The Race snippet - mockup/template test

Sounds pretty cool man, I enjoyed that. And it has some nice live mojo vibe there. The only thing but thats a production thing, it sounds like that you spreaded the stereo too much with a panning software that it sounds like the center is thinned out which sounds strange to my ears, don´t do such things.

Cubase tips and tricks..there are probably hundreds of those but one thing I like on the cubase sequence is while beeing the in key editor view you can mark and select several midis not and then move their velocities all together, while that is maybe not that cool yet, you can also shape the grade with the left and right little triangles.

Btw. What libraries apart from the SM Woodwinds did you use. Is there only SM woodwinds in that example?

 

Ah I see. Thanks for very detailed explanation and your remark on the stereo field. Keep up the good work.

 

My first thought, too, is that the sound field is very unusual and things seem like they're coming from multiple places. I would recommend going to mono and checking the internal levels - our templates should absolutely work (actually probably better) in mono or something's wrong. Also dry up your template while balancing - it'll help.

Careful during the opening string lines of the "sucking sound." That's where each note has a slow attack so instead of sounding connected, they sound like they're stuttering with each note. This is why my own string patches have essentially instant attacks and I add the note-on swells or gentle attacks with modwheel instead.

In general, your mock-up seems to be suffering a bit from "articulation quantizing." This is where 90% of modern libraries fail - they group articulations into a handful of wildly disparate types: Staccato, Legato, Marcato, etc. and then leave it up to you to somehow assemble a musical line out of combinations of those options. This is impossible. Players do not play a legato note followed by a marcato note or two and then follow that with a staccato, etc. They play a billion variations of those articulation concepts - usually dozens within a single line. Even the slur-staccato articulation of the main line is only sort-of staccato, and actually slightly different each time when played for real. Players will instinctively change the length of the staccato based on what's coming next, or based sometimes on their need to breathe, etc. So if we literally just play a marcato or legato note followed by a staccato articulation, the result is stilted and robotic and non-musical - certainly not convincing. The string articulation you're using under the trumpets at 1:10 is a typical example - it's not something I'd write nor they'd play. Remember: Performance is more important than sound. So to really get this mock-up together, it doesn't need to sound real, it needs to feel real. And that's all in the performance and articulations. Remember, too, that a lot of times these libraries exhibit totally different tonal characteristics between their staccato and legato patches, so even if you successfully put them back-to-back, the tonal qualities don't match and again it sounds totally fake.

To troubleshoot, and make this most useful for building your template, I'd first dry things up and then experiment either in mono or without worrying about the stereo field, and get yourself the best ability to perform real expressive lines first. If not this, then it's over before it starts. And THEN let's get the sound together. That's easier and more flexible anyway. There are tons of ways of presenting the music, but it's got to be musical first!