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Mockup of Rhapsody in Blue excerpt

musicalweather

Senior Member
Here's a mockup of an excerpt from Rhapsody in Blue. I welcome any thoughts or commentary about the mix, balance etc. I'm hoping this sounds like an orchestra seated in front of you. Did I get there?

This is the first time I've actually used all the sections of the Berlin Main libraries together, though this didn't have percussion. The simple Tree mic position ended up sounding the best.

The solo violin part at the beginning is meant to be played by the concert master. I used Emotional Violin and some reverb to set it back a bit (hoping it landed in the violin section!). I wonder if it sounds like someone seated in the orchestra.

The piano is featured in this piece, so I tried to make it sound as if it were sitting in front of the orchestra.

 
Bollen and Davidhewitson: thank you both very much for weighing in. It's interesting that you both had similar comments. I'll come back to this and play around with the dynamics to see if I can loosen it up a bit. Right now my ears are fatigued from having been immersed in this for a few days. I think I need to get away from this piece for a week or so then come back to it with fresh ears. I'm sure what you're pointing out will be more obvious to me then. I appreciate your commentary.
 
Here's a mockup of an excerpt from Rhapsody in Blue. I welcome any thoughts or commentary about the mix, balance etc. I'm hoping this sounds like an orchestra seated in front of you. Did I get there?

This is the first time I've actually used all the sections of the Berlin Main libraries together, though this didn't have percussion. The simple Tree mic position ended up sounding the best.

The solo violin part at the beginning is meant to be played by the concert master. I used Emotional Violin and some reverb to set it back a bit (hoping it landed in the violin section!). I wonder if it sounds like someone seated in the orchestra.

The piano is featured in this piece, so I tried to make it sound as if it were sitting in front of the orchestra.


Nice mockup. I really like the positioning of the piano relative to the orchestra. Do you mind sharing what your approach to that was?

Just a little feedback on the exposed violin. I don't know anything about the Emotional Violin instrument but suggest varying the vibrato if the controls are available, maybe even minimal or no vib on the short notes.
 
I just listened to this again! At 18" I think the impact of the brass coming in could be bigger and more striking. I think at the moment this swelling of horns sound keyboardy to me and that's why it loses me a little at that point :)

I'm comparing it with this version in particular - I think the dynamics matter a lot to create the effect:
 
Nice mockup. I really like the positioning of the piano relative to the orchestra. Do you mind sharing what your approach to that was?

Just a little feedback on the exposed violin. I don't know anything about the Emotional Violin instrument but suggest varying the vibrato if the controls are available, maybe even minimal or no vib on the short notes.
Thanks, Darin. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what my exact settings for the piano were! After I bounced the audio, closed the file and came back to open it, it wouldn't open... because of the plugin I was using as reverb on the piano -- FabFilter Pro-R. I had to open Cubase in "safe mode" (all third-party plugins disabled) and I decided to remove Pro-R altogether since it was causing the Cubase file to hang while opening. I can't remember which hall setting I had it on, but it had a pretty low wet setting, maybe around 15%.

Regarding the violin, Emotional Violin does not offer a progressive vibrato AFAIK, but it does have a lot of different articulations which offer varying amounts of vibrato, and there are ones with no vibrato. I usually do put in some non-vibrato articulations here and there; perhaps I didn't do that this time. I agree that sampled instruments can overdo it on the vibrato, but when I listen to live players, I notice that there is a lot of vibrato. I suppose it's a matter of the subtleties.

Thanks for your comments.
 
I just listened to this again! At 18" I think the impact of the brass coming in could be bigger and more striking. I think at the moment this swelling of horns sound keyboardy to me and that's why it loses me a little at that point :)

I'm comparing it with this version in particular - I think the dynamics matter a lot to create the effect:

Thanks for listening again! Yes, I agree the entrance at 18 sec. could be much more dramatic and big. My mockup is quite tame in comparison to this performance - it doesn't have nearly the dynamic range or heft. Interestingly, someone else who listened to my mockup thought that at 18 sec. the strings could be bigger and more dramatic. In any case, it would probably be worth another pass to get a much larger sound and dynamic range from 18 seconds on. I might try using Berlin Symphonic strings for a larger string sound.
 
Here's a mockup of an excerpt from Rhapsody in Blue. I welcome any thoughts or commentary about the mix, balance etc. I'm hoping this sounds like an orchestra seated in front of you. Did I get there?

This is the first time I've actually used all the sections of the Berlin Main libraries together, though this didn't have percussion. The simple Tree mic position ended up sounding the best.

The solo violin part at the beginning is meant to be played by the concert master. I used Emotional Violin and some reverb to set it back a bit (hoping it landed in the violin section!). I wonder if it sounds like someone seated in the orchestra.

The piano is featured in this piece, so I tried to make it sound as if it were sitting in front of the orchestra.


Bravo!
 
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