# 'balancing' a production template



## chillbot (Mar 28, 2021)

Just finished my bi-annual template update, thought I'd share, maybe someone will get something out of it...

I wrote about my template here almost three years ago but a lot has changed since then, mainly I am down to one big 160GB VEPro machine (from 3 64GB machines)... so along with my DAW it's only two computers total. Anyway this is my version of getting a streamlined template up and running that is not heavy in orchestra but dabbles in just about everything.

To recap: I don’t do realism well, don’t bother with mockups or trying to emulate an orchestra. I knock out hybrid/production/library tracks, whatever you want to call them. So this is coming from a different point of view, not always discussed here. Every instrument is chosen because of playability/function/speed. I throw any library on top of any other library if it’s the sound I want. I have never once asked “how do I blend x library with y library”. I don’t care what famous recording studio samples are recorded in (half of you just stopped reading, that’s fine.) I have rarely found the need for more than a simple ensemble woodwind patch (just lost the other half of you). There is still Miroslav in my template, I can’t tell you why… it’s certainly not for lack of purchasing samples it's simply that I haven’t found anything I like better yet.

The way my tracks are grouped is because of sending them out 11 different busses to my mixer (audio output is far left column), each bus contains instruments that are generally processed in the same manner (eq, verb, compression, etc). If I need to process one track in a bus separately from the others, I quickly bounce that track as audio, I also have 48 channels of audio going out from the DAW to the boards.

Google link: (excel file is also attached below)




Here’s my take on how I “balance” a production template:

- Key offsets are applied to every track (+/- one octave as needed) so that every library sounds at the same pitch (lines up horizontally).

- Time offsets are applied to every track (anywhere from -5ms to -100ms as needed) so all attacks are the same on playback (lines up vertically).

- Volume is adjusted for every track either via VEPro or via Kontakt (midi controller #7 volume range) so that every library sounds at roughly the exact same initial volume. (For orchestral patches that use modwheel/expression and often sound at zero on playback I place a CC --> 100 at the start of the track so that I can always play every patch without fiddling with faders.)

- Reverb is applied externally (but you could obviously do the same ITB) via the 11 individual busses. I have one verb I use on shorts (Lexicon) one for longs (Yamaha) and one for long strings and vocals (Bricasti). It’s not extensive or refined, it’s broad brush strokes.

That's it! Now you are ready to sell your soul and no one will ever call you an 'artist' again.

Another thing that helps immensely is that in Cakewalk there is a track description window which is always in view in the channel strip… so I jot down the keyswitches for every track in this window. Anytime I click on a track in Cakewalk I can instantly see “C1 is sustain, C#1 is vibrato, D1 is muted” etc, without having to click over to VEPro and find the patch.






Lastly, all tracks are color coded in Cakewalk, which corresponds to the colors in my excel spreadsheet, which also corresponds to the channel colors in VEPro so it’s very easy going back and forth between the three as needed. Though I hardly every touch the excel file, that’s mostly just for my records so if I want to go back and reference what I did in a past version of the template, or heaven forbid if I needed to reproduce the whole thing. There’s a lot more data in my excel spreadsheet than I posted here, I record every mic position, key offset, time offset, and every patch tweak as well.






In addition to the list above, my blank template starts with 20 channels stereo audio, 4 channels Kontakt, 4 channels Stylus, Omnisphere, Zebra, and Engine always loaded. As well as 16 external hardware synths on, gated, and ready to go with all of their internal patches accessible via Cakewalk. Every other library that is not a set-it-and-forget it library I load into Kontakt on my main DAW as needed, not into VEPro. So essentially I very rarely ever touch VEPro or the sample computer except for my bi-annual tweaks.

(If you're wondering where BOTDOG PIANO is, it's not in my template because it's gets loaded into the DAW for messing around with. Not a set-it-and-forget it type of library.)

Oh one more thing, if you are on Windows and don't know about multiple desktops, they are seriously a game changer (yes they are). I absolutely couldn't live without it at this point. Win+Ctrl+left-arrow/right-arrow to instantly switch between desktops means I can go back and forth between my DAW and my VEPro machine (via remote desktop) with one key command. I actually use 3 desktops... one for the DAW, one for VEPro, and one for email/chrome/discord/vi-c/etc.

ANYWAY I hope this is somewhat helpful and not overly self-indulgent.


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## Marsen (Mar 28, 2021)

chillbot said:


> I don’t care what famous recording studio samples are recorded in (half of you just stopped reading, that’s fine.) I have rarely found the need for more than a simple ensemble woodwind patch (just lost the other half of you)


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