# Brass Quintet - VSL instruments



## Paul T McGraw (Jun 15, 2018)

This is an original brass quintet in three movements.* I. Sonata, II. Scherzo,* and* III. Fugue*. It is 11 minutes in length, but I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

I used all VSL instruments for the midi-performance. I want to thank Doug Gibson who helped me avoid issues with my harmonies and also helped me with my counterpoint. I hope the fugue is now free of any obvious counterpoint foibles.

Here is a link to the score.
https://app.box.com/s/tdsir6ycziy6qtm35ay1kotxaux1c3wq


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## novaburst (Jun 15, 2018)

Some great programming going on there @Paul T McGraw just cant tell from the samples or real thing, beautiful movement in all three movements, full of life, with a thrilling epic ending.

Kind of a lesson of how brass should sound like, a lot of confidence in the piece as the brass is not hidden behind strings, percussion, and other instruments,

Thanks for posting


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## Saxer (Jun 15, 2018)

Congrats! Excellent work!


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## synergy543 (Jun 15, 2018)

Great job Paul. Fun little Scherzo! Very nice realization, you really created a nice ambience with MIR. I hope you are able to arrange a performance of this with real players as well.


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## g.c. (Jun 15, 2018)

Very,very nice. 
As a Brass ass I particularly began locking in on how you seem to understand the way that articuation approaches would vary from, say a line played by the Tbn. playing legato , then the line being extended by the Legato French Horn. 
If you're interested, take a look at the way that tbns play cross chamber legato for many slurs, i.e. an "e2" (2nd position-cross chamber down to "c2"-3rd position, and the "valve effect this creates. Heard more prominently in recordings of jazz trombonists like J.J. Johnson
And thanks for using mutes. They are critical to brass writing (Stravinsky?), however most devs seem to be unaware of this in the packages they present.
Are these the original VSL Solo Brass or the Dimension variation. I know that the original VSL didn't include brass mutes.
A lot of creds to you for this. 
g.c.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jun 15, 2018)

Great work! Very nice 

Nice programming too!


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## tehreal (Jun 15, 2018)

11 minutes ran by quickly. Well done.


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## Paul T McGraw (Jun 15, 2018)

Thank you @Saxer @SimonCharlesHanna @tehreal and @novaburst I know we are all busy, so thank you for taking the time to listen and respond. Thank you!


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## Paul T McGraw (Jun 15, 2018)

synergy543 said:


> Great job Paul. Fun little Scherzo! Very nice realization, you really created a nice ambience with MIR. I hope you are able to arrange a performance of this with real players as well.



I would love to get a live performance, and I am thinking about how I could make that happen. Thanks for the positive comments. I had fun writing the Scherzo, and my guess is that it would be fairly simple to perform.


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## Paul T McGraw (Jun 15, 2018)

g.c. said:


> Very,very nice.
> As a Brass ass I particularly began locking in on how you seem to understand the way that articuation approaches would vary from, say a line played by the Tbn. playing legato , then the line being extended by the Legato French Horn.
> If you're interested, take a look at the way that tbns play cross chamber legato for many slurs, i.e. an "e2" (2nd position-cross chamber down to "c2"-3rd position, and the "valve effect this creates. Heard more prominently in recordings of jazz trombonists like J.J. Johnson
> And thanks for using mutes. They are critical to brass writing (Stravinsky?), however most devs seem to be unaware of this in the packages they present.
> ...



Thank you very much g.c. and especially as a fellow brass player! Well, actually I retired from playing a few years ago. I just didn't have the wind anymore and could not emotionally deal with my steadily declining ability. But I still own my trombone, cornet and euphonium. Every now and then I get them out and get a painful reminder as to why I stopped playing.

I used VSL full libraries. The additional articulations and dynamics compared to the standard libraries really help. And yes, I think the muted versions were additional purchases. 

VSL Bb Trumpet
VSL Cornet
VSL Triple Horn
VSL Tenor Trombone
VSL Bass Tuba.


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## Ninth Lion (Jun 15, 2018)

I listened to this once blind, then a second time while following the score. It was very interesting to see how all the parts interwove with each other. Each instrument has its own clear 'voice' but harmonises with the others very well. I can tell you put a lot of care and effort into it.


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## ModalRealist (Jun 17, 2018)

@Paul T McGraw I really enjoyed listening to this (brass player here, too). First, as a composition. Secondly, because it's such a musical rendition, despite being a MIDI mockup. The world needs more brass quintet music!


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## Mayur Hegde (Jun 17, 2018)

@Paul T McGraw ..loved this..Thanks for the score sheet as well.


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## Silence-is-Golden (Jun 18, 2018)

interesting pieces of music Paul. And indeed nice to hear some brass only music.

I believe you also own OTBrass don't you? If so, you still prefer VSL brass over OTBrass?


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## Paul T McGraw (Jun 19, 2018)

Silence-is-Golden said:


> interesting pieces of music Paul. And indeed nice to hear some brass only music.
> 
> I believe you also own OTBrass don't you? If so, you still prefer VSL brass over OTBrass?



Thanks for the listen and the comments.

Yes, I own OT Brass. I really love the tone quality of Berlin Brass. The sound can be really gorgeous. However, VSL offers 4 or 5 dynamic layers per articulation. Berlin Brass says they have three, but honestly, it seems to me more like just two. VSL has more articulation choices, and they are easier to use because dynamics are normalized for all articulations of an instrument. So a forte on a sustain will be the same loudness as a forte on a staccato or staccatissimo. And the final factor in favor of VSL is the VSL Pro Instrument Player, which is miles ahead of Kontakt in customization, stability, and features. 

If we could somehow combine the beautiful tone quality of Berlin Brass with all of the features of the VSL brass, it would be the perfect library.


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## Haakond (Jun 19, 2018)

Nice work! Though it was real instruments at first. I will check out the score, thanks for posting it


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## ism (Jun 19, 2018)

Normally not a fan of the VSL sound, but this really sounds great. Lovely piece. Three's something really .. I don't know ... organic? .. or something about the counterpoint that I really enjoyed.


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Jun 20, 2018)

@Paul T McGraw I enjoyed that a lot. Very nice work and harmonies. You definitely improved also your sound.


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## MOMA (Jul 3, 2018)

Impressive indeed! As you clearly are a pro and out of my league I won´t go into the orchestration itself, but rather ask you about this amazing mix. How did you go about the room/reverb and your thoughts on handling the dynamics and the overall volume? Congrats to a great piece Paul!
Best to you from Stockholm. MOMA


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## Maxfabian (Jul 3, 2018)

Paul T McGraw said:


> This is an original brass quintet in three movements.* I. Sonata, II. Scherzo,* and* III. Fugue*. It is 11 minutes in length, but I would greatly appreciate any feedback.
> 
> I used all VSL instruments for the midi-performance. I want to thank Doug Gibson who helped me avoid issues with my harmonies and also helped me with my counterpoint. I hope the fugue is now free of any obvious counterpoint foibles.
> 
> ...



Thanks for shearing Paul!! Well done both musically and midi rendering. Impressing! I especially liked the second part. Keep up the great work

Cheers


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jul 3, 2018)

Love the music, Paul! The mockup is also very well done. Thanks for sharing this!


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## Paul T McGraw (Jul 6, 2018)

MOMA said:


> Impressive indeed! As you clearly are a pro and out of my league I won´t go into the orchestration itself, but rather ask you about this amazing mix. How did you go about the room/reverb and your thoughts on handling the dynamics and the overall volume? Congrats to a great piece Paul!
> Best to you from Stockholm. MOMA



Wow, thanks for the positive comments. Hearing that someone enjoyed my efforts is my only reward from making music, so I am very grateful. Thank you.

I used the VSL product MIR Pro for the room/reverb. MIR Pro is several products rolled up into one easy to use package. It includes a venue or room, the ability to place the instrument anywhere on the stage for that venue, and reverb to place the listener at several different points in the venue, from conductor to rear of hall. It is infinitely adjustable as to the wet/dry mix per instrument and for the room as a whole. It is at heart a convolution reverb, so just to sweeten mix even more, a second algorithmic reverb, MIRacle, is included in the package. I used both in this piece.

One thing I have learned over time is that a drier mix seems to sound more realistic, so I adjust the wet/dry and room reverb levels accordingly.


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## Paul T McGraw (Jul 6, 2018)

Thank you @Maxfabian and @Jimmy Hellfire!


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## HardyP (Jul 10, 2018)

Dear Paul,

thank you for posting this, really enjoyed the listening time very much!! Great composition, great mockup & mix! It´s a shame, that it has only 19 plays yet...

Besides that, I had 2 (obvious quite subjective) feelings:
- in the first movement, it was hard to believe, that it´s not a real quintett. But in the Scherzo, real players would have changed their tone a bit, since it´s different emotion, I think.
- the solo trombone in the 3rd movement seems to me too "flat", a real player might give it a bit more colour/expression variation at least in the very exposed parts. What do you think?

As a - more general - side node: I am also very sorry for your health issues, resulting in retiring from playing... I can fully understand, since I am in a similar situation - being a (non-professional, though) piano player, I have difficulties to play longer times/hard attacks/differentiated dynamics bcs of neural issues with my right hand/lower arm. But isn´t it also a blessing of these VIs + DAWs, that we can satisfy our desire for musical expression, giving our emotions a sound despite physical shortcomings...?

All the best, and kind regards, Hardy


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## Cass Hansen (Jul 16, 2018)

I try not to miss your work Paul but I'm seldom here now a days so excuse me for my late reply.
Really, really enjoyed this work. I take it this is your next composition after your tone poem. Your a fast worker in that you have a complete score along with the audio.

It's really nice to hear clean clear brass for a change rather than blaring ff only moments in a lot of scores I hear here. One forgets how beautiful and sonorous a brass section can be (with proper part writing of courses) and you definitely let each instrument shine. A great rendering job and very realistic in sonic presentation. Bravo!

The fugue really fascinated me. I transposed it and played it on the piano. Your counterpoint is really quite good. I think Bach would be sending Kudos your way if he was still here. Have you studied counterpoint, either by taking courses or reading on your own? I don't think I'll ever be able to write a fugue. It's way beyond my mental capability; keeping the linear lines of the voices going while trying to keep the vertical harmony in check seems insurmountable to me. 

It so happens I just wrote a transcription of a Bach keyboard piece for strings and oboe this weekend. I'm working on the score now and hope to have it done in a couple days to post here. If you get a chance, give it a listen and tell me what you think because I value your feedback.

Anyway, Thanks for posting this impressive work which shows you are as adept in writing chamber works as you are with orchestral ones.
Cass


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