# My first time with the free 'Labs Soft Piano'- Spitfire



## Sarah De Carlo (May 31, 2019)

Hello everyone.
I admit that I have long had the free 'Spitfire Labs' libraries, and never used them, as often happens with the freebies we collect and snub 

I was finishing the production of this composition when I received the presentation email of the sample library 'LABS Music Box'.
I downloaded it and opened the app just to listen to it, since I had no intention of inserting it into production, and due to a library error (which I still have to solve, I think contacting the support service), the app started in error mode, Labs Music Box is not present among the instruments, and Labs Soft Piano has been loaded instead.

At that point I said to myself: 'Let's see how it sounds in this piece!' ... and I really liked the result, so I decided to layer Bosendorfer Piano in the original project, with the Labs Soft Piano.
Now, I love this piano and I will definitely use it a lot in my dramatic music productions.

The only negative note is that 'clicks' (similar to the sound of a mouse) are heard randomly every 10-15 seconds, which do not seem to be connected to any particular note but simply come out of the instrument. Nothing serious, I deleted them in post-production, but the ideal would be that they didn't exist.

Other Libraries used:
Spitfire Solo Strings
Spitfire Chamber Strings
Spitfire Hans Zimmer Strings
EastWest Bosendorfer Piano
EastWest Hollywood Woodwinds

Thanks, Spitfire, for these wonderful free tools!


----------



## 0cme (May 31, 2019)

The piano combo sound is really great. I really like it where it gets more motion at 1:06, the melody is very evocative in that section.


----------



## CGR (May 31, 2019)

Nice one. I like the soundstage you've created with the instrumentation. Is that the East West Quantum Leap Bosendorfer 290 or the East West 25th Anniversary PMI Bosendorfer 290? It sits really well with the felt piano.


----------



## Sarah De Carlo (May 31, 2019)

CGR said:


> Nice one. I like the soundstage you've created with the instrumentation. Is that the East West Quantum Leap Bosendorfer 290 or the East West 25th Anniversary PMI Bosendorfer 290? It sits really well with the felt piano.



Thanks... 
Yes, is the EastWest Bosendorfer, my first chioice for cinematic.


----------



## DGravel (Jun 3, 2019)

I really like the orchestration and sound space of the last part at 2:25. Good job with the strings! Since you were using different libraries, how you managed to place them in a cohesive space?


----------



## dzilizzi (Jun 3, 2019)

Very nice. I like the sound of the piano in this.


----------



## Sarah De Carlo (Jun 3, 2019)

DGravel said:


> I really like the orchestration and sound space of the last part at 2:25. Good job with the strings! Since you were using different libraries, how you managed to place them in a cohesive space?



Hi Denis, Thank you!

I don't have a default procedure in production, and it all depends a lot on the type of orchestration I choose but, in principle, there are some steps that I almost always perform on many instruments ... First of all, to 'create space', I start by removing it from the single instruments, eliminating any mudness (when you get used to the various sample libraries, you know by heart the strengths and frequencies to go to work on) and, for some instruments, also going to decrease the space through binaural processors, taking care of the 'phase' section by section.


Normally I don't change the natural panning of the libraries a lot, rather, in some cases, I implement it using the 'First Chairs' for some instruments. In this case (at 2:25), along with the first violins I added a solo violin (spitfire solo strings), giving him the close microphone (and bringing it slightly more to the center) and using the tree and the ambient for the ensemble. It's something I do mostly with the side sections (violins, celli), and often also with horns. Having done this, and avoiding the compression of the individual sections as much as possible but leaving the dynamics free and intact, I use a convolution reverb to put all the sections in the same space. Mainly, in case of arcs and piano, I use the 'NY String Hall - Space 2 - EastWest', with bass/high cut, giving reverb in two phases, the first phase in the single channel of the instrument, avoiding the sections with 'staccato-spiccato-pizzicato' and percussion; therefore, a slight reverberation only for sections with long sounds, and subsequently, a further slight reverb on the general bus, where I also use plugins to increase the stereo image (more or less in the same percentages removed at the beginning, on the various instruments).
Other important thing: I work a lot on transients in detached sections (especially for arcs), going to remove -2 / -3 of sustains.

Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Compression on the master, to remove the global mudness, saturation and transients enhancement, stereo images adjustements and soft limiting (soft, because I've enanched the sound levels using progressive Dynamic Eq/Compressors).

This, in principle, is the way I work, even if I realize I work differently from many other colleagues who, instead, immediately amplify the stereo image of the various instruments. I find it less useful since we find ourselves at the end with a completely wrong 'phase', and for those who work in a professional way this is a non-negligible detail, so it would be up to the end to act with a binaural stereo image reduction, going to lose dynamics and sounds/sonority.

Sarah.


----------

