Transcription Requests

Hi all,

Inspired by Mike's emphasis on transcription, and his talking about virtual group-mentorship (or something along that line), I was wondering if anyone would be interested in contributing to a thread where more experienced composers knock out a quick by-ear transcription of something one of us noobs are working on for accuracy reference if a score isn't readily available.

Any takers?

First submission, a fairly simple one:

From 0:00 to roughly 1:30, or 1:30 to 2:35.


EDIT: Didn't notice the "What's That Thing?" thread. It's pretty darn similar, so feel free to delete this mods.

 

Fantastic, thank you! Mockup sounds great too (what string library did you use?).

I found the long reverb made it hard to pick out precisely what was happening in some of the midrange (at least in the first version of the theme) -- I could have sworn I heard a repeated E in the first bar, but I'm wondering now if that's simply the long reverb tail.

 

Thanks all for contributing! Glad to see this is well-received. Really helpful as a learning tool, especially for instrument groups I'm not as familiar with.

I could swear I hear an E3 (in violas I'm assuming) in the first bar, rather than purely a step down to D. So G+E moving down to F#+E. Am I just hearing the reverb tail, or does my ear just need a lot of work?

I completely agree -- a really good illustration about why space is just as important as notes.

 

Thanks! This is encouraging. I sure will, working on something else as we speak.

 

This is pretty aleatoric, but I'm interested in this initial run, as I'm finding it hard to determine if it's in fact a run or portamento over top of trem (there's obviously trem in the low range).

 

Thanks again for trying it out! Your version sounds really close -- there's something about the original that sounds slightly chaotic, but I suspect this might have to do with sections playing the runs less precisely and more ad-lib than samples will allow.

Re: Notation -- I have on or two of Garry's pieces in notated form and he does leave room for aleatory with score markings like "ad lib", etc.

Great point about creating these -- the pattern is relatively clear, with a little bit of wiggle room at the top of the run.

In terms of MIDI programming, did you use half-step trills for Vi1/2 and Viola?

 

I'm curious to know, since Spitfire's Chamber Strings is only 4 players for Vi1 and 3 for other sections, if layering a few runs with a really minute pitch adjustment will get a slightly more similar effect.

I'm finding transcribing gets easier and easier as one does it more, as arduous as it can be at first. Learning things like this can be tremendously helpful in finding shortcuts (i.e. learning that runs are typically just patterns).

What I actually meant to ask was "which patch are you using" -- thanks for the info. The question I did ask was a bit daft (long day) .

 

Hmmm... I'll give it a try and see what it sounds like.

Indeed, but in my years of unrelated university education and the like, as well as having to not just memorize but understand fairly difficult abstract concepts (i.e. advanced psych statistics), I find that sort of "immersion" of repetition (i.e. "repeating what Mike says"), teaching it or discussing it with others, rewording it, etc, in addition to practicing it, is by far the best way to internalize it. The best thing one can do to solidify a concept is to explain it to others in one's own words and hear it from others, so all of this discussion I find quite helpful.

.


EDIT:
The mix is poor as this was quick, but here's an attempt with some slight tune changes (with your MIDI):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fxax96gc9ece7z/2x Vi.wav?dl=0

I think I humanized this too much, it sounds a bit too loose, but this is with another 4 violins transposed 3 and then -3 to get different RR's, and then tuned very slightly as well. This approach seems fairly promising if I can get it to sound a bit tighter:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xipw3d118bqtn5/3x Vi.wav?dl=0

As an aside, I didn't modify the end of the MIDI much but I think there's some variation that goes up to F that makes it feel a bit more chaotic too. In the end I still think your mix sounds better, haha. Not sure SCS is aggressive enough?

 

Here's another one, tear it apart for me! Orchestration is something I don't have a strong grasp on so please correct me if I messed up re: voicings and the like. Haven't finished it fully but this is what I have so far, the cadence and rhythm of some of the intro parts was hard to get a handle on:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/coc96gf42ldorax/Bioshock Elizabeth.pdf?dl=0