you talk about layering, you wouldn't mean that you layer Violin 1 Leg patches from 4 different libraries because you wan't the sound of all of them combined (lol), but rather to pick a favorite patch for a certain style/piece, for example CSS Legato for Zimmeresque underscoring, and then at certain moments you would layer those different articulations (for example Marcato) from totally different libraries for realism, right?
> 
> I'm just a bit confused as there is the purpose of layering to get something in between the standard library articulations, which is a very musical way (exactly as you stated some pages before in this thread), and then there is layering the same articulation of different libraries to get a "thicker" sound. If I do understand you right, your focus is totally on the first philosophy of layering and because every library has it's strenghts and weaknesses, it automatically ends up being a mix of many different colors/libraries used in the song, as I wrote in my example with the Zimmeresque underscoring. Is that the case?
> 
> Please excuse my complicated writing and thank you a lot!


You're correct. The main reason I layer is to supplement weaknesses from my chosen main libraries with the strengths of others. (My main libraries are always chosen based on the room and engineering quality)

Sampling is such a weird thing in that you could record the best players in the best room playing stac articulations, but for some reason, the way they decided to play them on that day just doesn't translate very well when played inside a DAW. For example, a slightly 'wrong' note length severely limits usability. This is very hard to predict and spot in the session unless you have very intentional planning and processes in place to help guarantee that what you're capturing is what you actually want. (Knowing what you actually want is another whole thing too.) There is also an element of just plain luck. All this rambling to say that it is *extremely* unlikely to find a single library that does everything very well. Hence, my use of layering, ha!

I only rarely find myself layering to 'thicken' sounds. If I find myself wanting to do this, it's usually because the recordings aren't ideal - either the space is mediocre, or it sounds too narrow/focused etc. I do however use careful layering to increase the perceived expression of some instruments (blending in a controlled 'high frequency only' layer of a clean bright brass sound etc) but that's another whole beast.


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## gst98

Blakus said:


> True! I find small recorded articulations/phrases like this super useful. I need all the help I can get injecting life into these damn static sampled productions


Hey Blakus, can I ask - are the articulations like growth and hourglass sustains with recorded dynamics? and lots of them are stac T, or growth T? I assume the chord versions are eq'd differently?


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## Blakus

gst98 said:


> Hey Blakus, can I ask - are the articulations like growth and hourglass sustains with recorded dynamics? and lots of them are stac T, or growth T? I assume the chord versions are eq'd differently?


There's some subtle dynamics baked in, the patches with "T" at the end are just tuned differently. Chord versions of patches have a bunch of other differences as well, eq balance etc


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## gst98

Blakus said:


> There's some subtle dynamics baked in, the patches with "T" at the end are just tuned differently. Chord versions of patches have a bunch of other differences as well, eq balance etc


Thanks!


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## ERIC VALETTE

Raphioli said:


> Apologies if I'm wrong, but I think it was his custom library made by Performance Samples. (just to be more clear, his custom libraries and the libraries sold by Performance Samples are completely different samples, but if you like Blakus's brass sound, you might like Performance Samples brass libraries too  )
> 
> If you're interested in their libraries, they are on sale btw. I think 24 hours left on their sales. (I have no affiliations btw. just love their stuff)
> But they also are planning to release Pacific Brass as well.
> So waiting for that is also an options for you. But they do have loyalty intro prices too.
> 
> Quoted directly from their website.





marclawsonmusic said:


> @Blakus, might I ask which trombones were used here?
> 
> Or maybe someone else recognizes the patch names - 3 bones growth, 3 bones stac 1, 3 bones stac 3.
> 
> I'm considering some new bones for the BF sales and this mockup is the gold standard.
> 
> Thanks in advance


Hi,

@Raphioli is totally right 

With a combination of Performance Samples stuff and AROOF, you're reasonably close to the sound of Maestro Blakus for his Star Wars main theme mockup.

I did a very quick test today with my template on the first few bars and with some more additional humanization, refinements in terms of placement and care in the layering of the articulations, it would probably be even closer I think...




Spitfire audio : AROOF + "Selections" (support role)
Performance Samples Angry Brass Pro (solo + ensemble)
Performance Samples Caspian Brass
CSS
Spitfire Appassionata Strings (exposed legato)
Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra Pro (SSS, SCS, SSB support role)
Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra Pro Woodwinds
Spitfire Harp
Native Instruments Noire (piano)
Cinesamples Hollywoodwinds (support role)

A little bit of Gullfoss on the instruments mix bus + A send of Seventh Heaven "Sandors Hall" and VSS3 custom presets with different lenght of decay depending on whether it's applied to close mics or more distant mics... and that's all 

edit : longer extract + SF Appassionata Strings added


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## Emanu1674

Well i'll be damned, this sounds AWESOME


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## Good Bear

@Blakus 


Blakus said:


> True! I find small recorded articulations/phrases like this super useful. I need all the help I can get injecting life into these damn static sampled productions


That's awesome. Are those pre recorded phrases part of your custom Performance Samples Library, or are you grabbing those from somewhere else? (i.e. somewhere we can get them! 😁)


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## 3CPU

Kudos @ Blakus, great effort. 
The rhythms are tricky but I think you pulled it off, well done


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## Blakus

Good Bear said:


> @Blakus
> 
> That's awesome. Are those pre recorded phrases part of your custom Performance Samples Library, or are you grabbing those from somewhere else? (i.e. somewhere we can get them! 😁)


All pretty much from commercial libraries - mainly Spitfire I think. Pre-recorded swells, fast repetitions etc - all super useful to blend in.


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## lucor

Hey @Blakus, do you have some tips on how you're 'frankensteining' together all these articulations from different libraries, but still achieve what sounds like one cohesive instrument? (I think @Samy Cheboub does the same thing and you two are like the orchestral mockup gods ).
I'd love to be able to just take my favourite articulations from each libary and mold them into one instrument, but I'm still struggling to make it really sound 'as one'.

Do you have some specific techniques you're using? Here's where I'm at right now:

Use the best mic position combination to approximate the same 'depth' (and position if possible) and then use reverb if that isn't enough (i.e. the library is too dry). 
I guess here it's also very important to have good recordings and recording stages in the first place. For example I can't for the life of me successfully match CSB to the Abbey Road ONE brass, because that room is just a pain (as much as I love everything else about the library).
Use a tool like Precedence to get them into the same position in the stereo field. Also, I'm curious how precise you are getting with this? I find it really hard to pin point things at the exactly same spot, but I guess in a mix it doesn't matter too much if the stacc articulation is a few degress more the right than the legato?
Use EQ to match the tone of the libraries to each other as good as possible.
Is this similar to what you're doing? Any other 'secret sauce' you're willing to share or do I just need to 'git gud' at the things above?

I appreciate any insight!


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