# Orchestral string musicians "faking it"



## zacnelson (Sep 27, 2016)

This is a fun read, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/faking-it-the-great-unmentionable-of-orchestral-playing/


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## jacobthestupendous (Sep 29, 2016)

Fun indeed! Funny too, but not really a joke. I was a string player long before I was interested in composing, and I'm often struck by the utter disregard I see around VI-C for how hard compositions might be to play. It seems folks around here think that having a live musician will automatically make their recordings better, but _that is only true if their compositions *can* be played well_ (often without any exposure, let alone practice, beforehand) by actual humans who are subject to the laws of physics, limits of human reflex, and basic body/instrument mechanics. I've been in some ensembles playing student compositions that were well and truly unplayable; in these cases, faking it was the only choice (usually the compositions as intended were unlistenable, so no one really minded).

The biggest weakness I see in services that let you rent for instance six minutes of professional orchestra recording time in Eastern Europe is that they are most likely to be utilized by people who are new/inexperienced at composing and who, in the composition process, have considered none of the elements that would make their music playable by humans: key signatures, where lines lie with respect to string crossings, how fast the notes come, how sensible the lines sound, how rhythmically abnormal the lines are, etc. Part of the magic, for me, of controlling virtual instruments is having an entire (sampled) orchestra that can effortlessly play things that no one really can!

PS - I've always found point [3] to be a major weakness of actors pretending to play instruments.


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## JJP (Sep 29, 2016)

jacobthestupendous said:


> It seems folks around here think that having a live musician will automatically make their recordings better, but _that is only true if their compositions *can* be played well_ (often without any exposure, let alone practice, beforehand) by actual humans who are subject to the laws of physics, limits of human reflex, and basic body/instrument mechanics.



This is quite true. People mistakenly believe that orchestrating DAW parts for recording sessions is simply transferring the MIDI pitches to the notated score and doing a little cleanup. I've seen a few train wrecks from this misconception.

Slightly more educated people believe orchestration is all about knowing how to voice chords vertically, knowing the sounds of lots of instrument combinations, or gimmicky tricks or "effects". Many people don't realize that all decent orchestrators for recording sessions have a good orchestral vocabulary. That's just a basic skill. The best orchestrators are the ones who also excel at writing in a way which the players can quickly grasp and play within the time available. Poor orchestration wastes so much studio and rehearsal time.


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## JJP (Sep 29, 2016)

Relevant to this thread, poor orchestration can result in session musicians "faking it" or simplifying a part to make it more playable just so that something can be recorded. Experienced session musicians often understand that in some situations it's better to get a less-than-ideal but still good-sounding take rather than wasting the whole session trying to play something that may be unachievable in the time available. This is especially true if they realize that eliminating or changing their part will make little noticeable difference or even improve the overall sound.


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## JohnG (Sep 29, 2016)

JJP said:


> This is especially true if they realize that eliminating or changing their part will make little noticeable difference or even improve the overall sound.



Not that this could ever happen to any of us here at v.i. control.


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## JJP (Sep 29, 2016)

JohnG said:


> Not that this could ever happen to any of us here at v.i. control.


I was score reading on a studio film once where we were overdubbing a wickedly difficult, perhaps un-sightreadable four-mallet marimba part. I'm a mallet player myself, so it was a "pull out the popcorn and watch what happens" moment for me. 

The percussionist seemed to ace it on the second or third take.

Composer: "How'd he do that?!"

Me: 

The very well-known Hollywood orchestrator: "He's changing the part on the fly to make it playable."

Composer: *Thinks for a moment*

Composer: "Sounds great. Let's move on."
I think the percussionist almost passed out from relief because he didn't have to attempt to play it again.


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## ceemusic (Sep 29, 2016)

They should've hired Ruth Underwood to do it, she'd nail it down note for note.


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## Hywel (Sep 29, 2016)

Well what do you know... in all those years of playing violin in a school orchestra, I was just doing what the professionals were doing!


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## BigImpactSound (Oct 1, 2016)

Interesting article..


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## Daryl (Oct 1, 2016)

The interesting thing is that (paraphrasing Richard Strauss) listing to 20 Violinists play something that is almost impossible can be more exciting than listening to the same players playing something that is easily within their grasp.


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## Saxer (Oct 1, 2016)

So the next thing we need are faking plugins.


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## Silence-is-Golden (Oct 1, 2016)

Saxer said:


> So the next thing we need are faking plugins.




But don't we actually already have those?


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## Baron Greuner (Oct 4, 2016)

I was talking to the first violinist of an orchestra a couple of years ago and we were going through the score of a famous classical composer and he said - "look here, here's a piece of pointless orchestration that he's just put in there that's impossible and no one would hear anyway because it's drowned by brass and timpani."


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