# Winter In Irkutsk (strings n winds)



## rayinstirling (Aug 7, 2010)

I wrote this cue two or three years ago and I'm revisiting it here using the CS library.
My old quad core and 8 GB of ram will need replacing to run such giant beasts.

So no brass or percussion, just strings and VSE winds.

http://www.raymondkemp.com/Experiments/wiistrwind.mp3


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## Rob (Aug 8, 2010)

liked this very much, Ray... sonically as well.
Could you post the old version to compare?


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## rayinstirling (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm glad you like it Rob,

Praise indeed from someone myself and others hold in such high regard :lol: 

You are a bad man though......expecting me to bare my soul by posting the orginal version which was produced using EWQLSO Gold within days of getting it early 2008.

I'll have a look in the archives and "possibly" add it here soon

Regards

Ray


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## Gary Eskow (Aug 8, 2010)

Ray, born in the same year as me! Ergo, a fellow traveler. I liked this piece, but may I ask you a question that composer/teacher Richard Danielpour used to ask me? How much, he'd ask, of that piece was Gary, how much of it was Gary reflecting Brahms (or some other great composer)?

Peace,

Gary Eskow


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## rayinstirling (Aug 8, 2010)

gary @ Sun Aug 08 said:


> Ray, born in the same year as me! Ergo, a fellow traveler.


Gary,
I doubt we've been traveling on the same path. 
Having listened to your piece and following your line of question here, yours has been musical while mine has been mainly in engineering except for a few breaks in full time pro performing.


gary @ Sun Aug 08 said:


> I liked this piece, but may I ask you a question that composer/teacher Richard Danielpour used to ask me? How much, he'd ask, of that piece was Gary, how much of it was Gary reflecting Brahms (or some other great composer)?


Although I listen and have listened to many diverse forms of music, this piece isn't influenced by any great or not so great composer other than that of the truly subconscience. I started by bringing the EW Alto flute patch up onto Cubase and playing a few notes via my midi keyboard. That's quite pleasing thinks I, let's create a tune and some harmony. Mind you.....not too much harmony until I got serious with this effort in the last couple of days. I really would struggle to do this as a job because I just don't have the trained background in all aspects of ensemble creation and orchestration to hold down a commission of any sort.

Perhaps I should listen to Brahms and all the others but life is too short.

Thanks for the heads up and with pleasure I will reciprocate.

Kind Regards

Ray


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## rayinstirling (Aug 10, 2010)

Rob @ Sun Aug 08 said:


> Could you post the old version to compare?



ok against my better judgement ???

This is from Feb 2008 and EWQLSO gold
Including Door Bell chimes, and Brass monkeys
There is even a tongue in cheek moment half way through where staccato violins fire spit into a tubular bucket and a transition at the end from desert dusk to dark which of course is now not required in a Siberian winter 

http://www.raymondkemp.com/Experiments/desertduskdark.mp3


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## Mr Greg G (Aug 10, 2010)

I don't really like it because there are too many instruments with distinct parts that makes the overall piece sounds disorganized and muddled and it's lacking some melodies. There were also many gaps that were programmed very oddly and sounded inapropriate to the piece. Just my 2 cents


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## Rob (Aug 10, 2010)

rayinstirling @ 10th August 2010 said:


> ...
> This is from Feb 2008 and EWQLSO gold
> Including Door Bell chimes, and Brass monkeys
> There is even a tongue in cheek moment half way through where staccato violins fire spit into a tubular bucket and a transition at the end from desert dusk to dark which of course is now not required in a Siberian winter
> ...



not that bad after all, but the new version has a much better overall sound... thanks for doing this, against your better judgement


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## rayinstirling (Aug 11, 2010)

Mr Pringles @ Tue Aug 10 said:


> I don't really like it because there are too many instruments with distinct parts that makes the overall piece sounds disorganized and muddled and it's lacking some melodies. There were also many gaps that were programmed very oddly and sounded inapropriate to the piece. Just my 2 cents


Thanks for sharing your opinion, may I take it you mean both yesteryears original and the arrangement I started this thread with?


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## sizzler52 (Aug 11, 2010)

Hi Ray
I've had a good listen to this work and think it's very nice to listen too.....some good harmonic progressions etc. I would agree though that there may be too much complexity going on at times which detracts..... for me.... from the continuity. In a totally constructive way, I feel that the strings need to be more legato in transition from note to note with perhaps slightly less attack to give it a more 'floaty' feel throughout....only my opinion of course. Good work though I like it.
Sizzler


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## rayinstirling (Aug 12, 2010)

sizzler52 @ Wed Aug 11 said:


> Hi Ray
> I've had a good listen to this work and think it's very nice to listen too.....some good harmonic progressions etc. I would agree though that there may be too much complexity going on at times which detracts..... for me.... from the continuity. In a totally constructive way, I feel that the strings need to be more legato in transition from note to note with perhaps slightly less attack to give it a more 'floaty' feel throughout....only my opinion of course. Good work though I like it.
> Sizzler



Andy,

Thanks for taking the time to review this cue.
Complexity? I only resurrected this piece for one reason....to try out Cinematic Strings.
Did the library do the job or was the complexity too much for this library?
Frankly it doesn't really matter. Is it possible real strings would make a better job of it? 'don't know! Do I like it better than my first attempt? Yes!
Was it taxing on my quad core Q6600 ? Yes.
Could I use an Aether 1.5 tail on mixdown without crashing the thing? no
Do I need to move on to an i'something processor and DDR3 ram which of course also means a new mobo? Definitely! ......or I could go back to GPO 

Listening to many of the tv ads these days (although there are a few exceptions), makes me think the quest for ever more realism is wasted on the public.
Never mind.......The X Factor is coming on again soon, now there is something to look forward to.


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## OlavB (Aug 12, 2010)

Naysayers!
I love it! New version the most! Totally awesome.

But then, who the hell am I?


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## rayinstirling (Aug 13, 2010)

OlavB @ Thu Aug 12 said:


> Naysayers!
> I love it! New version the most! Totally awesome.
> 
> But then, who the hell am I?



OlavB,

Good question.......who are you? 

I'm glad you've published the fact you simply enjoyed it although I promise not to immediately assume I'm the most gifted of composers because you enjoyed it 

I don't need to know who you are following your compliment, but I certainly would if you were criticizing this work. With few exceptions, I quite unemotionally ignore critique of the following:
composition, orchestration, performance and production but, and it's a big BUT!
The few exceptions who I won't name because they know who they are  
They form a very powerful reason for being a member of this forum. Their advice is invaluable for anyone serious about improving their musical output. I have learned much over the last few years from just listening and reading around here.

Best Regards

Ray


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## OlavB (Aug 13, 2010)

Well Ray, that is a very brave, openminded and professional attitude! Hats off!

My comment was fueled by my own lack of experience in producing this type of music, so I guess I'm easy to impress 
On the other hand, and of less importance I suppose, I always am amazed at how many "professionals" can not simply enjoy a piece of music. "Oh Hans Zimmer is a douche cause he only uses classical chords, he can't even use romantic harmonies" and such. A discussion for another (or no) day though 

OK, who am I.
Olav Basoski, from Amsterdam. Producing fulltime since 1989, in a very different field, mainly "dancemusic". Despite the classical training in my youth I wound up in this scene somehow when I was around 20. Have worked with a.o. James Brown, Moby.
So yes, maybe take my enthusiasm with a pinch of salt, but I just liked the piece! :D


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## OlavB (Aug 13, 2010)

Oh by the way Ray, did you use the close mics on Cinematic Strings too?


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## rayinstirling (Aug 13, 2010)

Olav,

Thanks for the info, and yes I have listened to your cue on soundcloud and thought it a professional piece of work without being ground breaking but hey! that's where the bread and butter is. I'm happy as long as you don't feel I was putting you down with my comments. I really was making a general observation of what happens in such discussions and reviews around many forums. As was said here recently "talk is cheap".

On the use of Cinematic Strings here I set spot to -6db stage 0db and -3db on room setting. The three stereo output channels were set to sound on a single stereo output in Kontakt. I suppose it could make a difference to the sound by processing ER at different ratios for each sample set but hey! how far does one go with it. My cpu was crying out for mercy  although I had a few GB of ram to spare.

I listen now and think the 1st violins sound a bit rough but I can't make up my mind if it's a processor issue or a processing issue. Perhaps I should back off the outputs of each mic postition by 3db and see if that smoothes it out a little. I used little eq except high and low pass on the range of each section.

Ray


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## OlavB (Aug 13, 2010)

rayinstirling @ Fri Aug 13 said:


> Olav,
> 
> I'm happy as long as you don't feel I was putting you down with my comments.



In no way whatsoever!


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## Dave Connor (Aug 13, 2010)

Lovely. I thought the various elements were very nicely woven.

That is a very, very nice piece of music which I am going to listen to again (which is rare.)


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## rayinstirling (Aug 13, 2010)

Dave,

Thank you very much indeed.
You shame me that I don't say that often enough to others posting their music here 
including my friend Guy. I'll try harder to be nice to everyone.

Kind Regards

Ray


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## Gary Eskow (Aug 14, 2010)

rayinstirling @ Tue Aug 10 said:


> Rob @ Sun Aug 08 said:
> 
> 
> > Could you post the old version to compare?
> ...



Got ya... this is certainly emotionally strong!!!


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