# A new experiment (Hollywood Strings and Brass Gold, Cinebrass, etc)



## ontrackmusic (Mar 1, 2012)

Been kicking this chord progression around for a while--please tell me if I've stolen it from somewhere! 

For brass in this, I wasn't getting what I was after with either Hollywood Brass Gold, or Cinebrass Core by themselves. But layering them together...found some cool sounds that way.

Comments/suggestions regarding composition, orchestration, mix, etc are welcome...

In need of a title too, BTW. 

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F38349012&secret_url=false[/flash]


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## danielcartisano (Mar 4, 2012)

Really great stuff man. Refer to my Soundcloud comment 

If you had to pick one string library, would you go Hollywood Strings or LASS?

I'm planning on investing in a new library but can only afford one of them. Let me know


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## Mahlon (Mar 4, 2012)

All I can say is really great music. Not very helpful, sorry. I love the composition.

Mahlon


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## ontrackmusic (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks guys! I appreciate you checking it out. 

@Daniel -- Regarding the string libraries, that's a tough call. I started with LASS Lite + FC. I really like the Audiobro concept, and Andrew & Co are just outstanding. And there are things I've done with LASS that I couldn't pull off with anything else...particularly with regard to control over legato transition speed. I know the divisi gets most of the press (I hope to upgrade to the full version at some point), but the legato transition speed is huge for me. Not the big swoopy ports, but the quicker slides...sounds more like a string player "shifts" to me.

That being said, I was craving the "big hollywood sound" and picked up Hollywood Strings Gold...and I haven't used LASS (alone) since. But then again, I've been doing stuff that needs that lush timbre. I use LASS more as a layering tool, both FC and Lite, to get some of that varying legato speed. 

I will also say that even with HS Gold, I had to buy an SSD before it was even usable on my system (2.6GHz Quad Core Xeon, 12GB RAM (at the time), 7200RPM sample drive (again, at the time)). 

So to answer your question, it depends! Ha...a non answer, how political of me...

If you just want big hollywood sound, I would go with HSG, no question. However, if you want a bit more versatility of sound, flexibility of control, and ease on your system, LASS is outstanding. So basically...you can't lose!


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## Blackster (Mar 5, 2012)

The composition is really great and you are using the VIs effectively. I really like it! 

What I don't like so much is the sound of your hall/room. I'm sure that you could achieve a much better sounding results if you tweaked the reverb settings. Strings sound good, but the woods somehow I don't like (meaning the sound of the hall only). Mmmhh, unfortunately I can't give you better advice than that. I wished I could explain it in more detail ... I believe it's the tail that bothers me but it's hard to tell.

Anyway, thanks for posting this, enjoyed it! o/~


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## jamwerks (Mar 5, 2012)

Great piece, and great programming ! o-[][]-o 

For the brass you unison doubled HB and CB?


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## ontrackmusic (Mar 6, 2012)

Thanks so much for your comments guys...

@Blackster: I struggle with getting the woodwinds to sit well with the rest of the instruments. For the most part it's the VSL SE Woodwinds (Hollywoodwinds for one or two scales i think). They're so dry...I tried running them through a Todd AO impulse before the main hall (Samplicity's M7 Boston A quad channel), but i agree...there's still something not right. I'll continue to look into that. Also, I may try an algorithmic verb for the tail; maybe Valhalla Room (price is right).

@jamwerks: There are a few places where I unison doubled HBG and CB -- particularly at the opening with the horns. The top voice in the brass choir (the third of the chord, technically there's a bassoon above it with the fifth of the chord) is the HBG solo horn, HBG two horns, and the CB solo horn. The CB horn really added some roundness. There are other spots as well, particularly the trombone shorts where there is straight doubling. I believe the trumpets were unison layered a good bit of the time as well.

I suspect that as I get more familiar with the libraries I may do less doubling, but it seemed a good way to get the best characteristics of both libraries while allowing them to blend well.

Thanks again for listening!


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## David Story (Mar 6, 2012)

Beautiful and thrilling. Like the build in texture. The chord progression is cool intermodal, I say this is your own version.
The piece has a lot of changes in mood, probably could stay longer in each section if it were a concert piece. The horn(?) triplets at about 1:20 are kinda tricky for live players, I might trade off with viola bassoon and keys.
Love the brass, my question is who's playing at 2:45? Very well balanced section and with strings. The blend with bassoons is classic.
The woodwinds seem a touch too close and small for the rest of the mix. But work in context. 
I love the celeste, and celeste + Harp! What celestes are you using and reverb/eq?


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## Gusfmm (Mar 6, 2012)

Erik, this is very nice. Some impressionistic character here and there, and I hear some JW influences later in the piece. The only detail that did not work for me is the horns(?) section at 1:20, just as David mentioned. Does not sound natural, muddy the waters, and I totally agree, would be hard to play live, well. I'd tend to think that such a line would sound more natural when handled by the violins/violas and the horns would handle the harmonic pad. Great job again.


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## Alex Temple (Mar 6, 2012)

Really cool piece Erik, a lot of interesting ideas in there. I'm going to have to listen to this several more times. The mockup is solid too - I think the strings could sing a little more at around 3:00 in, but I know that type of high string programming is the type where you have to double the time you spend for every 5% more realistic you want them to sound.

Can't say I recognize the chord progression but I like it!


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## antoniopandrade (Mar 6, 2012)

Very nice Erik. Regarding the VSL woodwinds, I think all you have to do to really make them sit better is just push them back a little in the room, adjusting the dry vs wet sound and rolling off the mids and lows in the EQ. Actually, I think the entire mix is a bit too much in your face and panned a tad too extreme (except for the percussion, which sounds perfectly fine where they are). The composition is just superb, very good listen!


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## Simplesly (Mar 7, 2012)

I really dig the orchestration and I think the piece comes into its own at around 1:27 or so. 

You were asking if it sounded like anything; I'd say it's sounds harmonically very similar to the a cue from Dave Grusin's score to the Goonies (which I forkin' love) 

Here's a Youtube link to the cue I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seWN3FajY9Q&feature=related (Listen around 2:34 or so)


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## ontrackmusic (Mar 7, 2012)

Awesome comments and suggestions...Thanks so much everyone! I haven't yet had a chance to revisit this piece, but I'm looking forward to incorporating the suggestions here.

David and Gusfmm...
I'm fascinated that you heard the triplet figure as horns--it's actually violas! I can't remember the exact patches used, but it's a layering of a couple things. I think the main problem is I'm asking too much of the violas alone, they're wailin'! I agree they need to be doubled or traded off with something else. I like the idea of piano, especially since it's used later on. But aside from orchestration issues, I suspect there's also something going on with the EQ/verb that's muddying up that midrange. 

David...
At 2:45 I'm pretty sure it's just bones (HB 3Trb sus) with the strings, with the 6 horns entering on the descending line at 2:51ish. 
The celeste is used at the very end, doubled with vibes. It's the EWQLSO celeste, stage and surround mics, with a pretty severe roll off above 7kHz to remove some of the hiss in the samples. The middle section has the harp+marimba ostinato (both EWQLSO) with piano+vibes on top. I'm a sucker for ostinatos with melodies that pop out of the top voice Debussy-style.

Alex...
You caught me on the string programming at 3:00! Those parts were largely first pass play-ins, with very little tweaking. Completely agree that more care could be taken.

antoniopandrade...
Good advice on the VSL WWs. I have the verb (ER and tail) on pre-fader auxes. I'll try moving them back a bit more. Also...I had a DOH! moment after bouncing that mix out, realizing that I forgot the ER bus assignment on the clarinet. So it was severely out of context. I'll fix that...

Simplesly...
That is amazing! Very similar indeed. I LOVED that Goonies as a kid, and no doubt that tonality and parallel modal movement imprinted on me at that age. I'm gonna dig into that score; thanks for pointing me to it!

Thanks again all...


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## TGV (Mar 7, 2012)

That certainly sounds cool. The impressionistic part after 1:55 or so impressed me most. That's so random and completely logically coherent at the same time, nice!


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## sherief83 (Mar 8, 2012)

Very Nice Chord progression. I think the brass legato is really shinning here. Great job man!


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## JAM (Feb 18, 2013)

I love this piece of music - it gives a wonderful feeling and brilliant programming too sir.


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## Christof (Feb 19, 2013)

Same here, very good work, composition and programming!


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