# Greetings from Los Angeles



## dlbest (Dec 13, 2007)

Hi there:

My name is Doug Besterman - and I'm amazed and pleased to have found this board. I'm primarily an arranger and orchestrator working mainly on Broadway and film musicals (just completed my lucky #13th Broadway show!) - but I've recently begun foraying (is that a word?) into the world of composing (2 small scores and a commission this year) and producing (3 cast albums in the past 2 years).

I feel so glad to have found this little corner of the net - I've been working with virtual instruments doing synth orchestrations since the late 80's - and I've always felt like I've been re-inventing the wheel.

Here's a quick run-down: I'm a loyal Mac user since 1986 - now using a G5 (plus G4 Powerbook, Mac-mini for the kids, etc) - haven't made the jump to the Intel platform yet. I sequence in Logic 8, but rely on ProTools (TDM) to interface with the rest of the world, particularly on the film side. For years I was a loyal Studio Vision user - when Opcode folded, I made the jump to Logic, and have been mostly happy (though I do miss things a few about Vision - *sigh*). I have a whole rack of synths and samplers that I haven't turned on in two years - ever since I went virtual, there's been no need - not an unfamiliar story, I'm sure.

In terms of sounds, I've just begun working with the EW Platinum library and will now not even consider using any other commercial product to do film score mock-ups - though I do own Vienna Instruments, Miroslav, and countless others too obsolete to mention - and I find that they all come in handy every now and then - so I keep them all on-line and ready to load into EXS. I also love Stylus RMX, BFD, the whole NI collection, the Spectrasonics stuff, Predator - there's more, but I'm starting to feel a little self-conscious - maybe I need to do a little more reading on this board first!

In case anyone is interested, I arrange/orchestrate in Finale, mainly because that's what the NY copyists are most comfortable with - and here in LA they don't seem to care what I use (I could orchestrate on a cocktail napkin and they'd deal - but I'd feel so guilty).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing some quality lurking - I need to catch up with what the rest of you are up to - but I'd welcome any and all dialogue around anything of general interest to this board - I hope to learn a lot - and maybe even contribute some thoughts as well.

All the best - 

Doug Besterman


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## Chrislight (Dec 13, 2007)

Hi Doug and welcome to VI! We're glad you found our little corner of the world. :D Lots to learn here - so have fun!


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## Frederick Russ (Dec 13, 2007)

Welcome to VI, Doug. Great having you here so consider it a trade off of your own experience in the pro circuit with those here from different backgrounds. Enjoy the forum!


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## sevaels (Dec 13, 2007)

Welcome Dooood!

o-[][]-o 



Opcode? >8o 


Thats ages back when I was like a 12/13yo just getting into DSP.


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## Hannes_F (Dec 14, 2007)

Doug,

a happy welcome to VI, nice to have you here!

Hannes


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## careyford (Dec 14, 2007)

Welcome Doug! You'll definitely find kindred spirits here. I still have occasional pangs of nostalgia for Studio Vision. This site is a great resource and can be a fun diversion too.

Richard


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