# Junk In The Trunk - Black Mass Interpretation with Solo Violin



## SymphonicSamples (Oct 15, 2015)

Hey , I thought I'd share a track I wrote last week which was inspired by reading about the character Whitey Bulger after I watched a clip of Tom Holkenborg discussing his score . I tried to capture a feel of the subject throughout the piece and even added a little solo Violin as recently I decided to stop being lazy depending on sample libraries for everything and actually start recording and using the instrument I play . Yeah I know strange concept . I feel like I've been living in a virtual reality sound world for to long I've forgotten what I'm missing  Any thoughts as always , much appreciated .


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## zacnelson (Oct 15, 2015)

Phenomenal work Matt, so much to take in! As usual your mix and sound design elements are superb. Did you use Hollywood Strings? I really like those piano high notes at the start, is it also layered with a synth? Your violin playing was excellent, did you use stereo microphones? And was there a mute on the violin? Overall a real feature of your composition was the blend of orchestral and synths, which is not easy to get right. And as usual, despite being a long track you always manage to make it seem very short because it's interesting and diverse.


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 16, 2015)

Hey Zac , thank you !! To answer your questions . No HS at all , it was a mix of Adagietto , Dacapo and Berlin Strings Exp A/B . The piano at the start was 2 pianos layered with a synth which was either Diva or Zebra , can't remember , but they were the only synths I used . I made a couple of sounds specifically for the track which is always fun . As for the short Violin Solo , thanks Zac , and yeah it was a stereo mic I used , and I'm ashamed to say it ... a Roland R-26 portable recorder because it was quick and easy . I do have a nice valve mic but I recorded the Violin quickly in a couple of minutes late night as a test and decided to just go with it . And no mute , just old strings


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## Allen Constantine (Oct 16, 2015)

Impressive work Matt! Good luck :D


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## Resoded (Oct 16, 2015)

Very cool, great cinematic feel to it. Especially impressed with the mix, did you hire a professional mix engineer or is this all you? I get what you're saying about the virtual world, I've recently begun using my guitars way more than before and it's nice to have a little more "organic" feel.


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## trumpoz (Oct 16, 2015)

Hey Matt - i'm a real fan of your sound design elements in this work. Bravo.


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## jneebz (Oct 16, 2015)

So good! Thanks for sharing and inspiring


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 17, 2015)

AllenConstantine said:


> Impressive work Matt! Good luck :D


Thank you Allen , much appreciated . 



Resoded said:


> Very cool, great cinematic feel to it. Especially impressed with the mix, did you hire a professional mix engineer or is this all you? I get what you're saying about the virtual world, I've recently begun using my guitars way more than before and it's nice to have a little more "organic" feel.


Hey Erik , thank you . I'm glad you enjoyed the mix , it was all me and I can tell you Cubase fought me on that . It simple wouldn't output a render without some artifact of unwanted noise or timing issue . The old cpu was getting a little abused during playback . I ended up having to close all unnecessary tasks running in Win 7 (services) to get an output I was happy with . Aside from that forum member Ray (Rayinstirling) was kind enough to master the final mix . As you say about using guitars , so true , it's was nice to add a little violin that wasn't from a sample library . I figured I wouldn't get the result I wanted by using a sample library , and it would have taken me far longer than it took to just record it


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 17, 2015)

trumpoz said:


> Hey Matt - i'm a real fan of your sound design elements in this work. Bravo.


Hey trumpoz , thank you . It's nice to hear that . I find sometime when I experiment with synths and try adding subtle sound design , it can either really open up a feeling within a section of a track or totally kill it  In this case I enjoyed the results . I even used the Roland portable recorder to record a few sounds which ended up being used as my percussion elements .



jneebz said:


> So good! Thanks for sharing and inspiring


Hey jneebz , thank you .


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## Carles (Oct 17, 2015)

Interesting piece Matt! I agree with all said above, nice integration of non orchestral elements.


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## scarred bunny (Oct 17, 2015)

Real acoustic instrument, you say? What's that? Is it worth downloading? 

Excellent track! Really loving the mood, and a delightful blend of acoustic and electronic sounds. Very well done!


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## rayinstirling (Oct 17, 2015)

SymphonicSamples said:


> forum member Ray (Rayinstirling) was kind enough to master the final mix



T'was my pleasure.


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 17, 2015)

Carles said:


> Interesting piece Matt! I agree with all said above, nice integration of non orchestral elements.


Thank Carles ,much appreciated .



scarred bunny said:


> Real acoustic instrument, you say? What's that? Is it worth downloading?
> 
> Excellent track! Really loving the mood, and a delightful blend of acoustic and electronic sounds. Very well done!


Thanks S.B ,yeah those real instruments can be frightful things , they just don't sound like sample libraries 



rayinstirling said:


> T'was my pleasure.


Cheers Ray .


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## H.R. (Oct 19, 2015)

Amazing Matt! Really loved it, it's cold and faithful.
Violin part was amazing, very well played!
Hats off to Rayinstirling. Great job mate.


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## Cass Hansen (Oct 19, 2015)

Wow...exceptional track Matt! Hybrid orchestration is fantastic. I'm a new member here so I missed chiming in on your "Inception" thread but I can't help thinking you picked up a trick or two from that mockup, especially the piano single hits and some of the synth work. Of course it could all be my imagination too.

Love your main theme and especially the transition starting at 1:35 to your violin solo which was very musical and superbly written.

Your mixing/mastering is really professional. Did you learn the art by trial and error or did you learn this through a plethora of books and classes? Just curious. Again, very impressive track!
Cass


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 20, 2015)

H.R. said:


> Amazing Matt! Really loved it, it's cold and faithful.
> Violin part was amazing, very well played!
> Hats off to Rayinstirling. Great job mate.


Thank you H.R , very much appreciated . I'm glad you enjoyed the Violin part since it was really a test , but decided to just go with it . I had intended on putting new strings on my Violin since I haven't changed them for a long time but needed to get the piece finished


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 20, 2015)

Cass Hansen said:


> Wow...exceptional track Matt! Hybrid orchestration is fantastic. I'm a new member here so I missed chiming in on your "Inception" thread but I can't help thinking you picked up a trick or two from that mockup, especially the piano single hits and some of the synth work. Of course it could all be my imagination too.
> 
> Love your main theme and especially the transition starting at 1:35 to your violin solo which was very musical and superbly written.
> 
> ...


Hey Cass , thank you !! In reference to the mockup , I did Cornfield Chase
http://vi-control.net/community/threads/interstellar-cornfield-chase-mockup.48307/
Which I assume that's what you meant? In which case yeah there's no doubt when you spend 20'ish hours doing a mockup (which was done very recently) , something going to filter through. As for mixing , like most , just reading and listening, and trying to learn through mistakes alone the way. Much liked doing the mockup , it forced me to find solutions to get the closest results using the libraries and effects I have to work with


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## Cass Hansen (Oct 20, 2015)

Yeah Matt...you figured it out correctly. I meant interstellar. Both movie titles start with an "IN..."both composed by Hans......it was a long day. :(
Cass


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## Lylee (Oct 23, 2015)

Terrific work Matt :D


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 25, 2015)

Cass Hansen said:


> Yeah Matt...you figured it out correctly. I meant interstellar. Both movie titles start with an "IN..."both composed by Hans......it was a long day. :(
> Cass


Hey Cass, no worries , I know what you mean. The waking hours keep getting longer and strangely enough something has to give , less sleep


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## SymphonicSamples (Oct 25, 2015)

Lylee said:


> Terrific work Matt :D


Cheers Lylee !!


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## mwarsell (Oct 26, 2015)

Truly impressive work, Matt. Good job.


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