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Audio Ark: Jason Graves Music - Writing for Strings

Jason Graves

New Member
Greetings! My name is Jason. I am a drummer and I love animals. I also have spent the the last twenty odd years making music. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to share and give back, just a little bit, to the community I love being a part of so much. I lecture/teach whenever I can (and thoroughly enjoy it!) but always leave wishing I had more time to go into greater detail about so many different things.

So I finally bit the bullet and got up the nerve to start my own YouTube channel. I've been uploading for less than a month now and want a centralized place viewers could post questions/comments and interact with each other. YouTube comments work fine but VI Control seems like a logical place to house a general repository of video, information and useful tidbits.

So here I am! This is the channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/JasonGravesMusic

I will link to each video in another post. Feedback/thoughts (especially constructive criticism and new ideas) welcome. I will add my list of things I am planning to cover in a separate post. Please suggest more! I'm eleven episodes in - some topics have already been covered. :)

Happy composing!

Jason
 
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AUDIO ARK TOPICS

The Temporarily Permanent Studio
Studio history/pics

Current Studio Setup
Computer setup (detailed) - drives, RAM, etc.
Main room: speakers, screens, desk, furniture, headphones, panels
Overview of other room setups (machine, drums, storage)
Challenges (AC, small rooms, mic lines, machine room)
Hardware choices and cables
Hardware integration into Cubase
WaveLab, Live, ProTools, Wwise, Digital Performer
Mac vs PC
iPad setup
Kontakt-based synth faves

Introduction To Cubase
Why Cubase?
Why templates?
Build small Cubase template from scratch

Cubase
Detailed walkthrough
Tablet setup and Cubase shortcuts
Slave setup with hardware/network details and Google list
Main tracks breakdown - orch
Main tracks breakdown - drums
Main tracks breakdown - synth
Main tracks breakdown - loops
Busses, audio flow and export options
VST FX setup and processing
External FX setup and processing
Orchestral libraries and blending options

Steal My Sound
Hardware vs software tutorials with low/high price guide, if applicable
Synth/keyboards
EQ
Compression
Reverb
Delay
Modulation
Distortion
General manufacturers (UAD, SoundToys, Valhalla, FabFilter)

Detailed Studio Tour
Rooms, computers, mics, instruments and recording methods
Main room: speakers, screens, desk, furniture, headphones, panels
Machine room: computers, converters, cooling, local/online backup plan
Drum and perc rooms: sound panels, mics, cables and headphones
Room to room connections, storage/closets, cables, headphones
Microphones and preamps
Drums and percussion
Guitars and other strings (harp, violin, contrabass, piano, accordion, etc)
External routing, wiring and mixing
Synthesizers
Guitar pedals
New Gear, Software, Ideas
Current favorite new plugins, VST’s, hardware, etc.
Hardware vs. software

A Day In The Life

Specific Song Deconstruction/Analysis, for starters...
Dead Space
Tomb Raider
The Order
Moss
Farlands
Fat Chicken

General “How To” Guides
“Breaking” into the industry
General organization and time management
Virtual Orchestration
Mixing and balancing virtual orchestra
Reverb and FX
Composing interactive music
Programming realistic drum patterns
Composing for drums/percussion
Layering live and virtual sounds
Mastering, stems and final deliveries
The importance of gain staging and signal flow
Analog vs. digital
Music for games vs. TV vs. film
BACK EVERYTHING UP

Composing 101
Music as an emotional language
The pitching process
How to begin?
Budget considerations
Live players
Harmony and musical language
 
great channel and great stuff. ive used cubase for years actually and could still learn alot out of these videos so far.

shame on me that i didnt know some of the stuff already ;)
 
Just watched another episode, welcome! These videos are so valuable, so thanks again! :2thumbs:
 
Hi Jason,

It's great seeing you here at VI-C forums, and Thanks for posting these helpful videos :2thumbs:

I'm curious if you still use any VSL libraries these days, especially their Strings (since I don't see any VSL libraries in your template) ? and have you checked out their latest Synchron Strings 1 Library ? if Yes, what are your thoughts about it, and VSL Strings in general, for scoring applications ?

Thanks,
Muziksculp
 
Nice videos and Jason seems a genuinely nice guy but I've been slightly disappointed with the content so far as my workflow and setup seems to 95% the same, just on smaller scale (less libraries, slaves and gear).

Hopefully there will be something more revolutionary when we get past the Cubase-VEP-libraries stage.
 
Nice videos and Jason seems a genuinely nice guy but I've been slightly disappointed with the content so far as my workflow and setup seems to 95% the same, just on smaller scale (less libraries, slaves and gear).

Hopefully there will be something more revolutionary when we get past the Cubase-VEP-libraries stage.
You're disappointed because your setup is so similar? You should be cheering, you must be on the right track! ;) Bit of a harsh assessment for a talented pro putting aside time to give detailed insights into his setup. I think Jason has made it fairly clear he's trying to make this series as accessible as possible, and he's doing a great job! I mean, my setup is also very similar but I always find things I can learn from seeing how others work. So far, I'm inspired to be more organised and efficient with my template naming structures and especially shortcuts to improve speed. Jason is a wizard in that department!

Any professional who can be bothered to take the time to give back to the community in this way gets nothing but gratitude from me! Looking forward to the next ones! Cheers, Jason
 
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Thanks Jason, the couple of vids I've watched so far have been great. Really appreciate you sharing your time and knowledge! Subscribed.
 
Hi Jason,

It's great seeing you here at VI-C forums, and Thanks for posting these helpful videos :2thumbs:

I'm curious if you still use any VSL libraries these days, especially their Strings (since I don't see any VSL libraries in your template) ? and have you checked out their latest Synchron Strings 1 Library ? if Yes, what are your thoughts about it, and VSL Strings in general, for scoring applications ?

Thanks,
Muziksculp

I had ALL THE VSL once upon a time - my entire template was based around it. But the limited RR and super dry sound pushed me towards other developers and new options popped up. Haven't looked too hard at Synchron String yet, but definitely a possibility in the future. We're so spoiled for choice now! My purchases are always project-based, so who knows? There may be a need for something like that in the future.

Thanks for watching!

Jason
 
You're disappointed because your setup is so similar? You should be cheering, you must be on the right track! ;) Bit of a harsh assessment for a talented pro putting aside time to give detailed insights into his setup.

OK, maybe I was bit unclear. Videos themselves were not disappointing by any means, on the contrary - well structured and to the point. I just would have wanted personally to get more out of them, as now it was like watching my own template.

But maybe there will be some magic grains of wisdom (for me) in the next videos :)
 
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