# War of the Worlds



## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 15, 2017)

Hej Folks,

Since I discovered using cubase screencast video recording software :D I will post more of this instead of soundloud links, bah..boring. Probably also more useful to hear and see what happens. This piece is a bit Williams imitating or let put it this way: A desperate try to create textures which is part of my studies of that composers brilliant works. All Spitfire Audio here. Template Size 27 GB. No additional reverb.


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## patrick76 (Aug 15, 2017)

Wow, so cool! Great stuff Alexander, thanks for sharing. It is nice to see it like this in cubase too.


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## TheNorseman (Aug 15, 2017)

*condescending voice* I ONLY WANT TO SEE CLASSIC NOTATION!!! Lol, great stuff man.


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## Saxer (Aug 15, 2017)

Big fun listening! Love the 'groove'!


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## Puzzlefactory (Aug 16, 2017)

Wow, fantastic. The middle section (1:13-1:27) reminded me of Harry Potter.


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## robharvey (Aug 16, 2017)

Nice! Great idea with the screen cast too.


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## Paul T McGraw (Aug 16, 2017)

That was great! Loved the music and the video. Awesome.


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## col (Aug 17, 2017)

Thanks ! Screencast is nice touch. Nice efficient track count.
Enjoyed the track.


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## lucor (Aug 17, 2017)

Are you using the standard SSO with just the CTA mics? Or are you using Outriggers as well? I always felt that the sound of just CTA was lacking in width, but in your example here it sounds great.


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 17, 2017)

patrick76 said:


> Wow, so cool! Great stuff Alexander, thanks for sharing. It is nice to see it like this in cubase too.



Thank you Patrick. Yeah..cubase is cool. lol :D



TheNorseman said:


> *condescending voice* I ONLY WANT TO SEE CLASSIC NOTATION!!! Lol, great stuff man.



Definitely something I will need to improve..



Saxer said:


> Big fun listening! Love the 'groove'!



7/8 + 5/8 maybe you remember I asked on Redbanned how to deal odd meters...



Puzzlefactory said:


> Wow, fantastic. The middle section (1:13-1:27) reminded me of Harry Potter.



Actually there I tried to be a bit more original. Probably not :D I heard from another composer that it did sound a bit like Elfman and Williams mixture. 



robharvey said:


> Nice! Great idea with the screen cast too.


Thank you Rob. Yeah, I like that screencasts too. Saw it a couple that Alex Ball did it.



Paul T McGraw said:


> That was great! Loved the music and the video. Awesome.



Hey Paul, much appreciated. Keep me updated on your progress with your own classic renditions. 


col said:


> Thanks ! Screencast is nice touch. Nice efficient track count.
> Enjoyed the track.


Cool you like it. Thanks.


lucor said:


> Are you using the standard SSO with just the CTA mics? Or are you using Outriggers as well? I always felt that the sound of just CTA was lacking in width, but in your example here it sounds great.



Hej Lucor, 
Yes, mostly, but for Brass I am using besides CTA, but also Outriggers, but in addition the alternative micings which are in the expansions, sometimes for the lower brass instruments I used Outriggers,a bit ribbon close, and Gallery.


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## Steve Martin (Aug 19, 2017)

Hi Alexander,

I love this. Great stuff. Can you tell us the libraries used? I'm looking up screen cast also to see how it works. Have to say this sounds great  Thanks for sharing


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## Steve Martin (Aug 19, 2017)

Hi Alex,

no need to answer about the libraries - found them on youtube link that they are spitfire. Can I ask which Spitfire strings library you are using? I've been listening to some of their demo's and I'm very impressed with their sound. I've been considering buying one of their string libraries but not sure which one I should go for. Thank you if you can tell me more. That would be great! Steve


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## novaburst (Aug 20, 2017)

@AlexanderSchiborr Crazy......., So much detail nice work as usual


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 20, 2017)

Steve Martin said:


> Hi Alex,
> 
> no need to answer about the libraries - found them on youtube link that they are spitfire. Can I ask which Spitfire strings library you are using? I've been listening to some of their demo's and I'm very impressed with their sound. I've been considering buying one of their string libraries but not sure which one I should go for. Thank you if you can tell me more. That would be great! Steve



Sure:

SSS / SCS for the strings
SSB for the brass
SSW for the woodwinds
JB. Percussion for the Percussion
Skaila Kanga Harp.

They CAN sound great. I say they can, IF you are willing to get to know them over a longer period of time and IF you put some effort in programming. They need a bit of treatment imo..


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## novaburst (Aug 20, 2017)

Hi @AlexanderSchiborr what are your go to plugins and FX you use if you don't mind sharing.


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 20, 2017)

novaburst said:


> Hi @AlexanderSchiborr what are your go to plugins and FX you use if you don't mind sharing.



Sure..just a side note: The main thing why it does sound like that is imo the orchestration and the balance with reference to a live recording (in this case score suite from Indiana Jones and the last crusade 1989). Actually I avoided in this template any fancy special effects, but what I do is adding a bit of tape saturation from Steven Slate plugs and limiter. What also shaped the sound here was some corrective and boosting EQ on the _lower strings_, _Horns_, and _trumpets_.


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## ctsai89 (Aug 20, 2017)

okay why aren't you hired in the hollywood business yet? or are you, a ghost composer?


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## Steve Martin (Aug 20, 2017)

Thank you Alex for those details. Much appreciated.

All the best, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your music. You are very gifted with composition talent!

Steve


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## Ultraxenon (Aug 20, 2017)

This was a really good track and helpful video. Thanks


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## leon chevalier (Aug 20, 2017)

Hello Alexander,
What software do you use to do your screen cast ? Does it record the sound directly from cubase playback ?
Thanks for your answer and congrats for the great track.
Leon


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 20, 2017)

ctsai89 said:


> okay why aren't you hired in the hollywood business yet? or are you, a ghost composer?



Because I think I have still learn a lot. And I know people who are a way better than me. And even they don´t get gigs in bigger projects in hollywood, so why should I? Look at guys like Leon Willets, Mike Verta, Michael Patti, Leo Gardini and certainly a few more. All of those guys are really great composers who are able to bring back classic filmscoring back to Hollywood. But this is not what filmcompanies are in demand anymore. Listen to all those Wonder womans and other marvel and DC blockbuster movie soundtracks: It is not anymore classical orchestra music anymore. Even they don´t use the capabilities of the live orchestra. They even don´t use the full palette of orchestral colors anymore. (I practically don´t hear any woodwinds and / or melodic percussion anymore). The new generation of composers are Hans Zimmer and people like Junkie XL. They do bring a lot of sounddesign approach into the game. This hybrid is the new thing or not new at all but when I would like to step into that business I should better disregard a lot of stuff I love to do and start practising other things 


Steve Martin said:


> Thank you Alex for those details. Much appreciated.
> 
> All the best, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your music. You are very gifted with composition talent!
> 
> Steve



Oh thanks Steve. But if you have more questions, feel free to ask.



leon chevalier said:


> Hello Alexander,
> What software do you use to do your screen cast ? Does it record the sound directly from cubase playback ?
> Thanks for your answer and congrats for the great track.
> Leon



Sure: I used a screenrecorder from icecream Apps from here:

https://icecreamapps.com/Screen-Recorder/

The free trial lets you record up to 5 minutes of video. It does record the screen, but not the sound (maybe the full pro version does..?), so I mixed down the music seperately and synched it with the video later with my super pro tool windows "movie maker".


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## leon chevalier (Aug 21, 2017)

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Sure: I used a screenrecorder from icecream Apps from here:
> 
> https://icecreamapps.com/Screen-Recorder/
> 
> The free trial lets you record up to 5 minutes of video. It does record the screen, but not the sound (maybe the full pro version does..?), so I mixed down the music seperately and synched it with the video later with my super pro tool windows "movie maker".



Thanks for your answer !
I do the exactly same : export + plus movie maker !  and it's a pain ...

I've found this article : https://www.audiomentor.com/audioproduction/resolved-screencasting-your-windows-daw-with-asio and I was hoping you did something like that, cause now I'll have to test myself ! (And eventually install crappy softwares full of virus on my computer )


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## novaburst (Aug 21, 2017)

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Sure..just a side note: The main thing why it does sound like that is imo the orchestration and the balance with reference to a live recording (in this case score suite from Indiana Jones and the last crusade 1989). Actually I avoided in this template any fancy special effects, but what I do is adding a bit of tape saturation from Steven Slate plugs and limiter. What also shaped the sound here was some corrective and boosting EQ on the _lower strings_, _Horns_, and _trumpets_.



Thanks for that


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## Leon Willett (Aug 21, 2017)

Yes! very good well done :D


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## MarcelM (Aug 21, 2017)

http://camstudio.org/

its free and will do the job


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 21, 2017)

Great stuff as always, very inspiring!
Alexander - I'm really interested to know where your learnt your orchestration chops. Was it formal training or a specific book or guide? Or just by ear? 

Any pointers really appreciated. Keep up the inspiring work!


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Aug 21, 2017)

Alex Fraser said:


> Great stuff as always, very inspiring!
> Alexander - I'm really interested to know where your learnt your orchestration chops. Was it formal training or a specific book or guide? Or just by ear?
> 
> Any pointers really appreciated. Keep up the inspiring work!



Hej Alexander,

I never had in this regards any formal training. So I am pretty much self taught. I am learning by doing different things, but *one very important aspect for me is to listen to classic soundtracks (also concert works), analyzing them, writing the important things down. And then I do my homework in "repeating" the things I just heard. And then I repeat the things again what I already did, and again. And sometimes I do that 10 times..again. It can be tiring sometimes but I am no big talented intelligent geek, so I need to repeat a lot to learn. *

It is like with babies who are trying to mimic words they hear from their mother. After a while of repeating they internalize the words and start to build basic short sentences. Music is here no difference for me. So I would say: When you want to learn you should learn first the language in music. And a basic foundation are vocabulary so that you are able to build sentences later. This materia can be very complex, so you should consider spending a good amount of time into that. I would say: Everyday at least 2-3 hours, I would recommend more. So that is my main focus since 2013 and I do around 4-5 hours actually per day. What´s now important: You need a good amount of endurance. And that is not easy to keep on track with that over years.


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 21, 2017)

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Hej Alexander,
> 
> I never had in this regards any formal training. So I am pretty much self taught. I am learning by doing different things, but *one very important aspect for me is to listen to classic soundtracks (also concert works), analyzing them, writing the important things down. And then I do my homework in "repeating" the things I just heard. And then I repeat the things again what I already did, and again. And sometimes I do that 10 times..again. It can be tiring sometimes but I am no big talented intelligent geek, so I need to repeat a lot to learn. *
> 
> It is like with babies who are trying to mimic words they hear from their mother. After a while of repeating they internalize the words and start to build basic short sentences. Music is here no difference for me. So I would say: When you want to learn you should learn first the language in music. And a basic foundation are vocabulary so that you are able to build sentences later. This materia can be very complex, so you should consider spending a good amount of time into that. I would say: Everyday at least 2-3 hours, I would recommend more. So that is my main focus since 2013 and I do around 4-5 hours actually per day. What´s now important: You need a good amount of endurance. And that is not easy to keep on track with that over years.



Thanks, Alexander. (Great name BTW.)
Gratifying to hear this as it's the way I've been getting my orchestrating chops up to par. I've got a fair few short compositions which are basically me experimenting with various instrument combinations. Will definitely be posting some in the future for the praise/advice/damnation of the VI community. Until then..

Thanks again for the advice and contributions.


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## Guy Bacos (Aug 21, 2017)

Very well written action track! You really excel in this genre. Excellent production too. Metal percussion is cool. I can't add much more to what's been said. Just a minor thing, and I'm sure you meant it this way, but the ending sounds like it's been cut off from a following track, felt short changed with that last chord.


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